• Okay from the getgo, this world is rather difficult to step into with all the different terms that are not outrightly easy to understand nor explained.
  • Wait? How did Amma and Alia surivive if both their parents died? She obviously works for these people, but in a cut-throat world this is supposed to be how could someone take in two orphans? Like they can’t be that wealthy especially if she feels the need to go to Everless to make money?
  • Who are the Gerlings and why would hating them be petty? Especially if they’re exploiting the people? I think that’s pretty reasonable…
  • So somehow Jules is going to end up at the castle, Roan will remember her and they’ll start a secret romance?
  • How does Amma not know what it’s like to be hungry if the village is the way it is?
  • I’m sorry but this MC is just setting up to be the typical martyr “I’m so much worse off than everyone else.” UGH
  • I can totally get on board with the Queen ruling by herself. YES. This is my favorite part of the whole thing.
  • I think part of it is the writing. I know the author is trying to make the MC seem detached and cold. But I don’t relate to her at all. I feel a large disconnect and have relatively no emotional attachment to her.
  • I can’t decide if I’d rather Liam turn out to be a good person or her to end with Roan. Roan is hella tropey, Liam seems a bit more intriguing to me.
  • But Roan seems genuinely happy with Lady Gold?
  • Damn, there are so many women with “a” names in this book!!
  • So I’m guessing her mother is like the friend of a queen or something and they have a past history and her mother took something that made Jules special and now she’s the key or something? I feel like the fact that Lora and Hinton see the picture is significant but at the same time idk who to guess her mother is.
  • So is this how Jules is going to meet up with Roan on accident and then secretly?
  • Oh I guess not…
  • Aha! I knew they’d use the whispering wall to communicate eventually.
  • Lol so she just made up hide and seek and called it “Snake and Fox”?
  • Holy crap, so maybe Liam is good?? I don’t know what to think…
  • Ah, so Liam is like a double agent or something? At least from the visit in the cellar that’s as much as I can tell.
  • Uggghhhh Roan is a two-timer… Flirting with Jules when he’s engaged to Ina. He could be seeing more! This makes me intensely dislike him.
  • Hmmm, so Ina felt it when Jules pricked her own finger. So they’re connected somehow.
  • Ew gross. I was right. I detest cheaters Roan’s off the table. I still believe it might be Liam, maybe there’s an explanation for everything…
  • Ina and Jules have like the same birthday, which means Jules was probably chosen originally but somehow Ina ended up there? Are they fraternal twins that look nothing alike??
  • As I suspected it was probably Roan who pushed Liam into the fire, instead of the way everyone believes.
  • Also clearly Caro and Ina know something about Jules Sam’s get past. Maybe they’re taking her to the hedge witch to learn if she’s the chosen one so the Queen can bleed her?
  • Oh and now with the help of the hedge witch shes going to learn Roan pushed Liam.
  • This seems absurd. The idea that the Gerlings would punish one of the Queen’s most trusted, beloved servants without consulting her. That just seems off and extremely uncharacteristic. It just doesn’t seem like that would or could happen in real life.
  • Whoa what? This book just became 1000x more interesting. Jules blood doesn’t have time and it can’t be absorbed by anyone else??
  • Wait… So that scene punishing Caro was an act? Orchestrated by whom? And Liam wasn’t in on it??? I still think maybe this is all a set up for Jules but by whom…
  • Wait, is she living 12 hours back or in another time? All her speaking is present tense…
  • I’m kind of thinking Jules is the Alchemist.
  • Knew it! Ina and Jules are twins!
  • *Sigh* I can’t think of an appropriate name for Roan now that he’s having a thing with like 3 girls.
  • Ahahaha!! Liam is on her side. I was right about it all!!! Including the story with Liam pushing his brother into the forge. But turning back time, that was a surprise.
  • 5/10—This is probably the most accurate rating I’ve ever given because literally half of the book was hella tropey. It honestly could have been ANY YA book like 5-10 years ago:  Poor girl gets tangled up in royalty and sacrifices herself she’s also the chosen one, but doesn’t know it yet and she has a personal connection to the prince who’s already engaged but ~love~ will find a way.
    • That last part wasn’t quite true. But I appreciated this book for what it was. I think the world building was quite lacking. I think this is a world that has a lot of potential for exploration and growth, but it isn’t shown here. I hope we get more in the next book (assuming this will be a trilogy). I could have lived without the first 200 pages. But the last 200 or so were quite exciting.