Dance of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #1) in Enemies-to-Lovers Recs

Jan 19, 2023 arlyn ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ rated it liked it

rating: 3⭐️

once again, i have been duped by booktok/booktwt because this book was mediocre at best.

the entire story was 500 pages long and not once did I feel a glimmer of emotion.

the romance was unremarkable and the plot was uninteresting. the two things I appreciated were the writing and the characters. i like jase and kazi as individual characters, i felt that the author carefully considered their backstories and they were fleshed out wonderfully.

they were compelling characters with contra ...more

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Jun 07, 2024 Bushra rated it it was amazing

EXCUSE ME THIS WAS SO AMAZING!! Why didn’t more people shove this book at me before?!!

It had absolutely everything I love:-
- (secret) Enemies to lovers
- Dagger to throat
- Angsty romance
- Forced Proximity
- Cunning Heroine
- Hidden Agendas
- Betrayal
- Lots of Politics and Schemes
- Fleshed out characters
- Very engaging plot
And so much more!

I was just so invested from the start to finish!!
THIS is the kind of book you write when you want your readers hooked but satisfied. It ended on a cliffhanger a ...more

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Oct 29, 2018 Lesr rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Absolutely everything.

I even teared up at the end to be given a glimpse into well-loved characters lives again...

ugh. My heart!!!

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Dec 07, 2022 Shelby rated it did not like it

Shelves: romance, young-adult, young-love, heterosexual-relationships, don-t-understand-the-hype, enemies-to-lovers, skimmed-through-most-of-it, royalty, definitely-not-as-good-as-everyone, mercenaries

DNF, 130 pages.

It's very rare for me to not finish a physical copy of a book. I can only think of one off the top of my head (Graceling, which I still say was a horrific disappointment.) In all the books I've ever read, I don't think I've honestly ever been so disappointed in a story. I wanted to finish it and I really tried my hardest to get through it, but I couldn't. This book had so much potential, the rating is so high, I was READY for it to become my new obsession, but it fell flat in almo DNF, 130 pages.

It's very rare for me to not finish a physical copy of a book. I can only think of one off the top of my head (Graceling, which I still say was a horrific disappointment.) In all the books I've ever read, I don't think I've honestly ever been so disappointed in a story. I wanted to finish it and I really tried my hardest to get through it, but I couldn't. This book had so much potential, the rating is so high, I was READY for it to become my new obsession, but it fell flat in almost every aspect.

Firstly, let's talk about our main character, Kazi. I think she was what I hated the most. It's difficult to write a character that is strong and stable and sassy while also being likeable. Unfortunately, this heroine, if you could even call her that, was one of the most entitled people I've ever had the misfortune to read about. I couldn't stand her. Every time she would interact with our love interest (Jase, who is really apparently the only good one in the story), she would just act snobbish and uppity in a way that I couldn't stand. Ignorance, apparently, leads to a lot of self-righteousness that drives me absolutely insane.

And really, I have to mention this one quote to put my point across. "I like you, Jase Ballenger," I said softly. "I think if you weren't a thief, we might be friends." KAZI. YOU ARE LITERALLY A THIEF BY TRADE. YOU'VE BEEN A THIEF SINCE YOU WERE A CHILD. WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS? Utterly ridiculous. Doesn't make any sense.

The other characters were bland and uninteresting, to the point where I really couldn't tell you the differences between them if I tried.

Next, the plot. Or should I say, what plot? There really wasn't any. Nothing big or exciting. And yes, I didn't finish the whole book so something might have happened to give this book the extra boost it needed, but from some of the reviews I've read, I'd have to say the book stays at the same pace throughout the whole story. Slow, boring, and pointless, an unnecessary 500 pages that feels like an eternity.

Now, let's talk about the enemies to lovers trope. I'm a sucker for a good enemies to lovers story, I won't deny it. When written correctly, the trope can lead to some intense, fantastic love stories. But this? This wasn't enemies to lovers. This was insta-love between two people who didn't want to like each other but definitely did. Insta-love is fine, yeah, but I didn't want it in this story - plus, it didn't really fit the situation. Having them hate each other would have been much more interesting.

World-building - actually sort of decent if you can wade through the mess that is the lack of plot and weird conversations between the characters that have no relevance to literally anything. Apparently there were a lot of elements of Pearson's earlier story, the Remnant Chronicles, which I haven't read so I couldn't say for sure. Overall, the world seemed to have some potential.

You can tell by looking through the reviews that this was a great book to a lot of people. It just wasn't for me. Not only was it an awful book it was probably the most disappointed I've ever been in a book that's been on my TBR list. An overall waste of time. ...more

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Jan 21, 2022 Ashley Reid rated it it was ok

Pfft. So here’s the thing. On the surface, this book has some really strong key points as to what sounds like a strong plot and exciting story.

Poor female orphan turns Queen’s elite guard. On a super high profile mission, she has a run in with a sovereign ruler, in which they both become become enslaved by labor hunters. Maybe there is foul play? Maybe they’re all playing at a bigger game.

But, then it kind of fails on its delivery....

The characters are likeable enough, if predictable. And the tw ...more

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