I gave this book 4 stars. Adelaide was an excellent main character, and she grew with her kick butt ways, and Cedric was charming, handsome, and sweet, exactly what I love in a guy. The other characters weren't doing it for me as much. I understand that the next two books will be from Tamsin and Mira's perspectives so we will learn more about them and grow more attached, but even from 400 pages of being their best friends I felt no emotional pull whatsoever. The only emotion I truly felt reading this was stress and anxiety over what would happen if the secrets got out, and well, (view spoiler)[they did and it wasn't as disastrous as I feared, thank goodness. (hide spoiler)] I did enjoy Mira's presence and her fierce crossbow skills a lot, so she might be my favorite character besides Adelaide. Tamsin wasn't my favorite. She was dramatic and little false sounding to me. They both have deep, dark secrets that I can't wait to learn about. I hope they are as interesting as Adelaide's.
Despite my "low" rating, I loved this book. The cover is gorgeous and the plot is so fast paced that there was no time to even complain that it was slow, let alone have it actually be slow. It was perhaps a bit too fast. So much happened in 400 pages that we had little time to dwell on the Glittering Court itself, barely giving the romance time to develop. However, the friendship to romantic relationship build was done nicely. We rarely see the couple attempt to remain friends first so that was the first refreshing aspect of this novel. The whole arching theme of religion, a typically taboo topic, was a risk Richelle took in this world. She took many and I think they all paid off, another reason behind the four stars. The characters may be flat but nothing else was one bit. The freedom of religion and the strange "heretic ways" are still common issues in today's world and it was nice to see that represented. Usually religion isn't even brought up in young adult books. I also enjoyed the fact that the couple had different religious beliefs and backgrounds immensely. I'm not sure I've ever heard of this in any form of fictitious literature. It's an interesting obstacle couples face and is way more diverse and thought provoking than the love triangle or false loyalty obstacle.
(view spoiler)[The only part of the book where I felt bored or dissatisfied with the plot was the ending. I never trusted that psychopath Warren and saw that coming for the most part, but the gold mining scenes were dull and repetitive. I never liked learning about the Gold Rush in school so that's not too surprising. I also didn't feel the romance too much at the end. It felt rushed and instalovey. The build up and the initial romance was fabulous of course, but the rest wasn't so much. I really enjoyed the Glittering Court scenes, and the opening scenes with Lionel *shudder* Seeing Adelaide run away was fun and I'm glad she did it. I would have too, frankly. I can still see her with the attorney though, that could've worked out. One last thing that I enjoyed was the fact that we never learned Adelaide's real name for most of the book. It was unique and surprising, and worked well. I just wish we got an ending with more closure. I wonder what happened to Grandmama, as I liked her spunk. (hide spoiler)]
I gave this book 4 stars. Adelaide was an excellent main character, and she grew with her kick butt ways, and Cedric was charming, handsome, and sweet, exactly what I love in a guy. The other characters weren't doing it for me as much. I understand that the next two books will be from Tamsin and Mira's perspectives so we will learn more about them and grow more attached, but even from 400 pages of being their best friends I felt no emotional pull whatsoever. The only emotion I truly felt reading this was stress and anxiety over what would happen if the secrets got out, and well, (view spoiler)[they did and it wasn't as disastrous as I feared, thank goodness. (hide spoiler)] I did enjoy Mira's presence and her fierce crossbow skills a lot, so she might be my favorite character besides Adelaide. Tamsin wasn't my favorite. She was dramatic and little false sounding to me. They both have deep, dark secrets that I can't wait to learn about. I hope they are as interesting as Adelaide's.
Despite my "low" rating, I loved this book. The cover is gorgeous and the plot is so fast paced that there was no time to even complain that it was slow, let alone have it actually be slow. It was perhaps a bit too fast. So much happened in 400 pages that we had little time to dwell on the Glittering Court itself, barely giving the romance time to develop. However, the friendship to romantic relationship build was done nicely. We rarely see the couple attempt to remain friends first so that was the first refreshing aspect of this novel. The whole arching theme of religion, a typically taboo topic, was a risk Richelle took in this world. She took many and I think they all paid off, another reason behind the four stars. The characters may be flat but nothing else was one bit. The freedom of religion and the strange "heretic ways" are still common issues in today's world and it was nice to see that represented. Usually religion isn't even brought up in young adult books. I also enjoyed the fact that the couple had different religious beliefs and backgrounds immensely. I'm not sure I've ever heard of this in any form of fictitious literature. It's an interesting obstacle couples face and is way more diverse and thought provoking than the love triangle or false loyalty obstacle.
(view spoiler)[The only part of the book where I felt bored or dissatisfied with the plot was the ending. I never trusted that psychopath Warren and saw that coming for the most part, but the gold mining scenes were dull and repetitive. I never liked learning about the Gold Rush in school so that's not too surprising. I also didn't feel the romance too much at the end. It felt rushed and instalovey. The build up and the initial romance was fabulous of course, but the rest wasn't so much. I really enjoyed the Glittering Court scenes, and the opening scenes with Lionel *shudder* Seeing Adelaide run away was fun and I'm glad she did it. I would have too, frankly. I can still see her with the attorney though, that could've worked out. One last thing that I enjoyed was the fact that we never learned Adelaide's real name for most of the book. It was unique and surprising, and worked well. I just wish we got an ending with more closure. I wonder what happened to Grandmama, as I liked her spunk. (hide spoiler)]