✧.* 2.5/5

I am unfortunately going to be this person and say that I mainly picked this up because it was in my Afterlight box months ago and the cover is absolutely gorgeous. And to be fair, I was pretty hooked in the beginning of this until I realised that June, our FMC, is constantly turning around in circles.

She keeps saying the same things and yet. we only ever scratch the surface of it and go on with a plot that is beat to beat following the usual workings of a romcom.

Which, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t make this book unbearable, nor is it bad, but it’s certainly disappointing considering that friends to lovers is always hard to pull off and fake dating has been done to the death.

Even the romance is just… okay. Levi and June had some really adorable moments and there is a single sex scene in this that was imo quite enjoyable, but then we jump right into the third act breakup which… urgh.

I believe June unfortunately ended up being my biggest complaint about this. Especially towards the end, she lost me completely and I didn’t care about anything but the romance anymore

Spice: 🌶️/5

✧.* 4.5/5

"And then the storm broke, and the dragons danced."

Oh, how I love this universe. Oh, how I love some of these characters. I unfortunately watched House of the Dragon before reading this or else it would have been even better. While I do think some parts were stale and boring (STEPSTONES!!! all the lys drama!!!), everything else was so interesting to follow. The Targaryens have a tragic, horrible history, but to follow them through grief and triumph made me appreciate this series as a whole so much more. GRRM truly is a genius in my opinion and there has rarely been a fantasy world I've felt more immersed in.

I really hope he is at least going to finish the second part of this, so I can read more about Baelor Breakspear, Maekar etc!!