meu_lan's reviews
70 reviews

-I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review-
I never would've thought of Cinderella being paired with King Midas, but honestly it's a pretty good match. Scarlet and Remme are such an interesting combination
I like the idea of Scarlet/Cinderella turning to crime to save her family name. Rather than just being a pushover, she's actively doing whatever she can to keep herself afloat. If she's so close to Fairy Godmother though, I don't know why FG wouldn't just order a hit on the stepmother to solve all of Scarlet's problems (I guess that solution is just too easy)

I know glass slippers are a Cinderella thing but they really don't make sense for a thief. I think it could've been ugly shoes and like all the noblewomen couldn't hide their disgust long enough to put it on, would've been funny. I do wonder why the glass slippers were included though if they never made a reappearance other than the size. Also for her being the "best of the best" she's caught way too quickly every time :/

Nobody seems to have brains in the GGG because you'd think after the FL got caught TWICE they would conisder that the king has been putting really obvious traps out. Like, if I tried to steal the crown and got caught I wouldn't go to a competition to win the crown held pretty much the next day. Especially when you lost a shoe and they ask your SHOE SIZE to enter. That's just asking to be arrested. Rose and Scarlet are also really loud and obvious, constantly whispering in corners or talking about their jobs without taking heed of who is around.

The first part of the story really flew by quickly to set up for the challenges. The way the king is shown to set up these challenges to catch the thief is pretty brilliant, and I very much enjoyed the subterfuge on his side. I also LOVE the camaraderie between Rose and Scarlet. The constant bickering and rivalry but yet always having each other's backs makes them seem like sisters. It did flip flop quite a bit throughout the book though, sometimes a little too extreme.

The magic, when it appears, is pretty cool. They have artifacts and enchantments, but I feel like sometimes theyre just randomly thrown in? There doesn't seem to be an established magic system, just magic exists and is there when it's convenient. I think the spell to make someone not have to pee anymore was a little too strange for me.

I really liked how the story was resolved.

The King choosing wrong, and the consequences, the disaster of a wedding and fight, and figuring out the curse together were so cute!

Overall, I really liked the story. The plot progressed in a meaningful way, and the characters were so lovable and fun (even if they were a little dumb at times). I wish we could've known a bit more about the origin of Remme's curse and seen Scarlet get her inheritance back, but those are minor points compared to the rest of the story. Highly recommend, a very fun read!

The book pretty much read like a fanfic of Tangled. I can imagine Christina Lauren with the movie script in her hand, rewriting it and making sure to include all the iconic scenes and references because it sure does have them all. That's not to say it isn't well done, and I love Tangled so I am absolutely not complaining. But I think if I wrote some of those scenes back in high school my English teacher would've rolled her eyes at me at the similarities

That being said, I think the second half of the book got much better. Once the box of Tangled was removed, getting to know Fitz and Ren as their own individuals went a lot better, and the chemistry was so cute. I was worried they were focusing too much on the movie, but I liked the way they played out the whole parental thing. The ending was really abrupt though, and the little "happy ever after" note wasn't enough in my opinion

Everything in this book is just side quest after side quest

It's really hard to read this series since they do a lot of crossover with the author's other books and I've never read them

Honestly I'm not really sure where this book ended and the next one started

Essentially hunger games with fae and Roman gods

I only have two things to say about this book:

1) In my head Nora is played by the rainbow closet girl- the one with the color wheel and the Gogo boots. They have very similar dispositions and if she was an actress I'd say she should play her for a screen adaptation (sorry if you don't know her she's great)

2) I'm really tired of OCD being played as a quirky personality trait. Like it's not normal to just rearrange your ex-boyfriends entire closet while you're at his house, it's not cutesy. Why is it that her second most important personality trait (after insanely perky) is that she obsessively organizes everything all the time but yet it's cute! It's fun! It's original!

I'm really confused by the rules of the sport, but despite the messiness of everyone's pasts it was very addicting. A little frustrated with where it ended though, there was a lot of buildup and we didn't hardly get to see any of the games. I'm glad the next book is already out bc it would be torture to wait for