Bow Before the Elf Queen

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Well this one made the first book look absolutely fantastic and now I am rethinking my whole experience reading that book. Thane! I love love super love characters like this. He’s the mysterious misunderstood, secretly sweet and loyal male lead who immediately captures my heart. Ah, there goes my virginity. The Kings elite guards at it again just dropping panties left and right out in these dusty mountains.

The Pacing: the pacing started out as great in the beginning but there instances where the story kind of lost me in the second half. Okay, so I was just casually listening to this book until Thane said, “You are mine and I am yours…”Author’s note: This is book 1 in a series and ends on a cliff. This is an adult slow burn romance with plenty of banter, tension, and a touch of steam. Contains violence and mature themes . The ending- I liked it a lot. The cliffhanger makes me excited. But I cannot ignore the fact that I did not enjoy the majority of the book.

Layala and Thane had a complicated relationship - she has been brought up to believe that he would steal her freedom, whereas he has spent his time doing what he can to protect her from afar. They had such great banter, and seeing Layala slowly let down her walls and learn about Thane's true character. Thane is patient and shows her again and again that he is not out to hurt her, we love a secret cinnamon roll. Layala's powers are completely badass, and I'm excited to see her use them more. They started as enemies, we can see the change in pace with each interaction. While Layala is determined to hate Thane for eternity, she comes to realise that what she heard about him while in hiding might not be the whole truth. I really liked them together, while the slowburn was a bit longer than I wanted, we rewarded in the end. I'm looking forward to see them together in book 2 and see how their relationship progresses.This book made me so mad, I can't even begin to describe how I'm feeling about it. Before I finished this book, I was going to watch Over The Hedge, and write this review after I'd had two fun things done in a row. The first was supposed to be this book, the second, the movie. But this book caused me so much rage. The romance was blah. That goes with the uninspired characters. I had no reason to care about their relationship and I felt no actual connection to it. Now that day has come, forcing her to come face-to-face with what she’s hidden from: a dangerous, dark-haired, warrior king determined to marry her. I’ve felt like I’ve known you for as long as I can remember. And maybe it was because of our mate bond but sometimes I feel — more. I would find you in every life, in every realm. I will be drawn to you for eternity. So yes, call me your mate. I will always call you mine.” I had high hopes for the romance in the beginning - especially with the whole kidnapping and girl, I love a long, angsty ride to the capitol. But somewhere it just lost me. My first sense of foreboding came when Thane was actually accommodating and downright pleasant to Layala.

Thane was nice. Really, really nice. He just said nice things and did nice things and never pushed and wasn't at all the brutal young king that the rumors made him out to be. I has trouble deciding whether the characters had a distinct personality or they simply weren't characterized all that well. Thane could be all sweet and endearing but oh boy if someone if they so much harm a hair on her head... RIP them. Thane goes feral where Layala's safety is considered. I wanted to love this so much I was pretty sure I'd end up hating it, and while I didn't look loathe it in the end, I felt a bit betrayed.If you want to be an indie author it's a lot of work. You have to be an entrepreneur and marketer as well as an author, but it's also very rewarding. And then write A LOT. As with anything, the more you do the better you'll get. I wrote for 13 years (not steadily every day but consistently just because I enjoyed doing it) before I felt I was good enough to publish my first book. (and now that I have 8 books out, I think my first published book could be better *shrugs*) I wrote several full-length books over the years that will probably never be published. They were practice. The book comes with a fair amount of disclaimers that I want my audience to be on alert too: #violance #war #steamyromance #moralygrey characters. Love was a powerful force. It could not be bought. It could not be taken or stolen. Although sometimes it must be fought for, it must be given freely. Love was a powerful force. It could not be bought. It could not be taken or stolen. Although sometimes it must be fought for, it must be given freely.”