ya romantasy – Swimming in Books

I absolutely loved ‘Six Crimson Cranes’ and the ‘Spin the Dawn’ duology so I was looking forward to another one of Elizabeth Lim’s Far Eastern-inspired fairytale retellings.

‘A Forgery of Fate’ is based on Beauty and the Beast but it has a lot of other elements inspired by various stories and mythologies (eg. The Magic Paintbrush). After Truyan’s father dies in a shipwreck, her family is thrown into poverty, which is exacerbated by her mother’s gambling problem. Truyan is a gifted artist and makes money by forging paintings to sell but she also has a secret that she’s never told anyone – she has visions and can paint the future.

When a desperate financial situation forces Truyan to seek the help of the mysterious masked ‘Demon Prince’, he offers her a deal. He will pay off her debts and protect her family in exchange for her posing as his true love, joining him in the dragon realm and helping him to overthrown the cruel and tyrannical Dragon King. The Demon Prince is in fact a Dragon Prince called Elang – a half dragon, cursed by the Dragon King. But once she joins him in the dragon realm, she discovers there’s more to Elang, and more to the story than she’s been told.

This is a charming, lyrical and romantic story, filled with strange creatures, vibrant landscapes and captivating characters. Unlike, her recent duologies, this is a standalone story so everything is wrapped up nicely by the end of the book (although there are some tears along the way). Highly recommended!

Thanks to Hodderscape and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

Osric is an assassin and member of the Fyren order, but when he discovers that his magic is failing, the only person who might possibly be able to help him is Aurienne, member of an enemy order – the Haelen. But how can Osric convince her to save him when he is her mortal enemy and the healing that he seeks is based on fairytales and nothing more? He tries to charm her, considers kidnapping when this fails, but ultimately only a large donation towards pox vaccine research to help impoverished children can sway her. Thus begin the adventures of Aurienne and Osric – full of acerbic banter, gratuitous murder and pining.

Osric (despite his awful name – Osric is the name of a troll or an orc surely?) is a lethal and wickedly charming character with a weakness for rescuing stray dogs. Aurienne is ruthlessly competent and fiercely upright but her moral fibre becomes increasingly frayed with exposure to Osric.

I loved DMATMOOBIL by the same author, and so I requested this book on Netgalley as soon as it was available. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is an utterly different story, complete with a brand new world (possibly an excessive amount of terminology) and all new witty reparte – only the immaculate vibes remain. A delightful romp with an irresistible pair of enemies-to-lovers – I absolutely adored this and can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

Tag: ya romantasy

‘A Forgery of Fate’ by Elizabeth Lim

‘The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy’ by Brigitte Knightley (Dearly Beloathed #1)