3.5 stars

This is the sort of book I took pleasure in reading at a slow pace, over a couple of weeks time, really taking time to immerse myself in the story and the characters. No rushing, no skipping, just savouring the fae world and enjoying the gift of reading.

That being said, at times it was just a little too slow. But there were many wonderful moments between Bristol and Tygan to counteract the slow pace.

I loved the mystery surrounding Bristol's parents, and the romance was absolutely top notch. It really lived up to the title of the book, and was just so intimate, with enjoyable banter and thoughtful conversations.

My least favourite thing were the unclear and unexpected perspective changes, which were confusing, and frankly ruined what could have been an even more amazing mystery, revealing information at wrong points in the story.

The ending was satisfying in terms of the romance, but it left me feeling a little disappointed plot wise.

Occasionally engaging but often disjointed, a new fae romantasy which doesn’t quite deliver.

Bristol Keats is not having an easy time. Her parents have died young and she’s returned home to help her sisters make ends meet. When she’s offered a mysterious painting from an aunt she’s never heard of, she’s desperate enough to meet.
Tyghan’s court is desperate, a new ruler of Elphame is going to be elected but they’re running out of time to stop the evil king wanting to take over. They need someone able to find and close doors. They need Bristol Keats.
Bristol makes a deal she never thought possible in a world she just might be made for, but nothing is as it seems and no one is telling her the full story.

I really wanted to read this but it just didn’t deliver. The author is apparently well known for YA and this reads like YA with a tad more spice. (And by spice I mean sex scenes by someone uncomfortable writing sex scenes - or at least that’s how it read to me).

I think the unfortunate thing about this book is that it’s entering a genre with a saturated market and the stuff that’s already out there does it a lot better. If you’re not an avid romantasy reader you may enjoy this foray but I would still struggle to get over some of the plot problems.

The enemies to lovers made no sense. There wasn’t a build up or any character development or chemistry. Romance aside there was just a lot of characters and it was quite hard to keep up.

The plot was really confusing and I kept wondering where it was going. Though I do want to talk to someone about the ending …

Though the term #shadowdaddy makes me feel violently ill, I don’t think Tyghan is up there with Rhysand or Xaden, though I would be very grateful if someone would help me pronounce his name.

Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for my #arc

3.75/5

The Courting of Bristol Keats has an amazing concept and world, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to its potential for me. The world-building is definitely one of the highlights—it’s rich, detailed, and had me hooked from the start. But the sheer number of characters introduced throughout the book became a bit overwhelming. There were so many people to keep track of, and I often found myself confused about who was who, which made the story harder to follow at times.

The pacing also felt off. The main relationship between Bristol and Tyghan seemed to develop way too quickly and felt a little forced. A lot of important scenes felt like they were skipped over, so I never got the chance to really sit with their connection or feel the depth of their relationship. Instead, it felt rushed, and I had a hard time fully investing in them as a couple. Also, despite being marketed as an enemies-to-lovers story, their dynamic felt more like a “dislike-to-lovers” arc—there wasn’t enough tension or animosity to make the eventual romance feel earned.

Another thing that bothered me was the multiple POVs. The story jumped around a lot, which made it difficult to really connect with any one character. It often felt like the narrative was all over the place, and it was hard to stay engaged when the focus kept shifting so frequently.

As for the ending, I was hoping for a bit more closure, especially since this is part of a duology. It didn’t really feel like a satisfying setup for the next book—it just kind of ended abruptly, leaving me with more questions than answers.

That being said, I still really liked Bristol and Tyghan as characters. Even though their relationship felt a bit rushed, I loved their dynamic and chemistry, and I’m curious to see where the story goes next. While the book had its issues, I’m still invested in the world and the characters, and I’m hoping the next installment will give me more of what I was hoping for.

The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson is the first book in the series of the same name.
 
We follow Bristol whose parents disappeared, and she needs to make ends meet with her sisters. She is particularly interested in art and that is also how she gets in trouble and accidentally struck a bargain with Tyghan who is no other than the fae king. All of this has to do with her family and her world is completely turned upside down. This concept was so cool and reminded me a bit of a more adult version of The Cruel Prince.
 
My favorite part was when Bristol entered the faerie world of Elphame and she unlocks even more secrets and outgrows herself. I like seeing characters who push their comfort zones and Bristol totally did that.
 
The cover is absolutely stunning and draws you in and totally matches this story. It’s whimsical, magical and with a portion of forbidden romance and I really enjoyed it.
 
The Courting of Bristol Keats is an amazing start to a new fantasy series and I’m already looking forward to the next installment. 4,5 stars.
 
(Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an arc.)

Thank you for the publisher for the earc!

It was a strange book. There were some good elements, but overall I felt disappointed. It took me 2 weeks to finish it, and you know that I’m usually a fast reader. I was struggling hard, but not with the story itself, more like the writing and pacing were off. Honestly, this book felt like ACoTaR, aka a book-long prologue.

I admit, it took me a while to realize that we start at our world and not in a fantasy one. But once I got over it, I really enjoyed the main story, the whole training to fight off something that Bristol couldn’t even imagine. I did love Bristol’s character, she was brave, smart and wanted to keep her family together.

I know many people said it feels like an insta love, but I have to disagree. I loved the way the romance was written, it felt real. It’s true both of them immediately felt something, but they got to know each other slowly. But honestly, everything else about the romance plot felt off. It felt really weird that Bristol got together with his father’s best friend. I understand that time went differently in the two worlds, but still!

Oh and the ending, what was that? I still think my copy was missing chapters. We were literally in the middle of a scene. Why?

Overall, I would recommend to save your time and money by not reading this book.

4⭐️s

I absolutely loved this book! From the beginning to the end, the writing had me HOOKED (unsurprisingly).

This story follows our main girl Bristol, and her two sisters. After loosing both of her parents, Bristol is thrown into the world of Elphame after discovering that her parents may have ties to the fae world…ones the Keats sisters knew nothing about. Desperate to help her sisters, and potentially find her father alive, Bristol will do just about anything - including working with the uptight king that seemingly wants nothing to do with her.

While the overall plot of this book was nothing crazy original, it was still a wonder to read. There were a few twists and turns, especially the small minor detailed ones, that really had me invested! The best thing about this book for me was the characters. Most of the characters I thought were decently flushed out, but there may have been one or two more side characters than needed (training mentors, bosses etc) and they felt a little one dimensional. The main two characters of Bristol and Tyghan were great, both individually and together - my only hang up is that I wish we actually saw them more together on the page than before they were officially together; i loved the frenemies and the ‘will they wont they’ vibe! I really really liked them together, and hope in future books (pls?) that we can see more and see them properly settle into being eachothers forever.

A massive theme in this book is relationships. Wether its strange parental figures or missing brothers or complicated loves or even your relationship with yourself, there are so many different complex relationships that are discovered and unfold on page. I liked getting to see a few different POVs through out too, but really liked that it stayed in third person.

My only big negative is that the storyline of finding Bristols dad seemed pointless at times; she wanted to find him yes, but as readers we know that he left her and her sisters, knowing that time runs differently in the mortal world and he had been gone for so long. Just didn’t seem necessary to me and could have been a “big reveal” thing instead!

This book felt like a warm hug coming back to a setting that I know and love. If you liked The Cruel Prince, but want something a little more romantic, then this is the perfect book for you. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my eArc!

I had very high hopes for this book and whilst it was enjoyable and the characters were well written it was too slow for me overall. I love the premise though and hope the next book will be a bit of a faster one to get going! If you love world building and slow burn then this is definitely for you.

Unfortunatly DNF at 18%. I don't like doing it for ARCs but whenever I tried to read the book, it felt like the hardest job of the day. I don't doubt there will be a lot of fans for this story, but I just couldn't connect

The Courting of Bristol Keats sounded amazing, unfortunately it didn’t live up to how amazing it sounded. However there were things I liked about it, like the writing style, the world, magic and the multiple points of view. I found it to be an interesting and intriguing story but it was slow paced and it felt unfinished in a way like vital parts were missing. As much as it pains me to do it I dnfed at 49%. I wanted to read this all the way through but I don’t think I can go any further.

Where do I start?

I haven’t been so obsessed with a fantasy in a long time.

This was the perfect read.
Bristol is this human girl that has lost both her parents. One day someone get in contact with her about some arts.
Because they are in need of money she decides to meet with this mistero person. During this meeting she meets Tyghan.

He’s arrogant and a king in fairyland.
But also he needs her to save his world. So they decide to do a bargain, he’s going to help find her father, who apparently is not dead but just in his world and in exchange she will help him with her “magic”.

Of course one thing lead to another and they fall into each other arms,

This was so good.
The romance
The plot
Chef kiss

I loved this, Romania’s will always have my heart and this really fit the bill. I had a ball reading it, so many emotions and it’s rare an author manages to make me feel the rollercoaster of highs and lows myself.

Just dropping a star because it felt like part of the book was missing at the end, which i did see another reviewer say too.

I was having such a great time with this book and kept thinking, "finally! A romantasy with actually good writing that clearly went through the editing process and wasn't just pushed out quickly to try to generate money while the genre is hot." (I clearly have a highly in-depth monologue.) I loved the journey and the romance and the overall themes immensely. However, the ending was jarring. It just stopped? So abruptly? I honestly thought I was missing part of the book. We didn't even get to the climax of the book. It felt like the author wrote too long of a book so they just chopped it directly in half, not caring where it split. It was so weird and I didn't like that publishing decision at all. I will definitely still read book two regardless, but this could have been done better in my opinion.

3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Courting of Bristol Keats is a new book from the author of The Kiss of Deception and Dance of Thieves. This time we follow Bristol, a girl who has never stayed in the same place for more than a few months. Her family has been living nomadically for years and it is only when they settle down in the town of Bowskeep that everything starts to go wrong. With both parents gone, Bristol is taken to Elphame (the land of the fae) to test out her skills. This is a new Romantasy book with magic, sisterhood and fae.

I was so excited to get an early copy of this book. The cover looked amazing and the blurb made it sound like a high action story with lots of interesting characters. Whilst this is somewhat true, I have to admit that a lot of the book felt too slow and meandering to me. It took me about 100 pages to really get into reading it because so little was happening. An entirely new world was being introduced to Bristol who was raised in the human realm so I understand that we need some worldbuilding. But then once she’s confirmed that fae exist she accepts it without blinking or worrying! She isn’t really shocked and claims that their existence ‘explains everything’. How? It was so strange that she was so accepting.

Once we enter Elphame the action picks up a bit with her lessons and trials. She also has a personal mission to find someone (but I wont provide spoilers) so she explores the world at night. It may sound like she has a lot going on, but once again nothing really seems to happen until halfway through the book. We keep getting told what she’s doing but never shown it. And she makes no progress in lessons, training or searching. I found it a bit frustrating.

I liked the characters of Bristol and Tyghan at least. Their interactions were fun and I could see why they were slowly falling for each other. Bristol’s deeply suspicious nature serves her well in the fae realm and it means that the romance is filled with yearning rather than insta-love which I appreciate. However, none of the other characters seemed to be developed. There were a couple of people in Tyghan’s court that I liked (like his sister) but the people that Bristol interacted with were completely forgettable. I literally could not remember their names or what they looked like. Once again, we are told random bits of information about them, but they never seem to have any dialogue. If you can’t see them interacting with the other characters, they become superfluous.

So, I had mixed thoughts about this story. It was clearly an ambitious book with lots of plot points about war, betrayal and magic, but this meant that smaller aspects like characterisation were lost. I also think that it was way too long. If this were a 300 page book with fewer characters I think that the plot would have been much snappier. That being said, I can see fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses being fans of this kind of story. It is definitely more focused on the romance than the politics though.

This book literally has everything! Fae, intrigue, promises, lies, magic, monsters, tension, and forbidden romance all tied together beautifully in this epic romantasy. The characters feel familiar and make the book hard to put down. It is beautifully written; the world building is top tier, and I will definitely be reading the sequel as I feel we have only scratched the surface of this magnificent world.

3 stars i found this a bit boring, while the premise was interesting, the characters and storytelling would drama and I found myself forcing to read through. The overall vibes were nice but the actual events playing out felt generic and cookie cutter. Whilst I gave it a 3 stars for the tropes that are found in this book, it's remains 3 stars because the romance was going to well until the slow burn turned into love too quickly for my liking. Not enough slow burn and their actual relationship was not as exciting as the build up.

I was so excited to read this book, because although the premise seems familiar, it had potential. Unfortunately the writing and constant switch of POVs, vague scenes rather confused me than were intriguing.
Perhaps it was just not my cup of tea 🤷‍♀️

DNF @ 35%

I try to finish every ARC but sometimes I just couldn't, no matter how hard I try. This is one of those cases.
I've enjoyed the Remnant Chronicles in the past and I was curious to read Pearson's new book. Alas, it wasn't my cup of tea.
It had a strong start but after a while I started losing interest. It felt like nothing really happened and the characters should have been developed better. And I wasn't sold on the romance either.
Hopefully other readers will enjoy it more than me.

Dnf @37%

I absolutely hate dnf’ing arcs but I just truly couldn’t find it within myself to continue reading.

Which i’m pretty bummed out about cause this premise sounded amazing and right up my alley

The worldbuilding just felt extremely underdeveloped to me and I didn’t understand what was even going on most of the time. While the start was very strong in my opinion, it quickly lost the plot soon after that and I had no idea what direction the author wanted to go with it.

I feel like the author wanted to explore multiple storylines at once, which I always admire, but I can’t help but think it just ended up causing more confusion along the way?? Made some parts feel very rushed, while other plotlines seemed to drag on for what felt like forever

Really wish I could’ve loved this, cause like I mentioned, the start was very strong and definitely made me eager to continue

Ok.. so when I first started this book I thought OMG 500+ pages is a lot, but my god it wasn’t enough.

I devoured this story and now I’m so sad I’ll have to wait for the next book.

Bristol is bold, curious and compassionate. I think we all saw how the secrets between her and the fae would unravel painfully. I felt it in my heart how that betrayal hit her, yet the author wrote Bristol in a way where she reacted only mildly like you might anticipate.

This does the fantasy/romantasy genre justice, it’s got depth and layers. The connections that you slowly work out between Bristol’s family, the king and the fae realm. It was great being on the inside of the knowledge and secrets we knew would come out, the anticipation for the characters reactions was 10/10.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this. I really enjoyed The Courting of Bristol Keats, it is an engaging, fantasy romance that throws the reader into the world of fae and monsters. I loved Bristol and Tyghan, and the twists, however, I was slightly confused at the ending of the book. I’m intrigued to find out what happens next.