— 3.5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This is my first reading experience with author Mary R. Pearson and I definitely enjoyed myself overall! The world building was extensive and I had a lot of fun trying to mentally visualise every aspect of the story. The writing itself is immersive and had me gripped in its clutches as I eagerly awaited to see what would happen next. I really enjoyed the cast or characters in this story, however at times it felt like there was a lot happening and it started to feel difficult to keep track on who was who and what their purpose was. I initially struggled with the pacing as I found it a bit slower to progress during the introductory period for the characters and setting, however I really started to feel more intrigued once this passed. Overall I had a good time and there was some plot points that left me visibly shocked, so I’m very excited to see what will happen next in the next instalment.

3.75 / 5

For me, this was a book of two halves.

If I’m completely honest, I really struggled in the first 45-50%. The world building was complex and rich, but I was not invested in the characters or the situation enough to absorb the information being given in great detail.

However, there is a major turning point in the story (no spoilers, but something is discovered on the FMC), and at this point I sat up and took notice.

After this, I became very invested in the story and the characters. I enjoyed how well the author wove her storylines together and how reveals with plots and secrets were made at the perfect moment to move the story along.

After some initial hesitation, and yes even a strong consideration of DNF-ing, I am so glad I progressed with this book. I have never read anything by this author before, so the approach of short, vivid chapters was a new one to me and although this took me a while to enjoy, I most certainly will be back for the completion of the duology.

I want to thank NetGalley, Pan Macmillan & Tor Bramble, and Mary E. Pearson for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. The review is my own opinion and I have given this freely.

i enjoyed this a lot, the setting/world building was so interesting and very nicely written. the entire book was really nicely written, loved the different povs so much.

BUT i also felt like it was 560 pages of barel any plot, very tell and little show
also i've got to be honest, even as someone who loooves friend groups in books, i couldn't keep track of who half of these people were... WHOEVER the ones that are more present really stood out to me like eris, dahlia and melizane, i hope to see more of them in the future.

all in all, the story is interesting enough for me to look forward to the next book !!
thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC <3

Having lost both parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters are struggling to make ends meet. When Bristol receives a letter offering help from an aunt she's never met, she agrees to a meeting, and finds out the world is not as she knows it. Discovering her father might be alive, kidnapped by a strange creature and taken to another world, Bristol sets out to rescue him, striking a dangerous bargin with fae king Tyghan along the way.

Well my thoughts and feelings on this one are a bit mixed. When I first picked it up and re-read the blurb I wondered what had made me request it from NetGalley, given I don't normally read romance novels. I found myself very quickly engrossed in the story though, and for the most part found the book hard to put down.

I liked Bristol, her determination and strength, along with her refusal to be cowed, were qualities that I admired and found made her a very likeable protagonist. Unsurprisingly I liked the surly and brooding Tyghan too. What did surprise me though was that I actually enjoyed reading of their romance. I think because for the most part they don't fall into the usual trap of poor communication (except for the major secret at the heart of the book of course).

I will say that when the fae characters and alternate realm were first introduced it seemed like things moved very quickly, with Bristol seeming to accept this new world without any hesitation. It does feel like the story skips over some journeys and fast forwards a bit in places to get to the action. I found this a bit jarring at times, and it felt like it did interupt the flow of the story a little. Aside from that I loved the storyline and found it to be well paced. By about half way through I was well and truly hooked, and finding all possible excuses to keep reading!

Unfortunately for me the ending of this one was a let down. It's clear from a reasonable way out that things aren't going to be resolved in one book, which is fine, however things seemed to literally end in the middle of a scene. It didn't seem like a natural place to pause the narrative, and left me feeling very disatisfied (almost like waking up from a dream right as it's getting to the fun part).

I'm unsure at this point whether I will read the follow on novel or not. Whilst I'd like to know what happens in Elphame, the ending of this first book has put me off a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and Tor Bramble for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm having a hard time reviewing this one, because I really wanted to love it, and unfortunately I didn't. If I had to review it in the first half, I would've given it 2 stars: it gets really boring after a few chapters because not much happens, there are too many characters introduced at once that I only remembered the names of by the time they became relevant in the story. I was tempted to dnf and it took me forever to get to the good part.

Now in the second half it got slightly better, things start happening and there's drama, intrigue and conflicts. I liked this part better, but still not enough to rate the book higher than 3.5, given how long it took me to get here. There was a twist that was really good, and some that I saw coming from a mile away, mostly because some of the big reveals are just dropped rather than held back to keep the readers guessing. The ending is anticlimactic and I absolutely hated it. There's no cliffhanger, no tension, no drama, which would make me look forward to the sequel (which I hope is going to be better than this one).

If I had to recommend it based on similar books, I would say the worldbuilding is similar to The Cruel Prince, the court drama reminds me of ACOTAR a little, but otherwise there's nothing to make it stand out among so many other human-among-fae romantasies. For all the hype surrounding it, I really had higher hopes and sadly it didn't deliver.

The Courting of Bristol Keats is a brand new fae Romantasy with an interesting premise.

The book opens with Bristol Keats bargaining with a fae King who promises to help her find her non-dead father. She leaves the human realm and travels with Tyghan’s knights to Danu Nation (one of the 12 kingdoms in Elphame) with only few pages of a book on faeries to guide her.

Bristol’s journey in Elphame is riddled with too many unknowns- from her father’s past to the mysterious fae magic. As she spends time with Tyghan, as a recruit, she has to equip herself with new knowledge that might lead to her father.

But nothing in Elphame goes as planned.

Tyghan kept his distance from her from the beginning because of the bad blood between him and Bristol’s father, which she wasn’t aware of. But circumstances brought them closer and it was clear to everyone around that they were bound to happen.

Her parents’ decision to hide the truth from her and her sister impacts Bristol the most and changed her outlook on the world. She struggled to digest her feelings and wasn’t ready for the change.

Lastly, the book started with two main plot points (imo)- finding her father and the impending Choosing Ceremony. We are given clarity on her father’s whereabouts by the end of the book, but we never got closer to the ceremony. The romance and the recruit training occupied a good portion of the book, stalling the plot.

Since I can’t stand not knowing who might become the next Elphame king, I’ll be continuing this series even though I might forget our side characters by then.

Thanks to Pan MacMillan and Netgalley for the free review copy of the book!

I had seen the special edition of this book and thought it was so pretty that I had to give this book a read.

This book was so much more than what I expected, I truly felt a part of the world, Elphame. And I fell in love with the characters! I think Rose is my favourite side character 🤭.

This is a he falls first, slow burn romance with found family and even family secrets. The family secrets are scandalous! The drama had me on the edge of my seat.

This is definitely the closest book I’ve found to Throne of Glass which makes me so happy! And I honestly cannot wait to read the next book!

3.5 stars rounded down.

That rating might be too generous, because while this had a lot of potential, there were several major issues that held it back. I found the plot interesting when the book actually focused on it, but the story is stretched over too many pages and includes some bizarre choices. I'm just going to list the things that bothered me:
- Why do they bother to train the recruits in magic and combat when closing the portal is the most important thing? Shouldn't they be spending all their time testing them for portal closing ability, or trying to awaken it in them? The start of Bristol's time in Elphame seems almost like a magical school story which just does not fit the situation at all. They're trying to close a zombie portal but there is no sense of urgency.
- The scene where the recruits make a dramatic entrance at a political party by dancing is so fucking stupid and it makes no sense that it impresses people.
- There are so many side characters and none of them have enough distinguishing traits to be memorable, but they keep getting brought up all the time even though most of them never do anything.
- What the fuck was up with the invisible dancing? Never mind the fact that Bristol has no real reason to think Tyghan's the one dancing with her, and not some kind of fae ghost or creepy perv, but apparently dancing is incredibly hot when it's invisible - Tyghan just has to touch Bristol's hands and she starts going on about smouldering cores and such.
- The romance develops too quickly - midway through the book and they are already in love and sleeping together. Just once I would like a real slow burn romance with proper pining in a published book.
- The ending resolves very little and it felt like the book had no climax. no, ending with a sex scene doesnt count
- What does she mean the fae only reach maturity in their seventies. Does that make Tyghan an adolescent?

That might seem like a lot of complaints, but I did actually enjoy most of this. Like I said, the plot is actually good, especially the stuff involving Bristol's parents. While the world wasn't explored that much, what we did see was pretty interesting. I liked the variety of different types of fae we saw, and I'm excited to see what Bristol becomes - I'm hoping the author doesn't chicken out and we get full monstrous Bristol.

I'm definitely going to read the next book, and I do recommend The Courting of Bristol Keats to anyone who likes romantasy or modern fae stories (I actually think it's better than most romantasy I've read but that's not saying much). Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for ARC.

This was my first book from this author but definitely won't be the last!

I did find the world building a little confusing to start with, but I soon got to grips with it (along with the main character, who was finding her own feet!) and then I just wanted to keep reading. The supporting cast of characters were so well developed and the plot was intriguing from the first page. So many romantasy cliches were avoided and I found the development of relationships and friendships to be believable and left me desperate to find out what happens next for everyone.

I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this novel and can't wait for the sequel. Huge thanks to the publisher for the eARC.
Rating - 4.5

Love this book: it was so good. I had been looking forward to reading it for a while and it didn’t disappoint. Thank you to the Writer, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review this wonderful book.

This book was ok.

It was a bit slow and I think it could have been shorter but I enjoyed the journey and the ending 😊

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Love Mary E Pearsons writing once again.

I thought the characters were well written and I can’t wait to read what’s next

Absolutely phenomenol! This is easily one of my favorite reads of the year. The writing is exquisite, with intricate characters, incredible world-building, and a fascinating magic system. I was completely hooked and couldn't put it down. Every element was so well thought out and beautifully crafted. The ending took me completely by surprise, and now I’m eagerly anticipating the second book!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really hoping to love this, but unfortunately it did not hit as well I hoped. I'm a huge fan of this author's Dance of Thieves duology and The Remnant Chronicles series--those two series are what made me fall in love with reading! So i was surprised when I found myself getting bored throughout the book and not invested at all in the story or characters. It's very disappointing, but hopefully lots of other readers will find themselves loving this! It just was not for me.

I liked the premise of this book which follows Bristol Keats, a human mortal who recently lost both parents and is trying to keep her and her sisters afloat. Bristol receives mysterious letters from an unknown aunt which leads to making a bargain with a fae king and discovering a whole world she never knew existed.

I liked Bristol as a character, she wasn’t your usual naive human girl, though of course there are moments of this due to not knowing the faerie realm existed or even that fae existed. I enjoyed the tension between her and Tyghan overall, though when the romance finally kicked off it felt too quick and didn’t really hit the mark for me. This book is very much about giving you all the plot, I felt I really understood the end game of this but we don’t get there, and it did feel like it could’ve been covered in a slightly shorter book as there isn’t any real action which made it feel slow. However, I still enjoyed this and will be looking forward to the second book as I think that’ll be really action packed.

Overall I gave this book 3.75⭐️ which I’ve rounded up to 4 for Goodreads. Though I enjoyed it the pace was a bit slow for me and the romance didn’t hit the mark so I couldn’t quite give it a full 4⭐️.

Really good read with great character building, I could tell there would be a sequel but I do think this one ended in a strange way, not even a cliffhanger really just felt like it ended in the middle of sentence, however I would read the sequel

This one hooked me quickly, given that I immediately liked and sympathised with Bristol. Having lost both parents at an age when she and her sisters still needed plenty of support and guidance, she was trying hard to make ends meet and keep their small family together. And then she receives an offer she can’t refuse – even though it’s clearly dodgy.

As for Tyghan – I can’t say I warmed to him initially. For starters, it was clear he was trying to reel Bristol in and wasn’t all the nice about it. As soon as she learnt her father was still alive, she was determined to find him – and Tyghan and the fae were saying one thing to Bristol’s face and another behind her back. Yet were also very wary of her… It was an interesting setup that kept my interest.

The expected romance – enemies to lovers – progressed much as I’d already worked out that it would. As the political stakes involved in keeping Tyghan’s kingdom afloat continued ramping up, I became more invested in his welfare as I learnt exactly how and why Bristol’s father mattered so much to him. What I didn’t expect was to become so caught up in the emotional chaos once some of those big secrets spilt into the open. Pearson has written YA before and it shows in her ability to dial emotions up to the max. However, unlike far too many YA reads, she gives her protagonists strong reasons for becoming upset and I was really moved at the misery experienced by both the main characters. It helps that they are surrounded by a well-written supporting cast, who have their own opinions on what is going on and choose sides accordingly.

This story arc finished on something of a cliff-hanger – which I’d expected anyway, given it’s a duology. I will be looking out for the second book in due course, as well as hunting down more of Pearson’s writing. Highly recommended for fans of enemies to friends romance in a strong fantasy setting. While I obtained an arc of The Courting of Bristol Keats from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

I love The Remnant Chronicles and its spinoff, so I was very excited for this book, and it didn't disappoint!
I am typically not a fan of portal worlds, but I enjoyed the way it was done here.
The whole premise wasn't the most unique, but the way it was executed made it its own story and had me so excited.
My favorite part were the different beast, fairies and creatures, it made the world feel so rich and it just gave it a really fun twist.

I really enjoyed the romance, it wasn't my absolute favorite, but I was definitely invested and rooted for them.
I also liked the character development of the main character. I found her a tiny bit annoying at the start, but she really grew on me as she continued to grow throughout the story.

I will say that I think it could have felt a bit YA at times. I actually went to check at one point if misremember this being the author's adult debut because it just didn't quite feel like it.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and will certainly read the sequels, but it didn't quite live up to how much I loved the author's previous books.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

The Courting Of Bristol Keates is a fantastic, fantasy fable.
The story tells us about Bristol and her two sisters trying to adjust to life without their parents. Their mother was drowned in a storm, and their father, never the same since, had been killed by a hit and run driver. Luckily for them their father had sold some art before their mother’s death, which allowed him to buy a house for the whole family. All Bristol and her sisters have to do is pay for the day to day living..
After receiving two letters from an estranged “aunt”, Bristol is tempted to a meeting by some priceless art. She knows that will pay some of the outstanding bills and make life a little easier. This meeting will open her eyes to a different sort of world, one that shows her things she only dreamed about, and makes her determined for a different future.
I loved the story, the descriptions of all the different characters, I loved it all!! There are fairies, ogres, you name it, it’s in this story!! A magical, fantasy land!.
I hope and pray that this will be a series and the next book comes along quickly!!!!
Many thanks to Pam MacMillan for the opportunity to read this arc copy via Netgalley. My opinion is my own.
#Netgalley, #PanMacmillan, #MaryEPearson.

I adored this book, it kept me on my toes and I was obsessed with the world building. I feel like I knew enough to keep me wanting more. I did struggle with the jumping POV's, but I knew it would all click the more I read, which it did. I am excited to see where this goes in the next installment.