👑 What Cruelty May Be Hiding Under the Crown

Hi! I’m Diana, the face behind Fae Reviews. It’s the first Friday of June, so it’s time for a new edition of my videoletter Fae Bard. Find my book picks for this month and save time choosing what to read next.

Book of the Month

My top book recommendation this time is a beloved young adult Fantasy-Romance story that should be in everyone’s list: The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black.

It is the beginning of the series The Folk of the Air, which comprises three main novels and a some novellas.

You’ll follow one of my favorite couples of all time, Jude and Cardan. Jude is a human who lives now among the dangerous Fae. With her big ambitions, she wants a place in their court to finally feel and prove that she belongs. But if there’s someone willing to step in her way is beautiful and cruel Prince Cardan. A power play that will bring complicated consequences, but also lead to uncovering plots and intrigues that could put fairy in jeopardy. It might be up to her or them to save them all.

Holly Black’s characteristic macabre and dark humor is printed all over this series. You’ll find power dynamics, ruthless and cunning characters, a lot of action and intrigue, and of course this blend of such a sweet and beautiful spark in contrast with the stony and harsh exterior of our main characters.

It might be a young adult novel, but who said young characters couldn’t deliver an action-packed and thrilling story with even a couple of steamy moments?

Upcoming releases

These are the upcoming and promising June releases I’m adding to my TBR:

• From a voice that has quickly reserved a high sit in the Romance scenario comes her latest book, Love Theoretically. I’m talking about the one and only Ali Hazelwood, author of the sensational The Love Hypothesis. 

Here we have another story set in the STEM world with, I presumed, her usual balance of romance and science that has bewitched us all. Life as a scientist and its low income forces Elsie to have a side job as a fake girlfriend. However, the brother of her favorite client, cold and ruthless Jack, seems to be getting in her way, as in her personal life and dream job. What experiments will we get to see here?

• And from a new voice, with an Indian-American background comes a debut Romance, Kismet Connection. Ananya Devarajan brings us a best-friends-to-lovers story with astrology charts and family curses guiding the “destiny” of our protagonist who is actually set on proving she has free will to drive the course of her life. But it seems unexpected sparks will draw a different constellation that will lead her to make some difficult decisions.

Dive Deeper

If you’ll like to explore more the literary world of Fantasy-Romance and its vast ocean of stories, I’ll leave you some further reading to help you make informed decisions and therefore, maximize your TBR and reading experience.

In this opportunity, you’ll find bellow the links to:

• My review on this month’s book choice
• A blog post where I answer a common FAQ about the popular series The Plated Prisoner.
• And the latest edition of my “On the Go” guide, which is an image or pdf, depending on what you prefer, that you can carry on your mobile everywhere you go with access to an interesting selection of books, right at your fingertips. Stopping by a library by chance and don’t know what to look for? Now you have your On the Go guide.

Finding what to read next and narrowing your options have never been easier. Thank you for watching. See you next month!