Castle of Bitter Thorn

by Kay L. Moody

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Faerie bargains are not easily broken.

Elora has decided to stay in Faerie to help Prince Brannick become High King. With the element of surprise on their side, they only have to hide their sword training lessons until the last phase of testing.

But Brannick is ruled by a bargain that could ruin everything. Queen Alessandra is beginning to remember her history with the prince. With one word, she could force him to lose the testing and give up his freedom forever.

With a growing reputation, Elora’s anonymity in Faerie is shrinking fast. Her sisters are safe in the mortal realm, but she is desperate to help Brannick win the throne.

If he doesn’t, any number of fae could capture Elora. Or even worse… her sisters.

The Fae of Bitter Thorn is a magical fantasy romance series. If you like high stakes fantasy, sword-wielding heroines, and brooding fae princes, you'll love this addictive enemies to lovers binge read.

SERIES READING ORDER

Book 1: Court of Bitter Thorn

Book 2: Castle of Bitter Thorn

Book 3: Crown of Bitter Thorn

Book 4: Queen of Bitter Thorn

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Book Details

Genre

Fantasy/Science Fiction Romance

Subgenre

Action/Adventure, Fae / Elf, Fairytale, High Fantasy, Medieval, Mythology-Based (Greek, Norse, Celtic, etc.), Royal

Series

The Fae of Bitter Thorn • Book 2

Audience

Upper YA

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑

Profanity

1 None

Violence

2 Mild

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

1 None

Publication Date

January 19, 2021

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novel

Sensitive Themes

Grief or loss of a loved one, War or battle scenes

Representation

BIPOC main character / cast

Better than the first!

I really enjoyed the first book of this series, but the second is even better—a true 5-star read. It’s an adventurous page-turner with excellent worldbuilding and sweet, smoldering, frustrating romance that I’m certain will turn into an HEA by the end of the series. The love story Elora and Brannick have is worth suffering for! Really, really enjoyed this one, and I’ve already started the third book of the series.

The fight for the crown continues

Wow! This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I cried, shouted out noooooo, was happy, angry... man I loved this book.
Elora is a fighter! She won't let anything keep her down. And to see the relationship between her and Brannick grow - I loved it!
I also love how Ms. Moody continued to develop the relationships between Elora and Tansy, Loren (and Waverly), Vesper (total game changer there!!!), Quintus and Blaz.
The attention to detail that Ms. Moody used to describe not only the areas and courts in Farie, but the clothing - wow! I could close my eyes and imagine it all there.
I can't wait to read book 3! Long live Prince Brannick and Elora! Down with Queen Alessandra and Ansel

An amazing continuation of a great series.

What if the world of magic really existed? What if you were transported there against your will? Then, even though you miss your family, and wish to return home, you have fallen in love with the magical world? What would you do?
Following Elora's journey has, so far, been one of excitement, tears, joy, and hopefulness. You cannot help but fall in love with Elora, the Fae world, and even the Fae Prince.
This series has been amazing so far, and I look forward to reading the next book.

Not As Good As I Hoped

Well this book came as a bit of a shocker to me. While I really liked the first book and was eager to read this one, it fell kind of flat for me. We do see Elora process her grief and grow as a character more in this story which I thoroughly enjoyed. We learn a bit more about her parents and what happened the day of the fire. We also get to see her put in a situation where she not only remained level headed and calm, but was able to save herself and others which made me very impressed. As for Brannick, I feel like for being a main character he didn't really do much. The whole second story is revolving around his bargain with Queen Alessandra and winning the tournament but it didn't feel like he was actually around of did anything for it. Mostly he ordered others to do things and "had ideas" but we don't really see him do this. I was hoping some of the minor characters would be developed more but this didn't really happen. We see and learn more about Lyren and her court, Elora's relationship with Vesper seemed a little forced, for Kaia being somewhat important we don't see or hear much from her, Quintus is only around when something needs to be made and I was hoping for more backstory and understanding about Blaz.

I do agree with other reviewers that one of the things I disliked about this book was phase 2 with the speeches. Queen Alessandra gives this amazing speech that even Elora is moved by and yet we hear none of it, but we get to hear Elora's speech which is apparently so good that it brings the High King to tears and it was mediocre at best. I agree that if you are going to include a speeches portion then you should actually write out the speeches. I also was disappointed in the lack of sword use by Prince Brannick when the whole point of bringing Elora was to teach him how to win with a sword. We do get to see Elora utilize her sword skills so that was a benefit. The ending does leave us on a bit of a cliff hanger and wanting us to know more. I look forward to reading the third book in this series and hope it delivers more of the great writing we saw in book one.

Thank you Kay Moody and StoryOrigin for a review copy.

4.5/5 stars!

4.5/5 stars! Book two in this epic fantasy fae series was as exciting and tumultuous as the first. I do think the book occasionally fell into the 'Female main character who can do no wrong' trope. But Elora is slowly growing and becoming more capable of seeing the Fae as 3-dimensional characters. Seeing her and Brannick continue to grow closer while fighting it every step of the way made me very overjoyed. Cannot wait to see what is to come in book 3.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.