ARC Review: The Mist Thief by L.J. Andrews

Title: The Mist Thief
Author: L.J. Andrews
Series: The Ever Seas, #3
Genre: Adult Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Ace
Publication Date: June 30, 2024
Edition: e-Book
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's | 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis:

She tried to kill him, so he made her his wife.
  Skadi first met her husband-to-be with blades in hand on the opposite side of a battle. She lost, and he claimed his prize.
  To her horror, the king of the shadow elven agrees to marry her off to Jonas, a prince in the fae realms, as a way to unite their kingdoms against a shared enemy—the light elves. Skadi knows the marriage is nothing but a political game. Feelings won’t come into play.
Except her new husband makes not falling in love . . . challenging.
  When new threats arise, Skadi must decide to either love her enemy, or keep him alive by betraying him to another.

Welcome to another installment in the Ever Seas world where pirates, fae, and elves collide with Vikings in a dark fantasy romance between a morally gray cinnamon roll and the broken princess who steals his heart. 

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I dove straight into this book after finishing the previous one. I wanted to learn more about Skadi and Jonas as characters. And this book did not disappoint in that regard. What as a nice change of pace with the "lovable playboy" that is Jonas as a character is that there weren't any morality politics around it. He wasn't treated like a bad person for having casual partners, and she wasn't treated like a moral superior for not having multiple casual partners. It was just neutral information. His swift change from having casual partners also wasn't some moral declaration of being a "better changed man" either, he just decided that because he was in a marriage alliance that he would go to celibacy until or if there was a time when she wanted to share a bed with him out of respect for his new wife. Even if it was an arranged marriage.

 

 At times, I felt that this book was moving too fast. I kind of would've liked this book to be two books as well so more time could be spent with Jonas and Skadi getting closer as friends before they developed romantic feelings for each other. They did have good interactions, but a lot of them were banter, and while I do like good banter from time to time I wish they had a few more deeper conversations. With only getting one book with these characters they needed more page time not nettling each other. 

 

One of the best things about this book though, was Skadi telling her abusers off. Her Grandfather never physically harmed her, but he didn't really do anything to protect her either. And being able to tell the person who hurt you in that way exactly what they did that hurt you, and to get some kind of apology for it, was nice to see. I also like that it didn't mean she forgave him, but it is cathartic to voice that kind of pain. 

 

 This one was a little more insta-love than I prefer to read. I believed they cared for each other, but they were together for just a few months before the L-word was dropped. The time line of when the war with the elven ended and when they signed the betrothal alliance is a little murky. So I'm not 100% sure how much time has passed between the previous book and this one.

 

I am excited to read the fourth book, I have requested it from NetGalley, and I hope my request gets approved.