Amid Clouds And Bones by Ella Fields
Blurb:
“I want you as much as I loathe you—so much, it feels like I can’t breathe.” His parted lips dragged across my cheek. “Give me back my breath.”
A princess is determined to survive an arranged marriage to a heartless fae prince in this standalone enemies to lovers fantasy romance.
As the half faerie daughter of a human king, my days were spent tucked out of sight—until the Seelie Fae sought an alliance with our kingdom. In exchange for my father’s help in defeating their Unseelie enemies, I would wed Atakan the heartless.
The Seelie prince loathed everyone, but none more than me. Throughout the years leading to our nuptials, each encounter grew more terrifying than the last as he demonstrated how he’d earned his infamous reputation.
Fear would only doom me faster. So I learned to hide it with games I soon became happy to play. I wasn’t supposed to crave a monster. But just when I’d thought I might tame the untameable, fate intervened.
And delivered me straight to his enemy.
This fast-paced standalone features true enemies to lovers, bully romance, high heat, and a cast of morally grey and villainous characters. HEA, no cliffhanger.
Review:
Kept isolated amid a kingdom of humans for her own safety, Mildred has never had reason to present herself and her half-fae identity to the world…until the Seelie Court presents the idea of an alliance between humans and fae, with Mildred’s hand in marriage being the catalyst.
Unfortunately bound to wed the heartless, ruthless prince called Atakan, Mildred resigns herself to a lifetime of pain and suffering and fighting with a man she can’t help but loath. Leading up to their wedding, Atakan makes sure to ruin and make Mildred’s life as difficult as possible. Determined not to cede an inch of her determination or fear to him, Mildread hides her terror behind attempts to rile up Atakan further. The last thing she expects is to crave the company of the very man she despises, or to sink to his level of monstrousness.
I was so thrilled to begin reading this book. Not only does it have a gorgeous cover, but it has a compelling take on fae as well as the romances between fae and mortals. This novel was, all in all, equal parts refreshing and entertaining, and I couldn’t help giggling and kicking my feet throughout my entire readthrough.
Something notable about Amid Clouds And Bones was the way the character of Mildred was presented. In many fae-centric fantasy novels, the fae are seen as these terrifying other beings, and humans are often crowded into a corner of being inferior and feeling inferior. While these tropes do exist in this novel to some extent, it was subtle compared to the attention paid to the characterization of the main characters.
Mildred was as stubborn as she was brave, and the longer the story went on, the more depth of her as a protagonist was revealed. Her descent to cruelty was especially interesting to read, as usually, narratives like this focus on the exact opposite kind of character arc.
I also found Atakan intriguing due to how he set himself apart from his kind. It’s not necessarily widespread that all fae are terrible–but he is, and his reputation exceeds him. His and Mildred’s relationship was a confection of delicious romance-flavored tension, and I loved seeing their romance develop from banter to something far more carnal (and deadly).
Fields has a way of writing romance that makes readers hang on by their tailcoats even while the narrative tries to throw them through loop after loop. Despite the sometimes nefarious acts of the main characters, I couldn’t help falling in love with them, and I adored both their interactions and the way they grew throughout the novel, even if it was for the worse.
Jam-packed with romantic tension, high stakes, and death at every corner, Amid Clouds And Bones is a phenomenal read. A fresh take on existing tropes and a twist on overdone cliches, it’s one of those books that will have readers staying up all night to finish it. Binge-worthy!
