Book Review: The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz

Hello reader family!

I've been gone for a bit, but I have read four books since my last post. 

The first was If Not for You by Debbie Macomber. I don't have enough to say about it to write a full review, but it was good. It was your typical fluffy romance. You don't have to concentrate to hard to get through it. It was just an all around enjoyable, de-stressing read.

The next two were cozy mysteries by Rita Mae Brown. The first was Outfoxed, which was fabulous! The animals talked amongst each other and helped the humans solve a murder. It was so different from any other cozy I've read and I loved it!
The next was called Wish You Were Here and I HIGHLY recommend this one. I was so fascinated with the story and I didn't figure out who the murderer was until close to the end. I didn't find that it was too predictable at all, which is a struggle that many cozies have.
If you love cozy mysteries I definitely suggest that you pick these two up :)

The fourth and final book, which is book number 9 out of 50 completed for my Goodreads challenge, is The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz. It has been on my TBR list for a VERY long time, so I am so glad I finally got to it. 

Here we go!!!

Goodreads Summary: 

"Princess Marie-Victoria, heir to the Lily Throne, and Aelwyn Myrddn, bastard daughter of the Mage of England, grew up together. But who will rule, and who will serve? 

Quiet and gentle, Marie has never lived up to the ambitions of her mother, Queen Eleanor the Second, Supreme Ruler of the Franco-British Empire. With the help of her Head Merlin, Emrys, Eleanor has maintained her stranglehold on the world's only source of magic. She rules the most powerful empire the world has ever seen. 

But even with the aid of Emrys' magic, Eleanor's extended lifespan is nearing its end. The princess must marry and produce an heir or the Empire will be vulnerable to its greatest enemy, Prussia. The two kingdoms must unite to end the war, and the only solution is a match between Marie and Prince Leopold VII, heir to the Prussian throne. But Marie has always loved Gill, her childhood friend and soldier of the Queen's Guard. 

Together, Marie and Aelwyn, a powerful magician in her own right, come up with a plan. Aelwyn will take on Marie's face, allowing the princess to escape with Gill and live the quiet life she's always wanted. And Aelwyn will get what she's always dreamed of--the chance to rule. But the court intrigue and hunger for power in Lenoran England run deeper than anyone could imagine. In the end, there is only rule that matters in Eleanor's court: trust no one."

My Rating:

3 Stars!!

My Thoughts:

Well....quite frankly, I'm pretty disa-freakin-pointed.....
I was so enthralled for the first 3/4 of this book. So when the last 1/4 utterly devastated me, I was pretty dang angry. 

I did enjoy the setting of the book. The time period was wonderful and I liked that it was an alternate reality for the world. The relationships were really fun to read until the last 1/4, so there is that. I also liked the magical aspect of the story, even though the role it played wasn't necessarily key for most of the book.

As I said, I did enjoy the majority of the book, so I can safely say I would recommend it to some, but not to others (these theres being the people like myself). It was good, but not good enough to be a new favorite. 

I can't say more without spoiling you, so you'll find all of those spoilery thoughts below. 

3 stars for the 3/4 that were actually good. :l 

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

LAST CHANCE....

OK HERE WE GO!!! 

 So basically, when I picked up this book, I expected a fantasy similar to falling kingdoms, but with less magic and way more romance. I got that right. Most of the book was based on love. Not magic. So that was good. 

I found my favorite characters immediately. They were Ronan and Wolf. I also liked pretty well Gill when he showed up. Marie was close to being a favorite, but not quite. I hated Leo. I didn't like Isabelle at first.

Isabelle:

Where Isabelle is concerned, I realized why she acted the way she did after a while and I understood. I would be a bitch too if I had been treated the way she had been by men. Leo took advantage of her and used her to get the "Pandora's Box" that contained the evil sorceress. He also basically raped her.....It was awful. Hugh did the same. He took advantage of her. Isabelle lived in a time when women were to remain pure until marriage, and if they did not they would be a disgrace to society and to their families, so she remained quite. I ended up really liking her in the end for being so strong. (Sidebar: She gave birth to Leo's child, which is cool, but I hope none of the evil witch lady is in him.)

 Isabelle finally finds her true love, Louis, who was raised with her in her home. At a garden party he hears men talking about how Isabelle is a harlot and how Leo had his way with her whenever he pleased. Louis was infuriated and challenged Leo to a duel. (He threw a glove down and Leo sassily picked it up and put it in his collar....I died laughing because of the sass. It was ridiculous.) Louis wins the duel with the help of Aelwyn (we'll get to her later). 

 Isabelle's future gets ruined when they try to leave stupid Hugh and make a life together. Hugh hires men to have Louis killed and to bring Isabelle back to him. Hugh is a disgusting human being and I hate him. 

Isabelle attacks him in the end of the book to get away. She leaves with her son and makes a life for them in the country. Unfortunately, Hugh the dickhead doesn't die from his injuries. I mean jeeze. 

Marie and Gill:
Marie Victoria and Gill were adorable. I wanted that to work, but of course Marie realized she had duties that she couldn't shove off to someone else, so she left him. When Gill and Marie met again, and Gill cried, I cried because he was so obviously heartbroken. It was sad. 

Aelwyn:

Aelwyn is the daughter of the Merlin and is to be the future Morgaine of the kingdom. She has a thing for Leo, but finds out what a bastard he is at the duel between he and Louis. She realized Leo has a protection spell at the duel and she tries to break it. Leo/Jeanne of Arkk (the evil sorceress that has taken over his body) is distracted by her and Louis is able to shoot Leo in the heart and win the duel. 

Aelwynn is also the one who kills Leo/Jeanne of Arkk at the end of the book when he tries to light the whole castle and part of the city on fire and kill the royal family. 

WOOOO Aelwyn!! 

Wolf and Ronan:
I LOVED Wolf with Ronan. Wolf is my favorite character in the book by far and I just knew he would be with Ronan. He tells her they are going to be together and then Leo had to go off and be possessed by an evil sorceress and ruin it all. If Leo had not have had to be killed for the good of the country, Wolf and Ronan could have married. But NOOOOO Wolf is the heir to the Prussian throne now and according to some dumb ass treaty that doesn't even need to exist anymore, Wolf had to take Leo's place and marry Marie. They don't love each other!!!!! -___-

The ending:
I am truly unhappy with the ending of this book as far as Ronan, Wolf, Marie, Gill AND Isabelle go. Marie and Wolf are friends and Wolf is honestly sad that he can't marry Ronan. He loves her. Marie doesn't love Gill as much as Wolf loves Ronan. 
And then Ronan is at the freaking wedding and it was torture to read. 

All I know, is that when I pick up a romance, I need a happy ending. Not one that makes me feel like I could get stuck in a relationship with someone I don't love. (Yes that's slightly dramatic, but still!) 

Basically, you fall in love with these characters and tragedy strikes them and/or they end up with the wrong friggin' people. You get attached and ship certain couples and NONE of them work out. I'm not exaggerating a single bit. NONE of them work guys. NONE.

THE END! 

I hope you all enjoyed this book review and discussion for The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz. 

Just as a PSA, this book was meant to have a sequel, and de la Cruz wrote it and decided she liked the way she ended this one or something crazy like that and decided not to publish the sequel. If you care enough I would invest in the extended edition of this book because the original edition may leave out a few things. 

Also, there are no memes because I just couldn't even be happy or funny enough to find them and insert them after reading that devastatingly terrible ending. 

Happy Reading!!

XOXO,

Eden