Castle of Dusk and Shadows: A Fae Pride and Prejudice Retelling (Fae of Brytwilde)

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It is loosly based on Jane Austen's masterpiece but adds some non-spice gothic Fae and spooky ghosts.

The plot had some nice twists and revelations, and even if I saw a couple coming, the emotion of those scenes was engaging. Please try again later as the restrictions may be lifted, or contact your service provider if the issue persists. I honestly have realized that I am someone who loves the tension of slow burn but hates the wait, again I am impatient, but the wait is so worth it. The day of Grace's wedding, Ellie makes a split-second decision to save her older sister from marrying the dark and broody crown prince, Fitz and hides herself under the magical veil, marrying him instead. And the key to her salvation might be her arrogant, cold husband-the one she'd planned to rob and abandon.I knew going into this book that it was a loose Pride and Prejudice retelling but I forgot until I was halfway through the book which caused me to get a little impatient with the pace of Elle's thinking. I loved the twists and turns this journey takes you on and I can honestly say, there were some paths that completely took me by surprise.

Then we have some of my all-time favorite tropes: slow burn, he falls first, only one bed, touch her and die.

The tension between Fitz and Elle was great, and in true PnP fashion he falls first and fights it, and she despises what he stands for, or rather what she THINKS he stands for. This is fantasy book that has some romantic elements and those elements are really only there to further the plot. I am slowly making my way through the book (I say slowly just because I'm a somewhat distracted reader these days), and of course the 1995 movie is sometimes the only thing I need to watch. There's a lot of smut books milling about at the moment so if that's your thing this might not be for you (but might be worth a go anyway? Nevertheless, this didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the book, since those are very common character traits - it just didn't add to them either.

Chaos soon ensues, and Elle struggles to find her own gifted magic while uncovering the secrets of the ghosts surrounding the castle, including her recently-deceased Father. This book has no on page spice, but don't let that fool you into thinking that it isn't deliciously swoony! I thought her dedication to her family and uncovering the truth was very well done, and were good characteristics for her. She does add original characters that function in the plot, they are necessary, so Schade does know that she can manipulate the original story and make it her own, I just wish she’d done it more. When I first started the book, it felt almost like a carbon copy and not loose, and I was worried for how the magic system would come into play.If you love Pride and Prejudice, you will definitely want to check this book out, but I think it missed the mark for me as I wasn’t in the right mood for it. Obwohl mir gegen Ende des Buches bei den Thematiken Trauer und der Akzeptanz des Todes ein wenig die Tränen kamen, war das Buch im allgemeinen sehr einnehmend und herzerwärmend. But once we entered Brytwilde I understood the reasons why Schade started the story the way she did. This gothic vibes, fantasy romance, loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice is everything I was hoping for and more. I may have to give this book a reread in the fall to truly feel like I am in Ashwood with the autumn fae.

I don't think there's going to be a direct sequel either, but hopefully we get to see more of Elle and Fitz in Schade's future books. The writing and characterization were really solid, and there were a pleasant lack of typos (which I've been encountering a lot of in indie published works lately, to my great chagrin). When I first found this book and saw it described as a "loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice in a Gothic Fae setting", I thought that this sounded like it would be a perfect read for someone like me that loves both the world of fantasy and all things Austen-inspired.

This FMC is a truly distasteful person, in both her behavior and character, and combined with the single-sided POV, the writing was hard to stay focused on.