A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: A Deal with the Elf King (Married to Magic #1)
Author: Elise Kova
Format: Epub
Rating: 3.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: May 4, 2021 to May 5, 2021
Book Summary: The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.

Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella's village to be their Human Queen.

To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she's dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town's only healer.

That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives... for her.

Everything Luella had thought she'd known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save.

The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another... but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.

A Deal with the Elf King is a complete, stand-alone novel, inspired by the tales of Hades and Persephone, as well as Beauty and the Beast, with a "happily ever after" ending. It's perfect for fantasy romance fans looking for just the right amount of steam and their next slow-burn and swoon-worthy couple.
Book Review: I had been hyped to read this ever since it first came out. Unfortunately, work had forced me to put this novel off to the side, and even worse a pandemic came and went.

As things returned to normal at work (as normal as we can say it is), I decided one night while during graveyard that it would be the best time to whip out my Kindle and read this book. After all, it had one of my favorite retellings - Hades and Persephone.

In this story, we find that there is a treaty between the human world and the elves. Every one hundred years like clockwork, a Human Queen is selected from Capton and is married to the Elf King. However, no one has shown any magical inclination that comes associated with the Human Queen and the Elves are coming to find her.

Our storyteller is Luella, the sole healer of Capton. She tells us that this has been common knowledge and part of the history of her world. But the problem is that Human Queen has not shown her face and no one seems to know who she is. The Elves are coming for the Human Queen and she will be doomed to leave her world and return to that of Midscape. She will only be allowed to return to Capton during Midsummer which gives her a chance to recharge.

As the Elves arrive, it is revealed that Luella is the Human Queen and the one she has loved since she was a child - Luke - has used a stone to conceal her abilities. Luella is hurt by this but it does not change her situation. She is married quickly to the Elf King and made to return back to his home.

As you know, anything having to do with the Hades and Persephone myth will be one of those books I will definitely want to get my hands on. This one, however, as much as I loved it, I also did not like the way the romance played out. It seemed too hurried and too flat for my taste. I suppose when you have no real plot the romance will always be at the forefront of the story. I had a ton of hope for this story, I really did and to find it fall beyond expectation kinda hurt.

I had never read any of this author's books and this was one of my first tastes. I am not sure what to think right now. I really want to see what the other book in this series may be like but I am probably going to be a bit wary over it. :/