I feel kind of bad for not liking this more because there is nothing wrong with this book. In fact, I loved the fact that all titles could be gender neutral and that any sexuality was fine. There are a bunch of tropes in this fantasy kingdom, but mysogyny was not one of them.

It's just that these tropes didn't really work for me. There is this fantasy kingdom and the main character is a princess who is forced to lead it because her entire family is cursed. Cue some political drama and an arranged marriage for the alliance.

I didn’t care about the plot, sorry. All I wanted was for the main character to get to her university and get a girlfriend. I didn’t love the romance in only 5 days, but they get along and have a few genuine conversations and that’s more than I can say about some other books. ( )

Ekata has her future planned out and it mostly involves getting away from her murderous family. Her brother is in line to become the formal heir and she wants to study science.
She lives in the frozen city of Kylma above and Kylma below is a fantastic underwater kingdom that provides the magic that her family trade and use. Just before a bridal ball all of her family, bar her, fall victim to a sleeping sickness that leaves her as the only one who can rule, except her foster brother. He has Plans. Part of it is to marry her and subsume the kingdom and she doesn't trust that he will leave her alive for long. Also she's attracted to someone else, which is going to complicate things. Add in where everyone hates her family and there are many attempts to kill her and you have an interesting tale of magic and complications.
I could have done with a little more nuance to the bad guy but overall it was an interesting read. ( )

What a delight! This book won me with frosty magic, a main character who charmed me from the start, secrets buried in ice and hidden in a palace, and a slow burn romance. I knew nothing going into this book, and that's honestly best here, so I won't give details on the plot. I can say that this is right up there with some of my other favorite polar fantasies like East and Girls Made of Snow and Glass. I listened to the audio, which was lovely. This is a standalone, and it works as such, although I wish that this were book 1 in a series. Recommend!

I listened to this one as an audiobook, which often means I pay slightly less attention to the story, but I always know a good book when the audiobook draws me into the tale. That was the case with this book, which included plenty of political intrigue and scheming along with interesting characters and a unique fantasy setting. The only flaw was the ending, which felt sudden after so many plot twists. Overall, though, I would highly recommend this book. ( )

(DNF 43%, though with a lot of good things to say; the pacing just wasn't my taste and I'm swamped with things to get through.)

The setting was a fantastic surprise. It's a frozen castle knee-deep in snow, sitting atop a lake full of mermaid-like creatures with their own royal court and politics - I've never seen ANYTHING like that before and it is so beautiful!

This book is also brimming with fun personality from the main character. It's pretty heavily political and filled with lots of talking, and Ekata keeps it buoyed with her witty commentary.

a valued addition to YA fantasy but not my cup of tea!