i read an entire fantasy forced marriage series so you dont have to _ booktok rant_review
# Discovering Elise Kova: A Dive into Her Captivating Fantasy Worlds
Hello hello hi hello everyone! My name is Cari, and welcome to my channel or welcome back if you're a regular viewer. Today, I wanted to share something exciting with all of you—my journey through the fantastical worlds created by author Elise Kova. If you've seen the title, you probably know what's coming next: I'm going to be reading (and reviewing) all of her married-to-magic books.
## The Air Awakens Series: A Reading Marathon Mistake
In my recent viewing habits, I mentioned that in August, I pretty much devoured the series called *The Air Awakens*. It was a whirlwind—three books in just 24 hours! While this reading marathon was thrilling, it came with its consequences. My eyes and brain were left feeling exhausted, and I even experienced low-key vertigo for the rest of the day. But despite the aftermath, I couldn't deny how engaging these stories were.
Elise Kova is the mastermind behind *The Air Awakens* series, which consists of five books. Then there's *The Vortex Chronicles*, another series closely related to *The Air Awakens*, with six books in total. She also writes the *Loom Saga* (four books) and the *Trial of Sorcerers* series, which is still ongoing but expected to have three books. Kova is known for her prolific writing, and I must say, she makes it easy to get lost in her worlds.
While her writing isn't groundbreaking or overly complex, there's something about her storytelling that keeps you hooked. She writes in a way that feels very digestible, making it perfect for readers who are hungry for fantasy but might be running out of options. That being said, I noticed that as I reached the latter books in *The Air Awakens* series, my interest began to wane slightly. The last two books didn't quite hit the mark for me, but overall, they scratched the itch I was looking for.
## The Married-to-Magic Books: A New Obsession
After finishing *The Air Awakens*, I decided to explore another side of Kova's work—her married-to-magic series. This curiosity was partly fueled by the overwhelming presence of these books on Bookstagram, where creators were sharing aesthetic reels that piqued my interest. One title in particular stood out: *A Deal with the Elf King*.
Now, I'm someone who loves a good enemies-to-lovers trope, so I was intrigued to see how Kova would tackle this classic fantasy theme. But here's the thing—I didn't love it. Why? Well, let me explain. The story follows the classic enemies-to-lovers plot: the elf isn't really the bad guy and is actually trying to save the protagonist. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, I found the execution a bit too obvious. It felt like Kova was playing heavily on tropes without subtlety.
But here's the thing—if you're someone who loves the enemies-to-lovers trope and is looking for books that follow this theme, *A Deal with the Elf King* might just be up your alley. The series includes other stand-alone novels like *Dance with the Fae Prince* and *Duel with the Vampire Lord*. Each book seems to lean heavily into its respective trope while maintaining a consistent style across all of Kova's works.
## Goodreads Ratings: A Curious Pattern
Now, I know that Goodreads ratings can be hit or miss, but I find them intriguing for one simple reason: they often reflect reader sentiment in ways that aren't always obvious. So let's dive into the numbers:
- *A Deal with the Elf King* has 60,000 ratings and a 3.77-star average.
- *Dance with the Fae Prince* boasts a slightly higher rating of 3.93 but only 15,000 ratings—just a quarter of the readers who rated its predecessor.
- The highest-rated book in the series is *Duel with the Vampire Lord*, which sits at an impressive 4.11 stars but has only about 3,000 ratings.
This pattern raises an interesting question: why do the ratings drop so significantly as you move through the series? Could it be that the fans of this series are the ones consistently rating these books? Or is there something more to the quality of later installments? I'm not sure, but it's definitely something worth pondering.
## Kindle Unlimited: A Game-Changer for Readers
One thing I can't talk about without mentioning is *Kindle Unlimited*. As someone who reads a lot and prefers to borrow books from the library rather than buy them outright, finding authors whose work is available on Kindle Unlimited feels like hitting the jackpot. Kova's books are all available through this service, making them accessible to anyone with a subscription.
If you're on the fence about diving into her works, I encourage you to explore her books through Kindle Unlimited. You won't be disappointed—if you're someone who enjoys predictable tropes and stories that deliver exactly what they promise.
## Final Thoughts: A Mix of Familiarity and Fun
In conclusion, Elise Kova's writing is a mix of familiar tropes and heartwarming storytelling. While her work isn't groundbreaking, it's undeniably engaging and perfect for readers who want to get lost in a world without overcomplicating things. Whether you're a fan of enemies-to-lovers stories or simply looking for a quick escape into fantasy worlds, Kova's books are worth a try.
So there you have it—my take on Elise Kova's *Married to Magic* series and the adventures I had reading through her works. If you've read any of these books, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below! And if you're new to Kova's work, I hope this article gives you a reason to dive into her magical worlds.
Thank you for sticking with me through this video, and as always, happy reading!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThe dirty talk was so...Under no circumstances are you to ever lay eyes on me! It's so funny how everyone hates the elf king. Hello hello hi hello everyone - my name is Cari, welcome to my channel or welcome back. Today, you guys probably read the title, I'm going to be reading all of the - what's it called again - married to magic books. If you guys watched my what I read in August, you guys know that I pretty much devoured the series called the Air Awakens. I literally read three of the books in 24 hours and it severely damaged my eyes and brain and Iended up having like low-key vertigo for the rest of the day...And it is by an author named Elise Kova. What's interesting about her books is first of all she - okay sorry I've had a mosquito in my house for like days, this is an immortal mosquito, it's probably some fairy prince -my redheaded fantasy protagonist story is finally beginning. But anyway I thought I just saw him... he lives to see another day. She first of all has a ton of books okay - she has the air awakens series with five books, it's like vortex chronicles which is another series that's related to air awakens and that has six books in it, the loom saga which has four books in it, the trial of sorcerers which isn't finished yet but it's gonna have three books... I mean she's got, she writes a lot okay and I think that she writes in a very easily digestible way. I would definitely recommend if you are just kind of if you were just kind of hungry for a fantasy but - I'm so- I know you can't hear it but my neighbor is singing. Anyway she, if you're hungry for a fantasy and you've kind of run out of books you don't know where to turn next, I think that even though she does play very heavily on tropes and she's quite obvious about it, like I don't think her work is groundbreaking in any way shape or form but her writing is definitely - like I said I read those first three books, ate them up so quickly. It gets the job done. I got a little tired as I mentioned at the end of the air awakens series. I thought the last two books weren't that good but at the end of the day it scratched the itch that I wanted it to. I read that series a week or so after I had read a Deal with the Elf King and this was a book that I had just seen a ton over bookstagram basically, a lot of people doing like the deal with the elf king aesthetic reels and stuff like that. I was getting fomo and I wanted to know what the hell it was about and I knew it was gonna be, you know, an enemies to lovers thing. I didn't love it simply because like I said she's very open about what trope she is playing on and in the case of a deal with the elf king, which is the first book in the series - they're all standalones but they're within this kind of family - it was just so incredibly obvious that it was an enemies to lovers but that you know the elf wasn't really the bad guy and he's like really trying to save her and you know, you know the story. I didn't love it simply because it was so not subtle you know? But that being said, if you love that trope and if you are looking for a book that follows that trope - she writes these for you. The married to magic books are all gonna be that. So I decided I'm interested - you know that I love a good enemies to lovers story so I didn't love a deal with the elf king which is the first one (I'll tell you about in it in a second) and then there is a Dance with the Fae Prince and a Duel with the Vampire Lord. The ratings are quite interesting. I'm looking at goodreads - I pretty much never pay attention to ratings, I usually don't even check them in advance but here's what what we've got going on on goodreads. So a deal with elf king has 60,000 ratings and it's got a 3.77 star rating. The next one has a slightly higher one coming in at 3.93 but it only has 15 almost 16,000 ratings so like a quarter of the people who read a deal with the elf king read a dance with the fae prince. A duel with the vampire is the most high rated and it is at 4.11 stars but it's only currently at about 3,000 ratings. Granted this came out in 2022 so it's been a lot less time - deal with the elf king came out in 2020. I don't know, could it be that a duel with the vampire lord is better or is it just that the fans of this series are the only ones that have continued the series and thus they're the only ones at this point rating the books? I don't know and I'm gonna find out. And I'm, you know, going into this now knowing her style - a deal with the elf king was the first book I ever read by her - going into it knowing her style, I'm prepared for it to be a little heavy-handed and that's - I'm gonna be okay with that, I'm not gonna knock her for it okay? And what else did I want to say? Oh most important thing about her work is that her work is all on kindle unlimited! Personally, as someone who reads a lot and I don't like to buy books - I get everything from the library - I thought that it ended up working out for me in terms of how much I've used it so kindle unlimited, if you have it, check these books out. You aren't going to be losing anything from it. I'm going to start telling you what these books are about and give you my feelings on them. I'm just going to give you what I remember from deal with the elf king. I'm not going to reread it so let me tell you what goodreads says this book is about because lord knows my memory. This is a quote from the book. \"The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.\" I gotta say, she starts off the book with some pretty epic lines and then - no hate, no hate okay? I absolutely applaud her for writing as much as she does, as quickly as she does. You can't keep up that level of intensity for an entire book, I understand so I'm just gonna shut my mouth. \"3000 years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic,until there was a peace treaty formed. So now for centuries the elves have taken a young woman from this particular village to be the human queen and I know what you're thinking - is it this one elf king that's immortal right? Taking all these wives? No. Okay, that's what I was worried about. The elves do die. And the way that you're chosen is if you start showing signs of magic so our main girl has been living her life and she hasn't been showing any signs of magic so she's like whoo I'm safe! Our main girl's name is Luella and she has been studying her entire life in herbology and so she's the town's only healer and there's some kind of like fever or poison or something going on in her town where it's very essential that they have her as a healer saving people so when - spoiler not spoiler - she gets whisked off into the fairy elf realm, she's very upset because people are literally dying because she's not there right? She is taken to a land filled with wild magic and is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome elf king...Ooh I love this. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save. The magic land of midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and the people tug on the other. But what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.\" Whoa this is my first read-through of this, wow okay. It's 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 for their next slow burn and swoon-worthy couple. So there's that. I will say like literally my only problem with the book was simply that the trope was very obvious, but other than that like I did not mind it. I think I said this in my review earlier but it's like if you want to kill time this book will hold your attention and do the job that you are asking it to do. I didn't think the writing was bad, I thought the story was like normally paced, I thought the world building for a standalone I'm always impressed by people who can write fantasy standalones. Overall I thought she did a good job I just thought like whoa this is like a villain character - the elf king is like a person I had read before. He is a powerful fantasy man written by a woman -what are you going to do? This is an incredibly long intro to my video but I am going to start right now...The dance with the fae prince and I'm not going to look at the synopsis or anything like that before I start it because that's how I roll, crazy like that and yeah so we're going to start a dance with the fae prince. All I can see is \"she knew her hand in marriage would be sold dot dot\" It's a forced marriage enemies to lovers series.Okay wish me luck. Okay hi guys I'm back actually real quick. Upon opening this - also it's finally like cool enough, it's kind of like autumny time that I can let my candles. First things first - the map for this world, there you go, it looks like a video game map. And I had no idea that this all took place in the same kingdom of Midscape so I wonder if we'll have any crossover. I don't know but yeah I thought first of all I thought that was funny and then her dedication page is for \"everyone who stays up late reading books about kissing.\" I just appreciate an author that understands their audience and writes for them. I think that that's great so I'm already, I'm feeling welcome. I can't wait to begin. See you when I have an update okay? Greetings everyone so hi. I am only on page 39, chapter 3, and so far I actually like this setup, the way that she's telling the story better than how I remember I felt with reading duel with the elf king. This has a bit of mystery to it, I think I am going to get into spoilers so I've decided this video will be a spoilery one so this if you don't want to know anything this is your goodbyebye! This one I feel like she might be trying to make it like a Cinderella kind of thing because she has evil stepsisters and her mother and father have passed away and she's being like sold off you know? And she was kind of like the servant of the house and you know anyway... But other than that, it doesn't, so far it doesn't match up with Cinderella at all but I appreciate that I have no idea what's happening. Like with the elf king I kind of immediately knew there was like a curse and somehow she was the key to solving it but something bad would happen to her and so the elf king is trying to sacrifice himself so that she doesn't get hurt, you know...I like got that from like the very first second but this I have no clue. There is the woods that she's not supposed to go into because there's evil fae stuff and then whoever she married (the fae prince, I mean...) is busy and doesn't want to see her. He just wanted this book that her mother had so we know there's something important about the book but we just met the prince and basically he wouldn't come down to see her he was like \"live in my house, I don't want to see you, I'm very busy\" and she was like \"uh we just got married?\" She didn't meet this guy like his his butler signed the papers right? She's like \"excuse me we just got married, can I at least like see your face my dude?\" And so he comes down to her study and she notices that all the chairs are like facing away from each other and she's like that's strange and then he comes in and he's just like \"don't turn around\" and she's like \"what?\" and he's like \"I said don't turn around!\" His butler had given her all of the rules of the house and he's like \"there's a final rule that you must know - under no circumstances are you to ever lay eyes on me!\" He's like I heard that you wanted to meet me and, you know, I will oblige, only if you swear to never look at me. So I had to put the book down at that. So I have no idea where this is going but so far like I like the language that she's using a lot more than the elf king and like I said I'm just intrigued. I'm 40 pages in and I don't know what's going on so that's my update see ya!Okay an update I'm on page 129 and I so far I'm still liking it. I think the main character is like annoying in a way that she has to be a little annoying in order to get the plot to move forward but like she's not super getting on my nerves. We just learned the main guy's name and at first they were introducing another character and so I thought his name was Hol. Like h-o-l. Which is a character's name but I was like are we gonna have a romantic lead and his name is Hol? But it's not don't worry. Overall I think it's interesting, I think - the dialogue's a little weak because there was a point where she literally was like \"no I must be dreaming!\"and I'm like nobody says that out loud but I'm enjoying it and they hate the elf prince so... Hello we are checking in from page 202, no notes basically since the last time I checked in except that I think that the romance is just a little strange. Maybe it's that the our main girl has been very sheltered and also like yeah she is technically married to this guy so she's kind of hoping that she falls in love with him but like I know that they've had more time together off the page that we haven't been a part of so maybe that's it as well but it just kind of seems like suddenly she's like having a lot of really strong daydreams about him and there's many points in this book she has already said like ~the need to touch him~ you know? like they're drawntogether. He's got this gravitational pull, kind of came out of nowhere it feels like. The yearning bit isn't fully pulling me in but that's okay. I think I think that the fae prince is a little whiny brat a lot of the time but I kind of get why but yeah he's kind of acting like a baby and he's owned up to it - he has said that he acts like a like a spoiled child. So good that he knows, but anyway I might finish this today so I will catch up with you next time. The book has been finished.So what I appreciate with this is that even though this is definitely like a fantasy romance she doesn't put - there's like two or three scenes steamy scenes right? It's not like the whole book so i appreciate that. But I will say this book the dance with the fae prince...the dirty talk was sopainful for me to read. I would you know I'm fine with action words even though she chose a plundered? What was the other one that started with a p? purged? She used a couple questionable verbs. I'm fine - I'm usually fine with like descriptions of actions but when there is like dialogue and she's talking in like thick paragraphsI just - oh man - the cringe was real. I figured out I figured out what was gonna happen about halfway through but I appreciated how it ended. I don't think the romance was super strong but it had characters that I liked. If I remember correctly, deal with the elf king didn't have many characters but this had more people and and there was like a little goofy boy character and yeah I appreciated it so I would actually say I like fae prince more than elf king? And I also like that a significant amount of the plot surrounds her childhood horse Misty that she loves.I think I liked the romance a little bit more in the elf prince or the elf king but I liked the just in general like plot and other characters more in this book. What's funny is they were talking so much about the elf king in here which was very funny and I remember in the elf king they really didn't like the fae and then they also mentioned that allegedly there's vampires but no one's seen them for centuries. And the next book in this series is about the vampires so I will start that maybe tonight. Catch you then when we have - what is it - duel with the vampire lord. So it's deal, dance, and duel. Duet, oh the next one is duet. So you guys with the vampires.Hi guys right before I jump into the vampires, I wanted to read what the goodreads summary is. Here we go, now that I know what the story is about. She knew her hand in marriage would be sold, she had no idea of fae prince was the buyer. Katria swore she'd never fall in love Oh oh okay that wasn't yeah hold on. She swore she'd never fall in love. She'd seen what love means through the cruelty of her family but her new husband makes not falling in love difficult as their attraction begins to grow. So too does the oddities within her new life - strange rules, screams in the night, attacks by fae, then she witnesses a ritual not meant for human eyes and she finds herself spirited away to the land of Midscape. A dance with a fae prince is a complete standalone novel inspired by the tales of Psyche and Eros, as well as Cinderella - okay - with a happily ever after ending it is perfect for fantasy...we said that already okay. So yeah that is one thing that actually really bothered me about this book is just that her whole deal is she doesn't want to love because she was abused by her stepmother. Her father like she just, the love that she has seen in her life because her mother died very young, the love that she has seen - she doesn't want any part of it. And so when they are very clearly falling in love she's like \"no feelings no feelings\" and it's just not super believable. Anyway so that's the official summary but on to vampires okay see you tomorrow. Hi there just an update I'm only on chapter two but look at this first line... But also this one is much more obviously connected with the world than the elf king was because the Applegate trading company is the name of our main girl from fae prince! That's her father's company. He went to the distant north to get silver and he died so I hope this place doesn't rely too heavily on the silver because...What we've got going on is there is a village that every single month on the full moon they get attacked by vampires and our main girl is the like main person who makes silver stuff so she's very important. Every 500 years, there is a blood full moon where the vampire lord can come in and apparently the like full moon vampire it's just a taste of what the vampires can cook up. So they're assuming tomorrow on the blood moon they're all gonna die. But they're gonna put up a good fight. But yes that's where we're at and I feel like I'm gonna fall asleep any second now so I don't know how much more I'm gonna read but I will update you once I learn more. Oh and our girl because she's a very important person or something, the master hunter gets to choose who she marries so she's not allowed to be touched by anyone. Master hunter told her probably next week you're gonna get married but she still doesn't know to who and yeah...Hello my friends, I am on page 164. I am 30% of the way through and this is not a vampire story. This is absolutely a zombie story which I find hilarious. What are my thoughts? So I'm having a little bit of a rough time getting into it but honestly it could just be me succumbing to a little bit of a reading slump, I don't necessarily think it's an issue with the story just more of me reading too many of these types of books back to back. so I don't want to knock a point off of her for that. Things that I do like about this story is that this is it's got like a little bit of a different take on the whole like enemies to lovers and then this kind of it's not forced marriage but like she has been captured and like has to stay there to help the vampires break a curse but what I like about it is there's this added element of she is pretending to be something that she isn't as well. So they all assume that she's a hunter when she's not, her brother just has like kind of helped train her sometimes. She makes weapons, that's her thing. All the vampires are like great, we found a hunter and she's gonna help us break the curse and she's just like yeah, I'm a hunter here to help you break the curse. so I appreciate that. The only thing that's kind of bothering me about the book is just that because it's in first person and it's we're only seeing her point of view, it's just a little annoying because once again with with the tropes that are in this entire series, you know that there's a misunderstanding, you know that if everybody just told each other what they know like what is this curse? They keep mentioning the curse but like she doesn't ask for details about it? It just gets kind of annoying in that sense but overall I think that this one is fun. It has a little bit more of a halloweeny feel I think so I'm kind of getting in the mood and I think today I'm like in the right mindset where I can if not finish it at least get a good chunk of it. Right now is when we're kind of jumping in to the action part so yeah I'm interested in what the curse is. I wish she would ask, wish she would ask. Anyway here we go!Our boy is 3124 years old.So just gonna be real, her writing style, the steamy scenes - I don't remember it being so bad in the elf king but likeit was pretty, as I said, pretty not good with the fae prince but vampire lord the smut scenes are...first of all they happen early, like this is before we're even halfway done with the book. And they are just painful to read. I gotta say I'm sorry for like I don't even think people who like smut would necessarily like this, like this isn't just meyou know, I don't know, but I feel like this book is so long - like I don't know why I can't get into it but yeah he just said he's 24 years old but they were in like the long sleep or whatever for three thousand and one hundred years so he says he's \"around\" three thousand one hundred and twenty four years old - but for him it felt like mere moments. Yeah okay anyway I'm gonna keep reading but I'm - it's taken me like almost two hours to read a hundred and something pages which is not how I do things so...Close your eyes if you can't handle horribly written smut because look at what I'm reading. What do you think I could show you? Stop! So this is absolutely the smuttiest of the three. I don't like it, like I - so many people said that this was actually the best one in terms of the plot but now I'm thinking I need to reread the elf king because the elf king might end up being my favorite of the three? I would say the like the fae one was fine other than like these long paragraphs of dirty talk that could have been erased but like as far as the plot and whatever fine, but this like even the plot is just so convoluted - so far it's fae prince, elf king, and then vampire lord...bundle it up and toss it away. The series has been finished, oh my god that took so much out of me to finish that damn book. So what are my thoughts on vampire lord? I thought that that one was the most truly enemies to lovers in that even though it was kind of just like a misunderstanding, they genuinely like hated each other for most of the book, so if you're into that I would say on a ranking of enemies to lovers it would be vampire, elf, fairy? But yeah I just think that I don't know why this one was quite so long - this one was 526 pages versus the other ones were more like in the 400, 300 range. So I think she tried to add more like world building and lore and like this curse but it just felt a little bit too long. It was just overall a little confusing, there were like many layers to the curse and then there were many layers to like...so overall it definitely wasn't my favorite, it wasn't very vampire-y. I think the only like vampire vibes you get is in the smut scenes because she really sexualizes the whole like sharing blood thing but other than that, it really felt more like they were just a bunch of people fighting zombies and a curse. So if you were hoping for like very vampire-ish vibes like they can go out in the sun, I mean, and they don't sparkle you know? So yeah I would say I definitely lean have more on the elf and fae side. I feel like the fae one is the one that bothered me the least. Again, I'm gonna have to read the elf king. I have a feeling if I reread it that might be my favorite so in terms of ranking it I might just go in order of the series - I think it gets worse but what I do really want to read is the next book which will come out next year and it's the final one I think and it's about sirens so it's gonna be like a low-key mermaid kind of thing going on and honestly I'm down -apparently they sing... Stupid? are you dumb Cari? They're sirens. Yeah no they were - because in the other books they have all referenced the sirens and how much they would love to hear the sirens singing duets and whatever but they're sirens, like that's their thing that they sing I can't believe I just said that. But anyway overall I think if you are the kind of person that enjoys the forced marriage and enemies to lovers tropes - I'm not a big, I don't really enjoy the forced marriage trope at all so if you like those two and you're kind of willing to read any thing that has those tropes these will be fine but I think if you're more of like you like those tropes but you aren't willing to read like I'm not, I don't want to call it like it just wasn't great I would say. Her air awakens trilogy or her air awakens series is much much much much better than these if you're looking for a kind of enemies to lovers magical thing going on, definitely read at least the first three of the air awakens series. These books, it's nice that they're standalones again I really think that these are kind of like if you are at a loss of what to read next these are interesting options for you, if you if they tickle your fancy but overall I felt like especially vampire lord for some reason was really hard for me to get into. So I will still like I said I will still read the fourth one but yeah again if you read the elf king and you liked it I would recommend trying fae prince and if you are stuck looking for a fantasy read give the elf king a try. It's so funny how everyone hates the elf king like like the fae, the vampires - everybody hates the elf king and I think it's fabulous but yeah I would say don't stray from it this isn't like horrible - maybe don't put them on the tippity-tippity-top of your tbr if you've got a lot to read so anyway that was my deep dive into the married to magic series family and yeah sorry I feel like my reading vlogs are always so strange because I am very bad at like taking breaks and sharing my thoughts so this was me like really forcing myself to talk about the books. I hope to get better as I continue on but yeah thank you for being along on the journey with me and I will see you guys next time. I have no idea what I'm talking about next time so I can't tell you but I will see you guys then and thank you always bye!\n"