Secrets of the Starcrossed – Clara O’Connor (ARC Review)

Title: Secrets of the Starcrossed (The Once and Future Queen #1)

Author: Clara O’Connor.

Format: E-Arc (Thanks to NetGalley, all opinions are my own!)

Publisher:  One More Chapter.

Page count: 330.

Release day: January 21^st 2021.

Genre: YA, fantasy.

Rating: 2 stars.

What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)

In a world where the Roman Empire never fell, two starcrossed lovers fight to ignite the spark of rebellion…

Londinium, the last stronghold of the Romans left in Britannia, remains in a delicate state of peace with the ancient kingdoms that surround it. As the only daughter of a powerful merchant, Cassandra is betrothed to Marcus, the most eligible bachelor in the city.

But then she meets Devyn, the boy with the strange midnight eyes searching for a girl with magic in her blood.

A boy who will make her believe in soulmates…

When a mysterious sickness starts to leech the life from citizens with Celtic power lying dormant in their veins, the imperial council sets their schemes in motion. And so Cassandra must make a choice: the Code or Chaos, science or sorcery, Marcus or Devyn?

Panem meets the Grishaverse in this explosive new YA trilogy perfect for readers of Marie Lu, Bella Forrest, and Cassandra Clare.

Rating:
Characters: 4/10
Atmosphere: 4/10
Writing: 5/10
Plot: 4/10
Intrigue: 3/10
Logic: 3/10
Enjoyment: 3/10
Average: 3.57

My thoughts:

I don’t know where to start with this review..

The last sentence of the summary says Panem meets the Grishaverse, I don’t see that. Like at all..

I feel like this book could not decide if it wanted to be a fantasy or a romance, so it tried to be both, but kinda failed. It should have chosen one or the other.

The romance part wasn’t very good, since the ‘love triangle’ was just weird. Idk if I should really call it a love triangle, since the one side was ‘forced’ and the other was real. I think for me to care more about the romance, I should have cared more about the characters. But since there was also quite some other things going on, there was not enough space for us to get to know the characters very well.

There was also a lot going on with some magic and other kingdoms and a sickness. And I think it was just a bit too much. All the different parts were not really explored. Personally I was most interested in the magic, but actually we don’t really know much about it. I honestly don’t really know what the different characters could do.

This book both felt very long and way too short. Too short since there was so much happening but it was all done half. Too long since it felt like I was reading this book for forever, I was just not very compelled to continue every time I put it down. But every time I convinced myself, because maybe we would learn more! But alas..

I don’t want to sounds rude, but personally I do not really recommend this one..

Happy reading!