Title: The Wish Granter (Ravenspire, #2)

Author: C J Redwine

Pub. Date: February 14, 2017

Rating: ♥♥♥♥ – 4.5

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The world has turned upside down for Thad and Ari Glavan, the bastard twins of Súndraille’s king. Their mother was murdered. The royal family died mysteriously. And now Thad sits on the throne of a kingdom whose streets are suddenly overrun with violence he can’t stop.

Growing up ignored by the nobility, Ari never wanted to be a proper princess. And when Thad suddenly starts training Ari to take his place, she realizes that her brother’s ascension to the throne wasn’t fate. It was the work of a Wish Granter named Alistair Teague who tricked Thad into wishing away both the safety of his people and his soul in exchange for the crown.

So Ari recruits the help of Thad’s enigmatic new weapons master, Sebastian Vaughn, to teach her how to fight Teague. With secret ties to Teague’s criminal empire, Sebastian might just hold the key to discovering Alistair’s weaknesses, saving Ari’s brother—and herself.

But Teague is ruthless and more than ready to destroy anyone who dares stand in his way—and now he has his sights set on the princess. And if Ari can’t outwit him, she’ll lose Sebastian, her brother…and her soul. 

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Like with the majority of my reviews, the first part will be spoiler free, followed by a spoiler section.

RUMPELSTILTSKIN RETELLING!

I’m not going to lie, I went into this book not expecting to love it as much as I loved Shadow Queen. I’m so happy I was wrong. I actually think I ended up loving this book more than the first one. Granted it’s been quite a while since I read the first book, but this book was so good! I listened to it through Audible, and the narrator did not disappoint!

This book follows Ari and her quest to free her brother from the Wish Granters grasp, only she’s bit off more than she can chew, and before she is successful, she suffers many setbacks. Partnering with the palace’s new weapons master, they conceive a plan that will hopefully end with the Wish Granter defeated.

This book has everything – slow burn romance, action, adventure, sass, wit, love and loyalty, and a whole heaping of evil.

I loved Ari and Thad’s relationship even if he often ended up treating Ari like she couldn’t stand on her own two feet. I get why he acted that way, he was trying to protect her and keep her under Teague’s radar. Ari was determined, and not afraid to get her hands dirty. She felt like she didn’t fit into the royalty crowd and often proved that she didn’t. Teague – despite his villainous ways, was a great character. He had me boiling with annoyance and rage, and I loved it. Sometimes you can’t help but like the bad guys. (I also think knowing the story of Rumpelstiltskin helps humanize him a bit). I loved Sebastian. I loved and hated that he was the vulnerable one – loved that it was almost a kind of role reversal and hated because how dare he hurt so much. * sobs * I loved how Ari just inserts herself into his life, letting him know that she was there, but still gave him the space he needed, and treated him as an equal. I loved how it slowly dawned on him that Ari had become more than just “Princess Ari” to him.

Overall, I just really loved this book, and the slow burn romance and the crafty evil way Teague conducted his business.

I thought I was going to have a spoiler section for this review, but I don’t think I am. I loved this book so much and could talk about it for hours, but I think that delving too much into what exactly happen would take away the magic that is this book. It’s a wild ride with some dark elements, and not so happy moments, but it’s also a book about loyalty and love and standing up for those who are closest to you. It’s about figuring out who you are and how far you are willing to go to protect the people you love. Ari proves herself to be all of those things.

Okay, I lied a little bit. There’s one thing I want to talk about, so here come the spoilers.

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Last chance!
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I think knowing the story of Rumpelstiltskin kind of impacted the story, because I knew basically how it would end, Teague wouldn’t win, and it would all end up happy. I think that’s why I couldn’t give this book a full rating.

But also, the ending. I didn’t really like the whole Ari dying only to be resurrected part. It felt a little convenient, an easy way to motivate Sebastian into killing innocent people, which is kind of what Teague wanted him to do. It felt a little too much like a plot device, instead of actually necessary to the story. With that being said, it still shocked me and left me full of sadness and rage.

I think the end of the book played out too cleanly and quickly compared to the rest of the novel. True, Ari had been working towards the name breakthrough the whole novel, but once she figured it out, it all just progressed very rapidly, until Rumpelstiltskin was drifting into the night sky, and the kingdoms safe, and Sebastian getting his house on a hill (and the girl). For how hard Teague made their lives throughout the whole novel, he seems to begrudgingly acquiesce pretty quickly – granted he had no choice but to follow Ari’s commands per the contract, but it still felt rushed.I was kind of hoping that Ari might use the contract to limit him or force him to be a better person (fae) but she had him kill himself.  Maybe I sympathize with Teague too much, or he’s too humanized after hearing his backstory, but I didn’t really want him dead. I feel like he and Ari could have made a good team, or something. (But now I understand why ABC on Once Upon a Time gave Rumpel and Belle the Beauty and the Beast storyline, because in a way, it kind of was one in the novel.

Other than the ending being a little rushed, I loved this novel, the story, and the characters, and I have high hopes for the third book in the series The Traitor Prince!