Castle of Dusk and Shadows: A Fae Pride and Prejudice Retelling (Fae of Brytwilde)

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As Elle navigates a kingdom of monsters and tragic secrets, she realizes she might not survive to save her family.

I knew going into this book that it was a loose Pride and Prejudice retelling but I forgot until I was halfway through the book which caused me to get a little impatient with the pace of Elle's thinking.Desperate to bring him back to life, she stumbles upon a plot involving the murder of a Fae Princess and the mystery of how her 'family heirloom' locket from her own father plays a part in grand scheme of things. Nevertheless, this didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the book, since those are very common character traits - it just didn't add to them either. I read across the 'spice' continuum and while this book is a 'no spice' rating there is plenty of fantastic banter, conflict and tension between our main couple.

Sure, if she was 18 in today’s world then maybe I would believe that she was having such a struggle with her self and the death of her father, but she’s not. i came across this author randomly on instagram and she markets her books as “no spice” so i had to give it a go. Fitz at times came across a little too stoic but then again, he was modeled after Darcy so I guess it's appropriate. World-building was decent and always clearly portrayed, but I do wish it had been more evocative and more present in the storytelling.But once we entered Brytwilde I understood the reasons why Schade started the story the way she did. So maybe it's not entirely that it's "too clean" somehow, but that we don't really get to see them come together. I wasn't sure I was going to like Fitz at first (he showed a few red flag tendencies that are not my favorite), but luckily he redeemed himself and the romance turned very lovely and sweet, even with all the ghosts and necromancy and stuff that I normally don't read (but ended up loving how it was handled in this book!

A lot of the story follows the source material, making the pacing a little predictable—especially in the beginning. Of course, the only question is, can their newly established feelings for each other survive the onslaught of doubt and pressure from those who would seek to tear them apart?As any good character inspired by Darcy should be, Fitz is equal parts broody and devotedly fierce to the ones he loves. Told in first person, Elle navigates the treacherous world of Fae and ghosts, replete with dangerous political intrigue. The nods to Pride and Prejudice didn’t work for me here either bc the MCs get married super early in. When I first heard of Castle of Dusk and Shadow, I was fully on board, a loose retelling of my favorite Pride and Prejudice… Sign me up!