OMG AND YOU END IT LIKE THAT??? RUUUUUUUUUUUUUDEEEEE :( 
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 So I'm starting this review right off with talking about the big plot point between the assassin and the prince, because I think it's important for me to say that I knew who was who months before picking this book up. I spoil myself for pretty much anything that I'm curious about, so when I heard about this big plot point I just had to go and find out for myself before even deciding whether I wanted to read this or not. XD I do this all the time with books, so I wouldn't say that I ruined it for myself at all. Instead of having that mystery and trying to figure it out myself I got to actually see how Mary E. Pearson played it all out. I can honestly say that it was executed quite well from my side of things, though I do kind of wish I was able to experience going into it without knowing. 
 For anyone who is considering picking this up, you can still enjoy it even if you have been spoiled on this part. You can just observe how it's all executed and enjoy it that way. However, if you do like to be kept in that mystery and like trying to solve some things yourself then do try your best to go into this a bit blind on this part. 
 That being said, I quite enjoyed this one. It was definitely heavily focused on the romance, but I'm fine with this because I did quite like most of the ways it was done. None of it felt instalovey to me, and even though there was an obvious love triangle that was being set up for this story I didn't mind it too much because I liked both of the guys. I did take one star off though because of a few reasons: 
 1.Although I was able to tolerate the love triangle, like almost all (if not all) that I've read about, it isn't perfect. There are usually times when it would be obvious for me that the main character should end up with one of the guys and the other would just be there to add in more drama to the romance aspects. There are times when I am able to ignore this fact and give things a higher rating, but the way that Mary E. Pearson organizes all the events in the book made it seem like at that that she really wanted it to work. Although it is done slightly better than many in a way that it made me like both sides of the triangle, there is still the obvious gear towards one end of it than the other that I can always catch. 
 2.The plot is definitely a lot slower. Because she decided to focus a lot more on the romance, the political intrigue and the fantasy aspects were only given out or hinted at in small scenes in between. More of it does come during the second half of the book.....but then things happen and then the end comes... (view spoiler)[(WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE CLIFFHANGER ENDINGS LIKE THIS? And not even a nice feel-good scene it just ended and I was like ?!?!?! !WHYYY) (hide spoiler)]. 
 The one thing I really loved about this book was the main character. I really really loved Lia. She was always very outspoken and knew what she wanted, and she acted on things without seeming very annoying. I loved seeing the development she went through and how she was able to see when it's better to put others before herself and vice versa. I especially loved her relationship with her best friend Pauline and her brother Walther (who were both also really great characters tbh). All in all, she was a very likeable character and one of the main reasons why I was able to rate this book higher than I might have. (Cuz let's be honest, I am very biased towards stories with amazing characters. If a book has a really great list of characters then it's really going to help it when it comes to my own final verdict.) 
 As for the boys, it took me a bit more time to start liking them because we weren't given all that much in the beginning to go with. I did end up liking both Rafe and Kaden as I kept reading, but don't ask me which one I like better out of the two because I honestly really don't know yet. xD At one point I was leaning towards Kaden since his personality seemed to match a bit more with the type of characters I go for, but I always ended up liking Rafe's scenes with Lia more than when Kaden had scenes with Lia. And then I eventually liked Rafe too for different reasons so.................welp I'm hopeless right now lol but at least I did end up liking them which was the good thing. xD 
 Overall, it was a pretty good book. A bit more focused on the romance side of things than anything else (which I don't mind but I would have preferred a bit more of a balance), but the last half definitely set things up for something pretty interesting. Heart of Betrayal will definitely be one of the sequels that I'll be getting to as soon as I can. :) 
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 I JUST GOT A PHYSICAL COPY OF THIS BOOK ALONG WITH HEART OF BETRAYAL! :D I honestly think the covers look really nice and THE PAPERBACKS ARE SO FLOPPY :D