The Shadows Between Us - So Cheesy It was Adorable!

 

Alessandra is sick to death of a lot of things; she's sick of playing second fiddle to her beautiful but empty-headed sister, she's sick of her father using his daughters as a form of currency, and she's sick of living in a kingdom that allows these things to happen. So Alessandra has a plan and it only has three simple steps: 

1. Woo the King, which should be easy for her men as fall at her feet. 

2. Marry the King. This is simply the next natural step after the wooing. 

3. Kill the King and take the Throne. She's already killed once this should be easy enough.

What Alessandra doesn't count on is ending up in a palace crawling with people who want to see the King dead for their own reasons, a curse on the King that makes it almost impossible to kill him anyway, and oh yeah she actually likes him. 

Everything about this book is just way over the top. Alessandra tries so hard to be a villainess but it's pretty obvious early out that whether she's already committed a murder or not she just cares too damn much about the people she cares about to actually be a villainess. Her "evil queen" (to steal a phrase from the summary) is obviously a defense mechanism developed because she lives in a society that doesn't value women outside of their ability to produce heirs and look pretty. I absolutely love her. She's intelligent, witty, and funny. She knows exactly who she is as a person and while she has the huge defensive wall built she's not so insecure to not let it down around people that she cares about. 

Kallias (the Shadow King) has just as much inner turmoil. The curse that protects his life and grants him damn near-immortality also ensures he can not touch another human if he wants to live. That in itself has to be a mindfuck of epic proportions. You can live a thousand years but you can't even hug anyone? Not worth it from my perspective. His parents the King and Queen are brutally murdered by someone in his own court so now not only can he not touch anyone he can't trust anyone to boot. He fumbles repeatedly in dealing with his growing feelings for Alessandra in a way that is a very well-done real representation of how a nineteen-year-old trying to come to terms with a seriously tragic past would deal with falling in love. 

And yes while this book does touch on the important topic of women's rights to sleep with as many or as few people as they want without having to worry about society judging them for it, however, it is very superficial and honestly, at first, I thought it would annoy me but in the end, I found it to be a refreshing way to address these topics. It's not right that women are judged by a different set of standards on this topic, everyone knows that so a deep commentary really isn't needed. 

On the I suppose "side story" of the assassins other than Alessandra out to kill the king, maybe it was because I was so wrapped up in Alessandra and Kallias's story that I didn't pay enough attention, or maybe it was because I really fucking liked the guy who ends up being the assassin but I was thoroughly shocked when the who and why was revealed in terms of the assassin. I didn't see it coming at all. And I really did love this character so I was thoroughly pissed off when he ended up being an evil bastard. 

Overall, this is actually a book that I normally would have stopped reading pretty quickly. Too much romance, not enough story, superficially covering important topics; I could go on. However, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed it. But just really as a heads up if you go into this expecting anything other than an adorable, amusing, read with the depth of a kiddie pool you are going to be seriously disappointed. This is definitely a "I've had a bad day, I need to laugh, eat some ice cream, and not think too much" book.