The Shadows Between Us ARC Review

Table of Contents

About The Shadows Between Us

Author: Tricia Levenseller

Genre: High Fantasy, YA, Romance

Publication date: February 25th, 2020

Publisher: MacMillan

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“They’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will.”

Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:
1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.

But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen―all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?

I received a free copy of The Shadows Between Us for an honest review.

A lot of times (especially recently), more unique or “less-common” works are appreciated. If a work – especially if it’s more high profile – gives off even a little bit of cliche or cheesy vibe, that often would become a huge source of controversy among the readers. People these days seem to associate cliche and cheesiness immediately and indefinitely to be flawed.

The Shadows Between Us reminded me how books – and works in general – could have some cliche (arguably cheesy) moments while being INCREDIBLY enjoyable (and a good book too). I have read so many different books that have more unique storylines but still….bored me to death, to say the least. But although this book could be a little bit stereotypical with the behaviours between the characters (and their lines) in the end, it’s not…bad. It did not negatively affect my reading experience (if any at all).

If this is causing you to be wary to read The Shadows Between Us – please don’t. It’s really not that bad, and it’s not that common. Also, if it makes things better, there’s a decent plot twist at the end that improved the general quality of the plot as well (it was very well-thought-out and not random).

Among all these good things, some things in The Shadows Between Us stood out not just good but quite exceptional. One thing is the character’s nature and personality.

Are you sick of reading stereotypical kind-hearted protagonists that always spare the villain because “he’s not worth it” or any other things like that? Especially the villain almost always comes back to do the same thing?

This book would be the anecdote to the absolute frustration of those characters.

The logical nature of Alessandria and the Shadow King paved the way for the one particular scene near the end which demonstrates how different these two are from stereotypical characters. I can’t say much because of spoilers, but do you remember how a lot of times, powerful people in stories would not use their full abilities to solve problems (so the story can be longer and create more “drama”)?

Yeah, that’s all I’m going to say.

About the Author

Initially from a small town in Oregon, Tricia now lives next to the Rocky Mountains with her bossy dog, Rosy. She received her degree in English Language and editing and is thrilled that she never has to read a textbook again. When she’s not writing or reading, Tricia enjoys putting together jigsaw puzzles, playing volleyball, playing OVERWATCH, and watching shows while eating extra-buttered popcorn.

And if you liked this review, please check out some of my other reviews:

As many readers may know (especially romance book readers), oftentimes we like to seek out book tropes and read romance books that include the book tropes we usually like and the book tropes we want to read at the moment. It’s what drives a lot of book recommendations and is a common way we seek out books to read.

If you are a reader who is interested in:

Tracking tropes that you have already read
Tracking tropes that you would want to read in the future
Collect original trope ideas that you came up with (and haven’t come across before)

Then this book trope reading journal is perfectly made for you!

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About The Shadows Between Us