Unbetrothed

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This author had reached out on TikTok about their book and I’m so glad to have checked this out! If you’re after a romantasy described as Encanto meets the Selection, then this may be for you.

Beatriz is set to be betrothed, though her love of her best friend Lux, stops her from choosing a suitor. She can’t have Lux as he’s already paired to another person. On top of this, Beatriz fails to possess a magical gift - everyone in her kingdom are usually bestowed a gift from the ages 1-5, though at 17, she is still not charmed and sees herself as useless in comparison to others. Marking her words via an oath to the ancient ones, she goes on a secret quest to be granted her magical gifts in the valle de los fantasmas, gets in a sticky situation and is saved by a group of men, who we find out are from a rival kingdom Himzo. As she embarks on her journey with these men, she realises that not everything is as it seems and she has much learning to do about herself and those around her.

This book was well written and I enjoyed the characters. Beatriz was always going to be a stuck up princess who thought she knew better. There was much learning she needed to do and I appreciated her journey. She was flawed and felt her shortcomings, more so than others, because she was in the spotlight.

I loved her maid Laude and cracked up a lot at the things she would say and do, especially when she was with the Himzo group. She was hilarious to read. I kept thinking about what was this Himzo groups angle - they could capture Beatriz at any point and spark some more conflict. All was to be revealed in time and I loved the developing relationships between all of the characters. Zichri was all things you would want in a man - gentle natured, kind, caring, good looking, would take a sword to the chest for you… like he was built to be loved.

Things really pick up around the 70-80% mark when we encounter some betrayal and deceit. I did guess who the culprit was as it was hinted earlier in the book.

This was a really good read and I would love to read more from this author!