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

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This book is described as a Pride and Prejudice retelling with fantasy elements (ghosts and monsters and fae, oh my!). While that is accurate, I want to point out that Rachel Schade does a masterful job at making it her own. At no point in this book did I feel like I was simply rereading Pride and Prejudice. It felt like there were general plot inspirations pulled from there (it IS an intentional retelling), but the story itself is unique and a good read. Since the beginning, the reader gets the P&P feeling, which is something I liked because of how much I love P&P. It was also hilarious to see Fitz teasing Elle throughout the whole book. I also enjoyed the secondary couple 😏... would be very interesting to see a small epilogue or story about them. I do have to mentioned that even though most characters played their typical P&P roll, the most out of character was the Mom..., but it was refreshing to see the story with different twist in the characters or their attitudes.

When I tell you I devoured this book, I devoured it! Castle of Dusk and Shadows is not my normal fae fantasy read where all the "dark and dangerous" fae are actually...dark and dangerous. This book, however, was different. Although we definitely do have some very good fae, there are others that want nothing more than to kill. 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...that was until I realized that this followed the storyline of P&P very loosely. Silly me, totally my fault... How Elle realizes that the key to her salvation might be her arrogant, cold husband, Prince Fitz, whom she’d planned to rob and abandon But Elle has a plan to change their fate. For she knows that ghosts wander Ashwood Forest until the royal family sends them into the afterlife. How Elle’s father dies, forcing Elle to take her sister’s place and marry Prince Fitz to steal his power The story is ridiculously repetitive in so many ways. Felt like the author was trying to hit the word count on an essay.

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The romance is very slow burn (which Rachel excels at 😆) and there is plenty of tension and glances when they don’t think the other is looking 😂 I’ll include a list of tropes below but Fitz is the kind of fae to maim and ask questions later.. especially when it comes to his bride!!

This was a nice, easy read. I enjoyed the Victorian/fae aspect and I thought that had been really well done, however I wasn't the greatest fan of Elle, the main character. She wasn't the worst FMC I've read about, but she definitely wasn't the greatest. I thought her dedication to her family and uncovering the truth was very well done, and were good characteristics for her. I also enjoyed her quirkiness about the contrast of the Victorian-styled human realm and the "impropriety" of the Fae realm. The comment about her not even showing anyone her ankle before had me giggling. Otherwise, she was just.... meh to me. I also wasn't a fan of how Fitz was portrayed as instantly falling in love with her.... I am more of the slow-burn type girl so when Fitz was the first to declare his feelings for Elle it had thrown me for a bit. (10/2023)

Customer reviews

Dive into this new world where danger and drama is always around the corner and even those closest to you can't be trusted. So think Pride and Prejudice but add in a fresh take on fae, magic, ghosts, murder, mystery, and so much more. Then we have some of my all-time favorite tropes: slow burn, he falls first, only one bed, touch her and die. Plus, sprinkle in some delicious tension and good ol’ banter. It’s the perfect mix. This retelling of Pride & Prejudice with a dash of mystery, is an interesting approach to “retelling” a classic. The plot, aside from the murders, was more of a direct retelling than an “inspired-by” story. I was hoping for more original content, more like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies or To Travel the Stars, but this mostly just dresses the original characters in new clothes and slightly different names/circumstances, and then literally retells the original plot… (well, the movie adaptation plot at least). I also have to say that I was a little confused with the Fae hearing ability. Cause, sometimes it seemed to be very extravagant (like, faes could hear everything from very far away and other times it seemed like they didn't), but it wasn't a big deal to me. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Overall, the writing is good enough. There is a lot of Elle’s internal angst that isn’t very poignant and so comes across repetitive and dull. This FMC is a truly distasteful person, in both her behavior and character, and combined with the single-sided POV, the writing was hard to stay focused on. I found myself reading chunks of this, making myself get to the next 10% mark so I could get through it on schedule. It was not a sit-down-and-binge-read book.

This was marketed as a clean romance, and it was definitely that, but I wish it had been...a little less...clean... But Elle has a plan to change their fate. For she knows that ghosts wander Ashwood Forest until the royal family sends them into the afterlife. Ghosts that can be returned to life. And she’s determined to save her father from his premature death. So, here our author introduces a Gothic & Fantasy Pride and Prejudice (loose) retelling. In this retelling, Elle, our FMC, is forced to make rashed decisions that end up getting her married to the cold, dark, mysterious, and handsome (😍) fae prince, Fitz, to save her family. She is convinced that her plan will work, but what she wasn't counting with was falling for her husband. How will the story unfold? Can she trust her husband and her feelings for him? I think my enjoyment of this book is down to the author's excellent plotting skills. The plot had some nice twists and revelations, and even if I saw a couple coming, the emotion of those scenes was engaging. The pacing in this book is great with a good balance between action and character-driven scenes as well, which is hard to pull off, honestly. I loved this book! For one, it was fun having a broody, sort-of-grumpy fae who WASN'T really morally grey but was actually more of a "do-gooder," cinnamon roll type. It was also nice seeing a first love interest who (mild s Swoony. Emotional. Magical.How Elle’s parents made a desperate deal with the fae kingdom of Ashwood, leading to Elle’s sister marrying Prince Fitz, heir of Ashwood So, this was my first book by Rachel L. Schade and let me tell you... I AM NOT DISSAPONTED. I tend to read most P&P retellings, but Rachel's version has taken it to whole new level. She, masterfully, combined the Gothic and the Fantasy with the P&P story line while still keeping it original and adding her own touch. Plus, she was able to do all of that and still kept it as a clean romance 😍. Just because of that you should give this book a chance, but if you like to focus more on the story, then continue reading to see what my opinion of the story was. Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide.

And the key to her salvation might be her arrogant, cold husband—the one she’d planned to rob and abandon. If only she can trust him.

The author also did a great job creating a novel take on how the fae and their kingdoms work. Since there are approximately 9 zillion fae-themed fantasies nowadays, even a couple new twists on familiar mythology and tropes is nice. If you know me, you know I'm all about the "Pride and Prejudice" vibes. I am slowly making my way through the book (I say slowly just because I'm a somewhat distracted reader these days), and of course the 1995 movie is sometimes the only thing I need to watch. I've begun to suspect that retellings are something I like the idea of more than the actual execution - I think what I really want is what the kids call "fan fiction" - so I was pleased to find that I thoroughly enjoyed this. Last, but not least...the only thing I would absolutely love that would make this story even more enthralling is... to have the book narrated from Fitz point of view. It would be super interesting to be inside his head and to be able to read his actual thoughts when the story was unfolding. 🤩 This would be a great book to read in the fall because it has all of the spooky vibes with the haunted forest and castle, but of course any time is a good time for spooky-ness!! I cannot wait to see what else Rachel pulls from this world! It is just so interesting and I know there are so many more amazing stories to tell with these brutal fae and scrappy heroines 😆