Why Disenchanted should be your next cozy dark fantasy!

Welcome back book lovers! Now I know I have promised you the rest of my reviews for the Lunar Chronicles, but I needed to squeeze in my review for Disenchanted first. I will have my review of Cress up next Monday.

Disenchanted is hailed as the Princess Bride meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but oh, how this book took me on an adventure. Disenchanted is originally a young adult, but the author has rereleased it as adult and is planning to keep the series adult moving forward.  I read the revised new adult version which does contain sexual content and mature themes. 

This Breton inspired novel is set in the 1500s and has a rebel princess and a cursed vampire. And there’s the personal fave “oh no, there’s only one-bed trope.” Disenchanted is delectable, and I loved the character development at the end.

Disclaimer: First, I would like to thank Brianna for reaching out and providing me with a copy of Disenchanted and for being a fan of Living in Libros. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

Summary: 

Lilac Trecesson’s a princess and next in line for the throne, but on her fifteenth birthday, she discovers that she speaks the language of Daemons, the supernatural creatures that live in the woods. The king and queen fear their daughter’s ability and imprison her in the palace.

Just as Lilac’s about to ascend the throne, she receives a letter from the witch of Lupine Grotto, who believes she can undo Lilac’s cursed tongue. With snacks and an heirloom dagger, Lilac sets off to find this witch. 

But on a dark and stormy night, she stumbles into a tavern full of other supernatural beings and locks eyes with the tall, dark, and handsome bartender Garin. Lilac and Garin have an instant attraction, but when Lilac senses something off about Garin, she runs head first into the night.

Garin’s a notorious vampire known for his murder sprees, but his curse prevents him from drinking blood from a human. He’s settled down serving drinks at the tavern when he meets Lilac. Both Garin and Lilac long to break their curses, and the two ally together and journey through the woods. But can the pair break their curses and return in time for Lilac’s ascension?

Thoughts:

Lilac’s sheltered and bad at things like riding horses and wielding daggers, but she’s stubborn, and nothing will stop her from trying her best. But these are the reason why Lilac is such a queen! She’s stubborn and listens to her gut even when it leads her to use her daemon tongue. For example, the night Lilac meets Garin she senses something is off about him, and her gut tells her to run into the woods in the middle of the night. That was foolish behavior, but it leads to her meeting the Korrigans, dwarf-like creatures in Breton mythology, who she shows kindness too.

Garin’s a feral vampire. He has a bloody past rampaging across the countryside. But Garin’s curse has slow downed his killing spree. As a barkeep, Garin pours the wine and kicks out the rowdy daemons. This plot point is reminiscent of those fanfictions where the characters work in coffee shops. I always loved those because of how cozy they are. But Garin the cursed vampire working in a cozy tavern is so cute. Can we get some more cozy villains and morally gray characters in fantasy?

I thought the world of Disenchanted was awesome. Lilac meets many different supernatural beings in this book, shapeshifters, witches, vampires, and fae. I loved seeing Lilac interact with all these creatures who are fascinated by her ability to speak to them.

“If Lilac was late spring, this man was midnight in the dead of winter.”

Disenchanted
Brianna Sugalski

The romance in this novel is great too! This novel takes place over the course of just a few days, and in that time, Lilac meets Garin and falls in love with him. I am not a fan of characters falling in love with each other so quickly, but a lot happens after Garin and Lilac meet. I feel as though Garin and Lilac had enough time to bond that their strong feelings for each other did not feel so rushed to me. Additionally, Garin and Lilac go from feelings of attraction to distrust and irritation with each other throughout this book. And I enjoyed every last minute of it.

This novel is the adult version, so there is some sexual content in this novel. But I just wanted to comment and say that the sex scene in this novel is good. I was speechless. I read a lot of adult romances, but nothing could prepare me for this.

“I may be a monster, but I am humane, princess. I am a gentleman, and I would be gentle until you splintered and begged me to fuck you.”

Brianna Sugalski

This novel has a great ending. The main plot of this story gets wrapped up, and Lilac makes it to the day of her coronation safe and sound. I loved the ending of this novel. Look away if you don’t want this spoiler, but Lilac accepts her multilingual talents. This only makes her a better queen because she can communicate with the humans and the daemons living in her kingdom.

 I love books with a theme of self-love, and I am glad that was a theme of this novel.

Content Warnings:

 As mentioned this novel contains adult themes and early on, we learn that Lilac betrothed is a weenie. He’s the worst and attempts to rape Lilac twice. Other warnings: sexual content, violence, blood, gore

For updates on the next novel in this series follow Sugalski’s website , Instagram, and Goodreads. I will leave you with this gorgeous fanart from Sugalski’s instagram.

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A post shared by Brianna Sugalski 🐲 (@authorbriannasugalski)

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