Today’s review is about THE COURTING OF BRISTOL KEATS by Mary E. Pearson. It’s the first book in a now-completed duology. In this first installment, Bristol makes a bargain with a fae in order to find her father and provide for her sisters. Naturally, she discovers more about her family than she expected.
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Series: The Courting of Bristol Keats, #1
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publish Date: November 12, 2024
Print Length: 560
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The Courting of Bristol Keats Synopsis
Synopsis
From NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author Mary E. Pearson comes a THRILLING ROMANTIC FANTASY full of dangerous fae, dark secrets, and addictive romance—the first book in a duology
After losing both of their parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters struggle to stay afloat in their small, quiet town of Bowskeep. When Bristol begins to receive letters from an aunt she’s never heard of who promises she can help, she reluctantly agrees to meet—and discovers that everything she thought she knew about her family is a lie. Her father might even still be alive, not killed but kidnapped by terrifying creatures and taken to a whole other realm—the one he is from.
Desperate to save her father and find the truth, Bristol journeys to a land of gods and fae and monsters. Pulled into a dangerous world of magic and intrigue, she makes a deadly bargain with a fae leader, Tyghan. But what she doesn’t know is that he’s the one who drove her parents to live a life on the run. And he is just as determined as she is to find her father—dead or alive.
The Courting of Bristol Keats Review
THE COURTING OF BRISTOL KEATS is the first book in a now-completed fantasy romance duology. Bristol and her sisters lost both of their parents in short succession and struggle to make ends meet. They also keep receiving letters from an aunt they’d never heard of before who offers to help them. Bristol finally decides to meet her aunt and hear what she has to say only to learn her whole life is a lie. The fae exist and her father might be alive. So Bristol enters a bargain with Tyghan, a fae king, to learn the truth.
This book is a bit of a chonky read, but I felt like the story moved at a steady clip. I enjoyed Pearson’s writing style and found it easy to follow and engaging. She did a great job introducing information about the fae world throughout the book rather than dumping a lot of information at once. I really love it when authors understand how much more engaging it is to incorporate information in this manner. On the other hand, Bristol spends a lot of time in this book training. So there’s not really a lot to explain about the world at this point. The magic system doesn’t seem all that complex, which isn’t a dealbreaker for me. As long as the author explains it well, it doesn’t matter to me how simple or complex a magic system is.
Bristol’s characterization is quite consistent. Even though she’s the middle sister out of the three of them, she essentially acts as the breadwinner and caretaker. She’s responsible, reliable, loyal, and level headed. Even after she learns the truth about her family, she allows herself time to be upset. But in the end doesn’t let that cloud all her decisions. Because she is the breadwinner in the mortal world, and because her parents moved them around so frequently, she doesn’t have time to make a lot of friends. It was nice to see Bristol begin friendships with the other recruits, especially female friendship.
Even though I quite enjoyed this book, the romance was a little abrupt for my tastes. Pearson started off strong with the slow build and a great tension-builder scene. But then after a handful of weeks Bristol and Tyghan just fall all over each other. Considering the knowledge he harbors about Bristol and that everything is so new to her, I think Pearson could’ve drawn out the slow burn. And while I didn’t mind the pace of this book, overall, not a lot actually happens in THE COURTING OF BRISTOL KEATS. It’s definitely more of a fleshed-out setup for the final book.
However, I still think this is a very solid fantasy romance book. It avoids moving the plot along too fast to satisfy whatever type of romantasy trope(s). I definitely plan to read the next book.
Rating: 4
Content warnings: sexual content, violence, gore, blood
Reading format: Hardback
If you liked this book, you may also enjoy A DEAL WITH THE ELF KING by Elise Kova.
I’m glad that you enjoyed this one. Hope that the sequel is as good.
I really didn’t like this one, especially the ending!
I remember wanting to read this when it came out, but for whatever reason decided not to. It does sound good, though! I’m not crazy about the quick romance, but everything else sounds great😁
Great review! I’m glad you enjoyed this one more than I did. I didn’t hate it but thought it was a bit meh. I do plan to re-read it and finish the duology at some point, though, because I own both books. 🙂
Its a shame that the slow burn could have been stretched a little. And I am a bit worried I’ll crave more worldbuilding from this but it sounds great overall. I never can resist the fae and Ive been known to enjoy training segments in the past. Hope you love the sequel 🥰