This book was a pleasant surprise. I was a little wary going in because of all of the hype surrounding it, but for the most part, it met my expectations. The first thing that I really loved was the feeling of the book. It just had an air of fairytales. That mystical, eery feeling of magic and far off lands. Of castles and spells, and falling in love. The romance was really slow burn and I would have liked a bit more than there actually was. The plot was a little bit slow. I had no trouble putting it down when I needed to. However, while reading I would get caught up in the magical feelings of the story again. So, I really did enjoy a good amount of the book, but I don't know if it was enough to want to read book two. I would be interested to see what happens with the romance, but the story did not stay with me in the way that I Marissa Meyer's other books have done for me.