Adult Romantasy

Dark Nutcracker Retelling

Fae

Morally Grey MMC’s

Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️/ 5

Slow Burn Louisa & Lir

Male Sugarplum Fairy

Touch Her and 💀

Family Death 

Threat of SA

Dub-Con

Light CNC 

Primal Play

Light Bondage 

Violence

Gore

I didn’t read the synopsis before starting this book. I went into this book only reading the triggers at the beginning, so I was pleasantly surprised that Sugarplum is a male and the actual male main character. Sugarplum whose name is Finias is the exiled cousin of the fae prince Lir, who happens to be intricately cursed into a nutcracker doll. Finias is the love interest of Clara, and Lir is the love interest of Louisa. The Sugarplum Fairy is my favorite character from the original tale, but that did not prepare me for how much I was going to fall in love with Finias. I adore him.

“You, my dearest darling, are someone I’ve only dreamed of meeting. I’m very afraid I won’t be able to let you go back to your world. I think I shall keep you here, with me. ” - Finias

“Keep me? For how long?” - Clara

“Maybe forever.” - Finias 

There are many differences compared to other versions of The Nutcracker, the main one being that there are two female main characters. This dual point of view is split between Clara and her sister Louisa, who is a hard character to stomach. The dub-con and consensual non-consent? Yeah, that was Louisa. She has a thing about not respecting boundaries and is a legend in her mind thinking there’s no way that anyone would find her undesirable. The sisters handled the death of their mother/being raised by a cold strict single father, and then no closure before their father's death like night and day. Clara immersed herself in her art, while Louisa used sex to get what she wanted from people to feel powerful and better about herself. Don’t worry she does get humbled multiple times, and I do feel like her character is important to the storyline. 

The four embark on a dangerous journey to break Lir’s curse, save the kingdom from the Rat King, and must acknowledge their true feelings for each other if they want to be successful.