Rings of Destiny by Melissa de la Cruz

Rings of Destiny by Melissa de la Cruz
Collection: Curses and Crowns #1
Printed by Crimson Tower Books on January 6, 2026
Genres: Fantasy, Fantasy Romance
Pages: 410
Format: ARC
Supply: Writer (Mail)
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She’s a barmaid who doesn’t consider in fairy tales. He’s a prince cursed to stay one.

Aren Bellamore has no real interest in being anybody’s princess. She’s too busy operating the Raven’s Beak tavern, keeping off undesirable marriage proposals, and dreaming of escape. However when a brush with demise and a dangerously good-looking stranger upend her life, Aren finds herself sure to a discount that would change every little thing.

Prince Dietan has carried the cursed Rings of Destiny historical weapons of devastating energy since childhood. The magic is killing him, and the enemies are closing in. To make the journey to reverse his curse, he wants a bride to cover his secrets and techniques. Aren desires freedom. Pretending to be his fiancée ought to give them each what they need.

However as their perilous journey pits them towards political schemes, monstrous Kilandrar, and a rising attraction neither can deny, the road between make-believe and future begins to blur. And the destiny of two kingdoms might depend upon whether or not a cynical barmaid and a cursed prince are keen to threat their hearts.

You possibly can inform early on that Rings of Destiny is supposed to be gentle, cozy, and humorous. It’s not the form of story that desires you to take it tremendous significantly, and I recognize that in a ebook! Typically we see actually difficult fantasies that require observe taking and laser-beam focus. I’ve even discovered myself throwing my palms up within the air and never even making an attempt to recollect every little thing and hoping I’ll perceive what’s occurring after I must. Apart from the extraordinary quantity of names (folks, locations, and many others.) I discovered Rings of Destiny very straightforward to observe. You do should be a bit affected person, although, as the start was form of gradual. I get pleasure from books that don’t make my mind harm and don’t require a ton of focus and memorization as a result of, let’s be trustworthy. There’s a LOT occurring on this planet proper now, a lot of it nerve-racking and scary and upsetting, so having a ebook that’s straightforward to flee into for a short time is a present. It’s gentle on the magic and worldbuilding, so you possibly can soar in and be simply superb probably not figuring out the place or when this ebook is happening.

Rings of Destiny provides you a really gradual burn romance that reads like a fairytale, with fast-paced motion (at instances) and a few humorous moments. Early on, a drunkard is compelled to purchase your entire bar a spherical of drinks as a result of he didn’t observe the rule of not proposing marriage to the barmaid, Aren. She clearly takes no crap. She’s a surly and grumpy Cinderella form of character, who works herself to the bone so her good twin sisters have every little thing they want. She wields a frying pan as a weapon (actually), and talks again to those that cross her. She’s unbiased and tough across the edges. I grew to understand her as a personality, even when I didn’t have heat fuzzies in direction of her as a result of she loves to speak about how she’s not like different ladies, and recognized with the jaded emotions she has in direction of sure facets of her life. Then you definitely’ve received Prince Dietan, who’s softer and extra emotional. He’s received the burden of the world on his shoulders (once more, actually), and he brings a sure depth and vulnerability along with his backstory. I favored the 2 of them collectively, though I wished extra chemistry. The banter between them was enjoyable at first, however the relationship didn’t get the eye I want it had been given so far as improvement goes. Abruptly, bam. Love. I wasn’t totally satisfied. The journey was attention-grabbing, however turned monotonous. This may have been the proper time to develop their relationship like I’d hoped, however not rather a lot occurred throughout this time. I loved the characters they met alongside the best way and it will have been enjoyable to be taught extra about a few of them. I actually cherished Dietan’s buddies. They made the story for me!

There are some issues that gave me pause. We’re clearly not in our world, however all of our swear phrases are there and slang like “household jewels” when referring to Dietan’s genitals. Aren says “as if” at one level. That threw me off a bit. Aren refers to her sisters as “my ladies” 1,000,000 instances, and every time it felt unusual to me. Their dad remains to be dwelling and, whereas she is the only real breadwinner for the home and helped elevate them, I discovered “my ladies” to be an odd factor to name them. She additionally does actually use her pan as a weapon, defeating some evil monstrous… cloud of wind(?) who siphons the life out of individuals and might raze a whole village with a tough bonk to the top. It felt too straightforward.

I did like elements of Rings of Destiny, and I’d suggest it to these in search of a lighter fantasy journey. If you happen to’re seeking to dip your toes into the world of fantasy romance, this may be a great place to begin. It was enjoyable and simple to learn, and generally that’s simply what I would like. I’m interested by what’s going to occur subsequent, so I’ll be holding an eye fixed out for the following ebook.