Book Review: A Sea of Pearls & Leaves

My rating: 3.5 stars

for a lovely fairytale retelling with a twist.



Ingrid is a princess who doesn't want to get married. Could be because she is in love with her best friend Lilura, who happens to be a sorcerer priestess. :) But the Kingdom needs an heir and the King insists. So seven suitors are called for Ingrid to choose from. Lilura, devises a wicked plot to deter said suitors with a nearly impossible marriage contract but the plan backfires and in no time Ingrid finds herself caught in a royal competition in between all 7 princes who not only agree to her absurd claims but are set on winning her hand.

Now Lilura is faced with Ingrid's growing affections for a certain quirky prince with a love for letters and numbers, while Ingrid must find a way to appease both her father, her heart and her jealous girlfriend.

And to top it all off, Ingrid needs to deal with a creepy doppelgänger stalker as well as a murder mystery that endangers way more than her own life.

Light, quirky and endearing, this sweet little tale features a lovely cast of adorable characters as well as great mythological creatures like halflings, harpies and gods. It is a bit predictable at times and fairytalelike at others, while the vocabulary combining modern and medieval terms felt a little jarring. But then, it is a fairytale after all.

The charm and quirkiness of some characters and the raw emotions of others were absolutely fabulous. And even though Ingrid is the princess, Liluria stole the show for me. She is one character I absolutely adored. Her strength and raw feelings, her longing to be accepted and loved as well as her journey of self-acceptance tugged on all my heartstrings.

All in all, A Sea of Pearls & Leaves is a lovely mix of humor, magic, mystery and love. It's fun and alluring and absolutely refreshing.

It is pretty tame considering the warning
'CW: This novel contains violence, sexual situations, and adult language.'
And if you're worried about the love triangle - don't be. It is a perfect fit for this tale.

Check out this book and more of Rosalyn Briar here.