Something Wicked - (Idle Reputations) by Falon Ballard (Hardcover)

2.5 Stars, rounded up to 3 This is a fantasy romance / romantasy book with dual POV intended for a mature audience. Here’s some of the highlights you can expect: -Gorgeous cover art – it’s really what caught my attention the most to choose to read this -Magic / Gifted powered individuals -Fantasy set world after the end of an Uprising -Two lovers choosing each other under impossible odds -The beginning of a series but still has its own self contained story to keep you both satisfied and left wanting more About our protagonists: Cate is a Gifted courtesan with a heart of gold to match her golden eyes and hair. She has a Gift to manipulate emotions but she only uses it to help her clients in need. Cal is an entitled prince having to come to terms with committing an impossible act that will wreck him emotionally. Cate is the only one who can help him ease the tension he feels in more ways than one. Overall: This was my first Falon Ballard read. I did enjoy the way the story swept me away in a fast-faced way. I found myself losing track of time while I kept reading chapter after chapter. I would recommend it to those who enjoy some solid mature / spicy romance with a fantasy setting and minor political plot. This book’s biggest strength was in its romance storyline. Something I would have loved to see developed a lot more was pretty much everything else. We get a fantasy magic system but it isn’t explored or explained in any tangible way, the rules seemed to change for each person throughout the story and it never quite made sense. If you’re expecting a high fantasy, this might not be the story for you. But if you’re okay with being swept up and just moving along magical inconsistencies, you will have a lot of fun. For me, I just wanted a little more depth to the side characters, the world building, and the magic rules. Another thing that I found a bit jarring was that there never felt like any real tension to the story, specifically in the last third of the book. Without spoiling anything there were what should have felt like big moments that just felt lacking in emotional impact once the characters caught up to what was already spelled out. Overall, I am still interested in reading the next book in this series as I think there’s promise in this story and world the author has provided us. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC for this review! :)