The Courting of Bristol Keats | Review

Mary E. Pearson’s The Courting of Bristol Keats offers an imaginative world of Fae with less than likable lead characters. 

The Courting of Bristol Keats delivers a present day enemies to lovers tale with exquisite world building and all the makings of a fantastic romantasy. There’s a broody King, a sassy leading lady, magic, romance, and intrigue. Unfortunately, the book falls a little short on piecing together a cohesive plot, while the protagonists lacked the type of character growth that would make me want to continue the series.

The story begins with Bristol Keats receiving a mysterious letter, from an unknown ailing aunt, who wants to bestow valuable art upon Bristol and her sisters. While the sisters are skeptical, Bristol begrudgingly obliges. They’ve fallen on hard times following the death of their parents and this could be exactly what they need to survive. 

Upon Bristol’s arrival at the planned meeting place, she uncovers some shocking truths. Not only have major parts of her secretive life been a lie, but her father may still be alive and living in the fae world of Elphame. As such, Bristol strikes a bargain with King Tyghan of Elphame to close a magical door in exchange for help locating her father. 

Bristol travels to Elphame and is immediately thrust into the intrigue, unrest, and politics of a kingdom at war. A world where the manifestation of latent powers of recruits from the human world—like Bristol—are the key to the kingdom’s survival. Old wounds, Family secrets, an unexpected romance, and magic (because of course) fuel Bristol’s journey to the truth. Along the way, she learns how to unlock her magic potential, while getting to the heart of her parent’s mysterious pasts. 

Pearson does an excellent job in the beginning of the book laying out the fae realm and its inhabitants. She dives into the different species of fae, their characteristics, and powers in an enjoyable way. The differences in how time passes in the fae world and human world made for an interesting plot point as well. 

One of my favorite world building tidbits came from learning that many of the great human artists such as Leonardo da Vinci studied art in the fae realm. And speaking of art, this book itself is absolutely stunning! Even if you never crack the cover of this book, it makes for a beautiful edition to your shelf if you’re a sucker for a sprayed edge…It pains me that I enjoyed the artwork more than the book itself.

The Courting of Bristol Keats feels like a YA book with a sprinkle of (underwhelming) spice thrown in to help it make the leap to an adult audience. Unfortunately, the jump fell flat. The characters and plot feel extremely underdeveloped. Not to mention, there are so many characters added to the story who do nothing to progress the plot. The supporting cast felt more like a burden as I constantly forgot who was who. While I enjoyed Bristol’s sassy retorts, her relationship with Tyghan felt like watching the annoying couple in high school who were constantly fighting, breaking up, and getting back together. There was nothing about this story that made me want to root for them. 

Holy plot holes Batman! This story is full of them. Bristol lives in a Hallmark movie-worthy small town that is apparently overrun with fae…Who somehow don’t know about each other even though they have the power to see through glamorous?  Without offering any spoilers, I actually laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of why Bristol’s powers hadn’t manifested. Seems like something these intelligent and capable fae would have checked on all recruits from the beginning. I also find it unbelievable that nobody slipped to Bristol the truth about her parents’ pasts well before she discovered it herself. 

As a card carrying member of the smut lover’s club, the romance did not deliver. There was so much buildup in the first 60 percent of this book, only for the spicy scenes to bore me. They left too much to the imagination and I’m not sure if this is due to Pearson having primarily written YA novels beforehand, or if the characters were just so unlikable I couldn’t get into the “action.” Either way, I give it one chili pepper. The cliffhanger at the end of the book leaves us with a love scene and not one resolution to any of the larger plot points. 

Overall, The Courting of Bristol Keats has some well done elements that could make for an interesting sequel. I don’t think I’d be interested in returning to Elphame, but some YA romantasy readers may find this right up their alley!