The Queen's Secret

By: Melissa de la Cruz

Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Will Damron, Hillary Huber, Marc Thompson

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

From number-one best-selling author Melissa de la Cruz comes the heart-pounding follow-up to The Queen's Assassin, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Holly Black.

Lilac's birthright makes her the Queen of Renovia, and a forced marriage made her the Queen of Montrice. But being a ruler does not mean making the rules. For Lilac, taking the throne means giving up the opportunity to be with love of her life, the kingdom's assassin, Caledon Holt.

Worse, Cal is forced to leave the castle when a horrific set of magical attacks threatens Lilac's sovereignty. Now Cal and Lilac will have to battle dark forces separately, even though being together is the only thing that's ever saved them.

In the riveting conclusion to Melissa De La Cruz's fantasy duet, love, and magic are at war, and victory rests on a knife's edge.

©2021 Melissa de la Cruz (P)2021 Listening Library

I mean.

I can’t be mad. But I do wish this series was longer. I’ve always loved Melissa’s writing and I got to trust that this is what was right for her and the series. It’s worth the read! I love Cal & Lilac. Just wish it wasn’t so rushed.

Could’ve been better. Kinda disappointed. Slight spoiler

The first book was exciting all through. Lots of action, interesting storyline. The sequel- not so much. All Lilac does is complain and the narrator’s voice doesn’t make it any easier to listen to. At some point I figured she would never do her duty like the whining coward she seems to be and I was right. Everyone has a duty, and it’s not like the king was some fat creepy pervert. It annoyed me. In addition, the climax was really underwhelming. I expected it to be really action packed, intricate and complex and that there’d be sweat and blood. But all it took was a little spell and a flaming arrow? Wasn’t a bad read overall, just could’ve been way better. Too simple a storyline for me.

I love this story!!

Excellent performance all around! I hope that this series continues!!! I want to know what happens next!

Review

Struggled to finish. Story was slow and the events happening seemed far-fetched. Enjoyed the first book much better. Shadow in this book didn't align with her character in the first book (independent, self-sufficient, clever) she's preoccupied being lovesick and wallowing. That being said, the imagery of the ending being 'in the shadows' was nicely done.

bored

this story really wasn't worth the read i was bored the whole time and even stopped reading twice.

Great conclusion

The ending to the 2 book series of the Queen's Assassin was good. The narrator's do a fantastic job and the storyline did a good job summing up the loose ends. I enjoy Melissa de la Cruz's books for there easy listening, well paced storylines..but it's just that, easy and well paced. It's a two book series that is for YA with a HEA.

Rushed ending

Ending seemed rushed and just put in at last minute there was no build up to it. Very confusing. Very short series, wish it would have been longer and more time put into it.

Not as good as the first

Was not impressed.. it drove me mad that lilac constantly talked about her Queen duties and what is required from her, yet she never follows through. Either renounce your title and live your life or do you duties. Don’t talk about it, be about it.

Bothersome beginning-Updated, It's bad

The beginning chapters are frustrating. Only about a year has passed since the point where the last book left off but Lilac keeps making it sound like years have passed. She is jealous of a "younger" girl (like she's so ancient?) and she talks about how she isn't in her prime anymore. WHAT?! She continuously makes it sound like 20years have passed with all her complaining.
Maybe I'm overreacting but it's so annoying that I'm having trouble getting into this one.

I'm only 7chapters in so I will update my rating/review when I finish.

UPDATE:
Weeks later and I can't bring myself to come back to this book so I'm going to try to get a refund for it. I enjoy other books by this author, this one was just a big miss for me.

Main character whines the entire book

I stuck through this just to see what happened at the end but this was a hard listen. So much of the same complaint spoken over and over by the main character. And how she was manipulated so niavely.... If you want to finish the story like I did go ahead but know you won't like it.