📖 A Thousand Heartbeats

I'd like to start off by saying that if you are an enemies-to-lovers, romantasy, or a semi-slow-burn lover, then this book (if you couldn't tell already by the cover) would be perfect for you. Personally, I'm not a die-hard fan for any of the three mentioned above, but this book was still a great read for me. It felt like I was reading a Disney fairytale rather than an actual high-grade level book, and for me, it gave off strong "Ella Enchanted" vibes. Anyways, about the book, it's about a princess named Annika who, like your stereotypical princess in fairytales, lives a life of luscious comfort but must get married for political gain. (In other words: Annika kind of doesn't like her life because she doesn't have any free will. Big surprise for a princess in a book.) Her father, the king, is also — to no one's surprise — not an especially loving father. The second character is Lennox, who is a Dahrainian soldier. It is kind of obvious that they're meant to "end up together", but that's not bad since the book essentially shouts in your face, "I'm a romance novel". Lennox's goal is to seize control of the land that Annika's family rules over, and this is what brings them together, starting the "enemies-to-lovers" arc. HOWEVER, their "enemies" phase is quite brief as Kiera Cass makes them almost click instantly. What's NOT brief is their "lovers" stage. As I said before, it's quite the slow-burn, but not in a way that wants to make you rip your hair out — it's just the occasional "speed it up, please" though that goes into your mind. All in all, I would recommend this book if you enjoy reading romance, slow-burn, and other common tropes in romantasy novels. My favorite genres are sci-fi and thrillers, which differ STRONGLY from this book, but I still enjoyed reading it very much.

首先我想说,如果你喜欢"从敌人到恋人"的剧情、奇幻浪漫小说,或者半慢热型的爱情故事,那么这本书(如果你还没从封面看出来的话)绝对适合你。 就我个人而言,虽然我并不是上述三类题材的铁杆粉丝,但这本书对我来说依然是一部很棒的读物。读起来感觉更像是在读一部迪士尼童话,而非真正的高级文学作品,对我来说,它散发着浓浓的《魔法公主艾拉》的氛围。 总之,关于这本书,它讲述了一位名叫安妮卡的公主,就像童话里那些刻板印象中的公主一样,她过着奢华舒适的生活,却必须为了政治利益而结婚。(换句话说:安妮卡其实不太喜欢自己的生活,因为她完全没有自主权。对于书中的公主来说,这倒也不算什么意外。)她的父亲——国王——也正如大家所料,并不是一个特别慈爱的父亲。 第二个角色是达莱尼亚士兵伦诺克斯。两人注定"终成眷属"这一点显而易见,但这倒也不坏,毕竟这本书本质上是在向你大喊:"我就是一部言情小说"。 伦诺克斯的目标是夺取安妮卡家族统治的领地,正是这一点将两人联系在一起,开启了"从敌对到相爱"的情节线。然而,他们的"敌对"阶段相当短暂,因为基拉·卡斯让两人几乎一见如故。真正漫长的反而是他们的"恋人"阶段。正如我之前所说,这段感情发展相当缓慢,但绝不会让你抓狂——只是偶尔会冒出"快点啊"这样的念头罢了。 总而言之,如果你喜欢阅读浪漫小说、慢热情节以及奇幻浪漫小说中的其他常见套路,我会推荐这本书。我最喜欢的类型是科幻和惊悚小说,这与本书风格截然不同,但我依然非常享受阅读的过程。