A Court of Sugar and Spice by Rebecca F. Kennedy

A Court of Sugar and Spice by Rebecca F. Kennedy (2.5 Stars)

I finished this book last year after a friend said it was a fun read. Don’t let the rating I gave it fool you, it was fun, but it was definitely a book to read for the trope-y relationship dynamics and the smut. Its a nutcracker retelling (using that word fairly loosely here) and the plot itself is fairly simple. After their parents die, two sisters, Clara and Louisa, have to stay with their godfather Drosselmeyer until they get married and can claim their inheritance. While snooping around his house the sisters discover that one of the nutcracker dolls on display is actually a fae prince that’s been cursed by their godfather who they agree to help.

As a heads up here’s the content warning list (This is directly from the book, I know that they don’t always show up well on digital copies): Family death, Violence, Gore, Monsters, Blood, Sexual Threat, Light bondage, Light cnc, Primal play, Public sex

From this point we’re edging into spoiler territory. So if you want to avoid that at all, stop reading here.

After Drosselmeyer finds out about the sisters’ agreement with the prince, the trio of Clara, Louisa, and the Nutcracker prince all flee through a portal to the fae realm. After popping out the other side, they end up in the middle of a hostile takeover by the Rat King, who has taken the opening left by the absent prince to invade the lands of the Seelie kingdom. To cure the Nutcracker’s curse they must get him to a magic spring that’s the source of Seelie magic. Along the way they meet up with the Sugarplum Faerie, who’s the prince’s cousin, to help them with their journey. The group stays overnight at the sugarplum palace, but they have to get moving again in the morning because they’re attacked. They meet up with a group of mercenaries to help them getting through the fae wilderness. During one of their traveling nights, Clara and Sugarplum have a bit of a sexcapade in the woods (this is what some of those content warnings are about). Shortly after, a plant fae who’s working of the  kidnaps

Now is a good time to start talking relationship dynamics. The two main couples of the book are Clara and the Sugarplum Faerie, and Louisa and the Nutcracker prince. Clara and Sugerplum have a couple moments together while the group stays overnight. Theres some kinky undertones to their relationship at this point that become more explicit later on. They are the reason for the public sex, light bondage, and primal play content warnings.

Meanwhile Louisa and the Prince have more of an enemies to lovers dynamic. They’re always bantering and bickering, but the mix of traveling together, mutual attraction (although they’ll both deny it), and the prince having to drink Louisa’s blood to stay not a nutcracker until they can get to the magic pools forces them together enough that their “to lovers” part of their dynamic feels built up and doesn’t just come out of nowhere.

Back to plot. They meet up with a group of mercenaries to help them getting through the fae wilderness. During one of their traveling nights, Clara and Sugarplum have a bit of a sexcapade in the woods (this is what some of those content warnings are about). Shortly after, a plant fae, who’s working for the Rat King, kidnaps Clara. The group splits up and Sugarplum goes after Clara, while Louisa and the Prince continue sneaking deeper into Rat King occupied territory.

This is where Louisa and the Prince have a couple moments of sexual tension. There’s the classic sharing sleeping space for warmth, and forced proximity due to spell range. They do successfully sneak through the front lines and reach the Seelie armies, where they rest for the night before making their way towards the magic pools.

Back with Clara at the Rat King’s headquarters, there’s some slightly uncomfortable scenes where there are threats of sexual violence. Sugarplum shows up to help get her out, but to do that they have to fake that he’s interested in serving the Rat King. Sugarplum puts together a classic crazy faerie revel and then there’s that public sex scene from the content warnings. Unfortunately the two our caught sneaking out after the party is over and are about to get horrifically killed. At this same time Louisa and the Prince make it to the magic pools and the prince is uncursed and gets his powers back. They use the Prince’s recovered magic to get all the way to the Rat King’s court and save Clara and Sugarplum before anything too bad can happen. Drosselmeyer shows back up (he’s been implied to be searching for his goddaughters since they left) and offers a truce with the fae and for his goddaughters to return to the human realm if they want to. Big surprise, Clara and Louisa decide to stay and they all get married and live happily. Clara and Sugarplum start a little shop in the Faerie capital, and Lousa and the Prince become the King and Queen.

if it feels like the last bit of the book resolved really fast, that’s because it does. It’s one of my main issues with the book. Its mostly a fun time, fairly fast paced, but never too rushed until that last little bit. I think that’s why I gave the book 2.5 stars, because its fairly competent and doesn’t particularly feel like it’s trying too hard to have big themes for something that really only needs to be a fun romp.