This was so close to good but unfortunately, it just isn't.

The MCs attraction to the love interest is wholly unbelievable and has no basis whatsoever beyond him being hot. That's it. That wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't one of the core conflicts of the entire story even beyond this first book.
It makes this entire aspect of the book ring hollow.
Usually, in these kinds of romances, there is no justification whatsoever for the strong male love interest to actually be into the unremarkable MC. In this one, it's the exact opposite. The only thing I can say about the guy is that he is just pathetic. I think the author aimed for a strong female lead but didn't realize how she weakened the characters around her in the process to make her appear stronger.
Luckily the MC has no problem lusting after any and all hot man-flesh that crosses her path despite being clearly hung up on the bad-for-her love interest. This is something I personally disliked a lot but that is more preference than an outright objective flaw I guess. It makes the MC appear inconsistent and flighty because it contradicts her obvious obsession with the love interest.
One thing I should maybe mention is that you could technically categorize it as a love triangle in a way but one of the guys is kind of not even real and lives only in the MCs dreams so does this still count? It seems very clear to me that one of them is the "real" love interest though.

One thing this book got right was the actual dark faery part. It's horrific and depressing but it almost goes too far because there is literally nothing redeeming there. The faeries are presented in such a bad light that I wouldn't have any objection against literal faery genocide which weakens quite a few plot points that seem to aim for at least partial redemption for some of them.

I want to now mention that the number of unlikely coincidences that help the story along is enormous. Many of the events that are critical to steering the plot don't have a good justification if any at all.
At least all the plot steering pressure is taken off the MC this way so she doesn't have to be stupid beyond the strange romance without any chemistry at all.

The author couldn't resist the typical meta-writing where the MC points out what kind of stupid or unrealistic decisions a typical clichée MC in a book might have made if placed in the same circumstances. She does this often enough to come across as digs at other books which she really can't afford considering the staggering number of inconsistencies in this book.

I really like where the story started to go towards the end especially but I am not sure if I can get over the many shortcomings and I don't expect it (judging from my experience) to get any better in later volumes. ( )

I really enjoyed this! Not the most original story, and the beginning was kind of weak so I took off a star. However there are some very unique twists and aspects that I loved (her dream world, for instance). It was a fun, quick read and I’m super excited for the next one. ( )

dont think i'll be continuing on with this one. I couldn't get invested in the characters/story that much. ( )

Loved this! Review sooon! ( )

OH wow! This is a great book. Fortuna is a bad@ss and I just love everything about her. I want to know more about Oliver and Collith. There is something about Laurie I can't put my finger on. I just loved everything about this book and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. The ending was an amazing twist that I did not see coming. ( )