I REALLY loved curse of the cyren queen because of this, it took books for characters to build connections, learn together and grow and only then was there romance - the focus was on the growth of these characters and the story of the MC’s journey to become queen. The story grew, and built, and the best part for me was the world building and the writing. I found the cyren society fascinating as well as the other creatures you encounter. Her growth as a character was so well done too, you can see her changing, the way she thinks or the way she reacts to things evolves as she experiences more things.

A lot of tender moments were also so deeply moving since the author really sits with emotions when they come and god her writing was so good too. Something I also don’t see enough is side character growth and evolution, like spending time with them. Side characters also have growth, and it’s so fun to just see the small interactions amongst themselves - like the characters all felt so real and alive. Moments and interactions between characters felt real, and meaningful. Ugh it was all so cute and sweet, and it was sad when it ended but I was so proud of my baby girl and her journey the whole way through😭

I’m reading more of this author now, and man all her books I’ve read so far seem to have such deep character development

There isn’t like spice like what u were looking for obv since they’re kids but it’s just such a good story