I had a really great time reading this book! I was a bit apprehensive, because I picked it up because two people I follow were interested in it. But then they didn't like it. But I enjoyed it, and I can't wait to see where the series goes from here!

The whole idea where the Roman Empire never fell, that's such an interesting concept, because they did cover a vast area, and have a lot of power when they were around. So between that and the magic of this world, it was so interesting to learn about!

Reading about these characters and their romance was so fantastic! That Clara is being pulled between what she's been taught and what she's learning and seeing with her own eyes, yeah, that was hard for her to deal with.

That ending was just evil though! Such a cliffhanger, and while I can go straight to book 2, there's so many books to read, I don't know when I'll get a chance. But I need to, because I need to know what's going to happen next!

This was a pretty great read, and I can't wait to continue on!

This was a super fascinating take on an alternate history historical fantasy. I’m not really a fan of roman era britain but have studied it a bit & just as a headsup a lot of like historical accuracy details are sacrificed in the name of fantasy worldbuilding & plot. I couldn’t really tell how much research the author did or why she chose to use an actual historical setting instead of just creating a self contained & original fantasy world. The writing style was also a littleee bit amateurish for my taste but I think this is a debut so I’m willing to check out book 2 in the series I think. For the right person this book could be really good though so I’d probably still recommend it.

This book wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. It was in the middle. I found that the books premise promised a lot and the potential from that premise enticed me to request the book from the publisher. My issue, however, was that the book did not live up to the hype I had in my head.

Some of the historical context within the book was inaccurate. Reguarly, I found that the "Romans" were calling out to Greek Gods rather than to their Roman counterparts. This made the book very jarring for me and I found myself being taken out of the plot a lot of the time. The pacing was also hit and miss. To begin with, the pacing was enjoyable as the world building was pulling the story along, granted there did happen to be a lot of info dumping here and there, but then it became overwhelming with the world building and the story seemed to grind to a halt.

Finally, the romance felt very back and forth. This wasn't enjoyable to read. There was so much miscommunication and so much confusion over whether they liked one another or not and this just wasn't it for me. I enjoy a good romance and therefore this bit didn't work for me.

As much as I wanted to read this book when I was first granted access via NetGalley I never managed to get round to reading it. I have now gone back through and read the Synopsis and found that now this book is just not for me and will not be reviewing. I want to thank the publisher for allowing me to have access to the book but due to my tastes changing in reading this book no longer appeals to me.

I kept seeing tags for this that said 'For fans of Hunger Games' so I got excited to check this book out. I can see some similarities, a dystopian society where the government has absolute control, a secret rebellion, and a girl who is special in some way. But this didn't grip me like the other series did and I didn't feel like this had a unique plot. I would have liked a bigger twist to this and more action to keep me interested. In the end, I skimmed a lot because so much of it wasn't relevant. I think this and the sequel could probably be combined into one book.

Cassandra lives the life of a wealthy young woman, she's kind of materialistic and doesn't question how things work in her society. The racism and huge gap between the rich and poor don't bother her because that's just the way things are. Cass comes across as a sixteen year old girl and I kept forgetting she was supposed to be twenty two. She's immature for her age and I wish she'd been written as a teenager instead.

Devyn is an interesting character, but I didn't like that he refused to tell Cass anything. He kept all these secrets and I wasn't exactly sure why. Even at the end, he kept telling Cass they couldn't be together even though they're clearly in love and wouldn't say why. I wish we'd gotten to know more about his past, but hopefully that will come in the next book.

The pacing is slow and not much happens until the very end.

Premise was great but I DNF'd at 60% because I just couldn't soldier on. The writing was so slow and emphasized all the wrong points. O'Connor shows great promise and I hope the series gets better but I won't be continuing on.

I love "what if" stories. Clara O'Connor has built a world, developing it so clearly, you could see the buildings and streets as they become part of the story. Then she populated this world with characters that you could easily picture as they interact with their past, present and future selves. Ms O'Connor introduces us to these characters at a time in their lives where their world is changing, it's up to them to decide whther for worse or better. As these young adults mature, they realize their world is not everyone's world and want to know why......
A really great start to a new series.

This is a type of Artgerian legend and what if novel. It was totalt adequet and a fun read. I was quite confused at parts and a lotta did not make sense. All and all a good read.

DNFED AT 25%

I decided to DNF this book at 25% for a few reasons.

1. This book is problematic, and after scanning reviews it seems like this only gets worse.

2. The relationships between the characters are toxic, Devyn is constantly belittling Cassandra, yet Cassandra is all over him anyway.

3. Talking of Cassandra and Devyn, these are two very unlikable characters. Devyn is rude and condescending, constantly calling Cassandra ‘little girl’ or ‘princess’. And Cassandra is naïve, and very immature. If the book hadn’t told me these characters were in their 20s I would have thought they were somewhere in the region of 14-16.

4. Another thing I really disliked was the insta-love at the start. The premise was interesting and the idea of the book was promising, but this didn’t really kick in (except one small scene) until at least 80 pages or so into the book. O’Connor spent the rest of the time building a forced and toxic relationship between Cassandra and Devyn… I really wished she had stuck to the world building and plot instead because we were then given a tonne of info-dumping to make up for it.

All in all, this book had so much potential, and so much of that potential was wasted. I am disappointed, but seeing how toxic this book gets later on when it comes to women and relationships I am not going to regret bailing out when I did.

I listened to the audiobook. Which I'm glad I did. I feel I would have given up otherwise.

Maybe if this was shorter it might have worked better. The plot while nothing groundbreaking could work for people new to the genre. There's enjoyable tropes. Even though I feel the love triangle lacked chemistry from everyone involved.

While this was enjoyable at times it also dragged at other times. The writing felt disjointed at times as well.

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This copy was kindle gifted to me from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (submitted on Instagram)

With a series title like The Once and Future Queen, I went into this expecting an Arthurian legend retelling. Which is definitely not what I got. Maybe that comes up later on in the series, but I’m not sure that that is something that I will continue on to find out. Overall, this was a fine book. A part of my lack of enjoyment comes down to a matter of taste. While this may have been my reading taste at one point, it’s not really anymore. Also to everyone shelving this book as YA, are you okay? This is clearly a new adult book. New Adult refers to the age of the characters (who are 22 and 26), not the amount of smut. But I digress. This book was very reminiscent of the dystopian/fantasy books I read in high school and loved. I think if I’d read this book closer to then I would have definitely rated it higher. The premise was interesting, “what if the Roman Empire never fell? What if magic was real?”. I also love a book with “rich people problems”. But it missed the mark. It read young. It took a long time to get to the actual plot. And I just didn’t care about the “love triangle”.

I was interested in this story because it seemed to be an Arthurian retelling. However, the world-building was confusing. I also could not understand the plot. Thus, it had great potential but it was not executed well.

Fun fantasty ride that has great, expansive world building and a plot that is easily tracked. The characters are likeable. It's a good read for someone who wants to be entertained,v solid start to the series!!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book and the storyline. Just imagine what it would be like if the Roman Empire still existed and the impact it would have. Cass developed into a more indepth character as the story progressed which I liked but she did lack that maturity of someone who was going through this journey. The love interests were okay but the back and forth did come a bit tedious.
I loved the world building and could imagine what it looked like as I was reading which is important when connecting to a book.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Unfortunately I was not able to finish reading this. I will try to read again some time. Appreciate the opportunity.

The world building was a little confusing for me but I really enjoyed the premise of it. The pacing could use a bit of work, as I found some points raced by and some dragged.

I like my books with some romance, so that was a nice addition, could use a little less "push/pull" to the romance though. I know it's to build tension but it's not my cup of tea!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this book in exchange for my honest review.

It has a Map!!! That is my absolute favorite thing with any fantasy series! What a wonderful start to this fascinating fantasy trilogy! The author has built this Arthurian-like fantasy world that captured my attention and held it throughout the book. The amount of detail made this story feel like it should have happened in real-life. I felt that the three main characters were developed and fleshed out; I thoroughly enjoyed Marcus’ parts and that by the end, he was helping the other two escape. Ending on a cliffhanger is like the best and worst thing – it makes me want to read the next book, but I need that next book now!

A wonderful book for fans of The Hunger Games and the Grishaverse – this book had elements of both that made an enticing tale. I cannot wait to see where this series goes. Thank you again for the opportunity to read this book.

Secrets of the Starcrossed is a very intriguing book. The premise is essentially a world that parallels the history of ancient Britain but mixed with a highly sophisticated technologically advanced society. There is another society that has magic, and the two uneasily coexist until a mysterious illness begins to spread through their midst. I love King Arthur and ancient British history, so this book was really fun for e to read and recognize how the author incorporated a lot of the historical figures and people into the world building. The enemies to lovers romance is also great. The book had a little bit of a slow pacing until midway through but then it really picks up. I would read the next one!