Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

The book has an interesting concept and it was entertaining. Basically follows a woman transported into a new realm she needs previously killed famous warriors of the realm to fix the dying magic and awaken her powers. However it has some twists as not everyone or everything is as it seems. This is an adult book as it has some heavy topics of suicide and rape, so keep that in mind. My biggest issue with the book was the editing as it had a lot of spelling issues and grammar issues. Hopefully those get sorted out in the finial copy.

Honestly, I felt this novel jumped in too dramatically. I was confused by the direction the author was taking the story and I felt it was a bit predictable. Stories about women being abducted by fae are as old as time. I would like to read a fantasy novel that does not involve the kidnapping of a woman and her slowly coming around to it.

I have to admit that the gorgeous cover of this book was what drew me into it in the first place, and it was only followed by the possibility of reading something full of magic, morally and equally queer characters, and a promising worldbuilding.

It's just unfortunate that this book didn't meet its mark. I had to DNF this book at around 25% in because it was just taking so slow for things to build up, the lead characters were highly unlikeable, and even though I knew this was an advance reading copy, there were still a lot of editing mistakes that slipped past that ruined the reading experience.

What it offered was definitely palatable to the readers, but I feel like more work needs to be done for this book. There were a lot of great concepts in it, but the execution was not up to par.

Unfortunately, I could NOT get past the editing errors with this one. Legitimately wrong words were used which made it painful to try to read. I had to DNF.

I'll say it upfront: I was a little disappointed by this book. it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing either. based on the description, I had high hopes for this with the description of being a dark atmospheric read on the verge of Gothic.
My biggest issue is how slow the beginning was. i was so bored, i almost put it down completely. the only reason i didn’t, is because I struggle to dnf a book. in saying that, I'm glad I kept with it, as the ending was really good.
The characters were annoying. The main character is your stereotypical ya protagonist, and didn’t bring anything new to the table. She was horribly boring, and grated at my nerves the whole time. Ah, I know that sounds harsh but this is fresh off me finishing so hey FEELS!
Review to come on YouTube.

this was a great debut novel, the characters were what I wanted from this type of book and going through this journey. It was a wonderful premise.

I dnf'd this book because I didn't realise it was erotic/had adult scenes. Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a review copy of this book

While I was incredibly intrigued by this book to begin with (as I am an avid reader of everything fae) I found myself very disappointed by the pay off. The romance just did not draw me in at all and I did not appreciate the overtly alpha male tendencies of almost every single male character. One aspect that I found enjoyable however, was the characterisation of Vien, our main character, and the casual diversity presented and although I did not like the romance in general, I did love the inclusion of a sapphic love interest. Overall, I do think that this book had huge potential and maybe my high expectations may have hindered my enjoyment. (Ensure to heed trigger warnings before reading)

Okay, when writing this review I could lie to you and say that I enjoyed reading this book. But, I promised myself to always be truthful in my reviews so it pains me to say that I sadly really did not enjoy this book at all. I give it a 2 star rating, because I think the idea behind the fantasy storyline isn't that bad, but the execution leaves a looooooooot of space for improvement!

First off, I have to say that even though I got an ARC copy and I understand that these editions might still go under a lot of revision work and spell checks, what I read went beyond minor spelling and grammar mistakes. I really hope that this book got edited again before publishing, as it would improve the reading flow and understanding of the story massively! Not only did it feel like I was reading an unproved copy, but sometimes paragraphs ended midsentence and I had to put the meaning of the passage together myself? I was a bit disappointed by this and the state of the writing had a major influence on my review. Another big part I disliked was the pacing. The story felt too rushed and without any noticeable breathing room for us readers to process what was actually going on.

As for the story itself: I thought it was very confusing. Right from the beginning we get thrown into an unfamiliar fantasy world, without understanding how we got there from the mortal realm and who the characters are or what the goal of each individual is. The interactions make no sense and it seems to me like the characters probably had more communications with each other than we got to see, because the pacing of how the character's relationships developed was incomprehensible.

As for the main character: Vien (or Iniq) is a very unlikeable character in my opinion. (Same goes for every other character except maybe Spiris, but I won't really go into details about them here.) She is very selfish and a lot of her thoughts do not make any. sense. at. all. I get that the author might have tried to write her as a victim in her story who realizes that she was wronged and then tries to get her powers (over others) back, but her lust for killing and violence is just so irrational. I really do not understand half of the thought process Vien went through in this book and it just all seemed groundless.

So yeah, if this book undergoes a proper editing and review process, then I think it has some potential! The magic and wars described in this story could lead to a fascinating story, if they're better explained and embedded into the character development of Vien. Overall I think this book just needs a bit better pacing and story telling and then it's on its right track!

Trigger warnings:
This is a work of dark fantasy/romance and contains mentions and depictions of: blood, gore, sexual assault, abuse, and other dark adult themes. If you are triggered by any of what is mentioned please do not read or if you do please be warned that these scenarios take place in this book.

This book deals with a lot of heavy topics.
I really wanted to love this because because the plot sounded so interesting but I don't know if it because they haven't finished it or edit I am not sure but it was definitely a miss the character were very much every where and the author writing style was passive it kinda took the magic about. I will definitely consider rereading because it has potential. It was really hard to read this book I had to put down a couple times. Things just happen to Vien there was no character development she just accept her situation and it completely fine with it. The other character are kinda just there except Baecos. This story has the potential of being an amazing Dark Adult Fantasy I just hope it get there.
Even though I am mad that it finished in a cliffhanger I am so happy that I got accepted to read this because it was so much fun book,I could not put it down. All I knew about this is that there was sapphic activates so i don't investigate further(Also the cover is perfection) I was incredibly surprised when I stared reading how incredibly badass the characters are I love that fact that Asa the main protagonist is a super geeky about technology and that she know her strength and weaknesses. I really hope the author pays more attention to Riven because she is such a breath of fresh air she a girl that likes guns, takes no crap from no one and is protective of her friends. I was incredibly surprised of how the author presented the technology and overall world it didn't take me out of the story what so ever. I don't know how long we are gonna have to wait for the second seeing as this a debut so please go support the author and read the book.

Thank you netgally and the publisher for giving me a free copy of An Importer in Warriors Clothing for an honest review.

The best thing about this book is definitely the cover. I always feel like comparing a book to ACOTAR is never a good thing with how beloved that series is. Sets too high of hopes.

My opinion on this book is really mixed. Let me explain, the plot is the main reason, i liked how it was developed and built but some things were more meh. The beginning of the plot was a bit weird and how the main character enters this new world in such a passive way it was upsetting. I wanted to scream at her “wake up it’s not normal”. A lot of things were rushed, especially the relationships that didn’t seem natural.
One thing I liked was the representation in it, bisexuality is usually not spoken of in books or in strange ways but in this book it was really well represented.

this book had an intriguing plot that was enough to carry me through the book to see how it ended . Unfortunately this book read like a badly written fanfiction and I would not read it again or recommend it to a friend. This book was quite disappointing as I set up quite high expectations and this book didn't live up to any of then. Overall id give this book a 2.5 out of 5. I wanted to like this I really did.

2/5 stars

This was unfortunately not the book for me. I did not like the writing or the characters. I continued to put the book down and not want to finish it. It had so much going on and was very unorganized. The plot just wasn't there. It just felt like a bunch of words thrown together. The was just not for me at all.

First of all, I received this as an ARC from NetGalley. Thank you to victory editing for providing me with this book, in exchange for an honest review!

I was very interested by the cover of this book! It’s so stunning! After my fascination with the cover died down I went ahead and read the description and that wowed me as well! so I was automatically drawn to this book! Then I got reading....

I would go into explaination in why I don't like this book but I honestly don't even know where to start. I get it wasn't a finished copy of the book but it was just awful.

I was very interested by and adored the cover of this book! It’s so stunning! After my fascination with the cover I checked the synopsis and was pleasantly surprised. The big eye catch for me was “A court of thorns and roses meets a new adult twisted fantasy...” because how awesome does that sound? But, then I got reading....

I didn’t make it far into the book when I started seeing my disappointment rise. I was aware of the disclaimer made that editing was still being made, as it was not the published version. This is something I’m willing to overlook since I have the opportunity to read it before it’s published. So that was not my issue.

My issue was that the book felt like it was jumping all over the place. The first few chapters felt overly rushed. The first three chapters, we went from Vien coming home because she was fired, to her all of a sudden bolting out the house to chase after “...something glowing” to being placed in the middle of a battle?! I think that there should have have been more time taken to ensure the scenes were laid out well to establish some sort of basis for the character and her environment. This book had everything going for and, which makes me really disappointed that it just fell flat for me and I wasn't enjoying it.

Thank you for the opportunity to have been able to read this in advanced but I am at the moment going to be continue this book and have DNF’d at chapter 9. I do hope to revisit it once again in the future because as previously mentioned, the idea of this book is fascinating to me and the cover and synopsis keep drawing me back in.

thanks to netgalley for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

this book definitely had potential but it fell short with the world building and development. i felt just as lost as the mc and i believe there really could have been more exploring of all the fairies or demon realms and the whole world in general. overall wasn't for me.

Firstly, I just want to thank Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What caught my eye for this book was the summary and the title. My overall thought for this book was that the writing was just not for me, however I had continued because I wanted to learn more about the world and see the lgbt rep.

Slight spoilers ahead:

For me the beginning of the book was very rushed. It seemed to jump right into the story and into the whole ‘hero building montage’. Which wasn’t exactly a montage, but it should’ve been considering how much time we saw Vien learning to fight rather than understanding what was going on. The dynamic between the characters was ??? we know they know her, but she doesn’t really know them, except it wasn’t giving that vibe. I wish there was more time spent building up the relationships between characters because it came off as superficial in the end.

I feel like this book has potential but there definitely needs to be more world building or development in the beginning before jumping right into it. It seemed we stepped into a story mid series and so I felt just as lost as the MC, maybe more even. I wasn’t sure what period the fairy side takes place in either. There could have been more exploring of all the fairies or demon realms in addition to that considering we only really see them interact a few times.

There were interesting scenes regarding the flashbacks and muscle memory that we could’ve spent more time on in order to build up her arc. For me that was a big thing. She has a past she isn’t connected to and there are times where people seemed to forget that, so there wasn’t any climax towards her acceptance of being reincarnated.

Personally, Spiris is my favorite character, which is the only reason why I enjoyed the ending. I know this book was sent out with some issues, so hopefully they’ll get tweaked before publishing, until then don’t have high hopes.

TW for abuse (physical), suicide (mentioned), rape (non con), and death (people die).

Side note: If you are looking for healthy f/f rep, this isn’t it.

Summary: Vien had been a pitifully weak mortal with a miserable life. She encounters a magical portal in the forest and is sucked into this magical world, but what she doesn’t know is that this world has been searching for her in hopes that she is the reincarnate of a powerful god and would be able to help stop their world’s magic from disappearing.
I am familiar with Elle Mae’s work and decided to give this book a try. I am not a huge fantasy reader so I was a bit skeptical, but I read that this book had some LGBTQ+ rep in it so I knew I had to read it. Starting off, I was really grateful there were trigger warnings at the beginning of the book because this book grapples with some heavy topics (ex: sexual assault, death, gore, domestic abuse, and violence.)
The story starts with Vien who had been living a miserable life for the past two years since her girlfriend passed. This is where I get a bit confused in the plot and wish Mae had spent a bit more time on the backstory. Vien is suddenly walking in the forest and in a completely new world? We got so little of Vien in the mortal world, I felt she lacked some character backstory and character development throughout the book. This issue also presented itself with other key characters in the story, which created a sort of disconnect between the character's decisions and the plot.
The things that I did love about the book were the elements of found family and the way Vien connected with certain side characters. Elle Mae wrote such lovely side characters, that I found myself so attached to them just as much as Vien was. I will say what pushed this rating to a 3 was the plot twists and the possibility for a book two, because I am nosey and ALWAYS want to know what’s next.