I was very disappointed in this novel, mainly because the reader is thrown into this magical world with no context. Multiple POVs with no explanation right off the bat is a lot to process. I struggled to even get past the first five chapters. I think this book needs a few more rounds of editing and definitely more worldbuilding. The reader needs to learn right away who to root for, but this is difficult when we don't even learn the main character's name until a couple chapters in. It felt like this book rushed the ro,ance aspect without developing, or at least introducing the main plot first.

Goodreads review: If you liked ACOTAR, you'll probably like this book. Although it had the same aesthetic, the characters were much more diverse. This book covers a few heavy topics, so make note of the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. Also, be forewarned that this is not a standalone. I repeat: THIS IS NOT A STANDALONE. It ends with a cliffhanger, and I won't lie - it's making me feel a little angsty. I need the second book and am dying to see how this plays out. Thank you to Netgalley and Elle Mae for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Extra notes: most of the errors in this book are grammatical in error. There are some awkward phrasings, and lots of mistakes with homophones, such as "bare" and "bear." There are also some little mix ups, like the exchange of "vein" with "Vien" and "worn" with "worse." Once those errors are fixed, this will be a phenomenal book!

It is my opinion that this book was not finished. And yes, I realise that ARC’s are not the preferred published book and changes are made. But this read like a first draft. I have never turned something so riddled with errors over to my publisher. Aside from which it needed a good structural edit, and probably a creative edit as well because the prose was very passive. The MC has little agency and the focus seems to be on her many potential love interests. That might make this someone else’s cup of tea but the way it was done didn’t work for me. Finally, the heavy hitting topics – torture, rape etc – are used in a gratuitous way. They don’t further the plot. This feels like an author’s first successful attempt to finish an early draft of a book. Any seasoned writer knows that’s when the work begins. And the worst thing about this is that buried under all the mess, is a decent storytelling voice and an engaging style. This could have been a very entertaining story. But it’s just not ready to be published yet. It needs about three more rewrites.

The writing was okay but messy. The plot was odd and confusing. Started off better than it ended but I’m sadly disappointed

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is pitched as ACOTAR meets new adult. I absolutely LOVE ACOTAR, I did not love this book.

So at the start of the book there is a page warning of triggers. I read this and understood and continued to read this of my own choice. That being said I could not handle this book, it was way too much, especially as the tale is told in POV, it makes reading it very unsettling and disturbing. Maybe if it had been written in third person it may have been a different read all together. There are very heavy topics in this book, heed the trigger warnings.

Aside from that, I was so confused regarding the story, it was all over the place, the characters (to me) were unlikeable.. I’m not a prude nor lily-livered when it comes to sex and violence, to me it needs to be relevant to the story, not just constantly thrown in throughout the whole novel.

If this is a series, I will not be going ahead, I am abandoning ship.

Note: on a positive note, the cover design is absolutely gorgeous!!

I fell in love with the cover the moment I saw it and I knew I had to read this book. Sadly, it did not live up to my expectations.

I was THIS close to DNFing this because of the writing style, for one. It really didn't sit well with me. I was kinda bored and I felt that the things were just happening without any proper action.

There were also some heavy things that should be put into content warning, so I hope that is done before the book is published.

The romance part was also a little jumbled and with everything going on, it just didn't seem all that important. And I didn't care about the characters at all.

The plot was very slow at first and then... Then it was over all of a sudden.

All in all, the idea was kinda interesting, but the writing style alone was enough to make me sure I do not want to read the second book.

I received an e-arc of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
2.75/5 stars

Okay, I am back with more cohesive thoughts for this. I dedicated all of the previous night to finishing this book from where I had originally DNFed. Some points still stand but want to point out some other positive things. Elle Mae has so much potential and I really am looking forward to see how they grow in their writing career.

Let's start positive:
- I think that any story involving magic is a story for me. There is a variety of it. I liked the mind magic aspect.
-Action points
-The plot of this book sucks you in just like in Mae's previous title, Contract Bound. You want to know what happens in the end.
-Bisexual rep. This wasn't a choose one identity over the other. Both seemed to flow in a realistic way for pacing.
-The trigger warnings on the front page. I like super detailed trigger warnings.
-The ending very much has me intrigued on the next book.
-I'm happy to see more New Adult fantasies coming into play.
-You will absolutely hate the "villains". The way this author can make your blood boil is new for me. Like book throwing disgusted by a character.
-Elle Mae knows how to write smut scenes. Get your fan out.

Critiques/Thoughts:
- I still stand by original thoughts on the editing in the e-arc edition. It needed a second round of editing before being placed on netgalley. I think it too frequently pulled away from the story. The ideas were there and they were good but they got lost in several areas. Magic was intriguing in theory but some of its execution was off.
-I had a hard time connecting with anyone other than Vein. Spiris was okay. There was time spent on other details that could've been more wisely spent on character development. I want to care about her relationships but I didn't. The ground work was kind of there but then got lost. More specifically, there were too many characters to be able to get into detail enough for me to care about them.
-Pacing Issues. Some key parts were sped through and left me confused.
-This is completely personal; I'm still not sure how I feel about the sexual assault and violence in the story. Mae always has me re-evaluating how I feel on these things. I feel like there are other ways to make the main character struggle than to write them into sexual violence plot lines. There are more ways to intimidate a character other than to threaten sexual violence. HOWEVER, It's an experience that happens and I don't want to say it shouldn't be talked about because survivors need to see themselves overcome those traumas. I do appreciate that the sexual assault/violence isn't glorified or romanticized, it is very much terrible and not portrayed to be "sexy".

When I first read the summary of this book I was immediately intrigued. I love fairy books and badass women with awesome power and Vien is definitely one of those. At first she has no idea who she is and what this new world is that she's stumbled into. She's met by several men who call themselves her saviors, asking her to save their own world before the truth eventually comes to light.

I wanted to like this book all the way, I really did, but there were just some plot points that had me scratching my head and going "huh?". I know the author knows all of the twists and turns that happen in this book, but as the reader I was confused about 45% of the time. Vien's role in the world was unknown at first. She's supposed to be this person with all these awesome powers that can somehow open a door to the old gods of the world but we're never really told who these gods are and what opening the door will do. Her actions are a head scratcher as well. One minute she's this strong independent woman and the next she's falling for Baecos and eventually the character that is first introduced as the villain. It's not consistent throughout the book and it's clear that the author may not completely have landed on who Vien is.

On the other hand, the sex scenes? Chef's kiss. They were hot, steamy, and completely unexpected at first but I wasn't going to bat an eye at them. I liked how Vien is clearly portrayed as a bisexual woman who enjoys both men and women and that's never shied away from. Major props to that!

Overall, this was an easy read if a confusing one but I didn't mind it. I'm not sure I would read again, but I enjoyed it!

Interesting. This was quite confusing and all over the place for me personally. I loved the cover and description. I didn't understand Vien and her choices at all. I just couldn't connect with the story.



Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in return for my honest review.

Well, that was A Lot. Definitely not in the best way, but it was entertaining, I guess? I’ll admit, the pretty cover and comparison to ACOTAR slightly blindsided me when I first saw it, and the plot sounded intriguing enough that I requested it. My first complaint is how unedited this book reads. I understand the disclaimer that it’s an unfinished digital copy, however it reads at times as if the author dictated the story to a child and got them to type. I also didn’t connect to any of the characters, especially the multiple love interests. I also felt as though many of the characters were extremely one dimensional.

Big thank to Elle Mae and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vien is a human who has found herself in the terrifying middle of a war, literally. Two sides are running toward her, battle cries and swords held high. Taking a chance, she goes with Baecos, the hansom King with striking purple eyes.
As Vien becomes accustomed to her new surroundings, living in a giant castle and training with two of Baecos closest friends, but something isn't right. Freedom is only really freedom when you get to make choices for yourself.
Vien begins to have memories resurface and soon finds out that she has come back, over and over again, reincarnated, and the people she now surrounds herself with were well known to her past self. Vien needs to figure out if the people she's staying with, or the people who are trying to take her are really her allies.

So.... this is a hard one to rate. I think they storyline was decent, and I'm a total sucker for falling for the bad guy. I liked that the alternate romantic partner was a woman and Vien seamlessly fell for both options. I'm actually interested in following up with the next book to continue the story.
My troubles with the book was the editing.. or lack thereof. This IS AN ARC, so I totally understand typos, and grammar is going to be a bit off but... this read as though there had NEVER been a second read through. At a few points, I wondered if the book was dictated through a voice to text app, then uploaded straight to Netgalley?
Another difficult part for me was the relationships... Spiris was Baecos .. friend? for lack of a better term. He was constantly tortured and abused and yet his job was supposed to teach Vein how to use her magic and keep her captive. I kept waiting for his character to turn back into a villain, but he didn't. Then we find out the extent of Vien's relationship with Cruro and Vien is PISSED that Cruro didn't come look for her for two years.... after being together for 600 and now pretty much wants to kill her.

Overall, I think it was an OK book and if there was any, any at all, editing I really would have enjoyed it more. It's hard to understand when sentences have multiple pronouns and doubled words what direction the story is going.

Thank you to Netgalley for `providing me with this ARC. An imposter in warrior's clothing was an interesting book-reading experience. When I read the description of this book I was very enthusiastic, I also found it in the LGBTQ+ section so I had high hopes. For the first half, I was very confused as to where the representation was but once I got further in I understood and I was not mad about it.
My favorite part of the book was the second half when everything started picking up and the action really started since the first half was full of backstory and information. Spiris has to be my favorite character, he was very calm and always rational as well as a sweet character overall. He knew how to be ruthless when needed and I enjoyed that about him.
Now on to some of my issues with the book. There was a lack of consistency in the dialogue where the characters seemed to jump from one topic to another without transitions and that seemed a bit confusing. As well as our main character simply accepting everything that is happening to her without giving it a second thought, maybe if she had dwelled on her situation more I would have been satisfied. Something that threw me off in this book was that during one of our explicit scenes the love interests seem to do something to our main character while she sleeps, there was no prior consent given for these actions to be performed and it felt a bit odd to me. Iniq also kept mentioning how she was tired and kind of didn't want to do this but she let it happen anyway, perhaps stating that consent was given prior to this would make the reading experience better and not as uncomfortable.

Overall my rating is 2.5/5 stars. I would recommend it if you want a quick easy and enjoyable read.

eARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op.

So this book.... it was a Lot. And sadly not in the good way. Please heed the trigger warnings (violence, death, sexual assault, rape, torture, suicide)

I requested this initially because of the gorgeous cover and the plot seemed intriguing enough: a powerful sorceress is reborn hundreds of years after her death in our very boring, very magicless world with no recollection of her past life. Through sheer luck, or perhaps destiny, she falls back into the land she comes from but also into the hands of people who want to use her for their own gain. And with time it gets more and more difficult to see anyone's true intentions.

I was expecting a complex story of queer, morally grey characters, unclear motives, and lots of cool magic. I got... maybe the cool magic? There was just nothing that truly kept me engaged.
Not the world building because after all these pages I still feel like I know barely anything about what happens in this world exactly.
Not the characters who also seemed pretty much defined by one single trait and that was it. Also, there was a severe lack of other women apart from the main character and one of the antagonist/love interests. (which: how many damn love interests does one protagonist need?) I feel like I hardly knew anything about any of the characters or what made them who they are. Half of them were cruel, manipulative, power-hungry villains with very little else to their character. The others were... just there? I feel like I never even got to know Vien, the protagonist, because of how much her thoughts and actions jumped around.
Not the plot and writing. There was just so much going on at times where Vien's thoughts would jump around but never truly show me the reasons for her actions. The fight and magic scenes were well written but anything beyond that was not really captivating. The entire first half of the book was full of plot holes that even a twist to the entire story can't fully explain away. The only truly good plot point that had me shocked was the epilogue but not even that will make me pick up a sequel, I'm afraid.

Yeah, this wasn't it for me. Admittedly, I've read of fae romance before ACOTAR and even more so after, but I think I have to realize at this point that it might not be the story for me.
Altogether, this was just a bit of a muddled read that sometimes left me confused and other times dragged out certain parts that I would have loved to just skip entirely. The dialogue read stilted and I would have loved a bit more development on Vien.
All that being said, I did FLY through this book because other than the dialogue, the writing really flowed and it didn't matter all too much when I didn't get something.

Shadow and Bone meets A Court of Thorns and Roses in this dark, New Adult fantasy. Vien is a social outcast in her town, unofficially blamed for bringing death with her over the past few years, when she suddenly finds herself transported into a world where magic is dying and told she's the only one who can bring it back. Not only that, but she's a reincarnation with both light and dark magic inside her- if only she can learn to control it.

Things that made me pick up this book: the gorgeous cover (shoutout to the artist, Madli, because she did a fantastic job) and seeing it tagged LGBTQ+. I was incredibly satisfied to see how perfect the cover was for the book and that there was a sapphic love interest.

What I liked:
-The plot. I was genuinely interested in where the story was going, although the pacing was a bit off. Once the story picked up it was extremely hard to put down and the ending left me curious about where it would go from there.
-The magic. I found it interesting that there were so many types and loved the scenes where Spiris would teach Vien how to use it.
-Spiris. My favorite character by far, every scene with Spiris was better than those without.
-The clear triggers warning in the beginning before the actual book began. I wish more authors would do this, and it was definitely needed as this story contained some heavy themes that could be very shocking and harmful if you weren't prepared to encounter them. (Seriously, this book got extremely dark)
-LGBTQ+ main characters. Did I mention there's a sapphic love interest? She has chapters told from her point of view in the book as well.

What I didn't like:
-The writing. The first third of this book was a hot mess. The writing was all over the place; half the time I struggled to understand who was speaking because of the odd way the paragraphs were structured around the dialogue. Vien’s character and motivations confused me greatly. I couldn’t get a good feel for her character for most of this book. Also, there were random chapters from the point of view of an "Unknown" near the beginning that disrupted the narrative without providing any actual information and just made me more confused. (The reveal was cool though, so there's that)
-Most of the characters. Vien only really interacts with three people for half of the book and two of them gave me major creep energy. The characters you meet more near the end are interesting but there wasn't enough time to get to know them. Cruor confused me a lot too, but I feel like that was due to the writing as she is objectively an interesting character that I wish I had liked more.
-The... romance? I'm actually conflicted about this one because I simultaneously liked and disliked it for very different reasons that I can't explain without spoilers.

Overall, I thought this was a very interesting read that I greatly enjoyed. I'm rating it 4 stars (I slightly rounded up) because although the writing wasn't great, I did have a lot of fun reading An Imposter in Warriors Clothing. The potential for a great story is there and I seriously hope this goes through much more editing before being published so that it could live up to that potential. If there's a sequel I would be very interested in reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Elle Mae and NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I did not like this book. I barely understood what was happening, it was an extremely confused read. I still do not understand what it is I've read or what it was supposedly about.

It was a disappointing read as I went into it with really high expectations and was so excited; the premise of the book sounded so interesting, however, it ended up being a snoozefest. I did not feel any connection to the characters at all, not even the main protagonist, Vien. There was no buildup to anything, the sex scenes would be thrown in randomly, and while I get this book was still in the editing stage, there were so many grammar related mistakes that made it extremely hard for me to finish.

I would have loved a more in depth world building, but alas, there was barely anything related to that; what was there was so confusing to understand.

It's a 2 stars read for me; I feel like a revised edition of this book with extreme editing could possibly work better, and I do think the author has promise, but this book was mostly just disappointing. Wishing the author better success in the future!

I really wanted to love this story but not a single character was sympathetic or likeable, least of all our main protagonist, and I couldn't help but notice that in an entirely different magical realm where people have tattoos appearing suddenly on the skin and purple eyes - there were very few people of color.

The dialogue felt overly formal at all times, especially from Vien.

I also couldn't feel any emotion from Vien and I was very confused about her varying motivations. The majority of the life in the story lives in the more explicit violence and intimate scenes between characters.

The magic system was unique and very interesting. The characters interacting with that magic, however, were not.

I gave this a good go but ultimately I couldn't get through it. It was too choppy and fast paced for me to understand what was going on and it felt like being thrown in the deep end without a float. It's a shame because the premise sounded right up my alley and I love the cover, but I can't force myself to read something that's not holding my attention.

This book is one of the biggest disappointments for me this year. Ever since I saw the cover, I couldn't wait to start this one. The title intrigued me, and I had super high hopes. By the halfway point, my hopes were crushed.

I still don't have any idea what this book was supposed to be... Was it fantasy? Romance? Smut? The plot was almost nonexistent, and the pacing was horrendous. Every few chapters there'd be a random sex scene thrown in. There wouldn't be buildup or anticipation, it would just happen. What made it worse was that I didn't ship any of the romances. Baecos was interesting at the beginning, but his character was butchered. I would've been fine with that, but it didn't add anything.

I could go on and on about my dislike for this book, but I don't think it's necessary. The author has potential, but this book was a miss.

Thanks to Elle Mae and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

DNF’d at 40%

I recently finished Sarah J. Mass’ A Court of Thorns and Roses and have been in a massive book hangover ever sense. So, when I saw this book pitched as ACoRaR’s meets “a new adult twisted fantasy,” I was intrigued.

Here’s the setup:

In a past life, Vien was a immortal warrior with potent powers. But rather suspicious circumstances brought about her untimely demise, leaving Vien to be reincarnated as a mortal with no knowledge of who she was or what she can do. After Vien is transported to another realm, Baecos (a King whose court is affected by the death of it’s magic) informs her of her past and offers to train her in hopes that Vien will regain her powers and save his people. But who can Vien trust? And whose intentions aren’t so pure?

Sounds really interesting, right? I thought so too. But I was only able to get through around 40% of the book, as numerous issues made this feel like a chore to get through.

The publisher did mention in their email that edits are still being made, which I do understand and which doesn’t typically take me out of the story. But from the first page, there were innumerable punctuation, verb tense, spelling and sentence structure issues that made reading each page and incredibly clunky and disjointed experience.

Beyond that, the pacing seemed way off. Everything felt incredibly rushed, which made a lot of the decisions that Vien made unbelievable and somewhat nonsensical. She seems to just agree to everything and take it all in stride, while I was sitting here like “girl, what?!” I think the author’s decision to write this story in first person did them no favors, either. I didn’t like Vien, so being stuck in her head with her wacky decision making and passive tone did not make for a good time.

Besides not caring for Vien, I didn’t really care about much anything else, either. The side characters weren’t very fleshed out, and felt a bit generic to me. Very typical fantasy romance characters, I’d that makes sense. The numerous relationships that were being set up felt mostly forced and stiff, and I didn’t find myself “rooting” for anyone in particular. And because I wasn’t invested in the characters or relationships, I couldn’t really be bothered to care about the plot.

I do think that with copious editing and re-tooling, this could be a really great story. But it would be disingenuous of me to say it doesn’t need a lot of work.

Thank you to NetGalley and for sending this novel in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Content warnings: sexual assault, coerced sex, torture, abuse, suicide, death and violence.