This is an interesting take on witches and vampires. The world is dark and the MCs are morally grey. The romance is very slow burn which I don't mind. I enjoyed the read and plan to read the second book.

Tropes:
• Fake Relationship
• Found Family
• Found Power
• Forced Proximity
• Morally Grey MCs
• One Bed

Spice: 0.5 🌶. This book has tension and teasing. There is one scene where the tension teeters on the brink of foreplay. There are no sex scenes open door or otherwise.

This one really surprised me! It had everything I wanted, it’s almost magical realism fantasy with a fake marriage, a developing romance and interesting characters with wings, vampires etc. i actually really enjoyed it and flew through it. I can’t believe this hasn’t caught on more on bookstagram!

I guess I went into this book with wrong expectations. I thought I would be reading a steamy urban fantasy with vampires but it was more like reading young adult fiction. Here are some points I did not enjoy:
1. The main male lead, Sebastian, is a very reminiscent of Rhysand from ACOTAR (the tattoos, how he is misunderstood, how he 'purrs' words), and the female lead, Olivia is just so boring.
2..The world building is lacking, I don't think this story being set in a secondary world added anything to the story.
3. The sorcerers' magic is very poorly explained, for half of the book I thought Olivia being an empath was what the sorcery is.
4.. Hamza. A blonde haired vampire having this very middle eastern name took me out of the story. I guess the author wanted to go for something 'ethnic'?
5. The currency in the vampire realm, stagma. Feels like a mix of stigma and smegma which sounds disgusting.
What I enjoyed:
The court stuff was cool I guess?

Overall, I feel like this book needed more worldbuilding. If that doesn't bother you, I guess you might enjoy it.
2/5
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Well hello, vampire Rhysand 😏…

I’m sure some people will see a lack of originality with the love interest but I’m never tired of the dark and cocky love interest. I mean guys… He also has wings! What’s not to like 🦇?

To be more serious, I struggled a little bit with the world-building at first but the action started quickly enough to make me forget about it. Every one of my favourite tropes was in there. If you’re looking for something to get you out of a reading slump, this book did the trick for me.

Recommendations of werewolf Rhysand, shapeshifter Rhysand and mermaid Rhysand are more than welcome 😌.

Wonderful start to a series that made me wanting to read the next book immediately. It was well crafted with fantastic chemistry between the characters. I just loved it

One a whim of cover love, I requested this one and OH MY GOSH how has this not taken over booktok?! This has all the troupes you need including:
* Lost dead love becomes…undead?
* ONE BED
* Fake marriage
AND MORE!
In a society where humans and vamps are at war with each other, Olivia sets out to risk her life in order to save her mother. Upon doing so, she meets Seb (the cutest vamp with the most perfect family and friends), who says he can help her. Trouble ensues and secrets are revealed and I’m still mad at the end because I don’t have the second one 😭 I mean, I need answers!

Had to DNF this…. The story plot…. The character…… the plot again it wasn’t there for me and I was 42% through it

DNF at 36%
I hated the main character and the, plot was too info-dumpy and the it was written like bad fanfiction.

Listened to the audio version - LOVED IT! If you get a chance to do the audio, do it! This is a modern real world fantasy, but for some reason I kept imagining it as a completely fictional world fantasy lol. I knew Seb and Olivia would be attracted to one another, but I have a feeling Draven is going to become the sad BFF in that love triangle as there’s no way Olivia is going to let him go and my heart is already breaking for his heart to get shattered. BUT I’m shipping Sevia hard 😂. I already hate the king and his brother and cannot WAIT for Olivia is F*** things up in the sequel!

Enemies to lovers with a new book boyfriend? Sign me up! This was a fantastic start to a new series with a slow burn romance but the tension is perfect. I recommend this book and can't wait for book 2.

This was a decent read, I'll admit I was looking for a bit more than what it offered because I thought it had so much promise but I still enjoyed reading it.
It's a quick read and was easy enough to guess what was going to happen and I think there was too many tropes trying to find place here. If one had been picked and stuck to it could have worked really well.
Not my fav read of the year but hoping it gets better with the next book.

I feel like I went into this with high expectations and ended up being disappointed. A few of my friends raved about it but to me, it was an ok read.
So, vampires, found family, one bed and fake dating. This is literally the recipe for success. What I missed from this book was the world building: it was a missing point and if done well, the book could've been a major hit!

Omg….I need book 2 right now!

Sebastian is my new book boyfriend and Olivia is goals!! I’ve read 100’s of vampire stories so they tend to have similarities at this point. Shadow Kissed has its own little twists on vamps and I freaking love it.

This story is amazing. Olivia is probably one of my favorite characters in a long time. Pretty sure that cliffhanger might be the end of me though. I will definitely be adding this book and the following once released to m6 collection. I have high hopes. Well done!

I enjoyed the book. I thought it was decent but could have been better. The world building was not done very well and i did get confused quite a few times. I think that the book had tons of potential and it just wasn’t executed well however it did start to get better near the end

I liked the character of Olivia and Sebastian but i think that there could have been more tension between them

Overall it was a good read but i definitely think it could have been better

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I am a little on the fence about this book. I love vampires and witches so I was excited to get my hands on this book. But it did not grab me the way the description of the book did. I wanted a little more to it. The characters were okay for me, but the world they were in seemed unfinished to me. I do think it needs some editing and flushing out. The concept of the story is a good one. I guess with all the books I have been reading that I just expected more from this one.

While this may have been a "simpler" story than I expected, it still held me fast with its entertaining tropes and storyline. A bit of a slow-burn romance, although the angst didn't seem to be as heavy as I would have liked.

The characters and their chemistry were barely felt - but overall I did enjoy the banter between the two, although it was slightly repetitive. All in all, I understand this is the first in the series and I look forward to reading the next one in hopes we see a bit of character growth and also a more believable relationship between the two.

Overall, an entertaining, fast-paced read. Even though it may sound as if I didn't enjoy it, it was a bit of a "guilty pleasure" and refreshingly good in breaking up the more intense fantasy tomes I read.

A great enemies to lovers vampire romance

Since the death of her boyfriend, Olivia has been trying to piece her life back together. When the guild protecting the mortals from vampires is attacked, her mother and best friend are taken by the enemies. Olivia is also captured by a vampire, Sebastian, who says he wants to protect her. But instead, she becomes a prisoner in the City of Nightmares in the vampire kingdom.

I was a bit perplexed at the very beginning of the story, but in the end, I loved this book! It was action-packed, full of supernatural creatures, magic and tension. I love vampire stories and this one had a really nice twist with the guild and all it entails. Although it's a romance, the general plot was really entertaining and full of twists and turns, which I really liked. Olivia is super badass and determined despite everything and I really admire her for that. She is a very reliable and likeable main character. The romance was REALLY good - enemies to lovers, with sexual tension through the roof and hot, hot, hot! The twists of the end had me gasping in shock, everything going fast suddenly and making me turn the pages faster than I could read. I really liked the world, the plot, the characters...just everything. The writing was nice and addictive as well, and the end...the sort of cliffhanger is killing me and I really, really need to read the sequel and see what will happen to Olivia, Sebastian, and everyone else!

I highly recommend if you like adult, fantasy romance with a nice plot underneath.

"Heartbreak does amazing things to our morals."

TW: blood, death, suicide, kidnapping, abuse, sexual assault, gore, terminal illness, violence

I need the next book, please!

I enjoyed Olivia's story so much! She is strong in the face of tragedy and grief, learning more and more about who she really is every single day.

Abducted by a Vampire and wisked away to a nightmare kingdom, you just don't know where the story is going to lead you next. I'll be not so patiently waiting for the next book.

This is such a great start to a new series. I really enjoyed the concept and especially loved the simmering attraction between Olivia and Sebastian. The book ended on a cliff hanger and I am so excited for the next book as it has so many things to come. Highly recommend if you love a strong female MC and vampires

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
3 stars
Great book can't wait to check out more of the authors books.