As a big fan of Jill Ramsower, I was very excited to receive an arc for her new series Of Myth and Man. However, when I was reading curse and craving, I started to have a deja vu feeling. The story was eerily recognizable. So, I dug into Goodreads and found the Fae games.

In June 2018 I reviewed Shadow Play. And although there were probably some editorial changes, the story is mostly the same. The cover has had a big upgrade though. Love it!

So, if you want to read my review, you can use this link. A wonderful story. Five out of five stars from me.

The mythology, as well as the, 'argh, I wish this could happen to me' is what drew me towards this book. It was a very easy read, with likable characters and I really did adore the mythological retelling (Merlin! Guin! Mab! Morgan!)

There is a fair amount of sauce throughout with palpable desire and lust though it didn't detract from the main story.

This was a nice, easy read; a solid 4/5. My main critique being that I found the ending anticlimactic with the main "battle" over incredibly quickly for all the buildup.

Curse & Craving, Of Myth & Man Series Book One, Jill Ramsower

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: New Adult | Romance | Sci Fi & Fantasy

I thought I was going crackers when I started this, I remembered Becca and her friend, remembered why she was in Ireland, plus I knew about Lochlan and the Huntsman. And then I was lost, the story was mostly unfamiliar. Then when I came to write my review I noticed its a rewrite of an earlier novel, so I must have read that. I'm not losing my marbles after all ;-)
Its a fun read, with some great Fae interactions, which I love, and bringing in an Arthurian twist, another of my weaknesses. My mind has always lived half in my imagination and the “what if” thoughts about the world. Mostly what if fae/magic etc were real of course.
Its a mainly light read, some interesting turns, and a few deep spots. I'm a sucker for a romance, so I was upset along with Becca when she was shocked at Lochlan's actions, I don't know how I'd cope either. Tough one.
I usually get irritated when the new girl who knows nothing of the supernatural world is the saviour of it but it this case the roots are in Merlin and he's....well, unexpected and of course supremely powerful. I liked that she was trained, trained hard and didn't just click her fingers and have control of her magic, or become a supreme fighter able to beat centuries old folk. The hard work showed and made her feel real.
Its an intriguing read, complete in the romance side ( well, for now, who knows about the future) , but extending into further books for the main story arc.

Stars: Four, a good start to a series, with some interesting things to come.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

**Net Gally Arc**

I love a good Fae in a modern setting book, so Curse & Craving had my attention from the moment I read the description. And honestly, I was not disappointed. The world that the author has built spans many different myths and lore where the Fae can fit in. While also making it feel unique from other stories.

The pacing felt slightly drawn out, but I did like the time skipping that was done to make that drag feel less. And the romantic paring was fun to read. The only thing I did NOT like was the bait and switch that happens, which ends up in the main character tricked into sleeping with someone else. So big big big warnings for rape and sexual assault, which because it wasn't warned in say the beginning for triggers...makes me ding a star off cause it was honestly jarring.

I've recently been really into fantasy books so I was very excited when I was approved for this book. I was immediately sucked in and I really enjoyed it.

I love all the connections in the story and the world is very well thought out. I kept getting surprised by another reveal!

The only reason I haven't rated it higher is that I felt some things were resolved a little too quickly and easily. I know it's not a short book but I think a few things could have been expanded a little more. It just felt a little anticlimactic at times.

Having said that, I did really enjoy this book and I'll definitely read more in the series.

Curse & Craving features a well thought out Faery society with its own magic system, rules and hierarchy. This society is the backdrop of the story which involves a human woman becoming involved in an upcoming Faery war. The story itself was intriguing and I found myself wanting to read more to know what happened next, however, the ending felt rushed to me. The final confrontation between hero and villain was short-lived, with the hero, in my opinion, winning too quickly and then explaining exactly how she had won to the villain - dialogue which felt very unnatural.

The book is well-structured and I was invested in the characters and their relationships, I'd say Curse & Craving is more driven by the romance than the conflict.

TW: Sexual assault !
There is a scene in this book where a character uses magic to trick another character into having sex with him, despite her having turned him down before. I didn't feel this fit the tone of the book or added anything to the plot and it made reading on extremely uncomfortable.

Aside from this, Curse & Craving was an enjoyable read and, depending on content warnings, I would like to read the rest of the series.

First book of a new trilogy, it manages well to incorporate many elements and characters from the Arthurian myth into a modern-day fantasy set in Belfast. It has a nice plot, interesting characters (even if some of the villains lack a bit of depth), the plot is interesting and engaging, a little romance but not too much (classic the love triangle between Rebecca, Ronan and Lochlan and I must say that for some chapters I wondered who she would ultimately choose and also wondered if in fact one of them was one of the bad guys or not). The character of Ashley is cute...a nerd immersed up to her neck in fantasy novels, she knows more about the Fae than the Fae themselves... Only two aspects left me a little dumbfounded ..... spoiler alert now!... first, the death of Albericht, practically a meaningless suicide: he lets himself be beheaded by Morgan without lifting a finger, he does not prove to defend himself, he does not try to escape, he is not even taken by surprise, on the contrary, it almost seems that he is waiting for nothing more than to be killed. I can only assume that this has a sequel and an explanation in the next books, that the new plot'll need him to die. Second, but more importantly, the whole plot is based on the need to involve Rebecca in the future war against Morgan, because only she would be able to defeat her and for this reason she is chosen and piloted by Merlin since she was a child...as a premise it may work, but it loses its verisimilitude at the end of the book, when Rebecca manages to defeat Morgan, using her new powers to outwit her, but at that moment it appears equally clear that Merlin would have been able to get the better of Morgan without even trying so hard and above all without the need for a human girl transformed the Fae for the occasion ... although this will perhaps acquire a meaning in the next books, who knows.

While I did enjoy aspects of Curse & Craving, I gave this book 3 stars. I thought the world building could have been a bit more for what the book was trying to do and everything that the book was building up to was solved so quickly, it was quite anticlimactic

Full review on Goodreads.

Well this was an awesome surprise, I didn’t know what to expect, this is my first book from this author and LOVE LOVE LOVE! I can’t wait to read more, where does this go , what happens with the next couple, who is the next couple….. I enjoyed every page!

I am so glad I read this book from Jill Ramsower and can’t wait to read more from the author! I was hooked from the start and was absolutely immersed over the arthurian retelling, Norse mythology, fae and Viking mythology in this book! It was ram-packed with fantasy and adventure that left me wanting book 2 so bad.

Rebecca’s character development was so satisfying, from someone so naive and ignorant to a complete heroine and confident woman! It was amazing to watch her grow from the beginning of the book to the end and I hope to see more from her character in the next book! Let’s not forget the love interest..…Lochlan! The perfect slow burn romance from these 2 and they bounce off eachother so well!

All in all this was a fantastic book to read!
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An socially Awkward, quirky and smart heroine and a chilling town with secrets. This is a quick and quirky read.

A special thanks to publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a very well-written and thought-out book. It felt similar to a lot of popular fae fantasy books out there right now. My only big critique is that I personally thought that the intrigue of the romance faded towards the end of the book. It felt like the tension could've been dragged on for longer to keep the readers hooked.

Other than that I enjoyed this read! It was a light and easy read that will fit right in with its fae category.

Thank you for NetGalley and the Publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

3.5/5 stars

I found this to be an enjoyable read. With slow-burn romance and quite good world building, this book is great for those who love fantasy.

Thank you for NetGalley and the Publisher for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Curse & Craving is an urban fantasy/paranormal romance that introduces to the Fae of Belfast and the realm that lies beyond our world.

Rebecca scores a new position in a museum in Belfast. After arriving in the city, accompanied by her bestie Ashley, things start to go bump in the night. Becca starts to see things that should not be there, and for the rest of the population they are not. She quickly ends up tangled in a web of mistery and magic in the deadly embrace of one steamy, yet infuriating Fae warrior, Lochlan. Rebecca and her friends, new and old, have only a short time to save the human world as they know it and the until Beltane is ticking.

I have to say this book surprised me, it had the right amount of steamyness (hallelujah) and action. It was fast paced and covered a lot of ground and background. All of the characters were unique to the story and we had no extra wheels popping up in the book.
I also liked the varied magical beings and the fact the each one of them was described so that everyone can visualise and understand them. I loved the chemistry between the mcs and the ups and downs it went through. Granted annoying at times, I felt it spiced up the story.

My favourite and most relatable character was fantasy book junkie Ashley, she's me. I love her honesty, even about her insecurities and jealousy.

The negatives from my part were some of the details. Spoiler warning!
I just couldn't understand how Rebecca would not make sure her family and best friend were okay after figuring out who the traitor was. I also found it odd that you find a dead ""friend" on your doorstep but you leave for work instead of giving him a proper burial. I mean I would be a bit freaked out by someone leaving a dead being on the table.I also did not understand how the most important thing, a waterproof pair of shoes was NOT among the essentials brought over to Belfast? I also could not understand how training and so on parts were skimmed over. We only read that Rebecca failed and then we get a line of explanation that two days later I was able to do it, but we do not experience the success when it actually happens. This happens multiple times.

So to sum it up I may sound nitpicky, which I am, but these and a lot of other details such as these, were things that bothered me and halted the flow of my reading .

The ending was ok, but I felt that it was a weaker ending what I've expected from such a good story and buildup. I felt that my rating f this book is based upon the first 2/3 of the book which was great.

solid 4/5 stars and I can't wait to read more about Ashley.

Copy received from The Next Step PR. Voluntarily reviewing and all opinions are objective and my own.

5 stars all the way!!! This is the book I hadn’t known I needed in my life!

In your YA days if you were a Mortal Instruments fan, then you’ll love this one. I got the same vibe reading it, and I LOVE that about it. I should note the stories are WIDELY different. It’s just the feeling I had when reading.

Fae, slow burn romance, steam, classic human-turns-out-to-be-fae-discovery, adventure, and fantastic world building. This is such a recommended read for all fantasy lovers out there. I can’t wait to see what more the author brings us in this series.

Having to write negative reviews is never an enjoyable endeavor. I can never help worrying that the author will take it personally and be offended, but at the same time, I just want to offer my two cents in the hope that some of my critiques will maybe be found helpful.
I believe that experience makes us more picky readers. At this point in my life, it’s safe to say I’ve spent nearly two thirds of it reading on a semi-consistent basis. Age is said to make a person wiser, and I like to believe that after heaps of books and thousands upon thousands of words read, I at the very least have a basic understanding of the dos and don’ts of book writing, even if the specific lingo is unfamiliar to me.
From the very first chapter of this book, I knew there was something off putting in how it was written, which would have led me to DNFing it had it not been an ARC. There was just an inordinate amount of exposition presented through dialogue. I actually did a quick Google search of things to avoid when crafting a story, and came across the “as you know, Bob” term. It boils down to info dumping basic story details by having two characters who already know these details talk about them amongst themselves with the purpose of clueing the reader in. The issue was, in a lot of these instances, I was already familiar with what the characters were discussing, too. Either because I’d already inferred it, or because of previous conversations that had already taken place between different characters.
Basically, the writing here came across as extremely amateurish. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that. But amateurish writing is what I would expect from someone doing fanfiction, not an experienced writer with professionally edited, multiple works published. It frankly boggles my mind a tad that an editor worth their salt wouldn’t pick up on the thorough abuse of the Bob device.
Maybe I just have unrealistically high standards, but I can’t give a high rating to a book where every single thought was verbalized, every single detail made explicit and spoon fed to the reader (show, don’t tell). Where things that had already been stated were reiterated multiple times and conversations were repeated word for word. I get researching a lot, doing extravagant amounts of plot planning, and wanting to share all that hard work with your readers, but dumping all of that into the final story is not advisable.
To illustrate that point, there were quite a few conversations in the book that were pretty much set up like interviews. The main character, Becca, would ask a dry, to the point question related to the plot/worldbuilding and whoever her interlocutor was, would give a succinct, just as dry answer. Not only did those interactions come across terribly forced and unnatural, but I felt like I was reading copy pasted bits from a plot worksheet.
Maybe an unforgiving, ruthless editor would have been beneficial to have in this instance. Someone to cut back the excessive amount of info-dumpy exposition, catch the mixed verbal tenses (nothing too terrible, but still noticeable), the unrealistic overuse of names in dialogue when directly addressing another character (how many times do you refer by name to the person you’re speaking with when having one-on-one conversations IRL?), the Irish characters having an American vernacular and the overly abundant and out-of-place giggling and grinning that completely wrecked the mood and tone of some scenes.
But also, I think the issues with this book run deeper. If I was an editor, I would have told my client it needed to be completely reworked. Starting with Becca’s character. She was not only extremely annoying, she constantly made everything about herself. Self-centered characters are so hard to root for. And in Becca’s case, she was overly dramatic on top of her egocentrism, which made her uber unlikable. Each new event kept seizing her lungs, shredding her insides, drowning her in despair. All the impact was taken away given that every single reaction of the main character was that extreme. But worse than that, she was just such a worthless character.
At this point in time, “The Chosen One” trope has been done so many times, it’s hard not to roll my eyes when I stumble upon it. But I’m an open-minded reader, so I don’t judge a book based on its tropes. I’m a firm believer that execution can save and make shine even the cringiest, most tired of tropes. But that wasn’t the case here. There was nothing special about Becca, why was she The Chosen One? No idea. Why did she want to save the world? What was the driving force behind her actions? It was like she was a vessel for a powerful necklace and nothing more. Someone things happened to, instead of someone with autonomy, someone who made things happen. The whole story felt pointless because I saw no clear answer to any of those questions.
To make things worse, the Villain to the story was just as motiveless as Becca. Their sole purpose was wreaking havoc and causing mayhem. An irrelevant main character, pitted against an equally irrelevant villain.
Pages upon pages and chapters upon chapters of our heroine training for and dreading the final showdown against the book’s Big Bad, for the fate of the human world, and everything got speedily resolved in a few measly paragraphs. Stakes? Zero. Danger? Non-existent. Final showdown? Exceptionally underwhelming. Again, pointless.
This book was just very boring and poorly written.
But, to end this admittedly harsh review on somewhat of a more positive note, I’ll say I liked how it tried weaving various legends and fictitious characters into the world. The premise that there are hints of truth to some of the most well-known literally classics, that some of those characters we’re all familiar with might not be 100% fictitious but Fae was a nice idea. So at least there was that.

This is a modern fantasy, with a great world-building, characters that you will love, it felt a bit like the Fever series, which I like, It was a slow burn romance, the story pacing was good, felt a bit slow at first but due to the genre I understand what it takes to build everything up. I like Fae and mixed with Celtic and Norse mythology, with a mix of Arthur legends it gave it a refreshing idea to the whole setting and I enjoyed it more than expected. Rebecca and Lochlan relationship was good, the ending felt a bit flat, although it closed near it so kind of felt like a rollercoaster, slow build up and then a quick drop. Looking forward for next book by the author.

Thank you to Netgalley, the Author Jill Ramsower for The eARC of this book! This is my first ever review for an ARC

This book took me a while to read due to being unwell but I was hooked right from the start. The pace of the story was great.

I enjoyed the character development of our FMC Rebecca and the slow burn romance between her and Lochlan was *chefs kiss*. And the spice was tied in well as to not overshadow the plot.

I really enjoyed the tying in of Norse mythology, Irish folklore, Arthurian legend, Shakespeare and more.

This was my first book by this Author and it won’t be the last I can’t wait to continue the series and read Ashley’s book next!

Definitely recommend

What a solid and entertaining read! I have never read a book by Jill Ramsower, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a new author that I absolutely love. The world-building was phenomenal and the story SO unique, full of modern faeries with some Arthurian legends mixed in. I'll definitely be picking up the next book in the series.

I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley. The thoughts in this review are my own.

When Becca makes a big career move to work in Belfast as a museum curator, she expected a fairly smooth transition to life in Northern Ireland. Right away, Becca experiences some awkward run-ins and coincidences that make her uneasy. She soon learns about another realm and that not all those surrounding her are human, including the surly (and enticing) Lochlan.

Curse and Craving is a brilliant start of a contemporary fantasy romance series that proves an excellent slow burn. I really enjoyed seeing Becca evolve and grow during the book. The world building of the magical Faery realm was great. While it took me a little while to get properly engrossed in this book, once I was hooked, I couldn’t stop turning the pages.

Really looking forward to the next book in this series!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley & Victory Editing and am leaving an honest review.