Thanks to NetGalley and The Parliament House for providing me with an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Faye has been searching for proof of the folk all her life, tempting fate for some glimpse of truth to the magic she feels nipping at her heels. The meeting isn't so much chance as Faye's pull is just as strong as the one from the veil. With a glamour stripped away, harsh truths and a friend stolen away to the fae realm, Faye must face her fate and challenge her rightful throne in the Unseelie Court.

This book is being recommended to fans of Sarah J Maas and Holly Black and I cannot agree more. Kelsey Kicklighter spins a faerie tale with the same spirit as the aforementioned authors, two of my favorites, might I add. The world if filled with proper fae lore and trickery at every turn. Faye isn't a perfect heroine which adds to her charm more than anything especially how she might trip up at sometimes in following the rules of the the realm.

As others have mentioned, Faye is bisexual which I thought was pretty amazing and there is a bit of a love triangle in this story and even with my experience, I can't really tell who she might choose which is pretty refreshing. I do have a favorite though.

All of the main characters has a really strong rapport with each other and as other reviewers have mentioned they really stood out from each other instead of blending into snarky trickster faerie.

I think this is perfect for fans of faerie stories especially those thick with political intrigue and warring courts. There's so much dimension in this world ready to be discovered and I can't wait for the next installment.

Of Beast And Burden Review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Faye is a 18 year old girl who is pulled into the Fae realm where she discovers that she is half Faerie and half Human.

She tells herself she doesn’t want anything to do with that side of her heritage but when her Bestfriend/cousin gets taken back into that world, she promises she will do whatever it takes to get her back, even if it means reclaiming what is rightfully hers.

She struggles with unleashing her magic but works alongside the current Unseelie Goblin King and her female Knight to get herself ready for the trials that await her.

The cover and the description of the book is what pulled me in. In all honesty I feel like the series has potential but for the majority of the 1st book it felt like it was dragging a bit, where nothing major was happening until the last 92% of the book. I would have loved more time reading about the trials but instead it felt rushed where it left me with a wtf moment. I am all for reading book 2 to see where is goes from there.

Thank you to Kelsey Kicklighter and Independent Publishers Group for supplying a digital ARC for exchange of an honest review.

Release date: May 10th, 2022
Author: Kelsey Kicklighter

Of Beast and Burden was such a fun read! I adored the characters and the plot twists that came along with the story. My mind was blown at the end of the book. I enjoyed that the faerie realm parallels present times. I can imagine that I too may actually be a half Unseelie princess and be whisked away to a faerie world. I cannot wait for book 2.

Thank you to The Parliament House and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Of Beast and Burden by Kelsey Kicklighter is a lovely YA fantasy that will appeal to fans of The Cruel Prince of These Hollow Vows. The story revolves around Faye, a normal girl who discovers that she is half faerie and the heir to a Fae court. When her best friend is stolen, Faye has to face three deadly trials to get her back. The trials don't start until 90% through, so this book is more of a slow-burn romance than an action-adventure.

Here is an enchanting excerpt from Chapter 1:

"There are three imperatives even the least superstitious among us follow: lock the doors on solstice nights, never give your full name to strangers, and don’t walk through the woods after dark.
Though I guess technically, we weren’t walking.
Only Delia would dare turn her nose up at the warnings our ancestors have been passing down since stars above knew when. And where Delia goes, the crowd follows. The Folk only take what they can catch. But here we are, practically served up on a platter for them. Gran would kill us if she knew."

Overall, Of Beast and Burden is a captivating YA fantasy romance that is also an easy read. It reminded me a bit of Molly E. Lee's recent series, because it was a pretty standard YA fantasy, with familiar elements, but was still very entertaining. One highlight of this book was the LGBT representation. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't say anything specific here. Another highlight of this book was the cliffhanger, which I totally wasn't expecting. I need the second book now. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA fantasy in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in May!

My goodness!
A debut novel with an enticing and promising storyline that 100% delivered!
The downside now is having to wait for a second book.
From the moment I started this book I was completely hooked and could not put it down.
This story has everything you could want in a YA fantasy novel. From a misinformed half human/half fae and likeable female main character to a dark and broody male main character to a love triangle that touches on LGBTQ+ themes - this magical world will suck you in and keep you wanting more.
Captivating and well written, readers of SJM will appreciate this series.
“You have to be the monsters, monster”

I received a copy of this ARC eBook from NetGalley, Independent Publishers Group, The Parliment House, and author Kelsey Kicklighter in exchange for my honest review. Thank you again for this opportunity!

Thank you netgalley for providing an e-arc of Of beast and burden in exchange for an honest review.

I unfortunately decided to DNF this book at 53%. I did my best to give this book a fair shot but I was becoming bored. No one stood out to me as an interesting character, in fact, I found the FMC and another main character annoying ( especially the side character... he calls the FMC "love" literally anytime he opens his mouth; it's become insanely repetitive. ) Being 53% in, you'd think the reader would have gotten an inkling of plot, but no. I could barely tell you anything that happened in the first ten chapters.

I'm giving this book two stars - the idea for the book is there, but it's not written in the best way. It needs some definite work! The characters aren't anything extraordinary, and it's hard to root for the main character when you want to smack her upside the head!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a mixed bag of positives and negatives for me.

The plot was very good and the characters were all really likeable and had distinctive fully realised personalities.

I loved the politics of the seelie and unseelie courts and the ‘not everything is as it seems’

There are a lot of tropes in this book that I think fantasy lovers will appreciate; chosen one, lost princess, love triangle

For me though, there was no tension to the love triangle so while it was refreshing to have one interest be male and the other female, I didn’t buy into either option as being a genuine connection.

The trials are introduced pretty early on but we have to wait for the last 20 pages and these are wrapped up a bit too quickly, this and the world building for me needed more fleshing out.

The third trial surprise I personally think was made obvious way too early.. however our MC didn’t get it until the last moment. I also feel they overcame this obstacle far too easily, this whole scene once again just needed more fleshing out.

I think this would be a good introductory fantasy novel but is perhaps not for the high fantasy readers.

I really wanted to like this book. The cover is stunning and the story sounded promising. I love Fae stories.
I liked how well the author researched Fae lore. It was nice to see a book that danced closely to the lore.
However I just couldn't care about the characters. I just didn't care for them. And it made it hard to sit through the book. This book was ok. I think people will like it. But for me personally I just didn't click with it and I really wanted too.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Of Beast and Burden is a book steeped in fae lore and tales. However, despite the mystique and diving straight into the action at the beginning the majority of the book is spent over court politics and deep world-building which honestly doesn't feel like it drags on as much as it sounds.

The fae world is mostly split into 2 courts, Unseelie and Seelie but both being a monarchy. Faye, a half-human half-fae who's grown up as a human their whole life so far gets suddenly thrown into inter-court politics to save her cousin(?)/best friend.

Honestly the relationships in this book where seriously confusing. I couldn't work out if it was sorta queerbaiting, or if everyone's just polygamous, or what. But in the end I kinda just resolved it to "everyone flirts with everyone" and romance is on the backburner?

The ending though left me wanting more, it got into the action again and the stakes ramped up high, the ending left on a massive cliffhanger. Due to this, I'm holding off on fully reccomending it right away just because I feel like this is something you need to read alongside the rest of the series (or this might be a duology, but still) to understand it better. I think reading this one now and having to wait ages for the next book might have many readers need to go back to this one to re-read on all the politics and stories and relationships. A lot happens in one book, and we learn with Faye, unfortunatly she's not told too much and left in the dark about many things, which leaves us in the same situation.

I will be reading the next book, and I am looking forward to it, the story is super intriguing. And honestly, I think my opinion of this book is going to be made better once I read the next book and I'll change this review if necessary to reflect that.

Fans of These Hollow Vows and parts of the Dark Artifices this is a book for you.

While this was a slow-paced and not as action packed as I was hoping it would be, it has potential to be a good series. The storyline while I feel is overly used in fae books, was still quite unique. The characters are easy to love and admire, the banter was spot on and the sexual tension between certain characters was done well. I don’t even know who I’m rooting for at this point.

I had guessed the ending. But it still was drawn out exceedingly well. This is a very quick and easy read. It took less than a day to finish and I’m curious to learn more about Faye’s journey in the second.

3/5 Stars

This was my first book by Kelsey Kicklighter and I love how she set us up for a future series!

I was intrigued by the cover and the synopsis, with the popularity of Sarah J Maas books I thought I'd give it a go! The fact that the book is only 20 chapters makes it feel really digestible and easy to read. Each chapter is it's own little story and I found myself being able to get through this one fairly quickly which was nice!! I will say, the story truly does start on page 2. I missed a little bit of the world building that I like to get from the first chapter; Kicklighter really dove right in and introduced all of the main characters and the world of the fae right away. At times, I found myself wishing the story was moving a little slower as I was getting overwhelmed from being told so much information and history so quickly and in such a concise manner.

The characters were fun, very reminiscent of ACOTAR, and I found myself rooting for Faye! I was intrigued by this idea of her being hidden away and not knowing her history, it reminded me of Clary from the Shadowhunters series which I thoroughly enjoyed! I love that Faye wanted her court in Fairy to be better and more modern and the scenes where we got to see her training and learning how to use her glamour was really fun! A small detail, but I appreciated the choice to make Faye bisexual but not make that her main quality. It was really well done how Faye got stuck in this love triangle between a nymph and a goblin and nothing was ever said about their sexualities/it wasn't token. I enjoyed the characters, but it just didn't feel like I was reading anything new or groundbreaking and a lot of this book reminded me of other stories.

Overall, I didn't love the story but I still enjoyed reading. If someone asks for a fantasy/fae book would this be my first recommendation? No, but I wouldn't advise anyone against reading it!

Wow, wow, wow.
Kelsey pulled the old one-two on me. I thought I was so smart, having figured out the twist and got comfy but then BAM another one or two (...or three I lost count).
Faye, the main character is very relatable. She's strong, stubborn, and loves fiercely. There's nothing she won't do to get her sister back and protect those that she loves.
You like love triangles? Great, this has a square sort of situation going on. And Faye's bi panic that she experiences practically every single time a certain someone is around absolutely kills me.
I love that Kelsey explains common fae folklore like why the fae can't lie and they're old fashioned. These are both mentioned in almost every single piece about fae but never given a reason and I really appreciate that part of her world building. And I LOVE how she incorporates the fae into our modern world.

This debut novel by Kelsey Kicklighter has all the elements of a promising new series!

It had elements of Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland, but it also had fae!

What I liked about the book:
1. Totally not relevant to the book in any way but the title, BUT I couldn’t help but get “Beast of Burden” by The Rolling Stones stuck in my head every time I picked up this book. That’s totally fine with me given it’s one of my favorites songs by them.

2. I liked that Faye wasn’t great at everything she did and she made mistakes often. She definitely had to go through learning how to fight, how to harness her magic, hell, even how to dance properly. She also just couldn’t shake those “Thank yous” that are super dangerous in the fae world. She definitely wasn’t a Mary Sue and that was refreshing.

I also felt that she started to come into her own in this book, but I hope there is a lot more progress on that front in the next. At the beginning of the book, she was only friends with a “wild-child” named Delia because “Delia gives me permission to be as reckless as I want to be.” When she wasn’t with Delia, she appeared to live a rather reserved life, taking no chances and thinking too much to actually act without Delia’s influence. However, after Ellie was taken, she acted and thought quickly, as well as made sacrifices. Throughout the story, we saw her embrace change, accept life beyond the veil, and start to come into her own. I want this progress to continue so she can evolve into the Queen we know she can be.

3. All of the other characters had a lot of promise!

Gage - I really liked Gage. He wasn’t the typical grumpy MMC, but he definitely had his underdog/dark side. He reminded me of a mix of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast and Li Shang from Mulan which is basically my ideal man. He was stupid sexy with his smirks, grunts, and ability to wield a sword, he checked all my boxes and I love him.

Kellan – Kellan was such a hopeless flirt who you couldn’t help but feel sorry for despite some of his decisions. It was fun to read his lines and his little sexy nicknames for Faye, but ultimately, he just couldn’t hold a candle to Gage for me.

Isla – I liked that Isla definitely stuck to her guns, whether that was about which court she wanted to belong to, wanting to obtain knighthood, or following the rules of the court she was loyal to. I found her a bit boring at times, but I can’t wait for her to come into her own. Maybe in the next book?

Ellie – I loved Ellie’s spirit! I have a feeling she is going to “find” a lot of interesting things to help bring down the Seelie Court.

Soliel – She was definitely Glinda the Good Witch, if Glinda was a sadist. Can’t wait to see the evil she unveils because I know her plan is still in motion!

4. I liked that this book is from the perspective that the “monstrous” Unseelie are just misunderstood and actually way better fae than the glimmering and polished, usually seen as the "good guys” Seelie.

5. I liked the twists around her parents, Gage’s involvement in getting the throne, and how the next ruler is crowned. It definitely gave this book full of typical fae elements its own edge that I really appreciated!

What didn’t do it for me:
1. My biggest problem with this book was the love triangle. Typically, when we see a love triangle, I feel there is a clear winner and a clear schmo. There is one person who we are more invested in and the writer definitely writes them better than the other. They’re hotter or smarter or better in bed. Something that makes them the end goal in the little competition. However, that was not the case in this story.

Gage and Isla are the two individuals in Faye’s love triangle, and while I am bias and love Gage, there is no clear winner. They are both great and Faye seems to have about the same level of feelings for them both, which is SUPER BOTHERSOME TO ME! Either push her together with Isla and make me burn with disagreement or push her together with Gage and make me want Isla to find another Queen more her speed! Do not leave me hanging like this though!

2. Despite the love triangle, I felt the romance was more told to us that experienced by us. There were a lot of references to “when we hung out the last few days, [insert thing] happened”. I don’t want to hear about [insert thing] in passing, I want to experience [insert thing].

Because of this, I felt irrationally upset about the things that were focused on in the book, while the romance aspect was rushed over. Honestly, this is a case where the book could have been longer to accommodate this and I would have gobbled up every damn word. Please don’t leave me out of [insert thing]. Insert all the things!!!

I received a copy of this ARC from NetGalley, Independent Publishers Group, The Parliament House, and Kelsey Kicklighter in exchange for my honest review. Highly recommend you check it out!

3.5 promising stars!

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

I would give this book 3 1/2 stars, but I can't give half stars here.

This book was pretty good. Not perfect, but definitely a good start. It is the story of a regular teenage girl who discovers that she is the heir to a fae crown, and that the world around her is nothing like she thought it was. It is well written and fast-moving.
I liked the setting of the book. I spent several years living on the coast of North Florida and the wild places through there can definitely feel like a far realm. I am so liked the fact that the main character is bisexual. There’s a lot of bisexual invisibility in the literary world, and I liked the fact that this book didn’t run from it at all. I also liked learning a little bit about the author’s fae world, since there are so many mythologies, all a bit different.
I didn’t like the constant referring to men and women as ‘males’ and ‘females’. It didn’t fit the book and was really jarring. I can’t see that it was the least bit necessary.
I also was uncomfortable with the incest subplot that could easily have been made into something a bit less horrific without ruining the flow of the book. And finally, I thought that the trials were given way too little time - they don’t even start until 90% through the book. And even that was broken by strange bouts of exposition in the middle of a fight for your life.
All in all, this book was pretty good. It’s not my favorite book I read this year, but it’s not the worst, either.

I love a good fairy story. I must say that the types of fairies weren’t really explained so someone who reads this book who don’t know much about fairies may be a bit confused.
Love the bi MC rep as well. Also love a good plot twist and this book did not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC to read and review.

“Of Beast and Burden” by: Kelsey Kicklighter was an ethereal and enrapturing fantasy tale. The story immediately grabs you from chapter 1 and does not slow its pace throughout the rest of the novel. Kelsey Kicklighter does an amazing job at creating realistic settings and painting a perfect picture of the non-realistic locations. It takes a skilled author to paint such a vivid picture of a fantasy world but Kelsey Kicklighter does it with such ease you do not second guess anything which occurs in the novel.

“Of Beast and Burden” follows our main character Fayelynn or Faye as she prefers to be called and her journey into the world of the Folk who dwell just past the trees in the forest. Faye grew up hearing tales about the Folk (fairies) and shares her wisdom on what to look out for when dealing with fairy folk which helps the reader establish an interesting and meaningful relationship with not just Faye but with the world of the Folk that she is thrust into.

The novel begins with Faye attending the party of her friend Cordelia and things go from tolerable to out of control very quickly when Cordelia is lured away from the party by 2 males who clearly belong to the fairy realm. Faye follows after her friend both to keep her safe and because she finds that she wants to know what it is that is just beyond the veil.

The world Faye finds beyond the veil takes her on a journey she could never have anticipated when she made the choice to follow after Cordelia. She discovers secrets about her family and herself that she would have never dreamed of and her life goes from normal to extraordinary in the blink of an eye. “Of Beast and Burden” is peppered with an amazing collection of characters both main and supporting and each of them adds their own special touch to the overall story.

I found myself immediately drawn into the world that Kelsey Kicklighter created and I hated having to put the book down. The ending of the novel did feel a bit rushed and it utilized a trope for its climactic moment that I am not particularly a fan of but it did not completely hurt my overall enjoyment of the story. I did not realize that this was book 1 of a series so I will be interested to see where Faye’s journey goes from here.

This was a beautifully done novel and I highly recommend it to any fan of fantasy novels.

I felt very lost throughout this book. There were a lot of Fairy terms that were not defined. I read a lot of fairy themed books but this one didn’t build the world or the characters. The first 85% of the book was very boring and unnecessary. The last 15% was interesting but over so quickly there was little time to enjoy the trials. I wish more of the book had been focused on that part of the story. The twists were expected and there was a lot of foreshadowing that never really came to fruition. I definitely did not like this book enough to read the next one in the series.
I did receive a copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book really surprised me! For the first quarter I really wasn't all that interested but then all of a sudden I was hooked and read the rest in one sitting desperate to know how it was going to end.

I really loved the depiction of the Faerie Realm in this book, while it pulled on things from common folklore it still felt so fresh and the author did such a great job of making everything seem so vivid. Almost felt like I was there with them all at the revels.

I would have liked a little more development on some of the characters but as there are more books to come I'm sure things will be expanded in those and I'm really excited to see where all the characters go next!

Will definitely be picking up the sequel.

Faye life was turned upside down. She meets gage and kellan. I thought that kellan and Faye were going to be together. Then Faye and gage! I was definitely wrong about what was going to happen. Faye just does what she needs to do to get Ellie back. I can’t believe what happened between the three of them. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one! I loved every moment!

Thank you so much to Net Galley and to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of "Of Beast and Burden" by Kelsey Kicklighter in exchange for an honest review. All of the following opinions are formulated on my own.

3 out of 5 stars

I was interested in this novel about Fae, the state I live in, and somewhere I used to visit when I was younger. The cover is also very attractive and not an eyesore at all.

This book had both negatives and positives. I was interested in the location where it happened plus the feature of Fae always gets me. If I'm 100% honest, it was not a good idea to name the main character Faye and use fae in relation to her. For someone with dyslexia, this is super confusing at times if I wasn't paying 100% attention.

The first half of the book had me hooked with Faye and Delia in the woods then stumbling into the world of the Fae. I also enjoyed seeing a family where there were unhealthy relationships while not killing the whole family. The trials were interesting although it felt eerily similar to These Hollow Vows which I was not a fan of. I am semi-confused on what the goal is for the plot and where we are going. I do really love how vivid the world building is!

I would still read the next one and my judgments might be premature. I could rate the second one in the series higher, who knows! It's a good start and I definitely enjoy this way more than These Hollow Vows!!!!