Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read Hellfire and Honey.

I really enjoyed this book. The MC is a witch who is left to pick up the pieces after her parents abandoned her and her kingdom during the war with the vampires. Sal is strong and she’ll do anything for her kingdom and people, including surrendering to the vampire king. I liked the relationship between Sal and Kadence (a little spicy) and the joining of the two kingdoms. There were multiple villains in this book which added to the plot and kept me intrigued until the end. I read this in one sitting and would read more from this author in the future.

Hellfire and Honey - Review will be made available on my Instagram Page ClairesReviews (https://www.instagram.com/clairesreviews/) as well as my GoodReads page (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/148511244-clairesreviews) on 27 June 2022 after 7 pm (Belgium time)

This ARC was kindly provided to me through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: The princess of a witch kingdom finds herself forced to surrender to a vampire army and bind her magic after her parents steal half of the army and run away. Sal finds herself at the mercy of the vampire Kadence, and as they navigate conflicting feelings of hatred and attraction, they find themselves having to face a common enemy…

Not only did the author get the fantasy element down to an art, she created a compelling action-filled story with our favourite enemies-to-lover trope. From the start, Sal feels like a vivid and snappy protagonist, while Kadence is the brooding, cold vampire we can’t help but love. The medieval fantasy felt magical yet raw and I was really intrigued by the plot as it evolved. Fans of descriptive battle scenes and slow-slow-burn love will appreciate this gem. The romance, while steamy and punctuated with very cool flirtation scenes, is not very spicy, apart from a handful of scenes.
I liked that this book stroke a nice balance between the storyline and the romance, making it feel as if neither took too much space compared to the other. The dialogue between the two leads was incredibly sexy and funny and I am very much looking forward to what the author will bring us next.

I liked the romance but I did however get occasionally frustrated with Kadence’s hot and cold attitude, but for this I do believe it comes down to personal preference. Overall their banter did feel amusing and the supporting characters were interesting.

I was honestly surprised, I've received ARC’s before, one that I DNFed, but Hellfire and Honey made me genuinely happy that I could be there at the start of something new.
Hellfire and Honey has been out for a week, make sure to snatch it and support the author who I’m sure will delight us with fantastic fantasy in the future :)

Princess Sal will do anything for her people. Even if it means surrendering to their hated enemies, the vampires, to save them from slaughter in a war they will lose. Now she has to find a way to work with the vampire king, Kadence, to unite their two kingdoms and allow their people to have peaceful future. It won’t be easy. Her people aren’t exactly behind her and the hatred between the witches and vampires is deep. But when a bigger threat shows up that cares nothing if you are a witch or a vampire, Kadence, Sal and their people must unite to make a final stand or all her previous sacrifices will be for nothing.

I admire Princess Sal. She has a thankless job. She doesn’t have a lot of support from her people and yet she is willing to sacrifice herself if that will save them. She’s just lucky Kadence doesn’t want her death, at least not immediately. Then she is the one who has to live the life as puppet monarch in an effort to create a united kingdom. That is humiliating and a lot of the time it seems like she is the only one making the effort to make this peace work. Kadence is caught up in his hatred of witches—she has plenty for vampires but at least she is willing to force it aside for her people’s sake—and doesn’t try very hard to smooth the way. In fact, in many ways he hinders it. Even if he is attracted to her.

Sal, though, is not just a sacrificial lamb. She isn’t just sitting on her throne moaning about her terrible position. She does what she can and when it comes time to fight, she is up for it. She delivers.

Overall, a decent story with action, some romance and some decent magic.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest opinion.

This is a book you can’t put down! The enemies-to-lovers storyline kills. Sal’s wit and humor had me laughing multiple times. She doesn’t act like your normal royal, and I love it. And then there’s Kadence….well, you’ll just have to read and see for yourself! RUN, don’t walk, to go read this!

This isn’t very spicy, but it’s steamy and an interesting plot line(not a book for young ya audience though). Essentially there’s a 200 year old battle between witches and vampires, and the witches decide to surrender but soon after find out that there’s a greater threat and have to figure out how to work together and get along.

Also the demons in this book will give me nightmares.

It was funny to see the hate to love you attitude change, and watch the male MC(main character) attitude change and soften. I wasn’t a fan of the bracelet that blocked the MC powers though (Dw it’s not a “female loosing all her powers for a happily ever after “ trope, and she’s really badass).

The politics in this book were also interesting though not a super big part of the book. It was cool to see the politics and the populations opinion evolve and adjust after the witches surrender to vampires.

Anyways, I would recommend this to older ya readers. It’s a really cool fantasy book with an interesting world and rules. If you're a romance reader, you will at least get crumbs (if not more ;) ) pretty often. The action was really well described. The author did their research and I ate that up more than I thought I would.


June 21, 2022 on goodreads
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