Vampires are in vogue again! Excellent! (Though I don't think they completely disappeared.) Strickland has created a world where vampires rule and every year some 17-19 years old humans are "chosen" to attend a school to learn how to be a vampire, be approved by a particular House and changed or fail and become a thrall. Fin takes the place of her secret love and save her and hopes that she will find a way to kill vampires because they killed her mother when she was young. However, becoming a vampire turns out to be more alluring and dangerous than she ever believed. Someone is killing vampires-in-training and humans and if she isn't careful she will end up being the next victim without the hope of eternal life...

This does luxuriate in the life of the vampire. It is somewhat dark, there is blood, murder, and mind control. But not all are vicious or backstabbing. Some actually specialize in healing.

At times it is a bit slow but the action picks up in the end and there are plenty of twists in this story. It is labelled as a queer fantasy novel. I'm not sure I quite agree. There are a number of queer, trans and pansexual characters but the main love interest is heterosexual. I would probably qualify it as the whole gamut of love and attraction. A bit like real life. I did find it a compelling read.

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

Ienjoyed In the Ravenous Dark a lot, so I was excited to see what the newest novel, Court of the Undying Seasons had to offer. While each novel is a standalone, I loved how the author’s unique gothic style carried through each. This story follows pansexual demigirl Fin who volunteers to take her secret love’s place in the Finding. This is an event where vampires come to a village to pick recruits who will attend a vampire school, Castle Courtsheart, where they either pass and become vampires or fail and become a thrall. Her character is initially driven by survival before expanding into more based on her circumstances. When she arrives at the academy, she is sponsored by the mysterious Gavon, who is a complex morally grey character. Throughout the story the reader not only follows Fin on her journey, but also is introduced to the vampire world and the four great Houses.

The story is full of a lot of diversity and a wide range of personalities with the characters. There are a few characters to track, such as, Kastire, Revar, Marai, Jaen, and Claudia. Some of them are more likeable than others, so I did have my favorites for both the individuals and the relationships between them. Even though I did not care for each character throughout the whole story, they were still well-written and felt like they had a place in the journey. There is a mystery in the novel that adds to the tension with plenty of twists and turns. The pacing is a little slower in the middle as the writing works on establishing the relationships more, but the ending does bring it back to create a good ending. The story is currently a standalone, but there seems to be room to expand this into the series in the future. Overall, this was an enjoyable story filled with vampire lore in a fun academic setting.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Feiwel & Friends, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

Dark romance? check. Vampire finishing school? check. Queer characters? check. This was a solid read that was well developed with interesting characters and a curious and unique plot.

This is not your basic finishing school story. Between having to deal with two vampire factions, learning her new powers and a string of murders this book was a ride. I definitely recommend this book for everybody.

I was OBSESSED with this book! Truly, I couldn't put it down, and when I did, i was always waiting for the next moment I'd have to read the book again. I have read many vampire novels, but it's not often that I've encountered one that has captured my attention like one of the classic vampire novels of Anne Rice or others of her caliber. I enjoyed the mix of traditional vampire lore along with Strickland's personal twists on the genre. I also LOVED Strickland's incorporation of the "dark academia" genre with the classic vampire story-- it provides a unique lens on the typical "I don't want to be a vampire, but I have no other choice," trope. Plus, the story offers interesting plot twists that truly surprised me as reader, and drew me into the novel. Besides this, I though the prose, pacing, and almost every other aspect of the novel was incredible well-done. I can't wait to read more from this author!

The highlight of this book for me was the relationships Fin forges with the other vampires and novices at Courtsheart. Her relationship with Gavron, though initially based on blood exchange, is swoonworthy and very sweet. It's also made clear in the book that the relationship between novices and their makers is not always romantic, as Fin is concerned that is what is causing her feelings for Gavron. Marai and Kashire are very fun characters; I didn't think I would like Kashire as much as I did, as I initially believed him to be a very cruel character.

It's very interesting to learn all the lore about the houses along with Fin; I appreciated how the house mottos are reinforced throughout the book by the actions of the court members. It's also really cool how their vampire powers are connected to the houses and that the color of the vampire's blood depends on what house they are in. The stakes are also very clear: if Fin fails her courses, she will become a mindless thrall, a horrifying prospect that adds a lot of tension to the story.

The last 10 percent of the book felt a little rushed; I wished there were more clues or setup to the actual threat laid throughout the story so it didn't feel like it came out of nowhere. One of the major villains only appears at the very end and he doesn't feel very connected to the characters. We only learn about his plan because he brags about it to his dying minion while Fin watches them talk. But reading how Fin comes into her own power is still engaging and a really fun read.

I'm 33% in, I didn't get a chance to finish it in time but I'm interested to see where this goes with Fin and Gavron. And Fin if she follows through with her revenge. It's an interesting turn on vampires because most times it's human girl falls for the vampire and not the human (soon to be vampire, most likely) wanting revenge on the vampires . I will post a review on my Goodreads when I do finish the book. I had certain actors and actress in my head for Fin and Gavron.. Gavron as Kieron Moore (From Vampire Academy) and Fin as Sophia Lillis ..

I kept thinking of Taylor Swift's "Vigilante shit" with the chorus of the lyrics.

I forgot to add a quote from Marai . "You don't like being forced into a corner that doesn't fit you. I don't, either." I absolutely loved that quote/line because I feel that. I get it because I feel that way too. And who doesn't?!

I'm rating it a 3 but It'll most likely get bumped up to a 4.

This was a really fun book to read. I enjoyed it a lot. Loved the political system the book has. The author is great at making characters likeable as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing for the eARC!

This captivating book delves into the darker themes inherent in a tale centered around vampires courts and dark academia as the reader finds themselves immersed in an academy for vampires. The world-building in this book was fairly unique. The intricacies of the vampire courts and their magical talents and the setting created an atmospheric backdrop that heightened the overall experience. The author created a queernormative world, where diverse characters, including those who identify as bigender and genderfluid, were well represented. It was a refreshing and much-needed inclusion that celebrated the beautiful spectrum of gender identities.

I was drawn to the complexity of the characters and the reader's affection builds slowly (and might be betrayed more than once). Their multifaceted nature and engaging personalities added depth, keeping me thoroughly invested in their story. As expected in a vampire novel, this book embraced violence, horror, and traumatic circumstances. My only complaint some confusion about the blood drinking between vampires and some cyclical blood drinking magic weirdness.

The characters, the intricately constructed world, and the well-executed storytelling made for an exciting journey.

Fin's life in the tiny fishing village where she grew up poor and abused wasn't that great to begin with. However, her life takes an unexpected turn when she ends up on her way to vampire court to become one of undying herself. She sees it as an opportunity to avenge her mother's death at the hands of a vampire, but vampire school is not what she expected, especially her intense relationship with her reluctant maker, Gavron.

I could not put down A.M. Strickland's Court of the Undying Seasons. I was completely whisked away to vampire court and fully invested in the future of these characters. The chemistry between Fin and Gavron was off the charts! I can't wait for more!

Taken from her village by vampires to protect the girl she loves, Fin is sent to Castle Courtsheart where she'll either become a vampire, a human thrall, or a meal-- the last seeming the most likely as she discovers a string of murders. With only a few allies-- another vampire-in-training named Marai and Fin's hot-then-cold mentor-maker Gavron-- Fin has to discover the killer before she's killed.

From dedication to closing lines, Court of Undying Seasons is unrepentantly indulgent, bloody tribute to the vampire genre with some dark academia mixed in. It was absolute fluff, and I absolutely loved it. Vampire boarding school with houses? Check. Romantic tension? Double check. Queer norm world? You betcha. I was on the edge of my seat for the last 30%, and I only hope there will be a sequel.

I enjoyed this vampire romance with a dark twist, not something I usually see in YA and I loved the queer rep, the found family, the dark fantasy (and I mean dark) if you’re not good with blood and gore this probably isn’t for you. I love a slow burn romance and this is the slowest of burns, but I’m here for that, it’s not the ultimate focus of the story. The characters are fantastic, I loved them all, the ones I’m meant to , the ones I’m meant to dislike or be unsure, but I loved Fin best. I thought Fin was an amazing strong FMC , she has a hell of a time but she’s so determined, The pacing, the story, the ending I loved everything, it’s a stand-alone but the ending leads me to hope for possibly more, I’ll defer be here for that. Highly recommend to fans of dark vampire fantasy.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Vampire school with dark romance and lots of queer characters. I've struggled with how to review this because I liked this book and I think a lot of other people might love it. It's just that Strickland's last two novels were both favorites of mine the years they came out and this one didn't quite live up to my own hype for it. I blew through those books whereas this one took me much longer to get through. Not because I didn't like it, but because I wasn't hooked in a pulled along in the same way.

This is a bit slower and less propulsive, with a main character I felt middle of the road about. But all of this is so specific to my own experience, I'm not sure how that will translate for other readers. This also includes a trope I'm iffy on where the love interest is in a position of power over the main character. And while this tries to ameliorate the problems, this take on vampires and this sort of relationship come with consent issues baked in. Which is a harder sell for me, even though I think other people will eat it up.

In Court of the Undying Seasons, Fin volunteers to take the place of the girl she secretly loves at a vampire school. There she must either succeed in winning the favor of 3 or more courts and become a vampire, or fail and become a thrall/servant to the vampires. But some one is killing vampires and human classmates, Fin wants to destroy the vampires that took her mother from her, and she can't help the attraction to her brooding and mysterious vampire mentor. It's darkly sensual and has some interesting twists. I liked it, but I expected to love it and instead I have mixed feelings. Which is a little disappointing. But your mileage may vary and I expect there are people who are going to be raving about this. Note that it is quite graphic in terms of violence, blood consumption, and murder. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

From the beginning I was hooked! I needed to understand Fin and this world.

What I loved:
- LGBTQ+ rep
- The character's inner dialogue
- The magic system and how character's gain and lose power
- The relationships and how they are formed

What I didn't love:
- Some repetitive details
- How often Fin was wanting to kill vampires but how little I understood how his mother was taken

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this. It is definitely a YA reaching to adult and I am for it! I am completely living for the character relationships and how these character are introduced throughout the book.

My review will be up shortly and i will edit this to include the links!

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. This turned into a five star read for me, and honestly, I am totally shocked! I’m always nervous about reading books with vampires, because I feel like I am usually disappointed, but I really liked this story!

Once a year, the vampires come to the Finding in different villages to gain Foundlings who will become vampires. They come to Fin’s village, where Fin grabs the white feather out of a bag of black feathers to save who she thought was her best friend, and is chosen to go with them to become a vampire and have her first undying season. She is taken to Courtsheart which is a kind of school to have her first few undying seasons and decide which court to join as a new vampire. When murders start occurring, Fin is determined find out who is doing this to ensure not only her safety, but everyone’s safety.

I think I finally realized I like books with school settings, and I really liked this one. It was so interesting humans become vampires, and then going to school to learn how to become a vampire, and then they choose the court they like to join, based on their skills and assets and approvals from the different courts. There are four different main courts, and then a fifth Court that is a nameless court. They each have their own focuses on specific skillsets and I love the detail that went into each individual court.

I really liked Fin, there was a point that she frustrated me when instead of listening, she just thought she could take matters into your own hands, and I did feel like she was rather dumb for most of the book. The decision she made, made me want to smack her. She never really thought logically until basically the end of the book, and at that point that was more of a feeling rather than logic. However, I truly did like her. I didn’t think she thought enough before acting upon her thoughts, but other than that, I think she is fierce character, and it’s tough despite the traumas she’s experienced from when she was younger, and then joining the vampires, in order to exact vengeance upon them for taking her mother away from her.

There are quite a few side characters that were in the spotlight, quite often. There is, of course, Gavron, who is Fin’s Maker, there is Marai another human Foundling who becomes Fin’s best friend, there’s Claudia from the Red Court who you wonder if she’s evil 😂, and then there’s Kashire from the Blue Court. And out of them all, Kashire is my favorite! I should despise that vampire, but I absolutely adored his character! He was dramatic, he was flamboyant, he was ruthless, and yet he had a soft side to him that would come out unexpectedly, and I just love his character, so so much! One of my top favorite side characters I have ever read!

Oh, and then the twists. There were a few twists in this book, one of them totally saw it coming from the beginning, and the other twist did not see it coming, and I love that! I love when there’s a twist that gets me because I usually can figure them out.

I really really enjoyed this book! If you love, vampires, books with a school, setting, found family, an enemies to lovers very slow burn romance, then I highly recommend this book!

I received a free digital copy to read. Thank you NetGalley and the publishers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Love the cover and the concept!

I'm a sucker for anything vampire related. However, the book wasn't as fleshed out or as immersive as I would have liked.

Overall, decent but nothing mind-blowing.

***Thank you to NetGalley, A.M. Strickland, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends for graciously sending me the ARC to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

This book has fantastic queer representation! So important, especially in YA.

That said, it also has SO MANY YA tropes. An orphan brought up with nothing... Young character is chosen in coming of age ritual! Has to be made into a vampire to save her life of course, not for any other reason... She's not like other girls, she hates dresses and just wants to be back in her usual peasant clothes... how terrible that her captors locked her in a beautiful bedroom and gave her beautiful gowns! Oh no, she has to go to a ball, sooooo not her scene. Enemies to lovers, surprise! Her mom isn't REALLY dead... etc. We all love these tropes, it can't be denied, and they often play better in YA than adult fiction since teens aren't so oversaturated with them. However, they're a little over the top in this case. I'd recommend cutting down on some of them, or twisting them in an unexpected way.

Marai's character is fantastic. I love her to death (undeath?)

The plot wraps up well, but I think some more buildup to the twist at the end would've been good. There's good foreshadowing about the Nameless House and all the characters we know that are involved, but the lore wasn't quite there so the end caught me a little off guard.

I won't be posting a review of this book on my social media, as I don't want to give any negative press! I enjoyed reading this book but can't give it a high rating due to the things I mentioned that I wasn't a fan of.

The age gap... I know that Gavron is only a few years older than Fin, but Fin is still under 18, right? Bad messaging in YA, especially as young people getting into first relationships with older guys that have so many red flags will probably not end up with a sexy vampire bf who was only being mean to them because he was under mind control.

Good vampire world building in terms of all the abilities, incorporating different pieces of vampire mythology to make the different houses.

Found on netgalley and i wasnt sure what to make of this book at first
The blurb is what caught my eye big time and im actually happy that i read this book
was the first time reading from this author and might check their other books out
5 star book. highly recommend this book
already told a few people that they need to read this book
couldnt put this book down at all might reread this book later on in the year

This one is definitely for fans of vampires and dark fae tropes. Me, being a fan of neither, did not really resonate with this one.

Really enjoyed this book! Very hard to put it down once I got started! This was my first book by this author and I was very impressed. I felt like the comparison to SJM was not really accurate. It felt like this book/author deserves it's own recognition and should be compared to something different. Raven Kennedy's Plated Prisoner series and K.F. Breene's A Ruin of Roses series come to mind, but with vampires, dark academia, and not nearly as much romance/spice. It's just unlike SJM (in a positive and darker way).

I absolutely loved the amount and variety of queer representation in this book. The fact that this takes place in a queer-normative society is just *chef's kiss* for me.

Yes, it's YA, but it didn't really feel like I was reading YA. The writing and dialogue felt very mature and I really appreciated that, especially with it being in 1st person POV. The world building was well done, and in a way that wove it into the dialogue of the story, so it felt simple and easy to understand. Not bogged down by a bunch of unnecessary details that your mind could get lost in, which my brain appreciated.

Loved the found family vibes. I enjoyed the main character, Fin (strong FMC that I dig), and the immediate side characters, especially Kashire and Marai. Fin really gets put through it, but she is determined as hell and ultimately perseveres. Loved the banter between Kashire and Fin as well as the dynamic differences between Kashire and Jaen (think Yin & Yang). I liked Gavron's character for the most part, but there were several moments where he annoyed the shit out of me and I wanted to smack him over the back of the head with something exceptionally hard. But then more gets revealed and now I feel like it's not entirely fair to have those negative feelings about him. By the end, I was on team Gav.

LOVED the darkness of this book! Truly a DARK fantasy. So if you're not a fan of blood, guts, and gore, this might not be the book for you. Slowest of slow burn romance was there, lots of tension, and would have loved more spice (most was a couple of heavy kissing moments), but honestly it didn't need it to keep me interested. I truly couldn't put this down. But the romance was definitely in the background/subplot.

Pacing was great. Ending was well done, although the very end seemed a little abrupt for my taste, since it was a standalone. I wish it had been followed up with an epilogue that gave us a small future time jump update or something. Very well done for a standalone, but definitely left the door open for a sequel possibility.

Highly recommend for those looking for a new dark vampire fantasy with a romantic subplot and lots of excellent queer representation. Enjoy!