“ Castles were cold. Especially enemy castles.”

North Queen by Nicola Tyche

Quick summary
After disappearing three years earlier when her father hid her away. Norah has returned with no memories of where she’s been. With her father now gone, she’s quickly crowned Queen, and for the good of her people agreed to a marriage of a man she doesn’t love.

Final thoughts
Going into this I was wholly unsure what I felt but quickly as each chapter flew by I became more invested in Norah, she is a strong female character trying to do what’s best for her people and in the end herself as well. The author did an amazing job ending the book where they did to the point I wanted to throw my kindle across the room because I needed to know what happens. The next books in the series are an auto buy for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and this is will be a spoiler-free review.


North Queen follows the story of Norah, the princess of Mercia who has been missing for 3 years, when she is found it is revealed that she doesn't remember where she has been or anything about her past. Alexander is her ex-lover and also her commander who will have to fight between what's better for his kingdom or his relationship with the girl he is in love with. A fast-paced fantasy with courtly elements, a rich blend of cultures and characters that either made me giggle while also making me want to hit them over the head for being so clueless.

While this book sometimes fell into the kindle unlimited fantasy romance formula, I was able to overlook it as this is not only the author's debut (which i find to be a very strong one at that) but also I really was in the mood for a somewhat easy to fall-into-world. The characters were very fun and also varied as opposed to all of them falling flat. I would actually want more character development from at least the top 5 main people since i feel they would elevate the story over-all. The author did a good job of slowly introducing the world while also keeping it in a veil of mystery since our main character is also in the blue of what's going on around her.

My biggest complaint is Norah, she was almost always either angry over some random things or she kept ignoring every single red flag that kept coming up but........ i also would ignore the red flags of a certain person🤭 anyways, i hope she gets a better sense of what she wants since she has so many people that rely on her. The ending was a very great choice and I'm very excited for the next two books which will be released so quick after the first one!!!!

The actual hold this book had on me from start to finish! Literally could not even work without having this book at the back of my mind. I believe this is an exceptional debut book from Nicola Tyche. While the first quarter of the book had me feeling a bit lost I quickly realized it was important for world building and the character herself was lost. Throughout the rest of the book I developed far more questions than I found answers and I’m so excited fro book two! I can’t wait to see what else this author has in store for us!

Thank you to Netgalley and Nicola Tyche for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

My entire being is wrecked. This book had me crying before chapter 5. I have screamed, wanted to throw my kindle, cried, laughed, and laughed hysterically I was crying. I think it’s my favorite book I’ve ever read. And it’s killing me to have to wait for the other two books. So. Run. Get this now !

This adult fantasy has all the tropes you want in a fast-paced, well-plotted novel. It is compelling and gripping to the end, lending itself nicely to a trilogy. The characters are charming, the setting engrossing, and I can't wait for me.


My thanks to the Publisher and Author for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

This book really captivated me from the first page. I wasn’t sure was to expect with the Memory loss situation but I felt it was well executed and intriguing.

The love to hate and love triangle-ish moments had me a little confused at times but it feels clear later on.

Adventure, court drama, rooting for different people, possible war coming? All the while trying to figure out what is really going on!

Overall I enjoyed the story and the pace of it all. I am looking forward the next book.

Thank you NetGalley and Nicola Tyche.

Thank you Netgalley and Nicola for this ARC!

I can't believe this is a debut for Nicola it is so well written.

Her word building was done well with the perfect amount of detail with no over the top descriptions and the story had me hooked from the get-go (I confess after my initial read through of the synopsis I had forgotten the particulars so I ended up going in blind which made this so much better). There were so many moments that had me questioning what will happen next and I didn't want to put it down, this is fast paced and exciting.

As Norah comes to terms with who she is and regains some of her memories we see her stand up for herself and decide her own fate. She is a fiesty character and will passionately defend the innocent against any injustice. Her growth of personal discovery causes her to make difficult choices and not necessarily the obvious choice in search for what is best for her people, not what is expected of her which I loved.

Very excited for the final two books in this trilogy, coming the 1st and 29th August!

I liked this one more than I expected to. The world definitely has intrigue and I liked the writing style. I'm still unsure how much I like the MC's but definitely looking forward to the next installment.

I really loved this book, from the characters to the world building, everything was so well thought out and written!

The beginning of the story and meeting our mc really grabs the readers attention. Between the Wild and Norah’s forgotten memories, I was hooked from page 1. I loved the concept of the Wild and Norah’s connection to it and I hope we learn more about this in books 2 & 3! When she first returns to Mercia I found the story to slow down a bit. But I feel like in these types of books where the world building is important that tends to happen.

But once she gets captured by the Shadow King and finds herself in the Shadow Lands the story really picks up. I could not put it down from this point forward! The writing was so immersive and I found myself really connecting with Norah, as she tries to find balance between this man she thought was her enemy and a kingdom she doesn’t remember. There are so many twist and turns and ups and downs it really keeps you on your toes! And the ending was such a good set up for the next book, I can’t wait until it comes out in August!

The book is mainly about a girl named Norah and her journey from the Wild, to the North, and lastly the Shadow Lands. The beginning of the book is relating to her struggle with losing her memory and coming to fact with her responsibilities despite her not remembering anything prior to when she woke up. There is a messy love triangle that she finds herself in, that while I enjoy a love triangle it was as if Norah made things more difficult than they had to be; same could be said about Alexander.
I was heartbroken reading the part where Norah remembered what Alexander said about not loving her – when she said “you left me” it broke my heart.
My favorite character in the book had to be the Shadow King. He was willing to adapt and change, despite the obstacles he continually faced (most of them because of Norah).
While the story was good, it was slow. I wish that there were more of a surprise element in the book and that Norah’s memory loss played a bigger factor in it than it did.
While I believe this book was good and would suggest it to others, it was a little slow for my personal liking (the most excitement is in the middle of the book and the first quarter of the book is basically unnecessary).

This book came out of nowhere for me. Honestly, I had completely forgotten what the blurb was and went into it completely blind... But within 50 pages, it had me HOOKED. I read it while I made supper, read it in line for lunch, and read it at my desk during meetings. I had that same "gotta know what's going to happen" vibes that I did when I first read *those* big fantasy romance books. You know the ones.

This book is very fast-paced and what some authors would split over chapters, here is split over paragraphs. This kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning. The writing doesn't have much in the way of flowery descriptions or meandering thoughts, it is very to-the-point. But this is one of the things I loved about it, I wanted to know where the story was taking me and I wanted to know NOW.

I CANNOT wait until the next two books are released, I will absolutely be grabbing them on release day.

Big thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

North Queen follows Norah, who wakes up with no recollection of her life and discovers that she will soon be crowned queen. It appears that her life's fate has already been predetermined and she is compelled to go along with it.

North Queen and its concept was intriguing and written in a lovely manner. It contained a thrilling voyage full of twists, turns, and the unexpected that offered a new perspective on fate and how one's response to a predetermined fate can alter it. The fantasy setting was distinctive and vibrant, featuring a balanced amount of action, royal politics and romance. Tyche's ability to maintain readers' interest, excitement, and suspense about what will happen next is evidence of her talent in writing a complex and multilayered novel. It drew readers into a world of war, love, and the search for identity with its engrossing plot and well-rounded characters. It looked at how complicated every kind of relationship and connection is. The mystery surrounding the entire plot rendered it tough to put down and the idea of various territories being in conflict with a queen devoted to bringing prosperity and peace to complicated relations was immensely interesting. Norah was a self-assured, fiery force ready to do everything it took to defend her love, her realm and helpless victims, I liked watching her in her journey in defining herself. She was prepared to look past the obvious and deviate from decades of custom, persuading others to do the same. Though she made difficult decisions, her heart held endless compassion, forbidding anybody to walk all over her or direct her at the same time. The conversations and interactions between the characters in this novel were all infused with emotions. I’m excited for the rest of the trilogy.

This was a great start to a fantasy series! I enjoyed the world building and getting to know the characters, it felt a bit repetitive in places and it didn’t always feel smooth but it set up the series really well!

First of all… are we sure this is Nicolas Debut? Because I am not convinced. It was that good.

I wasn’t sure about the amnesia element, as I have come across it in other books in the past and it didn’t sit well with me. However, it worked well in North Queen and I loved how brave the FMC is! Norah finding herself in a love triangle had me turning the pages at high speeds and staying up WAY too late to see what was going to happen in this warring kingdom. This trilogy seems very promising and I cannot wait to read book two!

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this arc.

While this book didn't grip me as others in the genre have, this was a decently crafted novel, and I enjoyed many aspects of it. The writing was smooth (though repetitive at times), and the characters and plot sufficiently complex. Though I recognize that it's a large part of the story, I wasn't the biggest fan of the amnesia storyline - I felt it left our heroine too helpless and childlike, particularly for a 25 year old FMC. In the end, it was a relatively enjoyable read, but it didn't grip me as I'd hoped it would.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Nicola Tyche, and Columbia River Publishing for giving me the chance to read this ARC before it came out!

I personally enjoyed this book a lot. The first bit of the book was definitely a bit of a struggle to get through, although I know it was slowly building up the world that North Queen takes place in. However, once Norah finds her place in Mercia, the story progresses nicely from there.

While Norah's story does involve the prospect of marriage (as any kingdom-seeking-allies-tale does), I liked that it wasn't at the forefront of this book. This was all about Norah finding her place as queen, and I loved that the writing involved a very good does of court politics. (And the marriage of convenience trope didn't hurt either, winkwink).

Even though Norah did have amnesia, I liked that it wasn't something that defined her character in the story. She was still a badass princess/queen despite it, and she still found her own way despite not having her memories. I will definitely be tuning in for the other two installments of this trilogy once they come out! I've enjoyed Norah's story so far, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

I have gone back and forth on my rating for this book so many times since I finished it. I very much enjoyed reading Norah’s story and I think this is a very good debut novel. On the other hand, I felt at times that the plot was lost and I felt the reader wasn’t given very much information on things that should be important, and I felt unsure of either relationship Norah found herself in.

Starting with the plot, for me the first 100 pages or so felt like a completely different story. We start with Norah in “the Wild” waking up with no memory of who she is, where she came from, or anything else. We spend the first part of the book following Norah trying to figure out who she was and what her place in the world is. We see her trying to learn from her grandmother how the court politics work in Mercia and we see her rediscover her relationship with Alexander. Once Norah comes to be with Mikael it feels like her rediscovering her memories has no relevance to the story anymore. I know this is the first in a trilogy and the next book may get to her memory loss again, but for it to hardly be mentioned in the last half of the book just didn’t make sense to me.

As for the lack of information, again I know this is the first in a trilogy, but we start out in “the Wild” and I still know little to nothing about the damn place other than the fact that it’s a forest that holds some sort of magic and men don’t return from it. There’s also the mysterious 3rd party that’s decimating towns, killing people, and no one can figure out who it is. I just think more world building needed to be done because I also have very little sense of the realm as a whole.

Now for the love…triangle? Square? Norah and Alexander held my attention so strongly. I was rooting for them so hard (although he did become a little too much when he was trying so hard to save her in the shadowlands). Norah and Mikael? Hit or miss. I understand it’s marriage of convenience, Norah wants to save her people, he’s different when he’s with her and it’s kind of slow burn. However, their relationship just lacked something for me? Then we have Soren. I’m sure his love for his king will have a bigger plot line later on, but to find out so early just to have it mean literally nothing in this book? What’s the point? He’s just kind of there, angry and brooding. Why not keep the reader guessing why he’s so angry about everything until it’s actually important that he’s in love with his king?

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve made it to the point where you find out what made me enjoy reading this book so much. The romance is beautifully written. Even the romance between Mikael and Norah. The plot may have felt lost at times, but I still could not put this book down. This is one of those books for me where I have to see it through to the end of the series because I have to see who ends up with who. 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4 bc it deserved more than a 3 star rating) beautiful debut and I am excited to read the next one!

Thank you so much to Nicola Tyche and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC of North Queen.

Game of Throne vibes but not as vulgar or intense.
A fantasy based-story but not super magical. You'll hear of seers, magical animals & travelers. There was discussion of Fae, but nothing beyond that. TBD if this will play a key later in the development in the story.
This story is written in third person. At first, I felt a little indifferent, but it worked with the multiple POVs.

I will say... this book contained a lot that I loved, but was equally matched with a ton that frustrated me. (And as I always say, this could be a *me* problem)


This story was refreshing. At first, it had the typical fantasy plot with the addition of the amnesia trope.
--> Missing for three years only to be found in the dead of winter in a magical, wild forest. No memories. No knowledge of name. No idea of anything. Discovered by a longtime childhood friend and potential lover after being searched for, for three years. Only to arrive home to her kingdom to discover she is a princess who will shortly become queen and is arranged to be married to a prince in another kingdom to join forces. Essentially become a political pawn.

I was really into the story line. But so much could have been explored more. Why was NO ONE dead set on releasing her memories? Finding out where she had been for THREE YEARS?! THIS IS BIG!!
But no, let's get her married so we can have aid in a war and provisions for our people. That is #1. With a queen who doesn't even know her middle name.

My biggest upset was the amnesia not being explored or discussed more. I feel like this completely fell flat before we even reached 50% of the book and had maybe one conversation regarding it the remainder of the book. I think it would have been great to showcase the FMC having tremendous internal struggles with literally forgetting 25 years of her life? This could have been huge *insert more flashes of memories*
Her kingdom fell to the back of the story. SHE IS QUEEN. WHY DOES SHE NOT KNOW ANYTHING GOING ON?! This could have also been HUGE!
I just felt like a lot fell flat and our focus was "I could be happy here" or "I could be happy with him" but no, let me sulk a little longer. It was that and her utter hate for the commander and their little game of cat & mouse. Norah just started to annoy me the last 25% of the book acting a little too stuck-up and entitled. (Another *me* problem)

Overall, I thought this was a good first book to a series and I am very interested in reading the next two books. There was no huge cliff hanger, but I am very curious to see where Norah goes with the way the book ended.

I would rate this a 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4!
Would recommend especially to those who may be new the fantasy genre.

Review also posted on Goodreads and will posted to my Instagram account on the release date! (Instagram post may include additional information, such as: tropes.

Thank you to @Nicola Tyche and NetGalley for this ARC of North Queen.

This was 3/5 stars for me,

We follow Norah as she struggles with loss, responsibility to her kingdom, and love. Tyche provides us with a love triangles/square, as well as enemies to lovers, and sacrifices to save a kingdom.

I enjoyed this book, don't get me wrong, but it didn't grip me as others in the genre have, and I'm not holding out for the next book in the series.

[4.25/5] NORTH QUEEN is a dark fantasy that intertwines prophesized fates, war, and a choice between duty or desire. This is foremost a character-driven novel. Norah, the female main character, awakens in the middle of the woods with no memory of who or where she is. Found and brought back to her kingdom of Mercia, she discovers she must wed a neighboring king to protect her people. Eventually resigned to her duty, fate has other plans and she instead finds herself in the hands of the enemy: the Shadow King.

I appreciated that even though Norah is an awful liar, as she tries to keep her memory loss known to only a select few, she is headstrong and has some quick quips. She has every right to be emotional and afraid. Although she feels this trepidation internally, she also recognizes that life keeps moving. For the most part I thought she had a well-balanced way of interpreting and communicating. And she wasn't afraid to let her opinion known. I did raise an eyebrow at a couple of her decisions, though. But sometimes the reader just has to let it flow and enjoy the story.

However, I do wish Norah had asked more questions about the cultural customs, politics, and prophecies. I felt this would have provided to the reader a better sense of why the Shadow King is so fearsome. Then again, I have to ask myself what would I focus on if I had no memories? Probably my safety first given the short time frame Norah had to work with before trotting off to her betrothed. Additionally, a half-full cup leaves open the intrigue for the story to continue.

Even though NORTH QUEEN has a character-focused narrative, I thought the secondary world building was great. There is a map that shows where each kingdom lies. Because Norah has no preconceptions, everything feels new and strange. The reader learns about the different kingdoms through the established perceptions of others. This opens up an interesting dynamic or allegory for how perceptions impressed upon one from birth influence how one sees what is "right" or "wrong." I'd love to see this explored more in the trilogy. I have a feeling that not everything is as it seems and there are some twisted truths.

I had mixed feelings about the romance, in a mostly good way. It's easy for the reader to pick up on some past history between Norah and her love interest in Mercia. My heart felt so torn for them when they both faced the decision of duty vs. desire. But then a love triangle, and then a love square, opens up and suddenly it's not as simple. The love square is a much lesser focus. I was mildly unsure about how to feel about the love triangle because of the grey area nature of it. But such is the way of dark fantasy romance and those who read this subgenre know how it goes!

NORTH QUEEN has the potential to please fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and To Bleed a Crystal Bloom. This is without a doubt flying under the radar of dark fantasy romance readers and deserves its chance to shine. It's bingeable and those 550+ pages seemingly go by in a flash. I, for one, look forward to the final two books later this year.

Review will be posted on July 3 at: https://aliteraryescape.com/2023/07/03/arc-review-north-queen-by-nicola-tyche/