I enjoyed Queen of Roses, but I liked this book even more! I loved the world building and the mythical creatures. I loved the unique fae features of each individual character, it is very common to always have Fae described as beautiful, human like fae, I loved seeing the varying features.

Morgan is still completely infuriating with very little character development. She just seems very young - younger than she is meant to be. Her constantly pushing back at Draven for absolutely NOTHING got very tedious.

There are so many twists and unexpected turns you will be hanging on to every word, enemies to lovers is my favourite trope so this series was always going to be right up my street and the spice was a definite bonus!!!

I can't wait to read the next one in the series,

This book was so much better than the first one! The story moved more quickly and was so much more engaging and exciting. Some sections were still far more detailed than they needed to be and there were a few times when specific phrases were overused too close together. I found the end disappointing and Morgan’s character in general. She has leaned too far into stubbornness to the point of not being likable. I am also a bit frustrated at how cryptic everything seems. It would have been nice to have a bit more concrete information about Morgan’s true background, as I think it would keep me feeling a bit more invested. Overall, this book was much better. Looking forward to reading book 3!

Court of Claws picks up in time where Queen of Roses left off. Draven saved Morgan with the help of Oldena, who isn’t actually a child.

This book was a wild roller coaster ride with shocking revelations until the very end. After Draven was revealed to be a Fae with HORNS, I thought the surprises were over but this story had one shock after another and I was there for it!

Briar Boleyn is weaving a world that is complicated and amazing. The dynamic between Morgan and Draven is full of longing and chemistry and is sizzling hot! The competition to become emperor was reminiscent of the Hunger Games in that it was a competition with death as a constant threat with only one victor.

I am obsessed with Morgan and Draven’s story and this world and cannot wait for it to continue! Briar Boleyn has cemented her place on my auto-buy author list, I will read her grocery list at this point.

If you love fantasy romance with intricate worlds, read this series immediately! I cannot recommend it any stronger. It’s amazing.

Thrown back into the action right away, this magical story takes you through so many shocking and heartbreaking twists even I needed a pack of tissues myself.

The world building does not go unnoticed even in this novel as the story continues, with a little more steam, with Morgan and Draven. Their chemistry is perfection… even if there’s a little help from a friend back in the previous book. I was devastated towards the end between Draven’s sisters doing and Bek.

This marvelous, absolutely spellbinding novel was an absolute pleasure to read and kept me stuck in its spell from the very beginning until the cliffhanger of an end. We’re talking barely able to put it down level of enjoyment from me!

If you like your fantasy with just a dash of spice, this series is perfect. If anything, I would love to see more of Draven and Morgan.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy to review.

This book, the second in this series, relocates our main characters from the setting of the previous book, Morgan's kingdom (and continent) to Draven's, which allows her (and us) to learn more about his history, character and motivations. The additional cast of characters I enjoyed for the most part, especially the developing, albeit somewhat grudging, respect between Morgan and Lyrastra and the charming Beks.

The world building continues to be a strong point of the author's writing, clearly revealing the court of the Siabra, the range of characters here and the complicated politics and history. The writing is clear and immersive and I didn't note any grammar, spelling or formatting issues.

The relationship between Morgan and Draven develops, with her needing to pose as his mistress to the wider court - which goes better at some times than others. However, I did grow somewhat frustrated by some of the inconsistencies and motivations of the characters - at times, Morgan seemed very practical, at others immature. Whilst I also enjoyed the development of Draven's character, the number of times he, or others, withheld information from Morgan or manipulated her grew rather frustrating - particularly on the last occasion, which I felt rather cheated Morgan of her success, so I was actually quite pleased to see her draw a boundary here.

I will look forward to the next book, when the two worlds and Morgan's new knowledge and abilities will collide.

I'll be honest here. I almost quit this book so many times. The first half was so tedious and Morgan was such an annoying character. She was almost intolerable with the way she acted and everything she said. I absolutely hated her and never wanted to pick the book back up. I knew I was getting an ARC from a different author on a specific date so I figured I'd read this one until then and if I wasn't finished I didn't care. Fortunately, things did get better. This was broken up into two parts, pretty much 50/50, and the second was so much better because Morgan wasn't such an arrogant, petulant, child. Plus, things finally started happening.

I also want to point out three things specifically. First. This author over uses the word(s) "fuck(ing)" and it is hardly ever used when it even makes sense. Now, I swear a lot. But here it was always thrown into a sentence and I had no idea why most of the time. It didn't enhance anything and in fact, made things more jarring. It was absolutely unnecessary in this book. Second. For the love of my time and sanity, please stop describing every single place, person, and piece of clothing in such detail. I get that you need a certain amount to build the environment and paint a picture of the character. But oh my gawd is this overkill. I just did not care about every single little thing. Third. The author's pandering in this book was way worse than the first one. I don't care if you have gay couples in your book, but almost every single couple aside from our main one here is gay. If that's your thing, more power to you, but it's not mine. Then there's the constant almost preaching about this bearkin in the castle and how he/she/they/it should be accepted by all no matter what. I read books to be entertained. Not to be preached to and have all this PC crap being shoved down my throat.

I went into this relatively excited after how the last one ended. And that was a mistake. From the moment Morgan wakes up she acted like a spoiled brat and deliberately went against what Kairos asked of her when she didn't get her way. To be fair, Kairos really did a bad job of explaining anything to her, but she really could have been way more mature about things. Basically, Kairos has brought her back to his fae kingdom, where he's a prince no less, because he couldn't think of anywhere else to take her to help her heal. Plus, you know, he bound them together at the end of the last book. In order to protect her, Kairos claims her as his paramour. Which is akin to a concubine I guess? It's the only way he knew to keep her safe, but of course she just absolutely freaks out about it and for this whole half of the book she hates him and fights him at every turn. And she also never listens, always jumping to conclusions, which just made me constantly want to smack her in her stupid face.

Like I already mentioned, things do get much better the second half. Apparently sex with Kairos has managed to change how Morgan feels about many things. She finds herself falling for him again and easily playing the part of paramour. She has finally decided to learn how to control her fae power because now she's terrified of hurting someone with it on accident. And she is determined to see Kairos succeed at his goal of winning the crown of his people despite the whole thing being rigged. For Kairos to become king he must compete in three trials and win. But he's not the only one competing. And each trial gets harder and harder. And more brutal. Kairos is willing to suffer thru it all though because he wants to change things. We learn quite a bit about his past and what he too has suffered thru. He wants to put an end to his father's horrible legacy and make his kingdom better.

Really, the last half of the book was pretty great. And then we got the end. Goddamn Morgan jumping to conclusions again and refusing to listen to anything Kairos says. And then literally jumping thru a portal with absolutely no idea what she's doing or having any sort of plan. That ending really ticked me off. Especially considering how well things were going by that point. I'm on the fence about reading the next book. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see these two get back together. But Morgan's stupidity is just so incredibly annoying.

Court of Claws- 3.5⭐️ 3🌶️

Betrayal
Fake relationship
Morally grey MMC
He Falls First
One bed
Surprise twist
Kingdom politics
Found family
Trials
War
Animal familiars
Miscommunication
🏳️‍🌈 Side Character Rep

This story begins right where the first left off. I really like how this reimagined Camelot is pulling more and more from the original. Links are being revealed and coming together. All of the little pieces of the original story finding their way into this one, just with a spin. It’s refreshing and highlights taking a misogynistic tale and restructuring it to not be so archaic.

The writing is a little stilted, it felt like the word “F*ck” was added in excessively (mostly by one character) to make things edgier… sometimes it was in juxtaposition to the story creating a jarring harshness of language in situations where you would expect more finesse. And I’m not talking about the bedroom scenes… those were good!

Anyway, it wasn’t off putting enough that I didn’t enjoy the book. Far more than the first, mainly because of the non-stop action and fast pace plot.

Morgan is an infuriating character. It’s almost like she is completely ignorant of court politics or intrigue. (Reminder, she was raised as a princess!) She only sees things in black and white. She is full of flaws; immature, annoyingly defiant for terrible reasons, stubborn, wishy-washy as hell, and seemingly purposefully and idiotically obtuse. Her character arc isn’t evident yet… hopefully she will grow in the next book… and says “f*ck” in more appropriate instances, instead of throwing it around because her character needs to be more daring and grown up… She just sounds like a middle schooler on a playground trying to show how badass she is by saying the worst curse word she can think of.

Draven seems to be an enigma with his loyalty and willingness to do what has to be done. Talk about the definition of “Morally Grey”. A softie with a hard exterior. Exactly what a morally grey man should be. He has killed, been exiled, caught for Morgan and himself, sacrificed himself and his kingdom. I think he is well written… as well written as any other fantasy romance MMC. They all have flaws.

The exmoors are so cool! I’m a sucker for animal familiars. If something happens to them I’ll riot.

The side characters are endearing. I’m undecided if I can get past Morgan’s poor character arc enough to read on… if I do, it’s only for Draven and the exmoors.

Thank you NetGalley and Starwater Press for the advanced reader copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The second book of Briar Boleyn's Blood of a Fae series picks up right where the first left off and follows Morgan and Draven into Draven's homeland. I enjoyed getting to know Draven's story more and learning more about the fae in his realm. Morgan, however, needs to get over herself. I spent most of the time just wanting to shake her into looking at the bigger picture and quit acting like a petulant child. I'm still looking forward to reading the next book and seeing where all of the revelations that happened in this book take us.

I won't have a chance to finish this before it archives BUT I've purchased the book so I can finish it because I love the series so far! I appreciate the opportunity to read this AND Court of Roses! I love them both! (And I will review on GR when I finish!)

I enjoyed this book and can't wait to find out what happens in the next one. The plot and story definitely have me hooked and this book's pace was faster than the first book, which I liked. I also liked that the FMC didn't have to participate (well, at first) in the trial. It was a refreshing take on the trial trope.

The relationship between the main characters is a bit hard to connect to. I really want Draven and Morgan to be together and I'm loving the enemies/rivals to lovers. In the beginning she was still not liking him and hating that he "kidnapped" her and kept her in his suite. She was constantly mad at him and then all of a sudden spicy things were happening. I think it would have made it better if it was more of a "hate fuck' - but it wasn't. The previous chapter she was all hating him and frustrated he won't tell her anything then POOF they are having sex and she's not hating him anymore.

There were also mentions of modern things and phrases which took me out of the story a bit. In my copy there were errors with names - in one chapter (apologies I forgot to write it down) Avriel is spelled as Azriel instead. Then at the end of chapter 21 Draven calls Morgan 'Breena.'

“Here's to the fae and mortals alike, united by starlit dreams that span the skies.”

This book is a continuation of Queen of Roses. It follows Morgan Pendragon after she is saved by Draven. Now in Draven’s homeland, more secrets come to light and Morgan must decide who she trusts. Not only that, Morgan must figure out who she truly is.

One thing I enjoyed about this book was the storyline of the trials. I found it to be gripping and I couldn’t wait to find what happened next. I also greatly enjoyed many of the characters we were introduced to in this book. Beks quickly became a character I loved and the character development of Lyrastra I found to be very well done. Similar to the previous book I liked was the different creatures and animals in the books and loved the introduction to Nightclaw. One final thing I greatly enjoyed was the inclusivity of this book, similar to the first one it had a large range of diverse characters, which I liked.

One thing I disliked about this book was the miscommunication. This is quite possibly my least favourite trope overall, and this book was full of it. It got very annoying, very quickly and I could really do without it. Another thing I disliked was the ending. I was extremely shocked when Beks died and to be honest it upset me quite a bit. I also didn’t quite understand the ending of the book. It felt a little odd for the storyline to jump from Morgan, to Lancelet who we were continually told was dead only to find her alive and with a character we had recently be introduced to with little explanation as to how or why.

Overall I thought this book was ok and initially thought I’d prefer it to the first book, however I wasn’t fond of the ending so I think I probably enjoyed the first book slightly more. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fairytale retellings, though I would definitely warn them to check the TW list first as this book isn’t for the faint of heart.

Briar does it again. If Queen of Roses sucked me in, this one devoured my soul. Morgan is exponentially more tolerable in this book and I found myself wanting to be her at some points. "Good girl" does it for all of us smut lovers and this one was no different. Draven and Morgan together are a forced to be reckoned with! Can't wait for book 3!

I do not know what the author put in this book, but I read all 640 pages in a single sitting without even realizing. As it was an eARC, I did not have page numbers and thought it was less than 400 pages. I was wrong. I could read over a thousand pages of this. Briar Boleyn, give me more!

Morgan finds herself in a strange place with strange people after being mortally wounded by her ex lover. Draven rescued her but now she’s become a prisoner at his castle, playing the role of his “paramour” while her country is at war. Except soon she’s doing more than just playing the role, and the slow burn is burning... Meanwhile Prince Draven is in a death competition for his own throne, and the competitors are not above cheating to claw their way to the top. When Morgan starts receiving strange dreams she discovers there’s more to her past than she ever knew, and that her kingdom is in worse danger than she was led to believe. Can she and Draven reconcile their differences to save both of their kingdoms? Or is their relationship doomed to fail?

The plot of this book was so strong it didn’t even need the spice to make it good. The spice was just a bonus for the book, that’s how you know this is a good author, her story did not rely on gimmicks to get people invested. But who am I kidding, we all love a little spice. This book is probably in my top five books of the year, coming from someone who has read over 100 books so far. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel and would read anything this author writes 100%

Thank you NetGalley and Briar Boleyn for this eARC of this novel. All opinions are my own :)

The second book in Briar Boleyn's Blood of a Fae series, Court of Claws, is an exciting continuation of our story that kept me on the edge of my seat. This book picked up right where the first one, Queen of Roses, left off. It took Morgan Pendragon and me on an emotional and surprising roller ride.

In Court of Claws, I was in a court that was dangerous and full of lies and betrayal. Kairos Draven, a guy I used to hate, became my guardian, and together we faced dark secrets from our pasts and navigated the dangerous political world. As the stakes got higher and the dangers got worse, my strength, perseverance, and skills I didn't know I had came out.

The way the characters grow and change in this book is amazing. As I face difficulties and deal with my own feelings and experiences from the past, I can see how much I've grown. Draven was a fascinating and swoon-worthy character because he was complicated and had a grey sense of right and wrong. We had great energy, and our slow-burning relationship added depth and drama to the story.

The world-building was still one of the best parts of the story. Boleyn did a great job of making a world full of magic, mythical animals, and court politics. The Siabra court was a place of danger and lies, and I got caught up in the complicated political games and power battles that went on there.

The plot moved quickly and had a lot of twists and turns that kept me interested. The way Boleyn wrote kept me interested in the story and made it hard for me to put the book down. The emotional depth and passion of the story were told in a way that made me feel very strongly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Briar Boleyn for this ARC!

This book was much different from the first in the Blood of a Fae series, but I enjoyed it. I think my biggest issue with this book is similar to the first, and that is Morgan. She can be a difficult person to deal with and can be irritating at times because she just doesn’t communicate well. But the miscommunication trope is one of my least favorite, if that is your niche I would definitely recommend this book!

The action in this book was on another level compared to the first and I loved it. I also loved seeing more to Draven in this book it was what I have been waiting for since the first! This was very well done. The world building was also even better in this series and I had a much better picture and understanding of it- loved it. Solid world building is huge for me when reading and rating books!

Overall I did enjoy this book, I struggle with Morgan as the MC, but I still like her and all of the side characters and world within it. I would recommend this series to anyone looking to start reading dark fantasy!

I enjoyed this book more than the first one. It was pack with action in every chapter there was always something happening the ending was very good stuff just keep happening. I really like the romance in this. The only thing that I didn’t undeserving was the MFC hate for the guy at the begging of the book she hated him like if he was the other guy from the past book that try to kill her, I was like “wtf he just saves your life”. Also why did the lil boy had to died. And why the main guy in this book was kind of weak in this book his character was not as strong at the first book. And can someone explain me when in the first book the MMC fell in love with the girl because at the begging of this book it seem he is so in love with her.

Give me the next book now… I just can’t wait to see her brother been taken down😈

This series is by far one of my favorite that I’ve read this year! While I do give it a 5 star review because I did thoroughly enjoy it, I once again found myself getting annoyed with the FMC. I wanted to see a bit more character development from her in this sequel but instead she kept reverting back to her stubborn ways from the first in the series. She has so much potential to be a truly strong heroine but falls a bit short. I did find the story to still be intriguing. The three challenges the MMC was set to face reminded be a bit of The Hunger Games which I enjoyed. The spice that was included was also very well written. There was some discourse with one of the characters that is set to be nonbinary. We begin with learning the Bearkin may be female but consistently use they/them pronouns when referring to them just for later in the book the character be referenced using he/him pronouns very briefly. Again I think this could be fixed with one more through edit before going to print. Overall though I found myself on the edge of my seat especially in the last half of the book. I can’t wait to see what comes next for Draven and Morgan in the next installment!

<b>A Gripping Sequel with Evolving Characters</b>

Wow, Court of Claws by Briar Boleyn was such an exciting ride, continuing the thrilling journey that started in Queen of Roses. Thanks to all the new adventures and obstacles the characters faced, it's like the story never lost its momentum. I loved Draven in this book. He's come such a long way from the first one, and I couldn't help but feel a strong connection with him. Learning about his tragic past and how he's managed to stay noble despite all the hardships was really touching. It added a lot of depth to his character, making him even more fascinating.

However, I have to admit, I had mixed feelings about Morgan in this sequel. In the first half of the book, she regressed both in maturity and comprehension, and treated Draven terribly, even though he did everything to save her. It was frustrating to see her behave like that, but thankfully, things got better in the second half. Her growth and maturity during her adventures in Draven's Kingdom and the trials of the Blood Rite gave me hope that she'll continue to evolve in the next book.

The story itself was engaging and the Kingdom felt rich and detailed, almost like I could picture myself right there with the characters. It definitely added to the immersive experience, and I loved that.

Overall, Court of Claws was a good read, building upon the foundation set by the first book. Despite my disappointment with Morgan's behavior at times, the captivating plot and Draven's character development kept me hooked till the end. I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series, hoping to see more growth and forgiveness between Morgan and Draven. Briar Boleyn has done an excellent job crafting a captivating sequel that leaves me excited for more adventures in this enchanting world.

Thank you to NetGalley, Starwater Press, and Briar Boleyn for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. If you're interested in reading it for yourself, its currently available on Kindle Unlimited!

Thank you to NetGalley and Briar Boleyn for giving me an eARC of this book!
Oh my god, I don’t know how, but this topped the first book in my eyes! I’m glad I got to see more world building of different fae and how they work, but oh my god the plot twists in this book had me concerned for my mental health!
I love how there were trials in the book, it made it better in my opinion! And I love how those were displayed!!
I love even more how it shows morgan growing into herself and her fae bloodline
The ending had me crying my eyes out at 4AM this morning, I need the third book asap I am desperate!!

After the first book, I jumped to this one. There was a huge story potential.
With this level of high expectations, I was a little disappointed at how much the word “f.ucking” was used. No conversation building, only repeatedly the same. F.cking this, f.cking that. Was this necessary? I dont think so.
Yes Draven was looking not interested in Morgan getting close to the Vesper guy, this book started with a romance promise. Draven hid everything about himself from Morgan, yes, this hurt her, okay. But Morgan was also full and full of teenage-like controversies. One second she cannot breathe without him, the second she wants to stab him.
Yes lots happened to hurt the trust but.. good things also happened and the ending was a bit rushed at that point. Just for the sake of the first book, I will read the third.