Court of Claws is the second installment in the Blood of a Fae series and begins where Queen of Roses left off. Morgan wakes up and discovers Draven has not been truthful with her and he's taken her to his home. She's thrown into a new world with a completely different set of rules than she's used to. Draven is determined for her to stay and she fights him every step of the way for her freedom. However, as she uncovers Draven's secrets, she starts to question if he's really as bad as she thought.

I enjoyed Court of Claws even more than Queen of Roses! In Court of Claws, we find out so much more about Draven and his past. You can't help falling for him when you discover everything he's been through and everything he's fighting for. He really cares for Morgan and I loved seeing their relationship progress. Morgan fought him as hard as she could but even she couldn’t deny the connection between them. The steam really heats up in this one.

At the end of the first book, I had a ton of unanswered questions. Thankfully a lot of those questions are answered and we learn more about the Valtain and Siabra history and more about Morgan’s lineage. Morgan experiences a lot of change and I'm excited to see what she does next!

The first few chapters seemed slow to me and it took me a while to get through them. However, once the competition started, the book picked up and I flew through the rest of the story. I really liked the side characters (especially Beks). I enjoyed seeing how Morgan's relationship with them evolved over the book. Hopefully we get a lot more of them in the next book.

I have so many more questions after finishing this book and I'm counting down until the next installment comes out!! I’m really enjoying this series and recommend it if you’re a fan of fantasy romance!

Thank you, Starwater Press, NetGalley, and Briar Boleyn for the ARC!

This is the 2nd book in the series and it is better than the first. It was really fast paced and kept me interested from the beginning.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book for my honest opinion.

I received an ARC of Court of Claws from Netgalley for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

...wow. I'm not going to lie, my head hurts from this one.

Let me begin by saying that I did not finish Court of Claws. I tried my best, but it just wasn't meant to be.

It's been a while since I've read A Court of Thorns and Roses, but when you see it everywhere, it's hard to forget about it. And it's everywhere. I can hardly open up Instagram without seeing something about the series or anything else that Sarah J. Maas has written. The reason I mention this is because it's one thing to take a generalized plot and make it your own. That's literally what a writer has to do. It's another thing entirely to take a plot and redo it but perhaps forget to make changes and make it your own. There are some books I've read that are clearly inspired by Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series. That's fine. What's not fine is to plop her ideas and themes into your book, change some names, and mix up the setting and the magic a bit but leave all of the important details practically the same. I wouldn't have had a problem if this had been labeled fanfiction. But it's not, and so to take scenes, literal scenes, from a different series feels a lot like plagiarism to me. But maybe I'm reading too much into it. I'm not going to point out all of the similarities because that would take far too long, and I don't want to spoil the other series for those who haven't read it, but I was having a hard time reading Court of Claws as its own thing rather than fanfiction. (I noticed the similarities in the first book, but I thought I was reading too much into it at the time. This just took it too far.)

I honestly don't know what else to say. I didn't enjoy the characters. Morgan is ridiculous and has no agency still. Draven's just a jerk. And not a good jerk like everyone wants in their morally grey heroes. Just a plain old jerk. I wasn't invested enough in the rest of the characters to understand their part in the story or their motivations. I'm honestly surprised I read it for as long as I did. Perhaps 70%? I got pretty far. But the culmination of everything that was happening just wasn't doing it for me.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh, but unfortunately, Court of Claws was not my cup of tea.

I don't think I have the words to discribe how much I loved this book. Book 1 left us on a major cliff hanger and court of claws jumps straight into the action continuing the story of Morgan and Draven.

We meet lots of new characters, some to love (who can't love becs?) And some you will love to hate.

Filled with action and plenty of spice court of claws had me staying up late to read it. I got so invested in this world and its characters I rationed out the last few chapters because I didn't want it to end!

Briar Boleyn is one of those very special authors who can create worlds and characters so clearly that you can see them perfectly. They come to life.

If it was possible to give court of claws more than 5 stars I would. The only downside is I have to wait until November to find out what happens next in the Blood Of fae series.

Thank you to netgalley and Briar Boleyn for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review.

ARC Review of Court of Claws by Briar Boleyn
* * * * *
The second installment has you gripping tighter onto your kindle as this romance takes on a whole new world, faces bloody massacres, unravels secrets and takes on more creepy monsters.

Morgan's last memory before she woke up was filled with betrayal, carnage and the loss of a friend. Now, she is stuck with Draven, who has been lying to her from the beginning and now has her under his protection...in his homeland...in his kingdom...on another contenant!
Talk about issues.
Now, our heroine is thrown into a court with different rules and desires, where Draven has been hiding his past deeper than she realised she would have to dig. There is also the issue of the plague infecting the children of the lands, leading to more loss and disturbance.
With more on the line, and more of her heart to lose, how can Morgan get home to save her own people when Draven will not let her go?

Things got wild in the book! More friends, more drama, more enemies, more loses, more surprises!
The chemistry is finally starting to spark up between Morgan and Draven, and that poor guy has been through so much in his lifetime. Like, my dude! You poor sod! Now this craziness with Morgan and her need to save her little brother and her kingdom while trying to deal with the nastiness you pulled on her. Excited to see how you deal with it next. Loved how the author gave us different pieces of his past too along the book and not all at once. Draven did this to them, then this is why, and in addition...there is that too! Like, I wanna hug the guy!
I cannot wait for the third book especially after left with that cliffhanger and additional epilogue as we are given a long awaited character!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this arc.

4 stars / 5 stars

Things I loved:
Loved the complex relationship between Morgan and kairos
Loved the fantasy and romance
Morgan is so fierce!!!
Things I didn’t love:
The 1st one was a little more intriguing
The triggers - animal abuse and animal death

ᴀʀᴄ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ
ᴄᴏᴜʀᴛ ᴏғ ᴄʟᴀᴡs
ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴏғ ғᴀᴇ # 𝟸
ʙʀɪᴀʀ ʙᴏʟᴇʏɴ
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

•ᴅᴀʀᴋ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴛᴀsʏ
•ᴍᴏʀɢᴀɴ ʟᴀ ғᴀʏ
•ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ / ғᴀᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅs
•sʟᴏᴡ ʙᴜʀɴ 🔥

➡️ᴄᴀʟʟɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ғᴀɴs ᴏғ ᴊʟᴀ ᴀɴᴅ sᴊᴍ!⬅️

Man oh man was this book a fun ride! Thank you to Netgalley and BB for a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review. This is book 2 in the blood of fae series and I enjoyed it a bit more than the first.

Give me sassy banter and a mysterious morally grey MC with a hidden love agenda any day. Add in trials, adventure, and the amazing exmoors (they’re so cool, I felt fourth wing vibes for sure) and I’m most definitely going to finish the series.

Morgan is still a bit immature for my liking and I’m hoping Draven figures his shit out in the next installment. But that slow burn 🔥 and eventually the explosion 💥 gahhhh

*** DNF at 35% ***
⭐ Characters – ⭐⭐⭐
⭐ Atmosphere – ⭐⭐
⭐ Writing – ⭐⭐⭐
⭐ Plot – ⭐
⭐ Pacing – ⭐
⭐ World Building – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐ Enjoyment – ⭐⭐.5

As a reader who was eagerly looking forward to Court of Claws, it pains me to say that this novel fell short of my expectations, leading me to mark it as DNF at just 35% completion.
The characters, while not entirely uninteresting, felt disappointingly familiar. It seemed as if the author took the same character templates from the first book, simply renamed and reskinned them for this installment. This lack of originality left me longing for more depth and development.
One of the most significant issues that contributed to my decision to put the book down was its abysmal pacing. At 35% into the story, very little had actually happened in terms of plot and character relationships. Instead, the majority of the pages were dedicated to descriptions of rooms, palaces, and creatures. While world-building is essential in fantasy novels, it should not dominate the narrative to the detriment of the plot and character development.
I couldn't help but feel that the author was trying to incorporate too many tropes into the story, resulting in a cluttered and disjointed experience. The lack of focus on progressing the central narrative made it difficult for me to form a connection with the characters or become invested in their journey.
The prose had moments of elegance, but it struggled to hold my attention due to the overall lack of direction in the plot. The potential for a richly imagined world was there, but without a compelling story to anchor it, the world-building fell flat.
As a fan of romance novels, the "Fake Relationship," "One Bed," and "Tortured Hero" tropes held promise for an engaging romance arc. Regrettably, these elements were overshadowed by the slow pace and lack of character development, leaving the romance feeling lackluster and underdeveloped.
In conclusion, Court of Claws had potential, but it failed to live up to expectations. The lack of progress in the story, the underdeveloped characters, and the overly descriptive world-building contributed to my decision to discontinue reading. While some readers might find enjoyment in the book's unique aspects, for me, it resulted in a loss of enthusiasm for reading. Perhaps I may revisit the book at a later date to see if the story improves, but for now, it remains a regrettable disappointment.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

This is the second book in a series. You HAVE to read the first book to understand or even be interested in this one.

Everything Morgan Pendragon knows and loves is gone as she wakes in the dangerous court of the Siabra. The man she was falling in love with is dead, and in his place is a man she barely knows. Surrounded by liars and knives in the dark, all Morgan wants to do is run the other way but Kairos Draven is determined to keep her by his side.

As Morgan and Draven's lives become even more irrevocably entwined, little do they know the sins of the past are coming for them both…

Ok, so this book was better than the first, and I really liked the first book! This book picks up almost exactly where the last left off and we are thrown right into a competition for the throne and the angsty, slow burn, enemies to lovers romance of Morgan And Draven. I can't wait for the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I want to thank Briar Boleyn, Starwater Press and Netgalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion of this book.

I really enjoyed this sequel. We finally learn more about Kairos, and discover a secret about the world created by the author.

I liked the new characters, who bring a lot of humor and a sense of family.

I really enjoyed the exchanges and moments between Morgan and Kairos and the evolution of their relationship.
Lots more intrigue and action in this book. I'm pleased with the evolution of the book's romance after being frustrated by book 1.

The end of the book shocked me! I didn't see a twist coming and can't wait for book 3!

I give this 3.5⭐️

I’m a sucker for an enemies to lovers. Especially after the slow burn from book 1. The spicy praise was a nice touch too 😉

The plot twist was definitely a twist. Wasn’t expecting that one. I do feel like trial 3 was a little too easy though. In the words of Kairos Draven “it was over too soon, wasn’t it?”

I am intrigued by what happens next. Our girl Morgan is slowly blossoming into her own skin and badassery. Stubborn for sure, but I’m here for this character development.

I will definitely be reading book 3 in November. I’m hoping Morgan faces ALL of her family members *wink wink* and of course I’m team Draven. She can’t deny him!

Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater press for the eARC as always.

REVIEW •

I was able to get copies of the ARCs in Netgally and I am so grateful! These are also free on KU. 😉 I believe a book 3 is coming soon as well. 🖤

Blood of Fae Book 1- Queen of Roses ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Slow to start lots of world building in first 1/4 of book then boom 💥 the plot, the characters, the cruel betrayals and all the lies. I hated the King and his cruel intentions with Morgan and his people. Morgan has been through a lot of trauma at such a young age into adulthood. You want revenge for her! Draven decides during their journey that she’s worth fighting with and vows to protect her. The way Queen of Roses ends is mind blowing 🤯 have book 2 ready!!

Blood of Fae book 2- Court of Claws ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
From the beginning you are thrown into a high stake competition. Draven has hopes to win and together with Morgan take over their kingdoms to make a better world. This has action, magic and unusual fantastic beasts. There is hidden power that surfaces, Morgan needs to get familiar and gain control of what has been stored within herself for so long. Draven reveals his past with Morgan. What a journey! This one is action- packed, lots of gore, deceptive games and double crossing.

The spice is woah 🥵🔥🔥🔥


🥀 Arthurian retelling with Fae twist✨
🥀 Gore and action-packed 🩸
🥀 Enemies to Lovers 🖤 💔
🥀 Slow burn 🔥
🥀 Forced Proximity 😅
🥀 Touch her and .. ☠️
🥀 Morally grey FMC and MMC 🩶
🥀 Deadly competition 💥

A big thank you to Netgalley & the incredible Briar Boleyn for the chance to review a Court of Claws!

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/ 5
Spice level: 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️/5
Tags: Fae, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed trope, powerful FMC, “touch her and die,” lost identity.

“I see you, Morgan Pendragon. I see you truly for everything you are and everything you will be and I claim you as mine.”

I am thoroughly enjoying this series, Court of Claws was no exception!

The second book in this series picks up where Queen of Roses left off, Morgan in a near-death situation, Draven coming to her rescue, and more questions than answers.

Court of Claws introduces a new land, new magic, new characters, intense politics, more spice and of course; even more betrayal.

I loved the building (and angsty) relationship between Morgan and Draven that we see in Court of Claws, it takes some of the tension from book one and multiplies it tenfold. Morgan starts to discover more about herself, the new land she is in, and finally be honest with herself about her feelings for Draven.

The trials in this book for the monarchy was a great twist, I am a sucker for trials and competitions. I am also a huge fan of the reveal of how Draven truly saved Morgan at the end of book one! I knew there was something more to the story with how he saved her, but what actually happened was a perfect twist.

The only thing I disliked about this book is Morgan’s constant “I hate you even though you have proved you’re great time and time again” attitude towards Draven. It screams immaturity, he proved over and over throughout the entire book he is only doing what’s best for her, obeying her every command, trying to help her with her magic and with anything else she asked for. She seems quite ungrateful in this book and I was not a fan of how she reacted to finding out about the truth of the bond at the end. Was he being 100% honest? Definitely not, but I do not think it warrants her reaction. MCs should develop throughout a series and to me, Morgan did not do much developing in Court of Claws.

Side note: LOVED the epilogue! It explains some unanswered questions from the cliffhanger at the end but leaves you hungry for more of the story.

Another well done to Briar Boleyn 👏🏻

🛡️Court of Claws 🛡️

⭐️5
🌶️3 1/2
💧4

Guys I’m shook!
This is the second book in the Blood of Fae series by Briar Boleyn. This book is even better than the first!

✨This series is incredible! ✨

It’s such a unique and mind blowing series it’s full of court machinations, fae and monstrous characters as well as the morally grey male you just can’t help but love.

It’s emotionally charged … yes I snot bubble cried a few times because man does Briar Boleyn know how to write emotive scenes that grip you in the guts.

The characters are complex and trying to predict the twists and turns just ain’t possible, so be prepared to be slapped silly with some stunning twists and they aren’t just at the end of the book but all the way through!

I love Beks 💙 - when y’all have read this I need to talk about this adventurous little miscreant

Draven, oh Draven how I love you but want to also stab you with a letter opener! 🗡️

Move over cassian/ rhysand/ Knox and all my other book loves because a new dark and brooding man is moving in 🥵

Oh and he has one wickedly divine mouth.. and don’t we know it but o hope you’re ready for the fire that will be stoked with the slow burn Briar has gifted us. 🌶️🔥


✨Tropes✨
——————
❇️Slow Burn that burns!
❇️Praise kink
❇️Spicy
❇️court machinations
❇️King Arthur retelling
❇️Fae

✨Favourite quotes✨
____________________

“Be a good fking boy and maybe you'll find out,”

“I will never apologize for saving you. I will never f^king regret coming for you. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. So don’t ask me to say sorry. Don’t expect me to. And don’t you ever, ever f^king say you didn’t deserve to be saved again, do you hear me? Listen to me clearly, you are worthy. You deserved saving. You deserved much more.”

“They might say one of my ancestors had f^ked a cat”

Thank you Briar Boleyn, publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this. ❤️

Review has also been submitted to Amazon and shared in Facebook book groups.

First let me thank Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.

And here we go...

This fabulous book is a dark fantasy romance with more than a few Trigger Warnings, so please use your discernment before you select it. Also, you want to make time to read Book 1 of the series, "Queen of Roses" first, or this book will not make much sense

In my opinion, this book is even better than the first and perfectly carries on without a hitch. The story captivates the reader in such a way one simply cannot put it down. I also must note I re-read it after finishing it just for the pleasure of it. I cannot let it go. It's one of those! In a nut shell, "Court of Claws" by Briar Boleyn is a gripping blend of delicious fantasy and romance that captivates readers from beginning to emotional end. With its compelling storyline, complex, believable relationships, and an absolutely entertaining atmosphere of danger and deceit, this book continues the series with a bang. I am so in love with the main characters, I can realistically picture them in every detail. Five***** shining stars all day every day! My recommendation is to run, not walk, to purchase this series!!!! Come to Momma book three ;) .

Thank you Netgalley and Briar Boleyn for this review copy!

This was a fantastic follow up to book 1. I loved seeing more of Draven's world and seeing him in his "natural habitat." I loved all the new characters we met and how well fleshed out everyone was. The characters and how they interacted felt extremely realistic.

That said, this book lost a bit of charm for me given that for most of it we were not experiencing the King Arthur reimagining that I loved from book 1. I could tell the book was being used to set things up for more of the reimagining to pick back up, but again, for the vast majority of the book, this was not the story I thought it was going to be. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book and love it (because I absolutely did), I just expected more of the Arthurian Legend in it than what we got. We ended up with a "trial to become the ruler" trope- and that was set in a completely different land than what we started in.
This was still a fantastic tale and I really loved it. And I absolutely cannot wait to read book 3!!

Briar Boleyn has definitely captured my attention with this series!!

While I enjoyed reading Queen of Roses, I absolutely loved Court of Claws. It was giving me all the ACOTAR feelings. I haven't found another book that emulated ACOTAR quite so well while still keeping me guessing with the interesting twists.

I am still having a hard time with Morgan's character. While she definitely experiences character development in Court of Claws beyond that of Queen of Roses, her personally borders on schizophrenic. It was difficult to follow her constant personality changes and I felt bad for Draven numerous times throughout the story. However, I still think she has the potential to be a badass heroine once she gets her emotions and loyalties together.

I can't wait to find out what occurs in the third installment of the Blood of a Fae.

I received a free copy for my honest review.

Upon waking after the quest to find Excalibur, Morgan finds herself in an unfamiliar and magical world filled with dark political intrigue. The assassin, Kairos Draven, is not an assassin at all but actually the prince of the fae court. In order to secure his place as emperor. Given that he was banished from court, Draven must compete in a series of trials meant to kill him. Through the course of the trials, Morgan gets increasingly more worried about the state of Camelot, and increasingly more attracted to Draven, even though she knows he’s hiding a whole lot from her.

Once again, no punches held. That said, I felt like I was straight up reading a mash up between ACOTAR and Blood and Ash. It wasn’t painfully obvious and there was a lot of wonderful plot points but you could so easily pick out who amarantha was. This also really diverged from the first book where there was a lot of Arthurian inspired characters and this time there were only one or two new additions that I could see. I also thought our new villain isn’t quite done yet so that’ll be interesting.

The second book was so much better than the first! Not saying the first installment of this series wasn’t good because I gave it 5/5 stars too but the way the 2nd book was written and the spicy scenes between Draven and Morgan were just chefs kiss to the storyline that was already started!

I can’t wait to read the next book and see what happens next for our characters! Definitely check this out if you are a fan of the fae, slowburn romances with a touch of gore!

Well done Briar! You did it again! 👏

“In Siabra culture, those of royal blood may designate a person who is not their official spouse as their... Well, as their...”
The blood drained from my face. “Your mistress?”


Waking up in a foreign land is bad enough; finding out that you are surrounded by people with unimagined powers who live in a volcano? I can almost imagine why Morgan is argumentative and surly. Draven is not the unassuming king’s guard, and he told everyone she is his mistress. Be his escort? She would rather join the temple.

For a story that began with elements of King Arthur’s myth, I am pleased that the story has diverged from there.
However, in book 2 Morgan has turned into a rebellious teen. While Draven stoically submits to her angry and confused ranting, I am flummoxed. She seemed so relatable in the first novel, yet she makes assumptions here that seem ghastly illogical!

Since she refuses to cooperate, Draven assigns two guards, Odessa and Crescent, and tells her not to exit the room. Of course she ignores that as soon as a young human boy finds her through the secret servant passages that we all love to imagine. Beks is great: I would love to have a know-it-all teen like him around.

Later Draven finds her outside the room, and upon her request, allows her to train with "the greatest fighter"...[spoiler alert] who turns out to be Odessa.

Honestly, for a book boyfriend, Draven is heroic and caring. “ I have no lust for endless slaughter between mortals or fae versus fae as my father and brother did. I wish for change. I wish for peace. Not only here in Myntra, but in Eskira," he wants to end discrimination and racism. And he loves an independent, stabby woman. What is not to love?

Does Morgan grow as a character? Yes, but she remains the dominant in the bedroom and threatens stabbing with a letter opener:
““Don’t make me stab you in your sleep tonight.”

A perennial favorite: there are a set of trials that Draven must pass to become the Emperor of his realm, upon which he promises to use his realm’s resources to bring Morgan to power. The second trial involves riddles which I think are too open-ended to have only one true answer, but I appreciate the attempt. The more Draven succeeds the more difficult it will be for their romance.

Trigger Warnings:
[] Morgan cusses too much, even when she doesn’t need to.
[] She is not likeable
[] Power sharing
[] Crown Trials
[] Betrayals and plot twists
[] Forced bond/marriage

I hope book 3 features a new character. This is not a standalone and ends in a spot where Arthur has conquered and created a harem from the captives...