3.5 stars

This was a solid 4 star read for me up until about 70% and Gwen's age really started to become apparent and annoying. Up until that point I really liked her character because how she acted was understandable and her interactions with Mordred were actually rather entertaining. But it eventually got to where she started doing things that really bugged me. From leading Lancelot on because she enjoyed his flirting, to being so incredibly easily manipulated by practically everyone around her that it was like she was looking for reasons to betray Mordred because that's what was expected of her.

Gwen is just a normal girl who had a bad day. After finding out that her boyfriend had been cheating on her, the nasty old cat that lived in their barn starts her house on fire and the only escape for her is some portal said cat made and jumped thru. Gwen wakes up in the middle of a crater with no clothes and no idea what is going on. Turns out, the cat isn't really a cat and can talk. Unfortunately, he's really an asshole and refuses to explain practically anything to Gwen. Things get worse when she finds herself betrayed by the first town she comes across, tied to a post and being given to the Prince in Iron. To make things even better, she finds out that she's some sort of elemental and has the power of fire. But absolutely no idea how to control it. Good thing Mordred does.

Honestly, I didn't really care about the whole King Arthur backdrop going on here but it did make Mordred's history and actions more interesting. And it explains why he does what he does. Mordred has spent the past 300 years hunting down and imprisoning all of the elementals within an iron crystal because he had made a promise to keep the people safe. And when they are free, all that those with power seem to do is destroy and kill. But by sealing them away, he has also basically sealed away the magic of the realm as well. Making it a dreary and stagnant world. Until Gwen shows up.

Mordred uses the excuse of needing to find out who is behind her coming to his world to keep her alive and out of the crystal. In reality, it's obvious he's taken with her and is desperate to have someone truly be on his side. Which is a lot to ask because damn is he a brute. A brute that I couldn't help but want more of. I really did love how he was with Gwen. He was just so real and perhaps too honest about who he was. But even the violent training he puts Gwen thru doesn't turn her away from him, and she finds herself falling for him right back. And it was fantastic how the violence turned them both on. Admittedly, it was really frustrating some of the things that Mordred does to push Gwen away and to literally try and make her betray him. Which gives us the ending we get. I absolutely hated Lancelot, so I thought he got what he deserved. Too bad it was for such a short time. Unfortunately, Gwen does what has always been expected of her and her actions have caused a potentially devastating outcome. And gotten herself the most viscous enemy there is.

I am so looking forward to the next book.

Oh, Fire Fly what have you done :( - that is a BIG sad sad face!! I mean, I need the second book now. I AM GUTTED! I need to know what happens. Fire Fly has broken my heart, but I am also worried now that Eod is on the hunt -this is not going to end well.

Another fantasy book which has piqued my interest and the audiobook is awesome. The narrator has done a wonderful job with all the characters, and much loved ones from Arthurian times! I mean a book with Mordred, Lancelot, Galahad and Merlin - hello I am there!!

Merlin is just the best and had me chuckling, we swooned with Lancelot, learned from Galahad and had a lot of emotions to work through with Mordred!

Gwen is thrust into this world of Avalon, unceremoniously by her cat and she now has powers! Her journey was a fascinating one, and even though the tone at times was more YA, I felt that Gwen acted in the most realistic way I have seen portrayed in a book for a long time! I was intrigued, like her, to discover the history and power that has caused these ruins. A world where we have no comprehension and I fear for what her actions may have now done. I literally can't wait to read the next book, I am so excited!!!! I devoured this audiobook as much as I could, it's always difficult listening to it on my phone, rather than web-based so it took me longer than I would like, but devour it I did! Gah!

I want to jump straight back into the book. The author has created some head-spinning characters as you separate fact from fiction, and she has created a world we can be immersed in. I loved it all!!

Mordred is a character who annoyed me and caught my eye equally. He is a troubled soul and I hate how things have worked out for him, however, he doesn't really help himself, and with the end of this book, I fear he will step into his name full throttle. I loved the romance, and a hint of romance with him, and the softer side. He is most definitely a character with many layers, and I can't wait to peel more off him.

This book is such an easy read and one you can lose yourself in without getting bogged down in things. Everything was explained and in a way, you felt like you knew it already. We learned with Gwen and watch her become more comfortable in a strange land. Now, well... I can't say anymore.

I am just looking forward to the next adventure!

3.5 stars but lots of potential!

Let me start off by saying I finished this story in one day. It was easy to read and the plot was not too difficult to follow. We start off with Mordred- the Dark Prince- our morally grey mmc who holds all of the magic of the world of Avalon inside of a crystal. Magic and the people who once wielded its power are all trapped for the betterment of the world- according to Mordred. Gwen, our fmc, is a 19 year old from Kansas (and you will be reminded of this MANY times... She is from KANSAS!) who finds herself in Avalon and at the hands of our Dark Prince. Seeing no other way to escape, Gwen strikes a deal with Mordred’s enemy. If she can break the crystal, she will be free to go home, back to Kansas. Simple enough right?

Mordred is fascinated by Gwen as the two become close. The immediate flirting and sexual tensi0n between Mordred and Gwen drew me in! I wouldn't call this true enemies to lovers because they don't truly hate each other upon meeting but to each their own. I loved the details of the world of Avalon and the characters there although I believe some of the story is underdeveloped. Mordred is our dark and brooding villain (chef's kiss) but I felt like we needed to SEE more of his internal struggle besides telling the reader that he has nightmares. Gwen was very immature and her dialogue including slang from the modern world started off endearing but ended with me rolling my eyes. It does read a little YA but with a little more fleshing out and detail- I think this could be a 5 star read!

I will be looking forward to the next book in the series to find out what happens to Avalon and where Gwen and Mordred end up.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review!

As a fan of KAK’s Unseelie Prince series I was very excited for the opportunity of reading the ARC of To Charm a Dark Prince. I’ve enjoyed the way KAK writes her villainous MMC’s and this story certainly featured a grey, lonely male lead. While I wasn’t thrown into fits of laughter like I was reading her other series, there was an addictive quality to this read. While I wasn’t precisely enjoying the immaturity of 19 year old Gwen (why can’t we have mature female leads closer to 30 that know themselves??), I found that I kept turning the pages to the very end. There were many toxic, manipulative, and problematic elements observed in Mordred. But this is a romantasy and borderline abusive relationships are to be expected with villains of the story. And we thoroughly saw Mordred’s tyranny was motivated by grey reasoning. He wasn’t doing it for the power. Simply for the peace.
I would recommend that those looking for a quick and easy read buy this. There are two sex scenes- one of which is fairly graphic. It’s like a reward. Don’t go into this expecting intelligent world or character building. It’s just a silly little story about a tyrant who has made himself very lonely by not trusting anyone and a 19 year old that thinks she can change him because no one understands him like she does. It’s not that deep and it’s not meant to be.

I'm always a fan of Kathryn Ann Kingsley's smart, sexy villain-gets-the-girl romances, so I was extremely excited to receive this ARC on Netgalley.

To Charm A Dark Prince has all the darkness and tension I've come to expect from Kingsley's books while bringing a lot of new ideas to the table. This book is set in a new realm called Avalon, inspired by Arthurian legend and only tangentially linked to the worlds of her previous books.

Gwen is a normal nineteen-year-old feeling trapped at her parents' Kansas farm until one night when her parents are out and the farmhouse catches fire. Gwen only manages to escape because her mangy barn cat, Merlin (no, not that Merlin - or so he insists) opens a portal to Avalon, sending her flying to the ground as a meteor. When she wakes in the crater, she learns that 1) Merlin can talk, 2) whatever magic brought her to Avalon has also given her some sort of fire magic and 3) she is in danger.

The Avalon she encounters is much bleaker than the legends suggest, apparently because Mordred, the Prince in Iron has trapped the realm's elemental magic in an iron crystal. According to Mordred, this drastic action was necessary to save Avalon from perpetual war and, ultimately, its complete destruction. According to the surviving Knights of the Round Table, the stagnation that Mordred has caused is worse than any war.

For all of those who stand opposed to Mordred, Gwen is their last hope. But Gwen can't shake the idea that Mordred is not the villain that he has been made out to be. As attraction between them grows, Gwen's sense of what is right and wrong is constantly challenged.

Like all of Kingsley's heroes, Mordred is ruthless and tyrannical, but he isn't quite so morally pitch black as some of her other love interests. In fact, he seems pretty committed to trying to do the right thing, but what is "right" is entirely unclear.

I can't wait to read the next installment of this series to see how Gwen and Mordred's choices play out. In the meantime, I'm really enjoying the banter and chemistry between the two of them, as well as the fresh take on the story of King Arthur.

The cover is so beautiful! I did enjoy this book and was interested in the characters though I am a bit confused as to why this is marketed as an adult fantasy when it reads more as young adult fantasy.

I really love the author's ability to create an interesting story and plot line. I found the worldbuilding and fantasy aspects to be enjoyable, well thought out, and attention holding.

However, I have a big hang up with this book's the writing style. It felt cringy and childish and it really made me feel some second-hand embarrassment at times.

"To Charm a Dark Prince" by @kathrynannkingsley
4/5 📖

Thank you to @netgalley and @secondskybooks for the opportunity to receive an ARC of this book!

This is book one of an ongoing series 📚

Leave it to Kathryn to have me hooked on an Arthurian reimagining. This book has such an interesting spin that I couldn't put the Kindle down. Gwen' life changed completely when she tried to feed a cat. The next second, she was in Avalon. Add to that the fact that she can summon fire now whenever she's having a panic attack, and it's bound to get interesting! Plus, the prince that's trying to "help" her is the same one everybody hates. Cool 😅

My heart hurts for Mordred 😭 I can't wait for book two because I need more!

This book releases this month, so grab it if you like:

📚 Enemies to Lovers
📚 Slowburn Romance
📚 Anxiety Rep
📚 Dual POV
📚 Arthurian Reimagining

This novel has the perfect amount of angst between characters that will not let you put it down. The morally grey characters and the unique take on the story of Camelot was fantastic. There were some instances where it became a bit repetitive but it can be overlooked. I thought the ending was great and perfectly set up for book 2.

Having just recently read a stunning tribute to the Arthurian legend I was eager to sample other author's work on the same subject. Here the tone is more young adult and the world more Alice in Wonderland/steampunk/ Edward Scissorhands meets a twisted version of the Arthurian legend. The writing is good but definitely aimed at the YA market, the world building simple but effective, the characters unusual. A very different but enjoyable twist on the original.

If you're like me, who enjoy and LOVE Arthurian retelling you should pick this book!!!

Gwen got dragged by her talking cat into a magical portal to save herself after Merlin set her house on fire. The portal leads her to Avalon, which Modred rules. This Avalon is full of magic and wonder and I'm so excited for this.

The banter between Gwen and Merlin somehow makes me laugh every time, because I imagine Merlin (a 10-years old cat) like my grumpy cat, which looks so adorable when he's angsty. I actually like Gwen a lot, she's a fun character, and her development throughout the book is good I like her personality, she's bubbly and sunshine-y. The other characters were also quite fun and exciting. It does feel a little bit lacking in the romance aspect, the attraction and tension is there but it's under-develop so I feel like I'm forced to like their chemistry that isn't there yet, but there's potential.

I'll still visit book two because usually, the first book was a bit lacking in foundation because of the info dump and build-up of character for the next plot, so let's see. I still need to finish the audiobook version of this series, which in my opinion offers a better experience in reading this book.

Thank you to Second Sky, Kathryn Ann Kingsley, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

3.25 Stars
Firstly I’d like to say how beautiful the cover of this book it.
I’ve read several Arthurian legends retelling of late and this one was good.
This story follows 19 year old Gwen who ends up jumping through a portal to escape a house fire. After discovering her cat has magic and can talk. Waking up in a new world full of magic, Gwen soon finds herself a prisoner of the Prince of Iron, Mordred.
Gwen suffers from anxiety and blackouts and I enjoyed seeing the representation in this book. She does come across as a little
Immature in this book but she does have caring side and I felt that her character could do with a little more development.
This book is an Enemies to loves with a slow burn romance too. Mordred is a dark broody villain in this story and is definitely a morally grey character which I really enjoyed. Mordred felt a lot more developed in this book compared to Gwen. The plot

I did struggle with this authors writing style a little and unfortunately felt that it was a little off and perhaps a little disjointed in places but I did still find it an enjoyable read.

This book was a quick read and I was able to read it in just a couple of hours. I did feel that by the time this book got going and has a good steady pace it was already finishing. I do look forward to seeing where this story goes in book 2.

Thank you to Netgalley, Publisher and the author for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I read the eArc and the only problem I have with this is I have to wait for the next book.
It felt like all the action happened at the start and end of the book though. The middle could have had some more substance.
But all around a great book. 😁

So, I really wanted to like this one. There are so many elements in this book that I felt like it was a super creative and interesting plot to the story. I also really love the concept of a Arthur retelling. This is my first one so I was very excited about it.

When started reading this, I was immediately sold on the magic system and the world of Avalon. With being familiar with King Author story, I saw a lot of the same themes through out.

But what fell flat for me is the development of the characters.

First of all, our FMC Gwen. Supposed to be 19 but came off as a very immature and naïve woman. She didn't sell the whole bad A** vibe that the reviews were saying. So with this being a NA fantasy, I wasn't really sold on the FMC being marketed to an older audience.

The MMC Mordred. Well, when reading the synopsis, he was supposed to be this villiousness person that is the potential love interest. But from the get-go, he has been polite, kind, and open to Gwen. Other than some of the choices he has made in the book, he really didn't sell the whole villain thing to me.

Like I said, this has potential. But I won't be continuing this series in the future for this isn't the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Second Sky for this opportunity to read rate and review this arc which is available August 18,2023!

To save a kingdom, she must charm a monster.

This is a spin on Mordred and Guinevere from Arthurian legends. It is a slow burn romantasy with the enemies to lovers trope. It was a quick read with no real substance but it’s not like I expected it to have any. I enjoyed it for what it was.

this cover is beautiful, props to the production team.
this book however reads like a young adult book even though it’s marketed like an adult fantasy book. I’m not a big fan of young adult fantasy so this book (although seeming to be up my alley) was a little immature for me.

Thank you so much Net Galley for the eARC! This review has already been uploaded to Goodreads :)

2 ⭐️ I need to stop reading YA.

First of all, I want to praise whoever it was that made the gorgeous cover of this book. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover and all that, but come on... I think being a little judgemental sometimes is healthy, and pretty book covers call to me. What can I say.

Now, the premise of this book sound like something that would be right up my alley. It's not necessarily original, but it has its charm. Gwen is transported to Avalon -yes, the same Avalon from Arthur and the sword in the stone story- and its trapped there sharing magical fire powers with a cat called Merlin. So far pretty interesting if not a bit weird, but cool overall. The King of this new age, other dimension Avalon is Mordred (Arthur's nephew). He's a tyrannical ruler who entraps the souls of any and all elementals -people with magic- in the Crystal, where their souls are kept for eternity. Now, you would think that such a cold, cruel figure would be hard to be redeemed, given that he's supposed to be the romantic interest here and all... And you'd be right. He never is. There's not a redeemable thing about this overgrown man-child in the entirety of this book. It was like watching a toddler have a temper tantrum, expect this toddler is all powerful and gets a kick out of torturing people. Fun, huh?

And listen, I like my heroes morally grey as much as the next romance book lover, but the thing about mmcs is that they usually tend to treat the fmc a lot better than anyone else. The whole "she's the one" thing, but not here. He treats her marginally better, but only because he thinks he could possibly get s3x out of her before killing her and throwing her soul in a prison for... well, forever. And she's so incredibly childish and annoying.

The whole book seems rooted in naivety and hidden cruelty. The writing was immature -typical of YA, but still-, and the narrative and overall pacing went by at a snail's pace. It was quite the frustrating read, to be honest. The plot and world building was interesting, but there are many, many things to polish here.

I would recommend this book if you're a teenager just getting into fantasy, but you don't really want to jump into the big, famous books out there. Also, I'm no SJM fan, but even I can tell you that comparing this to ACOTAR is ridiculous.

First and foremost, I’m obsessed with this cover. It’s gorgeous! But I think that it might be the covers fault, just a little, that skewed my expectations going into it. I expected a more adult vibe but this reads totally YA until the last 5% or so. And I wasn’t prepared for such a young (and at times just goofy) vibe. It took me a little bit of time to get into it because the FMC was just so… Young? Talkative? Annoying? All of the above? Whatever it was, it did take me some getting used to. But once I was able to sort of drop my expectations and just take it for what it was, I did mostly enjoy this book. It was an easy read & kept me interested enough to keep going the whole time.

Though it’s not plot heavy, I feel like we are now finally set up to get some good plot in the next book, so there’s a good chance you’ll catch me reviewing that one as well. It may not have been a 5⭐️ for me, but I still wouldn’t mind seeing where this one goes.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Not a bad read by any means but not anything that truly shines by itself.
Pros:
• unique Arthurian retelling
• tension between lovers
Cons:
• flat characters
• flat worldbuilding
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

The first book I read by Kathryn Ann Kingsley was Maze of Shadows, and it was so good i binge read the whole trilogy in two days, so when I saw this new book of hers I knew I had to request it and I was kindly granted an arc copy.

I’m glad this book didn’t disappointed me, Kathryn has a gift in creating the most engaging books, I couldn’t put this book down until the very last page.

Gwen is a ordinary girl, she lives with her parents in a farm where she helps tend to the animals especially a very mean and old cat she calls Merlin, after a very rough night where she discovers her boyfriend was cheating on her, Gwen wants nothing more than watch some TV and drink some beers but her cat have other ideas, he put her house on an inferno of a fire and created a magical portal out of nowhere, Gwen with the choice of burning alive or jumping into the unknown decides the later and ends up in Avalon where she meets the brooding, mysterious and tyrannical Mordred.

I really enjoyed the relationship between them, it didn’t felt rush, it was more of a slow burn but the pacing felt right for the story, specially because we keep hearing from other character how bad Mordred is, how Gwen have to stop him, so it felt right for them to get to know each other in a more slow way.

The end was amazing as well, it ended in a big cliffhanger and I can’t wait to read the next one and find out what Kathryn has in store for Gwen and Mordred.

Thanks Netgalley and Second Sky for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review