Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for baby’s first ARC
3.5⭐️Yay new fantasy romance series!!!
Ok so first off this is a slow burny, King Arthur influenced, portal to another dimension fantasy romance. It has a regular 19 year old named Gwen whose mysterious cat sets fire to her house and opens a portal to a magical place. Or formerly magical place. Gwen only real character trait is she is a normal person, which kinda left her feeling flat sometimes. I wanted to like her, she had some great one liners. But other than being from Kansas I don’t feel like we had a lot to go on.
Our villain/love interest on the other hand was *chef kiss* Not only is he the bad guy but it makes sense! He isn’t trying to change anyone’s mind, he’s doing what he thinks is right even if no one agrees. If you love a villain love story, here ya go.
I will say I enjoyed the lack of a clear path for our characters, you spend the book wondering what choice Gwen will make without there being a front runner.
I will definitely be continuing on with the series

I want to thank NetGalley, Second Sky, and Kathryn Kingsley for giving me the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a solid three stars for me. It was not good and it was not bad. The world building was absent from the whole story, and the book being only 300 pages meant that everything moved at high speed levels. The main female character, Gwen, was extremely naive granted she was 18 and is falling in love with a thousand year old prince that is related to King Arthur. This book was all over the place for me and although I read it super fast and it read really easily it just fell super flat. Kingsley spent way too much time on things that in the end were not necessary and seemed to waste time whereas she could have made the book longer and been able to beef up the reality of the love interest. Mordred, the so called Dark Prince, fell in love with Gwen way too fast and it just did not make sense whatsoever. The sex was okay but I felt that it could be better, but I did not the enemies to lovers storyline.

Some of the things that made this three stars for me was the humor of Gwen, she was very funny and witty and I enjoyed her personality as a character. I also like how Kingsley portrayed Mordred as a seriously awful person and while he was kind to Gwen 95% of the time you can see how she did not have him change upon falling in love with Gwen. He stayed the villain regardless of his love for Gwen and I appreciated that.

If you like writing like Grace Draven specifically her Radiance book then this is the story for you. I did not hate this book but I was not obsessed with it.

Poor Gwen. Boyfriend cheats. House burns down. Evil barn cat takes her to a different realm...one with a pretty hot villain. So maybe not so poor Gwen. It took me a hot minute to really understand that the villain is like, a villain, and not a misunderstood good guy. But once I did, I was hooked. This is not the typical formula, it is a real falls for the villain. I love it. The only reason why this does not get 5 stars from me is that it does feel like it was just ramping up at the very end. It is also not as spicy as some might expect. Maybe a 2.5/5--think Harlequin. I do recognize the need to world build and set-up as needed in the first fantasy book in a series. I am excited to read the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC. Based on the premise I thought I would love this book and the prologue grabbed me quickly but it all started to fall when we were introduced to Gwen. I did not find her particularly likable and the banter between the characters felt forced and not natural. I really enjoyed the elements of the Arthurian legend but the pop culture references, which I normally enjoy, kept bringing me out of the fantasy setting.

I love love love this! I can't wait for the next book! The romance it is perfect! This Dark fantasy is absolutely wonderful. I loved this.
I just reviewed To Charm a Dark Prince (The Iron Crystal Book 1) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley. #ToCharmaDarkPrince #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

To charm a dark Prince
Thank you to Netgalley, Kathryn Ann Kingsley and Second Sky for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!
First impressions:
-King Arthur meets Alice in Wonderland vibes
-Enemies to lovers
-Anxiety and panic disorder representation
-Villain gets the girl
We meet our girl Gwen as she feels left behind in life by the rest of her friends and suddenly single after her boyfriend cheats on her. Things go from bad to worse when suddenly she finds her home on fire, and her old barn cat opens a portal to another world. There she discovers Avalon, where knights of King Arthur fame are still around, lead by the Iron Prince Mordred. Everyone tells Gwen to beware the Prince in Iron but she is shocked to find that he doesn’t immediately kill or imprison her, but treats her rather gently—though his moods are unpredictable and he has serious trust issues.
This book had me tearing through it! It was ridiculously easy to read, and I adored the FMC Gwen. She was so relatable and I found myself going through the same range of emotions and thoughts as we went through the book and got more information about what’s happening in Avalon and why.
But Mordred. Holy hotness, Batman. I loved his character. Broody, flirty, charismatic. I sympathized with him, understood his motives, and disapproved of his course of action while also completely falling in love with him just like Gwen. He lit up every scene he was in. Their chemistry was off the charts and I lived for their banter.
My favorite thing about thing about this book was the imagery—I could see certain scenes in my minds eye vividly playing out like a movie. And the last 15% of the novel was a sprint to the finish. I had an idea of what I thought would happen, but all my expectations were completely wrong! I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series to find out what happens next.

To Charm a Dark Prince was a nice play and extension on King Arthur characters. The plot was fast paced and though the story timeline was short, I think it worked, but not without some arc losses. The ending of the book left a few questions that I hope will be answered in book 2!

Gwen and Mordred make an interesting pair. I think they have a lot of similarities but they also have a lot of differences. When Gwen is forced to adapt to a unique and truly unbelievable situation, like having to following a talking cat into a hole in the wall to avoid dying by fire, Mordred also has to decide how he wants to handle this unique turn of events. But when tension is high, strings are being pulled, and choices are made, there isn’t anything but the fallout to deal with. A talking cat, elementals, an interesting magic system and betrayal chalks up this interesting twist of a story.

With that being said, there are some areas that fell flat for me, more character development I think would have helped the story line a bit. Also, due to the fast nature of the timeline, I think there was a missed opportunity for some plot arc building, more training sessions or looking deeper into the back stories of the characters. The world building was enough to follow the story through, but a bit more could have been added.
Overall, I enjoyed this little adventure as Gwen would call it and I’m curious to see how the choices made in book 1 will impact the results of those choices in book 2.

This is an Arthurian retelling that had so much potential but unfortunately fell flat for me. There wasn't a lot of action throughout the book or anything particularly interesting happening to keep my interest. The MMC was cocky and annoying, and the FMC was clueless and kind of a "pick me" girl. I think because I didn't like the main characters, I couldn't get behind their romance, either. Merlin was my favorite part. He was sarcastic and funny, and I felt like he was voicing my thoughts to the FMC. I wish we would have gotten to see more of him!

*Kindest regards to Net Galley for sending me an eARC in return for an honest review.*

The Wizard of Oz meets the Knights of the Round Table in this fantasy romance starring a young woman ripped from the world she knew into a world she'd only heard of in legends. When Gwen finds herself in another dimension all due to her barn cat, she's not exactly sure what to make of it all. Then throw in the handsome, albeit grumpy and maybe slightly evil, Prince of Iron and she's got herself in quite the predicament. But is this the happily ever after the Prince of Iron hopes for? Or is this the crazy adventure Gwen always dreamed of - heartbreak included?

When I first started this book I was highly irritated. Nowhere in the synopsis did it mention being a retelling/recreation of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Had I know that, I might not have picked it up simply because I judge these types of retellings incredibly harshly. However, this turned out to be more of a recreation and not a specific retelling, which was good.

Although I did enjoy this (I'm a sucker for a slow burn fantasy romance with some comical elements) there were a few things about this book that weren't the best. For starters, this book was about 100 pages too short. There needed to be more time in the book for character development, which is rather lacking, if I'm honest. We also see our main female character make a decision based off of practically no information, and on top of that, she makes this decision in less than a couple hours of "discovering the truth" or what she believes to be the truth. Our main male character, although grumpy and stuck in his ways, makes decisions that make very little sense simply because the main female character has caused him to have feelings other than rage and hate. Honestly, we just really needed more time with these characters in order for these decisions to have any true meaning.

Overall, was this the most groundbreaking book I've ever read? No, not really. Did I have a good time while reading it? Absolutely! I am 100% looking forward to the next book in the series, and am interested in picking up other works by this author. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a not-so-serious good time. Based off of my enjoyment of the characters and their personalities, this book is a 4 out of 5 starts for me.

First, a huge thank you to Netgalley, Kathryn Ann Kingsley, and second Sky, for the ebook Advanced Readers Copy. I was not compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.

To Charm A Dark Prince is a King Arthur retelling that fell just a tad short for me. It's fast-paced and has a creative way of bringing elemental magic to the table, which was exciting and fun.

The character Mordred was precisely what I love in a morally grey fictional man. He is clearly conflicted and fighting against what he thinks he should do versus his feelings. The one issue I had with him was at times his dialogue came across as very juvenile considering he is supposed to be over 1,000 years old.

Gwyn was a little annoying at times but I felt like it was easy to get past seeing as her age is 19.

Overall, I enjoyed the writing style and flow of the story and would gladly pick up the next book.

This book was so fun! The beginning of the story had me giggling just a little at the description of the crystal... because it basically describes the chamber that contains The Dark Crystal in the Jim Henson film of the same name.

"Pillars surrounded the circular pool in the center of the room...from each pillar ran a thick iron chain to the true quarry of the chamber... assembled from a trick of his magic--iron turned to a quartz-like crystal or amethyst-- it hang suspended over a pool."

I also don't particularly like the MC's parents from the moment she mentions them dismissing her panic attacks as a serious concern and her messaging them if she can do completely normal things for a young woman to do, like have a beer.
The insta-chemistry between the leads is a little silly, but its a romance! Sometimes I like that fast burn physical attraction, slow burn emotional.. Her inner monologue is also quite funny, especially her whole "Well, he's going to kill me, but at least he's hot." Some might find that not relatable, but as a fan of Fourth Wing, I do not.
As an aside, his clawed gauntlets are giving Fenris from Dragon Age 2.

ARC Review (thanks NETGALLEY!)
Uh Hello Cliffhanger?!

I found Gwen to be really annoying. I’m not sure why it’s so hard for writers to write their characters older. Especially, when I’m sure author isn’t themselves 19 years old.

Writing felt clunky and juvenile. I’m just too angry at the cliffhanger 🤣

Thank you to net galley and Kathryn Ann Kingsley for sending me this arc for my honest review.
First off I’m a huge fan of King Author retellings and seeing that this book was inspired by that really excited me. It was fast paced and had the classic writing that I’ve come to love from this author. I did have issues with the main character and she fell flat for me but I’m excited to continue the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Second Sky for an eARC of To Charm a Dark Prince in return for my honest opinion.

The idea of a Arthurian Legend retelling is a great concept, but I feel like this retelling just fell flat for me. I have recently read another series by a different author who did a brilliant Arthurian retelling so I had really high expectations going into this book.

I felt that I just couldn't get into the story, it wasn't captivating and I feel that the characters just weren't engaging or interesting at all. I don't think we got enough world building of Avalon to really paint a picture of world our FMC had been thrown into, maybe this will be explored more in the second book if the ending of this book is anything to go by.

Mordred is a morally grey prince and love interest for our FMC Gwen. I did enjoy a bit of the banter between Mordred and Gwen but again these two and the whole love triangle with Lancelot just felt rushed and lacked and not believable. Mordred's character did have a lot more depth than Gwen, which I think made him slightly more likeable than our FMC.

Overall a miss for me.

Just not the book for me. It was incredibly fast-paced and the writing wasn't something that kept me captivated at any moment. The characters were also very one-dimensional and bland. However, the idea behind it is very cool.

- Talking cats
- Elemental magic
- King Arthur inspired

When Gwen just wants some ‘me time’ after being cheated on by her boyfriend, she’d never imagine that her house would set on fire, or that her cat would open a portal to another world - Avalon. As she falls into the world on fire - literally- she draws the attention of the Iron prince, Modred, who has trapped all elementals into a crystal.

Overall this book was good read - it had good writing, the word-building was also good as it was on the simpler side and it didn’t require a lot of explaining. It’s one of those books where you can just sit down and read it in one go.

In terms of characters, I didn’t particularly like Gwen; I actually found her slightly annoying for most of the book. Modred however I enjoyed - he was a deeper character who had severe trust issues and was prickly. Though because of this, it seemed rather sudden that he was attracted to Gwen from the start.

Big thank you to NetGalley for an arc of book - all opinions are my own 💗

Thank you, NetGalley, Second Sky, and Kathryn Ann Kingsley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think the premise of this story could’ve been interesting, especially with the Arthurian legend elements to it, the enemies to lovers trope, one horse (well, dragon) trope, and slow burn. Sadly, it fell a little short for me. I’m a huge lover of romantasy, spunky heroines, morally grey love interests, etc but I couldn’t connect with the main characters and I didn’t feel like they had a ton of chemistry. I think Gwen has a lot of growing up to do, which totally makes sense as a 19 year old. What I do love about her is her compassion and heart, so I hope she never loses that. The plot, the world-building, and the main male character, all fell a bit flat for me. I adored Mae (the cook), Mordred’s dragon, and Eod, the dog! This story has a lot of potential and hopefully all of these elements can be fleshed out a little bit more in subsequent books.

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


Okay let’s start with the good, this book has a interesting villain who you expect to redeem himself cause he’s the love interest but just keeps justifying wrongs. You get to slowly watch the main character realize that she’s naive which is interesting.

Okay the bad.

-the main character’s tragic backstory is that she’s from “nowhere” Kansas and bored and got cheated on by a dude she dated in high school who went off to college. I am BEGGING the author to have at least GOOGLED Kansas before she wrote the character from Kansas. The details are god off and she doesn’t even give the character a town to be from. It’s clear the author probably hasn’t ever been to Kansas and this shouldn’t have been where she based her main character from with 0 research.

-the main character is extremely flat. We get only surface level info about her which is that she wants a more exciting life and she likes animals. That’s pretty much her entire character. That and she gets panic attacks which are solved pretty fast in this book and then she stops getting them suddenly.

-the main love interest is the villain. He has no redeeming qualities, he’s selfish and only see how other people’s actions affect him. That and he’s literally enslaved a whole type of people and jailed them in a magical crystal. I don’t see how he could ever be a viable love interest cause he’s not redeemable.. every time you think they’ll be some kind of justification for this act… there isn’t. He also straight up slices the main girl with his sword and is still supposed to be a interest??

-the character has like two training sessions to master her powers

- most of the characters are the knights of the round table from King Arthur. The main character straight up fangirls about this during the book. It feels like a Magic The School Bus or enchanted tree house adventure at this point. I wish they were different knights just based off of King Arthur cause I think that would have been more immersive during the story. Every time I read “lancelot” it just immediately took me out of it.

-this story reads like a fanfiction. The character’s monologue is pretty juvenile and it’s very clunky at times. It reads like a kids book to me but has a sex scene in it so def not a kids book.

-the ending is very sudden and it doesn’t make a lot of sense why Mordred does what he does. The whole ending sequence was fast and it felt like the book ended abruptly

Overall, I would say that To Charm a Dark Prince is a really fun read. The plot is fast-paced, ,the romance has some fun enemies to lovers vibes, and the world-building is truly immersive. I am definitely intrigued enough that I will be reading the rest of this series, mainly to see how the rest of the romance plays out.

The romance really drove the plot for me. I enjoyed reading from both POVs, but I was especially amused by Mordred’s. Kingsley definitely nailed what I love about a grumpy/sunshine dynamic.

One thing I always love to see in a book is how much passion an author has for it. It is clear to any reader that Kingsley enjoyed creating these characters, and that love embeds itself into the writing and creates an overall more magical experience.

My only complaint would be the dialogue. There were a few moments where the conversations between the characters felt forced and reflected the “Wattpad” kind of style that appears in a lot of romance these days. None of it was grating enough that I had to put the book down, though, and I’m sure a lot of people would disagree with me on this complaint as well.

As far as tropes go, I recommend this book for fans of: enemies to lovers, dark romance, grumpy/sunshine, and opposites attract.

I received an ARC of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. To Charm a Dark Prince is expected to be out on August 18th, 2023. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Second Sky for this ARC.

3.25/5. Releases 8/18/2023.

For when you're vibing with... campy Arthuriana feels, a very light shade of gray "dark" heroes, interdimensional antics, and talking cats.

Suddenly transported to Avalon, Gwen is kept held captive by Mordred, the Prince in Iron. Though feared by many, Mordred is gentle with her--but with with secrets and her life at stake, Gwen doesn't know if she can give in to their mutual attraction. Which might be a good idea.

I loved Kathryn Ann Kingsley's Tenebris trilogy--but I don't know if I've quite found the right followup in her work yet. She has such a big backlist, however, that I'm willing to try more; and if you're looking for something a little dark that skews somewhat younger (while definitely not being YA) this could be right book for you.

Quick Takes:

--Tonally, for the sake of comparison, Kingsley's Tenebris books are a bit gory, solidly dark (if funny and at points a little campy), and feature everything from tentacles of "my lover is possessed by a million monsters and I'm in love with all of the above and collectively they penetrate all my holes". This book is more "magical girl has magical adventure, Quest for Camelot But with A Lil Sex, and there's some morally gray stuff but it's pretty light".

--What I think that can be compared to is ACOTAR. I definitely got the Sarah J. Maas vibes with this one. Now, that's not a bad thing, necessarily; there's a reason why SJM and her work is so popular. Does it work for me? Not quite. It gives the a work a really young vibe--not so much in content, but in feeling. Gwen is nineteen, yes, but she's honestly a very young nineteen. Another fantasy heroine I've read recently was twenty, and read so much older than Gwen. Yes, you're nineteen, but this is life and death; to me, that would provoke some quick growing up, but that's not for everyone.

All of this makes sense, as the book is comp'd directly to SJM. The other author mentioned is Danielle L. Jensen, whose work I liked a lot more back in the day. I see both comparisons, and the book is definitely heading for a similar sweet spot that doesn't feel quite adult, YA, or new adult to me.

--Part of why I requested this was the mention of Mordred. If you're super into King Arthur and retellings, I wouldn't say this is for purists. I'm not a purist, but it's just very much its own thing. I appreciate the creativity, and it does go a long way towards making Mordred more approachable as a softer love interest.

--The story does feel both rushed and slowed in a way, to me. It's the first in a series and ends on a cliffhanger, which I expected. But you still cover a lot of relationship ground for Gwen and Mordred--a little too much for the length, to me. He doesn't give her much shit and is very quickly entranced with her; she doesn't really put up much of a fight with him. It's fine, I just could use more angst and indecision.

The Sex Stuff:

As per a Kingsley slow burn, there's not much sex in this one. It happens, and it's explicit. It's nothing crazy (I hate to mention this again--the first Tenebris book also had relatively little sex, but what there was.... was hot, and not very tender) but it's good.

So yeah, I appreciate the effort and creativity here, but I do hope that Kingsley will eventually lean back into something a little darker, a little less YA-coded. I'll happily look for that book if it exists! Until then, I do recommend this to those who are looking to scratch that SJM itch--I think you'll be pleased with this.

Thanks to Netgalley and Second Sky for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.