This coming-of-age YA Fantasy was absolutely fantastic. This book has amazing lore and world-building, characters I'm truly invested in, and a plot with a twist I didn't see coming.

MCs Kiara and Jude both have tragic backstories from their childhood and have very strong personalities because of that. I thought both MCs were really well done and worked well together as a budding romantic couple.

Add this to your tbr if you like:
💜YA coming-of-age Fantasy
💜Slow-burn, he falls first romance
💜Suspense, mystery, betrayal
💜Strong-willed FMC
💜Broody and Reliable MMC
💜Action, missions, unique lore
💜Hero's journey
💜Gods & prophesies
💜Game of Thrones vibes
💜Dual POV

I will definitely be impatiently waiting for book two! Tysm Entangled Teen Publishing for the ARC!

I haven't read anything by Katherine Quinn before, but I definitely will now. There was dark and wonderful world-building, a broody MMC and excellent suspense with a splash of romance!

Kiara, our FMC, wants to prove herself as a strong-willed recruit, and that she is just as capable (if not more so) than the men that surround her. Both Kiara and Jude, our MMC, are sent on a journey to bring the sun back to their moonlight plagued lands. They struggle with traumatic childhoods and how those events have shaped them into the people that they are. Together they work through that trauma and that they are more than their trauma (and a beautiful romance blossoms!).

It's YA fantasy with romantic angst, in a world that has been plunged into darkness for half a century. It is fantastic. It is beautifully written as well, with characters that I genuinely cared about.

Also, someone give Jude a hug.

Thank you Entangled Teen for a review copy of this one. All opinions are my own.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just the perfect amount of everything.

To Kill a Shadow by Katherine Quinn is a YA fantasy novel about Jude Maddox, who knows nothing of love or even light. He knows only his grim duty as the Hand of Death, to lead the Knights of the Eternal Star into a land filled with nightmares and certain demise. It’s only when he sees her—a young woman with wild, amber eyes who’s as fierce, defiant, and swift as the shadow beasts themselves—that he feels the warmth of life in his blood...The other Knights may fear their lethal commander, with his hard, merciless demeanor. Outcast Kiara Frey sees only a leader, a man who knows how to survive. Someone like her. But wanting him is as treacherous as the shadows themselves...and just as seductive. With a kingdom on the verge of collapse, the Knights must now venture into the darkest heart of the land and uncover the secrets of the misted shadows, where evil will prey upon their minds and feast on their flesh. It will betray their senses. It will surpass their nightmares. Most of them will die. But they have no other choice. Because the only way to fight the darkness...is to become it.

This book is the literal definition of angst, and I am here for it. He's dark and brooding, and she's a ray of sunshine. What more can I say? The suspense is there, the brooding and tension are so thick you can slice into it like. And I am more than happy to take a slice.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5/5 STARS

Genre: YA fantasy romance

Ahhh, I love fantasy romance and this book was great! Entangled Publishing always delivers the 5 stars reads. I have yet to read a bad romantasy from them!

This fantasy romance is filled with everything you could possible want! It sucks you in from the beginning with the action! It has all your favorite tropes: found family, enemies to lovers, bad ass female heroine, mythology, mythical beasts, magic, gods/goddesses, romance, a quest. The plot was very well done and the suspense perfectly woven in!

It is book 1 in a series that I will be reading the rest of. It does end with a cliffhanger.

If you enjoy fantasy romance, read this book!

Thank you Entangled Teen for the ARC!

This was my intro to K.Q. writing, the first thought was I love the cover but when I start reading I was delighted with then plot and the characters, immediately the story keep my attention from start to finish. Sorry NO SPOILERS!!! If you love read romance suspense mystery fantasy
with a strong female character this story is for you!!
Thanks to Entangled a Teen and NetGalley for the ARC copie

I would like to thank Entangled Teen and NetGalley for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
The Hand of Death? Knights? Shadows? Monsters? Sign me up!
I was drawn to this book because of the cover. Can we just talk about how beautifully gorgeous it is? Did I initially want to judge this book by it's cover? I sure did. But then I read the blurb and it sounded like it would be totally interesting. I was ready for a broody knight who would be worn down by a girl whose power he could not even imagine.
Quinn is a new author to me so I'll start by talking about the writing. My only way to describe it is mediocre. It wasn't horrible, but it was honed. I noticed a lot of repetitive words, even in sentences strung together immediately. It frustrated me a bit. But I pushed on because I wanted to read the story and see where it went.
I'd say the pacing for this book is medium to slow. I wanted to action to really pop and move me through the book, but it just didn't do that. I actually found myself putting the book down. I even read a few other books in between as that sometimes helps me refocus. But it didn't speed the pace for me at all. The plot seemed to be all over the place. I could see there was some big secret that would be revealed at some point right away when the MFC has a moment in a cave, but then this theme was dropped for a long time before the author circled back to it. If you're going to introduce a theme and want it to be a great reveal at the end, you really need to be consistent with incorporating that into the book throughout.
World building, I cannot for the life of me tell you anything about this world other than there's a kingdom, they are fighting to get the light back into their world, and there's a realm where there are monsters. The world is dark and it seems it was meant to be a bit terrifying. At the beginning of each chapter there is a quote related to the lore or a missive meant to give us background. I know these quotes are there to help the world building but there was so much mystery to them, I really didn't see it happening. Plus, I feel like this particular writing technique has been used recently in other fantasy stories (particularly by this publisher) with much better results.
Let's talk about those characters. I didn't really connect with any of them. Especially the FMC, Kiara, and MMC, Jude, who were narrating the book. I usually enjoy dual POV, though I feel like third person works much better for fantasy. But if done right, you can certainly see the characters grow and develop and watch their arc. I didn't get that here. I did enjoy a few of the side characters. I would have liked to see more background earlier on. Things are kept so mysterious until the end it was really hard to have any empathy for the characters.. The MMC's partial background we get shows him as a tragic figure marred by what he has experienced. I feel like what is in his past would make him less likely to trust people or have him putting walls up. I do see it a bit but not enough to truly be part of his arc. I was happy the author attempted to build a strong FMC. One who also has tragedy in her past but chose to become strong and resilient despite her past. The insta-attraction/love really bothered me. The pair were essentially the enemies to lovers trope, but they never truly went through the enemy phase.. Once they were in each others presence consistently very close to the beginning of the book, it was obvious they were attracted to each other and would be together. But the tension and the building of the relationship just was not there.
The ending is not a cliff hanger, per se, but is does build onto at least a sequel if not more books for this series. I'm not sure if I will pick up the next book or not but I might be willing to give it a try if I knew there was some growth in the author's writing within the pages.
Overall the story was good but not great. I just felt way too much was lacking in how the world was built, the importance of the lore we learn at the beginning of the chapters, and what it all meant.

Q: What’s your favorite book you’ve read so far in 2023?

🌿Book Review🌿

🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿
Title: To Kill a Shadow
Author: Katherine Quinn
Genre: YA Fantasy, Romance
Pub Date: November 28, 2023
🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

🌿Synopsis in comments

🌿My Thoughts
To Kill a Shadow is my newest obsession that I will spend the remainder of the convincing you all to read!

Kiara is such a fiesty, confident young woman. She doesn’t hesitate to stand up for what she believes in or fight to save those she cares about. She may be the only female chosen to train to defend the kingdom, but she has what it takes.

In contrast, Jude is known as the Hand of Death and yet he may not be the heartless killer everyone thinks he is. He’s been put in terrible situations and does what he has to survive.

I love how ying and yang Kiara and Jude are throughout the book. The banter, the push and pull of their relationship, it all works splendidly.

There were many unexpected moments, some of which really pulled at my heart! I had SUCH a hard time putting this book down. I’m not a big re-reader, but this is one I will re-read.

This book is such an adventure and I absolutely recommend it if you like secrets, darkness, and strong fighters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Teen for the opportunity to read this book. The review expresses my own opinions.

I loved this book! It's my first time reading this author, but it definitely won't be the last. Katherine's writing had me feeling like I was right there with the characters the whole time.

Even though it's not my typical genre - I usually go for romance - this horror-fantasy novel had a Stephen King vibe, with a secondary and relatively mild romantic subplot.

I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this book. Loved the world building and story line. The characters were well developed and overall would read again.

This was even better than I expected! It's thrilling and exciting! Action-packed and great pacing, and that slow burn angst was everything! I absolutely loved Kiara and Jude. They're such strong characters and have the absolute best chemistry and banter.

The twists and turns this story took were shocking and so heart-wrenching at times. It was a great experience. I really enjoyed reading through and slowly putting all the little bread crumbs together. I was still absolutely shocked at the ending! The cliffhanger was equally as exciting, and I can't wait for the next one!

If you enjoyed books like A Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent or Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer, I highly recommend this one!

How do I LOVE this book and these characters? Let me count the ways….
1. A bada$$ female main character who has led a hard life and been ostracized for most of it, but who still manages to have a heart of gold? Check!
2. A dark, brooding male main character with so much baggage it hurts to even think about who is obsessed with our girl? Yep!
3. A host of supporting characters that run the gamut from loyal, disloyal, secretive, mysterious, open books, twisty-turny, gods, goddesses, evil rulers, priestesses, fake relatives….all the dynamics that make for an interesting story arc? Check, check, check!
4. True love with more than a little steamy romance and BANTER thrown in for good measure? Oh, we’ve got plenty!
5. Action and adventure that continuously moves the story along through what otherwise could have been a bleak and boring landscape? Got ya covered!
This book has everything I adore in a good young adult fantasy romance….or romantic fantasy, depending on where you are in the reading of it. I devoured it in just a day—couldn’t put it down! I had to know how the beautiful, dramatic story between young Kiara and her brooding Knight, Jude, would end. Well, fair warning….this book ends on a cliffhanger! Let me tell you, I am invested! I have already preordered the beautiful sprayed edge hard cover of this book and will be on the lookout for the sequel. In the meantime, the author’s backlist is high up on my TBR to tide me over. Read this book!!! You won’t regret it!

To Kill a Shadow was another win by Katherin Quinn! She did such a great job moving from adult fantasy to young adult. I absolutely LOVED this story. Kiara and Jude's dynamic is just superb. I love any good enemies to lovers plotline. The land of shadows and nightmares slowing devouring the kingdom was another great twist especially when Jude must lead a group of Knights (including Kiara) into this mysterious place to try to end the curse. The ending was insane! I don't know what will happen to Kiara or Jude.
I loathed the ending and at the same time loved it! Then add the ending addition of Jude confronting someone who happens to be his mother. I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens in the next book. 5 STARS

Also, Katherine Quinn is 100% one of the sweetest and kindest authors!

What a great read! I really enjoyed the world building, The loyalty the FMC has for her friends and family, and the lead characters love story. This reminded me a little bit of Fourth wings Xaden and a little bit of Shadow and Bones, Crows. I can't wait to read the next as the story continues and the magic and love evolve.

This was the first book by Katherine Quinn that I’ve read and I absolutely loved it! It got me hooked just a few pages in and I couldn’t stop reading it! This book made me experience all sorts of emotions from laughing to crying to being angry…
I enjoyed seeing Kiara and Jude opening up to each other, how their characters developed through this story. Jude has been living his life with no emotions but feisty Kiara made him feel again.
Will Kiara and Jude save their world and return the sun?…

I dive into this read and devoured everything in one sitting. It's the perfect romantasy read with suspense and actions. The plot also highlights love and loss, secrets and betrayals.

The commander aka Jude is drafting new recruits, and Kiara--a confident and fierce  woman happened to be enlisted into his team. Ever since their encounter, Jude has trouble keeping her out from his mind.
The plot then dive deeper into reveals to hidden secrets within the mist.

The romance in this is *chef kiss* I really adore both Jude and Kiara, plus the dynamic and tension between them. We have the dark, protective and broody MMC and the fierce and lovely FMC.

It's so underrated, can't wait to read the sequel in Mistlands.

Thank you so much Entangled Teen Publishing for sending me an eArc of the book in exchange for an honest review!

I had very high expectations going into this book! While the book didn’t meet them, I still feel that there is room for potential! I enjoyed the concept of living in darkness and wanting to seek out light again. I think this book started very well with Kiara being brought to the Knights and starting her training. What really threw me off was the middle portion. We spend most of our time with Kiara and Jude and while I do want scenes with them in developing their connection, I also wanted a more equal balance of character development with the other characters! The book was enjoyable overall and the ending has me definitely curious about how the series plans to progress but overall, it felt a bit flat to me for a romantasy.

I loved the first 40% of this book. It starts off strong with high stakes, lots of action, building the found family, FMC and MMC tension! But around the halfway point it lost my attention because it became repetitive. Most of the second half is the FMC and MMC on a quest together and it was too much of only those characters for me. I needed more of the side character interactions and scenes with the FMC without the MMC. Even when the MMC was not physically there, he was on the FMC's mind- it was too much.

There was very little character development. And the relationships were very insta-love. Not just the relationship between the FMC and MMC (which could be explained by their bond) but between the FMC and her new friends that she comes to see as brothers instantly. Not super believable without seeing them develop that bond on page. Also, FMC is the only female character.... so that's disappointing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for providing an eARC of this book.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I started this book but it wasn’t that!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not only was the inside really good but the cover is fabulous!

There is nothing worse than realizing while reading that this is a first in series and will most likely end on a cliffhanger but man oh man did I still enjoy every second. The last chunk was brutal but I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers so I'm eagerly anticipating the next book in this series.
If you like YA fantasy, you should read this book. The romance and world building kept me hooked. Easily captivated. There's betrayal, suspense, action and so much more!

Jude is known as a Knight of the Eternal Star in charge of training young adults selected each year that may join the Knights ranks. Kiara is the only female chosen to train. She fights better than most males and has a spirit that can't be matched. This is a dystopian YA/NA fantasy novel with hints of horror. I really enjoyed it and the author keeps you guessing throughout the book. Some things you might guess and some you might not even think to guess. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.