Prince Grae and Princess Briar are betrothed, but is Briar’s secret twin sister Calla destined for the shadows or for greatness?

I was hooked by the romantic tension between Calla and Grae from the start. The sisterhood between Calla and Briar was genuine and supportive.

Calla’s frustration with the gender roles of the wolf packs was easy to empathize with and I loved how determined Calla was to break the mold, embrace a new gender identity, and fight for what was right.

The world-building was good, the pace steady, the action tense, and the tender moments hit the mark.

The diverse characters brought their own skills to the fight and their genuine friendships made for an endearing read.

I enjoyed this twist on Sleeping Beauty. A great read with a satisfying ending. I’m looking forward to future books in series!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

Found family, being true to yourself, friends to lovers, character diversity, queer representation... This book has it all! I really enjoyed this twist on Sleeping Beauty (but with wolves!) and I can't wait to see what Mulford has planned next. There were twists and turns to keep me interested, some steamy romance that didn't feel out of place or forced just to have it, and the thrill of the chase. Plus, the book wraps up so nicely that while I WANT another one now, I could believe that this is a standalone if it didn't say it was part one of a series.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and A.K. Mulford for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Long time A.K. Fan! The world building in this series is amazing. Love the diverse representation of characters. 10/10 recommend!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for allowing me to read this for an honest review.

I was a little disappointed because I was really looking forward to this book. While the characters were well written and the story moved at a good pace, I just felt as if there was something lacking from it. Maybe the book just isn’t for me or my taste but left it not having interest in reading the next one.

I would say if you are fans of Arya Stark than this is an MC for you.

I have been following Mulford on TT since she started on her publishing journey and it has been so amazing watching her grow over the last year.

This was my first work I read by her and I have to say that it was even better than expected. First off, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and is totally worth the "Cover buy" title in your collection.

Twin sisters, Briar and Calla, fit the typical "pretty one, average one" persona and are born a few minutes apart but on different days which I found fascinating.

There is some werewolf action, high fantasy galore with a beautiful written world and interesting political dynamic. Overall, I got both Arya Stark and Mulan vibes from the leading character and I was definitely ready for more by the time I reached the end.

This story is a sleeping beauty retelling but with werwolves. I was extremely intrigued by this concept and believe me, it did not let me down. This follows Calla who needs to save her twin sister. Briar, from an eternal sleep, while also protecting their kingdom from a cruel and evil sorceress. The romance in this book was very very spicy, but I absolutely adored it. I also really appreciated the queer representation in this book. And to say I was shocked by the ending was an understatement. I loved the reveal of the villain's true identity, I did not see that coming. Overall this fairytale retelling was super enjoyable and I definitely recommend it!

Thank you A.K. Mulford, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for the ARC.

A River of Golden Bones is the story of wolf twins Briar and Calla and their journey to claim their destiny and save their kingdom.

There was a lot to like about "A River of Golden Bones". The book was full of unique characters. Calla's exploration of her identity and self discovery was beautiful and poignant. The author did a great job contrasting the way Calla sees and talks about her/them self in the beginning of the book with other characters observations. Calla comes such a long way in this book- from barely allowing questioning thoughts about identity to figuring out and vocalizing what they've discovered about themselves.

I loved all the side characters we meet along the way and I'm looking forward to learning more of their stories.

I was a bit ambivalent about this book romance wise. Friends to lovers is a hard trope to pull off and while I liked Grae and Calla together it also felt like we missed out on a lot of their relationship development.

The book packs in A LOT of plot wise and I thought the ending and battle with Sawyn was rushed. This book felt very YA in some ways. Sawyn was a bit of a cartoon villain - her plan to humiliate Calla by outing her to Grae was truly wild.

Overall it was an entertaining read and I would likely continue the series. Thank you again to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This was a fantastic romantasy story giving serious Sleeping Beauty vibes. I really enjoyed the MC and the character growth experienced throughout the story. Not to mention, the MMC was 🥵, definitely new book boyfriend material! The cast of characters was incredible and I can’t wait to get to know more of them in book 2!

Read if you’d love …
- wolf shifters 🐺
- secret royal vibes
- slow burn, spicy romance
- found family
- a great exploration of gender roles and identity

This is legit my favorite read since finishing the TOG series over the summer, in fact I immediately checked if book 2 was available soon as soon as I finished 😂 I definitely recommend for your winter TBR!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Catch this one on shelves December 5th!

Thank you to the tagged publisher, author and @netgalley for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think a good start to the series, but did fall just the tiniest bit flat for me. The sleeping beauty element, was really what initially inspired me to request this as an arc. A hidden sister, who ultimately has to step into the light. I’m sold. But overall I felt the pacing was a bit slow in some areas, and I couldn’t get to the story. And some felt a bit predictable. However I read so much fantasy, that’s it’s often hard to surprise myself. The characters bring non-binary was a lovely touch, and I enjoyed seeing that representation. Overall, I feel that this series can definitely grow to get even better in the next book.

This was my first A.K Mulford novel and with will NOT be my last.

I have always loved wolf shifter stories, but the market for a quality written romantasy involving wolf shifters is slim, but this one... this one hits.

The story follows Calla (and her twin) in a quest to reclaim their birthright but along the way she finds out some hard truths, love and a found family in the least expected places. I could not put this down once I picked it up and I am once again lamenting that I picked up an ARC and have to wait extra-long for the sequel.

Twin sisters Calla and Briar have grown up in hiding from the Sorceress that ended their family and destroyed their kingdom. Now it’s time for Briar to come out of hiding and fulfill her role to marry Prince Grae. For Calla, things are more complicated since most don’t know of her existence at all. When the sisters arrive in the neighboring kingdom for Briar’s wedding, things go awry due to the resurgence of the evil Sorceress. Now Briar is under a sleeping curse, and Calla must step into the spotlight to save her.

Milford has created a captivating journey of self discovery through a twist on the classic sleeping beauty fairytale. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Calla and Grae - how he accepts Calla exactly as Calla is. They balance and challenge each other to be better versions of themselves and better than those who came before them. Even more than that, I loved the musical troupe Calla hid with. The family Calla found amongst the troupe gave the Calla the strength needed to find acceptance as well as understanding that there are more avenues to a person than Calla ever thought growing up amongst the rigid pack rules. While there was a lot of character growth throughout the book, it wasn’t without action and suspense. Calla is able to show off the fighting prowess learned while growing up evading Grae’s pack. Over all, I found A River of Golden Bones to be an enjoyable fantasy romance read, and I’m excited to see where the sequel goes.

"A River of Golden Bones" by A.K. Mulford is a captivating and promising start to the Golden Court trilogy! The story revolves around Calla and Briar, twins with a hidden heritage and a deep-seated fear of a powerful sorceress. Both characters have their own distinct roles and destinies, but the narrative mainly focuses on Calla's journey from the shadows to the forefront as she embarks on a quest to save her sister and their kingdom.

One of the standout aspects of this book is the exceptional world-building. Mulford creates a vivid and immersive realm filled with Wolves, magic, and intricate societal structures. The world feels rich and well thought out, with a great attention to detail that brings it to life. Character development is another strong suit of Mulford's. Calla's journey of self-discovery is both relatable and compelling. I especially enjoyed the representation of gender exploration and identity. I truly cannot wait for the next installment in this series!

I was super excited to get a copy of this book, as I’d seen it advertised on social media and was super intrigued. I will say, it definitely met if not exceeded my expectations!

In this book, which is the first of a trilogy, we follow closely Calla’s story, which began with the tragic death of her parents, the king and queen of a wolf kingdom, at the hands of an evil sorceress. Since then, she has been in hiding with her sister, who is believed to be the sole survivor of the attack, and is betrothed to the prince of a neighboring kingdom. However, through some unfortunate events, her sister, Briar, is placed under a sleeping curse, spurring Calla into action. She must fight to take back her kingdom and defeat the evil sorceress in order to save her sister and their future.

I love a wolf shifter story, and I love that while the base lore is always the same, they almost always have their own twists. The thing I really liked about this story, so far, is the structure of the kingdoms in the world, and the way that Mulford built the relationships between the wolves. Calla was also SUCH an interesting character. I loved seeing their journey to discovering who they are and their identity. Also, the side characters? Totally awesome? The little family Calla and Grae found on their journey was such an enjoyable one.

I think for people who love a good fantasy romance, but also are looking for a self-discovery journey and fantastic representation, this is a top tier read. It definitely got 4.5 stars from me and I am really looking forward to reading the next one!

I wanted to read this as I heard it was kind of based on Sleeping Beauty, but truly that doesn't really play much into the story beyond a brief plot point. This is otherwise not my kind of book, but I found it well written and attention keeping. The non-binary representation of several characters was well done and will no doubt interest readers looking for that.

Thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for providing me a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
First of all I would like to praise the representation in this book, absolutely lovely to see genderfluidity normalized even if it is in a fantasy setting. The premise is interesting, and the magic system is compelling, but the characters just fell a bit flat for me, and I’m not sure why. I can see there was some found family stuff in there, but I think I really got put off by Grae, he just wasn’t a compelling love interest to me personally.

This is the sexiest, most heart-wrenching A.K Mulford book to date. A book that shows us a brand new side of this author’s writing genius, and it is in my humble opinion, her best work thus far.

I was pretty disappointed with this one. I really love the authors other series, but I found this one really boring and I just didn’t find myself caring about it.

Unfortunately this book ended up being a DNF for me. I reached just shy of 60% of the book and just found that reading it was a chore and there were just other books I wanted to read more. The pacing was awkward, the world building felt thin, and I just haven't found a single character likeable. The writing itself read as YA, but because of the spice of book it's not something I could recommend in that genre. It felt like the writer was trying to leave plot breadcrumbs for the whole book and end up with a multilayered plot, but it just didn't flow. It's somehow both rushed and slow at the same time. I had high hopes for the book since I saw others on BookTok giving it glowing reviews and I am, admittedly, a werewolf fanatic but even the werewolf lore didn't feel very fleshed out. Since our FMC and MMC are both werewolves, I would've thought to have had a better understanding of how exactly they are Wolves by more than halfway through the story.

I'll probably try and finish this book down the road, but with new books coming out all the time I'm not sure when that will be.

I still plan to have a copy or two available in my store simply because of it's popularity on BookTok but it won't be sitting on my employee recommendations shelf.

Reading this gave me just the right amount of Sleeping Beauty nostalgia. It’s not a retelling, but a reimagination with a whole herd of new monsters, and better yet, wolves. The way the wolves are described gives such a beautiful picture in my head, and the monsters were terrifying. There was a lot of very good build up to them like you get when you heard stories about the hydra as a kid when you were just getting into Greek mythology.

The love side of the story, it was beautiful. It’s a slow burn, a very slow burn but their are some other sides to the story that play in making it much more realistic than some. The insta love is not quite there, but we do get the found family trope and it’s wonderful. The hooligans they meet up with on a van, the best people we encounter!

Last thing here, this is probably the best book I’ve read when it comes to LGBTQIA+ representation. I really appreciate that there are multiple characters in the umbrella represented here, not just one. It’s not overdone, it fits the story and made me absolutely fall in love with the book. This book also has use of sign language, and it’s done in a very cool way that doesn’t need to explain the inner workings of peoples choices.

I was so scared to finish this book, but the ending is set up super well and didn’t make me want to throw the book for once because the author ruined my life with a cliffhanger.

I really liked how this story had so many of the key elements that we enjoy in fantasy but having it just a bit different with the Wolf plot points to make it seem fresh and exciting. I think our new adult patrons will be happy to see this on our shelves and will appreciate a new and interesting fantasy story that they can spread among their friends. The sister aspects of the story and the romance elements are added bonuses that will really appeal to the readers we have that would pick this up.