2.5⭐ | Promising Premise, but Falls Short in Execution

The Eternal Trade by Leigh Walker had all the makings of a compelling read—a vampire kingdom, time travel, a mysterious prince, and a reluctant heroine thrust into a dangerous world. Unfortunately, while the concept was intriguing, the execution left much to be desired, and I ultimately found myself unable to fully connect with the story.

The book opens with Victoria Edwards, a high school senior living in foster care after a devastating loss. When mysterious notes and a floating boy outside her window lead her to a midnight encounter, she’s whisked away to a vampire-ruled kingdom in the year 3130. What follows is her reluctant participation in “The Trade,” a ritual that sees young women offered to the royals in exchange for resources, with Victoria chosen by Prince Dominic himself.

The premise is undeniably intriguing, and I was curious to see how the time travel, memory loss, and vampire politics would play out. However, the story struggled to deliver on its potential.

Victoria, as the main character, felt underdeveloped. While her confusion and frustration at being thrust into this world were understandable, her lack of agency and growth made it difficult to root for her. Prince Dominic, while charming on paper, lacked the complexity needed to carry the romantic arc. Their connection felt rushed and lacked the emotional depth to make the romance believable.

The pacing was another challenge. While the book moved quickly, it often felt like it was rushing through key moments without giving them the weight they deserved. Vital information was withheld for far too long, leaving me more frustrated than intrigued. The world-building, while full of potential, felt surface-level, with the vampire kingdom and its rules never fully explored.

The writing style felt geared towards a younger audience, leaning into a tone that might resonate better with younger YA readers. However, some of the content felt at odds with that audience, creating an odd mismatch.

While I appreciate the originality of the concept and the attempt to blend time travel and vampire lore, the story lacked the depth and polish needed to truly shine. The ending, while not a cliffhanger, felt abrupt—more like a longer story was cut into parts rather than a natural stopping point.

Who this might work for:

✨ Readers new to vampire-themed books
✨ Younger teens looking for a light paranormal read

Ultimately, while the book didn’t work for me, I can see its appeal for a specific audience. If you enjoy fast-paced paranormal stories with a unique twist, The Eternal Trade might be worth checking out.

"The Eternal Trade" by Leigh Walker is a gripping and imaginative fantasy that explores themes of power and sacrifice through a richly crafted world. Its compelling storyline and well-developed characters make it an engrossing and thought-provoking read.

Ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll, da ich es aufgrund relativ kurzer Ausleihdauer (ohne Verlängerung) nicht lesen konnte.

On overall enjoyable fantasy that I'm really needing to see through to it's conclusion now that I've started! it was a pretty decent first book in a trilogy!

The Eternal Trade was a fun, short read. The premise is really promising and I very much enjoyed the pacing and plot beats. However, I'm not entirely sure who the intended audience is - at times, it felt very YA and other moments leaning toward NA. I would totally read the rest of the series if I saw it, but I'm not sure I'd go searching for it.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Love everything by this author and this was another example of why. Can’t wait to finish the series. Loved the world building and the resilience of the main character. Can’t wait to read more form this author.

I really enjoyed this book was completely hooked from the first page and couldn't put it down definitely recommend

Leigh Walker's vampire romance, time travel, and fantasy novel The Eternal Trade is intriguing. The story is intriguing and follows Victoria, a young girl pushed into a strange world. Political intrigue and turns characterize Victoria's path from foster care to a vampire-infested other time. Walker's character development makes readers care about Victoria's fate and Dominic's complicated relationship. The novel's genre mix and cliffhanger make readers ready for the next volume. The novel is short, but its fast-paced plot and intriguing world-building make it a good fantasy and vampire romance read.

It really has promise. The premise is interesting, but it's got a very Alice in Wonderland start to it and since it's so short, I just couldn't connect with the main character. I had no reason to care about her since I had no background on her. I needed more build up before diving into the fantasy world. Maybe some more explanations rather than forced dialogue to get the story across. Just moved a little too slow for me to continue the series.

This one for me was a solid 3 star read. It was a take it or leave it and I do not think I will continue the series. It felt like a mash up of a middle grade or low young adult story trying to be new adult. I wished that it would have been just a tad longer, darker, and that our main character would have started getting her memories back throughout the entire story. As the mystery just felt like it slowed the book down. The romance felt very vanilla and bland and well I kind of wished that they would have spent more time together.

Overall, I think this one could be amazing with some editing.

The story starts with Victoria, an 18 year old girl in foster care due to the tragic loss of her mother and sister. Victoria is over the family she's being forced to stay with so when she receives a mysterious letter she has to follow it. Not at all expecting it to actually turn into anything, Victoria is shocked when she winds up in another time with vampires where she is being forced into the trade which is where she meets Dominic.

Overall the book was good, a little short unfortunately but there are two other books in the series and I'm totally looking forward to them. For the first book in the series it's definitely more YA/NA but I'm not sure if it intends to stay that way. I definitely can't wait to read the next one because that cliff hanger got me!

It's been a while since I read a vampire romance, so when I saw this on NetGalley, I had to reach for it.

The story starts with Victoria, an 18-year-old girl in foster care due to the tragic loss of her mother and sister. Victoria is fed up with the family she's being forced to stay with, so when she receives a mysterious letter, she has to follow it. Not at all expecting it to turn into anything, Victoria is shocked when she ends up in another time with vampires, where she is forced into the trade, and that's where she meets Dominic.

Overall, the book was good, albeit a little short. fortunately, there are two other books in the series, but I'm eagerly looking forward to them. For the first book in the series, it's definitely more YA/NA, although I'm not sure if it intends to stay that way. I can't wait to read the next one because that cliffhanger got me!

This was an awesome vampire series. It has a unique twist with time travel and magic. There seems to be a chosen one type of vibe with it. Book one ends with a choice and the consequences of that choice will play out in future books. I would recommend this book based on the political intrigue that is being built upon. There are bad good guys and good bad guys and the lines are never going to be clearly divided. Good needs to triumph over evil but figuring out what that means is a real struggle for our FMC. I am fully vested in this story and I will be continuing on in this series because I simply must know how it ends.

🥀 REVIEW 🥀

Title: The Eternal Trade
Author: Leigh Walker
Rating: 2.25/5

**Thankyou to the publisher for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

I saw this book on NetGalley and was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous cover and premise. It sounded like TET would feature some of my favourite tropes, which intreagued me. Sadly, I didn't really enjoy it as much as I'd hoped I would.

Personally, I felt the writing difficult to get into, and the characters annoyed me enough that I wasn't really very motivated to continue on. Of course, these are all subjective but they just didn't suit me personally.

However, I'm glad that there are people out there who have loved this book and I'm happy for them. This wasn't really my sort of thing, but it's good to discover new corners of the book community nevertheless.

I am utterly unconvinced by this book. It had potential but 1) it was wayyy too short and didn’t develop the characters enough for my liking. 2) It never explained why Victoria didn’t remember anything and Dominic was the blandest of love interest. 3) I didn’t care AT ALL. Interesting premise, very mediocre execution. 2 stars.

A bit YA/New adult-y.

18 year old, Victoria, is floating through life in foster care after the death of her mother and sister when a mysterious letter convinces her to enter a portal to another realm/time - the kingdom; a land filled with vampires and blood slaves. While she doesn’t recall ever being there, it becomes very clear that this isn’t her first time through.

This book has a promising premise (girl travels to another realm with no memory when she arrives or when she arrives back home, girl has powerful blood that kills vampires who drink from her, evil queen who wants world domination, sweet love story). It was a quick read and while not a lot happens, it’s a fairly short book and it sets up for an interesting YA/New Adult series. It is a bit “tell-y” at times and relies on dialogue to explain plot points.

It’s difficult for me to give a rating as this isn’t my usual genre and enjoyment plays a big part in my overall recommendations, but I thought it was a fun, quick read.

⭐⭐⭐

I cam across this book on NetGalley and the blurb really caught my attention. The premise was quite interesting and it made me want to continue reading. I struggled a bit with my connection to the characters, there was just something missing for me. Still, I would gladly continue the series to see it all wrap up together.

I wanted very much to like this storyline but I struggled with completing this novel. I personally struggled with the style of writing and didn’t feel invested in the characters. I felt like some of the dialogue was forced and wasn’t natural or it tended to over explain.

On the plus side there was good world building and original in general. Loved the book cover. I would rate this a three out of five. Netgalley provided this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

This really seemed like my type of read, from the cover to the blurb, it looked really promising, but sadly it didn't work for me. And I wanted it to, so badly.

When I saw it on Netgalley, I went and added it, as well as the next two books in the series to my tbr immediately. I was that confident I'd like it.

What happened here was interesting enough to get me to finish reading, but not interesting enough to get me to care about the characters or the rest of their story.

We start with Victoria, who lives with a foster family because she lost hers in an accident. She starts receiving mysterious notes, and by following clues she ends up in another realm where she's supposed to participate in a selection of sorts, to become the bride of a vampire prince.

The trick is, they've met before, many times, but Victoria can't remember and everyone who does denies her answers for around 40% of the book. And even then they don't tell her everything.

Even though this is a pretty fast paced book, as well as on the shorter side, it still frustrated me to have to wait so long for some kind of explanation.

I get that she comes to their world with no memories, and that they need to ease her into it, but they don't have to withhold vital information for so long!!

On top of that, the whole romance was bland, I didn't feel any chemistry there and couldn't see why Victoria suddenly had a change of heart at the end. They were barely together, when did she have time to fall in love with him?

Maybe it would be more believable if she started regaining her missing memories, but as is I'm just not feeling it.

The writing felt like it was geared towards a younger audience, like on the younger side of YA. The book itself read almost like middle grade to me though, but I wouldn't recommend that kids read it due to some of the content.

The plot was okay, an idea was definitely there, it just wasn't executed the best. It could've been better if more time was taken to develop things instead of rushing everything.

The ending was anticlimactic, but not every book needs a cliffhanger so this isn't a fault. I do think that the place where the author chose to end it is a bit odd though.

Like, it feels as if it was a longer book originally and then chopped up into three parts. It doesn't feel like an organic ending, if that makes sense.

I'd recommend this to someone who doesn't normally read vampire books, or at least hasn't read that many of them, or is a younger teen. But if you're older than that and still want to give it a go, then be my guest. Just because it didn't end up being my thing doesn't mean it won't be yours.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Plot- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Characters-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
World building-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚞𝚌𝚔- 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎”

I am so ready to open up book 2 and read it right now! The fight for survival have only begun and I cant wait to see if we will ever find out what happened during those 9 years (you only get it if you read the book)
I really liked that this book kept me on my toes, twist after twist and surprise after surprise. Leigh Walker have a way to bring her characters to life, and to make me as a reader fall in love with them.
I highly recommend this book to fans of fantasy, magic and romance!

I was given this ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily.