The plague is just about over, but it’s left behind it a city in ruin, and multiple groups fighting for power. Serena Rogue is about ready to leave it behind, but when kids start getting snatched off the street in alarming numbers she can’t walk away. She used to be one of those kids. She knows exactly what it’s like to have no family, no one to fight for you. So she vows to do whatever it takes to get those kids back. Even if it means making an unlikely ally in Nolan Storm. Serena can’t decide if she want to kill Storm, or kiss him. Either way it’s a problem. But she needs him if she’s going to keep her promise.

Things I liked about this book:
1. Nolan Storm + his “touch her and ☠️” vibes while simultaneously letting Serena fight her own battles because she wanted to.
2. I loved that Serena’s powers were inspired by the Author’s own disability. But Serena’s condition is not meant to represent disability, but rather reimagine it in a fantasy setting. 🤍
3. It’s a fast paced plot that keeps you engaged.

This book picks up where L.E. Sterling’s True Born series left off. I have not read the True Born series, and while reading that series is not necessary to understand this story, I do think it would have helped me understand the world that it’s set it. It took me a while to grasp the different dynamics and hierarchies at play. And I feel like I would have slipped into this story much easier if I had the context from the first series. It also took me a while to really understand what the talismans were and I’m not sure I ever fully understood how things looked from Serena’s perspective. I go back and forth on how I feel about that. On one hand, I wanted to be able to relate with Serena better and picture things how she saw them. But on the other hand, I found it realistic that maybe someone else’s unique experience, especially through the lense of disability, can never quite be captured with words alone.

An engaging first book to a new series. I will read the rest of the series when it comes out. If you like YA dystopians like the Hunger Games or Divergent, you should give this book a try!

I will be sharing this review on my Instagram later this month.

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first book by this author, and it did take a bit of figuring out that the setting of plague-ravaged Dominion City had been created in prior books. I tend to go into books blindly, so this was just a hurdle to overcome, as I had to use my noggin a bit more. That stated, I am all for dystopian storylines with interwoven magic, and the author did not disappoint with A Glamour of Blood!

The world-building and character development was well-planned. I enjoy being immersed in a world and feeling connected to the FMC. Serena is a bounty hunter searching for the root cause of the destruction of her city. She finds herself having to team up with her nemesis, Nolan, which reveals itself as quite the challenge given their attraction to one another.

The juxtaposition of a forbidden or enemies-to-lovers romance in a harsh, dystopian setting raises the stakes and intensity of character relationships for me. Then, add a dash of magic in a complex, immersive world. If this sounds like something you like as well, definitely grab A Glamour of Blood immediately!

#Teen #YA #Dystopian #Magic #Paranormal #PNR #UrbanFantasy #AGlamourofBlood #LESterling #Entangled #NetGalley

In Dominion, a young woman with a strange version of sight pairs up with the leader of the rebels to look for missing children. Theirs is an enemies to lovers style relationship with prophecies pushing against them and enemies from every faction in their world. I enjoyed the magic and the push-pull between the main characters, as well as the female main character's determination to be strong in her own right.

3.5 🌟

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. The following opinions are my own.

I struggled a bit to get into this one but once I got a few chapters in it was alright. I also didn't realize this was a spin off series and it made me feel like I was missing something the whole time I read it. I just wish it had more of a back story.

Cover is beautiful and the whole premise of the story caught my attention. This was definitely a solid fantasy book.

It was a little slow at first which made it a little difficult to stick with. But it did finally manage to find its groove and keep me interested.

I thought the whole magic system was super interesting, and I liked the characters and the character development that happened.

Thank you to Entangled Teen and Netgalley for the ARC

*This is currently posted on Goodreads, and I am waiting for my Amazon review to be approved. Will update with an Amazon link asap

I really enjoyed this YA Dystopian Fantasy!

It is filled with magic, lots of action, and has some incredible world-building. We have a very strong FMC and an OP MMC.
Our FMC has a familiar/bestie named Carl, who is a half-human half-cat. While the book doesn't contain spice since it is YA, it does have a sweet enemies to lovers romance with lots of tension and angst. This is a diverse and inclusive world with disability rep. Overall, I would definitely recommend it, and look forward to the next book in the series.

Tysm to Entangled Teen for the ARC!

So sorry, I really think this doesn't work as a standalone - I felt I was missing so many aspects for the society and what had happened before that it made it difficult to engage with the story or the characters. Very sad, as I'd anticipated really enjoying it. As I couldn't connect I won't share my comments elsewhere but may well come back to read it after I've read the previous Trilogy. Think this is only my second book from Entangled that I haven't finished reading (and that first one was withdrawn and re-edited making it a great read that I enjoyed!)

I like how the author takes you straight into the action. It seems action packed but I really needed more background to the world building and situation as well as interpersonal relationships of those involved to relate to any of it.

The MC's voice was just so annoying I couldn't get past the first 10%, not my cup of tea. It felt as though everything was shoved down the readers throats instead of letting us figure it out. I don't need to be told what your catchphrase is, just do it and I can figure that out.

First of all, I thought that the idea of the talismans and the FMC being able to see them, but otherwise being visually impaired was such an interesting concept! I liked the descriptions of the talismans and dna circulating under people's skin and the Serena being able to see it moving.

Unfortunately, I didn't finish this book. I was very confused and lost the majority of the time, and felt like I was missing some key information from the start. I know that this was meant to be a standalone/spin-off, but set in the world of a previous series, and with the characters from that series, but I couldn't follow what was happening with the information I was given. I think that perhaps if I had read the other series, a lot of the established character relationships, backgrounds and world-building would have made more sense to me.

Otherwise, I think this book is absolutely perfect for someone who has read the other books in this world and had a little more background and premise to go off of. I would definitely read something else from this author, or maybe start from the beginning of the other series and coming back around to this at a later date.

If you like YA dystopian fantasy with enemies-to-lovers vibes, A Glamour of Blood just might be for you. Though I would highly recommend that you read author L.E. Sterling’s prior series True Born Trilogy first.

The reason I make that recommendation is because I felt totally lost in the world of this book, and didn’t feel like the book did enough to establish the world for me. I feel like if I’d read the other books, I would have already had a sense of the world and perhaps even of the main characters. This feels very much like the continuation of a series, and not a potential entrance point. For that reason, I found this to be a frustrating read.

However, if you’re a fan of the True Born Trilogy you will probably feel right at home with this book. The characters and characterizations felt appropriate for YA, and there are some great enemies-to-lovers moments.

Thank you to Entangled and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is a YA dystopian urban fantasy novel, so if any of those are your genres, you need to read this. It takes a little bit to get into this as it’s fantasy, so there’s time need to world build. Overall, I think this was a solid start to a YA fantasy series. The Magic system is interesting and you want to know what happens next to the characters. There is romance but no spice as this is a YA novel.

This book follows Serena, a gal who cannot see, but can see True Born talismans which allows her to see True Born, and anything covered in talismans. Her and her familiar Carl, half man half cat, have been in hiding from Nolan Storm after Nolan threatened to take her out when she seemingly betrayed him. Serena learns that kids who were like her when she was little are going missing. Not only that, but her step-mother has come to visit from her clans who had abandoned Serena when she was little and want to put Nolan Storm on a throne with Serena’s help. All Serena wants to do is fine the kids, but she begins to wonder if her clan, or the Order, may have something to do with the children who are missing. And so she teams up with Nolan in a tentative truce to find these kids.

First off, this is a well written book and the world is very intriguing. It seems to be based in our world, but like an alternate dystopian world with magic, and beings called True Born who are basically humans with unique powers. There are also quite a few characters in here, with Nolan being my favorite. The story kept me on my toes, and I always love a good mystery, I love trying to figure out what’s going on, and solve the mystery. I also loved the romance, to a point. I love a good slow burn enemies to lovers romance, and I was very into this romance at first, but I’ll explain later why I had a bit of a hard time with it too. Nolan I adored. He is scary, but very mature, level headed, and just a great character! Carl added some nice comedic aspects to the story, but he was rather immature for most of the book, which may be why Serena became immature in the end.

I really thought I would love this book, and I really wanted to, but I am giving this three stars mainly because, well, a couple things. This is a continuation after the original trilogy(which I did not know, that’s my bad!) but the author did state you should not feel like you need to read the original series. Well, I do feel like I should have read the original series. The world was not explained enough in this book and so I felt lost at times. There is also clearly some sort of relationship going on between a few of the characters who worked together in the original series, and I felt like I entered into the middle of their story, so I felt a bit lost again.

I really liked Serena at the beginning of the book, she started off with a bang and was the bigger person and came to Nolan first even though he was out for blood. However, as the story progressed, Serena seemed to become more immature, at least to me. She started making petty comments, and a couple times Nolan did something, and she would say “I didn’t ask for your help”, or “why didn’t you ask me first”. It was like anything Nolan did wasn’t okay, but it was okay if she did them, especially when it seems to me she did betray him previously, and apparently that was okay. And so because Serena kind of went downhill for me as the story progressed, I wasn’t as into the romance as I was at first. The romance I was so into until Serena just became so immature, especially when you compare her to Nolan who seems much older than her, is much more levelheaded and patient, and yah scary, but he’s so much more mature than she is. There were a few times he would ask her if she’s done with her tantrum. It got to the point that the romance wasn’t very believable any longer.

There’s also a creepy cult, and well, I’m not into that, but this is me, a trope I’m just not really into 😅

Aside from that, the book kept me hooked. I just wanted to solve the mystery of everything going on and I will give it that, that it kept my attention! I received a free digital copy to read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a wonderfully complex book that was so immersive. I really fell into the world that Serena and Nolan lived in and as the pair went from rivals to partners and then from partners to lovers I fell deeper under this book’s spell. I was all in for their developing relationship as well as suspicious at first of how that would complicate Serena’s world and what the right route for her would be. For me, this is one of the key marks of a strong book, when I am so engaged with the book’s action and so vested in the book’s characters that I keep asking “What would I do if I was Serena?”

The author did a great job of balancing description and development so that just enough information was given with weighing down the action or holding back the plot’s development, this a unique factor because many authors either overdevelop and overcomplicate their world building and description, slowing the plot to a crawl. I also loved the way that this added an air of mystery to my reading and worked as a hook to keep drawing me deeper into the book. Balance definitely is a key to A Glamour of Blood not just in the writing but also in the romantic plot. There were a few New Adult moments here that added a little age-appropriate spicy moments, but there was nothing that would cause me to label this as an adult only book. I found the timing and writing of these scenes to be well balanced and they grew organically out of the plot. I think future books in this series may develop the romance in more detail because there is definitely character growth that happens in this book and I look forward to seeing if I am right in this assumption.

If you like YA/NA books like Divergent then A Glamour of Blood is definitely one that you’ll want to check out. A sci-fi / fantasy dystopian setting really allows for a reader to see many similarities in theme to those presented in the book, and with great balance of humor, action, romance, and angst I can see anyone who is trying to ‘find their way’ in a confusing world really identifying with Serena and returning for book two.

Thank you L.E. Sterling, Entangled Teen and NetGalley for sharing this early ARC with me and inviting me to share my opinions here.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I absolutely ADORED this book. Will certainly be keeping an eye out on future novels from L.E. Sterling. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

A Glamour of Blood is a dark dystopia set after a deadly plague. Street kids are going missing, and something lurks out in the dark. This book has a real sinister vibe and a mystery edge that leaves you gripped!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy

This one was a fun YA dystopia that unfortunately didn't have the best world building. However the character angst and back and forth definitely took the show on this one. I'd say this stuff really isn't my taste anymore but I would definitely recommend it to someone in the specific age range. Fast and fun but just not my cup of tea. Thanks Netgalley and entangled teen for letting me read this one early.

Even though the author said reading her previous series wasn't necessary to reading this one, I do feel like the context would have been helpful. I was very lost in the first half, but it did pick up towards the end. I really liked Serena and Nolan as characters but there seemed to be too much plot and not enough world building or character development.

We meet a woman who was abandoned and now because of her abilities, is wanted by the one who discarded her. Serena is a scavenger, and believed to be the one the prophecy speaks of. Serena has no desire for power, but missing children cause to play this charade. Nolan Storm re-enters her life, for she disappeared after he believed she betrayed him. But now, they need to work together, for Storm is also a part of the prophecy. As they search for the missing children, they discover this runs deeper than they know. People have been gathering information and plotting in their attempts to prevent Serena from becoming the high priestess. An interesting dystopian novel with a snarky heroine, a cat man who likes to goad, and the leader of the true borns, where there is more to him than meets the eye. I received this novel from net galley in the publisher as an arc. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Glamour of Blood by L.E. Sterling was a strong fantasy story that I enjoyed a lot.
This book is action packed from the very first chapter.
It has some cool and unique characters that are very interesting. The world building the author has done is downright amazing. She has created characters who are entertaining.
The pacing was fast and the plot kept moving as well.
I loved the dystopian and the romance.
Sterling Did an absolute phenomenal job with this story and I was hooked while reading it.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Entangled: Teen for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

3.5/5 stars! The cover of this story is so pretty. I enjoyed the story as well. It took a bit to get into the storyline, but I appreciated the dystopian angle of the story and Serena as a character. I would be interested in seeing what happens next.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review