*Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book.

The Hurricane Wars is a political/war fantasy with a slow burn romance. The narrator does a beautiful job pronouncing and describing the characters and the world in a manner which I found intriguing and immersive. The world building in this novel is amazing, accentuated by the vocal emphasis applied by the narrator, and highly detailed. I loved getting to know the characters and the lives they were living. The pacing of this book is rather slow, however there are faster points (just like in real life). It is immersive and I found the magic system to be familiar yet still set apart from others in this genre. I am certainly looking forward to the rest of the trilogy!

oy vey, i'm so tired of these overgrown teenagers

this has no purpose being out in society. its pacing was an english's major's worst nightmare. i haven't watched a single f*cking star wars film in my life which might sound irrelevant but trust me, it ain't.

that being said, the ending perfectly built up anticipation for the next book and i am a silly girl who will be reading the next one because i guess i just hate myself that much

A new fantasy debut taking on empires, the battlefield, romance and magic. The story follows orphan Talasyn, who secretly harbors magic in her veins, and Prince Alaric, the son of the emperor and a fierce opponent on the battlefield. While natural enemies who clash, an unseen danger has them combining forces for good.
I wanted to like this but it just never clicked with me like other fantasy novels. Upon doing some research, I learned this is a Kylo-Rey fan fiction-turned original story which makes a lot of sense why it didn’t click with me fantasy-wise since the Star Wars references weren’t super obvious. Great story for fans of enemies to lovers and wartime/battlefield romance.
Thank you Harper Audio for the ARC. This is out now.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Avon for providing both an eARC and an advance book in exchange for an honest review.

Why is it only now (after reading the book) did I find out that this was originally ReyLo fanfiction????

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon is a fantasy novel set in a world torn by war. All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, she found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows. Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty shadow magic. He discovers the greatest threat yet in Talasyn: a girl burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. He tries to kill her, but in a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen. This war can only end with them. But an even greater danger is coming, and the strange magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Talasyn and Alaric must decide… are they fated to join hands, or destroy each other?

I straight up did not know this was Reylo fanfiction when I requested this book. But now, having read it, I can totally see it. Honestly it wasn't bad. Just wasn't my favorite. Like Fourth Wing. It took the internet by storm for it's pretty cover, but the insides are just meh.

An enemies to lovers fantasy romance that didn't quite hit the mark for me. Talasyn is a warrior fighting for freedom against the Night Empire. She has secrets and a desire to find her long lost family. Prince Alaric is the Night Emperors only son. These two meet fighting on the battle field and fate brings them together in a forced proximity trope. I had high hopes for this novel, and I loved the premise and author's note that explained the where the concept of the book came from. The plot moved a little too quickly and lacked depth. I never quite understood the conflict and I wasn't able to really get emotionally attached to any of the characters. I struggled with the narration a little as well. I'll admit I'm picky with my narrators, but I felt that this one lacked some feeling and emphasis in certain situations. If you're a die hard romantasy lover, it's worth a try, but overall this left me underwhelmed.

I enjoyed this book. Talasyn and Alaric are both flawed yet compelling characters and it was fascinating to see how they each reacted to all the challenges thrown at them. but I really liked some of the themes the book explores. In particular, I was intrigued by the differences between cultures and the attempts to navigate those differences peacefully. I’m eagerly anticipating the next book!

I’ve seen this described as Enemies to Lovers, but I feel like it’s more accurate to say Enemies to It’s Complicated. At least for this first book.

The audiobook was narrated by Jeanne Syquia. She did an excellent job, but I wish there had been a separate narrator for Alaric’s chapters. Having a single narrator for this type of book made the audiobook feel one-sided. This is a shame considering that the book endeavors to explore what happens when events are perceived by different perspectives between multiple cultures.

3.5
Thank you to NetGalley for this preview copy to review.
And review for our October bookmarked box at work and get ideas for the box!
I’ve seen quibbles from other reviewers that it takes this book a while to get going and while it does, this is the first book in a series- and almost all first books in fantasy series have a lot of world building to do.
As a Star Wars fan, it’s pretty easy to spot the Reylo fanfic but I’m not wildly perturbed by it.
One of my least favorite tropes is used here with miscommunication/not communicating and the main characters coming off whiny/emo.
And I kept waitinggggggggggggggggg for spice- even a smooch. 77% through the book and there was a chaste kiss. There is some spice later, but I left going- that it?

This debut fantasy novel features epic war, enemies to lovers, and adventurous world-building. Get ready to experience magic and danger in this adventurous read!

The Hurricane Wars was a highly anticipated read for me, but it did not hold up. The world building was ok, but the character development was lacking. It almost felt like a spin off of another series, but this is her debut novel. Enemies to lovers is a favorite trope, but readers will only appreciate the trope if they prefer fast burn romance. There was no transition from "your cute, but I want you to die" to "dang, I want to hit that." I know lust is a thing, but it still felt very unbelievable. The narrator did an excellent job. Occasionally the perspective would shift seemingly abruptly (possibly the print version would be less sudden, but I did not see it), but it was still easy to follow whose perspective it was. . Overall, I think this book will have a solid following, but it just didn't hit for me.

The Hurricane Wars was an action packed enemies to lovers fantasy romance! It's a great start to a new romantasy trilogy and I'm very impressed that this is the author's debut.

The reader is dropped right into the action at the start of the novel. It's somewhat overwhelming at first and the world building is quite heavy throughout (as is the case for most first books in a fantasy series). I found the level of detail a bit daunting and I will admit that it bogged down the flow of the story at times. I'm glad I had the audiobook to refer to as well, so I could hear the correct pronunciation of names, titles, etc.

The political maneuverings and magical elements were intriguing, but it's the slow burn romance between Alaric and Talasyn that hooked me. They truly are sworn enemies, which made the marriage of convenience and forced proximity tropes work so well for the story. Alaric and Talasyn had such fantastic banter and their bickering and barbs built up the sexual tension wonderfully. I did feel that their actions and thoughts sometimes felt younger than their ages (Talasyn is 19/20 and Alaric is 26 I believe), but given their histories and the length of the war, it's no wonder they're both a bit emotionally stunted. Even with one steamy-ish scene*, this did make the book feel more YA/NA at times. Thankfully, the book doesn't end on a painful cliffhanger and it will be interesting to see where the next book takes us and how things evolve between Talasyn and Alaric.

I listened to a majority of The Hurricane Wars and the narration by Jeanne Syquia was wonderful! She was spot on as Talasyn and really captured her sass and snark so well. The variety of voices and accents used really brought the story to life. Jeanne Syquia is a new to me narrator, but I look forward to listening to more of her titles in the future.

Audiobook Review
Overall 4.5 stars
Performance 5 stars
Story 4 stars

*Note: There is kissing and a steamier bedroom scene, but there is no consummation of the marriage.

CW: death of parent/loved ones, grief, parental abandonment, fighting/violence, war and destruction, manipulative and complicated family/parental relationships, FMC grows up as an orphan and experiences danger and housing/food insecurity

*I voluntarily read and listened to an advance review copy of this book*

The Hurricane Wars is a similar premise to other fantasy novels in that two countries are at war, a person comes along who has the ability to change the tide of the war, and a romantic love interest is on the opposing side. This novel has been getting quite a bit of buzz so I was pleased to receive an audio ARC to pass the buzz along early.

Unfortunately, this novel did not live up to the hype for me. While it definitely had enemies-to-lovers vibes, they never left the enemies status long enough for this book to feel like a romance. The world building was very rushed, I didn't understand the magic system as much as I liked, though I liked the ideas of the fighter planes that they used, and I wished for more descriptions of the difference in culture between the kingdoms.

The plot points in the novel were also fairly easy to predict, and so it made the reading experience rather dull. I had no feelings of gratification as each plot point I had predicted occurred. The characters were developed okay, they had relevant backstories and there were not too many characters, I also liked the names, but it felt a little cookie-cutter; unfortunately, I cannot give examples of these as they would reach spoiler territory.

The explicit scene in this book was pretty good. I wish there had been more of them and sooner.

For fanfiction, this would have been quite good, but as a published novel, unfortunately this feels amateurish.

I LOVED listening to the audiobook for The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon. It was so entertaining and the story kept me so enthralled. I cannot wait for everyone to pick up this book and audiobook because it's definitely worth it. The narrator was exactly what this book needed and I cannot wait listen to the rest of the series. I'm so sure that everyone is going to be talking about the Hurricane Wars come October and I'm so excited.

Enemies become betrothed when one finds her family and they turn out to be royalty. Two warriors, two kingdoms, only one will win in the end. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

2.5 stars

I have nothing against the narrator, but I don't personally feel they were suitable for the book. The struggle to follow along came from a compilation of their choice of portraying the story/characters & the writing itself.

I have heard nothing but amazing things about this book and was desperate to read it. Everything seemed great from what I heard from reviews & the marketing, but it lacked what I expected. I felt the writing at times to be ... less than I thought. I'm not saying it's terrible writing, but from what I was thinking, it didn't reach the level of writing I expected. It was very rushed and hit with certain moments but lacked build-up in the right areas.

I also didn't care about the main characters. Whether due to the narration or the writing style/choice of character progression OR BOTH, I did not connect or desire to stay tuned to what they were saying or thinking etc.

Sadly, it was a miss for me.

Overall the book was good. The start of the story was hard to follow on audio when it drops you into the middle of the action but eventually I caught up with all the political moving pieces. I thought Syquia made the FMC too whiny for what the author was trying to go for. I didn't care for her overall narration voice but her character voices were pretty good. The cliff hanger it ended on was pretty steep. I didn't realize that would be the end until the music started playing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for this ALC. All opinions are my own.

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon should be on your radar if you love romantasy. What an amazing debut by this author!

This book has such an interesting fantasy world, and I’m excited to learn even more in future books. The characters’ powers were cool, and I’m intrigued by the politics so far.

The tension between the main characters!!! I am so excited to see how this continues in future books because the slow build in this book was amazing.

I loved how well the author was able to get my emotions all over the place. One moment I was devastated, and the next I was laughing out loud.

I highly recommend this book!

Also, the narrator for the audiobook is great as well. If you listen to the audio, I would recommend having a print or digital copy to reference if you want to know how to spell the different names because I have no idea based off the audio (which just shows how well the narrator was able to pronounce names).

So this one is a tough one to review.
I did wind up enjoying it okay... but... it definitely felt much more YA than adult (save for one racy scene) and managed to employ several well used tropes.

Poor orphan girl has special powers to save her country/friends? Check.
Poor orphan girl finds our about her family and that also gives her power? Check
Enemies to lovers? Check
Political marriage? Check

So our enemies to lovers, Alaric and Talasyn have to work together, after being on opposite sides of the Hurricane war, in order to combine their opposing powers (darkness and light) to prevent a potentially cataclysmic event. And while they so, because of course Talasyn needs Alaric to help her learn to properly use her powers, they fight, they flirt, they deny their feelings.....
In the end end I felt like I had read this book a hundred times before, and there simply wasn't anything particularly unique enough to make it stand out. It wasn't a bad book by any means, but I've been there, read that.

Thank you to netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I made it to almost 30% and unfortunately this book has not grabbed me. I’ve slowly become less interested during the last 5% that I read and I think that it’s for a few reasons: I’m not sure what the hook is here, this feels more YA than Adult, and the war and the magic are kind of confusing.

When I start feeling like this while reading, I usually go and check other reviews to see if it’s a me problem or if it’s something other readers have felt too and it turns out that I’m not alone. I also agree with other reviewers that lumping this book in with RF Kuang as a book I’d enjoy reading did not set up my expectations correctly.

Also are the hurricanes literal or metaphorical? So far that hasn’t been addressed to my knowledge.

This was a fast-paced fantasy with excellent world-building building with a forced proximity romance. This has the makings of a great series.

The narration was fantastic.

In the midst of the unending Hurricane Wars, Talasyn, an orphan with hidden light magic, and Prince Alaric, the emperor's formidable son wielding Shadow magic, clash on the battlefield. Their merging powers unleash an unprecedented force, forcing them into an uneasy alliance. As they grapple with the secrets behind the war, they discover a fiery passion within each other that may hold the key to saving or dooming their world in the face of a looming, greater threat.

The Hurricane Wars is an enchanting blend of fantasy, romance, and political intrigue. The writing is undeniably beautiful, and the world-building is nothing short of incredible. Guanzon crafts a magic system and political dynamics that are thoroughly engaging and the highlight of the story. Alaric and Talasyn, the main characters, were remarkably likable and brimming with undeniable chemistry. The slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance between our MCs felt authentic, and I appreciate that there is a reluctance between them because of their shared past. With dragons and a variety of mythical creatures, the book offered a delightful escapade into a really unique world that is part fantasy and part sci-fi.

On the downside, as someone who typically doesn't gravitate towards sci-fi, I struggled to fully immerse myself in the beginning of the story. Despite the complexity of the world and the characters' adult ages, the tone leaned more YA, which occasionally felt at odds with the narrative. I also found the first half of the book to be quite dense and somewhat confusing, which initially made it hard for me to want to pick up. For those willing to invest the time, "The Hurricane Wars" offers a fantastic foundation for a new fantasy series. I look forward to the sequel, and I'll likely reread when it's officially released!