This book fits perfectly in the cosy fantasy trend, making it a wonderful read for fans of Legends and Lattes.

Typically I have to go to middlegrade for my quest and adventure stories, and I'm not complaining, because I adore middlegrade, but it's really nice to have a version for adults. While a lot that happens in the book is quite brutal, the atmosphere always stays on the more comforting side, making this a really fun read.

It was especially nice to read about an already established relationship. Based on the synopsis, I was afraid we wouldn't really see them together much, but without wanting to give too much away, we did spend quite a lot of time with the couple. And besides that, there's an amazing cast of side characters teaming up together, which was just so fun to read about.

I would highly recommend this for your end of year TBR!

I received a free copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review

I kept hearing about this one at pitch events and I wanted to read it SO BADLY, I was thrilled to get an ARC and it did not disappoint. Your husband vanishes naturally you look for him but do you expect to find the undead and your ex-wife? Or unicorns? Complete Pageturning fun with a sweet romance at it’s core. Can we get an adaptation ASAP?

This was a fantasy adventure unlike any I've read before - it a great way. It very much gives DND vibes, but as someone who has never played and has only the vaguest pop culture understanding, I still loved this book and never felt like I wasn't included as an audience (despite I'm sure some references completely missing me).

The relationship between Bear and his husband Pie is beautiful and I want to read more and more about them, obsessively. While we spend the entire book with Bear the flashbacks of their love story made me very invested in their story and their relationship felt layered and intentional. The slew of side characters made this a memorable and fun book - lightening the heavy themes than if the book had just focused on Bear (and Pie). The world building was so well done and felt so natural to slip right into the story that by the end I didn't realize how ridiculous the story had gotten (in the best way).

While most people are describing it as cozy fantasy, I don't know that I feel that is the best fit - it is a very heartfelt book, but not the comforting cozy that I would expect with that tag. While taken as a whole I would say this book is fun and heartfelt, because the first half of the book Bear is in such a dark place I think people will be disappointed if they go in just for that vibe.

This was a cute read and I did enjoy it a lot. However I felt like there was something missing, there were parts of the world that we did not fully understand and different characters just felt flat.

To be quite honest, I made it about 30% into this book before I decided that it was not for me and that I was not going to invest my time in it any longer.

While the premise of the story caught my attention, the delivery was lackluster and nothing connected me to the characters or their relationships with one another. The world building left much to be desired.

I'm quite disappointed in this title.

What a lovely and cute fantasy! I loved the atmosphere, the heartwarming story and the lovely characters.
Sometimes you need to read some soft fantasy to smile.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A heartwarming, cozy fantasy with found family and queer romance that just had me giggling the whole time

I really loved the sound of this book, and the cover is gorgeous, but something about the characters and the world-building felt a bit flat and two-dimensional. There was so much here that, objectively, I love, so I would probably still suggest this to readers with similar tastes, but something just failed to click.

I liked this fine but didn’t love it. I wish there was more world building and that we knew more about the villain. He was so removed from the story that I didn’t really feel the danger or care about it. Without the world building I wasn’t connected to the magic system so I didn’t care how the villain that I knew nothing about was planning to use it. This made the story feel a lot longer than it needed to be. I did like Pie and the side characters a lot and their quirks were fun but I did not care for Logan (the main character) which was a bummer. How the king became the villain felt so improbable and a lot of the saves felt nonsensical. They’ll be in trouble and someone is passed out and they’re about to die and then by unbelievable or weak circumstances they’re just saved. There kept being attacks and then saves and it felt like the author was just checking those items off at each location our characters visited. So after the third round of these actions I didn’t feel like anything was an actual threat anymore because I knew it would just happen all over again. Without the stakes those action scenes felt boring. The ending was so abrupt and then everyone just parted ways. Everything just felt very surface level for me 😭 But it was cute? Idk.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Sadly, I ended up DNFing it at 25%.

Sexual harassment isn’t cute and quirky, sorry.
I had high hopes for this one because it sounded so good and the plot was very promising, but the characters made it impossible for me to finish this book.
The MMC and his ex-wife were both a bit insufferable, and their banter was just… not good.
But worst of all was the countess who ended up being the reason I DNFed. She was constantly hitting on the MMC, making innuendos about both him and his husband, tried to get close to him,… It was so uncomfortable and if the roles were reversed, you know people would not find this behavior acceptable at all. I might have continued but sexual harassment like that is not something I want in my cozy fantasy, or ever.

I think there was potential and I did find the plot intriguing, but I just couldn't bring myself to finish it.

This was so fun and perfect for the current trend of DND-esque fantasy. I do feel like "cozy" isn't quite the term to use here - there's definitely high stakes for both characters and the world, there's lots of adventuring - but there's a lot of heart. There's been a big trend of this lately, of books and fantasy in particular, taking a very informal tone - none of these stereotypes of other races or fantasy having to be stuffy and destinies, but a lot more characters joking around, talking about nicknames they have for their goats, running into ex-wives and getting along. The sort of very approachable fantasy that you get around a table of friends. That's the vibe here - the stakes are high, there's a lot of death, but at the core of it all are characters that genuinely care about each other and just want to have a good future. You really feel like you know them, you feel like you know the world, and you feel like you could step into that world.

I also really loved that Logan and Pie had to do a lot of communicating - Ophelia's comment after one of their fights that both of them were shouting "I love you more" louder was excellent. I'd love to see more in this world, even if not with these characters (let Pie and Logan have their garden!).

Til Death Do Us Bard by Rose Black is a cosy romantasy featuring warrior Logan ‘The Bear’ Theaker and his husband Pie, a bard. A year ago Logan gave up his life on the road to settle down with Pie in their cottage with their goats and pig. He has everything he ever wanted, and he couldn’t be happier until a trip away leads to Pie’s disappearance.

Desperate to find out whether his husband is alive, he finds a necromancer to contact the spirit realm. Logan gets more than he bargains for; the necromancer is a wily old woman he has a past with, and the spirit she summons is his ex-wife who is not happy with him! The good news is that Pie is alive, but Logan has no idea where he is or what has happened to his husband.

With the necromancer, the countess, and his ex-wife, Ophelia, Logan embarks on the most important adventure of his life to bring his husband back home. What he doesn’t expect is to find out that his husband has kept secrets hidden from him, secrets that have led to Pie getting kidnapped. Someone powerful wants Pie to find an artifact, one that has the power to raise an undead army.

The entire kingdom will be at risk if such an artifact falls into the wrong hands and soon Logan’s mission to find his husband becomes a whole lot more complicated.

I enjoyedTil Death Do Us Bard, and it’s a fun read with some great comedic moments. Black excels at witty banter, and delivers some brilliant one liners. There are some serious moments alongside the lighthearted ones, with Black tackling topics of grief and trauma with care.

This is an easy and enjoyable read, however, if you’re expecting an epic fantasy adventure then you’ll be disappointed. There are noticeable overtones of tabletop role playing (TTRPG), some of which play to the strengths of the novel whereas other times it does the opposite. The overall plot of the novel is not particularly strong, and quite predictable. Til Death Do Us is definitely worth checking out, but it’s strengths are not in the main plot in my personal opinion.

They lie in the character creation and the relationships between those characters as they develop on the page. My personal favourite was the countess, who was an absolute hoot. While other characters were interesting and amusing, it was the countess that sold the show for me. Logan and Pie’s story was great, but I would have been quite happy to have a whole book about the countess instead.

I was a tad disappointed byTil Death Do Us Bard, but overall I enjoyed it and got some good laughs from it. I definitely appreciated Black’s dark humour, such as the names of Logan and Pie’s animals. Plus any books with necromancers are always a plus with me!

Let's be honest here for a second: The reason why I, personally, but probably a lot of us readers picked this book up is the title. This title is simply perfection and very effective. So after I was lured in by the perfect title, I read the description and it sounded like so much fun! Exciting, cozy and focused on characters beyond their twenties, already in an established relationship. I was really intrigued and was looking forward to reading it.

Well, let's say, this turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag. It's obvious that the author was having a lot of fun with these characters and their story, and there's a lot of cozy humour and love in those pages. I quite liked our central couple, warrior Logan and bard Pie, and their love for each other is absolutely endearing. There are also some fun ideas a long the way, with unicorns and spellcasters and necromancers galore. But honestly... I guess I found the execution a bit lacking?

I have now seen this book described as Witcher fanfiction about Geralt and Dandelion, and I can see where these descriptions come from but also noone should expect them to be true. The only thing they have in common is the fact that the warrior slays monsters and is considered "grumpy" and the bard is pretty and good with words and also involved in crimey things. I found the whole world building severely lacking and couldn't picture the setting in my mind at all. We learn very little about this world, and while yes, this is definitely not a lore-focused story and doesn't have to be, I do need to be able to imagine the world the characters are interacting with in order to get invested in their story. This didn't happen here.
The story in general is very fast-paced and kind of hectic, often coming off as more surface level, superficial, instead of taking its time to explore the generally interesting aspects of the story. Everything happens fast, some of it off page, so in the end I just didn't really care.
My main gripe though are the characters. For one, because the author doesn't really take time to set up some of these characters, I just didn't care for most of them. The main antagonist was so underdeveloped, most of his big important story reveals coming way too late, that I wasn't invested in our characters bringing him down at all. Logan - our warrior protagonist - has a lot of emotional baggage and issues, but most of it is being said instead of being explored through his experiences. I felt for him, but not enough to make him memorable in any way. Pie, his bard husband, is a pretty stereotypical bard all around. He's fun and cute and I liked the more tragic aspect of his backstory. What really threw me off about them is the fact that they are supposed to be, if my memory serves me right, 42 and 37 years old. They do not act like it most of the time. This could have been a YA or NA couple.
The side characters were....... well. Some are okay but entirely forgettable (Gary, Seraphina), some could have been great but were butchered by their nonsensical, super weird ending (Ophelia) and one was just written in a way that honestly almost ruined the entire book for me.
Yes, it's the countess. I cannot believe the author wrote her the way she did and the editors read her the way she was written and all of them said "yeah that's funny, that's good humour, people will love this!" Let's say it this way: Had her character been a man, he would have been either edited heavily or turned into a villainous figure. She is constantly sexually harassing ALL the men in their group, even the very young and inexperienced Gary, in the most uncomfortable way. No, this is not a flirty, promiscuous character having a little fun. This is an older, powerful woman using every opportunity to make sexual comments, ogle or grope the men around her, and it is not funny in the least. Logan is constantly uncomfortable with this, but he just accepts it after a while and hey, she's his friend now. Noone really tells her off, Pie even encourages this kind of behaviour and thinks it's funny. I honestly could not believe what I was reading. No amount of cute skeleton dogs and badass necromancy can make up for this level of creepiness. Absolutely terrible character, even though there is clearly potential to turn her into something, someone better.

So yeah. In the end, this was a pretty mediocre story with barely existent world-building and characters that are either okay, forgettable, or horrifying. I wanted to love this so much, but I couldn't. 2 stars.

This was a fun read and I really enjoyed it, I liked the characters especially Logan and Pie, they were perfect together and their relationship was so wholesome. I also liked the dynamic between them, Ophelia and the countess. It was an unusual grouping and I liked the fact that it wasn’t all sunshine. In fact, I really liked the darker elements of the storyline, necromancy seems to be quite popular these days.
This is definitely my new favourite genre.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

An adorable & cozy romance adventure. The queer low stakes/high fantasy genre is booming lately and I have been loving everything it’s putting out. We need more books like this!

This consists of a party going to search for one of its member’s husbands when he goes missing.

This is a quick read and easy to get through as well. I’ll be interested to read more from this author in the future!

I gave this 4 stars! It was beyond cute and funny and such a feel good story. A good range of different characters and the plot line was so cute and very original in my opinion. I absolutely loved the LGBTQ in this book and Logan and Pie warmed my heart! I need more!!

DNF at 20%

I wanted to love this book, the cover is stunning and it sounded like it would have similar vibes to another Fantasy book I've recently read.

In reality the characters are quite unlikeable and the story starts with the instant missing husband without giving us any prior backstory to the relationship.

There wasn't a lot of worldbuilding within the first 20% either.

So, I am in love with the concept of this book. How it's set up, the interpersonal relations and the character builds within the "cozy fantasy" world building setting I personally am picking up on. However, it is extremely challenging for me to read this pre-release copy. Some chapters feel like they're run on paragraphs. I wish someone had taken the time to edit the ARC so it was easier to read. As such, i'm ending the ARC attempt early and will look forward to the book when its released so I can reread it for an easier reading opportunity and enjoy the book to its fullest extent. Giving the book 4/5 stars with the hopes of editing the review later and republishing it online. Expected to be a 5 star book for me.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I did not like the writing style at all. Only got 10% into the book and was not liking any of the characters or the story. Conceptually this had potential but was not executed well in my opinion.

Thank you to Hodderscape for the digital ARC and Rose Black for the physical ARC!

TIL DEATH DO US BARD had me in a grip from the moment I saw the author pitching it on Twitter, and I've eagerly followed its journey to publication ever since. I loved the D&D vibes, the cozy found family vibes, and that the central relationship was influenced by Geralt and Jaskier from the Witcher. The actual book blew me away with all that and more, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to read it early.

This book is so sincere and so warm, balanced perfectly by heart-racing action moments. Logan, our main character, had a beautiful arc of learning what sacrifice and forgiveness can mean—and that vulnerability is what allows old wounds to heal. BARD shows that love and trust are ongoing exercises, and that no matter what age or stage of life you're in, it's never too late to change. The relationship between Logan and Pie is so touching and romantic and angsty and brilliant and soft. I wanted to live in this world with them. All of my fingers are crossed that we get a follow up novel or novella—the story is complete as a standalone, but I think there's so much more to keep exploring with these two.

TLDR: "it's like geraskier in the witcher if the showrunners weren't fucking cowards and geralt wasn't fuckign mean to jaskier. and also it's better"