The first 10-15% I found a little predictable. But around 20% the plot really sucks you in and then it's plot twist after plot twist. I ended up devouring this so quickly. I need book 2 asap please and thank you

This book captured me from the moment I started listening. I just knew I was in for a wonderful treat. A Court this Cruel and Lovely did not disappoint. From the world building, to the spicy romance, to the action, to the amazing conflict I was completely engrossed in listening to this book I did not want to stop. Ever. It was a little slow through the middle but the author had to really build the world.
Prisca was a fantastic character. Brave. Strong. Caring. She was a survivor through and through. I loved Lorian. He was mysterious, definitely caring and cutthroat all at the same time. I love the twist at the end. I can't wait until the next book. I thought the female narrator did a fantastic job. I wasn't as big of a fan of Lorian's voice, but I grew used to it. Both narrators did a great job of bringing this book to life. Huge thanks to Netgalley and the audiobook publisher for allowing me to listen and review this book.

A Court This Cruel and Lovely…. OMG! 🤩
Good Lord, I love a good fantasy slow burn romance, and it’s always 100% better in an audio version with a good male narrator.
Told from two POV, Presca and Lorian have that enemies to lovers trope all wrapped up. The two narrators (male and female) did a great job of capturing each character.

If you loved ACOTAR, you’ll love this! Now just sad I have to wait for Book 2!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape media for this audio version in exchange for my honest opinion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: 24 October 2023

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC of A Court This Cruel and Lovely.

I really, really enjoyed this book!

Magic, fae, corrupt royalty, it's got everything I love in a fantasy novel.

The magic in this book was really great, and the protagonists time stopping magic was really unique and fresh to the genre.

I'm really excited to move on to book 2!

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I start a fantasy series that hasn’t even been finished yet? They always leave you on a cliffhanger that has you itching to find out what happens next!!

Our girl Prisca had a lot to overcome while trying to protect her friends and family. There was plenty of action and adventure to keep the story flowing quickly and, other than a bit of a backstory around the magic, there wasn’t overly complex world building that you had to wrap your head around before you could start enjoying the story. Which is great for people like me who normally struggle with the first few chapters of a fantasy while they roll out an info dump that I won’t remember and detail of when the chapter finishes.

A Court this Cruel and Lovely is a slow burn, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one horse, grumpy warriors that are actually big softies story about fae, magic and rulers who deserve to get a hot poker through the eye. It’s got all the tropes you want and love in a romantasy. The twists and turns were comfortably predictable but it it didn’t make me want to read the next book any less.

Thanks to #NetGallery and the publisher. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: Romance/Fantasy
Format: Audio
POV: Dual
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5
Age suggestion: 18+

I feel like I've just stumbled upon the next big tiktok sensation. This book has all the major tropes and hits the most popular plot points, and despite not being the world's most original new romantasy novel, it was highly enjoyable. The female main character Pris was likable (not always a given in the genre), and the world building was just enough to keep me engaged but not overwhelmed. Would recommend for fans of Fourth Wing, From Blood & Ash, and ACOTAR 3.5⭐️ for a bit of pacing issues in the middle, but a great start to a series.

While some parts of this book were fairly predictable, I enjoyed this book overall. I enjoyed the character development of Prisca throughout the entire time. I loved that even by the end of it, there was so much mystery and edge about what was to happen. The little secret about Prisca at the end that was revealed actually did have me a bit gobsmacked because I didn't see it coming. And Lorian... just when you come to like and trust him, he shows you why you shouldn't like or trust him😂 Which makes him all the more likeable. Truly a morally grey man to the bone. The author, Stacia Stark, really doesn't lie when she tells you think is a slow burn romance because I was BEGGING for more.

Onto the narrator bit of it, I adored Meg Sylvan as a narrator from the beginning. However, the mmc's narrator wasn't my favorite. Something about his voice didn't match the character Lorian presented.

A big thank you to Dreamscape and NetGalley for providing this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the first book in this exciting NA fantasy series! The narrators were great and easy to to listen to. This book was full of intriguing world building, secret magic and romance! There was lots of action and twist that had me on the edge of my seat! I really enjoyed the chemistry between Prisca and Lorian. After that ending, I can’t wait to read the next book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape media for this amazing audiobook!

A Court this Cruel and Lovely is an addictive fantasy romance for lovers of books like ACOTAR or Fourth Wing.
This book is action packed, full of secrets and mysterious story, with a loyal and smart heroine, brooding and overprotective males and a super interesting magic system.

At the beginning of the book the reader meets Prisca a girl from a poor northern village. She lives with her mother and brother and tries to get by trying to pay off the debt they gained trying to save her father from his sickness.
It's clear from the beginning, Prisca is keeping a secret from everyone (a part from her family), she has power in her, making her one of the corrupted children who's power the King didn't manage to control at birth.
She dreams about deep green eyes and one day, when she comes face to face with the eyes she knows so well in her dreams she is forced to make a pact with the mysterious and broody Lorien.

I really loved this audiobook. It was fast paced and never boring.
The FMC wasn't the I can do it all type. She surely had the attitude for it, but her powers are still developing and she needs help to do so. This I appreciate a lot in books. I find it difficult to read a story about someone who is already super powerful. Prisca grows a lot throughout the book and she needs all the people who surround her, like her brother and the mercenaries.

Lorien, the MMC, is mysterious, broody, overprotective, territorial, morally grey. So basically everything I search on a male lead.

I have to say that some of the plot twist were obvious and I saw them coming from page ten, but not for this they are less amazing.
This was an easy and super entertaining read and I really recommend it to everyone who loves fantasy romance books.

This book, one word… incredible. Magic, slow burn, enemies to lovers and secrets. If you liked A Court of Thorns and Roses, then this is THE book to read.

The dual POV was much appreciated for Laurien and Prisca’s characters. Prisca’s character growth was phenomenal. She starts off as a weak, weary girl and comes out the other end a strong, independent, woman you wouldn’t want to mess with. Laurien is broody, snarky and mysterious but he has so much charm you can’t help but call him your next book boyfriend. I can’t WAIT to dive into the next books in the series.

The narrators did an extraordinary job at capturing the character’s essence in this novel. Their voices were soothing and easy to listen to. I very much enjoyed the audiobook version of this book because of them.

I received this audiobook ARC via NetGalley and Dreamscape media in exchange for an honest review.

“You get to believe anything you want. Why would you choose to believe you will fail?”
Stacia Stark, A Court This Cruel & Lovely
…
Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape for letting me into this awesome world via a fantastic audio!! This is a no spoiler review on the audiobook of A Court This Cruel & Lovely.
…
Wow. This audiobook was something so unexpected! I truly loved this story and seeing our main character Priska grow into a woman page by page. This was a 5 star read, but it didn’t start off that way. The beginning was what you would call a beginning to build a story. I don’t believe I really got into it until around the 33% listening time, which is where she’s building her new found friendships with the mercenary group she travels with. I felt as if this travel time was awesome, and I THOUGHT the whole book would follow the group adventuring to the city… but man was I wrong. Around halfway, the story continues but in a different setting with new people, and it feels like a whole new book! This is where it got really good for me and I knew this was going to be a 5 star read. There’s action, adventure, romance, and an intriguing twist that you probably definitely saw coming (but it’s fantastic either way!!) Now, I’ve got to get my hands on book 2!!

I received an audio arc copy of this book and this is my honest review.

The audio did a great job. I always knew who was speaking and was able to get into the story. My only note is I feel like the narrator makes out FMC sound younger than she is.

So this a Romantasy that feels like home. It has all the classic aspects I love in this genre.

The characters are so well written.
Prisca is such a loyal character.
Lorain is so sexy and brooding.
This book has a good balance of romance, magic, humor, and plot.

I’m so excited to read the next book!

My only worry is there may be a hint of what I call “fourth wing syndrome.” Where there’s a big reveal at the end and our FMC cannot see the big picture because she’s she mad about an omission from the MMC.

*Spoiler*
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She finds out she is half fae in the book… at the end of the book it seems a little crazy she’s so against someone being a full fae.

Audiobook production thoughts: I enjoyed both narrators and was pleased with the quality of the audio.

This fantasy romance was well writing and exciting. I look forward to seeing where the story goes next. The world building was easy to understand and I'm a huge fan of Dual POV.

And of course this ends in a cliffhanger, but I've found book 2 is already out and available at my local library!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A Court This Cruel and Lovely is a N/A slow burn with a lot of steam! Prisca’s life is in jeopardy when her powers are discovered in her tiny village, but a deal with mercenary Lorian could save her: help him and his friends into the city and he’ll help her use her powers. I had a little trouble with this one. I liked Prisca a lot and I liked the unique powers, I just wanted a little more. The pacing felt on and off—there’s be large sections of slow-moving pace and some redundant language and then heavy action. And I just didn’t fully feel the chemistry of Lorian and Prince for a lot of it. I was rooting for them by the end but I did want more from them. I thought Prisca’s development was great though, she comes so far and I love the community of characters throughout. There’s a lot of interesting political intrigue too, and I think there’s a great foundation for the rest of the series here!

Let me start this ARC review by saying O M G this is hands down in my top 5 books of the year. I was BLOWN AWAY by how good this was, and I’m prepared to never shut up about it. Stacia Stark is a new to me author, and I requested an audiobook arc on NetGalley with only the synopsis to go off of and holy wow am I grateful I came upon this title! It has absolutely everything I love and more in new, inventive and exciting ways. The pacing was FLAWLESS including the slow burn build up. The world building was fleshed out so perfectly and never felt heavy handed or devoid of detail. This is really saying something because this book revolves around unpacking a world in rebellion and control after magic wars with the Fae. The King has a strict grip on magic users and the common people of this world face brutality at every turn. To be born with magic is a death sentence and there is nowhere to run. The stakes are so high, and they only get higher. It’s clear we’ve only scratched the surface of this world and that Stark has set up the perfect landscape for the next books to absolutely explode with action. The ending has me immediately looking for book 2, and 3 and ordering both because I will not sleep tonight just thinking about this ending. The gasp that came out of me could topple a building, and I loved every second!

Let’s talk characters in this dual POV. Our FMC is in some serious chaos from start to right now, and I am rooting for her with every fiber of my being. She is strong, fierce and has more heart than most people combined in her world. She’s willing to fight with anything she can get her hands on to save the ones she loves, and might just save the world on her road to accomplish this mission. The side characters? Equally root-for-able! We get a healthy helping of the endearing side quest heroes that you will give your heart to, and equal parts hate to love them characters that are deliciously infuriating in the best ways. Now don’t let us miss our mystery man from which actual dreams are made of! This MMC and our other POV is everything you’d want in a morally grey hulking brood master secret cinnamon roll! You will be up all night wondering is he or isn’t he the bad guy, and maybe WHO CARES IF HE IS! This guy will soon become your favorite walking red flag. The road to this duo clashing into each other like a tidal wave is paced to perfection and will have your toes curling and you saying just one more chapter because WILL THEY OR WONT THEY?! To put it simply, this book is unputdownable, and it deserves to be on every bookstagrammers radar immediately. You’ll be frantic to find out who is the true villain and is what we know even remotely the truth? It’s a fantastic suspense filled ride I am certainly not even remotely ready to step off of!

This is the series for you if you love Romantasy, found family, hidden powers, Fae, enemies to lovers to enemies, morally grey MMC, slow burn, touch her and die, spice (which I’m told ramps up in the next books but yall we get a good girl!) firecracker FMC, us vs the world and magical mystery!

Now for the audiobook, we get dual narration by seasoned and beloved narrators who you might recognize from countless other fantasy reads. They are both pros and I found their narration as faultless as this book! Great wide range of voices, distinctive characters, perfect execution of masculine and feminine voices and lots of emotion comes through. I couldn’t recommend this more with audio because it brings to life characters that are written with a lot of fire and spice! It’s a slam dunk for me and can’t wait to listen to book two with the same narrators.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape & Stacia Stark for the audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review

The whole last chapter I was in shock and gasping through most of it. There were so many secrets and I enjoyed every one that came out at the least favorable time.

I loved seeing Prisca's growth throughout the book. I enjoyed watching her angry and threats towards Lucian, but also seeing the comfort that he gave her.

I loved having Lorian's POV. But even with this POV he was still mysterious. Loved the letters between him and his brother. Loved the banter.

Meg and Tim did a wonderful job narrating this book. I loved having it be dual narration. I could really feel the feelings the characters were feeling as expressed by Meg and Tim.

# A Court This Cruel and Lovely

★★★★★ - audiobook 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark
Book 1 - **Kingdom of Lies**
༘Spoiler free ༘

🎙️⭐️5/5 *audiobook rating
📖⭐️ 4.1/5 *book rating
🌟 4.6/5 *combined rating
🌶️🌶️🌶️ (3 detailed scenes)
New Adult, Fantasy, Romantasy
Dual POV Narration
🎙️ Tim Paige 5⭐️
🎙️ Meg Sylvan 5⭐️

➳ 🐎One Horse/ 🛏️One Bed Trope
➳ ⛈️Grumpy Mentor
➳ Forbidden Magic
➳ 🧚🏼Fae
➳ 💕Found Family
➳ ⚔️Rebellion
➳ ❤️‍🔥Slow Burn
➳ 🎭Secret Identity
➳ Forced Proximity

✨ “𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚. 𝘽𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠…𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢.“ ✨
This was the perfect example of an audiobook giving the story the extra oomph it needs to transcend the normal reading experience. If you’re a fan of fae, forbidden magic, and slow burn romantasy, this audiobook is for you.

🎧Narration Review🎧
“A Court This Cruel and Lovely” by Stacia Stark has been made into and audiobook and Dreamscape nailed the casting with Meg Sylvan as Prisca, and Tim Paige as Lorian. Both Meg Sylvan and Tim Paige do an excellent job creating voices that allow you to differentiate between characters, which is a place many narrators struggle.

Their reading style could best be described as smooth melodic and natural, which makes for a pleasant listen regardless of the speed you listen to the audiobook at. Sometimes, when listening to audiobooks at increased speeds the narrator’s voice can become grating, but Meg & Tim’s voices remained lovely.

The pacing of their narration was perfect, they didn’t speak too slowly when listening at normal speed, and they remained clear even at 2x speed.

Tim & Meg brought Prisca and Lorian to life. This audiobook felt as if you had two friends sitting beside you telling you a story and leaving you on the edge of your seat for more.

Dreamscape didn’t utilise any unique sound effects, or music when making this audiobook, but that didn’t detract from the quality. Instead, this choice allowed you to be fully immersed in the story, to feel truly a part of the character's inner dialogue and their journey.

📚📚📚
Book Focused Review:
In a world where magical power is sacrificed in infancy to the gods for protection from the fae, those who keep any remnant of power in secret are labelled corrupt and burned for their deception. When Prisca’s forbidden magic is exposed, she is forced to flee her cosy village and leave her family behind.
She crosses the path of Lorian, a heartless mercenary whose eyes she’s seen in her dreams for years. For safe passage and to learn how to wield her magic, she strikes a bargain with him in exchange for sneaking his mercenary friend’s into the city using her power.
What Prisca learns is more than what she bargained for, and the secrets Lorian has will change the fate of Prisca’s life, and her kingdom’s future.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

This book definitely nailed all of the familiar tropes in the romantasy genre. I would say that the romantic aspect really helps to carry the weight of this book, as the magic system isn’t delved into as much as i would usually prefer. This series seems to be a more Politics & Romance driven than Fantasy driven. Yes, the fantasy aspects are totally there it just isn’t the moving force of the book.
This was one of the few books where I was more interested in Lorian’s (MMC) story arc than Prisca’s (FMC) journey. This could be simply because there is more mystery behind Lorian’s character. *When listening to the audiobook i did find myself more interested in Prisca than I had initially been.*

I loved the relationships between the characters, and Stacia Stark definitely served the banter and tension I was looking for between the characters. I felt attached to the characters and grew to love them all when we saw Prisca’s journey with the whole crew of mercenaries. (If you enjoyed Claire Fraser’s travellings on the road with Jamie & Clan Mackenzie in Outlander you’re going to love Prisca’s journey with the mercenaries. It was giving the men brawling to protect Claire’s virtue in the best way.) The bonding that occurred on the road truly nailed the found family trope.

This journey had a number of big reveals, I personally felt like i suspected most of them early on as they felt a bit formulaic. The foreshadowing was absolutely there, it was just a bit too on the nose in this book. I would’ve preferred it be more subtly hinted at.

The pacing of the story itself definitely had some lulls, but I find that often happens when there is worldbuilding to be done in the first book of a series. I imagine it will be faster paced come the second book. There were fast paced parts, but there were also moments where i could easily put the book down and pick it up later.

The big reveals (there was more than one) at the end felt predictable, but i did enjoy how they were executed. The gist of what the plot twists were was easy to predict, but the details of it were carried out well.

I enjoyed the author’s writing style, it isn’t overly poetic prose but it feels as if you’re being told this story by real people. It’s clear and concise and not overly flowery by any means. The dialogue was written excellently, and the character’s inner thoughts absolutely matched up with their actions.

I’m curious to see where the next book takes us. I feel attached to the characters and i want to know where they end up. The characters truly carried this story and i’m interested to see the political mayhem that is about to unfold.

I would absolutely recommend this book to people looking for a romance focused political fantasy read. However, this is one of the books where I would suggest listening to the audiobook over reading the book because I found the audiobook helped with pacing and keeping me engaged.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

**Fantasy Scoring**
Worldbuilding ➷ ✅ 4/5 (i’d like to know more about the magic system)
Foreshadowing ➷ ✅ 3/5 was definitely there but i’d prefer it be less on the nose.
Plot ➷ ✅ 4.5/5 (I’m interested to see how the political & romantic aspects unfold in future books)
Relationships ➷ ✅ 5/5 (the relationships truly carried this story)

Thank you to the Author, Publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to provide my honest opinion on the ARC of this book.

“One day soon, you will have to make a choice. Be a torch for just one soul in the dark…or burn like the sun for all of them.”

So, lemme just say that because I'm a mood reader I often find that if I'm not immediately pulled into a book I won't stick around for long, I just don't have much patience. That was the case with this book for me originally. While I still found that there was a bit of a pacing issue, slow and a lot of internal dialogue and then fast with almost everything happening at once- I was still able to really enjoy the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Stacia Stark and Dreamscape Media for the ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.


Quick Synopsis


The day I meet him, the ruthless mercenary leaves me for dead.

Just hours after humans are born, the gods take what little power we have. In return, they protect our borders from the vicious, merciless fae.

The humans who manage to keep their power are known as the corrupt.

And they are burned.

When my forbidden power is discovered, I'm forced to flee my tiny village and the life I adore.

To survive, I make a desperate bargain with the mercenary who abandoned me at my weakest.

Our deal is simple: I'll help him and his mysterious friends sneak into the city. And he'll help me learn to wield the strange, dark power I've always kept hidden. The power that may just be the key to my survival.

But the ruthless mercenary is hiding secrets of his own. Secrets that threaten the safety of everyone I love. Secrets that could tear this kingdom-and perhaps even this world-apart.


✨Enemies to Lovers
✨Slow Burn Romance
✨Forced Proximity
✨One Horse
✨Found Family
✨Court/Political Intrigue

Alright, so I really enjoyed this book - I loved the world and the world building. It is a really strong start to a series, and there's promise of so much more to come that we have yet explored in this first novel. We spend a lot of time here in castles, inns, and villages which I love, the whole vibe is something I didn't even realize I was really missing - it's been a while I guess.

I loved Prisca our FMC- her development was great -flexible enough of a character to evolve from a small, hidden-away village girl to a woman who owns her power. Total feisty badass!

Our love interest Lorien is also a perfectly swoon-worthy. He can come across a little brutish at times but him being grumpy and morally gray makes for such great tension with our snarky, stabby , ballsy FMC. The enemies to lovers is *chefs kiss*

“I know what we're about to do. It doesn't change the fact that I want to strip that dress off you and see what I find beneath it."
"You'll find knives," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
His smile was dark - almost feral. "Wicked women are my weakness.”



There's a lot of side characters - but I never felt overwhelmed , there's many that are still a bit of a mystery to us this early on and I expect they'll be fleshed out more later on.

Total cliffhanger at the end that has me ready to jump into book 2.

I loved it. Such a Great world Stacia Stark Created. Full of magic, mystery and may-ham. Each character having a story of their own for good or bad. So many twist and turns in twined into each other. Then bringing it all together for an amazing ending of book 1. I can’t wait for book 2. As she leaves us on a huge cliff hanger, her two main characters. Who also I’m add just started finding their way through a Hate/Love relationship.

A Court This Cruel and Lovely is the first book in Stacia Stark's series Kingdom of Lies. While the print and digital version was released in March, I am reviewing this title as an audiobook ARC. The audiobook will be released later this October. This was my first time enjoying Stark's work, and I am thoroughly impressed!

What I loved:
- The characters were well-developed, and truths were revealed about the cast in a way that made my mind whirl. As soon as I thought I understood someone's motivations, things changed. I loved this approach to divulging character traits, and it kept me on my toes as I considered the whole cast.
- This title has so many tropes that I enjoyed! Only one horse, enemies to lovers (to enemies again?), hidden identities, found family, and forbidden/less-than-ideal-circumstances romance. These tropes were very enjoyable to read. If you love any of these tropes in any capacity, you'll enjoy how they are written here.
- The will-they-won't-they of the romance was SO fun!! I am a huge lover of slow burn romance, and the temptation and chemistry between the FMC and MMC was, for lack of better words, hot. The dual POVs to see how obsessed Lorian is with her was just incredible. I live for the pining! The payoff of waiting so long was worth it. I promise!
- I genuinely did not see the big reveals at the end! I knew there was some kind of information in the background that I, as the reader, didn't have access to during the main plot. I expected something shocking, but I was wrong LOL. I applaud Stark for the fresh twists - big Holly Black Cruel Prince energy tbh!
- The narrators were lovely. Both of the narrators perfectly portrayed Prisca and Lorian. I am so thankful I read this book in the audio format in stead of print!

Room for improvement:
- The book was very repetitive in the middle section, like 40-70% ish. The plot felt like the same few things on repeat until something about the circumstances outside of the main cast's control caused a shift. This section was monotonous, in all honesty, but not enough for me to stop reading. The slow pacing and plotting of this section is my only critique.

Overall, I enjoyed A Court This Cruel and Lovely quite a bit, so I am rating this title 4.5 out of 5 stars (rounding to 4 stars for the NetGalley rating scale). This title is perfect for fans of The Folk of the Air trilogy, A Court of Thorns and Roses, These Hollow Vows, and The Shadows Between Us.