I DNFd this book at the 75% mark. Book one was fantastic! A great start to a Romantasy trilogy but this book fell flat. The main protagonist, Arwen, became unlikable and immature in ways she was not in book one. It was promoted that the book relied heavily on certain tropes and it did not deliver. There was little to no groveling from the MMC and the spice was not as spicy as promoted. I quickly lost interest in the story and characters. The adventure aspect of the book was also subpar and in the end turned out to be unnecessary. I was left with no desire to continue with the series.

I absolutely loved A Dawn of Onyx and while this book was missing a bit of that first book magic, I did truly enjoy this sequel.

What worked for me:
-Kane is an outstanding MMC. Him fighting for what he wanted? love to see it.
-I loved seeing new parts of this world; I think it's smart and creative and really fun to experience as a reader when you are with the same characters over and over couple books.
-there is a character we meet again in this book who showed their true colors, and the tension was PALPABLE.

What didn't work for me:
-there were several parts of this book that felt a bit slow, and repetitive. Our MC's are dealing with deep, life altering issues, which is a challenge. But the inner dialogue felt a bit of a slog occasionally.

✨what you’ll find
-enemies to lovers to enemies
-a rival love interest
-tension & banter
-a prophesy (that no one really wants to fulfill)
-pining 😍
-a cliffy (!!!)
-found family
-endearing side characters
-long awaited 🌶️

🤍would recommend to fans of: slow burn, serpent and the wings of night duology, Damon Salvatore (trust me)
This is a true sequel book, and must be read after reading A Dawn of Onyx for context and story continuation.

As sequels go “A Promise of Peridot” was actually a pretty great one! It didn’t suffer from second book syndrome and I think, for me as a reader, it worked even better than the first instalment. There are plenty of reasons why this book felt like a step up from “A Dawn of Onyx”, one the simple fact that we got to see more of the world-building and the other side characters! In this book Kate Golden didn’t just take the time to show us more of the “Sacred Stones” universe but also made a real effort to flesh out her characters and I’m extremely glad about that! It was one of the things I wanted after reading the first book and since my wish was fulfilled, I ended up being a happy camper.

Arwen our MC and Kane, aren’t very happy at the beginning of the book, though, and this is shown pretty clearly by the way they try to avoid each other while they are on the same ship. After the ending of the first book Arwen is forced to deal with all the revelations that were thrown at her and their long sea journey would have been perfect to sort through her feelings. Unfortunately, our FMC is in denial and doesn’t want to acknowledge her role in the big game, which is to say she refuses to think about the fact that she’s the full-blooded Fae who is supposed to bring down Lazarus.

I could understand where she was coming from and why she didn’t want to think about it. Hell, I could even understand why she didn’t want to talk to Kane. At some point her avoidance started to be annoying, though, and this was so realistic that it didn’t only feel relatable but also quite logical. I mean if you find out a terrifying truth like that, it’s only human to shut your feelings down and to try to make it from one day to the next. Which is exactly what Arwen does for most of the book. To the annoyance of pretty much everyone who is on her side. Kane, Griffin, Mari and Dagan included. The good thing is, Arwen IS sorting out her feelings eventually. It just takes some time, a little adventure; some life-threatening moments and another love interest that makes her realize what she truly wants. Which brings me right to one of the main reasons that caused me to give this a little bit of a lower rating:

I’m not a huge fan of love triangles, especially not when they are only used as a tool to make the main character realize that they are actually in love with the other MC. Prince Fedrik who got introduced in this book was exactly that kind of side character and I personally think he deserved better than that. He seemed to be a decent guy (or at least the things we saw of him were decent) and there was a lot more to him than initially met the eye. I’m still not sure if he’s all rainbow and sunshine, mostly because I’m a very sceptical person and think that he was too good to be true, but from what I saw of him he genuinely seems to care about Arwen and so far he didn’t give me any reason to doubt his intentions. But who knows? Maybe the third book will change my opinion of Fedrik? With Kate Golden you never know, which is one of the things I love most about her books.

I mean as we already established the author uses some typical romantasy tropes, but also always manages to give them a kind of unique spin. Case in point: Fedrik wants what’s best for Arwen and accepts her decisions. He’s not trying to win her over the way other love interests would have done, which was extremely refreshing. The tension here comes from Arwen trying to act differently, than she actually feels and not from the two love-interests fighting each other tooth and nail to get her love and attention. Both of them give her room to explore her own feelings and try not to interfere. So kudos to those two men keeping things fair even though Kane is still a jealous fool. *lol* And speaking of jealous fools: Griffin is almost as bad as Kane in this one.

I swear Mari’s and Griffin’s relationship was killing me in this book. Almost as much as Arwen’s and Kane’s so that says a lot about how this side character couple took over the stage. I really liked that their connection got some room to be explored as well and I genuinely hope that they’ll sort things out in the next book because to read about them is pure torture. As was the way things turned out between Arwen and Mari. In the first book we got to see some bestie moments but in this one we dug deeper and their friendships is on rocky ground. What I really liked was that the conflict between them had time to grow and to boil over, because usually it are the little things that sum up into something huge that can’t be ignored any longer. And this was exactly what happened in here.

I’m not gonna lie, the moment it all escalated hurt, but I think it deepened their friendship and made their connection stronger in the end. The same can be said about Arwen’s epiphany and I think this scene was so rewarding. The character growth and all the character arcs were done so well in here, and I really liked how the MCs were able to draw their own conclusions and made their decisions based on them. They all came such a long way from the first book and it was nice to follow their journey. Also Arwen realizing that she’s actually a badass was one of my favourite scenes. XD

And because I have to mention it here: Kane’s POV added a lot to my enjoyment of this second book! I always like to see the other MCs perspective and to get his point of view gave a lot of insight into the plot we didn’t have before. Since Arwen is new to his world she was rather clueless about everything that happened around her and Kane’s outlook on things definitely helped to understand the world a little bit better. It also helped to get a grasp on his feelings for Arwen, which were more than just a little intense. You might say we got a front row seat at how difficult it was for him to keep his distance and to let her live her own life. Their chemistry was definitely off the charts and there were quite a couple of scenes, in which their attraction took over and everything got a little bit spicy and heated. Considering “A Promise of Peridot” is a romantasy this was to be expected, though. ;-)

Another thing I really liked was how suspenseful the story turned out to be! The reader gets to see more of the world our MCs live in and we explore it by looking for the mysterious Blade of the Sun. To say the search for this powerful weapon was exciting would be an understatement and at times this book felt like a big adventure story. I don’t know if this worked for other readers as well, but it definitely worked for me. And if we’re already talking about the things that worked, we might as well address the ones that didn’t.

Aside of the unnecessary love triangle there weren’t a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way, but the fact that Arwen always looked at Kane and described him as “masculine” was kinda annoying. We get it, Kane has a “masculine jaw” and a “masculine frame” and emanates “masculine energy” and I don’t know what else. This kinda irked me at the beginning of the book, but thankfully, it got better after a while. Still, the first couple of chapters were driving me a little bit crazy because of the frequent use of the word. Also I didn’t like the ending and the kind of direction it took because ugh! It’s really such a typical trope, I don’t like it, and it gives me the ick. I honestly hope Kate Golden will find a way out of this dead end right at the beginning of the third book because I don’t think I can stomach another book that makes use of this trope…

All things considered, “A Promise of Peridot” was a suspenseful surprise and I enjoyed it even more than the first book. I really liked the strong mixture of adventure, romance and self-discovery as well as the MCs development and character arcs. There was so much to enjoy about this story and I really wish Prince Fedrik had been just a new addition to the cast instead of another love interest. That’s just my subjective opinion, though, and I’m sure a lot of other readers saw it differently than me. This said, I’m very curious about the last book and how Kate Golden is going to end her trilogy and I’ll definitely make sure to pick up “A Reign of Rose” soon!

I’m so happy I was able to be an ARC reader again for this series! I loved this book as much or more than book one.

And just like my first review I kind of hate Kate right now because I need book 3!

(Forgot to review on here, my goodreads review from 2023)

LOVED!! This series is fantastic and gets better with every book. Kate Golden is a genius! I adore the romance, how badass the FMC is and the complexity of the character growth.

Pacing was a little off which makes the storyline feel like it is suffering from second book syndrome and borderline plotless. That said, I am looking forward to Arwen growing into her own more in Book 3

I did not love this one as much as the first one and I do not think i will read the final book. Thank you to Negalley for sending me an ARC. I really appreciate it.

“If I never try to have her, I never have to lose her.”

I have been so lucky to be an ARC reader for both A Dawn of Onyx AND A Promise of Peridot. I am so invested in this story and I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel. I cannot wait for the third book to come out at the end of this year!

What can I even say about APOP? The banter and fighting, as well as the tension between Kane and Arwen was so well done! I loved the addition of Fedrik - he was giving major flirty Nikolai Lantsov vibes and I was loving it!!

I love how jealous and protective Griffin was over Mairi. I’ve been shipping them since book one and I was so happy to get more of their interactions.

That cliffhanger broke me and I will not recover until book 3 is out, thanks Kate!

Things I loved:
⚔️ Prophecies
⚔️ On the brink of war
⚔️ Romantasy trilogy
⚔️ Dual POV
⚔️ KANE!
⚔️ World building and magic

If you like romantasies with plot, spice, lovable characters, and prophecies, this book is for you!

“I’m in love with you. Desperately so. The way those sailors lost at sea love the bird that guides them home.”

So far this series is a fun romantasy that will definitely satisfy if you're in the mood for heavy romance and light plot/fantasy. Even though there is so much going on in this world and the worldbuilding actually feels decent, it's often overshadowed by overwhelmingly horny inner monologues.

The cliffhanger has me excited to continue the story though and I'm not even mad about it.

This book has magic, dragons, found family, enemies to lovers, and so much more! Of course there is also spice! I absolutely appreciate the banter in this book and I also love the adventure in this book! I’m still in love with the same characters in the previous book and will definitely be continuing the series! There were moments where I absolutely felt so many emotions, but I was still left with tremendous curiosity ! Such a good read!

The second book in The Sacred Stones series, A PROMISE OF PERIDOT was the cure to my romantasy craving I’ve been having for weeks since I finished Fourth Wing.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-Romance + Fantasy
-found family
-all the angst!
-dual POV

*many thanks to Berkley Romance, prh audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

This series is so underrated!!! I loved Dawn of Onyx and was so excited to pick up the second book in this series. I feel like this one was a little bit more difficult for me to get into, but I was very hooked by the end. I was SO happy for the dual POV. This one was much stronger with world building, which I felt was lacking a bit in the first. The cliffhanger has me UNWELL.

Dawn of Onyx, the first book in this series left me frantically needing to see where the series was headed. In this cecond book in the series, Arwen is finally coming to terms with her powers and is reeling after the loss of her mother. She blames Kane and is unsure if she can ever forgive him but he is willing to give his life to protect her. They know that they must work together to find the Blade of the Sun to kill the Fae King, Lazarus.
As Arwen and Kane navigate the task, it becomes harder for Arwen to separate her feelings of anger and hatred from the love she feels as well. I could not put this second book down and cannot wait for the epic conclusion!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Oh my gosh I have so many feelings! I did like the first one better, but this one had me hooked from the beginning and kept me hooked the entire time! I love Arwen and Kane!

A Promise of Peridot
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I would have to walk through the world, for the rest of my life, decade after decade, with this nagging, aching, festering love spooling around my heart and yanking it in her direction.”

Thanks so much to @berkleyromance for the free book! #BerkleyPartner #Berkley

This is the second book of The Sacred Stones Series! I was obsessed with the first book and couldn’t resist diving into the second one.
The conflict grows more complex in this book, and you really see the fantasy side of the series increase.
Once again I will tell you how obsessed I was with the enemies-to-lovers romance in this one! THE BANTER!!! OMG!!! I adore them together they are so perfect! There was so much tension and after the slow burn from the first book, the romance was worth waiting for. All of the MMC's jealously problems were just so entertaining.
You see a lot more adventures in this book, a lot more conflict, and lots of trying to solve the prophecy. When I read fantasy books I’m always reading it for the romance, not the conflict LOL, but I still enjoyed this book a lot.
This did NOT end how I wanted it to. I never saw it coming and it made me a bit upset, but I guess I’ll just have to see what happens in the third and final book. I was truly shocked.
This is a great series for romantasy lovers, especially for those who love the ACOTAR series.

Read If You Like:
💎dual POV! (book one is single)
💎fae, dragons, witches, and more!!!
💎jealous MMC
💎enemies to lovers
💎touch her and d!e

Be still my heart and bless Kate for making this book a dual POV. I loved reading about Kane and Arwen dancing around each other as they dealt with their complicated circumstances and feelings.

Arwen’s struggle with her fate and her mental health because of it was genuinely heartbreaking. It was so hard to read how her friends and family all felt her giving up and didn’t know how to snap her out of it. It kept the story moving and kept me emotionally invested the entire time.

The entire treasure hunt with the Indiana Jones-esque traps was so much fun to read. I loved how Arwen learned to use her magic. I HATE her ex from her village and his betrayal. I screamed and raged on her behalf, but I love how she saved herself in the end.

The story was a bit slower paced than book 1, which made it a little harder to binge read (book 1 was VERY bingeable), but overall I enjoyed it! I cannot wait to read what happens in the third and final installment of this trilogy.

What we have in this book is a rare occurrence for me! A Promise of Peridot is the second book in Kate Golden’s The Sacred Stones trilogy and I LIKED IT BETTER THAN THE FIRST! It was phenomenal from start to finish. If you enjoyed Dawn of Onyx, don’t make the same mistake I did and not pick up this one right away.

This story is high stakes from beginning to end. We pick up with our ragtag group right where we left them. Buckle up friends because this one is a RIDE! There’s adventure, character growth, and some twists and turns in this story that I didn't see coming. I was HOOKED!

This was the perfect stepping stone of a book to help our characters get to where they need to be with an ending that has me begging for more. I know in my heart the next, and last, book in this series is going to wreck me in the best way.

If you enjoy Romantasy in any form, don’t pass on this series. It has everything we all love, wrapped up in a story that will have you completely invested.

I LOVED A Dawn of Onyx, and I was really excited to read A Promise of Peridot! The cliffhanger at the end of the last book was intense, so I couldn't wait to see where the story was going. However, once I started, I realized that I had forgotten quite a bit of the back story and lore, and I really needed a reread to keep everything straight. I'm going to table this one for now until I have a chance to refresh myself, but I can still say that the excellent writing, banter, and character development were there in what I read (about 30% of the book).

This book was honestly boring and I'm so over trying to force myself to finish it. I dnfed at 60% and will not be continuing. Thank you for the opportunity.