4.5⭐️
I love this series! I can’t wait for book 3 after that Cliffhanger!
I would love to get more from Mari and Griffin, their story would be so good!
I really love the writing style, it’s so easy to read, highly recommend.

As a sequel to A Dawn of Onyx, this book immediately captivated my attention and pulled me in! This enemies to lovers romance featured so much angst, the tension was palpable. With so much action, new kingdoms, and character development, the series really draws you in. The quote “You matter more to me. More than revenge, redemption – anything.” had me SWOONING! I cannot wait to see what happens next in the series!

This whole series is going to be amazing. I loved the first book! And I was SO excited to get the ARC for book two! Idk what Kate puts in these books... but it is ADDICTING! If you love a great romantasy, enemies to lovers, slow burn and an AMAZING touch her you die, this one is for you.

𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤!

Sometimes with sequels, it’s hit or miss. But this one was a HIT for me! It was so much fun to read, there was so much action, I never got bored and the plot flowed perfectly.

One of my favorite parts was the world building. This may be one of the coolest fantasy worlds I’ve ever read about. The colorful and vibrant way the author describes the different kingdoms painted a beautiful picture in my mind and it was so much fun.

I also just loved all the friendship dynamics. Definitely some found family vibes happening. There was conflict, but it was all handled in a way that felt authentic to the characters and I really loved that. The relationship between the side characters is so cute, I was giggling so much.

And then there’s Arwen and Kane’s journey. Man, did I love it. The struggles that Arwen went through felt relatable and real. Her character growth was so perfectly executed and was routing for her the whole time 🥹 and Kane. Oh sweet baby Kane. The ultimate pained, self loathing MMC who is hopelessly in love and trying to be the bigger man (but not always succeeding 😏) the push and pull between him and Arwen and the way they (ok, mostly Arwen) tried to fight their feelings was a delicious dance that provided the perfect amount of tension and teasing before they finally, FINALLY gave in.

This was such a great continuation of the story, and I’m very nervous for what’s to come in book 3 😅 because that ending was insane.

Highly recommend this series!

I loved everything about this book! The world, the characters, the banter, the angst, etc. This book focused on Arwen and her struggle to accept who and what she is. Her emotions are confusing and understandably all over the place, sometimes affecting her relationships with her friends and family. The ending was an insane cliffhanger that made me wish I had the next book.

I am so in love with the series! I bought the first book a while ago and then when I received an e-galley I decided to check the series out and OHMYGOODNESS!! I’m mad I didn’t start it sooner but also so happy because I was able to read both back to back and the final book is also coming out this year! I’m awful with finishing long series that come out over the course of many years so this is the most ideal situation and the romance? The magic? 💯👌🏼 Perfectly done. As soon as I finished the first book, I made sure we ordered both for my library.

First off, the covers are gorgeous and will draw you right in and then the story will keep you from being able to put it down. The plot is so interesting, addictive & will keep you on your toes and the characters are lovable, relatable, and easy to root for. There are no characters I’m not intrigued by in this series. I love our heroine Arwen, she’s both soft and strong - a complete badass but doesn’t even realize it. And Kane! MY.GOD. The ultimate love interest, shadow daddy, fae royal who is obsessed with his woman and I ate it up. He’s in my top 5 fantasy book boyfriends, right next to Rhys & Xaden. All the fantasy/romantasy girlies will not be disappointed🥵 After our MCs, we have a bunch of great side characters, including Mari and Griffin, who definitely need their own books too because the tension? The love Griffin shows for her with like every single action? So good. I’m just as invested in them as Kane and Arwen honestly. Mari is a kickass witch and Griffin is a stoic (he really doesn't like showing emotions but also we all see them), loyal to a fault, protective warrior fae (also a great choice for a book boyfriend - just saying). I love Dagan and Fedrik was fun too, even Arwen's siblings are growing on me.

With this book, we get to see even more of the world the author has built and learn more of its history. I love the worldbuilding in this series and learning more about each of our main characters and what drives them. We get to meet more characters from Kane's past and see how Arwen comes to terms with the secrets that had been kept from her. There's a lot of emotion beyond lust and anger. We see Kane pining and the pain it causes him to have been part of the reason for Arwen's own pain. He just wants her to be happy and to get to live. Arwen is struggling to come to terms with her fate, the death of her mom, her powers, and her own insecurities from her past. There's so much going on emotionally and between all the characters, not just Arwen and Kane, but Arwen and her siblings, Arwen and Mari, Mari and Griffin, etc. It brings the reader closer to the characters and makes them feel more like friends than fictitious characters. Politics remain an important part of the plot as well and I like that there are so many moving parts of things to account for. I hope I didn't give anything away, I just truly enjoy this book and recommend the series to everyone because it's so so good.

🖤enemies to lovers
🗡️lots of action
🖤tension & spice
🗡️touch her & die
🖤forgiveness
🗡️fate
🖤found family
🗡️sacrifice

Also, the ending will have you DYING for the next book! Before starting A Promise of Peridot I saw a bunch of posts warning me it was gonna be crazy but if you’ve seen those and haven’t started this one I’m telling you, you do not even know what’s coming😈

If you’re looking for your next fantasy series this is it and it all ties up by the end of the year so you won’t have to wait long to find out how things turn out!

Thank you Berkley for the digital ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. A Promise of Peridot is out now so go go go!!

#APromiseOfPeridot:⁣
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Thank you @prhaudio @berkleypub for my gifted copies! #PRHAudioPartner #BerkleyPartner #berkley ⁣
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“I welcome your anger. Relish it, in fact. Much better than watching you walk through life like a corpse. So give me the worst of it. I’ll take anything you’ve got. Just stop putting yourself in situations like that to feel something. You’re going to get yourself killed trying to feel alive.”⁣
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Lazarus, it’s on site boy. ON SITE. Do you like being emotionally wrecked because you love characters so much? Go ahead and start The Sacred Stones series. I finished A Promise of Peridot on my run and the way I was so angry from being wrecked is unreal.⁣
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This story is unreal. I honestly will not get over it. It’s so beautiful, yet, heartbreaking. The audio is amazing. Ruby Cherise and Will Damron reprise their rules as Arwen and Kane with the dual POV, alternating chapters. The anguish heard in Kane, the happiness finally in Arwen, my goodness, amazing.⁣
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10/10 will recommend to get emotionally wrecked. There is spice and there’s a major cliffhanger. Book 3, WYA? Book 2 just released Tuesday, the 9th. I will be impatient until I know the fate of my faves. ⁣
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QOTD: What’s the last book that took you by surprise? Good or bad.

Kate Golden truly outdid herself with this book! This was a highly anticipated read for me this year and it did not disappoint. Definitely and infinity star read for me! I felt as though the writing of this book was fantastic. I have nothing negative to say. It was eloquently and poetically written. I felt that the amount of world building was appropriate. This was done well in A Dawn of Onyx and this continued throughout A Promise of Peridot as well. There was a great a balance between the fantasy and romance in this book as well!

Things that I liked:
- I appreciated the dual POV from Arwen and Kane. This allowed me to see various perspectives when judging situations and decisions that occurred throughout the book.
- The descriptions of the surroundings of the characters helped me depict what Kate wanted me to see in my mind. As a right brained and visual learner I loved this and saw this as a major positive.
- I am not a fan of angst, but Kate poetically weaved it into this book. It was not too heavy where it overshadowed the man tropes of the book. It was placed where it was needed.
- The character development was phenomenal. I was able to see multiple characters grow which helped with the overall plot and the progression of the book.

I feel as though the end of the book truly pulled me in. The last chapter already has me begging for the next book, which is something I take into consideration when reviewing the books I read. I highly recommend this book to romantasy and fantasy readers (make sure to read A Dawn of Onyx first)! I cannot wait to read A Reign of Rose!

4.5 ⭐️

Book 2 in the Sacred Stones installment did not disappoint - this book picked up right where A Dawn of Oynx left off and we felt like the story never ended - it just continued - despite it being a few months since reading book 1.

The slow burn, the tension, the adventure. This book had everything we look for in a fantasy book. Kate’s writing style is truly captivating and she has a way of keeping her audience on their toes from the very beginning of her books all the way until the very last sentence.

We cannot recommend this series enough & our excited to see where this story takes us next!

Uhhhh this series is everything! If you like Romantasy and haven’t read A Dawn of Onyx, this is your cue to do it. A Promise of Peridot is book 2 in the series and it did not disappoint.

It picks up right where book 1 left off so you don’t miss a beat. Kane is still one of my favorite morally gray characters. He is so well written and I love having his POV for his inner turmoil. As I mentioned in my review of book 1, I LOVE Griffin and Mari. Their tension is everything and I could read a whole series just about them!

That ending was awful in the best way. I hated it but it made for such a great cliffhanger! I can’t wait for book 3!

Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

Read this if you like:
🌊 Betrayal and Forgiveness
🌊 Protective, morally gray MMC
🌊 Learning to live life to the fullest

I couldn’t wait for this book after finishing A Dawn of Onyx. It was captivating with loads of action. It starts right after the last book ended.

🗡️What to expect 🗡️

This book did not suffer from second book syndrome. The plot was moving forward with a steady pace and Arwen is stronger now. The character development in this book is phenomenal along with the side characters. I want Griffin and Mari’s story please!!

The fight between the couple kinda reminded me of Iron flame but thankfully it wasn’t that long and worth the wait 🤌🏻

I loved new fantasy element of prophecies and we get to visit so many beautiful places. I can’t wait for the thirst book and after that ending I need it NOW!!

It's always hard to review books two and beyond in a series because you don't want to spoil anything for new readers.

I am so glad I found Kate on tiktok, because her writing style, characters, and sense of humor are exactly what I want to read every time. This was a very angsty and solid second book in the trilogy, and I am SO looking forward to book three. Tysm for the e-arc. I will definitely snag a physical copy for my shelf.

Drop book 3 asap! :)

Complete & utter perfection. Everything I want out of a fantasy romance. Fast paced action, intrigue, swoony romance - Kate delivered on every level.

There are very few instances where I deliberately read a book slowly because I don’t want it to end - this was one of those rare times.

I’m completely enamored with this world, the characters, and everything at stake in this story.

Five stars, easily. I will never stop recommending this series.

Huge thank you to Kate Golden & Berkley Romance for seeing me suffer at that book 1 cliffhanger and taking pity on me. This ARC is my prized possession.

I adore this series! A Promise of Peridot was a wonderful follow up the first book, which I can't often say about the second book in the series. I love these characters and the world Golden has created. I cannot wait for the next book!

Promise of Peridot by Kate Golden

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fantasy
Enemies to Lovers
Found family
Slow burn

Promise of Peridot is the second book in the Sacred Stones trilogy.

There is nothing I love more than angst and tension in a torturous slow burn and of course make them enemies to lovers!!
The thin line between love and hate burns bright.

There are new kingdoms visited and adventures whew! Get ready for the wild ride! There is still great character building and story development.

I still get such joy from side characters and how much more they add to the story

After that ending I cannot wait for the conclusion!

I received an ARC copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.

!MINOR SPOILERS! (nothing essential to the plot or ending)

Oh. My. God.

The way that I couldn’t stop reading this book y’all…

First off, I just gotta say, Kane can get it any time of the day, week, month, or year. I will be sweating over this man until the day I die. The angry brutishness? The cunning wittiness? The devout devotion? The giant coc- okay that’s enough.

This man wouldn’t know what it means to NOT be Arwen’s little bitch and I LOVE IT. His constant need to protect her while also knowing she’s fully capable of handling herself is *chefs kiss*
ALSO, this man is a consent king and I know that’s the bare minimum, but it matters. He’s so down bad I almost feel sorry for him… almost.

Talk about someone who’s down bad… COMMANDER MFin GRIFFIN. He’s so quiet and broody and mysterious that I don’t mind that he’s a blond ;) the way this man obsesses over Mari’s every move has my giggling and kicking my feet like I’m back in the 6th grade. Sleeping next to her bed? For that long of a time? In a chair that was far too small for him?
Shit, sign me up, I’d take a poison pendant to the chest just to have him guard my unconscious body too.

He clearly has issues with intimacy and I’m dying to get more of a peek into his past to figure out why. Despite his angsty, silent, and slightly judgy attitude, he deeply cares for those close to him and while his words don’t always show it, his ACTIONS do.

I love my fiery little red head Mari and her witchiness. I have a feeling she’s gonna be so damn powerful and I can’t wait to see how her character evolves. Also, the way she cares about Arwen? She’s just such a beautiful and loving human, and her snarkiness is 100% my favorite thing about her.

And Arwen… ohhh Arwen. I just love her. Her character just feels so emotionally diverse and I love when we’re shown the cracks in the protagonist’s strength. She’s so young with such a depressing fate put on her shoulders. If I were her, I would’ve moped around too and gone numb the way she did. She struggled with such deep feelings of disappointment, guilt, anger, and internal conflict over her feelings for Kane. I loved that we got to see her work through them and struggle with feeling like a burden to those she loved only to eventually face it and decide to take control of the things she had power over.

I do feel that some of her process felt a little rushed, but not in a way that ruined anything about the story. I think I would’ve just liked to see more anger from her (not necessarily directed at Kane). Like I wanted more scenes of her acting out and rambunctiously trying to reclaim control of her life before finally coming to the realization that she needed to change how she thought about it. While I understand that’s probably just not who her character is, I just love the idea of people not being themselves for a while once they experience the grief, anger, and betrayal that she did.

BUT, like I said, this didn’t ruin the story for me in any way. Her journey was hers to experience and I truly did love the way it went.

And no spoilers here, but THAT ENDING?? Kate are you kidding me?? I don’t know what I was expecting but it was NOT that. I genuinely CANNOT WAIT to see the rage that Kane goes through after what he experienced and what he will eventually learn. I’m not proud to admit it, but I just LOVE when a man is so full of rage and vengeance over his woman that he does terrible shit. Like will anyone else think it’s redeemable? No. Will I think it’s completely valid and support it the whole time? Yes, yes I will.

Also, quick side note, the settings in this book? SO FREAKING COOL. Kate’s ability to weave magic and mysticism into her descriptions of settings and characters/creatures is so cool and I loved reading about places I’ve never seen described in other books. So cool.

Overall, I loved this book and am so grateful to be part of the ARC team for this series.

Special Acknowledgement to quotes in the book:

“I could feel her little heart racing. She was looking at me like— That face— Battles had been started over less. Wars”

“The knock on my door was a welcome distraction. Please, let it be someone who wants to punch me in the face. I opened the door to Griffin’s stoic expression.
‘Close enough,’ I mumbled to myself”

“I had never felt less like a victim in my twenty years of being alive. No, I felt like a nightmare. A dangerous, tantalizing nightmare.”

“I stared at him, unable to form words around the piercing ache in my chest.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he managed. ‘I can’t breathe when you look at me like that.’”

And that’s not even the half of it 😭

Seriously check out these books so we can simp over Daddy Kane together 🤪

3.5⭐️
Thank you so much to Berkley, PRH Audio, and Netgalley for providing advanced copies of this book! All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

This series is just such a fun time. It fits right into the current fantasy romance trend and hits all the beats you're looking for.

Keeping this spoiler free - I really enjoyed the character growth our heroine goes through after the events of book 1. She's definitely a frustrating character for much of this story, but I really appreciated the depiction of grief and responsibility. Particularly responsibility she didn't ask for.

The relationships in this definitely get messy. Which made for a more "realistic" feeling read - since I know I wouldn't be happy in this situation.

I also enjoyed where this one is heading - even though I didn't find anything surprising the story is well executed and engaging.

Overall I just think this is a really fun series. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as book 1. But I think that's just because so much of this book was internal character development.

And I'm glad this series is only 3 books long because I definitely want to know the ending asap!

Kate Golden brought all the feels in the continuation of this series. A Promise of Peridot ups the thrills, the found family, the laughs, the magic, and the spice. I love Kane and Arwen so much.

With the world-building, I love that we get to see so many new places in the realm and how all of them are so different from one another. We also get SO much more of Griffin and Mari who I absolutely love. I feel like I am forever smirking at Griffin’s brooding. We also get introduced to a new character, Fedrik, who is mmmm yummmy.

Kane Ravenwood has my heart. I love how he has darkness, strength, and softness all wrapped up into one. How he will burn down the world for someone he loves. With Arwen, I love how she grows so much in this one. Also, THE ENDING. My heart is definitely on the forest floor and shattered after that. With the way the book ended and the epilogue… I NEED A Reign of Rose like yesterday.

This series is SO GOOD!!!! I have been so excited for A PROMISE OF PERIDOT since I read A DAWN OF ONYX last spring! After the cliffhanger we got at the end of the first book, Kate really DELIVERED here in every way I wanted! Its fun, it’s sexy, it’s suspenseful, it’s magical, so basically it’s everything I want in a fantasy romance and I am now dying for book 3!!!!

Kate Golden is back with another enthralling and thrilling romantic fantasy with this second installment in The Sacred Stones trilogy that will leave you absolutely breathless.

After the events of the first book, Arwen must decide whether to ignore her battling feelings brewing within her or to take a chance on love, fate, and herself.

This book was filled to the brim with action, drama, and incredibly built-up angst and romance! The amount of longing, pining, tenderness, and vulnerability made this addicting romance the star of the story. I loved seeing these two push through their circumstances and doubts and find each other again. It was so sweet and completely MELTED my heart. They are such great counterparts for each other. And Kane, whew, I LOVE a villain/morally grey love interest who will do anything for his love. *swoon*

After that insane ending, I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation of the next book!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*