What a lush, interesting read--unlike most other things on my TBR pile but I haven't stopped thinking about this one since I picked it up. For fans of stories that feel like fairy tales, this one won't disappoint.

This book is extremely hard for me to rate. In the beginning, I didn't enjoy the tone, but I feel it had a shift at a point of the story, and I've started liking it more.

The strongest point for me is the sense of humor in unexpected moments, and I've loved some of the characters. I was also really invested in the plot.

Why the low rating? I'm sorry but I can't overlook the issue of this being a story that potentially romanticizes grooming. The love interest has followed our female character all of her life, interfering with it. I really don't think him being present in her childhood was necessary to the story and it has left a sour taste in my mouth, despite the rest being really enjoyable. I'd be interested in reading this author's other works, hopefully not including such choices.

'The Bride of Death' is solid, enjoyable fantasy. I wasn't entirely sure where it was going in the beginning, or at least how our main character would get there, but I enjoyed it very much. The journey through Zerryn's life is my favorite part, the writing is so fairytale like and fluid. Zerryn is a great main character, getting to know her was delightful. The romance was fast and furious but it worked.

I think the only thing I struggled with was the conflict at the very end. I think the villagers were a tiny bit right? She was very much seduced by the demon? It felt a little forced, but all's well that ends well I suppose.

Thank you to NetGalley and Northern Light Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The four arms and eyes and mouths weirded me out. I couldn't get past it but overall the story was not what I expected. I think the concept was cool similar to shadow and bone and had a love triangle

I was really intrigued by the title and was very eager to read the book!
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it as much as I expected.
It seemed to be a mish mash of folklore and familiar plotlines with no new twists or surprises.

I enjoyed the dark mythology in this story, it read like an adult fairy tale. This felt unique to me in concept (and had a gorgeous cover)! I wish that there was slightly more world building in the underworld and that the romances had more depth to them across the board. I wanted to see more layers between the characters in the "love triangle" as I think that would have sold the ending to me more. Overall would recommend, I flew through this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review!

I really enjoyed this creepy fairytale. Zerryn is a wonderful protagonist with a fascinating arc from her small village to truly coming into herself. I loved her friendship with Beyza and their strange but lovely relationship. The Anatolian world is very visceral and immersive, and I enjoyed the details sprinkled in, even if it didn't totally match up historically.

It was easy to understand why someone would be seduced by Erlik, he was very charismatic and alluring, but I was disappointed that Zerryn <spoiler> sort of abandoned everything she stood for to get it on with him. I feel like her character would have been stronger if she either got with him and held her beliefs even in the face of everyone turning against her because she had her grandmother and her father and these examples of real love, or if she did go villain mode but with a code. It sort of felt like she got erased in favor of Erlik's idea of her, which made me a little sad </spoiler>.

Also I'm sorry but I cannot support four eyes, four arms, and multiple mouths. I kept trying to ignore it, but it really gives me the ick. If you want me to root for the relationship, he needs to be at least mostly humanoid, okay? Wings were one thing, tails are worse, but what is essentially a giant bug guy? I can't.

Like I said though, if you like a dark fairytale with some beautiful writing, and some wacky bits, I would definitely pick this up! 4 stars.

I really wanted to like this book because it seemed like it would be really interesting and compelling but from the first chapter i just found it hard to not only get into the story but connect with the main character. I found myself not really caring about the plot and how the story would progress. It felt like a chore to finish it.

I tend to like mythology retellings, and I was definitely interested in this one. It was compared to The Bear and the Nightingale and Uprooted, so I was intrigued because I loved both of those novels. This one did not hold a candle to them.

I wanted to like Zerryn, but I could not connect with her. I did feel empathetic in the beginning. Her struggles were real and interesting. Her apparent magic was something I wish could have been explored further in the beginning. She has a strong moral compass and is inherently good. She is sacrificing herself for her people. But as we continue through the story, her character is not consistent. Yes, she’s changing and evolving but not in a way that made sense.

This book started off well and it just went downhill for me. I struggled to continue reading it and found myself putting it down quite easily. The writing style was difficult to follow at times. The way it was written, the timeline would get confused, and I didn’t always know when the narration was talking about the present or the past. The fact that I had to reread things and go back pages to make sure I hadn’t missed something just made it seem like it needed a little more editing.

Overall, this just wasn’t for me. I was able to finish, but I didn’t like it and don’t recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Northern Light Press, for the ARC.

I really struggled with this one. It started so well and it just completely lost me quite quickly… the story just really bored me and, although I did finish it, I was never compelled to pick it up. I forced myself to finish so I could find out how it ended - and I hoped it would get better, but unfortunately it didn’t for me. The premise was really good and the synopsis really drew me in, but I just really didn’t enjoy this one.

Just wasn't feeling this one. I liked the prose, but as the plot progressed I found the writing to decline in quality. The romance was uninteresting, and the character dynamics have been done better in plenty of other books. I thought this was a fantasy with romance as opposed to a full-on romantasy so that's on me as, generally, I wouldn't say I like the latter but it might work for the romantasy lovers

Save me enemies to lovers save me

I DEVOURED this.

The Bride of Death follows Zerryn, who grew up hearing the tales of the Lord of Death, Erlik Kahn. She soon discovers how real these tales are when her best friend, Çelik begins to act strange. Rumours of his possession spread around the small village like wildfire and it’s not long until it’s revealed it’s the very Lord of Death who has taken control of Çelik’s body.

The Lord of Death is searching for a Bride and Zerryn believes she can’t defeat Erlik without gaining the power she will get becoming his bride. To her, it’s the only way to save Çelik’s life. The only way to do this? She must complete three impossible tasks against creatures of untold power.

There was truly so much to love about this and I found myself wanting to savour the book and not finish too quickly. The world-building and the atmosphere of this book were so fantastic and immediately drew me in.

What I loved the most was how wonderful the characters were. I often say characters are unique whenever I read great books but in this context, they truly are. There was not one character that was two-dimensional. They all held such beautiful and powerful depth to them and I found myself so intently focused on each character we came across, even the ones considered antagonists.

I found myself falling in love with Zerryn and Erlik. They are such beautifully written characters with so many layers to them and I will be thinking about them often.

I am so excited to eventually get my hands on a physical copy because I will definitely be revisiting this in the future.

What a fantastic standalone!

Thank you to NetGalley and Northern Light Press for providing me with this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I wasn't tired of it at the time but I feel like all these "Death romances/romantasy" stories are way too many. So many that its made me put off even reading Foxglove by Adalyn Grace. I will say that the Katherine Arden x Naomi Novik comparison is interesting which might draw me back in at a later point.

The Bride of Death is a fantasy romance retelling of the Hades & Persephone myth and Beauty and the Beast inspired by Turkish mythology with a sprinkle of monster romance. To save her village and her childhood sweetheart, Zerryn needs to compete in a tournament to win the hand of the king of the Underworld.

If you are a fan of Hades/Persephone dynamics and the Death and the Maiden trope, you will love this. What drew me in mostly were the colourful characters - Zerryn, our willful MC; Erlik, the king of the Underworld; and the other competitors for Erlik's hand, Beyza and Yuxa. I loved that this didn't pit the women in the story against each other and instead had Zerryn become friends with one of them. Moreover, there's also something for the monster romance fans, since Erlik basically looks like a biblically accurate angel - multiple arms, eyes and all.

The tension between Zerryn and the love interest was well-written and there wasn't any insta-love at all. There was the barest hint of a love triangle but not enough to bother me. F. M. Aden writes some gorgeous prose and the whimsical, fairytale-esque writing did remind me quite a bit of Katherine Arden's The Bear and the Nightingale as well as Catherynne Valente's Deathless, both of which I love. This wasn't quite as action-packed as Aden's other book, The Court of the Dead, but I still really enjoyed it! All in all, I gave it 4/4 stars and recommend it to fans of fairytale/folklore inspired fantasy fans.

I genuinely loved this book. The romance, the story, the characters, the creatures, are all delightfully dark and twisted versions of love and mistrust. I was not familiar with the tales of Ehrlik Khan as an adjacent figure of Hades so I didn't immediately grasp the mythos buried in the tale.
I loved the banter between the characters. I was surprised by the darker ending but it was delightful to see an alternative to such a famous love story.
I will happily share this book recommendation with my customers and friends/family.

I hate love triangle trope but when I requested this book I never know that this book has that kind of trope. When I read this and suddenly I realize there's love triangle in this book I want to drop this book immediately. But before I do that I try to read it first to the point I can't read it anymore.

Fortunately the love triangle is not that bad because Zerryn and Celik love is not really visible, there's a huge timeskip on their friendship so I can not see their relationship at all, well even trough out the book I can't feel the love between Celik and Zerryn. It feels like Zerryn is just meant to be with Erlik from the beginning, no competition at all but there's a moment where Zerryn trying so hard to hate Erlik and remember Celik. Not doing so great actually.

The story is good, I love the trials and the unexpected friendship between competitor of Erlik bride and I love Erlik so much! He's cruel yet very sweet only to Zerryn. I love how other people could see his love for Zerryn of course Zerryn couldn't see it. And it's interesting to see Erlik favored Zerryn. How he help her bit by bit. Just love him so much! But not with Zerryn, her wishy washy stressed me out!

Still recommend this book for anyone!

Actual rating 3.5 ⭐️

3.25 stars
The writing in this book really gives classical vibes.
It's a strange comfort to read in a flow that reminds me of classic literature. However, I've never been the best with classical-style literature, my brain can struggle at times to follow along, and sadly, this happened a bit in this story.

While I don't think it was fully a book for me, I still enjoyed many aspects of this book: the amount of magical exposure, such as creatures, superstition and tradition. I love that the haunting narrative that our main character is haunted by the power of death was both subtle and solid, something that I found they did better than other 'Death Loves Me' books.

I think many people will love this, and I know a few folks who I'll recommend this to.

I was solded by the slogan "In the vein of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted" which I really loved.
The folklore and lore was really interesting and it's a well-writen book.
Sadly, I didn't root for any of the characters but that being said, I know some people will love this book! (I'm just not the best target for it)

4 stars!
thank you netgalley and f.m. aden for the e-arc!

this was really good! i didn't have much expectations going into this book mainly because i dont know much about the folklore that it's based on but as a book on it's own, it was really well written in many aspects. the characters were diverse enough to feel like actual people and the plot was super interesting and i was really intrigued to see how the story would unfold and eventually wrap up.

if you're looking for a fun eerie, dark romantasy book, i would highly recommend this one.

For a retelling based on Turkish folklore, this is a weird smörgåsbord of vaguely Turkish, Greek, and Christian lore that I'm not sure mixes quite well. So sadly, this book disappointed for the most part, but this does not mean that it cannot be the perfect gothic book for you. Definitely check out the book description and decide for yourself if you want to give this one a try