This was a delightful surprise. Such an interesting world, magic system and there is a large cast of characters. At times the main FMC made me angry but ultimately she learns and grows. Highly recommend this book to everyone! I will absolutely be picking up the next installment. The audiobook for this was phenomenal.

The worst thing about this book is that it ended like that and I have to wait for the next one to come out.

I get why people got Grishaverse vibes from this, and it had a hint of a scholomance vibe to me personally, but was also entirely it's own thing. Rosy is such a good protagonist - I think this story could have easily dragged, but she's like the one player character in a ttrpg who the DM adores because they always, always keep things moving, even if they aren't always making the best possible choices. If Rosy goes more than 48 hours without doing something rash, she'll probably explode, and it worked so well.

I wasn't sure what I thought of the magic system, at first, but Skye's willingness to point out the flaws in this world's conventions surrounding witches and familiars really won me over. That was how I felt about a lot of plot points - the magic, the society, war as a concept, it was all handled with more complexity and nuance than I've come to expect from YA. Everything about this book was compelling, even with occasional moments of prose clunkiness (did we need to switch between 1st and 3rd pov like that?). It's going to be one of my favorite reads of the year, guaranteed.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was wild. I LOVED the magic and the dynamics between witches and familiars. The world building was also interesting, setting things up for book 2 alongside the plot. Which, by the way, I NEVER SAW THE END COMING.

Okay, let me back up. The dynamic between Rosy and Shaw was both annoying and sweet. And what I mean is, I wanted to bash Rosy's head in with a baseball bat and slap Shaw. But I can absolutely tell we're going to get something amazing from the both of them in the next book. And I am here for it.

The audiobook itself was well done. I found myself enjoying the narrator, especially when doing the voices for both POVs.

All in all, this was fantastic. It had hints of Little Red Riding hood mixed in with witches and shape-shifting familiars and ghosts and a magic school. I definitely recommend this one.

Actual Rating: 4.75

Daughter of the Bone Forest follows Rosamund, a shapeshifter who only wishes to care for her imprisoned grandmother and the horses her family raises. By happenstance (or by nudging done by a friend with foresight) Rosamund meets Princess Shaw, saving her and her friends from an animal attack. To repay her, Shaw brings Rosamund to Witch Hall, a school for witches and familiars to learn how to control their magic and shifts. It's the last thing Rosamund wants, but she will do anything to help her grandmother and this may be the only way.

I really enjoyed this, even more than I thought I would. First and foremost because nearly every sapphic book I've read that claims to include horses only includes them at bare minimum. This book includes horses in many ways, from the ranch that Rosamund's family owns to her assignment working the stables at Witch Hall. Not to mention Rosamund's own shifter ability to turn into a horse (every horse girl's dream, or mine anyway).

Rosamund really sticks to her guns throughout the entire book, I feel like characters in this situation often change their points of view quickly. Rosamund was committed to keeping on the down low (admittedly not well, but the intent was there) and trying to find a way to help her grandmother be free of her imprisonment.

There was inclusion of a variety of gender identities and sexualities that were naturally included. This book also does not end with a romantic ending and I am so excited to see how it progresses through the rest of the series.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

This cover is absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed the narrator very much and I am excited to read more book by this author

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an ARC of this book, this will be my honest opinions!

Wow oh wow, this was an amazing debut! Imagine queer normative characters and blood and transformation magic that’s utterly captivating. I absolutely loved the premise and the execution was well done. The opening scenes of Rosy’s magic were very gripping, and the story continued to not disappoint.

The way some of the identities and topics got presented then tackled, was not only inspiring but a breath of fresh air in books. What the original concept morphed into, the coming into your own power, privilege, and politics, was beautiful. It made me cry on several occasions.

The book ends on a big cliffhanger, which truly makes me hunger for the next book even more!

Oh. My. Gods. I absolutely DEVOURED this. I need book two immediately! This was everything I love in a YA fantasy and I could hardly bear to put it down. The story and world building is beautiful and intriguing (and gloriously queernormative), the magic system of shifting was fascinating, the characters and the relationships between them were just the right combination of feeling/flowing naturally while having complexity and making me feel super invested in pretty much everyone…Just yah, I loved this. Fantastic, no notes, everyone go read this immediately!

The audiobook narration was great, I enjoyed both of the narrators’ performances. They completely kept me in the story and characters, and added another layer of interest to the story.

This was a wonderful book! I loved this story!!! I can not wight to hear where this story goes! I love the characters and the magic system! So good! I love how one of the characters says that “I’m still working on me” and I love that because it doesn’t matter who you are, or where you are in your life there’s always something to work on and no one is perfect. I got to listen to the audiobook, and the audio narration was wonderful. They did a wonderful job with all of these characters. And the art work for the cover is beautiful!

Drawn in by the fantastic cover, I couldn't resist this queer YA dark fantasy! Great on audio and highly recommended to fans of Hannah Whitten or the Bone spindle series by Leslie Vedder. This was my first by the author and I look forward to seeing what comes next! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to listen to an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!!

Infinity out 5 Stars

I loved this so much. Rosy is a fantastic main character to follow. Shaw's POV was breath of fresh when in it. The prose beautiful and Jasmine Sky got genuine tears out of me in this.

Can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.

4.75 stars

Wow. This was fantastic. Now I want book two immediately. This will be a hard wait.

Rosy is a bone familiar who saves Princess Shaw’s life in the Bone Forest. Shaw offers Rosy a chance to study at Witch Hall in return. Rosy accepts, hoping to find a cure for her grandmother’s illness. At Witch Hall, Rosy gets caught up in political games she doesn’t understand. Shaw wants Rosy for her entourage to lead the upcoming war, but Rosy wants to graduate and save her grandmother. Rosy must choose to either give in to her destiny or return home to the Bone Forest.

I read this as an audiobook, and I have to say, the narration was spot on. I struggled to put it down for the night and not continue past my bedtime. Jeremy Carlisle Parker narrates for Rosy, and Lindsey Dorcus narrates for Shaw. The majority of the book is written from Rosy’s point of view. This is Rosy’s story. Sometimes, having Shaw’s narration pop up was jarring, and it took me a moment to mentally switch with the story. I don’t know if that would be as problematic if I had read a physical copy instead of listening. Overall though, it’s a fantastic listen, and Jeremy Carlisle Parker especially really sucks you into the Cursed Kingdom.

This is a YA book, but I truly enjoyed every moment of it. We see the usual tropes of YA books set in a school. There is an outcast Rosy befriends, there’s a bully, and Rosy is super powerful and doesn’t follow the rules of upper-class society. All of these things were well written and pushed the story further. I was emotionally invested.

That magic system is *chef’s kiss* so cool. I often wished for more of Shaw’s POV to learn more about witch magic, like we learned so much about familiar magic. Witches and familiars typically “bond,” making them more powerful. But there are those who buck the system and don’t want a bond. Hello, ace representation! It wasn’t frowned upon to not bond. It was a choice each person made. The LGBTQIA+ representation was spot on. Gender is not a problem, and there are trans and non-binary characters. Queer relationships aren’t given a second thought. I wish I’d had a book like this when I was younger.

Rosy and Shaw’s relationship is a little frustrating. We are told that they like each other and are compatible, but the chemistry doesn’t come across. Rosy has reasons to be standoffish, and Shaw has reasons to be manipulative. I still feel like their connection could have been written better. Every other relationship within the book felt genuine, making theirs feel awkward. Despite this, I was entranced throughout the entire book. I wanted more.

Highly recommend this book.

Thank you, Netgalley and MacMillian Audio, for the AudioArc.

I absolutely loved this book. The characters were relatable and i felt that they were genuine in their interactions with each other. I loved the development of Rosy and thought that her relationships with some of the other characters were well written and flushed out. My favorite thing about this book was the magic system. I found it to be fresh and different from anything that I have personally come across before. I loved the way that the familiars and witches were tied together but not completely dependent on each other. I was pulled in by the writing right from the get go and thought that the narrator did justice bringing the story to life.

This book shows a lot of promise for this author. I thoroughly enjoyed our MC Rosy and appreciated her perspective on war. It was refreshing to see a YA character dubious of such things. Our other characters were also fun to interact with and with another book I hope to see them fleshed out more. I am removing a Star simply because of the romance between Rosy and Shaw. While it is an enemies-to-lovers story, I find there to be a lack of chemistry between them. I find their interactions to feel forced and I question the validity of Shaw’s feelings for Rosy. I hope to see their relationship grow in further books.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC Audiobook. 4.5 Stars

I loved the world building in this story and the dual POV was done beautifully, and really gave a sense of each of the characters, their feelings, emotions, and intentions. The magic system is based on familiars and witches from different factions who are trained on hone their powers in a school that was once only for witches, but now trains familiars as well..

FMC Rosy is a powerful bone familiar who lives on her families horse ranch where they raise and train bone horses. Rosy has done everything in her power to avoid going to school because she is harboring a secret. A sequence of events take place and Rosy finds herself at school and being courted by none other than the princess herself, but she is still trying to maintain her secret, while also trying to navigate the politics of a new school.

FMC Shaw is the princess who is instantly drawn to Rosy, but she does not know why, at first it starts as curiosity and turns into much more. Shaw is courting Rosy to become her familiar, and her queen, but is met with resistance from Rosy every step of the way.

The LGBT representation in the book is wonderfully done, it just feels so natural and beautiful, as it should be.

I really enjoyed everything about this story and I can not wait until the second book comes out and to find out where their stories take them.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC of Daughter of the Bone Forest in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly cannot put into words the amount of joy I had from this book. There is amazing queer representation. The characters were written so well and intentionally, which is something I do not find often with books that have lgbtq+ characters. I was enveloped in this story and world; I am ready to be in the bone forest. The dynamic of Rosy and Shaw was full of tension, lust, and one-sided hatred (which they say the opposite of love is apathy, you need to have to feel something deep to hate someone!) This book as it all, shifters and witches, academic rivalry, secrets and tension, great pacing, and did I mention amazing and normalized queerness!!

I am already itching for a book 2. At 30% into this ARC, I went and pre-ordered a physical copy. I absolutely loved this book.

5 solid stars.

The biggest problem being a reviewer for NetGalley, is receiving an AudioARC like this one! It's SOOOOOO good, but you know throughout the listening to it, that it is going to end suddenly and the next book will be at least a year in coming - hopefully with answers rather than more complex questions!! That said, I wouldn't have missed this one for the world, and will be eagerly anticipating the next volume in the series.

I chose this book from the synopsis alone, knowing nothing beforehand of the author. Honestly, it gives me "Grisha Verse" vibes, and hope that this series will reap just as much success as Leigh Bardugo's. However, what's even better about this particular magical, somewhat-dark academia style story, is its wonderful inclusivity. There are characters from the full range of gender possibilities. Further, there is representation from a vast range of partnership preferences (including Ace, which is so refreshing in a YA series). I adore that zero drama/fuss is raised whatsoever for which gender or sexual preference any character identifies with. Further, space is made for all and acceptance is normalized. I am also very fond of the set-up of witch-familiar bondings, magical types, and storytelling style. I absolutely thrive on this flavour of world-building. The ease with which it was done astounds me in a debut novel.

Honestly, it has been a very long time since I wanted to stay up all night long for not wanting to stop listening to this compelling tale. Though, unlike many of the YA books that I find ridiculous in their unrelenting frantic pace, this book allows the listener to rest into the deepening of the characters' development, and slow-burn love stories, intermingled with various uproarious action. I am not sure how many books this series plans for, but it is obvious throughout that this story couldn't be contained in a single tome.

Basically, I LOVED this book, and can't wait until the next one in this series comes out (which is unfortunate, given that this one won't even be released for sale for another month)!!! I just hope that the publisher doesn't force the author to draw it out for commercial reasons ... which would ruin the fantastic pacing.

The only thing that I really don't like about this audiobook, is the cover. I don't think that it matches the vibe of the book, at all.

The audiobook is very well read by the narrator.

Huge Gratitude to the publisher, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley, for an AudioARC of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

Shifters, witches and a magic school? Sign me up. This is a straight 5 stars! The audiobook was well narrated and loved the different POVs. The magic system and the growth of the characters are written very well. It is the first book in a long time that I wanted to relisten to it immediately after I was done. Can’t wait for the next one!

Oh, this one was a good book. I loved the world, the characters, the fantasy. The author did an amazing job creating this book and this concept. I cried, I laughed, and I got angry over how the characters were treated. I can't wait to read the next one.