3.5 ⭐ rounded up
1 🌶️

<u>Keeper of the Scarlet Petals</u> by A.N. Skye is a new adult romantasy that takes you on a wild ride. Jasmine is a Keeper, trying to start fresh after growing up in the slums. In her first year at the magical college, Sanctuary, she is assigned to protect a young nobleman who's whole family was slaughtered. Unfortunately, the nobleman she is tasked to protect, Asher, doesn't want her protection. He is cocky and feels like he can do whatever he wants, making her job harder than it needs to be. It takes an assassination attempt on his life for them to realize this won't be a normal assignment and there is a mystery taking place that needs to be solved.

I think the romance is meant to be enemies to lovers, but they aren't enemies at all... at most its reluctant lovers. The romance was sweet, the spice was MEH - not bad, but honestly not very memorable.

The world building was a bit lacking as I wanted to know more about Sanctuary and the history of the Keepers and Starveins, however, the twists and turns of the plot definitely kept me satisfied enough. The romance was entertaining and it felt like a great debut to hook us into a new fantasy world.

<i>The first 20% and the last 20% were great. Everything in between was lackluster at best. </i>

🍳 You'll love this is you really love scrambled eggs... 🙃🙃🙃

🥀 Upper YA (Lower NA w/Mild spice)
🥀 Twists & Turns
🥀 Intriguing magic system
🥀 Forced Proximity
🥀 Bodyguard - she protects him!
🥀 Banter & strong friendships
🥀 Epilogue cliffhanger

I really enjoyed this book, even though I find it hard to get through most YA titles, this one was not the case. It kept my engaged throughout the entirety of the book. I do wish there was a little bit more of world building throughout.

*ARC received from Netgalley - all opinions are my own*

TLDR: Leans a little more YA than NA but enjoyable nonetheless and think most world enjoy despite its flaws. For a debut I felt that the author did a fab job and I'm interested in where the series will go!

Despite its flaws, I absolutely ate this book up within 2 days. I think it was an easy-going book that did a great job of hooking into the plot within a few chapters and kept you there, even through the flat moments.

I enjoyed the dynamic shift with our female lead being the “protector” of our male lead but not falling into the trap of making him defenceless or useless. Both characters were well fleshed out with their own unique strengths and weaknesses and the partnership felt equal between them.
The only thing that doesn’t quite fit is how, when under extreme danger and not connected to Jasmine, Asher doesn’t fall back into his keeper training and just utilise basic self defence? It seems a bit unrealistic that he was nearly always being moved by Jasmine whenever he was, before her, the top keeper in combat

While we don’t get to see loads of the world or explore how the magic system works (as our two MCs aren’t sure either), there is more than enough there to intrigue me and keep me invested in what’s to come! It’s a unique magic system that I haven’t seen before and I’m excited to learn and see more!

Keeper of Scarlet Petals is marketed as NA but reads like it’s mid to late YA with moments that were firmly in NA territory. It slips to YA mostly in how our FMC Jasmine talks to her best friend Lydia and her Starvein Asher. Some of Asher and Jasmine’s moments were bordering a bit too young and almost cringy in the way that it was written, even some of the jokey scenes just seemed like it would appeal to a younger audience. There was enough maturity in the writing to where I still enjoyed reading, I just hope the next book moves a bit further away from YA.
I think this genre slip is also at fault for the “snap romance” we get, it’s a bit unbelievable and very insta-love in the style of YA.

All in all, Keeper of Scarlet Petals was a great read for me and I think A. N. Skye did a fab job for her debut book and I imagine she can only get better from here and I’m excited for what she brings out next!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I found the overall concept of this book to be interesting and unique, in a world that I had never read before with Keeper's and Starvein's.

This book reads more like a young adult fantasy with some romance but minimal spice, so I do not think anyone would need to be worried about their middle schooler or high schooler reading this book (there is some swearing that occurs but that is also minimal). I feel like this book is mostly fast paced which is good, but there were definitely some areas that I felt went so unbelievably slow and took forever, to the point where I almost lost interest in this book.

I think this would be a good book for a young adult reader with an interest in a magical fantasy setting with strong main characters.

One thing I did not enjoy with this book is the insane amount of characters that were present. There were so many side characters like over 5 that had seemingly important roles in the book, and for me that was too many to try and constantly keep track of. Also, it seems like this book is dual POV but then it was difficult to differentiate which POV I was reading throughout the book.

Overall, strong 3.5 star read for me and if there is going to be more books in this world I look forward to reading them.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free ARC for an honest review!
-----------WHAT I ENJOYED: ------------

- One of the main things that I really enjoyed about this book was the set up. We have a cool magic-school setting, with people training to either be Keepers (think housekeeper mixed with body guard), or to be one of the Starvein (magic users). It honestly gave me Vampire Academy vibes in how the dynamic works between these two groups, as the keepers are trying to protect the Starvein from magic-weilders turned evil. I really enjoyed seeing how the different groups get treated in terms of respect and experiences; it added another layer to the characters to get to understand their motivations.

- The plot was also super fast-paced and kept you on your toes. It was filled with assassins and magic and secret orders so you never fully knew who to trust. The author did a great job of balancing these stressful scenes with mundane scenes of school life, making you constantly paranoid and on-edge about what was going to go wrong next. I was seriously side-eyeing every character that we met because I simply trusted no-one!

- As well as the plot, our main character Jasmine was pretty interesting to follow! She had a rough background of growing up on the streets, and so the Keeper programme is all she has. So, we see her fight for this position, and her determination to keep going no matter what was thrown at her made her such a badass. Plus it was really nice to see her grow into her position, and develop her skills through trusting others and learning to accept people into her life.

- However, the side characters really stole the show for me!! Lydia and Pina were literally exact opposites, but that is what made them a breath of fresh air. Lydia has legit no fear - she is so bold and unapologetically herself, which was awesome to see. She is hilarious in how she asks no questions, is just ready to fight at all times. Whereas Pina is the calm and collected one; she really balances out Lydia's over-the-top personality and is really the voice of reason in the group. She was a character that really grew on me, and I ended up really liking her by the end of the book!

---------WHAT DIDN'T WORK FOR ME:-----------

- Even though I liked the main characters... I didn't love them. and that was mainly because I felt no connection to them. They fell really flat for me because we didn't know more than the bare minimum about them. We knew what their main motivations were, the base nature of their character...and that was it. I'm a character girlie through and through, so not connecting on a deep level with the characters really impacted my enjoyment of the story.

- I also thought that the romance between Jasmine and Asher, our other main character, was super rushed. We had no sense of how they acted with each other before the relationship other than seeing a few moments that made it clear that they were academic rivals. And then suddenly, there are feelings that felt like they came from nowhere. Usually, a well-paced romance can have me swooning, but when these two got together I was like...Okay then. Which is so sad. I feel like if this had been dual POV, the relationship might have felt a bit more natural? But, honestly, it just missed the mark for me, sadly.

- I know I said I loved the school setting and I stand by that...but that is all we know. We only know what is happening inside of Sanctuary; everything outside of that is just really fuzzy and underdeveloped. We have no idea of the political landscape of this world other than that there is a king, and we have no idea why the Keepers are actually needed to protect the nobles from the Xolani. Is it only the Xolani who they are protecting the Starvein from? It is mentioned that the Whitewater Kingdom isn't doing well, but why? We have all of these tidbits thrown at us, but have no real sense of what is happening in this fantasy world.

- I think this, along with the lack of development for the characters, made the story feel relatively surface level. Yes, it was intense and engaging, but it only landed in a place where it was okay.

---------OVERALL THOUGHTS---------
This was an okay fantasy read. While the plot was engaging and fast-paced, the lack of development, in both the characters and general world-building, made this fall a bit flat for me. However, if you just want a quick, fun and intense read then this is the one for you.

This was such a fun, unique, full of sparring and magic kind of fantasy! I enjoyed how fast paced it was and how it really got to the point of the story. While the romance felt a bit rushed it didn’t really take away anything from the book. The gender reversal in terms of Jasmine guarding Asher which was a fun perspective and their relationship dynamic was perfect. Anxious to see where the second book will take the two!

Thank you to Aethon Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Keeper of Scarlet Petals is a great fantasy romance with just enough world building to keep things interesting but not so much that younger readers would lose interest and get lost in the details.

There are 2-3 fade to black romance scenes with minimal details making it appropriate for most upper YA readers. The love side of the story is very slow burn and sweet; their coming together is organic and heartwarming. There’s lots of witty banter that kept me giggling.

Jasmine grew up in the gutters and Asher had problems of his own, but finding each other and the faith each has in the other pulls them both up to new heights.

There's also quite a bit of action and suspense in this story, with a plot twist or two that keep you guessing up until the very end! For lovers of action-packed fantasy romances, especially those looking for fade to black love scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and A.N Skye for an ARC copy of this book. It was a privilege to read it.

Keeper of Scarlet Petals follows the story of Jasmine and Asher. Their trials and tribulations of learning how to be who they are as well as falling in love. It took me quite a bit to get into the book itself. There was a lot of "mystery" to how the world works, and I wish there was more world building. I understand the factions that are created in the story, but I want to know more about the world around them. It feels like A.N Skye was trying to present the world building based on what Jasmine (the FMC) knows about the world, but there was a lot lacking to help grow the story and tension.

There is some spice in the book. It is tastefully accomplished, and nothing is graphic. I would say its light PG-13 in spice scenes.

If you are looking for a semi fast burn, this is a good book for you. If you want advanced world building and a stable structure in which the book is based, then you might want to try something else or wait until the second book comes out. (I am assuming there will be a second with how the book ended.)

This was a problematic read: the characters are overidealized cardboard templates, the plot contrived, the writing simplistic, the worldbuilding non-existent, and the clichés heavy. Out of all those issues, I had the most problems with the very basic writing that felt more like a fan fiction than a published work (don't get me started on the anachronistic dialogue).

Story: Jasmine is treated poorly: she comes from the slums of the city and is of a racial heritage that is despised for their wanton magic use in the past. But she has no magic and has found a way out of the slums by using her fighting skills to become a Keeper - a bodyguard of the magic elite. Too bad she is too stupid for every other aspect of the position and failed everything but sword fighting. When she is assigned (before her training is completed) to an annoying young noble, she will have to use all her skills to keep him alive. He is being stalked by a secret organization hell bent on destroying his bloodline.

When the books begins, our heroine is sparring with a smug and handsome young man named Asher. As soon as I read the name, I knew a) this was her love interest and b) the book would lack originality, subtlety, and any kind of depth. 50% into the book I gave up - it was silly, the characters were unrealistic and illogical, the romance was a joke, the main character continually mouthed off to people and was obnoxiously rude (the trope that being rude means being spirited is so overused in YA) and could not body guard a kitten, nonetheless a human being. That anyone trusted her with her poor judgement was a joke.

Of course, she was thrown in with emo boy who seems to be a masochist since she physically and verbally abuses him most of the time. But hey, that's what love is built upon, right? Let's not even get into the ludicrous 'magic' and non existent worldbuilding that did nothing to prop up the cardboard characters.

This was a solid DNF - life is too short and there are far too many better books with which to invest my time. If you want a simple/simplistic romantic YA fantasy that skews somewhat young, here you go. A harmless Summer time waster. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

**Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC**

Honestly, the only thing I can really say about this book is that I am disappointed. It has such promise from the first third - the characters were intriguing, the world seemed interesting to dive into, and the plot seemed really cool too. However, the world building is what really killed the experience for me. I've read the entire book and still am confused about a lot of things with the world (the differences between Starvein and Xolani with what makes Keepers entirely different). There's a lot about the setting itself that wasn't clear either, like how the Sanctuary is set up and the school overall. The ending was also fairly predictable but honestly, that would've been entirely overlooked if it weren't for the lack of world building. 3 stars for the promise of what could've been :')

I couldn’t get into this at all, the ideas are incredible, but I just couldn’t get on with it, I’m not sure if it was the writing style or what, it just wasn’t for me unfortunately

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc!

This is a fast paced romantasy read that had me hooked from the start. I enjoyed this story, the characters were intriguing. There is some spice as well but it doesn't go to far so seemed more ya. There are some twists so that helps keep it going along to. I can see this story progress more and I'm excited for the next one.It was an enjoyable fantasy book!

I really enjoyed the concept of this story, but I wanted so much more.

It definitely reads as a young adult book more so than a new adult book in my opinion. The characters were rather juvenile, heavy topics, such as the fmc’s past, were mostly skimmed over and mentioned as little tokens, and the writing was rushed.

With more attention to detail and more development, I would’ve absolutely adored this book.

📖 Book Review 📖
Keeper Of Scarlet Petals
A.N. Skye

I had high hopes for this book and I enjoyed the first half quite a bit but around the 40% mark my enjoyment had dwindled somewhat. That may be partly due to my personal preference of the story feeling rushed and what I believe crucial world building glided over.

Apart from those miner complaints I enjoyed the banter between the main characters and how the friendships are formed/grow. There was some mild spice and tension between the two MCs but in my opinion it was lacking.

I received a ARC of this book via netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely honest and my own.

Thankyou to @Netgalley for gifting me the first book as an ARC 💖

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me access to this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

« Agh. I hate this. Why couldn’t stabbing things just fix all my problems? »

Rating: 3 ⭐️
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Format: ARC Ebook
Pages: 364
Spice: 1 🌶️
POV: Third POV
S/S: book #1
Check trigger warnings for any book

Being a Keeper sounds like being a nanny for rich adults, what a nightmare.

I’ll say that I did enjoy Jasmine as our main character, even though we don’t know much more about her from the beginning to the end of the story. She’s bad at being a Keeper, she’s good with her sword, she comes from the gutters and she has something else going on with her. Nothing evolved.

Asher follows the same fate, other than the reveal we have at the beginning which creates the plot, nothing else evolves.

Lydia might be my favorite and we barely see her. And Pina lolll

Plot-wise, it’s quite predictable. Nothing was very surprising. As for the world-building… Other than the Sanctuary and one history lesson that wasn’t very clear, we don’t know anything of this world. The magic system was confusing as well. The Starvein and the Xolani? Their differences weren’t clear…

The romance was fine at best. A rivals to friends to lovers? It felt very sudden and just a « well might as well make them lovers since they’re stuck together » and not a thought-out relationship.

So overall, the writing was enjoyable, however, the story wasn’t outstanding, nor was the romance. I don’t think I’ll pick up book two.

Favorite quotes (MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS):

« The first and final steps in the path of a Keeper were death. Their order was not one of glory, nor was it one of joy. »

« You can’t read my mind. You aren’t Starvein, so you don’t have any magic in you. You’re just a competent asshole. »

« Tomorrow’s match will be fun. That match never came. »

« Silver eyes. You are a Xolani. »

« Failure was impossible. It wasn’t - it couldn’t be an option. »

« This is assistance. I’m giving you advice. » « Telling me to stop being bad at something is not advice. » « That kind of just sounds like an excuse to keep being bad. » « How is this meant to make me feel better? » « It’s not. It’s advice. »

« Just because I don’t know how to fly doesn’t mean I can’t point out when a bird is drunk. »

« Truce, but it’s going to mean you’ll have to try not to be insufferable for too much of the day. » « Please don’t make unreasonable demands. »

« He nodded to the pan, and Jasmin tried to pretend she wasn’t vividly aware of the warmth of his hand against hers. »

« Let’s head back to my room and see if you can manage to stress me out enough to force my magic to awaken, shall we? »

« Pain can be overcome. Broken bones can be surpassed. Your mind must not break. »

« It was wrong, but he couldn’t pull his gaze away. She was beautiful - but not as beautiful as she was when she was awake and smiling. »

« For now, all he could do was lie there and try not to feel too guilty about how much he was enjoying the feeling of Jasmine beside him. »

« You are drawing magic from the Xolani. Congratulations. You have found a new way to disappoint me. »

« Ask before you touch her. She’s not your student. She’s my Keeper. »

« Watcher help me, I think I’ve fallen for Asher. »

« You’re mine. I’m your Keeper, remember? » « I’d never even think about forgetting it. »

« Maybe you would be better suited to cleaning toilets. You have the intelligence of a steamed rat. The gutters grew smarter on the day you left. »

« If you stress about something you can’t control, you only suffer twice. »

« Yes, Jas. I passed. Qien judged that the three of us defeating an assassin was slightly more difficult than fighting another Keeper. »

« Rougher. I don’t need protection. »

« That’s very… romantic of you. » « What can I say? I’m a pretty fantastic person. »

Leena - Leena.reader review - @leena.reader on tiktok and instagram

I just finished and for me personally this book had everything to be good but it didn't hit me like I thought really, it does have magic, not properly a world building but people with magic who have keepers to help them, like protetores sadly I didn't understand the Scarlet Petals thing or why it is associated.. Again I had high hopes for this book and I did liked Jasmine and Asher but the story didn't hit me like I thought, I really saw it very very predictable

2⭐️1🌶️
I only finished this book because I received it from NetGalley and I am grateful that I did. This book was in the best way I can stated it…just ok.

I really liked the idea of the story. Close proximity friends help each other fight off assassins to keep each other safe. The fighting scenes were the only things I enjoyed reading as it seemed to finally come together during those points. I also liked a strong FMC.
However the chemistry fell flat, the world building wasn’t enough, and the first person thoughts to 3rd person restatements grew exhausting. It was really hard to stay focused with our FMC mental triads.

Not a lot of swearing and super simplistic writing makes it okay for an older YA but not my cup of tea for sure.

This book really surprised me. I thought the concept was really cool and I breezed through this book. This book read more like a young adult fantasy book with mininmal spice. This series has so much potential and I would like to read the next book to see where it goes! I loved Asher and Jasmine and I think their relationship could be built even stronger in the next book.

“The first and final steps in the path of a Keeper were death.”

"Pain can be overcome.
Broken bones can be surpassed. Your mind must not break."

This book was unexpected. I have to admit that I came into it completely blind, without any previous idea of what to expect. And I was pleasantly surprised!!! A fantasy book with Keepers and people with magic, it is perfect for people who loved Vampire Academy but without vampires!!! In a rivals to lovers, forced proximity, reverse grumpy sunshine fantasy romance story, Asher and Jasmine will have to figure out what’s happening when his life is put on the line. And when more secrets and plot twists were uncovered, I found myself very intrigued by the possible consequences of it all. the magic system is interesting and the plot development sparked my curiosity enough to keep me focused on the action and the turns of events. The main characters were good and their dynamics (both with one another and with other people) were fun and enjoyable. There were some quite entertaining romantic scenes (some spicier than the other) that I appreciated and liked more than I should have. And the ending made me feel like I need book two now!!! Overall, I’m really glad I had a chance to read this !!

"If you stress about something you can't control, you only suffer twice."

"If you don't have something in life worth fighting for, then you have nothing worth winning for."

Thank you to A.N Skye, Aethon Books and NetGalley for giving me a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!

The overall plot of this book was intriguing but the character relationships lacked a lot of foreground, and the lack of world building was a big let down. I would’ve preferred to know more about the King, the Kingdom and the way the Starvein/Keeper system was set up. I really enjoyed the magic system- although this did get confusing towards the end of the book.

I would’ve also liked to see more of the Asher and Jasmine dynamic before the events of the book started. To me it read as though they were just sparring partners which then jumped to an all-consuming love that came out of nowhere?

The book read more like a YA fantasy than a new adult fantasy, and the spicy scenes added very little substance to the character’s relationship growth

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