Thank you starwater press and netgalley for the gifted arc.

Unfortunately, I dnfed the first book and will not be continuing the series at this time. I was so excited for this series after seeing the Goodreads ratings, but it’s not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

The first book fell flat for me but kept me interested in the story. This sequel, however, I would not have finished if it weren’t an ARC copy. The FMC, Morgan, is just insufferable. Her personality seemed to me, completely different from the first book - this was especially bad during the few spicier scenes throughout the book. It felt like these scenes were written with different characters in mind and then thrown in after the fact. Also, the fact that she directly refers to Draven at one point as “that morally-grey asshole” made me put the book down for like two months because it irked me so bad.

The main antagonist of this book was so irrelevant that I can’t even remember his name. Outside of the trials, he showed up a few times for some annoying monologue scenes but never posed any real threat to the main characters. On that note, there are SEVERAL scenes where multiple characters go on paragraph-long speeches. These types of things can work after a big emotional build-up, but they were everywhere and just came off as cheesy and not genuine.

There were some really, really good plot ideas in this book but unfortunately none of it worked for me. I’ll eventually get around to reading the next two only because I already have eARCs of them, but I’m honestly not looking forward to them at all.

I loved book 1 and was scared book 2 wouldn’t live up to its predecessor. My goodness this book took me on a wild ride. Highly recommend reading it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️

Picking up right were Queen of Roses left off, I was ready for the continuation of this King Arthur retelling.

Briar returns with her amazing writing ability, paces the story perfectly, gives us twists and turns we don’t see coming, and hits us with spice that we were all hoping for in book one!
Morgan continues to be the strong woman she’s grown into and I love her even more in this book. The relationships she cultivates in this story, speak to her character and how she is nothing like her family.

Draven shows up in this book, in a way that there is no questioning what is between him and Morgan. He is perfection on paper. He fights hard, plays harder, but loves hardest! The lengths he would go for Morgan are amazing.

Even the secondary characters in this book are front and center! The way that Briar can make me care for some, while hating others is testament to her ability as an author.

Now…onto Book 3!

As always review trigger warnings before reading.

Tropes:
🌹 More Spice than Book 1
🌹 Forced Proximity
🌹 Morally gray MMC
🌹 Battle Cats
🌹 Deadly Games/Trials
🌹 Found family

A Decent Sequel, but Falls Short of the First

A Court of Claws delivers an engaging continuation of the series with rich world-building and plot twists, but it doesn’t quite capture the magic of the first book.

Morgan, once a compelling protagonist, becomes more unbearable and whiny in this installment, which can be frustrating for fans of her initial strength. The plot remains solid, though the pacing sometimes drags, and certain parts feel less essential with also a lot for for the plot fantasy turns than needed.

Overall, it's a good read for fans, but it lacks the excitement and character depth that made the first book shine.

The Blood of a Fae series is a great read for fans of Sarah J Maas- accessible for romantasy novices and pacing is easy to move through. Plenty of spice, romance, action, and high stakes. We'll written characters and chemistry. Overall an entertaining easy to read series with an intriguing world build and enough momentum to keep you reading

It’s no mean feat for an author to up the anti after a stellar series debut and yet Briar Boleyn has managed to deliver yet again in the second instalment to the Blood of a Fae series.
I could not get enough of this book! Briar’s writing style packs a punch and is so magnificently emotive that it left me all up in my feels, tears streaming a handful of times.

The exploration of the Fae realm, Draven’s past and his present situation is a captivating shift in storytelling. Romance and spice are absolutely delicious— the budding connection, both romantically and magically, between Morgan and Draven had me hook, line and sinker.

I was hard pressed to fault book two with its exceptional world building, new character introductions and further development of old favourites. When I say that it had me rushing to read book three, there is zero exaggeration.
A 5⭐️ read all the way!🫶🏻

Thank you for sending me an ARC.

While the first book in the series started a little slow this one definitely did not.. Loved watching the chemistry develop between the main characters. Quite the ending - can't wait to read the next book.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

DNF'd at 11%. I couldn't do it. Morgan is just so annoying. She whined the whole time and it seemed like the author was trying to create banter but Morgan just came out as an entitled brat

⭐️3.5
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good set of trials trope. However, it dragged quite a bit for me in this book. It felt like the first 20% and the last 20% had great plot twists and the pacing was great, but the middle 60% was a lot of the same stuff over and over. And having 3 trials but multiple parts to some of the trials felt like a bit too much for me, personally. But that being said, the last 20% really brought it back around in my opinion! Can’t wait to see where the story goes!

2.5⭐️
Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC of this book.

In book 2 of the Blood of the Fae series, we pick up just after the events of book 1, where Morgan wakes after her near death experience. I really enjoyed how the main events of book 1 were summarized in the first chapter to catch the reader up at the same time as catching up Morgan.
Unfortunately, after this the book went way downhill for me.

I felt like this was a bridge book through and through, where not a lot progressed plot wise but the events that did take place were not explained or fleshed out. There were a lot of points that I felt we were just being told pieces of information, or huge plot altering pieces, but were thrown around with no impact. It felt like every single fantasy trope and plot twist were included for shock value and just to have them in there, but because they were so oversaturated, I was never surprised when the next one showed up. Of COURSE Morgan is the only one who can partake in the trials in Draven’s place, of COURSE the exmoor has wings, of COURSE Morgan and Draven’s bond links their lives.

There was multiple points where we could have gotten great creature bonding and training moments, that just never happened. We never got to LEARN about the exmoor with Morgan or about her powers and how they work., it was just told that these had already happened.

Morgan herself was a whole other issue for me. She felt hot and cold, and never had a consistent opinion. Or even a valid reason for holding the opinion she had. She was mad at Draven for 95% of the book and the other 5% was filled with cringey dialogue of “flirting”.

I’m still holding out hope that the series will get better, but this was a huge let down for me.

And here silly me thought the first book was good. Guys this was second level. I’m obsessed with this series right now that it’s my whole life. I don’t know what to do with my life until I get time to read the next book 😭😭
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book

Such a good read that I couldn’t put it down. This whole series has been phenomenal! I managed to read it all in one sitting

Curses. Forced proximity. Found family (sort of). A magical library. Giant battle cats. Deadly trials. Enemy to lovers (singular, because Morgan is fighting the air at this point).

In the second book Draven has to undergo multiple trials in a deadly and gruesome race to the throne. Morgan is learning to gain trust and acclimatize to a new court.

I’m sorry to say that this book disappointed me so much. I absolutely loved the first book but this one was a pain to finish.

Morgan is so insufferable and annoys me to no end. She keeps describing Draven as arrogant. Yet all he has shown her is compassion and honor. She’s so mean to him. Morgan keeps calling Draven her enemy and I guess she is at his court against her will but Draven hasn’t shown that she is also his enemy. It’s like she’s fighting with air. The hatred is one-sided. She’s also very disrespectful and judgmental towards his people’s culture and customs. She behaved so badly throughout this whole book. Very immature and entitled. Worse than an angsty teenager. She also blames everyone but herself for literally everything. There is no accountability when it comes to her own actions. Morgan has a tendency to transform her own guilt into a very ugly weapon and blame innocent people for others’ deaths. She hates everyone and everything is everyone else’s fault. I don’t like this type of person.

This book is also riddled with inconsistencies. The language used doesn’t match the time period this story is supposedly set in. There’s a lot of modern language. Also sayings that were not used during the medieval times. For example ‘that hits too close to home’ (first usage was in the late 1800s).

Another inconsistency happens during the end of the first trial. What happened to Erion in the first trial? He’s suddenly not mentioned anymore even though everyone else that didn’t make it or did make it gets mentioned. Then he suddenly gets mentioned again quite a few chapters later.

This book also had a very slow start. The romance is very 0-100 then back to 0 again. The build up in the first book was great but I feel like the first half of the second book completely broke down that build-up so it was very weird when they did end up getting together for a lil bit. For someone that supposedly hates the other, doesn’t trust him, thinks he’s the worst person to walk this earth, it just seems very strange that she would suddenly let all of her disgust go and end up in bed with this person.

Long story short: I have serious issues with this book. I’ll just pretend this book isn’t part of this series and move on to book 3.

Steamy, Arthurian, Fantasy Retelling

Morgan found herself in a strange place, and it was about to get a lot stranger. Draven saved her life, but she had lost everything she knew. Would she understand why Draven had brought her to this deadly dangerous court in which she found herself?

This story is full of action and adventure. Secrets, strange creatures, deadly battles, and court intrigue will keep you turning the pages. I look forward to reading the next book in this series. What will happen to Morgan and Draven on their dangerous adventure, full of magic, mayhem, and deadly peril?

4 stars!!

I loved the first book so much, really enjoyed this one still as well, and will definitely be reading the rest of the series cause I love it so much.
King Arthur retelling with fae and enemies to lovers?? Absolutely my cup of tea!!

But as much as I love the story, the plot twists, the male love interest, and the world building I do have to admit that I loved the first book more than this sequel.
Only because I kept getting so so frustrated with our main character in this story and how she reacted to somethings.
Still really enjoyed it and highly recommend though!!

Review is posted on Goodreads & Instagram so far, and blog post is scheduled for August 11th.

I’m so glad I stuck with this series because I really enjoyed Court of Claws, much more than the first book!

I was drawn in right from the start, I loved the characters who were varied and had great depth, the chemistry between Morgan and Drawn was insane, the setting was super immersive and the plot was full of twists and turns. The setting and world building was intricate and clever, and while the romance was fantastic, the fantasy was also standout.

The ending was a little chaotic but I stayed intrigued throughout the book and the set up for the next book was well done, absolutely kept me invested. The relationships are at the heart of the series and them going up and down is incredibly compelling. The different areas and subplots are very diverse and them coming together should be fantastic in the next book.

Court of Claws has enough substance and appeal to keep me thinking about it, which isn’t all too common in a lot of romantasy books these days!

You did it again. This was an amazing sequel and the spice is spicying. You continue to keep me so engrossed that my daily life is falling apart; stop it (don't). I cannot wait for number 3

This was like Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones but make it fae.

This review contains spoilers. Court of Claws takes us deeper into Draven’s world and we get to know a lot more about his past and the Siabra. The exmoor history was also really interesting and one of my favorite scenes in the book. This had more action, magic, world building—and the trials had you on the edge of your seat. New side characters were introduced that I loved like Beks, Crescent, Hawl, Nightclaw, and even Lyrastsra, who was a pleasant surprise! I did have a hard time connecting with Morgan in this book due to her actions, especially when she was so mean to Draven and although I understand she was conflicted and mistrusted him, it was frustrating when she put a lot of the blame on him. Granted, he wasn’t very forthcoming either. The spice was hitting, but their emotional relationship still has some more growth and development to do and I am looking forward to that in the next book now that they’re officially bonded as husband and wife! After that cliffhanger, I can’t wait to see what happens next and where things are headed in Camelot.

"Court of Claws" by Briar Boleyn is an enthralling fantasy novel that masterfully blends political intrigue, romance, and mythical creatures. The story centers around a cunning and resilient protagonist who navigates a perilous court filled with treachery and power struggles. Boleyn's rich world-building and complex character development keep readers hooked from start to finish. The book's vivid descriptions and unpredictable plot twists make it a must-read for fans of the fantasy genre.