This is a fast-paced, action-packed story that builds an interesting world and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

It follows Lady Erin as she seeks revenge for the death of her fiance and capture of her parents, combining court politics with action.

I enjoyed that Erin wasn't held back by the expectations of being a lady at a time that was meant to be medieval. She was happy to fight, sneak around and do what had to be done without worrying about appearances.

While the pacing was great and ensured the focus was on the action and important moments, it also meant that I couldn't get a good picture of what the world looked like. It seemed far too easy to travel quickly even by horse. I also thought Erin's recovery from her fiance dying to falling for someone else was a bit too fast.

I also found some of the language to be slightly too modern for the time in which is seemed to be set. 'Mom and dad', for example, took me out of it a little bit.

Overall, it was a fun read and very quick for under 300 pages.

Thank you to K.A. Connolly and NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book.

Norcliff has a fun premise, but from the jump the slightly clunky writing style and the flat characters makes it hard to engage with. Every character has little to no background or development. The reader is TOLD who these people are and how we are meant to feel about them, but we are never SHOWN anything on page.

The best example of this is early on in the first four chapters. We are told that Jax has been training Erin in stealth and combat since she was three. The first two times conflict the resulted in violence happens, Erin freezes up and just watches it happen. While I understand the first time (nerves get the better of all of us sometimes), it’s the constant reassurance from the other characters that Erin is capable making it all feel incredibly forced.

Besides the lack of character development, the pacing is all over the place while the plot turned out to be extremely predictable. I could have forgiven one of these issues, but both together is impossible to look past. Every event is happening at light speed so nothing is rewarding. It comes across more like a storyboard outline than a completed narrative.

My final note: if you are going to write a medieval setting either commit to the bit or purposefully subvert expectations. Half committing leaves everyone, characters and readers alike, confused.

Norcliff is a romantasy with deep roots in the classic, swords and sorcery fantasy tradition. It follows Erin, the inheritor and heir apparent of the duchy of Norcliff, who finds herself ensnared in a plot of political intrigue after her wedding is interrupted by the targeted assassination of her fiancé by the man who wants Erin and her lands for himself. After losing face in court, Erin needs to find allies in alternate places to save her parents and protect her people, only to discover that the political situation is worse than it appears. And amidst all of this toil and tribulation, she finds new love along the way. While nothing about this premise is particularly groundbreaking, Norcliff promised to be a familiar, comforting type of tale, so that’s what I hoped for going in.
Unfortunately, despite the premise being the sort of thing I like, the execution is where Norcliff falls short for me. While reading, I felt as though I was being told a story secondhand, or reading a sparknotes summary of the book, more than reading a complete story in itself. The plot relies on telling over showing, making the pace breakneck throughout but without earning any emotional payoff. This lead to scenes of battle, the romantic leads wooing, travel, and training all lack any tonal differentiation and left me with an overall one-note experience while reading. There was also a seeming avoidance of building up conflict in service of getting the story to move more quickly. Erin arrives at the palace, is immediately welcomed by the nobles (no court intrigue or hidden intentions from the other courtiers?), then is assaulted by the prince and everyone’s opinion turns on a dime (again, no sympathies or anyone else knowing the prince is a predator?) in the course of, like, four pages. There’s no time for any of those events to sink in before they’re each brought to some sort of resolution and all the potential tension is dissipated, leaving the characters to be whisked to the next series of un-nuanced, cause-and-effect-but-no-feelings-or-complications plot events.
The speed also didn’t allow for differentiation between characters. Most everyone shares the same mannerisms of speech regardless of social class or geographic difference, and information and skill are granted to or withheld from characters seemingly at random. There’s scenes where Erin, purportedly the heir of Norcliff and thus raised to be at least aware of her surrounding duchies, has to be told about the politics and customs of her neighbors. Erin is also trained enough at swordplay and strategy that she can hold her own in a battle or scale castle battlements undetected but inexplicably has soft lady’s hands. Inconsistencies like this further broke my immersion in the story, and kept me guessing as to what the actual traits, fears, wants, and feelings of the characters actually were.
And since this is a romantasy, where the central relationship between Erin and Hugo should be at the heart of most of what’s going on, it’s imperative that I know at least about what makes the two of them tick. I found myself feeling like their relationship was instalove-y and bland to the point where I didn’t even mind the instalove, because to mind it would meant I cared about it at all.
However, while it didn’t work for me, I think Norcliff could still very much fill the comfort-read romantasy niches for people who want quick, uncomplicated reads with all their favorite fantasy tropes making an appearance. The writer clearly knows and cares for their genres. Their scenes of riding horses on a journey, chivalrous courtship practices between the romantic leads, character tropes like the poisoneer madame and turncoat advisor, and a badass Princess female lead kept me reading instead of DNFing outright. With just some more fleshing out, showing to balance out the telling, I think Norcliff could’ve been quite good. I would be interested in seeing more from this author and seeing whether that element of their writing style evolves.

This fell very flat for me, I did not like Erin at all. She was confusing for me.. your fiancé dies and you’re laughing.. 2 weeks later we love someone else😐 not adding up for me.
This also felt all over the place, we went from wanting to help our parents to revenge on the prince..
Allies we met at the beginning are forgotten for the rest of the book.
We lost a lot of the story cause we had characters hurt the MC or her family and it’s this big betrayal but we don’t know them.. so we as the reader have no reason to care.
The little missed details also didn’t help, we have a poisonous kiss, then don’t take the antidote but kiss our love interest? That seems so small but it’s definitely important and it’s just not there..
Not for me

Norcliff is a quick and easy read. This story had a lot of promise, but the plot is overly rushed and is honestly lacking any real depth. There were elements I enjoyed, especially the main character reaching court and the potential for political intrigue. However, this like many areas fell flat. I wish we had pushed literally any aspect further, because every challenge or issue was resolved incredibly quickly. Erin has the potential to be a interesting main character; I just wish we had the opportunity to develop a stronger relationship with her.

Overall, this was a story that left me wanting, but I do believe it will appeal to the younger end of the YA romantasy demographic.

I found myself fantasizing about the love Erin and Hugo have for each other and how after her fiance/husband passing she never thought she could love so deep again with all the challenges she came across with, with her parents being captured. I found myself in Erin's shoes and wish to find love like Erin and Hugo❤️. It's a great book.

This book is a solid YA fantasy. The dialogue really threw me off, because it is written highly and I had a hard time connecting with it. I’d let my niece read it, but it’s not a rave.

Thanks to netgalley for this ARC.

I wanted to like it. I really did. The premise had promise.
The FMC is raised/trained as both a kick ass warrior and a lady. The issue is she’s raised in a medieval land where women aren’t supposed to be warriors. Misogyny ruins the day yet again.
The story started off great and then sorta fell flat. The battle scenes were lacking interest and the end was meh.
There are lots of holes in character development, too.
I kept reading hoping the spark of the first half would reignite. Nope
It’s like the author had a character limit and needed to wrap it up quickly.
Disappointing, overall.

Unfortunately this is a DNF for me at 40%. I tried to read as much as I could before making the decision to not read any further and I feel that I’ve hit my limit.

The cover and premise for this book were fantastic and I was really excited to give it a go but the writing just fell so flat. I felt no connection or care for any of the characters, the plot seems to jump forward very quickly which gives readers no time to react, reflect or think about important events. It’s written in a very “tell not show” style which comes off quite juvenile and doesn’t allow readers to visualise. The dialogue was also very clunky and unrealistic for people who have known each other their entire lives.

I think the story has real potential, the writing just needs a fair bit of work.

If you liked learning about royalty in school and enjoyed films like Brave, this book is for you. I enjoyed the way this was written and I was constantly wanting to know what else was going to happen.

Lady Erin is preparing for the most important day of her life, the start of something new. Little did she know that the new was not exactly what she was expecting. Lady Erin has been brought up with the skills to fight for herself unlike most lady's of the land which is unusual in this time and due to this she really stands up for herself and her family.

I really enjoyed the strong female character that Erin became and how she truly grew within the book. I am really hoping that this becomes a series as I would love to know how Lady Erin gets on as well as her rag tag team of friends.

I loved this book so much. I loved the relationship between Erin and Liana and how they trusted each other and uplifted each other throughout the story. I think the way that Erin's grief is depicted throughout the books is phenominal and the depiction of her internal struggles relating to her grief was amazing as well. While I do think that Erin's strength and communication skills on the battlefield were not then reflected in her conversations with her family and friends, it still did not take away from how much I loved this story and this cast of characters.

A story with great potential but a clear lack of editing and it low-key makes me sad, because this book could've been great. Aside from the many typos, there were also some glaring mistakes such as a prince being addressed as "your majesty"? And that wasn't the only time such. thing happened, which truly sucks in a fantasy book with a monarchy. The book also felt very rushed and I think that is partly because of its length, it definitely needed 100 more pages. 2.5 stars

For me, this is a 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. It was filled with fantasy, exciting battles and heart. It is captivating. I personally think as someone who has been getting into fantasy but still is a bit inexperienced, this is a great book as the magic system and clan set up was something I felt familiar with and could understand easily. The plot was well-crafted and I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC.

I was interested in this book as it had an intriguing premise but unfortunately I found that the writing let it down and ended up DNFing after only 13%. While the story itself featured some darker aspects the writing style itself felt very young, especially considering that the book is marketed as a New Adult novel. I’m sure that had I continued the story itself would have still been enjoyable but unfortunately the actual writing made me unable to continue.

I chose to read this book because of its attractive cover and intriguing synopsis. Reading fantasy was enjoyable. Certain sections felt a little more YA, while other sections felt a little more adult. That coincided with the fact that I occasionally felt the dialogue to be a little awkward and inconsistent. Although I finished the book because I found it to be enjoyable, I don't think I would suggest it to anyone I know. This book clearly has an audience, but I don't think it's me.

I really wanted to like this book. I thought it sounded really fun, and the artwork on the cover was stunning. The first 40% or so of the book did keep me entertained - I liked the characters, I was intrigued by Erin’s skill, and there were some really strong commentary on political climates, societal expectations, and the upholding and subversion of expectations all at once. Unfortunately, that enjoyment didn’t remain. Around about that 40% mark, something switched within the book for me, and I really struggled to like it.
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I can’t remember if it was like this throughout the whole book and that I was too intrigued to notice, but a third of the way in, the writing just seemed really childish? On Netgalley, the book is classed as ‘New Adult’ (18-29 age range) but it does NOT feel like that at all. It deals with some harsh topics (brutal deaths and SA) but it’s written like the audience are children? To me, it was far too simplistic with the style of ‘tell, not show’. I couldn’t immerse myself into the book, as it felt like I was reading “and then this happened, and then I said this, and then she said that, and then this happened”, which was very off-putting.
~
All of the speech and description included pointed out the obvious, whilst feeling incredibly clunky. I couldn’t submerge myself in the book, or picture anything myself. With the writing style, everything moved so quickly and it felt like I was getting a bit of whiplash. There wasn’t a second for the characters to breathe, or for the readers to be able to feel anything for the characters or about the plot.
~
For me, this was so close to a DNF, as I struggled unbelievably with the simplistic writing style and the fast pace. I’m really sad about that, because it felt like such a strong premise, and I WAS excited about the beginning. Unfortunately, as the book went on, I was getting more and more annoyed by the characters and writing style.
~
I do think with a bit of editing, pacing work, and the additions of description, this book could be A LOT stronger. Unfortunately, though, I think I’m going to have to give this book ⭐️.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I DNF this book at 41%
The description and cover of the book was really interesting but the execution of it was very lackluster. I really wanted to like this book and finish reading it but I had issues connecting with the characters because of the pacing and writing style.
In the beginning of the story we have a very forced dialogue with Erin the main character and her maid/friend Liana where it explained Erin relationship with her fiancé and family and a paragraph later her fiancé is killed and her family kidnapped and I have not emotional reaction or attachment to them. We don't know who these people are and as far as I read they are unknown to me. Then almost immediately the story jump to a different scene and location where something important happens for the plot and the story jumps again before the reader has a chance to understand what happened. This cycle seems to continue throughout the rest of the book.
We have more detailed descriptions of the characters' clothing than world building o characters development.
My enjoyment declined the more I continue reading and every time a stop I have to force myself to pick it up again.

i got about 30% into this but it just wasn't for me so unfortunately i had to dnf - i would be interested in reading other work from this author though! this just wasn't capturing my attention.

thank you so much to netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc 🫶🏻

Thanks so much to K.A. Connolly and Netgalley for providing me this arc!

This is a dnf at 41% unfortunately.

I want to start this with the things i liked about this book. Let´s start with the cover - absolutely gorgeous. And that´s about it.

The rest of the book sadly could not convince me.

I could not get into it. The writing style and the weird modern takes written into this book really lost me. The fact that Erin is supposed to be a Lady but has absolutely no manners, and simultaneously being raised as a warrior but there is no substances to the so called "action" scenes. They lack detail as the lack tension.

Character development? What is that? The characters are two dimensional and boring. Why should i care that some character i know for 10 pages betrays Erin and her family? The characters are simply not complex enough for that, plus we get no time to get to know these characters and their relationships. None of them matter.

And the one character that seems interesting in the beginning - Jax - is basically reduced to being a dog on a leash.

The way Erin deals with the loss of her fiance ( which she has apparently known since childhood ) seems so shallow, when she is crying first and two paragraphs later she is laughing about some stupid shit. ( And yes she is allowed to laugh and be happy even though her fiance is dead, her parents captured and kidnapped, but TWO paragraphs later???? ) Also she never even really talks about the loss of her parents?

World-building doesn´t exist? We know nothing about Norcliff other than it being "remote". And you could counteract this with interesting political intrigue - but guess what - we also don´t get that. Because Erin comes and goes to talk to the king in the span of TWO DAYS!!

I could go on but ... i really wanted so much more of this. Really dissapoinited.

I’ve to admit the overall plot was pretty decent but it falls short in the off-key pacing and execution. The start of a female empowering role by Erin was fascinating but as you move forward you begin to see that unfortunately the book fails to deliver what was promised. No offence but I was all for a strong female character who learns from her mistakes after being in the real world for the first time and slowly becomes stronger through hardships yet still securing that feminine wiles about her. But this one just didn’t feel right, I failed to connect with the main character and how her mind worked throughout the whole book. She was imperfect which was totally fine but her continuous foolish decision just irritated me. Most of all her thought process was so hard to follow through and the pacing in the book didn’t help it all. Also the male lead just wasn’t carved out so well in my opinion. I’m just greatly disappointed cause this book certainly had to potential to be a great read but the writing just isn’t it which was saddening cause I would have loved to see Erin and Lianne ending up together as compared to the way the book started I was actually surprised to see there was a male lead (it’s just my personal opinion and in no way affected the story)