“What if I am destined to save this world?”

For anyone who ever fell in love with the Beast, and was disappointed when the curse was broken and blondie appeared, this series from Sylvia Mercedes will scratch all those beastly itches and then some. All three installments, Bride of the Shadow King,Vow of the Shadow King, and the conclusion Heart of the Shadow King are now available in these new editions as of this week.

Princess Faraine’s story begins in Bride of the Shadow King, and this may be my favorite of the three installments. Raised in virtual exile from her father’s court, Faraine is the eldest but most overlooked of her sisters. Her chronic “condition” means that she is always kept apart, and she has learned to give way for her younger sister Ilsevel, who is favored by their father in all things. When the Trollde Shadow King arrives seeking a human bride to secure the support of the human magicians, it is the humanity of Faraine’s family that casts the darkest shadow. Deals are made, engagements entered, and magical binding draws everyone into a labyrinthine relationship.

In Vow of the Shadow King trapped in the Shadow Realm and surrounded by enemies, Faraine and Vor are each shattered by the actions of the people around them, convinced that there is no way forward. As Vor struggles with his own thoughts, enemies within and without the court, and the constant doubt that has plagued him since birth, Farain struggles to find her place in this new world. As a human princess is she a liability to be thrown back to the surface, or does her growing love for the shadows and crystals of the deep mean that she is destined to be more in this world of rock and stone?

In Heart of the Shadow King Faraine and Vor return to a city in shambles, but more confident in their relationship with each other. With both realms on the brink of collapse they must each face headlong the choices they have made, and decide what to reveal to each other. Desire and loyalty are tested, as they each battle their own demons, both physical and emotional.

I am so glad I was able to read all of these together over the winter, as they were such a cozy read to while away the winter days, and each of them left me wanting more. The world that has been created here is stunning. It is beautiful and dangerous, and as Faraine grows in her new home, we feel a kinship for the place as well. Despite how hard and barren she assumed it would be, the world is teeming with life, and the way Mercedes brings the Shadow Realm to life is breathtaking.

“Strange lichens climb the large boulders, creating luminous abstract patterns that dazzle the eye. Mushrooms nearly half my height bob gently, though there is no breeze. Their gills ripple, and their speckled caps reflect the low light around them. here and there, tiny flying creatures - olk, Vor called them - flit across my vision, trailing glittering dust in their wake. The air hums with the soft music of their wings.”


I’m not a huge fan of the current “shadow daddy” obsession, but I am a huge fan of female protagonists who get to be more than the life that was crafted out from them. Faraine is manipulated and overlooked time and again by her father, but in Mythanar she finds a place that makes her comfortable in her own skin for the first time. Despite all misgivings she enjoys being here, and encounters skills that she never knew she had. I am still not a fan of the “teach me” sex scenes, and admittedly skimmed over much of the lusting, but Faraine is given far more agency over her sexuality than I feel has been the norm in my reading of late.

Generally I am not drawn to fiction that has a dual point-of-view, but I did not hate this. Given the nature of Vor and his people, it was extremely helpful to see things from his point of view. Going back and forth between Vor and Faraine gave better structure to a narrative that spun stories between two very different world. I actually would very much have liked to have had Sul and Hael’s perspectives thrown in as well so I am really pleased that these new editions each contain a chapter from Captain Hael’s point of view.

Regardless of whether we get to return to the Shadow Realm, I enjoyed the world building of Sylvia Mercedes, and will definitely be checking out her other creations, her bibliography is quite voluminous. She uses familiar tropes of course, but adds her own spin to things. Her perspective on story creation resonated strongly with me, and was evident through each book.

“They say the Between Gates simply appeared one day. That was five hundred years ago now. Our world has never been the same since. No one knows from whence they came or who built them. There are legends aplenty of course - all elaborate and complicated and contradictory, possibly each containing a small piece of the truth but never the whole.”

I loved her use of crystals, and the dragon aspects of her world were quite different and welcome. It’s a fascinating idea for a dragon and certainly something I would like to see explored more.

The redemption arc of a fairly minor character in Heart of the Shadow King while not something I saw coming, utterly delighted me, and ended the whole series on an absolute high. I wish more time had been able to be devoted to this final storyline and I was exceptionally pleased with the extra story provided at the conclusion of the book. I think a standalone telling that story all the way through from the tertiary perspective of the characters involved would maybe even surpass how much I enjoyed the story of Vor and Faraine. There are definitely several other paths that could be explored in this world, either concurrently with this story, or at either end of the history of the kingdom.

The full trilogy is now available and GeekMom received a copy of these books for review purposes.

BrideOfTheShadowKing Review:⁣
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Thank you @acebookspub @berkleypub for my gifted copies! #BerkleyPartner #BerkleyBookstagram ⁣
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“Only weak men feel the need to hide such strength behind closed doors.” ⁣
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Sometimes, you need that physical book y’all. I’ve been slowly going through Bride of the Shadow king as an e-book and audio. It just wasn’t clicking. Ace and Berkley really hooked me up with the ENTIRE series, and I decided to try print. Well, 6 hours later and running on 4 hours of sleep, I finished Bride. I loved it. I almost started Vow, but I needed sleep.⁣
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Basically, our girl Faraine has an amazing god given gift. She’s considered dangerous, and though she’s the oldest, she’s basically an outcast. She meets Vor, Shadow Kingy, and there’s something there. He’s on his way to meet her father, the king, for an alliance. The catch? He’s to wed her sister. But, she’s the one that caught the feelings! He also can’t get Faraine out his head. But something happens and Faraine is forced to take ole sister’s place, but it’s under deception. Are sparks going to fly? Will heads roll? Can they save the kingdoms? ⁣
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Faraine, I love you. My heart aches for you. She’s just out here being her and everyone has shun her away. She’s definitely oldest sister vibes and I just want her happy, dang it. Vor was the actual gentle giant. He was giving best vibes of trying to be fragile but a softy in the truest form. Their whirlwind was a slow burn and I’m so glad this is only part one because that cliff hanger left me immediately trying (but self restraint) to read book 2!⁣
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Heart of the Shadow King rereleases on February 25th, and at this rate I’ll have them read by pub day!

This definitely delivers on the slow burn, fantasy romance vibes! It's easy to get into as it slowly eases you into the plot. I'm intrigued to see what happens next!

Thank you so much to Berkley Publishing for my ARC

This is an amazing adult fantasy romance. This is the first book in a series and though its a bit of a slow burn it's a great start and I can't wait to read the next book in the series. The romance is well done and the mystery and secrets was a nice touch. I really enjoy the way Sylvia writes and can't wait to pick up more of her books!

This was an amazing book, that was actually able to take me by surprise! I was not expecting some of the twists which is a rare experience for me, we know from the description that our MFC Princess Faraine is forced to marry the handsome Shadow King, Vor, in place of her younger sister but I did not see why she would have to do that coming! I loved Faraine, she was very admirable, she has a chronic illness so is constantly tossed to the side but even through it all she remains kind and is patient, all without being weak! Vor is such a refreshing male lead, he's honorable and compassionate, he's a softer hero than we've been getting lately and I loved it! He's not a grouchy bad boy but he's still super interesting and captivating. The story is told in a dual first person POV and I loved getting to know both of them so well. I also loved the world-building and Vor's underground troll kingdom, it was a much different take on trolls, they're a lot more elegant and advanced, a very delightful twist! This is a slow burn romance that ends on a massive cliff-hanger so you'll definitely want book 2 on hand!

For those looking for your next adult fantasy romance series, with a bit of a slow burn for the first book, then this might just be what you are looking for. I enjoyed the plot - a couple who are initially very attracted to each other, but have several legitimate obstacles in their way. There's also some mystery and secrets and deception both at the personal level and in the overall world-building/plot which makes me want to read the next book when it comes out.

When I say I love romantasy, this is the kind of book that I’m talking about. I want the romantic plotline to be driving the story, and I want to spend most of the time getting to know the characters and their motivations.

At the beginning of our story, Vor, the Shadow King, saves Princess Faraine from an attack. There is an immediate attraction between them, but he is engaged to her sister! The dual POV writing kept this tension building, and I couldn’t put it down.

The Bride of the Shadow King series was originally independently published, but was picked up by Berkley/Ace (swipe to see the original!). Book 2 came out last week, and Book 3 will be out on Feb 25th! All three books follow the same couple.

4 stars 🌟

Thank you to Ace Books and Berkley Romance for the arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I've heard about Sylvia Mercedes and her books in the book community for some time now, especially as she's often many people's favorite indie author. I had not had the pleasure of reading her books before because I usually read largely print books from publishers, but the Bride of the Shadow King series recently was given new covers by Ace and I'm thrilled to have been given access to the trilogy. Personally, I'm a big romantasy lover when it's done right so this book had me intrigued from the beginning, but it turned out to be not what I was expecting.

Princess Faraine is the eldest daughter of her kingdom but has been shunned by her father due to her gods-gift (or chronic illness) getting in the way of marriages and political moves. She has learned to give her three other siblings her place, and when the Shadow King comes looking for an alliance, she is not surprised that it's her sister her father's parades. Though not his first choice, King Vor is willing to do anything to gain access to the human mages who may be able to rid a horror threatening his people, including marrying a human princess. When disaster strikes, Faraine is forced to take her sister's place unbeknownst to King Vor, and must keep up the facade or else ruin her husband, and her kingdom's chances, of an alliance.

This story was so easy to read, and I mean that in a good way! The chapters were relatively short and there was always some event (however small) that was moving the story along. I never felt like the reader was sitting stagnant waiting for things to happen. That being said, there was less intense action than I thought there would be, but I found myself not minding this. Getting to know the main characters, their families & friends, as well as the kingdoms they would be a part of was done well to set up even more expansion in the coming books.

I do wish there had been a bit more worldbuilding in general, but only because I found myself intrigued by what was presented to the reader. The Shadow King is a trolfolk, aka 'trolls' as we know them but to them, that's a slur, but they look more like elves or fae. I found this to be a nice fresh take on some folklore creatures, the trolfolk reminds me of dwarves in their cities and culture, so it felt like the author mashed together some ideas and came up with something unique I had never read before. Hopefully, there will be even more expansion in the coming books as I had fun learning about these cultures so far!

For being a romantasy book, I was shocked to learn that there were no spicy scenes in this book. There is one towards the end that got a bit steamy, but nothing happened that I would consider 'spicy'. After reading more romantasy books last year, I honestly can say this was refreshing. There was lots of pining and thinking about one another in this book, and it feels like the romance is going to be slow-burn for a while. That's one of my favorite tropes, so seeing it done realistically was very entertaining, and I am rooting for the main characters.

Some of the characters in this book felt deeper than others, but I enjoyed seeing the story and romance through both of the main characters, Fairane and Vor. We need more dual pov romances, especially in romantasy, and they were an excellent example of that. Fairane has her god-gift which essentially acts as a chronic illness in this world, and even with the disrespect from her family, she stayed strong as a sister and friend. For being called the "Shadow King", Vor was very respectful and kind to everyone, and I loved this little twist. Oftentimes characters who are given that title end up being in the vein of enemies to lovers, and "darkness" but it was refreshing to see him be the opposite of that in most scenes.

Overall, I enjoyed my time reading this book and I am intrigued for the rest of the series!

I was not expecting to be hooked from page one or for the setting and lore to be set up so beautifully. The tension between the characters in the first half was so great, but the last half had me clawing for the next page–it’s that longing feeling that clings to your heart when you see that there are two people on the page who would be happier of they could know the truth about the other. I was not expecting the level of court intrigue or the physical pain that Faraine’s magic caused her, nor where that whole thing went.

This is a good setup for the next book, which I will have a review up for soon!

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

Unfortunately, I have to DNF this at around 30%. It's for an entirely petty reason, but there are entirerly too many exclamation points. I think if there was 50% less exclamation points, I might have been able to get farther, but I also wasn't a huge fan of the main characters. Unfortunately, it's a no from me on this one.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I enjoyed the storyline and romance. Looking forward to the next book in this series!

New to this author and thought it was super enjoyable. I loved the slow burn romance although sometimes I just wanted to yell at them to be together already. It was a good first book of a series and loved the troll aspect and found the world interesting but at times it felt like the story was repetitive and a little slow.

This was book one in a multi book series and I can safely say I will be continuing with it! This book was more of a slow burn, but I am very excited for this relationship to grow in future books. I am so excited to see their relationship grow and watch them overcome the obstacles in their way.

I enjoyed the multiple perspectives given and how we got to experience some events in both characters pov's. I also really enjoyed the genuine issues the characters had to deal with to be together and I am really excited to read book 2!!

This was such a great start to a romantasy series and I am diving into book two asap!

This was AMAZING. From the start I was captivated. This reminded me so much of Grace Draven’s Radiance duology. I thoroughly enjoyed the romance bits, the fantasy! The world building!! Wow! It felt so unique. Vor - what a man!! The ending??? I need book 2!!

This fast-paced read was hard to put down, with action starting on the very first page and never letting up. I felt a deep kinship with the main female character, Faraine, whose magical power (known as a God’s Gift) felt more like a curse. Her ability to sense and soothe others’ emotions comes at an immense cost to her own physical and mental well-being, leaving her severely overstimulated just by being around people. As someone with AuDHD, I saw parallels between her struggles and my own, which made her story resonate deeply with me.

While I’m typically lukewarm on dual POV romances, I found Faraine’s perspective far more engaging than the male POV. Vor’s chapters offered valuable insight into his character, but I still found him a bit underdeveloped. I’m hopeful for more growth and depth in the later books. In fact, I felt that all the characters could use more fleshing out, as this book leaned heavily on plot over character development. Some of the dialogue also felt flat, which detracted from the otherwise gripping story.

That said, the book was undeniably entertaining and easy to follow. Fans of arranged marriage and star-crossed lovers tropes will likely enjoy the many twists and turns. The side characters were a highlight for me, bringing humor and levity to a story that often skewed serious.

Despite its flaws, Bride of the Shadow King was an intriguing and enjoyable read. I’m eager to see where the series goes and how the romance develops in the next installment.

4.25 stars

I absolutely loved this. In general, arranged marriage/alliance fantasy romances will always do it for me but the way that Faraine’s and the Shadow King’s relationship developed had me in a chokehold!! Bride of the Shadow King was a breathe of fresh air in the romantasy genre, it felt like a nostalgic ode to some of my all time faves within the genre but also new and refreshing. There were all the components I love in a romantasy (interesting world building, a reluctant alliance, fae, trolls- (such an intriguing spin on these elements as well!) but there were so many other things that made it all the more invigorating. I loved the authors storytelling, the dialogue was fantastic, the characters all so layered and intriguing, and the magic was mysterious and alluring. While the romance is slow burn, the story is not and you’re thrown into the action from the beginning, making this a very consuming, bingeable read from start to finish. I can’t wait to binge the rest of the trilogy!

Bride of the Shadow King by Sylvia Mercedes is the first book in her new Bride of the Shadow King series. We meet Princess Faraine, who is the oldest daughter Of King Larongar of Gavaria; as she has been banished to a convent, since her father was not able to arrange a marriage by the groom. Now her younger sister, Ilsevel is refusing to marry King Vor of Mythanar, and Faraine is called home from the convent to calm her sister and convince her to wed the man her father wants her to marry.

King Vor agrees to wed princess Ilsevel, because he needs human magic to save his kingdom; as King Larongar is determined to get Vor to help protect their own kingdom. Faraine is on her way home, and she and her brother are attacked; King Vor with his team comes to their rescue. In a short period, as they head to Gavaria, with them having an instant connection, as their attraction is strong. King Vor is eager to take a human bride, as he is willing to do what is needed to help his people. When he meets the lively and talented, Princess Ilsevel, he quickly agrees to a marriage arrangement; with the blessing of King Larongar.

When disaster strikes, and Ilsevel and her younger sister, are both killed in an attack by Gavaria’s enemy. King Larongar is determined to keep the marriage alliance, with Faraine now being forced to take her sister’s place; as a mage helps to change Faraine face to look like her sister. When she travels with Lyria to become King Vor’s new wife, as his Queen; she continues to wear a veil to keep her facial change. The wedding night approaches, with Vor and Faraine succumbing to their sexual feelings. But Vor will discover the truth about Faraine, and all hell will break loose.
Bride of the Shadow King was a very good romantasy, with a slow burn and forbidden romance; which had magic, deception, betrayal, sacrifice and death. The finale was a wild intense ending, leaving us with so many more questions. Bride of the Shadow King was very well written by Sylvia Mercedes. Though there was some bad scenes as we got closer to the end, I suggest you read this book.

Bride of the Shadow King is a captivating masterpiece that effortlessly blends elements of romance, fantasy, action, and adventure into a tale brimming with mystery, depth, and emotion. From the very first page, the world-building is rich and immersive. The author introduces us to a world filled with intrigue and allure, where magic intertwines with secrets, and nothing is as it seems. The setting is not just a backdrop but a living, breathing entity that shapes the story, immersing readers in its haunting beauty and complexity.

What sets this book apart is its character development. The protagonist, Faraine, is a beautifully flawed and relatable character. She is both strong and vulnerable, navigating a world that is both enchanting and dangerous. Her emotional growth throughout the novel is palpable, and I found myself rooting for her from start to finish. The Shadow King, Vor, with his brooding presence and mysterious motives, is the perfect foil to the Bride, creating a dynamic and complex relationship that kept me eagerly turning the pages.

The pacing of the novel is spot-on, with tension building steadily throughout the plot. There is an underlying sense of foreboding that is skillfully woven into the narrative, keeping readers on edge without overwhelming them. The romantic tension between the Bride and the Shadow King is electric, but it's the psychological and emotional layers of their relationship that make it truly compelling. The chemistry between them is palpable, but it’s their emotional vulnerability and the journey they embark on together that truly makes their story unforgettable.

The writing itself is lyrical and poetic, with a prose style that pulls you deeper into the world the author has created. The descriptions are vivid and evocative, allowing the reader to see, feel, and experience everything alongside the characters. The themes of power, trust, love, and sacrifice are explored in a way that feels both timeless and deeply personal.

In addition to the brilliant character development and world-building, the plot is full of unexpected twists and turns that keep the reader engaged. The stakes rise with every chapter, and just when you think you know where the story is headed, the author throws in a curveball that leaves you breathless.

Bride of the Shadow King is more than just a fantasy novel—it's an emotional rollercoaster, a journey through darkness, and a testament to the strength of the human spirit. It explores themes of love, power, and the complexity of human emotion in ways that feel raw and real. The book stays with you long after you’ve turned the final page, leaving you contemplating the nature of relationships, sacrifice, and the choices we make.

In conclusion, this book is an absolute must-read for fans of fantasy, romance, and dark academia. It’s a brilliant work that pulls you into its world, leaving you not only entertained but also deeply moved. I can’t recommend it enough.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I could not put this one down. The shadow world, the magic, the chemistry between the two main characters, I cannot wait to read Book 2!

i've been on a romantasy kick recently and this was a really fun book. I'm glad this is a series so there's more to this world. the worldbuilding was really solid and I loved the shadow king's character