I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I don’t even have the right words.
I loved this!
The concept was super intriguing and I really loved the connection between Ranemir and Tenelle 💕
I definitely hope there’s more to come in this series!!

I can’t tell you how much I loved the FMC Tenele. She is so badass and fights for what she believes in. Of Silver and Sin was the kind of dark fantasy I was craving and reminded me of the books I used to read a few years ago.
Some plot twists were crazy and leading the book into a direction that was definitely surprising but I’m not complaining.
You could certainly feel the hate and romance and attraction through the pages making the story more wholesome.
The ending left be a bit speechless though and I need more.

She hunts beings like him, while he devours the beautiful like her, creating a partnership forged in darkness. Tenele Raider, a monster hunter and Maiden of the Red Court, is one of many female orphans shaped by the Queens War. When the fragile boundary between her homeland and a tumultuous neighbor shatters, she must uncover the origin of the ominous black runes etched into the corpses left behind. To aid her, she is reluctantly paired with a Shade, a cunning creature that thrives on both pleasure and pain. Navigating the complexities of being Ranemir Stroud's captor and companion proves to be both beneficial and burdensome, as their bond evolves from mere convenience to a vital connection. As they delve deeper into the truth, their journey leads them to the warring deities that created them, forcing Tenele to confront a harrowing choice between the monster she has come to love and the fate she was destined to fulfill. Of Silver & Sin marks the beginning of an adult dark fantasy romance duology rich with intrigue and passion.

The book showcases compelling elements; the palpable tension between the leading characters captivates, and the well-crafted intimate scenes enhance the narrative without overwhelming it. The plot intrigues alongside the layered personalities and concealed secrets. However, it took considerable time for me to truly engage, and the chaotic finale led to a sense of detachment.

Wow. Just wow. I'm so glad I waited for this one until I was out of a reading slump. It was amazing right until the end. If I didn’t have things to do this book would have been done in one day!

Gosh. The ones I thought were the bad guys turned out to be the good guys, trying to get their wife back.

Overall I loved this book and can't wait to see what else is in store for these characters.

Thank you NetGalley & Kaytalin Platt for an eARC of this book. The following is my honest review of Of Silver and Sin.

She is bound to hunt monsters. He is the monster she is sworn to kill. When Shadows rise up and threaten to destroy her kingdom, Tanele Raider must partner with the Shade Ranemir Stroud to find the sorcerer behind the surge of monsters before war breaks out.

*4.75/5
For fans of When the Moon Hatched, Of Silver and Sin will give you all the same feels and heartache. I finished this book in two days, unable to put it down. The mystery and intrigue of the characters had me gripping my Kindle and flying through it. I am a sucker for a forbidden romance and putting a "chaste" Maiden with the very creature she's oathbound to kill was *chef's kiss*. I loved watching the progression of Tenele and Ranemir's relationship and the unraveling of Casimir's character. Tenele is a badass warrior. I loved how strong and yet how human she was. She was not an overpowered FMC and her capabilities were believable throughout. Platt also creates a balance in this world's powers so I was never left questioning and struggling to believe anything in this fantasy world. The way the story came together was so wonderfully written. I love stories like this and I can't wait to see what's to come for our characters, especially with such a cliffhanger of an ending.

Most of my books I discover through Goodreads, Instagram and other social media. Sometimes I stumble upon a book on Netgalley. In this case this book hadn't crossed my path, but I was scrolling through Netgalley and liked both the cover and the title. The summary also promised me a story I was gonna adore, especially since Romantasy is the genre I've been looking for. I was therefore very glad that the author granted my request for a review copy.

There are many elements in this book I liked. The tension between the heroine and the hero is quite clearly there and present. The smut scenes are also very well written and although there are quite a few it never feels like an overload. I also think the general plot is interesting, just like the characters and all the secrets they hide. However, it took me a long time to really get invested and the finale was so chaotic that I felt that investment slipping again.

I think the main issue with this book is that the flashbacks, and the explanation of what is truly going on, are all given at once. At a logical point in the book, the moment our characters are remembering too, we get to see what has happened to cause all this and why it resulted in this situation. Although it was fun to get that entire story at once, I think I would have enjoyed it better if the flashbacks had been mixed in with the rest of the story.

Because it now takes a really long time before the book starts to move somewhere. We understand that these characters are on their way to get information and answers, but it never feels like they're actively searching and questioning people. It feels like a lot of things just happen by chance. And the latter does make sense in the grand scheme of things, but it takes a while before we find that out. I would have loved to get bits of information sooner.

It was absolutely not a bad read, but I'm not sure yet if I will check out the sequel since the true click doesn't seem to be there yet.

DNF @ 15%
I’m sad because the premise sounded SO interesting to me. The prologue was interesting enough, but the story has just been losing my interest as I kept going, and the 15% that I did read felt like a chore. I just don’t think this one’s for me!

This was such a unique story, and I'm so glad I got to read it! Tenele Raider is a Maiden of the Red Court, sworn to protect the realm from monsters. Ranemir Stroud, on the other hand, is Shade, a creature that feeds on both the pleasure and pain of his victims. After being attacked outside her safe haven, Tenele heads to the capital for help, only to discover she is the last of the Maidens—and she’ll need help to solve the growing mystery. With black runes appearing beside bodies and attacks escalating, no one seems to understand what’s happening. As Tenele and Ranemir team up, they start to understand and care for each other. As they uncover their pasts, they’ll realize they are far more connected than they first thought. Kaytalin has woven an amazing tale with vivid world-building, intriguing magic, and a beautiful story overall. I’d absolutely recommend this!

One of the best books that I’ve read in a while. It had me in a death grip, and I can’t wait for the next book. It’s filled with spice, queer rep, and sexual tension. If you are a fan of From Blood and Ash, you will love this book.

This was so unique! I adored everything about this. I'm usually not a fan of multiple POVs but it worked for this book. It was a dark, spicy fantasy. The world building was such a good mix of history, politics, and magic, while weaving in so many tropes that I love in a fantasy. I can't wait for the second one!

Of Silver and Sin was surprisingly sexy and a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish! A darker leaning romantasy with gods, monsters and magic - this had everything you could want from this genre! This was fast-paced with intricately woven timelines and multiple POVs. I loved the scattering of other POVs beyond our main characters and felt this insight provided much needed depth to the narrative.

Kaytalin Platt has mastered the ability to show and not just tell! I can’t wait to see how this duology progresses and felt we were set up really well for the next book. I would definitely recommend this story to lovers of romantasy and forbidden love.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a challenging read that took me 17 days to get through, despite its relatively short length. In comparison, I have read much longer books in a far shorter timeframe. The writing is dense, and it often felt like I was dropped into the middle of a series I hadn't read, even though this was the first book in a duology.

Very little is explained about the core concepts and terminology - what is a Shade, the differences between a Shade and a Shadow, or what exactly a Grela is. These and many other questions are left unanswered, or not satisfactorily addressed until very near the end. While unanswered questions can sometimes pique curiosity, in this case, it made it harder for me to stay engaged. There were insufficient context clues to help me understand the world and its mechanics.

Despite its excellent bombastic opening chapter, the novel moves at a slow pace, with the main characters largely confined to the same village for the majority of the story. It's not until the last 75% that there's a significant tonal shift into a flashback sequence exploring some potentially triggering subject matter, including rape, spousal abuse, misogyny, miscarriages, and assault. This was almost too much, even for an avid reader of dark fantasy like myself. I considered putting it down many times and not picking it back up.

The LGBTQ+ representation, particularly the lesbian relationships, felt unsatisfying. The lesbian encounters were more implied than shown, and lacked the same level of romantic development as the numerous straight and bisexual/polyamorous(M/M/F) sex scenes throughout the novel. I would have preferred the lesbian scenes to be omitted entirely rather than handled the way they were.

Ultimately, this book felt more like a "romantasy" than the fantasy adventure I was hoping for. The main male love interest, Ranimir "Rane" Stroud and main character, Tenele, felt underdeveloped as characters. They had sex often for plot reasons, but I never cared enough about either of them to enjoy it. I stuck with the book to the end, hoping for a payoff and explanation for the promising opening, but in the end, it was only a middling experience for me. I likely won't be continuing with the sequel.

This book was a struggle!

The premise was interesting and I was intrigued as to what would happen, but I got half way and stopped caring. It felt like it was dragging.

Relationship/dynamic was odd and the world building could have been a lot better

Thank you to NetGalley for this opportunity to read rate and review this arc which will be released wide on 8/20/24 by Duskbound Books!

This one. This book tickled my fancy and then grabs me in its nursery little claws and would not let me go. Loved this one. It’s a Romantasy that slays. The characters had such depth to them that I cared what happened to them. The push and pull between monster hunter Tenele and her partner and prisoner Ranemir, a beast who eats pleasure and pain, was top tier. Oof I’m buying this one

(DNF at 43%)

Thank you to Duskbound Books and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As you can probably guess by the fact that I didn’t manage to finish it, this book was not it for me – which is really unfortunate, because the premise of the book piqued my interest from the very beginning! And I tried to like this book, I promise, I really tried, but in the end, there were several issues with this book that, collectively, made me decide to finally put it down.

Firstly, the worldbuilding – or rather, the lack of it. If I squint, I can identify a few worldbuilding blocks that could’ve been really interesting, if the author had known what to do with them or how to weave them meaningfully into the story and plot. However, I feel like they remained just that: building blocks haphazardly thrown together to create a generic and frankly clumsy attempt at a unique fantasy world. As a worldbuilding and lore buff, the lack of intentionality really struck me and took me out of the setting.

Secondly, the characters and their relationship. Good God, even almost halfway into the book, they are both so boring. There’s nothing interesting at all about either of them, and if the author can’t make me care about the characters, then why the hell should I care about their relationship, a major focus point of the book, given that it’s a romantasy? And since there’s no substance to either character, there isn’t really any way to create chemistry between them. Also, on a note of personal preference: for a book marketed towards monsterfucker audiences, I’m sorely disappointed by the lack of monstrosity in Ranemir – silver skin, horns, and some magic powers do not a monster make.

And thirdly, the lack of atmosphere. Maybe it’s just me, but I just felt absolutely no sense of mystery, tension, or urgency, which was especially frustrating because it gave me nothing to hook my waning interest on, nothing to make me want to turn the page, and no motivation to even pick up the book for another reading session, which is why it's taken me weeks to make it not even to the halfway point. The structure of the plot just left me, once again, bored out of my mind.

If your book can’t make me care about the characters or their relationship, the plot, or the world in which it takes place, why should I waste my time on it? I think that whoever sent this book to publication without several further rounds of editing has done it a major disservice. There are seeds here to create an awesome story, I have no doubt of that, but as it stands right now, this book reads as clumsy and unpolished, and I regret having spent so much time on it as I have.

this book was crazy!! our fmc was so different to the usual romantasy heroine (no hate though because god knows i eat up the traditional heroines too) - she was centuries old, she was queer as hell, and she was kickass af but it made sense because she'd actually been training for 100+ years. i loved her!!

“a broken heart is easier to mend than a destroyed kingdom. if sinead wasn’t prepared to lose me, she would’ve given me an easier job.”

our mmcs were equally unique - i truly didn't know what to think about cas for the first 70%-ish of the book, but he was definitely fascinating. and rane ranged between scary and hot - i cannot wait to see him form an even closer relationship with tenele. and the plot-twist switch up between these three... craziness, and made me adore this book so much more.

“she tasted familiar. it was as if he’d had her a million times before. she tasted like moonlight and madness and… divinity. like holy water without the agonizing burn, and he wanted more.”

the plot was also quite strong - i will admit that there was one section where i didn't really know what was going on, but that was probably on me for reading while exhausted. once the plot really started coming together, it was unique and had so many working parts and sides to the story - i didn't know who to trust or support!! which is just how i like it.

overall, this was such a strong debut, with fascinating and well-written characters, gorgeous queer rep, plot-twists, and crazy shenanigans - so addictive!! thank you so much to the author, publisher, and netgalley for the arc copy.

This book was incredible! The world building and characters were amazing. I loved the mythology present throughout and feel like it was in depth. The cover is what sucked me in as it’s absolutely gorgeous and now after reading and knowing what it represents it’s even better. Obsessed and can’t wait for the next book!

Trigger warnings for: mentions forced miscarriage, marital sexual assault, sexual assault, violence, gaslighting; rough sex, polyamory, amnesia, slavery. I will say that the mentions of the miscarriages (there are several), marital abuse both sexual and physical are mentioned as in a mythical retelling of a goddess story rather than being graphic scenes, but they may be uncomfortable for some readers.

I’m going to be honest and say that I didn’t really vibe with this book the way I wanted to. The characters are fine, but shallow, and the main pair fell into bed so quickly and easily without much chemistry between them — with everything feeling taken for granted and obligatory —and for much of the book I had very little interest in them. Until the *big reveal* happens (no spoilers, sorry), and everything made more sense. I still never really warmed up to them as characters, though the epilogue sets up some really fun potential moments in the sequel.

And for someone who needs to connect to the characters to really get invested, it hurt my enjoyment of the book. However, the world building and the mythology are so well done, it almost made up for it. The plot was well done, and the pace — while a little fast — was solid with little downtime.

This is a fun book, and I’m very much looking forward to the next one!

This was absolutely amazing. I did not expect there to be such complicated and intense character reveals, and I loved all three of the POV characters. Casimir Drowsky though is an absolute standout. The history had me feeling like my heart was being ripped in two at times, but the relationship was so perfect and sweet. I can’t wait for the second book of this duology because I NEED a HEA for those three so badly.