A redemption arc without the failure part. A fantasy tale travelling through lands with varied races to save the day.

Though the characters share a deep background there’s very little history/depth provided. While I’m glad that the side characters declaring their deep friendship and platonic love weren’t killed off after said declarations it felt like they were made to reinforce a history unseen. This book felt like it was the second or third in a series rather than the first one.

Good chemistry between interests and friends and side relationships. Some great dialogue and healthy relationships. Difficult topics aren’t skimmed over or dismissed or used for plot device. The lore is slowly building to a grand story in the next book. A plot hole which we’ll ignore or we can’t save the day (or be saved) and be in two places.

Overall a good book which was exciting to read and close to those iconic romantasies just a little darker but needs some more developing. I also said that of ACOTAR and it’s become my personality. Would give the next book a chance

Thank you Aetheon Books through NetGalley for an advanced reader copy for an honest and voluntary review

A Curse of Breath and Blood follows Aelia, a queen-turned-memory hitwoman who sets out to save her sister from the man who tortured Aelia for years. As Aelia goes on her journey, she deals with love, loss, as well as her own powers (and demons).

This book was one of the first fantasy/romantasy books I’ve read, but the story was easy for me to keep up with and pick back up on, and it was nicely paced; I was nervous with a genre I’m a little less familiar or comfortable with that my threshold to DNF would be much lower, but I loved the story and I hope to read more (the last chapter really just left us like that huh).

Aelia’s powers really captured my attention and the way Foster described Aelia’s “mind breaking” process was so fascinating to me. Much like other reviews, I’m also a fan of Tharan after getting to know him a little more.

I read this book as an ARC, so I’m keeping in mind the fact that this book will likely go through more edits and I’m not focusing too much on frequent repetition of some words, misspellings, etc. The only thing that drove me a nuts for a minute was some head hopping, but it seemed to get smoother the more I read.

A Curse of Breath and Blood. The Mind Breaker Series Book 1.
A Debut Novel By K.W. Foster.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

Be sure to check triggers before starting.
A Beautifully magical fantasy romance.

Tropes:
🖤Morally Grey FMC
🖤Love Triangle
🖤Second Chance
🖤Only One Bed
🖤”Who Did This To You”
🖤Magic
🖤ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS
🖤Reformed Bad Boy Love Intrest
🖤Golden Retriever Love Interest

Snippet:
Back in the library of his mind, Caiden gave me a half-hearted smile. "This is it. The last memory."
He handed me a few pages containing our memories from the morning.
A sob grew in my chest, spilling out in a wail. This was all that remained of us. Just a few pages.
•
•
A Curse of Breath and Blood is a refreshingly unique and fun story to read. It has its ups and downs, a love triangle, bad guy, multiple magical creatures and so much more to tantalise your senses

This is an outstanding piece of fiction by the wonderful new author K.W. Foster. She has built an incredible concept and conveyed it perfectly to the page. Her penmanship is astonishing and coaxes you in to this alluring fantastical world. Beautifully done!

A thrilling and fast paced, action packed masterpiece with dark aspects knitted throughout the narrative that will have you on the edge of your seats.

I was hooked from the very start. We have a brilliant and compelling love dynamic between the MC’s. Epic battle scenes and exotic world building. A beautifully unique take on the storyline with our FMC being slightly older than usual… it was unexpectedly refreshing.

Aelia Springbourne is our fierce female character. She has her share of baggage dealing with addiction and at the age of 30 is one of the oldest main characters in a fantasy to date. She has a unique, magical gift. She’s a telepath and a mind ripper… and, Former royalty.

I absolutely Loved her character and the development she undergoes throughout her journey through the storyline. Her character is well weaved and deeply intricate.

A little backstory would’ve been beneficial on Alia’s behalf to fill in some of the blanks, although, we had a snippet at the very beginning when she was young and in love… I’ll leave it there… no spoilers!

Caiden Stormweaver. MMC no. 1. Aelia’s former lover, who she meets early on in the book. A wonderful and complex character that you can’t help but love.

Tharan our second MMC. Who we meet later on in the story.
I loved his character, a lot! I found it hard to choose between the two. But I couldn’t help but be more drawn to Tharan in the end.

The well imagined and delicately crafted plot line is meticulously weaved around a stunning and magical world that makes it a delight to read. beautifully vivid and detailed. Descriptive and well executed.

Fast paced action and perfectly balanced storytelling, slowing the stride when the plot demands it is eloquent.

With a multitude of magical creatures, such as, Satyrs, centaurs, elves, and so much much more. The world building develops nicely and with grace throughout the storyline.

This is a story of sacrifice, loss, love, magic, and the deviousness of court politics. And, hello…Forest magic - bring it!

The journey the characters take provide the narrative with many twists and turns along the storyline. I found myself quite frustrated with the female character at times. I just wanted to shake her! Come on, love!

The Spice was moderate, but rather enjoyable nonetheless. The side characters were beneficial to the overall storyline and brought a sense of depth to the narrative

For me, this was fantastic concept and a wonderful work of genius by KM Foster.

The ending is quite intense and It will leave you needing the next instalment desperately!

I can’t wait for the next book

A Wonderful start to this beautiful world. I can’t wait to explore it further in the next book.

Quotes:

"We are not our labels, Aelia. You should know that by now. Sometimes it is easier to live in the armor we build for ourselves than let the world see who we really are."

"Love blinds even the most careful planners."

"You are beautiful to me, Aelia Springborn. Your scars are a testament to your strength. Wear them with pride."

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy…

3.5 rounded up

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

This was an enjoyable book, but it felt like so much crammed into 300 pages. I think I would rather have the backstory as book one and then present day as book two. Or at least a backstory novella. I loved Aelia because she's kind of unlikeable. She smokes, she's an addict, she's grumpy, she has PTSD and mental health struggles. But we see her grow, evolve, and yet she's still imperfect. She doesn't become a perfect person along the way, and I love that.

This story involves quests and trials, a love triangle, found family, and a whole slew of creatures (including a unicorn! 💜). It ends with a cliffhanger, and I do look forward to seeing how the rest of Aelia's story plays out.

I really wanted to enjoy this and love triangles used to be my jam, but I fear I am no longer the target audience for these.

I did love that the characters are older and there seemed to be more sustenance to the story.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

I enjoyed the story and the characters. I just think it had so much in the story that it felt like 2-3 books in one without a huge amount of development. Again, solid ideas and arc, but lacking depth.

Because it lacked some depth, I felt the pacing struggled at moments. Certain areas stalled, were boring and were slow. Between the big plot points, the transitions were okay.

I liked most of the characters. The FMC, Aelia, is the most interesting. She has moments where she is so strong and then other moments where she is overwhelmed. I like this journey that she takes (although, more explanation about her relationship with her husband, Gideon, and the crazy lady who seems like the worst of the bad guys, would help to make more sense of how she ended up where the book starts.) I don't really like Caiden. That's it. I don't like the rehashing of their relationship/love. I hated how they just fell back into a physical relationship so easily after all the hate. It wasn't for me. I did really like Tharan, but again I wanted more for his development. I hope Aelia stays with him for the rest of the series. I did feel some secondary characters needed some more umpf to make them "punchy" in the overall plot, but most are likeable.

The ending is solid. It ends in a cliff hanger, and it sure promises more in the next book and beyond.

I think there is so much to explore here, I wish more time was spent developing the world and characters so that everything hit to the potential that it could.

This was a great read! The author built such a complex and beautiful world, I was immediately hooked, not to mention the characters!

I love a good love triangle, but wow this one put me through the ringer. Aelia is our wonderful, but troubled, FMC. As strong as they come, but she certainly has demons she’s been running from and is now forced to face.

Caiden is a love from Aelia’s past, a love spurned once before, but not gone altogether. Then enters Tharan. Son of the Alder King and Prince of the Woodlands, Tharan has a reputation as a playboy. But soon enough he shows his true nature as he grows closer and closer to Aelia.

Two princes & one traitorous queen made for a fantastic love triangle. It was actually too good, because I’m still not sure which of these awesome princes I stan right now!

As for the world building - this book has it all: elves, slyphs (fae), witches, goblins, trolls, humans, even unicorns! There’s politics and court intrigue, which I love in a romantasy.

The only downsides to this book, which I mention only as a small note because it’s an ARC and may be subject to changes, were some inconsistencies. There were a few times where characters had dialogue that had supposedly split off from the group and weren’t even present. These situations were minor in my opinion, and didn’t stop me from absorbing this book in a day.

I cannot wait to see more in this series!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for making this ARC available!

DNF @20%
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ebook ARC!

This book... Exists. It didn't make me angry or anything, but I just found it so... meh? I thought the writing painfully barebones, with over-the-top moments, telly writing, and far too many simple sentences (sometimes ones that felt oddly tacked on to moments). I couldn't tell you almost anything about the world except that there's a drug called dust, sylphs and elves exist, and people have magic.

For example of what I mean by barebones, there was a sentence like "A fireball crashed through the window, catching everything on fire" and then just a character yelling to run away. The only set up to this was a character mentioning they needed to go. It just felt so... lackluster and badly paced and... nothing. I don't need books to be complex. I don't need (or usually want) purple prose. But this just felt on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.

It wasn't absolutely horrendous, and I do like the "rep" of people resorting to drugs to cope with mental health. It's a horrible thing to do (for your mental and physical health), but with how oppressive mental health can be, many do, and it's nice to show that (and likely later on the escape from the drugs). Buuuuut the desire to show the bad outcome of poor mental health does not a good character or book make U^_^

So yeah. Not for me. I could probably read on as the writing is so quick and simple, but I don't really have a reason or desire to.

Hope others can enjoy this book, because all books deserved to be loved by someone <3 That someone just isn't me here.

This was a fantasy romance book. The main character is supposed to be 30, but she definitely seemed and acted like a teenager. There were times when some things in the storyline didn't make sense, I would go back a little to reread and still felt confused, as if parts were missing. There were some typos as well. It seemed like it still needs to go through the editing process to fix some things and to make the story flow better. But overall it was a good, enjoyable read with a lot of potential!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC of A Curse of Breath and Blood, in exchange for an honest review.

This book reads like skipping stones on water. It only skims the surface without getting to the deeper feelings of the characters, their emotional settings are either, 1. neutral, 2. slightly emotional or 3. teenage-hormone fueled extremes. Sometimes it feels like actions have been skipped or you had a blink-and-you-missed-it while reading and that is super frustrating because I kept thinking "when did that happen? Where did he come from? What are you talking about? What's your reasoning behind that conclusion?How can you draw the blanket around yourself while he is still on top of you after he absolutely killed the mood, wait, when did he move off the bed?" It was really jarring because it happened throughout the book. I could not keep up, so many things didn't make sense.

Aelia is 30 and have lived an extremely hard life, surviving an abusive marriage, but it broke her and she turned to drugs, drink, and mercenary life to pay for her new life as a pariah, also known as the Traitor Queen (I'm not sure what she did to gain that reputation). She has her DEMONS okay! Yet she acts like a teenager. I'm all for being free with your sexual partners but going from an abusive marriage to use sex to forget, to then almost hop straight into bed with her former lover. I feel like she should get some therapy because it does not seem like she has a healthy relationship with sex. At least she acknowledges that she can't function without being with someone - codependency is something she needs to work on. As well as using sex as revenge. Girl, you need to figure out who you are as a person and not let yourself be defined by who your partner is.

The only side character I actually like was Tharan: he is likeable and seems sincere, where all the rest are glorified teenagers. One and all even the FMC. The characters are stupid enough to make that oaths when their emotions runs hot without the slightest thought to the consequences it might have for the future. Also, a blood oath to protect the sisters have fewer consequences than a vocal one made in the heat of the moment.

The author failed to describe the intricacies and horror of being in abuse relationship, the feelings and reactions you get from being in withdrawal, she just goes cold turkey, and it's only mentioned when she has any teenage emotional outbursts. Everything is super superficial to me. When you write about these things you should also have a strong grasp on terminology so the readers don't suddenly starts using the wrong words thinking it's correct because they read it in a book. So, what is it? The author used "love dumping" when in fact it is LOVE BOMBING My theory is that "trauma dumping" and "love bombing" got mashed together which might just be a mistake, but still not one I think should be made when it's this subject.

Do i have to be so blunt about it?
Yes, I do.

"A Curse of Breath and Blood" by K.W. Foster is a captivating blend of romance and fantasy. Aelia Springborn, a queen turned mercenary, faces her tumultuous past when her former lover, Caiden Stormweaver, seeks her help against a common enemy. Their journey, fraught with magic and danger, rekindles their complicated relationship amid the looming threat of King Gideon. Foster skillfully weaves together intricate world-building with intense emotional stakes, enhanced by the arrival of Tharan Greenblade, adding layers of tension and romance. This debut novel intricately balances dark fairy tale elements with gripping romance, reminiscent of "A Court of Thorns and Roses," while exploring themes of loyalty and sacrifice. A must-read for fans of fantasy romance seeking a blend of intrigue, magic, and passionate storytelling.

a curse of breath and blood was a solid romantasy debut.

well paced with vivid imagery and a storyline that keeps you on your toes. the journey itself to save aelia’s sister baylis really reminded me of the villains and virtues series which i adore. i do wish there was more depth to the world, relationships, and perhaps fewer occult/mythical creatures. the themes follow but are not limited to love, sacrifice, loyalty, redemption and betrayal. my favorite part of acobab is of course the sweet yet spicy romance between aelia and caiden. excited to see what becomes of this series! 3 stars

thank you netgalley and k.w. foster for my first ARC ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

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

TLDR: It doesn't deliver on what the blurb or summary says. World building is chaotic and all over the place, and our characters don't fair much better. The overall idea was there, but just not the execution, unfortunately.

Off the bat, this book was/is marketed as a Court of Thorns and Roses meets Six of Crows—it's neither at all. If you squint, you could maybe connect some strings to ACOTAR, but I can't find any way in which Six of Crows could be compared. From the get-go, I think many will be disappointed if that bit is kept in for marketing the book.

I'll start with the good because there definitely are bits I enjoyed. I didn't mind meeting up with Aelin following the "ruin" of her life; it's quite refreshing to see a character's journey of building themselves back up without having to witness them falling apart. It keeps the focus on the "healing." We don't need to always see how bad a character has had it when it's how they proceed, which is the most important. 

Our main cast of characters is also older, with Aelin being 30 (I believe), which is nice to see, and she is also battling addiction and, at least from what I gathered from her description, isn't the typical "drop-dead, head-turning goddess" that female protaganists usually are. I will always root for the "normal" and flawed characters—such a nice change to the genre!

The lore, magic, and world building have some good points and could be great, but they're just nowhere near fleshed out enough—it couldn't really tell you much about the world, magic, or people because you don't actually get a whole lot. The book kind of just pops in with some information when you need it, and it just leaves everything feeling a bit all over the place.

The relationships between characters leave a lot to be desired as well. I wasn't really rooting for anyone, to be honest, except for Tharon, and that's simply because Aelin was doing him so dirty. I honestly had enough of him being the absolute best to her, yet she was still going on and on about Caiden. Like she was telling Caiden she loved him and then had a breakdown, and suddenly she was ready to jump into bed with Tharon despite not even leaving Caiden a full 24 hours? She was giving me wiplash, to be honest.

This leads into the other issue of pacing. I'm unsure if things were moving fast or slow or if it was the actions of our characters jumping from one thing to another that made it seem confusing, but it was incredibly hard to keep track of. Pacing issues water down Aelins addiction as well as she's supposed to have been an addict for years but can seeminly overcome this is a matter of days? A few weeks? It makes it feel very unrealistic.

All in all, I wouldn't really recommend Curse of Breath and Blood to anyone, but I hope that with some more time, editing, and revisions, K. W. Foster can improve her writing and storytelling, as this is only her debut, and continue the series on much stronger feet.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

- morally gray 30+ FMC
- one bed
- love triangle
- second chance romance
- deals bound by magic
- trauma
- addiction
- ACOTAR x LOTR vibes

A queen turned mercenary. A long lost love. An ancient evil reborn.

Wow! I was hooked from the first page! It is a fast paced and action packed story from the beginning. The world building/court politics are intriguing, and the characters are well written.

The FMC, Aelia Springborn, is in her 30s has experienced life, loss, and trauma. The author does a fantastic job of making you love Aelia even when she’s unlikable and intent on destroying herself.

Team Caiden or Team Tharan? Still undecided — I can see why she is drawn to both, but I’m leaning toward Tharan.

The epilogue had me 🤯, but it has set us up perfectly for the rest of the series! I’m already bouncing theories around for what is to come.

Congrats @authorkwfoster on an amazing debut novel! Thank you for sharing this ARC with me 🖤

"A Curse of Breath and Blood" by K.W. Foster presents a highly intriguing premise, which drew me to this book initially. While the writing and plot are fast-paced, the story also feels like a "been there, done that" kind of situation. Nonetheless, the spiciness is top-notch (and there, which I wasn't expecting), and our FMC, Aelia Springborn, is fierce; a true Nesta girlie.

This book was everything! The action, magic, romance, it was truly phenomenal. You fall in love with the characters right from the start. There’s so much that happens, you just have to keep reading to find out what’s going to happen next!

Thank you for this ARC NetGalley.

I really wanted to love this book, the idea of it was interesting. There are some parts i genuinely enjoyed.

But the lack of world-building, explanation of species, historical events, world systems made this book quite hard to read.

The characters I feel could be interesting and likeable, if the world building had more depth to it. But it also felt rushed. It went from one thing to the other with no sense of direction, it felt chaotic. Which again made it difficult to read.

It needed more meaningful dialogue between characters to explain certain plot points. I think it could have done with an index for species, world systems (courts, monarchies) so it would be easier to read along with. The pacing suffers by only using a couple of pages, to relay major plot points. This then feels confusing and jarring to read. Unfortunately, this is a two star read.

To conclude I feel the premise of this book could be enticing, and unique. I just think it needs a lot more editing before it can get to that stage. However it is creative, fun and having an older FMC is very refreshing to see.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Another DNF book for me, I got to 52% and decided I could not carry on reading any longer. The book is trying to be a Sarah J Maas novel but it is far from it unfortunately.

I was so excited about the book from the very beginning and enjoyed the first few chapters. However, there are numerous problems in the story and writing style which are difficult to overlook.

The book moves at such a fast pace that it just not realistic for a first book in a series. There is a huge lack of descriptive world building!

I unfortunately do not recommend this book and think it feels more like a first draft rather than an edited book.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC 🫶🏼

Starting with a broken woman who ends up back in the life of the love from her youth. A Curse of Breath and Blood has ACSF vibes, but with less backstory, I care less about the main character and whether she was clean.

The universe grew on me, but I would have liked more structure and development in the beginning. A map and family tree/court structure would have helped. I was also frustrated when learning new world information in the final chapters. 

Was the one spicy scene written by a man? I'm yet to know a woman who uses the C word to describe her private parts.

By the end, the characters had grown on me. A longer book with more world-building, more writing action and more romance would have made me happier.

Thank you to NetGalley, Aethon Books, and K.W. Foster for an E-Arc. This is my honest review.

There were so many things I really enjoyed about this book: the FMC was a 30 years telepathic badass, the story was really fun and creative, and Tharan Greenblade was PERFECTION. While the story had heaps of promise, there were a few hiccups that held it back from greatness! The most glaring issue that I think bleeds into most of my concerns is the lack of detail being written in. There were moments when the author left out key details of characters moving across a room, details on setting that would help contribute to creating a more fantastical world, or clarification on character's actions so we knew exactly what was taking place. Overall, I was left wanting more by the end of the novel.

Tropes that I loved:
- Love Triangle
- Second Chance Romance
- Cool Magic System
- Friends to Lovers but also Enemies to Lovers
- Spice 🌶️