In her gripping adult romantasy debut, *A Curse of Breath and Blood*, K.W. Foster delivers a dark and immersive tale of love, loss, and dangerous magic. Set in a world filled with ancient evils and complex political alliances, Foster introduces readers to Aelia Springborn, a once-powerful queen turned mercenary, haunted by her past and forced to confront it in order to save the world from an unimaginable threat.

Aelia, with her kingdom destroyed and her family presumed dead, has become a hardened, solitary figure, using her powers to break minds for a price. The emotional weight of her past — including a broken marriage to King Gideon and a failed love affair with Caiden Stormweaver — has left her content to live in the shadows. However, her quiet existence is shattered when Caiden tracks her down, offering her an irresistible proposition: help him stop Gideon from obtaining the deadly army of the Alder King.

The dynamic between Aelia and Caiden forms the emotional core of the story. Foster expertly weaves together the tension of their shared history, marked by betrayal and love, with their present-day mission. The deal they strike — that Aelia will erase Caiden’s memories of their relationship once their task is complete — raises the stakes even further. As their journey progresses, the old flame between them reignites, setting up a heart-wrenching emotional conflict. Can they move past their shared hurt, or will their fragile bond break under the weight of their mission?

Foster doesn’t just focus on romance, though. The world of *A Curse of Breath and Blood* is rich with danger, intrigue, and magic. Aelia’s journey to thwart King Gideon’s plan leads her and Caiden through a dark and atmospheric landscape filled with both physical and emotional peril. The threat of the Alder King’s army looms large, and the stakes are nothing short of world-ending.

As if the rekindling of an old love wasn’t complicated enough, Foster introduces Tharan Greenblade, a charming and roguish figure who adds another layer of complexity to Aelia’s journey. Her growing connection with Tharan creates a tense love triangle, testing her loyalties and emotions in unexpected ways. Tharan’s easy charisma contrasts with Caiden’s brooding presence, and the trio's fates become increasingly intertwined as they face mounting threats.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its blend of epic fantasy and personal stakes. The high-stakes mission to save the continent from destruction is balanced by the intimate, emotional journeys of the characters. Foster skillfully explores themes of sacrifice, loyalty, and the cost of power, all while creating a compelling narrative that keeps readers on edge. The dark fairytale atmosphere, reminiscent of *Nettle and Bone*, pairs beautifully with the intense romantic tension of *A Court of Thorns and Roses*, creating a world that is both haunting and seductive.

The found family dynamics, reminiscent of *Divine Rivals*, also add depth to the story. Aelia and Caiden are not alone on their quest, and the relationships they form with their companions offer moments of levity, hope, and camaraderie amidst the darkness. This sense of belonging contrasts sharply with the isolation Aelia has chosen for herself, highlighting her internal struggle as she tries to navigate her responsibilities and her heart.

With tension at every turn, *A Curse of Breath and Blood* is a spellbinding read. Foster’s world-building is lush and dangerous, her characters are flawed and relatable, and the stakes are sky-high. This is a novel that explores the sacrifices we make for love, the weight of the past, and the deadly consequences of breaking promises. Fans of romantasy will be captivated by this dark, atmospheric tale of magic, betrayal, and redemption.

For readers looking for an epic journey filled with heart-stopping romance, dangerous bargains, and a love triangle that will keep you guessing, *A Curse of Breath and Blood* is not to be missed.

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


📖✨ A Curse of Breath and Blood ✨
🧚🏻‍♀️K. W. Foster
📚 The Mind Breaker #1

✨ A Curse of Breath and Blood ✨ is the 1st book in a debut Romantasy series with a Beautifully complicated world building and Fantastical magical species.

✨ Fantasy Romance
✨ Fierce Sassy FMC
✨ Love Triangle
✨ Second chance love
✨ Only one bed
✨ Fantastical Creatures
✨ Quest
✨ Multi POV
✨ Overcoming Addiction



The story follows the FMC (Aelia Springborn) a traitorous queen turned mercenary, in her quest to find her sister who has been "abducted" by her "ex" husband who is actually a f**king t0rtur0us P$YCH0PATH (pardon my language, I just detest him soo much !! 👿 ) .

Aelia is a Fierce STRONG FMC who has had a terrible past, but the way she overcomes her grief and addictions was a thing of beauty, loved her sassiness and her character development.

Coming to the MMCs , you gotta choose your team guys , and I and DEFINITELY Team THARAN ❤️‍🔥🍃🧝🏻‍♀️

The plot, albeit a little complex, is very fascinating and emotionally draining.
The magic system and the beings are vivid and unique.

And just when you think you are gonna get a Happily Ever After, BAM!! 💥 (Yup 🙂‍↕️, true story!! )

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Thank you so much K W Foster and Netgalley for this amazing opportunity to be in your ARC team 💜
Eagerly waiting for Book 2 😍

📚ᎪᏒᏟ ᏒᎬᏉᎥᎬᎳ📚
4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

“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.”

🌸 GREAT DEBUT!! - A Curse of Breath and Blood by @authorkwfoster is a high-stakes Romantasy with a love triangle dynamic that will yank at your heart and make you ache from longing memories, gentle whispers and soft caresses. It will lead you down a path of love, pain, and regret, and you can't help but feel for our FMC, Aelia.

🌸 The emotions in this story run deep, and @authorkwfoster does a great job mixing in heavy real-world problems into some of the characters' lives, with mental health, addiction, and marital mental & physical abuse. I enjoyed having some of these representations for the characters though because it made them feel more real & easier to connect with. It also shows how easy it is to blur the lines between right and wrong sometimes and delves into the reasons why someone might torture themselves with the person they can't have, drown in past happy memories and fight to discover what they want & deserve.

🌸 The action scenes definitely gave off a LOTR vibe (which i loved 🤗) from the fast pace and high-intensity fantasy mix of swords swinging, blood spraying, and magical creatures banning together to take down their enemies.

🌸 The characters and the found family group were my favorite parts of this book though. Amolie & Roderick brought the perfect amount of banter to our family group, and their friendships to both our main characters will warm your heart.

✨️ Thank you @netgalley and @authorkwfoster for the opportunity to read this ARC!! ✨️

#acurseofbreathandblood #kwfosterauthor #bookhypegirl #streetteam #arcreader #arcreviewer #neverendingtbr #fantasybooks #romancebooks #fantasyseries #spicyreads #slowburnromance #readanytimeanywhere #bookdragon #enemiestolovers #morallygrey #lovetriangle
https://www.instagram.com/p/C__zlD-SCzw/?igsh=eTVhMTd2bWRzdmVh

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★★★★
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 🌶️🌶️
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: K.W. Foster
𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 357
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: September 17, 2024

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭:
🗡️𝙼𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚢 𝙵𝙼𝙲
🗡️𝙱𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌
🗡️𝚁𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚢
🗡️𝙼𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑 𝚁𝚎𝚙
🗡️𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎
🗡️𝙴𝚗𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜
🗡️𝚁𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝙱𝚊𝚍-𝙱𝚘𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝
🗡️"𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞?"

"𝐻𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝐼𝓉 𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓊𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓎."

𝐀 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 was an addicting read that I finished within a few days. I found myself pulled into the dark and complex world of Aelia Springborn. She's a character who's fiercely independent yet deeply scarred by her past that literally broke my heart reading everything she went through. She's not the typical fantasy heroine...she's rough around the edges, a bit morally gray, she deals with the aftermath of mental and physical abuse and self copes with "drugs" to help her not think. She was once in love but left that love behind and now she's built a life in the shadows, using her abilities to break minds for survival. It's not the life she's always pictured, she's lonely and like I said you can really feel how deep that loneliness goes.

𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫 who was the love of Aelia's life comes back and boy oh boy the tension between them is strong. You can feel the hurt between them and I loved how their relationship wasn't simple or easy. There's so much history and so much pain but there's also chemistry that still lingers between them. Caiden doesn't come back into her life for a reunion though, he comes back with a proposition that could change everything: help him stop her former husband, King Gideon.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 more intense when 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 gets brought into the story. At first he was a mission..for Aelia to get close to him and read his mind. He turned out to be more than just a mission. His dynamic with Aelia was fresh and different from what she has with Caiden. I love a good love triangle, it's one of my favorite tropes so I knew that this was going to be good. The connection she has with each of the men is complicated because who does she choose?

𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 recommend this story who enjoys fantasy with deep emotional stakes. It has magic and lots of action, complicated pasts but new beginnings and learning how to heal and grieve.

I love a fantasy book with an interesting magic system. This book fit the bill. And we get a flip on the morally grey trope with our FMC filling that role. As well, Foster provides a vast array of characters from mythology including the Sylph ( which are not often seen), mages, fae, goblins, and mermaids just to name a few.

I love how the author wove all of these elements together and and maintained a cohesive, entertaining story. Aelia was such an interesting character, not in spite of, but because of, her flaws. She had such an inner strength (even with her early drug use) and a fire to her. And I'm here for the love triangle. I'm still not entirely sure who I want her to finally end up with in further books. Caiden or Tharan. I think Tharan is a better fit but am a simp for first loves.

I do wish there had been some more world building and maybe more in depth explanations of the differing magic systems. But that may come in future books. Would also have liked more of Aelia's back story and what happened to her during her time in the Highlands. As opposed to vague references. Over all a pretty solid book. And I would pick up book 2 to see where the story goes. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4

This wasn’t what I was expecting when I read “Acotar meets Six of Crows”. And while I didn’t hate it, I think this was one of those stories where the main character kind of ruins it for me. I could just never quite get myself to like her very much. She grew on me a little bit as the story progressed, but in the end I feel like her interactions with side characters was more endearing than herself. I think this book is definitely a great read for people. It just wasn’t my favorite.

I really enjoyed the side characters. They had a history together that while hinted at, was never really elaborated on. I wish it had been. My favorites are definitely Amolie and Tharan, with an honorable mention to Lucius. Those characters really made the story enjoyable for me.

I hope the author elaborates more on the world in future books. There are a lot of courts/politics that left me a bit confused trying to sort through. The system of deities/ruling powers as well needs to be elaborated on. While intrigued by the world, I was left with a lot of questions that I hope to see answered in the future.

The POVs definitely bothered me the most. While the FMC’s POV was written in first person, the MMC’s was written in third. It was jarring the first time and frustrating for the rest of it. Consistency would be really helpful for the reader.

I totally believe this could be some people’s cup of tea. In fact, if some things were different, it would be mine. I think there’s definitely potential in this series, and I’ll check out the next book when it comes along.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review.

After breaking the heart of her first love and destroying her home kingdom, Aelia is a telepath who hires out her talents to the highest bidder. She reunites with her long lost love, Caiden, in order to rescue her sister from her abusive ex-husband. There are elves, humans and sylphs. There is magic and political intrigue. There is a sort of love triangle with a bastard prince Tharan. And at the end of the journey, Aelia has promised to erase the memories of her from Caiden's mind.

I thought the premise for this story was solid but the execution left a lot to be desired. I am aware that I read an advanced copy of the book. However, there were so many grammatical errors along with obvious mistakes in scene structuring that at times it was difficult to read. In particular, Foster used way too many clauses instead of proper sentences. As a result, the writing came across as clunky and jarring. (I am hopeful this is fixed in the finished product).

In addition, the pacing of both the story and the romance did not work. There were way too many conflicts in such a short book. Each conflict ended up going by too quickly and without sufficient depth for any of the ending consequences to mean anything. Specifically, the final quest to the Highlands should have been cut and put into the next book. The journey to the Highlands went by so fast and then the actual scenes in the castle went by equally as fast that there was no emotional weight to them.

(Getting into light spoilers here so don't read on if you care).
It also makes zero sense for Aelia and Caiden to go from not talking to each other for 5 years as a result of their shared trauma, to then have them reconcile and sleep together after like a month. The rekindling of their love did not feel earned and the readers were robbed of what could have been an emotionally complex relationship. It doesn't help that Caiden is incredibly bland with the bare minimum of a personality. (Which to be fair, applies to a lot of characters in this book.)

That being said, I thought the world was super interesting and I liked the hints at political intrigue between the various courts. I do hope that there is a map in the final copy as one is sorely needed to make sense of where everyone is traveling.

I thought the discussion of Aelia's abuse and addiction was fairly well done. However, there is not much more positive feedback I can give so I won't be continuing with this series.

Reviews going live on Goodreads, Storygraph, Fable on 9/17 and on Tiktok on 9/18

**Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.**

DNF at 36%.

I really really wanted to like this one- I've been looking forward to this one in particular for a while, and I'm really sad that I don't like it 😓 it isn't bad, but as someone who reads a lot of fantasy/romantasy this was seriously lacking to me 🫤

There are a lot of issues I had:
▪︎world building is done off page, included in the authors website
▪︎Aelia is...difficult to like (her trauma aside, she's unlikeable as a hero)
▪︎the chemistry between the love interests/triangle was almost non-existent. I did not believe these people liked each other
▪︎I kept seeing it advertised as LOTR like, and it IS NOT. I can see some similarities to ACOTAR and maybe the TV show of Shadow & Bone but I think this needed *more*. More lore and world building ON PAGE, more character depth and exploration, and definitely more history up front about Aelia's past.

Anyways, I hope other people enjoy this series and maybe one day I will pick it up again depending sequels.

☆Review on Goodreads without a star rating as of 9/17/2024.☆

A Curse of Breath and Blood by KW Foster is the first book in a new series. Spicy multiple point of view fantasy romance with a love triangle. Interesting story that sometimes had me a little confused. I look forward to reading the next book to decide definitively how I feel about this new to me author.

I really wanted to love this but honestly, I think the author packed way too much into one book. It felt like every fantasy and mythical creature had to be included. And there were so many story lines that were not fully developed and didn't make sense. I kept making sure I didn't miss a book in this series. I enjoyed reading it, but it was just too chaotic at times with too many characters and random story lines.

3.25 ⭐️

Overall, A Curse of Breath and Blood was fine. The writing style wasn’t bad and the overall plot has potential. I just found it slightly lacking. It all ended up feeling very surface level, and I didn’t find some character interactions all that believable. Aelia doesn’t really act like a 30 year old to me. While I get she has a ton of trauma to work through that affects the way she is, it just felt like her way of thinking and her actions were immature for her age. We aren’t told Caiden’s exact age either, though it’s alluded that he’s at least 70, but he reads as very immature to me as well. I didn’t find Aelia and Caiden all that likable honestly. I did really like Tharan’s character though. He comes across as much more mature (which I’d hope so since he’s like 700 years old).

I did find it to be a little too insta-lovey for my taste. Like I said before, the story as a whole felt very surface level. We don’t really get to dive in to these characters feelings. We’re just told they are what they are. I wish we had gotten a little more insight.

It also felt like not all that much happened plot-wise. It sort of felt like I was reading a summary of the book rather than the actual book itself. It’s like it skimmed over too many details that would’ve helped with world building and character relationships while focusing a ton on stuff that just didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Because of the summary sort of nature of the writing, it was like characters would just pop up in scenes randomly or they’d essentially teleport through time and space. The timeline just was weird.

That all being said, I do see potential in this series, and I likely will continue it as I’m somewhat invested in the outcome now. I do hope we get a more fleshed out world and characters in future books though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aethon Books for the advance copy of A Curse of Breath and Blood. All opinions are my own.

3.5 ⭐
3.5 🌶️

This book explores a darker side of fantasy that is not often explored. Check your trigger warnings on this one. Several things make this one difficult at times. Aelia has been through it in her life, and numbing herself is her method of coping. She is pulled out of her coping mechanisms to a greater cause. This book not only has the fantasy quests we are accustomed to but also the quests of Aelia as she tries to find herself and redemption. It's a bit of a difficult read at times, but the MMCs Caiden and Tharan (although confusing at first) fit the story of Aelia so well. Other side characters round out this dark adventure. I wish the world-building was more in-depth; I found myself many times unable to really get a grip on what the world looks like or how it got there. There were exciting aspects, and I just wish they had been explored more. All in all it was a good read with a lot of emotion and adventure.

Thank you, NetGalley and Aethon Books, for the eArc. These opinions are my own.

This is book 1, but it reads like a book 2. This book drops you in the middle of it all and expects you to have a clue what's happening and to care.

Courts, so many courts with so many names, but no explanation or map to figure it out.
History. There was a war between who and when? Time jump and backstories all mentioned with no context.
Species - humans, sylph, elf, hob, on and on, but no glossary or introduction in the text.
Characters, every few pages someone new popped up. Some stayed and some didn't, but very few were beyond a basic line drawing. The that did stick around, that band from the start, were lackluster and weak. They needed fleshing out, beefing up, something.

This book needed more foundation to build a world and build characters I could care about. And it needed a less is more approach, throwing everything into it just cluttered up what story was there.
And there was a story. An older flawed female lead healing, saving sister and hopefully kicking ass along the way. That's the story I wanted.

And there's more in the prologue tempting you towards the actual book 2. I wasn't tempted.

Grab this book, actually don't. I don't recommend this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
🌶️🌶️/5

A Curse of Breath and Blood by K.W. Foster is a unique fantasy story. The beginning was a little slow but it definitely sped up once you kept reading!

I enjoyed this book a lot and I'm really interested in where this was going. I thought the cliffhanger was absolutely amazing! I wasn't expecting that twist.

I did wish there was more relationship building between Tharon and Aelia because I felt like it was extremely rushed. I also thought the world building wasn't the best, I'm huge in world building and I felt like I was thrown into this world with no context and so it was pretty confusing and I'm honestly still a little confused with it.

Regardless, this was still an enjoyable read and I am looking forward to book 2 especially with the way the epilogue ended!

content:
🩸He falls first
🥀Love Triangle
🩸One bed
🥀Court Politics
🩸Telepath FMC
🥀Banter
🩸Second Chance Romance
🥀Forced Proximity

Aelia Springborn is betrothed to King Gideon Ironheart, but she is in love with another. She must leave her love, Caiden, behind and start her new life as it is her duty.
Five years after Aelia is married off we find that she is now dubbed the Traitor Queen. Now living as a mercenary, Aelia, will do whatever it takes to survive and never return to her brutal and vengeful husband. She also struggles with multiple addictions just to cope with the nightmares and PTSD that she suffered at the hands of Gideon.
And now as if in a puff of smoke, Caiden appears back into Aelia’s life. Only to deliver the unfortunate news that her sister has been taken by the man she hates the most, Gideon. Aelia must break a deal with her ex lover to defeat Gideon and rescue Baylis.
Along their journey Caiden and Aelia find themselves in a predicament… vowing that Aelia will erase all his memories of their love together, in exchange for his help, they inevitably find themselves still deeply in love. But they must fulfill their bond to forget or fate will intervene.
Overall rating 4/5
I was perplexed by the choice in the beginning of this book to quickly show Aelia’s past love to then be thrown into a marriage. Then just as suddenly the story jumps ahead five years. This had me wondering if the past could have just been explained within the present timeline. I loved how all the characters in this book were flawed and how they embraced these flaws. It was refreshing from the normal fantasy books where the MFC is usually perfect or a hero. Filled with complicated and dynamic characters this book has a different feel, yet holds true to a core romantasy.
And that ending…….. I can't, I need more and appreciate that this wonderful gritty book had a HFN cliff hanger.

*Thank you to K.W. Foster, Aethon Books and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

We start by learning the back story of the main female character Aelia. Her sister has been missing for years and she’s on a mission to find her. Aelia’s ex Caiden comes back into the picture and there’s a bit of a second chance romance before a love triangle develops as Tharan evolves from a side character to a love interest.

I really liked the character development of Tharan and I’m looking forward to learning more about the rest of the side characters in book 2. The magic elements are intriguing and there are a lot of unanswered questions about the realm & overall world building, however there’s still enough of the storyline to keep you turning pages.

The pacing reminds me of Lord of The Rings - multi POV with several repetitive layers from different perspectives.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to netgally and Aethon books for my arc of this book for my honest review.

This book has potential, and I can see the vision, but I found the storyline very confusing at times. I felt a disconnect from the flow of the story, and that took away from my enjoyment.
I believe this story could be great, and it did draw me in enough that I would like to read the next book to see where it goes. I just hope the story runs a bit smoother in the next book.

I was so excited for this book. It had everything going for it; gorgeous cover, a synopsis that completely hooked me and some of my favourite tropes. This book had so much potential but really missed the mark for me.

I loved the first fifteen percent of this book and the ending left me intrigued to see what book two will bring but the rest of the book was a bit of a struggle for me to get through. It was fast paced and action packed but it all felt really rush and left a lot to be desired in terms of character development and world building. I had difficulty connecting with the characters and often lost in the world with the lack of world building.

While this book wasn't for me you may enjoy it if you like:

💜 Found Family
💜 Political Intrigue
💜 Love Triangle
💜 Forced Proximity
💜 Second Chance Romance
💜 Multi POV

Thank you to K.W. Foster and NetGalley for the gifted ARC. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

2.5 Stars. This one is a hard one to review. I liked the overall idea of the plot and romance but found a lot lacking. This was missing a lot of character development and world building which made the storyline very hard to follow. It felt like we were reading a sequel without having read the first book. I would have liked more of Aelia and Caiden’s background as well as what happened between Aelia and Gideon. Without all that, the story was confusing and lacked the depth needed to evoke any emotions for what was unfolding. It was a fast paced and interesting plot, but with all the above missing it fell flat and disappointing. Hoping the author can fill in the blanks for the second book because the idea was promising!

Publishing 9/17/24

Thank you so much to K.W. Foster and NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was not a typical romantasy, in my opinion. It was a lot better. There was quite a bit of worldbuilding and character development, which I enjoyed. There were also some interesting plot twists, which I wasn't really expecting.

Loosely based around Celtic mythology, there are some familiar figures such as the Morrigan, the Wild Hunt, etc. The land is divided into differe courts and a variety of creatures. The main character, Aelia, is a former queen and is broken and traumatised due to her abusive husband.

The characterisation of Aelia, I feel, is really well done. I enjoyed her character, even when she is self-destructive.

I am looking forward to the next one.