While I am absolutely happy I got an early review of this book I am sad to say it wasnt my cup of tea. I tried to enjoy the read but even the writing fell off. The drama also left me not as interested and it felt like a hassle to power through. Im sure there are readers out there that may highly enjoy this book, but there was nothing remarkable enough for me to rate it higher.

I could not get into a rhythm with this book. I liked the plot and the two main characters, but the writing was super disjointed. The descriptions were all over the place and many of the metaphors made no sense. I’m bummed because I thought I would love this book.

I appreciated the political intrigue. There was a lot of scheming throughout the book due to an upcoming election for Reid and it was so much fun to read! I wish some of the politics could have been a little more clear like there were a lot of names and places dropped and sometimes I struggled to follow along but idk if that was just me

Overall this book was a fun time and had a lot of potential to be great but the execution just fell a little short for me.

3.5 ⭐️. 3🌶️

The book has a strong beginning and it really hooked me I could stop reading it because I wanted to know what was going to happen between Reid and Vaasa. But once she got to his side again the story became too heavenly political. It took the focal point from the love story. I would’t have mind it if this have been the focus of the book since the beginning or if it had not been part of the majority of the book. I would say 65% of the book it’s just politics. I know it is on the blurb but I wanted a balanced in all tropes but politics seems to over take the majority of the story.

Also Vaasa was the one with the powers and Reid had none she seemed kind of weak I like equally strong character for the MFC and yes it was said that he was strong and feared but I never saw that in fact he was saved twice by her.

What saved the book is the magic it was interesting to see Vaasa used her magic and those scenes were my favorite.

In summary I wanted more romance, Reid to be stronger, more action, more magic, and less political intrigue.

The serpent and the wolf by Rebecca Robinson was a fast paced story that follows our main character Vaasa as she is forced into an arranged marriage with a foreign ruler, Reid of Mireh by her power hungry brother. Their father is now dead, leaving her brother to rule their land. Their mother died from a mysterious dark magic that Vaasa believes that she has now inherited and feels will kill her. She wants to learn more about it and learn to control it. To do that, she has to escape her new husband, Reid of Mireh. They find each other again and come to mutually beneficial agreement before they realize their connection is more.

I really enjoyed this Romantasy with themes of found Family, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn. I will be impatiently waiting for the next book!

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for the e-arc!

I really enjoyed this one sm!! If you're interested in a unique magic system, deep love, political intrigue, and forced proximity and slow burn, this is absolutely for you. Vaasa and Reid, along with the supporting characters, were so well crafted that I felt like I was in their world with them. Vaasa is one of the first main female characters that I've read in a while where she wasn't just tough for the sake of it, and all of her decisions, worries, and insecurities led to her growth in a way that made so much sense.

Had high hopes for this. But the writing was choppy and I never felt like I got the answers I needed.

2 stars!

I think that I might have the unpopular opinion in this book because it really wasn't for me. The entire time I was reading this, I was so confused by what was going on. I think normally I can handle books with politics, but I literally had to reread pages because I was so lost. Because I was kinda confused, I tried to lock into the romance, but I found myself not enjoying that either. They were enemies? But it never really felt that way. I also didn't really care about either of the main characters and I don't know if I cared about either of their fates. All that being said, I might still read the sequel? Because things started to make sense and then I kinda got intrigued?

Thank you to Netgalley and Saga Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I think this was a solid debut and had a lot of potential, but unfortunately the execution fell a bit flat. This was marketed as an enemies to lovers and while there is slow burn, the MMC was already quite taken with our FMC from the very beginning. I loved the progression of Vaasa and how she was able to come to trust and create a strong friendship with the witches - that was very well done. Unfortunately the writing style for me made it hard to connect to the characters in a meaningful way and made the plot a bit convoluted and hard to follow. I think I will likely not remember the plot in a month or two so I don’t think I will find the motivation to continue the series.

I ate this book up! This one is for the romantasy girlies for sure. It was built on those incredible tropes that we all love, but they still kept me so engaged and turning pages deep into the night. I read this in less than 48 hours, which is HUGE for me. I will absolutely be forcing my book besties to pick this one up!

Took me a while to pick this up but once I did, I couldn't figure out why I didn't read it sooner!! I am an extreme FAN of enemies to lovers and almost every time I love it. Vaasa and Reid’s slow burn was amazing, and I loved the anticipation of their relationship through Robinson's well written chemistry between the two. Vaasa was a strong female main character, and I loved reading about her journey. For fans of high fantasy, enemies to lovers / arranged marriage, and magic and witches this is a MUST read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC.

I'm not gonna lie, my expectations for most romantasy range from neutral to expecting the worst. This managed to surprised me in good ways, despite some writing flaws. The romance was actually nice to read about. It's not enemies to lovers like advertised, Reid was super into Vaasa the moment she tied him up at knifepoint and left on their wedding night. It seems like a trend in romantasy to have a dark romance with a guy that's misoginistic in every interaction, with borderline rape in some books, and not everything forewarn it, unfortunately. So it's super satisfying to have a love interest who checks with the fmc before initiating anything, constantly letting her know he's there for her but gives her the time and space to process her traumatic past on her terms. Another great thing is how the romance is not the only focus; Vaasa joins a coven to learn more about the curse she inherited from her mother, and she forms a strong bond with each of the women. There's nothing more disappointing than to get a book that pits the women against each other, so the heroine's gets to be "not like the other girls". The worldbuilding is interesting, I enjoyed the political intrigue, but I feel like it dropped us into the world very suddenly. You start right away on Vaasa's wedding night that she immediately ditches. I kinda wanted more before that to give a sense of what she was expecting and why. Especially where Reid is involved, he comes across as a decent guy from the start, so I didn't understand where she got the idea that he would be a barbarian. Otherwise, this is a pretty good debut, and I can't wait for the sequel.

This is a political fantasy with romance, enemies to lovers, slowburn, and a whole lot of fun. Recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC gifted in exchange for my honest review.

Okay, the fact that this is a debut is astounding because it’s so well done. There’s romance, magic, political intrigue, and a huge number of badass women between those pages.

For the first half of the book, I was enraptured as we learn about Vaasa and her battle with her curse. The second half slowed down for me quite a bit and while the ending was quite good (I see you setting up for book 2!!) the pace of the second half wasn’t quite as good. The second half also had a lot more political intrigue and people that I needed to keep referring back to/remembering — honestly probably wouldn’t have been a problem if I had just binged it all in one go like I wanted to from the beginning. 😂

If you’re a romantasy lover you’ll like this one!!

Huge thank you to Saga Press for my gifted copy ❤️

this was an enjoyable time for romantasy lover. i believe this is the author's debut novel so of course it's not perfect was not expecting it to be. but it was good nevertheless. the ending did leave me intrigued about what might happen next - this series has potential.

The Serpent and the Wolf
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Generally I'm not a big fan of fantasy told in the third person, nor do I like the fake dating/marriage of convenience trope, but I'll make an exception for The Serpent and the Wolf because it was so well done!
When I say I love a good slow burn, this is what I'm talking about! I fell in love with Reid of Mireh immediately and I'm surprised Vaasa didn't as well! They rode the line of banter and tension perfectly, and their marriage of convenience rouse was so well done, as was their slow fall for one another.
The pacing of the story kept me engaged through the end, and the last part had be chomping at the bit for more!
I cannot wait to dive into the second book and see what happens with Vaasa and Reid next!

Thank you NetGalley, S&S/Saga Press, and Rebecca Robinson for the ARC.
All opinions expressed in this review are mine and have not been influenced by anyone or anything.

This is one of those books that I don’t know if I actually liked it and want to continue with or not. There’s nothing major that I can say bothered me, and there were a couple of pretty good quotes that I highlighted, but I can see myself forgetting about this book a month from now. The MMC is a golden retriever for the fantasy genre, which was enjoyable.
The beginning was kind of jarring. It felt like we were dropped into the middle of a chapter without enough context. However, you become acquainted relatively quickly.

I did not expect to love this one so much. I haven't seen anyone talk about it but it is such a good fantasy book. I loved how high the stakes were and the romance was so good.

When we meet Vaasa, she is enraged that she was forced into a marriage with a foreign ruler by her brother. Their father is now dead, leaving her brother to rule. Their mother died from some strange ailment/magic and Vaasa believes that she has inherited whatever killed her mother, some sort of dark magic, and is desperate to learn more about it and to live. To do that, she has to escape her new husband, Reid of Mireh. Luckily, their father trained Vaasa in many things including knife skills and language skills.

Reid turns out to be a very wise and strong leader, with tenderness for his new wife, no matter how furious she is at her situation. As you may expect, they eventually come to an understanding, or at least a deal, and learn to coexist and to play politics for Reid’s sake.

The magic system was pretty interesting and intricate, with different covens having different powers. I loved the found family theme, along with all the political scheming.

In addition to Found Family, this romantasy has: Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Strong FMC with warrior skills and a brilliant mind, Strong MMC with a soft heart, Arranged Marriage, and a kind of Grumpy/Sunshine. There are probably some others that I’m forgetting!

It is hard for me to believe this is a debut novel, but it is! I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series. (Warning: it ends in a cliffhanger, something I hate, but there it is.)

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I had a lot of fun with this book! Fast paced. Slow ish burn. I cannot wait to see what happens in the next one!