Thank you to Netgalley and Jodie Angell for the arc.

This was an interesting read, but I couldn't fully connect with it. It felt too fast-paced, and I ended up skimming through most of the book. While the plot was good and the bodyguard romance was intriguing, the writing style seemed a bit amateur. The pregnancy aspect threw me off—I understand they might want to take the edge off during a war, but it seemed unrealistic. Evalyn didn't act like a pregnant woman would, especially when Felix was missing. I'm glad I got the opportunity to read it on NetGalley; otherwise, I would've had a fear of missing out since it's not available on my country's Amazon.

This book was okay, not bad, not mind-blowing.

I liked how the FMC grew into her role and how she accepted other's help in order to reach her better version. The story is interesting and is filled with many tense moments, it's not a everything always turns out okay for the good people kind of book. Actually, there are many things going wrong, and that's fine, because when good and evil collide, there will be casualties everywhere.

What I didn't like as much was the love story, it didn't really impress me in any manner, but it's not super bad, it's just a bit bland in my opinion.

This book actually exceeded my expectations and if you want to try a high stakes adventure filled with magic-learning and trying to rule over people that don't really trust the new leader capabilities, give this book a try.

This was so cute to read, Evalyn lost her family but not her friend and bodyguard, Felix. So on a way to control hew powers and stopping the ORC's to control her land they both get closer and this friends to lovers found a way to each other even if that implies that things don't end up the way they wished

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🌶.5

This is a good book. Well written, great battle between light and dark (and with actual death not those where everybody lives and lalalala candy land).
I like Evalyn as a Queen. She really grew into her own throughout the book both as a queen and as a Mage and that was great to read.
Felix eh he's okay. Not my favorite MMC. He's just okay.
I felt like I was just cruising through reading this book like okay its good. A nice fun read and then the end hit and I'm like.....WAIT WTF JUST HAPPENED.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
The Crimson Kiss (The Ancient Spells Trilogy, Book 1) by Jodie Angell
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 422 / Genre: Fantasy

When Evalyn’s family is murdered, she becomes the heir to the kingdom of Aragath and is forced to flee the only home she’s ever known. Now Evalyn must lead her people to safety and learn to control her powers in order to protect them.

This was kind of like The Hobbit in that there are Gnomes, Orcs, Elves, Dark Mages, Light Mages, and Humans, plus a quest to close a dark portal to hell and rescue loved ones. And all the while, there’s a bodyguard romance brewing. Crimson Kiss is out today and free with #KindleUnlimited.

WHAT TO EXPECT:
✨Bodyguard romance
✨Creatures inspired by the elements
✨Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse reimagining
✨Light/Dark themes
✨Mild steam (on-page, consensual)
✨Prophecy gone wrong
✨Quick read
✨VERY fast-paced
✨Cinnamon roll MMC
✨Cliff-hanger ending, BUT you get the whole first chapter from book 2 included!

Thank you @jodieangell_author for my gifted copy.

Crimson kiss is a book full of everything. The plot was super good and entertaining. The characters were so well built. It was so good to experience this book.

This definitely had an interesting story about evil vs good as well as loyalty. I do think even this one book could have been split into 2 books. Maybe one for the beginning up til they leave on the boats and then the second book picks up til they come back. I was told ahead of time that this book was fast paced and I figured that meant it was jam packed thing after thing. However, it did seem to be missing a lot of details and world building. One paragraph would be about getting one elemental group agreeing to help, and then the next paragraph they have already traveled to the next group. It just needed a little more in the details department to paint the picture for me.