In this why choose romance we follow three POVs, Liria, Sigurn, and Ronan. Liria and Ronan are Winter Court elves and Sigurn is the Prince of a human nation. Many centuries before there was a covenant line that split the elven and human worlds preventing magic from entering the elvish side and humans from entering the elvish side. There are always loopholes. Ronan is 200+ years old and is entrusted to raise Liria from the age of 11 on and to train her to be queen. Though nothing romantic happens until Liria turns 21 that's still creepy. Liria meets Sigurn when she is running from a boar. She crosses the covenant and now they are in love. BUT WAIT Sigurn and Ronan know each other as well and they are also in Love, and Liria and Ronan are in love. Everything happens instantly. From a story with a promising plot, we turn into a story about sex, with some plot. I don't mind spicy books, but I prefer a book with spice vs. a spicy book. I would rather it be plot-focused than spice-focused. This one, once it gets there is spice focused. If you like instalove, ward/mentor romance, and MMF romance then this one is for you. Also, I found the emotional connection was more there between our two MMCs than between the MMC and FMC, Liria was just kind of there.

The narrator for this book was phenomenal. This book kept me on my toes and the edge of my seat the whole time!

The graphic sexual content in this book should be clearly marked/advertised as explicit. Did not finish reading this. Also, a man raising a girl from the time she was 11, and then becoming a love interest is grooming. Disgusting.

This story had great inspiration but felt like it fell a little short. I wanted to like the FMC but she felt immature and hard to root for.

The Frostbound Queen started off strong but lost me when the plot got drowned in spice and insta-love.

Liria’s guardian, Ronan, who raised her, suddenly confesses his love, which felt pretty uncomfortable given their history. She then runs to King Sigurn, and in no time, they’re in a love triangle that turns into a throuple. The characters were flat, and the romance felt forced. The world-building had potential, but it wasn’t explored much, and the focus on smut took away from the story.

If you’re into heavy spice and insta-love, this might be your thing, but it wasn’t for me.

Holy smokes! Books like this are the reason I love going in blind! What a ride this was! And spicyyyyyy 🔥 Whew! I'll now be finding this authors backlist and devouring it!

The Frostbound Queen by Amy Pennza
Narrated by Benjamin D. Walker; Ellis Evans; Mollie Stark

First of all, what a narration.... I loved it, a lot many times I had goosebumps while listening to this audiobook... All the three narrators has done a good job but I will specifically mention that I loved female narration the most... she did male voices really good. So many many thanks to dreamscape media and Netgalley for the amazing audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Now coming to the story, I didn't expect the level of smut this book had. It started off really good. I was quite intrigued with the whole scenario where the queen is dying and king is so sorrowful that he wouldn't pay any attention to his only living child - Princess Lyria or even to his kingdom... Ronan, king's best friend takes over the kingdom as well as princess as his ward. There's no inappropriate relations here as Lyria is adult but yet the relationship between Ronan and Lyria felt like grooming.

Then enters the human King Sigurn, at the start it made sense that Sigurn was attracted to Lyria but it felt off on Lyria's part. And from there the story became unidimensional . The plot almost diminished as we get page long descriptions of sexual tension, actual sex scenes and complexity of their love triangle. I would have loved more world building, the bond, the magic it wasn't explained at all. Some readers might find it a big turn-off. For me too it was to an extent but I did enjoy their trio...

Another thing that was not to my liking was Insta love or love at first sight. It just doesn't sit well with me . The character development isn't done well, they are pretty flat and after the sex scenes they mostly care about each other and nothing else. They are mostly reduced to their sexuality. MMF felt forced, I was trying to understand how it is possible on the emotional level and I'm still clueless.

Overall it was enjoyable and from the overall story it was a stand-alone book as the end was done like "happily ever after" way...

Thank you again Netgalley and dreamscape media for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️


It took longer for me to jive with the book. A slow start but once it gets going I devoured the rest. It’s a forbidden why choose romance. Strong willed FMC. A bit of enemies to lovers.

I enjoyed this one - a new author for me. I was happy to listen to this audio ARC - it was a fun one. There was a strong story line, a strong romance and character development that I really enjoyed. I love the book cover. There were a lot in this book: forbidden romance, age-gap, one bed and elves. This is a book cover I would 100% buy without knowing what the book is about. Thank you to Netgalley, and the publishers for this audioARC in exchange for my honest opinion

A very spicy mmf romantasy. Enjoyable & the spice certainly spiced. Not a plot heavy book. Most of the conflict could’ve been solved with communication between the 3 mc’s, but it made for good drama. There’s a bit of political intrigue and short bouts of clashing over thrones, but it’s such a small part of the plot. I liked the narrators, they did a good job portraying their characters, but Ronin’s sounded too young for a man over 200 years old, he still did a great job.

This audiobook had me hooked, I loved the narrators, and the storyline was interesting. I love Elves, so I was hooked, and this Pennza's version of Elves was one I haven't come across yet. Again, I really enjoyed the narrators; they really brought out the charaters and made the pace for the story to be enjoyable. The storyline, itself, had romance, intrigue, and spice. Now, do I recommend this book? Yes. Do I recommend you get the audio version, if you can, absolutely.

Love this audiobook and all the voices. The fantasy gives Elsa vibes but a Shakesphere style plot. The dictation and audio were great and clear. Loved all the voices that were used.

I really enjoyed this book! It was such a well written book with well developed characters and great world building. It was probably one of the spiciest books that I have read as well! It started by giving some background information on the world building and quickly developed into a why choose love triangle. There is an age gap and guardian / ward trope that I felt like was a little off-putting at first, just simply because they’re not my favorite tropes, but honestly it was very tactfully written in my opinion. It follows Liria as she navigates her role in a political monarchy system that is charged with keeping the frost and winter, while her magic isn’t strong enough to live up to her title. She has to make decisions around love, lust, and power while finding her place with two other powerful MMCs. If you love a fast paced and high spice fantasy romance that can be read as a standalone, this book is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Amy Pennza for the ARC of The Frostbound Queen!! I lovedd this book!! The voices were amazing, especially because they did two for the males!! The spice was fantastic and went from 0-100 quickly. The one small detailed I wasn’t in love with was that the guard had been with her since 12, I love a good age gap but not when they’re around growing up. Besides that one detail I loved it!!

Story about Liria, the elven princess in a frosty world. Her guardian, Ronan, has kept the realm frozen since Liria’s father fell into a grieving state. Liria can create some frost but does not have Ronan’s skills. When she fears Ronan will usurp the throne, she runs to the human realm and meets Sigurn. She is attracted to both men and discovers they also have a previous connection.

I liked the icy world the elves lived in. I could almost feel the cold when I read the descriptions of frosted trees and chilly air.

The romance in the book goes from 0 to sizzling quickly. I didn’t love that Ronan had been Liria’s guardian since she was 12 and that he was so much older than her. The relationship did grow on me but I wish the author had not done such a large age gap. I liked the relationship between Liria and Sigurn and also the one between Ronan and Sigurn. Their eventual decision to move forward as a throuple made sense. I’ve only read a few MMF books, but I thought the author did a great job of balancing all three relationships and building their shared connections.

The book is extremely spicy. I’ve read Katee Robert, but I think this was even spicier. The scenes were fine but I think it would have been more believable if Liria had been older and more experienced. I kind of rolled my eyes at how quickly she was “all in” on everything.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrators were really good. A different person did the voices for all three characters and I really appreciated the two men having different voices. I think it could have been confusing otherwise.

If you like spicy fantasy, check this one out. The world building was done well and the romance is memorable.

The Frostbound Queen
by Amy Pennza

“𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶,” 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

This was the best spicy romantasy to get me out of my slump! Liria, Ronan, and Sigurn were perfect together and the plot was so twisty it kept me guessing who had good intentions! 👀 The world building was easy to follow and intriguing and I thought the narrators did a wonderful job bringing this story to life!

Liria does an amazing job of coming into her power and knowing what she wants! She was an amazing and strong FMC. 👑

Ronan and Sigurn took turns as my faves! Ronan had the perfect grumpy vibe and I thought their scenes together were so 🥵

I don’t wanna spoil anything so you’ll have to read to find out how these three end up together to save the winter court! ❄️

I totally went into this book thinking it was a YA fae romantasy and it was absolutely not that. At all. Whoopsie daisy...my bad. Despite that, I thought the world-building was interesting. I had trouble with her guardian becoming her love interest and the age gap was definitely a little weird for me. The book kinda lost me when it turned to all smut. A lot of other reviewers really raved that this was great spice, but it felt to me like smut we got when we ordered from Wish.com. I didn't really mind the throuple aspect so much even though it's not really my taste, but I found the smut to be just very weirdly articulated and it was not my thing at all. While I don't necessarily think it was bad, it just wasn't for me. I would have enjoyed more of the fantasy elements that were set up so well, which would have helped me like this more. Overall, my misconception with what I thought I was going to be reading initially set me back (my fault, not the author), but I think more plot would have balanced the smut better and I would have enjoyed it more.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.75⭐️ 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

❄️ MMF Romantasy
❄️ Guardian/Ward
❄️ Ennemies to Lovers
❄️ Miscommunication
❄️ SPICY SPICY SPICY (yes there’s sword crossing)
❄️ Elves & magic
❄️ Seasonal Courts

Read this one as an audiobook and I will start by saying that I LOVED all 3 of the narrators - they did a phenomenal job! My only note here would be that, with a multi-cast audiobook, I really am begging production to start utilizing that and having everyone do their own voices, not a woman doing a male voice and vis versa.

For the book itself, this was a great short romantasy book with some great elements! I loved the frosted magic element and the lore, just wish the plot wouldn’t get overshadowed so much by the spicy contents. I had a hard time connecting with Liria because she didn’t really have that much depth to her… and her relationships felt very surface level.

To that point though, the spice, was spicing!! And it was really well written! Not my absolute favorite in terms of pacing, but it had me coming back for me!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscapes for the ALC✨❄️

I enjoyed the story line, the spice was on point but the grooming of Liria from Ronan made me sick. Anything else but her guardian. I think the plot needs to be focused on a bit more instead of throwing more and more smut in.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC Audiobook!
All opinions are honest and my own.

The Frostbound Queen - Amy Pennza
3/5 Stars
5/5 Spice

The elven king of the Winter Court is on his deathbed and despite his daughter and only heir, Liria, being trained under the guardianship of Ronan, the king’s righthand man and best friend, Liria’s powers haven’t become strong enough to protect and uphold the eternal winter. When Liria realizes that Ronan may be trying to seize the crown, she passes into the humans’ lands to escape and find allies. She meets Sigurn Brighthelm, the human prince of the Kingdom of Nordlinga, which happens to also be in danger of being usurped. What she doesn’t realize is that she, Ronan, and Sigurn may have a connection to each other that may save both the elven and human kingdoms.

----

I went into this book blindly and phew, I was not expecting the spice level!

The spice definitely takes the forefront of the book. The storyline and plot line are pretty bland. I was actually really interested in the world building and the different elements each region seemed to have, but everything seemed to fall slightly flat (What else happens in the Winter Court besides it being winter all the time? Why do the elves in that region depend on the frost so much for survival? So many questions went unanswered).

It is the first in a series (although this can be read as a standalone), so I’m interested if the other books focus on other regions and their powers. There is a secondary character that had been introduced (Morella) who had some interesting shadow powers, so I wonder if she’ll be featured in a later book. The main characters were fine, but there was not much in terms of character development.

Essentially, everything seemed to be pushed aside when the romance kicked up. With the blurb, I was expecting a fantasy that featured more adventure, action, and drama with a little bit of romance. Instead this is more focused on romance with a little bit of everything else. Which is fine but I think I was just expecting more of an interesting plot.

The narrators were great!

Key Elements:
-Multiple POVs
-MMF
-Elves vs Humans
-Enemies to Lovers
-Insta-love
-Guardian/Ward

Quotes:
“Maybe I was not worthy of winter. But I was worthy of love and no one was taking it from me.”