I am such a sucker for a love triangle! This book was no exception. It follows Ameris, Xander and Oberon, our main characters.

You get heavy levels of spice and sexual tension. Jayme Smith develops a storyline that definitely keeps you wanting more. You get flirty banter, a beautiful world building experience and character development.

You will be rewarded with an interesting twist and it sets the stage for the second book in the series. I am hoping to get more information and insight about the main characters as the story develops.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)
3.5 stars. I think is another read that is good if you want to dip into fantasy without becoming overwhelmed. It was a quick and easy read and I enjoy morally grey characters.
Personally, I felt the world and character building weren't really there. I also wasn't really feeling the relationships between the main female character and either male.. felt a little too close to instalove for my preferences.

“This is my torture.
Magic taunts me. It wants me as much as I want it.”

"I don't want to be enemies or lovers. Just two beings taking advantage of an opportunity."

This book was surprisingly good. A dark fantasy book with a witch, reincarnation of a fae queen who wants revenge, and a fae prince who wants his kingdom back. It was dark, spicy, addicting and vengeful and I loved it. Our fmc, America felt a lot like Dianna from the gods and monsters series and she is the morally grey one in the group. In the meanwhile we have our own hero, Xander who wants to get back home to his people and free them of a tyrant. Action packed and with an amazing characters’ dynamic scenes, this is a story of pain, suffering, justice, tension, bonds, romance and a woman who wants power for herself without having to feel bound to a man. I mean who doesn’t want to read about that? And when blood bonds are introduced into the picture … goodness me, I’m a goner. There might also have been a love triangle … and a dark one at that … honestly … I’m really happy about it!! It felt like the right choice to spice things up even more than they already were!! And they were really complicated !!! And after that last chapter … I NEED THE SEQUEL !!!

“The maker has spoken; our fate has been dealt. Now we respond."

“As deep as the wounds it was born of.
The wounds we inflicted upon each other.
Losing everything she knew.
Ameris's lies about the bond.
We will need each other.
We both have to survive.
I make a vow, speak it out loud to the stars that wait. I will protect Ameris, no matter the cost, until my last breath.”

Overall: 3.75 ⭐️ (Rounded up to 4) / 🌶️

First and foremost, this is a book that gets the higher end of my 3-4 star rating purely for the vibes. A morally grey FMC? Fast paced plot? Unique magic system and world? Feints within feints within feints? Yes, please to all the above. Okay, so this book may not be literary genius personified... buuuut it also doesn't need to be in order to be a solidly entertaining read from cover to cover. Most importantly? I had fun reading this and there were very few moments that I felt it mirrored other popular romantasy books currently on the market. Originality will always win bonus points in my book, and I really loved how Jamye Smith's unique take on fae, their relationship with humans, and a complex "What-will-she-do-next" FMC.

My detailed thoughts below...

What I loved about this book:

💖 Action Packed Plot Right Off the Jump: This book is perfect for any readers who, like me, have the attention span of a peanut and need to be immersed in the world/plot IMMEDIATELY. I loved the first few opening chapters and by the end of the shipwreck scene, I was hooked. I really loved that this book wasn't one I felt like "I needed to get into". From the end of the first chapter, it was all vibes and I was fully into/entertained by it.

💖 Doppelganger Microtrope : Okay, maybe it's my undying love for The Vampire Diaries, but I am OBSESSED with any trope that has to do specifically with mysterious doppelgangers (not twins, but real, true doppelgangers), so as soon as I figured out our FMC resembled the original Faerie queen of the realm... I was instantly hooked and immediately wanted to know more. The other characters reactions to her did not disappoint, and I loved whenever Rhiannon was mentioned.

💖 Clear Character Motivations + A Morally Grey FMC : One thing I really enjoyed about Born of Blood and Shadows was that you didn't need to constantly guess who the FMC was, what she wanted, or why she was doing what she was doing. Every choice she makes throughout the book feels true to her character, and there's nothing that feels like a) character assassination for the sake of furthering along a romantic plot, or b) out of left field. She's unapologetically herself, in the most absurd, hilarious way, even if she makes poor choices and does terrible things. She's 100% dramatic, extremely petty, and angsty... yet all of those contribute as to why she's so compelling. She is the epitome of every woman who has ever said to themselves: "If I ever get captured, I'mma make this mf fall in love with me and then escape... and he won't know what hit him." Like yes, our girl makes bad decisions... and then continues to make some more even worse decisions... but the entire time, as a reader, I couldn't help but wonder what she was going to do next. I also appreciated how the author didn't make her a manic pixie dream girl, and purposely made her unlikeable in certain aspects. She was an "I choose me," girlie and I loved it.

💖 Diversity: The final thing I really enjoyed about this novel was the diversity of characters, particularly how prevalent of a role they played and how a NB character legitimately SERVED as a conduit for a large portion of the plot. I find that sometimes authors will throw them in to meet their diversity quota, and I was really happy to see that their role wasn't diminished or relegated to being nothing more than background decoration to the main characters.

What kept it from being a 5 star read for me:

💖 Too much telling, not enough showing: One thing I found really distracting was the writing style. Typically when I read ARCs, the grammar and punctuation are dreadful... but that was not the problem here. With this book, the writing felt uninspired at times and there were a lot of telling rather than showing moments scattered throughout. I felt there were chapters that could have been deeper or more introspective without the author just writing... "I did this. She did this. Then he kissed me. Then I blah blah." There was a lot of "I [did xyz]", yet little showing of what was actually happening.

💖 Shallow Romantic Development: For a romantasy book, the romance department really felt distracting and poorly fleshed out. There were no moments that had me kicking my feet and blushing, and I feel like there were a lot of "INSTA LOVE" moments where the FMC and the 2 MMC's immediately wanted to jump one another's bones without really building up the relationship beforehand. I also found Ameris' continued attraction to them somewhat confusing, especially since she talked about hating them for most of the book... and we never really saw those feelings grow to something genuine.

💖 Instant "Expert Level" Magic Wielding : The last thing that felt rushed was how quickly the FMC achieved expert control over her powers, despite the fact that they were locked away from her for her entire life. It just felt extremely sudden at how instinctually she was able to use her powers for max harm/healing, and I found it somewhat confusing, especially since there were several plot points in the book around her wanting to learn and needing a teacher for her magic.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed BoBaS! The ending was great, even if this book wasn't the most advanced piece of literature known to man. I'm not sure if I would continue reading the next few books, but that's due to personal preference and what I personally look for in writing style in books I read. However, I would definitely recommend this book to someone looking for a fun, original, and entertaining read.

Thank you to NetGalley & Jamye Smith for the ARC copy to review!

After looking through NetGalley one evening, I finally stopped at 𝑩𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒔 by Jamye Smith. Upon reading the description and viewing the gorgeous cover, I was hooked. I am thankful not only to NetGalley but to Jamye and her publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this wonderful book.

Qᴜɪᴄᴋ ʀᴜɴᴅᴏᴡɴ

𝕋𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕤 𝕀𝕟𝕔𝕝𝕦𝕕𝕖:
- Enemies to Lovers
- Love Triangle
- Forced Proximity

𝔽𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕤:
- Fast-paced plot
- Morally grey FMC
- Fae world vs Human world

𝕃𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝔽𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕖:
- Character building
- World understanding

𝑩𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒔 brings to life the story of Ameris, our morally grey FMC whose magic has been bound in the human world. After saving Xander, a fae heir, she strikes a bargain to learn about her powers. They must journey across worlds to Elysium and together they find a way to restore Xander’s claim to the throne. But once Ameris meets Oberon, the current king, everything changes.

The book draws you in fairly quickly with action packed into each chapter. Some points in the plot left me feeling like I missed some important information along the way. I feel like a bit more backstory on the worlds and characters would help bring the book together. Currently, I’m not sure whose side I’m on.

I definitely had a love/hate relationship with the cliffhanger ending but am truly looking forward to book two. As a debut novel, the foundation is there to be built upon; with some backstory to give us some understanding of characters’ actions, it will be a total hit.

This review is based on an ARC copy I received from NetGalley. These opinions are my own and were given freely.

3 stars ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Jamye Smith, and the publishers for providing me with the e-ARC!

This is a strong debut novel and I think as an author she has so much potential.

✨morally grey
✨witchy vibes
✨fae & magical realms
✨love triangles

We LOVE a witchy FMC! Ameris, is a compelling and relatable character, and her journey of self-realization is engaging. The descriptions of the scenery and magic were really detailed, allowing for an immersive experience. The love triangle really added to the spice of the plot! The plot really picked up for me near the end and I absolutely loved the villainous twist - something we do not see a lot of, I was really taken by surprise!!

This was a solid beginning, but there were a few things that I didn’t love. The author was VERY descriptive, continually using metaphors and similes, but somehow I still only felt connected on a surface-level to the characters. I felt like Amaris and Xander were both never full developed individually and within their relationship. I would have loved a little bit more of a focus on their relationship because I still feel confused as to where it’s heading for the sequel…

Overall, this is a promising debut with a lot of potential. I am confident that as Jamye Smith continues to grow in her writing, her future works will only continue flourish. I look forward to seeing how she develops her storytelling skills in the sequel - because THAT ENDING!!??

** spoiler alert ** This is 2.5/3 stars for me

This follows the story of our FMC, Ameris, a witch living in the human world where magic is not allowed. She meets Xander and enters a bargain with him to teach her magic in exchange for saving him. They flee the human world and enter into a blood bond to enter the fae world.

The story could be so much, but unfortunately, I found it a little flat. The premise is so good and the story could really be so much but none of the characters get quite enough development and I found it to be both not enough world-building and not enough romance to satisfy either interest. The setup in this book has so much possibility and I love a morally gray FMC and the man who loves her but none of it was enough.

I'd love to see this story with more depth from each other characters giving us a real chance to either love or hate them, instead I found myself feeling "meh" about all of them. I wanted to root for our central love story but it wasn't really there and I couldn't root for our FMC as the hero or the villain because I just didn't know enough about her - in fact, I think she might be conflicted about what she is as well.

That said, this is an interesting story and it is a quick read if you like the world of morally gray fae.

This book started off very promising, but kind of hit a lull and never recovered.

I think there are a lot of really good ideas in this book, but not always executed with depth that makes lasting impacts. Part of the reason I felt this way is because the pace is pretty quick throughout the story and neither world is given a ton of opportunity to develop. Sometimes the reader is left guessing, especially in Elysium, and that takes away from the story.

The characters I think also suffer from this. Ameris is the most developed at the FMC, but she can be repetitive in her thoughts. I didn't think her reason for craving power is strong enough for what she has gone through. I don't think those feelings really truly reach desperation in her, so the ending falls flat for me. I don't believe she has really developed enough to have the plan and execute the plan that she has.

I also wasn't a huge fan of the potential? maybe? development of a love triangle. Like maybe it's there, in a twisted way. I just didn't really like it since the foundations of Ameris and Xander never really developed. It would have been so much better to have those two figure out their bond and have some semblance of a relationship before entering the twisted shadow king.

I think the author has so much potential. The bones are good in the story, and I think a lot of readers looking for something easy and not super developed will enjoy the book.

I received this book as an ARC and really tried to love it. I think that the idea of it is good, but something fell flat.

I didn’t like any of the characters, except Jesper and Zeke. The rest of them either fell flat or had such undesirable qualities that I grew to dislike them. I wish that we could have learned more about the MMC.

The main twist was interesting and I do want to see how it pans out in the second book, but hope that it is more fleshed out!

I received an ARC Copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Born of Blood and Shadows, by author Jamye Smith was a great faced-paced read. Our FMC, Ameris, was such a relatable character, and I loved her self realization throughout the book. This book also included some new tropes for me, we don’t often get a morally grey FMC. I truly appreciated that there was proper equestrian terminology and knowledge implemented into this book as we don’t get to see that as often. Not to mention, the description between the scenery and magic was well detailed, it allowed me to truly immerse myself into this world.

⭐️ 4-4.5/5

This book follows Ameris, our fierce witchy FMC. We get a bit of her familial history, between the loss of her parents and existing ties to Marguerite and her locked away powers. While Ameris is scavenging a shipwreck, she finds herself meeting a Fae, also known as our MMC, Xander. Ameris deals with a great deal of loss in such a short period of time, and I found her self realization on her actions made me adore her resilient self easily. After a bargain is struck, we travel with our MC’s into the Fae World, Elysium. Ameris finds herself amidst a rebellion between the current King, Oberon, and Xander, looking to get his throne back. We meet a lot of our side characters during this time, but I have to say Zeke is definitely the one I’d want on my side, he truly lived up to the definition of a friend through thick and thin. We end up in a bit of a love triangle between our MMC’s, in which Ameris must play the game, but little do they know, Ameris is one step ahead. The question is now, will controlling her own fate be what she thought it would?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I believe it was an amazing debut for the author. I do feel as though we need a bit more back history to both worlds, along with how everything came to be. I believe we are missing some key background to Rhiannon as well, between Zorria’s feelings towards Ameris, and Xander, who potentially had feelings towards Rhiannon? The cliffhanger had me absolutely GASPING! Overall, the banter, the magic system and everything was a quick face-paced fantasy read for me which I definitely enjoyed. I will be picking up the second book for sure!

Definitely recommend reading if you enjoy the following:
✨ Anti-Hero/Morally Grey FMC
✨ Permanent Bonds
✨ Witches, Fae and Magical Creatures
✨ Elemental Magic
✨ Love Triangle

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6656265513

I received this book as ARC from NetGalley and it did not disappoint! I was drawn to this book from the cover alone and had I not gotten an ARC copy, I still would’ve picked it up and read it.

4⭐️
2🌶️

It had some of my favorite tropes:
- Forced proximity
- Enemies to loves
- Fated mates (sorta depending on how you view the bond)

The story follows Ameris and Xander and their journey to taking back the throne that Oberon sits on. Ameris finds herself but sacrifices a part of herself in this process. She battles between good and evil/light and dark, which made her a little annoying but it was valid after all she had been through.

There is a little bit of a love triangle between Ameris/Xander/Oberon, which I enjoyed. I do wish there was a little character development on Xander/Oberon to really give me someone to root for.

The magic system was unique but a little hard to follow and I would’ve liked a little more explanation on how it worked. I also would’ve liked more back story Elysium and what happened in more detail with Rhiannon.

Over all, I really enjoyed this book. It was fast burn and had great world building and unique magic system. There was the right amount of spice without overdoing it the way some books tend to do. The tension and banter between Xander and Ameris fun to read. I also really enjoyed the dual POV between the two main characters. This book left off on a cliffhanger and I will definitely be reading the next book when it comes out!

TikTok review:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNy7vhhc/

Goodreads review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6661276158

Rating: ⭐️⭐️💫/ ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Fantasy with Romance
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

I received a ARC Copy from Net Galley for my honest review. This book focuses on a witch named Ameris who is hiding her abilities from her village due to her parents death. She has a desire to break the bond her mother put on her powers to keep her safe and her prayers are answered when she comes across a wrecked ship. There she finds Xander, a Fae banished from his world to hers. With mutual interests, they strike a bargain to get him back to his world while he teaches her about her powers.

As they get back, Ameris realizes she is far more trouble than she thought. She gets in the middle of a rebellion against Oberion who currently sits on the throne. With her bond with Xander, she feels torn and used as she gets between the two Faes. What will happen instead of picking one of them, if she chooses herself?

This was a quick-paced read. For her debut, I think there is a lot of potential. But, I feel as though there was not enough world building and a chance for each of her characters to blossom. It felt jagged In approach and too perfect if that makes sense. I feel as though I was suppose to like the “love triangle”, but there wasn’t anything to grasp me fully into either Fae. I also found Ameris to be annoying at times, which rightfully so after everything she has been through. My suggestion would have been let book one play out with one and then the other. I did enjoy some of the banter and the plot twists though. Additionally, it was a nice switch to more of a Morally Gray FMC.

I think this is a good read if you want something quick and surface level. I read it after a monster Fantasy book and it helped me enjoy the fantasy without having to think so hard. I think as the author grows in her writing, she will get better!

I gave it a 2.5/3 because it is middle of the road for me. It was a nice read but nothing too overpowering or complex.

I have so many mixed feelings about this book.

What I liked:
* The morally gray FMC
* The heroine/villain push & pull dynamic, unsure of where she’d truly land
* The fae & witch magic systems & their separate worlds
* The possible found family
* The overall plot of the book
What I didn’t love:
* The MMC POV chapters felt inauthentic
* Telling vs showing in the writing
* Rushed/gapped storytelling in certain portions & lack of history on the fae & human worlds

The bones are there and I absolutely love having a morally gray FMC. The love interest is good as are the potential found family characters and villains, and I really truly love the plot of the book. But it all kind of fell flat for me. The MMC’s POV chapters felt a little inauthentic. And there was a lot of “telling” the reader what the character was feeling as opposed to showing. If it were written in third person, I think that would make more sense. But both POVs being told in first person I just expected more showing and not telling. The FMC’s POV chapters were definitely better in my opinion and I could really feel her rage and guilt and conflict in her actions. Once the book got going I really was enjoying it and got sucked in, but towards the end I was unsure again. The cliffhanger was great, but again the instances of telling us what was happening rather than showing us through actions of the characters was a little bothersome.

SPOILERS BELOW

I felt conflicted about Rhiannon’s character as well. Zorria and Xander make it seem like they hated her (hence why they tried to kill Ameris when they mistook her for Rhiannon), but then Zorria tells Ameris that she may look like Rhiannon but she’ll never be like her. And it sounds like Xander also was attracted to Rhiannon in some way because of how Zorria says he was always distracted by her. This conflict of emotions may be cleared up in future books, though, and it could just be Zorria’s jealousy shining through. I enjoyed the push and pull of Oberon and Xander with Ameris’ light and dark, and how she came into her own power. I do wish there were a little more training for Ameris because it felt as though she was an expert in her power in the end when she’s not used it much before. Not sure if this was because of the passed knowledge from Rhiannon or what, but it would have been cool to see that developed more! I would have enjoyed more history on the fae and human worlds to understand more of the driving force behind characters actions, but this also may be just to set up for future books. Also, it felt like a really big plot hole when Ameris visited Xander in the dungeon, where I assume shadows are everywhere, but Oberon didn’t show up there when he had in every other scene that she went off on her own in the castle. Overall, I did like it and it felt unique to other fantasy/romantasy books I have read, and I will likely read the next installment.

Link to my goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6659167853?book_show_action=false
I received an ARC from Net galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book, which follows Ameris and her love triangle between Xander and Oberon.
This book was rich with all the juicy elements of a great romantasy: heavy levels of sexual tension, flirty banter, and epic world building. A fae bargain gone awry, blood bounds, and seduction...
Spicy!! A fun and intriguing read that keeps you on your toes engaging banter.