WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW. I loved this. I devoured this in one sitting.

I love Diem with my WHOLE HEART. I'd like to believe that if I were in a fantasy world, she is who I would be. She's a fighter, she stands up for what she believes in, she's snarky as HECK (my fav), and she takes s*** from no one. She was forced into a life that she didn't realize she never really wanted, and this is her story of breaking out of the mold she was forced into and learning who she is. While also trying to save everyone around her and take out the monarchy. You know, as you do.

Her arc is SO GOOD. The relationships are so well developed, and the rationalizing she does to protect herself is so relatable. We've all made excuses for bad behavior before and let ourselves live a lie until something snaps and we stop. This was SO well done and Diem felt so relatable.

Did I think the "twist" was incredibly obvious? Yes. Did I care? NO I SURE DIDN'T!! This is a RIDE, and it's taking everything in me not to drop everything else I need to read right now to devour the next two books.

If you want a soft but snarky FMC, enemies to lovers, court politics, and revolution--this is your next read. I am OBSESSED and need a million more books in this series RIGHT NOW.

❤️‍🩹I’ve been avoiding spoilers on this book for what feels like a year. I was cautious going in. I didn’t even read the blurb so I had no idea what I was getting into. The anticipation was so worth it. The world in this book is broken into those with magic and those without creating a social economic imbalance. I absolutely loved the FMC, Diem and her snarky, “act first, think later” attitude. Diem is quick to remind those with magic, Descended, of how the mortals, magic-less suffer and doesn’t care who she tells including the potential future king, Prince Luther. Oh Luther, I needed a new shadow daddy in my life. The tension between Diem and Luther 🥵, the moment his character walked in I was like yep, he’s our guy. Henri, her childhood friend: maybe situationship, just doesn’t feel like endgame but who knows? Henri gives me Hunger Games Gale vibes. We join Diem as she breaks so many rules and she jumps into decisions that make her question whether she is a hero or a villain. The book ends on a cliffhanger and thankfully, there are two more books I can binge because I am invested now and I need to see what happens next. Romantasy is one of my favorite genres and this book delivers on all of my favorite elements of the genre getting 5 ⭐️ from me.

🥹Side note: I always read an author’s acknowledgements and @authorpenncole is the first author to make me cry while reading acknowledgments


🔥Synopsis: Diem is a healer and she is content doing her duties until her mother disappears. Diem’s world has always been divided and as a healer, she sees the disparities. As a guttural reaction to her mother’s disappearance, Diem makes choices that lead her down a path of regret. Her childhood friend/love, Henri, wants her to be on his side but Diem can’t ignore the pull of the Descended Heir, Prince Luther. Diem needs to figure out who she is and what she wants.

This book wrecked me, put me back together, and then wrecked me again in the most beautiful way. I can’t imagine a better ending to this trilogy than what we were given. It had all the feels from rage to sorrow, forgiveness to unending love. I cried my eyes out and still feel at a loss for the proper words to describe how much I loved and more importantly, needed, this whole series. All I can say is yes! You need to read this series. And yes! It’s worth every bit of the pain, sorrow, heartache, healing, and love that Stacey delivers in three beautiful books.

Plot: Spark of the Everflame essentially follows Diem, whose mother has gone missing. Diem is a healer, though I wouldn't say that she's satisfied with her life as a healer. Now that her mother is missing, she's really trying to be there even more for her younger brother, but also to take over her mother's duties at the castle, healing the king. There she keeps butting heads with the Prince expected to take the throne when the king eventually passes away, Luther. But she also has her childhood friend/boyfriend, Henri. There is honestly so much going on in this plot. The first book doesn't really have a ton of romance, unless you actually like Henri, (I did not when I read the first book and I liked him even less by the end of the second...) but the set up for the rest of the series is so, so intriguing.

What I Loved: My intrigue about this book and where the series is going was so high when I finished book one. To the point that I immediately downloaded book two from kindle unlimited. I'm not trying not to read book three until there's more information about the release of book four, but that is proving to be a challenge because I just want to stay in this world. Anyway, specifically about the first book, I feel like Cole did a great job creating the world and a cast of characters that feel real. She has so many people on both sides of things and I was impressed by how fully realized they felt (mostly). There really weren't one-dimensional villains, which I appreciated.

Who I Would Recommend To: If you're a fantasy first girlie, pick this one up. Now, the romance does absolutely expand in book two, but the plot remains the more important and prevalent aspect of this book.

THIS IS FOR THE THRONE OF GLASS GIRLIES!!!

I get the hype. This was fantastic!! Took me a minute to get into as is the case with most fantasy books but after the introductory info I was HOOKED it was FANTASTIC! The political intrigue was so good, the characters were so good (DIEM SLAYS, ARGUE WITH ME ABOUT IT), the enemies to lovers slow burn!!! SO. GOOD. This was scrumptious & I need MORE NOW!! That ENDING!!! AHHHHH!!!

Thank you Atria & NetGalley for the eARC!

This book has beautiful writing and a fantastic storyline. I was engrossed in the story from start to finish and loving every minute of reading this book.

The characters and relationship dynamics are believable and well executed. The world building is on point. I loved the plot beats and reveals. It reminded me a little of Red Queen, but I liked this book significantly more.

The main relationship progression was well done. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this series and seeing what happens next!

Content: explicit, language, parent abducted in front of child

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

I was recommended this series by a fellow book lover and it did not disappoint. When I saw that it was on NetGalley, I was so excited! As an avid reader of fantasy, I really enjoyed being immersed into the world. I loved all the characters, especially Diem. The slowburn was perfection. 10 out of 10 recommend! Can’t wait to keep reading this series.

A big thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

In a world that was inhabited by gods, Diem, a young healer finds herself and the rest of humankind ruled by the offspring of these gods, called the Descended. With their magical abilities and elite status, they rule and look down upon the people the govern. Any children that are born from a union between humans and the Descended are hunted and murdered. After Diem's mother mysteriously goes missing, Diem's eyes are opened to the injustices, poverty, and political strife that run rampant in her community. Having seen it she finds she can no longer do nothing. As she finds herself committed to being a healer for the royal family, she seeks to unlock the secrets of her mother's disappearance.

However, not is all what it seems. Those that she trusts the most also harbor secrets of their own and the handsome Descended prince has a magnetic pull that Diem cannot explain. Neither can she figure out a growing power of her own and what it means. As the king is on the brink of death, who is next to rule with civil war on the brink?

This is a fast-paced book that zips by as you read it with interesting characters and world building. Once I started, I could not put it down and look forward to reading the next books in the series. I enjoyed the world building which included politics, classism, and power. I highly recommend this as a great fantasy read!

The Kindred's Curse series has been on my radar for a few months now, so I requested the first book in the series as soon as I saw it pop up on Netgalley.

I understand why this series has grown such a following so quickly! It took me awhile to get into this first book, but by the end, I was eager to continue on to the second.

The series includes four books. Three are available on Kindle now. A special Collectors Edition of the first book is being released on October 8th.

This was okay. It followed the romantic fantasy formula almost to the T. It was pretty interesting, but I see myself forgetting about it in a few days. Also, Diem was one of the most frustrating and dumbest characters I've ever read.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the arc to this book!

I haven't enjoyed a fantasy book like this in a long time and after that ending I am so ready for book two! Instead of the typical, female main character finds out she has powers at the beginning of the book at only 16 and somehow she's supposed to save the realm, we have a much more slow burn of a book here. We unravel the story alongside Diem, her friend/more than friend Henri, her brother Teller, her missing mother, and her military dad. Oh... and the elusive Prince Luther.

Luther is a descendent which is the main world building to this book (there honestly wasn't enough world building and that's my only gripe). There are mortal and there are descendants (magical folk who live a long long time). The world is in turmoil with mortal rebels trying to overtake the descendants and have some equality in their lives. Diem is a healer trying to solve where her mother disappeared to while also trying to not fall for Luther and she somehow keeps staying with Henri even when I'm begging her to let him go. I loved following her story and can't wait to see how it plays out!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for an early copy of this book. It's transitioning from Indie to Traditional publishing, out 10/8/24.

Loved this book! Solid 4.5 stars. Sometimes Diem irritated me, but for the most part she’s a likable FMC. The pacing is great, and the plot is perfect. There’s a little love triangle being set up, LOVE it. Call me blind, but I did not see the ending coming. Can’t wait for book 2!

I enjoyed this so much! This book is a major slow burn, but it's never slow. I was engaged the entire time and could tell that this book was setting up for something big across the rest of the series, which I'm so excited to get to. The worldbuilding was so interesting with the different powers of each realm, and I loved the mystery of Diem's past and the secret that's unfolding around the truth of her mother's disappearance. I can't wait to see where book 2 takes things!

4.25 stars and a strong start for a magical and intriguing new fantasy world! This series has been hyped up and I think this was a great entry point- with the hope of getting all these open threads woven together in a super cool way!

Diem Bellator is a mortal healer in a world where mortals and demigods live (not quite) side by side and in a total lack of harmony. She’s a feisty healer who has to take on her mother’s palace healing duties when her mother disappears. Through this, two paths open for Diem: one with the mortals and her childhood best friend turned rebel Henri and one with the icy shadow presumptive heir Luther (I think we all know where this is going)

I really liked the way the story unfolded, which you don’t always get in a first book of a series that has to do a lot of world building. Bits and pieces of the story and the lore of the world are dropped as we progress, making it a fun lil trail of breadcrumbs to follow. I loved spying some moments of potential foreshadowing- and then getting to see those play out!!! Diem’s journey is looking to be a twisty one, and I can’t wait to jump in right away to the next one!

Thanks to Penn Cole and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!

First off, I want to say a HUGE thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️♾️

As many of you know, this series is extremely popular and was originally indie. All of the books in the series will be re-releasing under a traditional publisher, beginning with Spark on October 8th. If you haven’t read it yet, you MUST. And if you have already read it, you STILL MUST because the bonus chapter is *chef’s kiss*!

I am so happy that I have been hitting gem after gem lately! First with A Dawn of Onyx and now with Spark of the Everflame! I highly highly highly recommend both of these series if you are a romantasy girlie AND love a good shadow daddy. 😏

Diem is a BADASS there is no other way to describe her. She isn’t your typical weak/quirky/boring FMC. She is quick-witted, smart, funny, strong, talented. She is everything I wish I could be and more. I am OBSESSED with her, and I am so thankful to Penn Cole for writing such a wonderful FMC for us. I love her relationship with her brother, I love the secrecy and the twists, I love her banter with Prince Luther, I love the world-building, and the side-characters. Penn really nailed it and on her first try no less, there is no secret as to why a trad publisher had to snatch this up, there is NO mistaking the raw talent that this writer has.

Moving on to DADDY LUTHER. I get the hype y’all, and I am SAT. I don’t want to give too much away, but believe me when I say you WANT to pick up this newly published edition that’s coming out because that bonus chapter is EVERYTHING. I must read the next book, but I don’t have a Kindle anymore so I’m just PRAYING I will also get approved for the ARC!! 🤞🏻

I definitely recommend you pick up Spark of the Everflame immediately on October 8th! 🔥

4.5 stars. I loved this. A bit predictable but I still enjoyed it immensely. Excited to continue the series!

I mixed reading and listening… excellent narration from Amanda Dolan.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read the rerelease arc! It pushed me to finally pick up this gem that had been on my TBR for too long.

TL;DR Review: A spitfire of a heroine. A lovely balance between warrior and healer, fighter and caretaker.

Full Review:
Diem Bellator may be my new favorite badass romantasy heroine!
Let’s get one thing straight: she’s earned every bit of it, with years of training under her mother as a healer, and under her General father in the arts of combat. She knows her way around a scalpel as well as a killing blade, and can tend to wounds as well as she can make them.
But what makes her such a badass is her resilience and strength of spirit.
She has suffered a great deal—as have all the people of her world—under the Descended (essentially, elves/High Fae), doubly so when her mother vanishes and leaves her father to raise her and her younger brother alone. Diem also feels the burden to take her mother’s place as a healer, tending to both the mortals and the Descended (with equal efficiency uninfluenced by personal feelings, as expected from one who’s taken the healer’s oath). But within her is this urge to do more, to push harder, to step out from beneath the shadow of her parents and change—whether herself or the world around her, she doesn’t know yet.
And most of all, she feels compelled to FIGHT. To fight against the injustices of her world. To fight against the oppression of the Descended and the horrific rule that any half-mortal, half-Descended must be murdered. To fight against the King’s stringent laws that allow the Descended to get away with doing whatever they want. To fight against anyone who would try to get her to sit down and shut up because that is not who she was raised to be.
She is a spitfire in every way—and an absolute joy to read because of it—but she’s also as flawed and realistic as you could wish for in a heroine/protagonist. She struggles, suffers, cries, fears, and worries like the rest of us, and that makes her a fully human character you absolutely want to read more about. Her journey is filled with unexpected twists and surprises, but she faces each with that strength of spirit that makes her such a compelling character.
The plot of this book is a lot of fun: her work as a healer brings her to the Palace, where she’s drawn into the path—and charm—of the dark, brooding Prince Luther, but also makes her ideal to help the humans who are working against the Descended in their efforts to bring down or strike back at the powerful overlords. There’s mystery, tension, reveals, heartbreak, loss, and happiness—plus, the beginnings of a deliciously slow-burn romance.
But what makes Spark of the Everflame so great is the fire that burns inside Diem and keeps her pushing toward making the right choice, even when she doesn’t know what that is—or worse, when she knows it may cost her dearly. The balance between healer and warrior is done beautifully and makes for a really engaging character I can’t wait to follow into more adventures in the rest of this series.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole is a first person-POV epic romantic fantasy centering around a rebellion by the mortals against the descendants of gods. Diem is a healer with an eye color that would normally mark her as a child of the Descendants, but she’s mortal. When her mother goes missing and Diem is wrapped up in a rebellion her lover is involved in, she starts to question if the price the rebellion is willing to pay is truly worth it. What’s more, she’s spending more and more time with the prince of the Descendants and sparks are flying between them.

The worldbuilding is so interesting. The Descendants being the children of gods and mortals and having magic and impenetrable skin calls back to stories of demigods in multiple world mythologies. This is taken a step further by the Descendants making it illegal for their kind to have children with any of the mortals, keeping shadow and light magic contained and the two groups firmly divided. The mortals live in poverty and many do not have access to quality education while a good life is practically a guarantee for the children of gods.

Perhaps because it’s the first in a planned trilogy, this is more of a slowburn and the narrative is focused on Diem’s inner world and the oppression of the mortals by the Descendants. The two romance arcs running through the plot are between Diem and Henri, her lover, and Diem and Prince Luther. Henri is her childhood friend and a former liver who she recently started romantically connecting with again, but their relationship feels very one-sided as Henri is clearly in love with her but she’s more just in a friends-with-benefits relationship with him because it’s comfortable. When she meets Luther, on the other hand, it pretty quickly turns heated and he struggles to keep his hands off of her as she challenges him every chance she gets. In some ways, it’s kind of like the love triangle in Hunger Games between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale—one love interest represents everything the female lead knew before and the other represents everything that could be though it is a bit messier than that.

Of the two love interests, I preferred Luther. Henri initially comes across as perfectly fine, attentive, and caring deeply about the people around him but the more time I spent with him in the narrative, the more I saw behaviors that are red flags to me. A big one was him joking about an initiation ceremony during Diem’s first meeting and taking it a step too far to see her get mad. That was probably the moment that I began to root for Diem to leave him. It didn’t take me long to get on board with Luther as he took Diem’s complaints about his own guards seriously and Diem felt more comfortable with him despite him being the nephew of the king that oppresses her people.

I would recommend this to fans of epic fantasy that have romantic plot threads, readers looking for a fantasy dealing with the children of gods vs mortals, and those wanting a fantasy with strong allegories to issues in our world.

Penn Cole has created a super interesting world. I was intrigued right off the bat, and read it in less than 24 hours. Mostly because I was waiting for something to happen.

While I was engaged the whole time, I found Diem to be quite naïve and at times… stupid. I had trouble rooting for her honestly. Henri gave me the ick almost immediately. Her relationship with her father was sweet, but it completely shattered for me at the end. And Luther definitely needed more page time. I was enraptured!

The world building and slow moving plot coupled with the semi-unlikeable characters still made for an interesting read.

Thank you Atria for the arc!

Slow paced, poor editing, poor world building, no character development or thought to the actual characters in general and honestly? It’s screams “I’m doing this because I’m jealous my mom lied to me and I shoulda been one of them” and that’s done and overrated