This book came up completely short for me. I had higher expectations walking into this. Although it gave hunger games with magic elements, it was rather disappointing. The writer chose to write using third person at times that really threw me off. I’d give this a 2.5 stars, but I wouldn’t recommend to a friend or read again.

This book was amazing! The magic system was so well written and the plot was very well thought out! And the romance was perfect in this book! and it did not have any spice in it!

This story was fantastic. I liked how their was multiple realms and the human one is our realm. The fact that the main character couldn't remember anything from her previous life in the human realm so she doesn't even always know who to trust. I like how even though she is the only human in the tournament she tries whatever she can to win. Definitely can't wait to see where this story goes

Of Kindgoms and Curses is a YA romantasy and the first installment in the Blood and Curses series. It has magic, curses, a fae realm, insane plot twists, and a mind-blowing cliffhanger that will leave you anticipating the next book!

In this book, we follow Bridget, who is a human currently living in the fae realm of Elyria. All humans are placed under a curse when they cross over to Elyria, a curse that causes them memory loss. Bridget has no recollection of the past 7 months. And if things can't get any worse, she is forced to enter a tournament to win the hand of the prince. Bridget has no interest in winning (or even being part of this tournament), but she does see this as the perfect opportunity to escape from her captor. Her captor, however, has other motives. She needs Bridget to find the second gate to the human realm, for reasons unknown. Of course, Bridget falls in love along the way, and it just may cause her her life.

This book took me on quite the ride! It is exciting, it is engulfing, and all-around captivating! The tournaments had me on the edge of my seat and the plot-twists were unreal! The epilogue was short, however, it was exactly what we needed to keep us wanting more! 5 stars, hands down!

Thank you NetGalley, City Owl Press, and Amy Woodruff for this riveting ARC!

I received and ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, wow, wow. This booooook. From the first page it had me hooked. Bridget was such a mystery. Then we meet the dark and dangerous Fae prince, Cade, but is he really a danger at all?

This was such an awesome melding of old world Fae and modern society. I loved the concept so much. Then you throw in a little of that Royal Games action and a whole lot of drama. UGH, YES.

This book wasn't spicy in the least, and could be labeled YA, but I really did enjoy it. The world-building was amazing, the concepts were well fleshed out. There wasn't a whole lot to be confused about, which can happen in a lot of fantasy books. But that CLIFFHANGER was brutal.

I want to say more, but I don't want to ruin the mystery. The why of Bridget being in Elyria. The how of her getting her memories back. The reason that Cade is interested in her, "the lowly human", during the games. Just trust me, you're going to want to read this one!!

I was so grateful to receive an ARC copy of this book via NetGalley!

This book takes place as a young woman who has lost memory of most of who she is, is forced into a fae tournament to win the prize of the Fae Prince’s bride. The story has a lot of unique development and plot lines, and a lot of “hmm” that keeps you guessing and interested in figuring out what’s going on. I do love how the author separated the book into sections and had unique characters. The flow at the beginning of the book takes a little bit to get into due to sentence and paragraph structure, but overall I really enjoyed this read and can’t wait to see what happens!

Thank You NetGalley and Amy Woodruff for this book

All I can say is wow this book was good, It has everything, from trails to an interesting magic system, to memory loss. and Forbidden love, This book is about a 21 year old girl named Bridget Adams, who is in the Fae realm and has completely forgetting her memories and only remembers the last 7 months of her life.
All I can say that this FMC is badass she never gives up it doesn't matter what is put on her she still tries to fight and makes sure that she can come out on top.

I love how the Author did a After, Before and Now, you slowly get to pick the pieces about what is happening in her life and how it is all coming together, I couldn't put this book down I had to find out what was going to happen to her and if she was going to get her memories back or somehow get out of the situation that she was in.

This book does end on a cliffhanger and if you are a type of person that can't handle that then maybe wait for book two to come out. It doesn't have any spice but you will not need it. If you are a spice girl like me, the plot makes up for it. I can't wait for book two and see what happens to this badass girl.

I loved the blend of our world mixed with the fae realms. I absolutely ate this book up. It was so much fun. The fmc was everything I look for in a good main character. The star crossed lovers trope is a favorite of mine and this did it so well.

✨ Review of Of Kingdoms and Curses✨

Thank you so much to @amywoodruffauthor and @bookofmatchesmedia and NetGalley for the ARC of this amazing book!

Tropes: 
- Star crossed lovers
- Powerful artifacts
- Deadly magic
- Found family
- High stakes trials
- Contemporary setting

I stinking loved this book! I got The Selection and Crescent City vibes mixed with a little bit of reverse Aladdin feels! This story takes place partially in our world and partially in the Fae realm.

There is a marriage tournament, secrets, lies, conspiracies, witches, fae, curses, star crossed lovers and deadly magic! It was a spectacular combination!

I very much much enjoyed getting to know the characters. Our MMC is the fae prince and the FMC is a human who has been trapped in his realm for 7 months and is now forced to compete in a tournament to marry him.

I loved the mixture of fantasy and contemporary! I’m beginning to find that this may be one of my favorite combinations. This is the first book in a romantic fantasy series and I will absolutely be reading the rest when they come out! This was a 5⭐️ read for me!

I went into this book for the high stakes trials, but this book is so much more. I was so excited to pick up this book every time. Everything I want to say in this review is a spoiler, so I'll keep it brief. Bridget is a human in a magical world who has been cursed and has no memories. She's thrust into a competition for the fae prince's hand in marriage.

The world building was a sprinkle at a time, since we are learning with Bridget and she's trying to figure out answers about who she is and how she got there. The structure of the book was something I hadn't read before and the anticipation was one of my favorite parts. I was feral to get to the "before" section.

Please message me if you've read this to talk theories with me!!

What you should know:
Single POV
Humans, fae, witches
No memories
Debut author
Magic competition for the prince's hand in marriage
Bite-sized world building
Who to trust?
First in a series
Realm hopping

3.25🌟. This book was enjoyable read and whilst it was fast moving, I found it quite dry unfortunately. It felt like it skimmed over a lot of detail and could have had plenty of scope to develop both in character and plot. It will be interesting to see how the next book develops.

The fact that this mixed a modern day world with a fantasy realm was super enjoyable and as a lover of urban fantasy right up my alley. It was also very interesting to try and figure out what everyone at court was after.
But that being said, I somehow didn’t connect with the characters at all. It is by no means a bad book, it just didn’t click with me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this eARC

Thank you Netgalley for the digital ARC!

Of Kingdoms and Curses is a fantasy YA(?) that tells the story of Bridget, a human trapped in the Faerie Kingdom of Elyria. Bridget can't remember anything about her past, as all humans that enter Elyria are cursed to forget anything from their past lives. There, she's kept and used as a pawn by a coven of witches, led by Cora. After 7 months of being trapped, Bridget is placed by the coven leader in a tournament to compete to marry the Fae Prince. Forced to participate, Bridget meets the Prince, Cade, who has secrets of his own but she still decides to trust him. As she navigates the tasks of the tournament and memories of her life resurface, she realizes she is part of a bigger and more dangerous plan.

What I liked:
I think it's a very fun and original story! The first half had me intrigued and invested. It had a lot of potential.

What I didn't like:
The execution was not the best. It felt like too much was happening, but somehow not enough at the same time? After the halfway point, I was bored out of my mind, while being utterly confused. It lacked editing, and it felt like some parts were missing. There was not enough character development, and so I couldn't be invested in the relationships.
The plot twists were also very obvious. Nothing surprised me or made me excited to keep going.
There were a lot of grammatical errors. The last few chapters felt rushed, and the quality of writing declined dramatically, which felt very odd.
Also, I'm not sure which direction the author was going with the writing. It read like a YA, but then...fingering? Yikes.
All in all, it was a little too juvenile for me and too all over the place to keep me interested all the way through or make me want to read the rest of the series.

This book will be a book that the general population of readers will eat up. It's fast-paced, action-packed, and the plot just keeps going.

It has a tournament with trials, a cinnamon roll of an MMC, likable and funny side characters, fae, witches, magic, a kingdom, curses...you name it. It has it all.

Of Kingdom and Curses is a book about Bridget, who has no recollection of her past in the human realm. She doesn't remember anything and all she wants to do is to escape and return home. She has been battered and abused by the witch coven that took her in, but when she sees a way to escape by entering a tournament, she takes it. However, her escape plan quickly comes to a stop when she realizes that joining the tournament also brings on another curse: she cannot leave the palace grounds. She is told to trust no one, yet people are all offering to help her. Who should she believe? The prince? The other girl contestants? Cora, the witch who took her in and abused her?

I personally enjoyed this book but at the same time, I didn't. I enjoyed that it is fast-paced, the mystery to the curse Bridget is under and her identity, the before and after life glimpses, and the ending is also pretty epic. The glimpses in the before life are executed well. The atmosphere felt real, and I truly felt transported to another realm. I also enjoyed finding out the powers that each character has and how they work together, given their difference to help the greater cause.

However, there are a few things that lowered my star rating.

- I didn't really enjoy Bridget's character. She is very unlikable as she is constantly angry and lashes out at everyone for the smallest of reasons (which I understand because she was taken away from her home and then brutalized but still, it was a bit too much for my liking).
- The instalove that occurs between her and the prince. Bridget is smitten as soon as she lays eyes on him, even though his reaction says something different (she immediately feels jealous of every girl vying for his attention...they're all in a tournament to win a chance at marrying the prince).
- The miscommunication. Some love this trope, I do not and it just added to Bridget's anger which grew tiresome.
- The way the female characters were pitted against each other.
- A large info dump into the world. So much happens in a span of a few minutes, making me feel razzle-dazzled, but I was able to get back to the plot.
- There seemed to be a misconnect between the descriptions while in the cursed realm. The Kingdom is described as being a mixture of old architectural designs and new modern world designs, but I only got old middle age designs with all the brick and markets and such. It felt a bit off for me.
- The book felt like a wattpad read for me, which I know many will enjoy but I didn't quite enjoy that aspect.

I am curious to see how others will enjoy this book and how often it will pop up on my feed.

My reviews will be posted on Goodreads and Instagram as soon as this post is completed

Thank you to Netgalley and City Owl Press for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication. Most importantly, to Amy Woodruff. This was the first book I have read of Amy’s and I absolutely loved this book and could not stop reading.

This was a 5 star read for me!

This is for me is Goblet of Fire meets Hunger Games. This YA romantasy was right up my street and I was hooked.

There is magic, star crossed lovers, different realms, curses that destroy human memory, plot twists and a cliffhanger!

The story follows Bridget’s journey into the kingdom of Elyria. A curse to the Humans means that Bridget has no recollection of her life prior to 7 months ago. She is forced into entering a tournament with other girls to fight for her chance to marry the prince of Fae. Cora her captor forces Bridget to enter in the hopes of finding the second gate to the human realm. Bridget obliges as all she wants is to escape the torture she is enduring.

But it seems that the biggest curse is love.


without any spoilers, there is a big twist in the middle which you do not see coming.

Not only is the story line addictive, the characters are all likeable and all play important parts in the story. Although there are many different locations, names and fantasy jargon, it wasn’t complicated or confusing.

The ending left me with a book hangover and I honestly cannot wait for book two!

3/5⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this eARC!

This book unfortunately did fall a bit short for me, I felt that the storyline could’ve been executed better. I think that the way these characters were written just didn’t grasp my attention much, not to mention it was hard to really connect with some of them.

However, I can definitely say I loved Cade and Bridget’s romance, the way they fell in love multiple times despite the odds that were against them really was a big part of this book that I loved💗. Also I really liked that the author gave us before and after chapters so we could understand the timeline better and the change in dynamics between the characters so that was definitely helpful in avoiding confusion but also just overall interesting to see how everything started and where everyone ended up.

While this book wasn’t what I hoped it would be, I was still impressed nonetheless, and after reading that epilogue I will DEFINITELY be reading the next book in the series for sure!!

Of Kingdoms and Curses is book one in the phenomenal new series Blood and Curses by Amy Woodruff.
I wished we could do something to get notifications when a book hits NetGalley! Because I need to know when book two hits asap! I don’t want to miss it!
I loved Bridget and Cade!
An absolute amazing story with mystery, suspense, love and betrayal.
Fans of romantasy will devour OKaC!
We have magic, faes, and witches.
This fantasy world is beyond unique and amazing! I seriously can’t wait for the second book!

Thank You NetGalley and City Owl Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was fast paced and very exciting.

I find this book to have a pretty original storyline, since I haven't really read anything like it yet. The beginning is comparable to books like Trial of the Sun Queen, but the further you get in this book, the further it starts to diverse from your typical fantasy book.

There was a lot of foreshadowing for the plottwist that came halfway through the book, but it still kinda took me by surprise. I definitely didn't expect the book to end the way it did. It left me very curious of what the next book is going to bring.

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! Amy Woodruff, you’re wrecking me in the best way possible. This book will officially be living rent free in my mind…until I can read book #2!!

Where to start? In the beginning this book gave me Feyre/Rhysand (ACOTAR) vibes. With Bridget despising Cade while being drawn to him. How Cade enters Bridget’s mind. And of course, the trials (aka the tournament)! I was immediately hooked!

I was on the fence with Cade, until I got to the “before” and then I was team Cade! The way he was with Nylah melted my heart. The part about ketchup and ice cream - I was giggling like I was right there!

I LOVED how this was a fantasy mixed with contemporary. I have never read a book like this before, and I was here for it 👏🏼👏🏼

The detail the author gave whenever Bridget experience magic was amazing. It helped me feel what Bridget was feeling along with being empathetic! Seriously, so much talent from the author!

Multiple points in the plot made my gasp out loud!! Especially when you go back to present time after the “before”. Seriously, I could NOT predict what was happening next and I love a book that keeps me guessing and is full of great surprises!!

And the ending! THE ENDING!!! How dare you leave us like that?! 😭😍 Cliffhangers are the best and worst thing for the readers. I cannot wait to keep following Amy Woodruff during her writing journey and read all of her books!

OF KINGDOMS AND CURSES
- AMY WOODRUFF - ARC
Of kingdoms and curses is a real world crossover where people with magic can enter the human world as they please (Through a gate) but humans that cross worlds do so without their memories!
Bridget is constantly trying to escape the witches coven who is "keeping" her.
She is then entered into a tournament against her will to win the princes hand in marriage but as she grows closer to the prince, Bridget feels more like things don't add up and she needs her memories back.
Is everything truly as it seems? What lengths will Bridget go to to get her memories back and who will pay the price?
@rachaelmcreads