I so wanted to love this book, having been a fan of Jude Devereaux for quite some time. But it did not grab me and I felt the story was disjointed, a bit too fantasy for me. I do love her historical fiction stories though, so not the writing style, simply the genre here. I couldn’t finish it. Sorry. Thanks to #netgalley for allowing me a glimpse at this book to read and review.

I love fractured fairytales. Adn this continued that tradition and provided a fun and very unique take on the mythology of fairy tales.

Order of Swans
Jude Deveraux
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kaley Arens is a PhD student and quite the expert in folklore. She has always felt that fairy stories are more than mere entertainment.

It's only when Kaley decides to accompany her lifelong friend Jobi on a visit to his home that she realizes she still has so much more to learn. Bellis is not the remote island she thought it was. It's another world altogether and takes three years to get there by ship. It is not only stunningly beautiful it has its own royalty and its own rules.

Kaley has special abilities and a special connection with Jobi. Tasked with locating a run away prince, Kaley and her new companions-Tanek, who is a member of the order of the Swans, and Sojee, Kaley's special body guard end up journeying through a land that is both thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

Here on Bellis nothing is quite what it seems. And Kaley is discovering that she herself can change the outcome of the fairy tales that she knows oh so well. While her own story is unfolding in ways that she never could have predicted, so is her destiny which is one she never could have predicted.

Jude Deveraux knows how to take any genre and turn it into a great story, but this I didn't see coming. From the moment I started reading I was mesmerized and when the book finally ended all I could think was I need book two now. What a phenomenal story. The characters were so different yet I learned to love almost every one of them. The animals were incredibly perfect. The way they protected Kaley and fought tooth and nail for her was amazing. All in all I honestly thought that after all of these years of reading Ms. Deveraux's books that I could not get so involved, but I was wrong. If you are a fan of Jude Deveraux or fantasy you need to read this book.Order of Swans
Jude Deveraux
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kaley Arens is a PhD student and quite the expert in folklore. She has always felt that fairy stories are more than mere entertainment.

It's only when Kaley decides to accompany her lifelong friend Jobi on a visit to his home that she realizes she still has so much more to learn. Bellis is not the remote island she thought it was. It's another world altogether and takes three years to get there by ship. It is not only stunningly beautiful it has its own royalty and its own rules.

Kaley has special abilities and a special connection with Jobi. Tasked with locating a run away prince, Kaley and her new companions-Tanek, who is a member of the order of the Swans, and Sojee, Kaley's special body guard end up journeying through a land that is both thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

Here on Bellis nothing is quite what it seems. And Kaley is discovering that she herself can change the outcome of the fairy tales that she knows oh so well. While her own story is unfolding in ways that she never could have predicted, so is her destiny which is one she never could have predicted.

Jude Deveraux knows how to take any genre and turn it into a great story, but this I didn't see coming. From the moment I started reading I was mesmerized and when the book finally ended all I could think was I need book two now. What a phenomenal story. The characters were so different yet I learned to love almost every one of them. The animals were incredibly perfect. The way they protected Kaley and fought tooth and nail for her was amazing. All in all I honestly thought that after all of these years of reading Ms. Deveraux's books that I could not get so involved, but I was wrong. If you are a fan of Jude Deveraux or fantasy you need to read this book.

I’ve read Jude Deveraux before and have good memories of getting lost in her storytelling. So, I was excited to read "Order of Swans" (the first book in her "The Blue Swan" series). The premise intrigued me—an alien secret society, romance, a touch of magic? Sign me up. But unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me.

Maybe it’s Deveraux’s first foray into romantasy, and look, I love a well-crafted or fun take on the genre. But this just didn’t grab me. The characters felt distant, and despite my best efforts, I couldn’t latch onto their storylines. I found myself disengaging, my mind wandering, until I eventually realized I just wasn’t invested in the outcome. I finished for the sake of finishing.

That said, if you’re a die-hard fan of the fantasy-romance hybrid genre and have a higher tolerance for trope-heavy, slightly meandering plots, this might work better for you. But for me, "Order of Swans "was a miss.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced reader's copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and MIRA Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Order of Swans is the first in a fantasy-rich romance duology that is utterly unique and strangely addictive.

It’s hard to put my thoughts into words about this book. It’s…weird. But good? But also, still very much weird. It took me a hot minute to get into the writing style and it’s still not my ultimate favourite but the characters drew me in. The alien characters in particular were very…alien, and I could never quite wrap my head around them but I really wanted to and I loved them all the same. Similarly, I could never predict where the plot was headed, but once I made my peace with the clunky bits that bogged down the book at first, I was hooked!

I think every romantasy fan needs to give this odd duckling of a book a try, and then DM me so we can share notes.

I want to badly to say this book was fantastic, the premise of another planet where fairytale are a real thing and the inhabitants don't know it is great. Sadly the story telling for #OrderofSwans by #JudeDeveraux.
The whole story felt off kilter and jumped about all over the place. It really is too bad because what I did read if it was better written would have been one hell of a book.

Thank you to #Netgalley for the chance to read an eArc of #OrderofSwans by #JudeDeveraux in return for a fair and honest review.

I loved this one so much. I knew I’d like it, but I got swept away in the writing and the mix of fairy tales strewn throughout the world. Kaley is a fantastic character that is able to utilize her knowledge of fairy tales to solve many problems in the world. This is like a portal fantasy, but instead of a portal it's a 3 year spaceship ride, which is a wild twist on the genre. There is a lot of suspension of disbelief in this one, but I found myself lost in the world so much that it wasn’t heard to suspend that disbelief.

I received an advanced copy of Order of Swans from Netgalley and the publisher and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Some books you start reading and immediately know are not for you. Order of Swans is one such book. I honestly thought I would love this, as fairy tale retellings are my bread and butter. The main character is going to a place where the residents are living the fairy tales? Sign me up. The sci-fi parts initially threw me for a loop as I wasn't expecting that, but I put my surprise and confusion aside and continued. No matter how much I tried, though, I couldn't bring myself to finish this book and DNF'd around the 10% mark, which is far earlier than usual. But again, when you know, you know.

My reasoning boils mostly down to the writing. If I didn't know that this was supposed to be an adult book, I would've said it was a middle-grade. The writing was overly simple yet somehow convoluted. It was nearly impossible for me to tell who was talking in half the scenes with dialogue because there were minimal dialogue tags. Well, shouldn't I have been able to tell because there were at least two people in the scene, and they'd be saying different things with their distinct personalities? You'd think so. I had to go back and reread whole pages multiple times to figure out what was going on because nothing stood out. Nothing captured my attention enough for me to take note. Simple words described the sci-fi aspects, yet I still had no idea what they meant. Absolutely nothing was explained.

In the spirit of keeping it short, I'll end the review here because I didn't read enough of the book to make too many comments. Order of Swans was not the right book for me.

Kaley accompanies her lifelong friend Jobi on a visit to his home in hopes of learning more about the isolated land that he lives in. She hopes to learn more about their folklore and fairy tales so that she can complete her dissertation. However, after being knocked out on the flight, Kaley doesn't realize that when she wakes up, she's not just in another country, but she has traveled to another planet. Upon this planet, there are many mysteries to uncover, and seeing some of the fairy tales that she grew up with on Earth coming to life is astounding.

I didn't realize that this story that sounded like fantasy would actually have such a strong sci-fi component. I did enjoy learning about Kaley's mysterious connections with Jobi and when she is sent off on a mission to retrieve a prince for his wedding, she begins to learn more about Tanek and Sojee, her travling companions.

The book was good and the story was interesting, however, it felt very complicated. A lot of the time, there were so many unusual names and backstories that it took a bit for me to follow it and determine who we were talking about. This is clearly the first part of a series, and it cuts off at the end with a lot of the mysteries still yet to learn about. I think I will want to read the second book as well, despite the intricacies of the stories.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions are my own.

Not what I expected.

I think I’m disappointed because when I read the blurb I thought the FMC is going to be a part of the fairy tales herself and not just a sidekick of them. I love fairy tale retellings so she being the savior of the tales as an onlooker rather than being a part of it took me off.

I drifted off in some places too so as a whole I was bored at some places.

I also wish that authors stop forcing academic elements into stories when they aren’t actually doing anything to the plot. The second reason I wanted to read this was because the FMC was an academic. That part was so minimal.

Some people might love this though but for me this is all over the place.

Thank you to HTP and Hive for the ALC and E-ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I was drawn to this book by its promise of intertwining fairytale and fantasy elements. I grew up reading this author and was excited to see her step out of her genre.

The prologue was confusing, and the first few chapters were slow to engage. The pacing of the book was fast, but it felt like important details, such as world-building, were sacrificed as a result.

While the book had some fantasy elements, it didn't feel like a true fantasy novel. I wouldn't recommend it to my fellow fantasy enthusiasts. Overall, this was a frustrating read, and I wish I had more positive aspects to highlight.

Thank you NetGalley!!

“What if I told you that my country is on another planet and it takes three years of Earth time to get there?”

Order of Swans starts us in a prologue from Jobi's point-of-view, he's an alien from the planet Bellis who's currently on Earth. As the third most powerful being from the Order of Sight, he can see parts of the future and he knows that Kaley, a half-light, a baby born of a Bellisian and Earthling, is going to end up being vastly important to his world, if not knowing exactly why. As he manipulates circumstances that has Kaley's Bellisian mom sent back to their planet and growing up with her father and grandparents on their farm with himself guiding her and teaching her things he foresees she'll have to know, he plans for her future. After the prologue, we're jumped twenty-six years into the future and Jobi has once again manipulated things so that Kaley, unknowingly, is traveling with him back to Bellis.

Those fairy tales had been written decades ago. But here, on these isolated islands, they were happening now.

The majority of this was told from Kaley's pov, and she's one of those female main characters that takes everything in stride, a little too well. She thinks she's just in a different country and does not know that she was knocked out for the three years it took to travel from Earth to Bellis. However, she has some kind of chip in her arm that at different points, helps her instantly understand languages and heal her when activated by others and, oh yeah, there's a dragon and events and people that curiously seem to follow the fairy tales and folklore stories she has spent studying for her PhD, the reason she agreed to go to Jobi's home “island”, to learn new stories to study. Kaley's had an unnatural ability to bond with animals all her life, so every few pages, she's making some kind of new animal friend, too. This had a curious mix of fantasy and scifi that didn't quite gel right for me. Kaley gets to Bellis early on and then the story became a road adventure pretty quickly as she and her two companions, Sojee, a tree of a man sent as body guard, and Tanek, who communes with swans and who Kaley has the physical hots for while emotionally dipping into growly with each other to lovers (no bedroom scenes here, only a kiss), are sent to bring back the King's son, so he can be married.

“Flush toilets but no computers,” she said to herself. “Crossbows but no guns. Spaceships but no cars.” She didn’t think she would live long enough to understand the planet.

The road adventure had Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and other fairy tales popping up for our little crew to encounter. Around halfway, Kaley learns that she's not on a wild island adventure but in fact on a different planet, she, in character, handles it with little fuss other than some brief anger over being lied to. The world building was a little weak but we do know that the kingdom does seem to be a little in disarray and there are hierarchies of Orders: Sight, Swans, Royals, Kings, and Peacekeepers. This is the first in a Duology, so while the setting and characters are introduced, not a whole lot is explained, except that Jobi knows Kaley is important to their world. Tenak's son, Mekos, at one point gets kidnapped and the latter second half has them working to rescue him, which brings in a couple new characters and more reveals that leave you nothing but more questions.

“This isn’t how fairy tales are supposed to end.”

The ending delivers a kiss between Kaley and Tanek, they were together the majority of the time but there still, to me, wasn't a strong build up to their romantic relationship and while we get declarations of love, I didn't feel the depth. We're also left with a cliffhanger, remember, duology, and the future of our couple is in question, along with Kaley's foreseen purpose by Jobi and, honestly, what is actually happening on this fantasy scifi planet. While this had some interesting mashups of concepts and ideas, this kind of read more like a roughly filled in outline and I wanted more of a filled in and shored up story.

I didn't quite make it to this book on my endless TBR, but I'm giving it five stars for the cover alone!

Order of Swans has a good premise and a great cover. The blurb had me eager to dive in. Unfortunately, the book did not live up to the cover and premise. Despite my repeated attempts, I was unable to get into the story. I have been reading Jude Deveraux’s stories since I was a teenager, and this book did not feel like she wrote it. The writing was muddled, and it felt like a first draft instead of a finished novel. There is little character development. I had to wonder about the author’s research for this story because the dissertation process was not described correctly. I expected Kaley to be curious about her unfamiliar environment (aka another planet) especially since she needs material for her new dissertation, and she has a strange item embedded in her arm. She fails to ask questions (I would be demanding answers or sneaking around to get them). After reading the Order of Swans, I am still not sure what it is about (it is a strange hodgepodge). There are fairy tales, dragons, evil queens, implants in arms, weird light pens, griffins, a whiny prince, and so much more. There is a combination of medieval, modern, and future (throw in the kitchen sink and stir). The story lacked world building and emotion. The ending left me upset and unsatisfied (if I had been reading a paperback, I would have tossed it across the room). Order of Swans lacked depth, and it did not live up to its premise. Order of Swans is the first book in The Blue Swan duology (I did not know this until I finished reading the book) and I have no interest in picking up the next book in the duology.

Kaley is obsessed with folklore and fairy tales, so much so that she is studying this topic for her PhD. She goes on an adventure with lifelong friend, Jobi, who jokes about living on another planet with aliens. She laughs this off and is inspired by the talk of going to a country with kings, royalty, and a totally different way of living.

When they arrive, she finds herself in a mysterious world where the fairy tales she loves seem to come to life. Arriving in Bellis, still thinks herself roaming islands of her world and not a totally different universe. She’s tasked with finding a missing prince hiding away to avoid his arranged marriage. Joining her are some strong side characters, who I really loved, Tanek and Sojer !

She navigates this new world through her journey as she tries to understand more about the people and life her and how she is connected to it all.

This book was very unique and I loved the fairytales embedded into the world and story. Loved adding the sci-fi element to this fantasy and some academia feel as well. The spice was spicing !! This is book 1 of 2, would read the next book also!

this right here is why i NEVER DNF a book. i went from intrigued, to “this is kind of dumb” to ..wait i kinda of love this, actually. it’s such a unique story, probably the slowest of burns, and the ending makes it impossible not to be SO excited for the next book. this is one of those fairytales i will want to read to my children one day. my only red flag is the weird insinuations and intentions with gender. i feel like we were trying to combat stereotypes and sexism commonly seen in fairytales, but in a weird, roundabout way that didn’t exactly work the way i, personally hoped it would. thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of the audiobook! it was a fun ride!

I've been a fan of this author for a long time and the premise of this book sounded unique and intriguing and so different from anything she's written before. But the book was just missing something to me. The pacing was off, the world building was a little confusing, and the fmc was clueless through a lot of the story. The addition of fairy tales to this mysterious "island" was well done however and I loved some of the secondary characters. The slow burn between characters was good and will be interesting to see where it goes later in the series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Order of Swans is book one in The Blue Swan duology by Jude Deveraux.
This was quite an enjoyable sci-fi/fantasy adventure. I loved the characters here and honestly had the best times reading this book.
I really loved how the world building was as approached in this book.

I am 37% in and fortunately I am deciding to dnf this book. I thought the idea of having a planet where all Fairy Tales come from was interesting and unique, but I don't think it was well executed. I found the World building lacking and confusing at times. I also felt the characters were very strangely written and how they interacted. I want to keep my Instagram account positive so I will not be posted a public review. Thank you for the opportunity

I'll preface by saying I did not finish this book. I'm normally a big fan on Jude Deveraux but I just couldn't get into this storyline. It might be because I'm a mood reader but I tried several times. The story just seemed disjointed.

Thanks so much to the publisher for the gifted copy!