⭐️: 2
DNF’d at 18%. I was excited for this book to come out, but it did not make the cut. For one, I didn’t realize that the story would begin in our world in modern times. That was a tad surprising. I also couldn’t make a connection to the FMC. It’s hard reading a book when you’re not invested in some aspect of it.

I really wanted to enjoy this book that I received an advance copy of, because the premise was good and the set up seemed promising. (Especially as a huge House of Night fan). However, it just didn't flow well. Some of the scenes and plot points were not easy to follow.

The FMC came across as annoyingly immature versus bold and efficient, which I feel is what the author may have been going for. There were some continuity flaws in regards to her character building as well. For example, how did she go from being so scared and anxious to so brash and brazen so quickly?

Tbh, I only made it through about a third of the book. Sadly.

It is a wonderful fantasy world with a bit of smut, political intrigue, and a lot of self growth.
While the description speaks of tarot, it actually has little to do with the plot of the book, so those unfamiliar with tarot cards can still enjoy the story.
I enjoy the friendships and character growth shown in the story. It reads a bit ya but has a few smutty scenes.

I thought the premise for this first in a new romantasy series sounded really interesting - a woman gets transported in time to a whole new fantasy world where she has to pretend to be married to a morally grey alpha male. The way the author weaves tarot cards into the world and plot was inspired and definitely my favorite part but if i'm honest this didn't quite live up to my expectations and was just an okay read for me. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series but maybe....It could have just been a me or a mood thing. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Hannah is a mousy loser. She is smart but she is not capable of handling adult life. After a devastating loss at work, she finds herself transported to an alternate universe with kings and queens and court intrigue. She has to navigate a world where magic is real and the bad guy will stop at nothing to have power.

Hannah is an annoying loser at the beginning of the book. The author tries to develop her but I felt like I was reading a teenager’s story of how they could be grand and amazing “only if”. The author makes Hannah’s special skill reading people and knowing what they want. It’s not as useful as it could have been. Once Hannah makes the decision about which universe she wants to live in, she makes some truly obnoxious decisions without any thought to the consequences to others. Kane is perfect. He is gorgeous. He is sweet. He is smart. He is loyal. He is also boring. It takes a woman from a different universe to help him protect his best friend from the bad guy which makes no sense. I was left at the end not really caring how the story ended.

SPOILER: Kane sneaks into the castle by wearing a “disguise”. It’s like the Superman “glasses on, glasses off” situation. It’s just silly.

I went into this book without any expectations. I wanted to experience the world building without any biases. This book has ideas. It is also full of annoying things. It is simplistic and silly. I think what it lacks is really good editing.

I use a couple of measurements to determine how I feel about a book. If I find myself finding other things to do other than reading, that’s a problem. If I find myself complaining to my family and friends while I’m still reading the book, that’s a problem. This book was a problem.

This book will appeal to plenty of readers but I am not one of them. I won’t read anything else from this author in the future.

thank you to netgalley, author kristen cast, and sourcebooks bloom books for this epub in exchange for a review.

in some ways, this movie reminded me of charmed.

in most others, i was really struggling to get through this one at times. the base of the world building is there but something feels hollow and missing something.

there is spice but it’s written very strange for me and didn’t really move the story or exist as a point of build up in the relationship. it was just ok, which is how i felt about this book.

I loved the idea of a modern woman entering into a mystical fantasy world inspired by tarot cards. Unfortunately, the storytelling, characters, and writing weren’t fully developed for me, leaving me not able to connect and invest emotionally in the story. But if you’re looking for a lighter fantasy with steamy romance, check this read out!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I didn’t jive with this book. The FMC wasn’t my cup of tea which is disappointing because I was looking forward to this one.

DNF @ 19%

I just couldnt get into this one. It felt very ya but with smut (I assume, I didn’t get that far but based on the part I did read it seems likely). Hannah wasn’t very likeable, she seemed very “woe is me” and just complained the whole time.
The pacing was also kind of weird. If felt both fast and slow, like there’s were moving very quickly but nothing was actually happening. I wanted more information about the world and the conflict but the book just glossed over everything.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the ARC!

Ok, this was so good. I loved that Hannah just fell out of her normal life into this crazy realm, and she just rolled with it. She's stubborn, sassy, and such a fun character to watch.

Kane is the brooding Prince whose been exiled and is working to save his kingdom in any way he can. Once the two of them start working together, they may have a hope of accomplishing what they need to.

Guided by The Empress, Hannah and Kane do their best to navigate court intrigue, tension in the palace, and their own emerging feelings for one another. Will they be able to find themselves, each other, and a solution for the kingdom that keeps everyone alive?

I struggled with this book. I read this ARC back in November and it's taken me this long (January) to be able to put my thoughts into words because I really really wanted to like it. The concept was very intriguing to me and the idea of a romantasy set in a world revolving around Tarot seemed unique and really fun. Unfortunately, the execution of this idea was just not well done. The whole story was very much just the author telling what happened and how people were feeling, rather than really building a world for the audience, which really doesn't work, in a romantasy especially. The love story wasn't very well built up and ended up being kind of an insta love/lust, even though it didn't feel like what the author intended from the story. The FMC was also kind of annoying/immature, and the plot barely related to Tarot in any real way aside from using the names of some of the cards and suits.

That being said, the plot was pretty fun and I did enjoy the story of it. I think with a strong editor this could have been fleshed out better and something really fun could have been made, but as it stands, the writing and development still needed more work in my opinion. I would love to see improvement on some of these things in the rest of the series, and would actually read the next book to see if any of these things have been improved upon.

That being said, if you're looking for a fun storyline, and find standard romantasy books too tedious; but, instead just want to know what happens with some smut thrown in, this is the story for you!

Rating: 2.5⭐ (Rounded up)

I so badly wanted to love this book. The world-building was beautiful and I was a big fan of Kirstin’s as a teen but, unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me. It had such a great concept but the execution left me wanton. I found Hannah’s character to be unlikable, especially with her Insta-Lust. I don’t know... if I’m thrusted into a new realm, stabbed for being a “witch” then wake up in the small cottage with the same man I saw after falling through a portal to a medieval realm, I wouldn't be swooning but she seemed to have no issue. I found the plot extremely predictable. There’s so much that went unexplained or barely addressed and then other things that were heavily over-explained.

The whole scene at the end had me going “Wait... what? That’s it?”

I've been thinking a lot about how to talk about The Empress. I liked reading it, but I felt it could have been even better.

The idea behind the tarot cards was intriguing, but it wasn’t fully explored and didn’t really seem to matter much in the story. The characters felt pretty one-dimensional and didn't grow in a believable way. While the banter between them was enjoyable, it wasn't enough to make me believe they could fall in love in just a few days. They had no substantial conversations to inspire more than lust. I appreciated the friendships in the book. She makes friends and focuses on growing them and herself. More attention was put to them than the MMC. The focus on strategy, relationships, and how people see each other was a refreshing change from the usual stories about strength and bravery. However, the plot felt a bit disjointed. The main character claims she can blend in, but her modern language felt jarring.

Honestly, I think this is a decent start for a new author, which was confusing because the author is actually established. I might recommend it if you're a fan of this author, but I wouldn’t say it’s a must-read for everyone. I’m still open to reading the next book, hoping that the story and characters will grow more, as the humour and friendships were definitely enjoyable.

I'm sorry for how brutal I'm about to get.
I really, truly wanted to like this one. The blurb made it sound like a romantic adventure full of intrigue and magic. Unfortunately, the story is derivative and boring. It reads like the first draft of some fanfiction that needs good editing. The big moments are rushed while the connecting plotlines all feel incomplete and all the reveals are obvious long before they arrive.
Kane is an excellent mysterious leading man until you realize that the mystery never gets resolved. He has few lines beyond talking pretty to Hannah or trying to explain why he's keeping secrets. It feels like there is zero character growth for him.
Hannah does have character growth, but I found her predictability boring. Her story follows a set plotline that I've read before, which makes it difficult to get excited or worried about what's happening to her.
Overall, I might have just come into it with too high expectations that made it a chore to get through once they were dashed, but I did not enjoy this book.

I absolutely loved the prequel novel to the Towerfall series, so I was really excited to read The Empress! I love the concept for this series so much! All of the books will be based on the tarot, and The Empress takes place in the Kingdom of Pentacles.

Hannah was existing not living her life. She lost a promotion at work and discovers her boyfriend is unfaithful. She ends up being transported to Towerfall where she meets Kane. Kane agrees to help Hannah get back home in exchange for her help saving his kingdom.

Coming to Towerfall forced Hannah out of her shell and helped her become the person that she’s always wanted to be. Kane was dark broody and had so many secrets. I love the attraction and banter between Hannah and Kane. She tried so hard not to fall for him. I also really loved the friendship between Hannah and her hilarious friend Marion.

The series itself has a really cool vibe. It feels like a mix of romtantasy but also a bit historical. Towerfall has magick, but lacks most modern amenities especially related to technology.

While Hannah and Kane do get their HEA at the end of this book, I’m excited to explore more of the other Kingdoms!

The Empress by Kristen Cast is very much a romance story set in a fantasy setting. I absolutely love the opening of this story with the sex magic practitioner, and I kind of got a sense of where we were going for the rest of the book at that point. I do think that the romance was a bit insta-lust, which is not my favorite, however, it was ultimately a good time. I definitely would recommend this to romance readers and to folks looking for a spicy fantasy to read, thank you so much to sourcebooks for granting me access to an advanced reader copy of the Empress.

Kristin Cast’s The Empress combines time-traveling escapades, charming characters, and flirty banter in a fantasy romance that delivers humor and heat. While it leans on a few familiar tropes, the book’s rich characters and moments of magic keep it engaging from start to finish.

Hero Worship
* The humor of Hannah adjusting to a new time period felt fresh and realistic, especially with locals reacting to her phone flashlight as "magic" and branding her a witch.
* Kane’s steamy and flirty banter with Hannah added spice, making their interactions both entertaining and electric.
* Side characters like McDougall and Marion brought depth and warmth, complementing the story’s lighter and heavier moments.
* Plenty of playful and quirky moments, like Shadow the horse’s novice “mud-walking” comment, added charm.

Practice Makes Perfect
* The opening few chapters, especially the part with Chad, felt a tad predictable and less impactful as a result.
* Hannah’s persistent self-doubt often crossed into frustrating territory, making her internal struggles feel repetitive and less relatable.
* A bit more development of the world-building and historical details could have elevated the story, especially given the time-travel premise.

In the end, The Empress enchants with its humor, heart, and sizzling chemistry, offering a fun escape for fans of flirty romance and historical fantasy.

A big thanks to NetGalley, BloomBooks, and Kristin Cast for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had never read anything by this author, and didn’t know much about her at all. All that I really did know was that she recently put out a book co-written with one of my favorite romantasy authors. So I had my standards set pretty high, and got set straight early on. There were many things that I did like about the book, but there were also some things I didn’t love.

To start with, the positives and negatives of this book came in pairs. So rather than discussing the positives and negatives separately, I’m going to not separate them out. There were some Outlander vibes, especially in the beginning.

This book takes place in two settings—one in the modern-day urban setting, and the other in the tarot-inspired world of Towerfall. The story starts out in Chicago, where we discover that Hannah works for a marketing company and has some significant issues. She’s broke, despite working at a thriving company where her coworkers in the same position seem to have enough money to go out, while Hannah is just barely squeaking by, has no car, and relies on unreliable public transportation to get around, even in the freezing winter temps. I found myself wondering if she’s bad at budgeting, yet still empathizing with her. The setting of Towerfall is a whole different issue. Once she gets transported to this mysterious, dangerous, and magickal world, she seems to think it will be an opportunity for her to reinvent herself. Yet all of her flaws come to the surface really quickly, and it is a great example of how moving locations doesn’t change who you are as Hannah really struggles to work through her issues.

I was most looking forward to seeing world building relying on inspiration from tarot cards, and was probably most disappointed by this aspect of the story. While the characters represent both the Kingdom of Cups and the Kingdom of Pentacles, there isn’t a heavy emphasis on tarot as I was hoping for. Instead, there were a handful of nods towards tarot cards and their meanings, rather than a fully-realized world. Despite our character spending the majority of the story in Towerfall, the world building came slowly. Readers learn only what Hannah learns while she’s there, yet she doesn’t seem very focused on anything outside of getting back to her world, where nothing is waiting for her except work. And as we learn quickly, her work isn’t going very well.

Another thing I struggled with was Hannah herself. At first, I could empathize with where she is in life, because we’ve all felt stuck at some point. But rather than creating a fully-fleshed out character, her personality felt as though it was made up of sexual urges and constant negative self-talk, which got old fast. She puts herself down at every opportunity, always talking about her ‘frizzy hair,’ ‘slight curves,’ and how she consistently makes the decisions that blow up in her face. Yet she gets in her own way every chance she gets and doesn’t show a lot of change over the story. Spoiler alert: the only way she’s able to feign confidence is after an extreme makeover. Kane never felt fully realized to me—I’m a very visual reader, yet I struggled to even picture Kane, outside of his golden skin, black hair, and oozing sexuality. Unfortunately, we don’t get a lot of personality from him.

The banter between Kane and Hannah was one of the high notes in the book, as they have some really great interactions. Fake dating/marriage is one of my favorite tropes, but Cast fell short on the relationship development—our characters go from fighting insta-lust to just going with it, and it didn’t feel natural or believable, since they never bother to get to know each other beyond the basics, so I wasn’t fully behind the pairing. As far as the spice, this is a high-heat story with wonderfully written scenes of our characters hooking up. I can’t exactly call them scenes of intimacy because it’s just physical, but somehow they’ve both gotten feelings involved. Instead, Hannah’s insecurities and unresolved issues just keep popping up, with no real resolution of these things. I get that this is a first book in a series and will be setting up a lot of the story for further books, but this read like YA more than anything. I learned afterwards that the author has written other books in the YA range, yet the adult characters often behaved like teenagers, with the same amount of thought before their actions.

“Maybe the Hannah in Towerfall is closer to who I really am. Or at least who I want to be.”

Overall, this book wound up being an okay read, but nothing special for me. All of the basic factors that I adore were in this book—portal fantasy, elements of tarot, and fake dating, but it never overcame the shortcomings that made it hard for me to really like this book. I much prefer seeing growth over the course of a story, watching characters change and improve themselves, and getting to know women who are strong, smart, and confident, while this book really didn’t offer any aspects of that. I think that the book will most likely appeal to readers who are already fans of Kristin Cast, those who like YA fantasy, people who enjoy slower-paced fantasy, and don’t mind a scene involving a pomegranate being used in a way that it isn’t meant to be used.

“Do something unexpected… Don’t let who you think you’re supposed to be stop you from being who you’re meant to be. Surprise yourself!”

This story was a fun trip through worlds, following Hannah as she falls through a portal from our world to a world of magick that looks like a Renaissance Faire come to life. On a spiritual journey to find her path in life, Hannah has her tarot cards read - the weird interaction with the reader starts a chain reaction of events that pitches Hannah into an adventure to another realm that she is destined to save, despite her insistence that fate made a mistake. She is saved by the broody Kane, the man compelled to protect her as she navigates the weird new world.

I loved Kane - he seriously gives sexy strong protector vibes, and his use of “good girl” was… well yeah we all know how effective those two words are haha. I had a few issues with Hannah and her complete inability until the very end to comprehend the real situation she was in. I know the feeling of not being good enough, and I’ve never been pitched into another realm, but surely at some point survival kicks in (especially for someone that lives in survival mode in her real life). That being said, I could relate to her RL predicament and the way she reacted to Kane was hilariously relatable. She was enjoyable to read and I loved her interactions with Marion and how she immersed herself into the world by the end, loving her new, exciting life.

As a whole, I loved the story, the adventure and the tarot references. I’d 100% read a follow on - whoever that follows. I loved the world and characters built by Kristin.

Thank you Kristin for giving me the opportunity to read and review your gorgeous story.

I expected to enjoy this better because I loved the House of Night. It just fell short for me. Though, it could be a perfect fit for readers who crave a spellbinding, high-heat romance with a strong fantasy element, particularly those who enjoy magical worlds, enemies-to-lovers tropes, and morally complex, swoon-worthy heroes.