Hannah's life isn't going like she wants it to. She's losing opportunities at work, her boyfriend doesn't see eye-to-eye with her, and she doesn't talk to her family as much as they'd like her to. However, after visiting a tarot shop after a particularly difficult day, Hannah discovers those problems are nothing compared to getting magically transported to another world. But hey, at least there's a broody, sexy knight to help her figure things out...

Okay, I might have been a bit generous with the 3 star rating. Kane is hot, but generic in this world of morally grey/grumpy love interests. He might as well have discovered his mastery over shadows. He wasn't as mean to Hannah as most of the "book boyfriends" are, so that's a check in the positive category.
Speaking of Hannah, I was not a fan. She reads a lot younger than she is (I don't remember if her age was brought up, but she's obviously graduated college and is working in corporate America) and felt very immature. At every turn, she fought against what Kane and everyone else suggested she do in order to fit in. She constantly spoke without thinking and was doing nothing to stay safe. I'm sorry, but if I ever find myself in a magical kingdom in another world, I'm keeping my mouth shut and quietly planning my escape.
The side characters did their job at pushing the story along. It's the antagonists I didn't get. Ivy was really only there to mirror Hannah's issues in her world. And Four, he gave nothing! There was little to no background, there wasn't really interaction between him and Hannah until the end. There was no lead up, no second act confrontation. It just didn't feel like he was a fully developed character.
This book fell a bit flat for me, and according to a friend who is very into tarot, "The cards representing Hannah and Four weren't the best picks. Also, why didn't the other characters have card representation?"

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the eARC! Projected publishing date: January 7th, 2025

"I can't find a balance between who I am and who I'm supposed to be. Honestly, I've never gotten the balance right. I'm always too much of myself or too much of someone"

Aside from having one of the most gorgeous covers I have ever seen, it was an absolute delight to be back in the world of Kristin Cast's writing again! Overall I enjoyed myself with each page, there were just a handful of things that added up that didn't make it a five star read for me--end result being a 3.5 in my mind. Loved the idea, the world building, the magic(k) system, and the characters-- it was just I wish we had a bit MORE of said characters. There were a lot that made it hard to keep track of, and in turn, I feel we didn't get the full DEPTH of them and even with that, I feel like Hannah could have done a bit more to blend in initially. Now, this is COMPLETELY a me thing... nicknames. I am not a fan of nicknames and when they are used as constant as they were in this book, it irks me.
All that to say, I did enjoy it and felt heartache and break in all the places Kristin planned us to feel it. Whew! Tears were in my eyes and I was about to call my therapist. Thank you to those who approved me to read this book and I cannot wait to read more from Kristin in this series.

A mix of tarot, magic, and historical romance? Sign me up. The Empress is based on a tarot card that magically transports Hannah to Towerfell, destined to save Pentacles (not just the pagan symbol, nor the suit of tarot cards, but the kingdom). She's been sort of floating through our world - not easily, mind you, but just generally going with the flow and not looking for a challenge. A bad pitch at work, a boyfriend named Chad, and inadvertently being a peeping tom of a sex magic ritual all leads her to eventually finding this card which transports her into a room with Kane. As per what you'd expect from any good regency romance, he's dark and brooding and well muscled and is also trying to keep her from getting them both killed.

I enjoyed the premise of this book even if it felt a little contrived at times. I feel like it could have been a bit longer to develop some of the characters a bit more but overall it was a fun read. If you aren't a fan of Regency romance, magic, or a bit of smut, this might not be 100% your jam, but consider checking it out anyway. It was a quick read. Thanks to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy!

Fantasy book that is tarot card inspired first book about Hannah who is stuck in a life in Chicago that she’s just not happy with in any level. When she acquires a mystery tarot card her whole life is turned upside down. Hannah is thrown into a different realm where the handsome Kane saves her life over and over again. Hannah’s sole goal is to return home while Kane wants to save his kingdom and best friend the king who doesn’t seem like himself after banishing Kane from court. This was a fun read that was a super fun unique story. I really hope there is a follow up book to add to the adventures and characters started in this first book!

Amazing book I remember reading PC case when I was in school. Kristen cast is pretty awesome. Thank you for letting me read this. It was very well written book.

I loved this book. I wasn't sure how I felt about the first couple chapters and I can't put into words why, but once I got a few chapters in I was invested. The writing makes you feel like you are there in Pentacles and seeing what the characters are seeing. The descriptions are detailed without being too much. I can't wait until the next book!

This was not a favorite for me. The FMC seemed a bit immature and more along the YA realm than adult romantasy.
The cover was beautiful and the blurb sold me, but the book sort of let me down. I expected a book about a FMC that enters a tarot-inspired magic kingdom. It fell short of that.

I often want to finish a series, regardless how I feel about the first book, but this isn’t the case here. I wasn’t a fan and will not be continuing the series.

Thank you to Bloom Books for providing this book for review via NetGalley.

This one just wasn't for me. The cover is stunning and the premise very intriguing. Perhaps it was just my headspace and I will revisit later.

DNF at 30%

This book is just not for me and I did not want to keep reading. I didn't connect with the writing style and I found the FMC to be very juvenile. This book is meant to be an adult romantasy, but the FMC comes off immature and I would say her inner dialogue and decisions lean much more towards young YA. I know that this author’s previous works were YA and I think a lot of that leaked into this novel.

I was very excited to read this when I read the blurb which led me to expect an adult romantasy book where the FMC is swept away from the real world to a magical tarot-inspired magick kingdom. I love this premise and what the author was going for, but I do not think it was executed well. The plot and dialogue is very surface level and not very fleshed out. The characters, especially the FMC, come off cringy and unlikable. I was also a bit put off by the amount of trendy romantasy tropes/details I felt the author was trying to cram into her writing. Overall, I am not a fan of this book and I will not be finishing the book or the series.

Thank you to Bloom Books for providing this book for review via NetGalley.

I have been reading from the Cast family for decades and Kristin writing alone by herself is just as fabulous as writing with her mother! I love this family of writers and their energy. Their books never disappoint!

1.5 stars

It’s not often that a book accidentally makes me mad. Unfortunately, <i>The Empress</i> made me mad through a series of poorly used tropes, confusing misogyny and feminism, and a main character who needed a couple more brain cells.

My first issue was the contradiction of the main character. She starts out failing at a massive presentation and then seems to be shocked when failing at your job has consequences. After receiving a magical tarot card, she gets transported to a poorly defined fantasy kingdom where she immediately falls in love with her rescuer who just happens to be a hot banished knight. Rather than adapt to her new situation, she proceeds to complain. Constantly. It doesn’t matter that people are literally starving around her; she misses her life in Chicago—the same life that she actively despises and complains about.

The main love interest was a shadow of a character. I could tell you that he was dark and broody and had really nice abs. Do I know his backstory or his emotional depth or his personality? Nope. Those things didn’t seem to matter, so they weren’t included in the story. He also wasn’t romantic. All he did was tell the main character that he would protect her and that she was pretty a couple of times. I didn’t believe they were in love (or even in lust). What I was supposed to believe about the love interest is that he magically made the main female character more self-confident by rescuing her a bunch, calling her a girl, and having mediocre sex with her (obviously all the things women need to feel empowered).

This book was an odd combination of misogynistic and feminist. It only took 200 pages for the main character to learn the valuable lesson that misogyny is indeed bad. She had this brilliant realization after dissing other women and almost getting sexually assaulted (which was massively glossed over because apparently her attacker having a submission kink means consent is irrelevant). Despite the sexual violence she encountered, she still managed to hate the other woman who happened to be good at their jobs, therefore making them evil monsters. Once she became a feminist, she was super radical and went as far as to say that women have value beyond their romantic partners (gasp).

Beyond the weird preaching/problematic gender role commentary, the side characters in this novel also sucked. We had the evil ex named Chad, the minority best friend who had to be taught to love herself, the crazy other woman who happened to be just too pretty, the brooding love interest who did the bare minimum, and the main character who was mousy until the love interest “discovered” her beauty. I thought we left those tropes back in the early 2010s, but apparently not.

As for the plot, the main characters witness the brutal murder of foreign dignitaries and decide that the best plan is to be the brutally murdered people (but don’t worry, that never seems to have real consequences because collateral damage doesn’t exist in this world) and sneak into the hostile palace. Part of the wonders of fantasy romance is fantasy. To me, that means swords and masquerades and complex politics, and large-scale conflict. You won’t find any of that here. Instead, get excited to read about a woman failing in the corporate world, so she gets transported to a fantastical world where she can fail at saving the kingdom, but it’s fine because she is randomly the chosen one and the love interest can see how “special” she is.

I know this review is harsh. I recognize that I probably would have enjoyed this book more if I had been a young teenager who hadn’t read extensively in the genre. I would’ve also liked it more if I wasn’t coming at it from a critical angle. At least the cover is gorgeous?

I really liked the book. It was written really well! I loved and routed for the hero and the heroine of this story.

Thank you NetGalley and SCOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for giving me early access to this book! All opinions are my own.

I’ve been a longtime fan of P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast since I first stumbled across the House of Night series in 2007, but this is my first time reading a book that Kristin Cast has written herself. While this is very different from those, I had a really fun time with this! My biggest complaint normally about their books is how juvenile the main characters seem to be, but I felt like the character of Hannah was pretty on par for a 20-something year old. Yes she was immature, but she grew as the story progressed, and her character growth made sense. I think my only complaint about this book was actually the epilogue and the chapter before…it felt like the ending came out of left field, and was a disappointment. But, overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book! 4⭐️

oh i absolutely ate this up. from the get-go, i loved the writing, as it was very diaristic teenage girl (although she certainly is NOT), and from there i was fully entertained with her theatrics beginning to end. the plot was so interesting and the romance- a lil open door moment, mind you- really topped it off. i cant wait to see where this series goes!

3.5⭐️
Thank you Netgalley and Bloom Books for a copy.
The Empress is a fantasy and romance that transforms us to a world based on Tarot. Which I found very intriguing! An action packed story full of adventure, magic, found family, different realms and spice. 🔥
I did have some issues such as the characters are supposed to be adults but they acted very YA. Also some questions that were not answered. But I still enjoyed this book and I’m hoping there will be more to this series!

I DNF this at 33%. I flew through the first quarter of this book. The FMC did bother me. She seems very juvenile for an adult romance book and her decisions really annoyed me. But I was enjoying the vibes. The further I got the further I didn’t want to pick it up when I put it down. The overall premise is such a cool idea, but the execution just isn’t there. The FMC needs to act her age (I don’t know if it’s because the author has written mainly YA?) and her dialogue really was off putting too.

I loved this book, It's my first book by Kristin and it won't be my last!
I think the pacing was great and it wasn't dragging on

Overall, a fun start to a new series. Hannah, the female main character did take some time for me to warm up to. I enjoyed her character a lot more once we were firmly in Towerfall and out of the real world environment. One thing I wanted to see more of was the magick in the book. A little information is given and certain types or styles are mentioned but I wanted it to be fleshed out a little more, but that may be coming in future books.
I received an arc through Netgalley and all opinions are my own.

This was a new to me author and I'm not sure if I'd pick up another. It felt underwhelming and the characters fell flat. This was a miss for me all around. It just didn't fit the blurb that was given and the writing needs more work.

This book started off so fun and had a great premise. I also have previously enjoyed the author's older works, so I thought this would be a no-brainer. However, I believe due to the length of the book (or perhaps it was the pacing, as I'm not sure if this book was shorter than a regular novel), the plot, character development, and romance felt way too fast paced. As such, it was difficult for me to enjoy the unfolding of the storyline as I felt like pieces were missing and we were just hitting bullet points on a list.

The main character also struck me as odd- it was difficult to root for her when her line of thinking felt very erratic and not yet fleshed out.

I'm certain that if the book was given more time to breathe, it would've gained another star from me.