I started it and immediately got icked by the cringy writing and the romance unfolding. After skimming through it, I realize that unfortunately it does not live up to the premise that had sounded so good :(

I loved this book!!!
I don't wish to spoil the story but this was a fun read. Fast-paced, instant attraction, understandable conflict for our MFC Fawn's personal and MMC Kane. The world was built in such a way that I could see the various rooms and terrain. I enjoyed the banter between Fawn and Kane, I laughed out loud a few times, and I could also appreciate the transformation that took place within the MFC. She began the story crashing out in life, was pulled into this magical world, and eventually gained an understanding of who she was and the power that she held within herself.
The expected spice was nice. It was not cringy and overdone, I appreciated that.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fun romantasy. I would love to read more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books | Bloom Books, and Kristin Cast for providing me with the ARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review without coercion.

This tarot-inspired romantasy features a fake marriage with a brooding MMC, offering a fun and light-hearted escape perfect for cozy winter nights. The author does a great job bringing the setting to life, although I did find myself wishing for a bit more world-building to really get into the story.
Hannah and Kane share undeniable chemistry from the start, but the romance lacked depth—I didn't feel like there was a romantic spark between the characters beyond physical attraction. Kane's personality boiled down to being broody and I wanted more from the MMC in terms of learning about him individually.
The book really leaned towards a light-hearted fantasy rom-com, which might appeal to readers looking for something breezy and fun rather than deeply intricate. While I didn't feel like the couple had spark, I did enjoy their banter and quick responses to each other and those around them.

Thank you Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for sending me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book was a breath of fresh air and so different from everyone else. I will be reading more from this author. 10 stars. I am truly addicted.

Thanks to NetGalley & Sourcebooks Bloom Books for providing me an e-ARC!

**1 star** As a lover of the House of Night series back when I was in middle school, I was super excited to hear that Kristin Cast is coming out with a new book. But this one unfortunately was not an enjoyable read for me that I had to dnf at 44%.

We follow our protagonist, Hannah, a 20-something year old living her very mundane life as a wallflower. While she preps for an important business pitch, Hannah visits a tarot card reader and is quickly kicked out after her reading. Shortly after, she finds herself a tarot card in the snow and is thrust upon a “ye-olden day” world where she meets the mysterious Kane. Together, they find a way to get Hannah back in her world.

When I first read the book description, it sounded right up my alley. Tarot cards set in a fantastical, Outlander-esque world sound fantastic but I could not get on board with this book. The writing style would have perhaps appealed to me if I was still in middle school but to read about a woman in her 20’s, and have it be written very YA, was very difficult for me to read. There was no emotional depth to these characters, no attention was paid towards the atmosphere and surroundings which was a missed opportunity. With Hannah constantly referring to her new world as “ye-olden days”, there was no distinction between the past and modern speech.

Though this was a dnf for me, this could appeal to a younger audience. It would help if the characters are aged down and it was marketed towards the younger generation.

This might need to be a part of your life if you enjoy books with magic, quirky FMC, broody MMC, banter, court intrigue and fake marriage
When I first saw this book I was unbelievably excited. Any book about Tarot card and I am immediately running, no questions asked. The beginning started out funny, with lots of relatable moments from the FMC that I found myself saying “yes, me too girl, me too” and laughing along to her misadventures. It was an entertaining book, funny, the story was good and moved at a good pace, but in the end it wasn’t fully for me. I think I expected more magic and less of a romance feel to it, and maybe I just wasn't in the right mindset for it, but I can guarantee it will be a good read for so many people. I expect that this would be a good book for a reader who was just getting into the romantasy world.

I wanted to like this and was immediately intrigued by a tarot based magic system. I’m not normally a fan of portal fantasy but thought the fake marriage enemies to lovers and tarot aspects would work. It turned out not to be for me. The FMC didn’t come off as overwhelmed by finding herself in a new world, just immature. Maybe it’s just my specific tastes, but this will likely be a perfect read for someone else.

3.5 ⭐

Reading this book brought back so much nostalgia for why I enjoy Kristin Cast's writing. The way she writes about women and having us follow along as they go on the path to reclaiming their power and finding their strengths, has always drawn me to her books.

While The Empress might not hit for all romantasy readers, I enjoyed reading this book and am curious to see what happens next in the Towerfall series. If you like morally grey love interests, flirtatious banter, spice, and tarot inspired themes, then this book might be for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the ST/ARC team for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I was very excited for this book as I was a huge House of Night fan as a teen. I went in expecting more mature characters and adult story lines.
The actual story is very interesting, but the "isekai" genre is so extremely overdone in other media, it's not exactly exciting when it bleeds into other media.
The characters felt more like they are in a soap opera with their reactions. The spice felt like it was a poorly written fan fiction.
Overall it was interesting, I just wish the characters were a bit more mature.

A tarot inspired romantasy with a fake marriage to a broody MMC. This story is a fun, easy, and lighter read that allows the reader to enjoy a cozy night this winter. The author did a wonderful job with describing the scenery though I did wish there was a little more world building. Overall, this was an intriguing story and I am looking forward to reading more by Kristin Cast.

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres. This book is a fast paced romantasy . It has a lot of cutesy romance, some spice.
Welcome to The Empress where tarot cards come alive.
Hannah and Kane have chemistry from the get go. I would have liked to see the tarot cards more accurately represented though.

The Empress follows the epic journey of Hannah and Kane.
Poor, desperate Hannah has nothing going for her in her modern life. Until she comes across a tarot card that changes everything.
Thrust into a time of Kingdoms and Knights she must battle her way back to the palace to find the tarot card that will take her home.
Or so she hopes.

Tall, dark, and mysterious Kane is on a mission to banish the rot from the Kingdom he has sworn to protect. With Shadow by his side, he is an unstoppable force.

This was a beautifully written tale of self discovery and finding home.
Hannah is such a relatable character for anyone that feels lost and unsure what to do in life, myself included. Watching her go from nothing to a literal Queen was so beautiful and empowering.
I very much enjoyed this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Bloom Books, and Ms. Cast for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

Book: it wasn't you, it was me. Okay, maybe it was you. It might have been both of us, to be honest.

I watched Ms. Cast talk about her book in a panel during Library Journal Day of Dialog and I was intrigued. A fantasy romance involving tarot? Sign me UP. Then I pulled it up on Goodreads and fell in love; that cover is gorgeous. And the blurb calls it Scarlett St. Clair crossed with Outlander? swoon.

Unfortunately it was all downhill (for me) from there. Hannah, the female main character, is one of the most repellent characters I have ever come across. A complete sad-sack, she is incompetent, immature, whiny, lazy, and completely terrible at adulting. She is absolutely unable to do her job and equally unable to understand why she isn't advancing at work. Her self-monologuing is relentless, cringeworthy, and annoying. I really don't like characters who talk to themselves constantly. When she crosses through the portal into the tarot realm, she makes just about every stupid decision she possibly can. When told to be quiet, she screams. Her sole concern is her phone. I thought it was meant to be some sort of sly social commentary on phone dependency but... no, she just really loves her phone. The connection between Hannah and Kane is mystifying. I couldn't understand how it started or why it continued. Honestly I didn't particularly care because Hannah was SO annoying as to be borderline physically painful to read.

I had to force myself to keep reading this. There was very little tarot comparatively to what I had expected or what the description portrayed. Frankly I think the entire tarot-based fantasy concept has a lot of promise but the execution was underbaked. I hate to give a book, especially an ARC, a negative rating, but in all honesty I did not enjoy it.

Hannah is transported to the tarot world Towerfall after finding a tarot card. She is saved by Kane who can use magic and helps her. They pretend to be married but she starts falling for him...

Love the romance. It's swoony and magical. :) Like Hannah and Kane together. Love their chemistry. Their banter is terrific.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

After finding the Empress card of the Tarot in the snow, Hannah is instantly transported to the world of Towerfall. Nearly killed upon arrival, Kane saves her life and nursed her back to health. She isn't sure if he can be trusted, but must convince the Kingdom of Pentacles that they are married. It's her best chance to get to the palace and into her own world. There are many things wrong with Towerfall, but if anyone finds out that the marriage isn't real, both will be killed.

This is the first book in the new series Towerfall, mixing the Tarot with portal fantasy romance. Hannah has been down on herself and her luck for a while. Her major presentation tanks, coworkers make fun of her, and her boyfriend wants someone more put together than she is. She stumbles through the portal into Towerfall, and she has no idea what's happening around her. She is even mistaken fir a witch due to trying to get her cell phone to connect to nonexistent Wi-Fi. Kane rescues her and nurses her back to health, sure the Empress brought her to Towerfall to cure the rot in his world. The king has shut down the palace on the advice of his advisor, only opening it up to petition every six months. Hannah doesn't want to wait for the next opportunity, so she proposes taking over the identity of slain ambassadors. It would set off a war between kingdoms if she and Kane are discovered, setting up the proximity and tension keeping them together.

Kane is the brooding loner type of hero in comparison to Hannah's nervous and chatty heroine. This gives him a commanding air, even with the innuendo and inevitable bedroom play. Hannah's into it, not to worry, and he backs off whenever she says no. We see the politicking that the nobles do, how unhappy the common people are, and the menace of the King's advisor, Four. In acting as an ambassador's wife, Hannah takes on a little more responsibility and sticks up for herself; it doesn't always work in this realm, but I liked seeing her begin to grow. When she begins to make her own decisions toward the end, there's still danger to contend with. I liked how it all came together for her happily ever after, even if it was a bit contrived.

When your life is falling apart and you suddenly find yourself being dropped into a magical Tarot world where people are trying to kill you and the Tarots are real... and the only person who can help you is the hot brooding guy that you'll have to be in a fake marriage with, finding a way home is definitely going to be complicated. Hannah's life is a mess, from failing at her job to catching her boyfriend cheating on her. Yet when she finds herself thrown into Towerfall, a magical world where the Tarots are real and people are trying to kill her, she meets Kane, a mysterious and handsome man with his own secrets and quest. The only way to survive is to find her tarot card as it acts as a key back to her world and to enter into a fake marriage with Kane to try and trick the Kingom of Pentacles and get access into the palace. Hannah and Kane are drawn together but his own secrets and agenda might tear them apart when she finds out why he approached her in the first place... can Hannah survive this deadly world or will she end up losing her heart and her life? This is the first book in a series and when I tell you this book was nearly unreadable... I struggled so much with this book. This is the first book written by the author by herself as she had previously cowritten a more popular series (house of night) and I was so excited to try this but 2 chapters in and I was struggling. Hannah is not a likable character and reading this book felt so out of place, it never really hooks you and the romance doesn't exactly feel like a romance, there is no depth, there is no real chemistry, in fact Kane's entire personality summed up is : brooding and loves asking Hannah if she's his good girl. I swear to god, this book had me nearly DNF-ing so many times. I can't say I'll be continuing on with the series but I would say this, if you like modern day fantasy romance and want something extremely easy to read, give this a try.

Release Date: January 7 ,2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books | Bloom Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

The Empress is a tarot inspired Romantasy. After Hannah gets a tarot reading, she is given a blank card from the stranger. This card is her passage to Towerfell, a medieval kingdom. Once in Towerfell, she is saved by a handsome brooding Kane.
✨tarot inspired Romantasy
✨fake dating
✨flirty banter
✨time travel
✨morally grey MMC
.
I thought this was a fun lighthearted Romantasy with funny adventures and great banter.

Thank you netgalley and bloom books for the opportunity to read and rate this book!

The Empress is book one in the Towerfall series by Kristin Cast.
A wonderfully written tarot-inspired fantasy series. A new seductive series world of Towerfall, starting with The Empress, a high-heat, fake marriage romantasy with a swoon-worthy, morally-gray love interest.
This book was completely spellbinding.
A truly wonderful book, excellently written with a lot of details. It moves along very quickly, keeping me completely engrossed in the story.

Thank You NetGalley and Bloom Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

3.75/5

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloom Books for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I recommend this book for anyone who's looking for a light, cozy, funny romantasy.

I give this book a 3.75/5 because I did enjoy the descriptive writing style and the premise had potential. It was a mix of contemporary and mainly a cozy historical romantasy. I thought the setting was good, I definitely could picture it because of the descriptions of what era it should portray.

I unfortunately could relate to the FMC's inner thoughts and feelings of adulting and finding yourself lol but the romance was too insta-lovey for me and I had issues with the pacing of the FMC's relationships with the other characters.

Because of these cons, I think the book could've benefited in being longer so it can have time to world build and give the characters proper backgrounds cos I honestly don't feel anything for the rest of the characters. And the ending was too predictable. But I think this book was meant to be a cozy light romantasy so I'm just hoping for too much lol

"He's a ruthless, battle-scarred warrior with a dark past, and she's stuck pretending to be his wife to save a fantasy kingdom.

From New York Times bestselling author Kristin Cast comes a new tarot-inspired fantasy series. Scarlett St. Clair meets Outlander in the seductive and spellbinding world of Towerfall, starting with The Empress, a high-heat, fake marriage romantasy with a swoon-worthy, morally-gray love interest.

The Arcana aren't just figures in a tarot deck - they're real. Terrifyingly real. That's what I learned when I found a tarot card in the snow and was yanked from my world and into Towerfall. The first thing the people of this harsh, cruel realm did was try to kill me, and they probably would have succeeded if Kane hadn't taken me to his hideout in the woods and nursed me back to health.

I don't know if I can trust him. He's too hot to be good news, he's definitely hiding secrets, and I've already seen him kill two people to protect me. If I hadn't just been helplessly dumped into his world, the blood on his sword and his dark, brooding mood would have me running in the opposite direction.

But right now, convincing the Kingdom of Pentacles that Kane and I are married is my best chance of getting into the palace, and back to my own world.

Because there's something wrong with Towerfall. Something deeply, deadly wrong. And if anyone finds out Kane and I aren't really husband and wife?

Well, then both of us are dead."

A book a recently read did a bait and switch with being tarot themed. Thankfully this isn't the case here.