Big thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC copy of "A Crimson Covenant". This has not affected my review at all, which are my own thoughts.

Concord, a hidden city inhabited by werewolves and vampires that have managed to live in secret and harmony for centuries, pairing young heirs of the founding houses to train together, complementing each other and to contribute to the peaceful live everybody there benefits from. An ideal life, except for some of them.

Arché, lycan heir to the Warden Clan, is beginning to resent her best friend and fighting partner, a secret that is eating her alive little by little and can't never be spoken aloud.
Lenora, vampiric heir to the House of the Arcane, is struggling with the expectations of a destiny she never wanted. Not to mention the excruciating pain of being in love with her fighting partner and friend, Nicos, who is already in love with someone else.

All of this stops mattering when Concord is attacked by violent, vindictive cultists. Lots of people get hurt, some even killed, but most of them trapped and prepared to be transported somewhere else. Most except Lenora and Arché who, grieving, partnerless and on the run, will have to leave their animosity and differences aside if they want to figure who and why would attack their home and if they want to save it and their people.

I loved this one! It is the first book that I read of Aimee Donnellan, though she has a series of shorter books already out, but I found her through "A Crimson Covenant". I saw the book at NetGalley, it caught my attention and here we are. All this to say that I'm declaring myself a fan of A.D's books from now on. Why? Well, a bit of everything.

First, the world. Donnellan has crafted an amazing world in this book, vivid and full of detail. First, with Concord, a hidden city were werewolves and vampires and common humans live peacefully within their own rules and routines, with magic and training be the most important part of our protagonist, alongside their families. Because the founding houses take care of concord from their position of power, which makes them the protectors and the guides of all of Concord inhabitants. We spent little time in Concord before the attack, so I hope we get to see more of it in the next book of the series, 'cause I'm intrigued.

And second, with the rest of the world that's outside of Concord and that our protagonists barely know, since they were born and raise in Concord an never went out. So, we learn the world alongside them, the good, the bad, the middle ground; how people actually view werewolves and vampires, not liking them a bit, and how some may be as indifferent as in Concord when finding out who Arché and Lenora really are. They make friends and enemies alike and go lots of ways to find truths, saved their people and claim forgotten powers.

On one hand, we have Arché, heir to one of the founding houses, shouldering lots of responsibility and bearing heavy secrets that she can never mutter for risk of everyone finding her a horrible person. Which she is not, actually, but her anxiety will not let her see it (relatable). She must be perfect, always in control and keep everybody save. As said, a lot of responsibility for someone so young. An example of how anxiety (and all these things) can affect anybody no matter how parents try to do it correctly (whether they manage or not). But, like Lenora, she won't stop until she saves her loved ones and makes amends with the friends she lost and the ones she will gain in this adventure. I also loved how her weapon of choice was a shield, not the usual type you'll see in protagonist in fantasy these days.

On the other hand, Lenora is the perfect example of a character with shadow magic done correct. She doesn't want those powers, but she is working hard to learn how to use them to help her people, no matter how "cursed" some of them say she is. But, those powers keep secrets that she'll have to unravel if she wants them to be of use. And that is why I say she is the perfect example, because while dangerous if not trained, the magic per se isn't bad (nor good) and it all depends on Lenora. And, having those powers, doesn't make her a bad person. All to say that having shadow powers is just a feature of the character (like their hair color, for example) and their personality doesn't have to be affected by them. Lenora is a lot of things, and while she struggles with life no matter her being one of the founding houses' heirs, she is never shamed by Arché for that.
All this to say that I loved Lenora's character, her resilience against life trying to bring her down, and her way of navigating the adventure, a world new to her and the loss of her loved ones.

The secondary characters, specifically the ones that join the girls in their quest, were amazing too. Well develop, with lives and motivations of their own, they felt rather real. They also provided a humorous touch that made me enjoy this book immensely. More over when Lenora and Arché have to lie about Arché feeding blood to Lenora and make up the excuse that they were together way before they actually got together, which generated awkward bur hilarious moments. I want to give an honorary mention to Arché's parent, an archeologist and studious of magic that add an incredible touch to the story; probably my favorite character of them all, so I hope they make more appearances in next books.

Finally, because nothing can be perfect in this life, I feel like this book dragged a bit in the middle, repeating the dynamics between Arché and Lenora a bit too much to emphasize some points. And, while it helped to create tension between the characters, it was a bit overdone for my taste. Also, and this is totally base on my personal taste and opinion and it doesn't make the book good nor bad, Lenora's character. She isn't as experience in sex as Arché (or other characters) due to her personality and being demisexual (I can't remember at the moment if the author confirmed it, but that's the impression she gives me), and so this fact bleeds into how she experiences the sexual aspects of life. And yet, the moment she finally starts getting closer to Arché, and they develop that intimate bond and Lenora sees her as a potential love interest ans object of her sexual desires, it all happened a bit too much for me, because it didn't feel as realistic within Lenora's character (for me, again, this is quite personal) to go that far with Arché that fast into all the sex they have on the page.
The chemistry was there, they spend lots of time together, get to know each other, get emotionally close, help each other when needed, etc, making a very healthy relationship full of trust and communication, something rare in romances these days and that should be more usual, really. There was tension, I was expecting the moment the finally talk about it, show their feelings and confess and could get together. Yet, when it came time for the sex and get physical after so much build up, it went a bit too fast for me. They kept communicating and making sure they were both comfortable (very important too) but they didn't stumble, nor was Lenora shy or doubted a bit.
I'm not sure if I'm making any sense😅 My point is that, for all the talk that Lenora has about her avoidant personality, not being that favorable towards sex and preferring a more emotional bond, she quickly goes overboard with whatever Arché proposes and being all active. And I'm not saying is back for her to want to have sex with someone she trust as Arché, of course not, just that I expected it to develop slow, like their emotional bond and relationship. That's all.

Anyway, that was quite the rant in the end, my bad. But I hope you enjoyed it and i manage to convince you to read "A Crimson Covenant". Perfect for fans of fantasy adventures with magic and pages full of tension and danger. I can't wait for book two, I need to know what happens next!

I love a good werewolf / vampire romance, and to make is sapphic was just a cherry on top!

So the thing that I really appreciated about this is the way that Arche and Lenora are so strong and messy and complicated and drowning in imposter syndrome. There is a beautiful pining, acceptance and growing together that is deeply romantic. Romances sometimes give you The Strong One and the The One That Needs Saving, and what I really appreciated was the way these roles swapped as each person takes turn getting the support that they need and then giving it in turn. This is what I look for in romance, I want to see people who clearly become the best version of themselves when they find their person.

DNF at 44%.

I really wanted to like this one, and there is definitely a lot of very steamy pining, but the pacing of the story just made it really difficult to get into. There is a lot of descriptive narration of the story and not a lot of action so I just kept falling asleep while trying ot get through it.

I may come back to this at a later point, but for now I am going to set this aside.

A super well paced sapphic romance with werewolves and vampires, set in an intricately imagined world with all the twists and turns you could hope for.
Sign me up for a series!!!!!!! Loved it so much!!

Thanks to Aimee Donnellan and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for my review.

Admittedly it took me a bit to get hooked on this, the first couple chapters just felt hectic enough where I couldn't get a foothold. But once I started getting into the story I fell in love with the world. I loved the unique twists on werewolves and vampires and their relationships to one another. Arche and Lenora are basically heirs apparent to their powerful families and forced to work together after their home is attacked and many of their loved ones slaughtered. This isn't enemies-to-lovers, more like begrudging partners-to-lovers. They both have a lot of baggage, but find that a lot of it is similar and a lot easier to deal with, with someone else. Looking forward to the next book, either in this series or just whatever the author puts out next.

This book was my first by Aimee Donnellan, and I was excited because the blurb sounded very interesting. Unfortunately I just wasn’t able to get into the story. I found the world building very confusing and the story just didn’t hold my attention. I would try another book by this author because the writing has promise, I just couldn’t get into this one.

This was such a lovely read to me.
It took me a little longer to finish, because life got unexpectedly busy, but when I did catch a moment for myself I gladly opened my ereader to read a chapter or two. Definitely buying myself a copy 🩷

It is an enthralling fantasy novel that masterfully intertwines themes of magic, betrayal, and moral complexity. The story is set against a backdrop of a richly imagined world where ancient covenants dictate the fates of various factions, creating a palpable tension throughout the narrative.
The author excels in crafting a diverse cast of characters, each with their own distinct motivations and arcs. Protagonists grapple with their loyalties, facing difficult choices that challenge their values and relationships. The depth of character development is one of the book’s standout features; readers will find themselves emotionally invested in their journeys, cheering for their triumphs and mourning their losses.
The plot is intricately woven, with multi-layered conflicts that keep the reader guessing. There are unexpected twists and turns that heighten the suspense, making it difficult to put the book down. The pacing is well-balanced, allowing for moments of high tension and reflection, which enrich the overall experience. The author’s ability to build suspense, paired with lyrical prose, creates immersive scenes that transport readers into the heart of the story. Fans of the genre will undoubtedly find themselves eagerly awaiting the next installment, and this book comes highly recommended for its captivating and unforgettable narrative.

Oh I loved this book! It took me some time to get into this book - but only because I was distracted from reading this at first. I can't wait to read what's next and other books from this author. I loved the way depression and anxiety were depicted, and how the characters grew over time in this book!

Vampires and werewolves with mental health rep and a sapphic love story.

I loved this book. I read it in less than two days and will be waiting for the next one in the series because I loved the dynamics of the characters and the whole queer normative thing that was going on.

Arche and Lenora are sent out into the big wide world after their home is attacked. Their secret home which was founded by Werewolves and Vampires. Both are powerful Heirs to the ruling Houses and both are struggling with living up to expectations. Along the way they meet others who will help them in their quest to save their people as well as finding out that maybe working together isn't so bad.

I enjoyed the battles and the way the magic system worked. Different types of magic were mentioned that I'm hoping will be explored in future books. It could potentially be almost a standalone as even though there are some unanswered questions there is a good wrapping up of a lot of the storylines.

If you like vampires, werewolves and magic with battles and some sexy times thrown in I'd definitely recommend this one for you.

Do you want to read a wholesome, lighthearted, queer vampire/werewolf romantasy? Well this is exactly that! I enjoyed reading it, it was on the whole very cutesy and lovely, whilst still having a full on fantasy plot which was fun. However, there are definitely some things I think could have been improved on. Don’t be put off as my dislikes may differ from yours!

Quick summary:

This story follows Lenora and Arché who are heirs to two of the founding houses, vampire and werewolf, of a town called Concord. In the beginning of the book, Concord is invaded and the whole town is captured, apart from Lenora and Arché who manage to escape. The plot follows the two as they try and find help and save their captured people.


What I liked:

- I liked Lenora and Arché and how funny they both were and also really cute and wholesome;
- I LOVED the queerness in this book - there wasn’t any homophobia which was really nice to read;
- I think this would make a really cool graphic novel - I really want to visually see all of the characters and scenery!
- Leahi (side character) is super cool - I want to be friends with her;
- There was so much representation which was amazing! This is the first book I’ve read with demisexual representation;
- There was a lot of intense plot going on BUT Aimee kept it lighthearted which was really nice;
- I loved Lenora and Archés’ tension in beginning/middle;
- This is a vampire book….with a romance plot….you can see where this might be going and it was fabulous - the spice in general was good;
- I liked the world and the story, it was well developed and sets the second book up nicely;

Not so good:
- It was a bit hard to keep up with whose chapter was whose due to it being in third person and there being WAY too much telling and not enough showing;
- Because of this, the story didn’t feel like it flowed as well as it could have done Instead of feeling like I was completely immersed in the story like I often do, I felt slightly outside of it, noticing frequently when there was too many words in a sentence;
- For me personally, they were a bit too quick to repair things and I would have preferred for the arguments/tensions to have taken a bit longer to resolve. Whilst this is of course very nice and healthy, I feel like for there to be growth, you need to not be very good at it in the beginning at least;
- I could have done with more tension and for them to ‘give in’ a little bit later on, but maybe that’s just the inner slow burn girly in me.

Read this if:
- You are fed up of dystopian, dark and intense romantasy books, but you want to stick to something in the romantasy genre;
- You want a book with representation coming out of its ears;
- You’ve read many other cosy, lighthearted romantasy books and have loved them;
- You don’t mind there being less showing than telling.

2 ⭐️ - 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞…

As much as I love a good romance, this romantasy was kinda tough to read.

I enjoyed this but not as much as I had hoped. The summary is what drew me to read this but when I was reading this, the story felt very dull - well at least not on the spice side. It felt like there was too much things going on and the trip that Arché and Lenora went on felt like it went on forever.

The story could’ve been shorter if there were things that were taken out, like the week’s trip which went on for about 170-ish pages. I get it though, it’s to build the story but a lot of the time it felt like it was unnecessary and boring.

As much as I liked the sapphic romance and the spice, what I didn’t like was Arché’s lack of communication in some chapters. It felt like she got depressed a lot and couldn’t find comfort in Lenora when (once the romance began) she was constantly there for her. It was infuriating. Especially when Arché “lost control" which, if I can recall, was not mentioned what it meant when a Lycan loses control during the full moon. So there were also a few unanswered questions that it left.

Overall, this novel was not for me. I enjoyed it but not a lot. I liked the side characters a touch more than the main ones; Tunvra is so mysterious I wanna know more bout him, Lenora’s sibling and Andreas and Mira’s relationship dynamic. Not to mention Leahi - she sounds pre interesting too.
I am very invested into seeing Nikos’ story, cause bruh whattt!! What happens for him now, I need to know. I’d continue with the next book in this series.

Thank you NetGalley and Aimee Donnellan for the arc in exchange for a review.

One thing that I believe Donnellan did well in this novel is the politics aspect. I believe that it’s the strongest part of the book, and I do wish she focused on the poltiics part more.

A Crimson Covenant is a fantasy romance, and if you know me, you know that I just tend to not like fantasy romance, but this was with lesbians, so I was like…why not give it a try. The romance part really threw me off; there was nothing wrong with it, but there was nothing really interesting about it either? It was just boring and bland. It made me frustrated. There was a lack of tension.

But as mentioned, this is probably a whole preference thing because:
a.) I’m not a huge fan of romantasy.
b.) I prefer high fantasies over lighter ones.
c.) At the middle of the book, I felt like it just became horny biting— and I believe the plot that I was interested in got lost.

unfortunately... this one didn't work for me.
₊˚ ⊹ the plot was way too drawn out, especially for the first 2/3 of the book. it dragged in so many places and there weren't very many notable events in the story at the beginning, so much so that it all seemed to blend together. the plot felt a little chaotic and all over the place and it should definitely have been shorter. we also didn't really get to know much about the side characters, concord, or the crusaders before arché and lenora leave so it ended up being very difficult to care about them or their motives. for example, whenever arché thought about how much she missed her family, it was difficult to feel bad for her, as we didn't really get to know her family at the beginning... like at all.

₊˚ ⊹ the characters also fell quite flat. while lenora's personality was decently captivating and interesting, arché's wasn't so much as most of the time i was just very annoyed with how immature and annoying she could be. there were also too many underdeveloped side characters. leahi and alta were the most interesting side characters. they were both quite charismatic so it was easy to like and root for them and their stories, whereas many of the other characters were quite bland and didn't really have very distinct personalities.

though, with all that being said, i thought the premise was very nice and creative! werewolves and vampires teaming up to save their town was such a fun idea, but i just wish it was executed a little better. i did like the writing style though, so i'll probably give the second book in this series a try when it is released!

Mixed feelings about this, I love the premise and the execution was fine but the first half was soooooo slow. The romance takes so long to even enter the chat and THEN the slow burn pining begins, which makes everything drag on. The back half was stronger but it was hard to feel invested after the front slog. I also felt like things wrapped up a bit too conveniently in the end which made it fall a little flat.

If someone asked me for wolf/vampire sapphic novels (a pretty niche genre) I'd definitely recommend it but it wouldn't qualify for just general sapphic fantasy rep.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aimee Donnellan for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Vampires and lycans?? Hold on there this is a must read, of course I got excited to know that I was chosen to read this ARC thanks so much Netgalley, author and publisher, this book was so amazing that I just couldn't put it down, I loved Arché and Lenora, this was one of the best sapphic romantasy I read lately and less than 5 stars is not acceptable

This was a fun read! The characters were compelling and while I didn’t find their motivations or issues to be always believable it was nice to see them develop. I wouldn’t say this story was anything that changed my life, and the main conflict didn’t feel as pressing as I assumed it would be, but it was so enjoyable. I always want more vampire and werewolf queer love stories, and this one was a great example! I would probably give it closer to a 4.5, and I’m excited to see what else this author releases.

This book was a fast paced romance that had me from the get go. I really enjoyed the world building and the characters were amazing. I will be checking out this author's other books and the next in the series. While vampires and werewolves have been done before, I liked the twist of this one. It felt fresh and I loved watching the characters fall in love! The romance really brought some lightness to this book as it easily could have been a heavy storyline without.

Oops I accidentally put this on my notes for publisher…

Ahem.

Great progression between the two main characters that made their relationship believable in a way most fantasy forgets nowadays! I definitely recommend this as a fantasy palette cleanser if you tend to read much larger books with much more density for a good time.

DNF AT 48%. I think the serialised format of this book works against its quite strong opening and character driven storytelling. The book probably needs a lot more editing than what it exists right now, especially with a lot of the journey and the almost businesslike workman description of the "biting" between Arche and Lenora is robbed of its tension until it just reads like "and then this happens in the background". Also Lenora reads a tad childish sometimes, especially since her dark shadow powers are seen less than they are spoken of in explanations of rumours, and her relationship with them described in much a YA fashion. Also, and this is just personal, I love coming of age and queer awakening stories but there's only so much Lenora can pointlessly rail internally at Arche who was the unknowing subject of her crush's crush without it coming off bordeline internalised misogyny, that even if couched in "she has a love rival", comes across as tiresome especially cause Lenora lacks a ton of nuance. The worldbuilding was quite interesting though.