Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The grip this book had on me! Truly in a CHOKEHOLD. I'm mostly a queer (sapphic, usually) romance/erotica reader, but have recently been getting more into fantasy/adventure alongside my home genres. This book really fit what I was looking for. Our two FMCs need to go on an adventure to save their town and in the process start to develop feelings for one another. 👀

Arché is a strong, masc-leaning lycan (werewolf) with ADHD and she can take me anywhere, at anytime, lol. When she got bit?? 😅🌶 Lenora is a thoughtful, femme demisexual vampire who is going through it. I loved watching Lenora gain her confidence, and Arché learning to let others help. I LOVED the ADHD rep (as an ADHDer myself) and how that was represented in Arché. I adored the gentleness that both characters brought to Lenora's depression and demisexuality. These characters are handled with such deep care by the author; it was amazing to read.

I love a slow burn and I felt like there was considerable lead up to them actually getting together, which I'm a sucker for. I was promised a biting kink and for the first half of the book we really get to see that. My only qualm is, it feels like a tragic missed-opportunity to not bring back the biting when the characters finally get together physically. Similarly to when rope play is brought up at an importune time. I get that the characters need to save their town etc, HOWEVER, don't tease me like that and then not deliver! Perhaps it's because I read much more spicier books than this, but when we say BDSM or biting kink, I'm expecting a bit more. Though, I'm sure folks who like their romance with a lot of pining and pent up emotion, with 2 or 3 spicy scenes will not have the same peeves as me, lol.

I will be reading the rest of the series and can't wait! This was my first read from this author and I am a fan. Will be downloading their earlier series after I'm done writing this. Read this book if you want epic fantasy with unlikely heros trying to save their world, with forced proximity, slow burn, sapphic romance.

3.75 rounded up

A massive thank you to Victory Editing for letting me read this arc, I will be eagerly awaiting the second book.

The world building was so good, I loved the magic system and the fact that the two main characters shared very similar issues with their identity, yet dealt with them in completely different ways. I found that the two povs actually added a lot to the reading experience and I found it very interesting to see the very different thought processes that Lenora and Archié had to the same situations.

The only criticism I do have is that I wish there was a little more realism in the end battle. It felt a little too easy, this very commanding threat present throughout the entire book was brought down in the span of two chapters with no real casualties. I understand that part of this was to show the growth the two fmcs went through, but it still felt a little anticlimactic to end the book that way.

dnf'd at 11%... i'm sorry but this book just was not for me. i love fantasy, i love lesbians, i love a big handsome butch werewolf, so i was very excited to receive this ARC. unfortunately, it fell flat almost immediately. the prose is clinical and infodump-y, i really don't get a sense of character voice from either arché or lenora. i found myself zoning out trying to get invested into the plot and characters.

the concept is there, i can tell there was a lot of love put into the worldbuilding. i'm a very character-driven reader, so if you're more of a lore enjoyer then you will probably like this book more than i did.

Perfect for the season of vampires and werewolves, this romantasy is a must-read for those who enjoy sapphic novels!

Always sign me up for LGBTQ+ werewolves and vampires. Enjoyable read. Can't wait for the sequel.

Thank you to Aimee Donnellan and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This was a great start to the Nightwalkers of Concord series, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the plot of this. The characters worked in this world and thought the use of vampires and werewolves worked together well. The plot was everything that I was looking for and enjoyed the world going on. I can't wait to read more in this world and from Aimee Donnellan.

This was an exciting supernatural adventure. Vampires, wolves, and a love triangle. What's not to love! But things get dangerous fast and watching everything unfold was such a great experience.

Thanks to Netgalley and Aimee Donnellan for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

<i>A Crimson Covenant</i> is a cute, fun romantasy centered around Arché and Lenora, the werewolf and vampire (respectively) heirs of the hidden town of Concord as they race to save their people from frenzied cultists and find themselves along the way, all without the aid of their preordained life partners. It's your standard romantasy, with a stronger core in romance and some fantasy flavoring.

It was quick and light read, and I can absolutely see an audience who will absolutely eat this up. Sadly, it looks like I don't fall into that demographic. Teenage me probably would've absolutely eaten this up, but now I feel myself wanting more in development.

The absolutely stunning cover was what originally drew me to <i>A Crimson Covenant</i>, but the title and blurb were what pushed me to request this ARC.

For centuries, vampires and werewolves (nightwalkers) have lived in harmony with each other and daywalkers (self-explanatory) in Concord, a hidden town nestled in the Howling Peaks Valley. Founded by six families of lycans and vampires, the heirs of each house are paired together by the heads of the town. These partnerships are designed to create balance and help the heirs grow into best and most well-rounded versions of themselves.

Except. It doesn't always work out like that.

We follow Arché, a werewolf heir who's growing frustrated with her partner, Rohan, and Lenora, a vampire heir who's in love with her partner, Nikos... Who is in love with Arché who sees him as nothing more than a friend because she's literally a lesbian.

Very romantasy.

Everything is mostly fine and awesome in Concord until the town is attacked by cultists in the name of the Everflame, and Arché and Lenora are forced to flee the safety of their home to seek outside aid from Arché's other parent.

All in all, <i>A Crimson Covenant</i> is a classic hero story, with our not-quite-up-to-bluff protagonists leaving on an adventure to save their town and coming back stronger and wiser.

The world building in <i>A Crimson Covenant</i> is pretty good. There's clearly a lot of lore and care put into the history and design of the world, but we don't get too much of it within this story. Donnellan does have another novella series set in this same world, and this is only the first book of a trilogy, so I expect that a lot of that lore has been / will be fleshed out elsewhere.

The premise was really interesting, but the story melded into a pretty repetitive pattern for me.

The plot of this book takes place over the course of around 1-2 months, and a good chunk of it was Arché and Lenora traveling and literally repeating the same actions over and over until they hit a town. The action sequences weren't super compelling, and often felt short or anti-climatic.

Both Arché and Lenora felt kind of juvenile to me, and neither was particularly gripping or surprising. Arché is incredibly horny and anxious (not necessarily in that order), with a crippling fear of not living up to expectations. Lenora is angsty and anxious, with deep rooted fears of rejection partially stemming from her status as the chosen Shadow, which is as emo as it sounds.

Before the events of the start of the story, Arché and Lenora are vague acquaintances at best, never having had a real conversation with each other, but quickly bond and fall in love during this period of forced proximity and shared trauma. Which is fine, but it was a little hard for me to get over the fact that Lenora is clearly demisexual / demiromantic and has been in love with her partner Nikos for years and then in the span of less than a month, falls for Arché. But I mean. Trauma and stuff will do that to you.

Arché and Lenora are cute together, albiet somewhat boring. They're supportive and understanding, and generally communicate pretty decently. There's some one-sided pining and a lot of horniness from Arché, but their relationship was pretty predictable and there wasn't ever really a doubt that things wouldn't work out for them.

Overall, <i>A Crimson Covenant</i> was a fun and light read, but it came off as unpolished and heavy handed. Everything just conveniently worked out for our heroes, and it was generally pretty flat and straightforward to me. It felt more like someone's D&D backstory more than a full-fledged novel. I do think the story would shine in a D&D campaign where there's an active human touch to the portrayal of each individual event, but as is, it feels almost cliff note-y in a way.

This is probably about a 2.5/5 stars for me, but I'll round up to 3 for the nod to Critical Role and the Kiki fish.

5 stars! 5 stars! 5 stars! Yessss! I loved every single second of this book. I loved it so much I'm planning on re-reading it in November!!! So so good!

Thank you to NetGalley and Aimee Donnellan for approving my request to read an arc of this book.

“I fell in love with you because you tried so hard at everything even when the world made it difficult for you, because you created beauty to survive the monsters in your head. And then, when those voices came for *my* head, you saw the value in me.”

I was first drawn to this book by the stunning cover, then once I read the description I requested it immediately. I definitely didn’t regret it! This book was absolutely fantastic. I loved the world building and the queer normative setting so much. The slow burn romance was written just right. It didn’t drag and it wasn’t too rushed. I adored the representation. Both in adhd rep and also demi sexual, nonbinary and lesbian representation, plus so many more colours on the rainbow.
I couldn’t put this book down, the danger and the plans kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters. Arché and Lenora were such wonderful main characters and I really enjoyed getting to read their different povs throughout the story. I’m so happy that it’s going to be a series, as I’m not ready to say goodbye to them all yet.
There was such a lovely found family aspect to this story and the bonds that were built were so strong and beautiful.
As long as you’re comfortable with fantasy typical fighting and slight gore, then I’d recommend this book so highly. It was an absolute joy to read.

(3.25)
I really wish I liked this one more. The premise is great, the world setting is interesting and dare I say a little unique? The execution is just not the best.

In this world, Arché and Lenora’s village has a mixture of lycans and vampires living together, peacefully. The council for this town is made up of different houses that each has their heir. Arché is a lycan, Lenora a vampire and they're both the heirs of their respective houses. They've both been training for years on end to be able to live up to their family's expectations. Each heir is put on a team of two, consisting of one lycan and one vampire. When both their teammates die in a sudden attack on their town, they have to escape and find a way to save everyone whilst traversing their now new partnership.

The goal is clear, and even though it’s a classic hero story I was curious to see where it went.
When I started I immediately noticed the writing wasn’t for me, it’s very quick and straightforward.. and some interactions felt disconnected. Their feelings and actions seemed strange at times and because it all went so fast - you immediately get thrown into the attack (which sometimes works great, this just wasn’t) - I had no time to really care for what happened. The reason I kept going was because I liked the relationship between the two characters.

One thing the writer does well is creating a gradual romance story. The plot writing wasn’t the best so some scenes fell flat, but I liked Lenora and Arché a lot together. Arché even seemed to have social anxiety, or struggles with grasping other people’s emotions - it gets stressed in the book that lycans feel emotions heavier than humans and vampires. I liked that a lot. Lenora has depressive episodes and is demisexual (as far as I know, it wasn’t explicitly said). It made them likable, it made them real to me.

Unfortunately around 60% they already had a huge love confession, which then felt too fast paced again. I think it’s just difficult to write romance with a booming love confession, knowing that all their family members are at threat of dying somewhere at the other side of the continent. It can be done amazingly but it just - again - didn’t work for me. Sad but true.

Thank you so much for the ARC, NetGalley and Victory Editing, in return for my honest opinion.