Enjoyed this- won't leave a lasting memory for me but a good romantasy with found family. The story needed some more world building, plot and character development in my opinion though.

It definitely leans more into the fantasy than the romance aspect - the fantasy element driving the plot compared to some others I have read. That being said, the (very) slow burn romance between the FMC and MMC definitely added to it and I really enjoyed watching their relationship slowly develop. One thing I did particularly like about the slow burn aspect of the enemies to lovers trope is that it seems more realistic given their starting points.

The Mortal Queen by Ashley Metzler has a very interesting lore, giving us a different perspective between seelie, unseelie and humankind making it the perfect plot twist. However, i founded this book a bit too complex being a little too wordy, like Lord of the Rings or When the Moon Hatched, it didn't need to be that complex and it through me back a little. I did find the characters to be unique and i think the book is enough to stand on its own. A lot of important things happened off-page and i found myself laking important information, like Aisling's relationship with her mother. Also, i felt like Aisling didn't had many friends which is a bit odd since this is a fantasy book and friends are always a big thing. The ending was a bit confuse but this had me invested until the end and i find it a bit addictive.

I loved this book so much! The world is beautifully painted with immersive prose. I got sucked into this fantasy setting filled with rich nature. The fae felt gritty and fascinating in a way other books have been falling short for me lately. More like a fable and reminds me of the same type of atmosphere that Hannah Whitten created in For the Wolf.
Aisling is growing and learning after having a sheltered life. Married off to the fae king for peace between their kinds, she is thrust into the home of the fae where she meets talking creatures and learns the lore and politics of their world.
The plot sometimes felt a bit slow, but I also really enjoyed living in this world and taking my time with the story.

The standout from this book for me was the worldbuilding and the magic system, they were both so unique and so interesting to learn about. I found the start a little slow, but once the story fully kicked in I was gripped and couldn’t put this down. I also loved the slow burn between Aisling and Lir, I found the tension so intense which is exactly how a slow burn romance should be!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc. 🫶🏻

The start of what has the potential to be a phenomenal series. A unique magic system, a beautifully developed world and a fantastic growing dynamic between the two leads.

Was a fantastic book that i thoroughly recommend and will be buying as I need a trophy version lol. I enjoying the different dynamics at play between the main characters especially towards the end.

Loved the world building, the unique magic system and the slow burn.
Good character development.
I found it sometimes hard to follow and there was a lot of repetition.

The world building was a little slow to start at the beginning but the story ramps 40% in. I enjoyed learning about the worlds though at the same time that Aisling did and the romance is proper slow burn. But that ending had me screaming onto book 2.

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Plot: 💫💫💫💫💫
World-Building: 🍁🍁🍁🍁
Description: 💐💐💐

I enjoyed this book as it had great depth in the character especially with how the FMC developed throughout the book. They really had detailed personalities. The world had great detail.

The storyline did has a lot of detail and at times felt a bit like the author was telling rather than showing the story and it got very detailed especially with geographic locations such as hills which felt very long and drawn out in some places in my opinion.

Overall I found the book enjoyable as a whole with an engaging storyline and I recommend to anyone looking for a descriptive fantasy romance with characters with a lot of depth.

Great audiobook narrator—each character has a distinct voice, and they blend together seamlessly!

The book itself is rich with fantasy and worldbuilding, with characters interesting enough to keep you hooked from start to finish. A solid listen/read all around.

Thank you NetGalley and Ashley Metzler!❤️

i unfortunately had to dnf this book. i want to say that the premise was good i actually read a few chapters and was instantly hooked, but then i don’t know what happened and the story slowed down so much that i lost interest and couldn’t finish it, it was an on-off with this book and i don’t think i will get back to it anytime soon.. i honestly felt no connection to the mmc or the fmc or any of the characters for that matter.. i also felt that everything was over described from the people to the scenery and everything that the fmc did and saw, it was just too much and that is also reason why this book felt so long, and because of the over descriptions most of the characters were introduced and we knew everything about their lives but there were so many that i honestly couldn’t remember anyone or why they were important for the story..

More like 2.5 / 5 stars

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC copy of this book.

I'm going to be honest here, I'm kind of torn on how to rate this book; I think I would have DNF if it wasn't given as an ARC because this book is disproportionately long compared to how little actually happens.

What I didn't like:

-In dire need of some style correction, I feel like I'm reading an essay where there's a minimum word count. I don't know how many more times I can read "the mortal queen", she/her works just as well and makes the narration less stagnant.

- I never thought I'd write this considering I like LOTR but, I think this book is too wordy. Nothing wrong with that per se, that is, as long as it serves a purpose. It just felt like the author was setting up something but continued to do so through out the whole book.

- The whole book feels like a setup for the next, and, while obviously some world building character introductions, motivations, etc, need to happen in a first book, it shouldn't take the entirety of it. The book should stand on its own.

- And after all those words I don't think I could paint a clear picture of any character other than the FMC. The MMC is brooding and wild, that's it, the brothers, except the eldest, are indistinguishable, and so on.

- I might be nitpicking about this but -and I get that this is a slow burn- more than half of the book passes and FMC basically still kind of hates everyone; I can understand that, but it makes the last 30% of the progress between the couple feel forced.

- I'm not even sure what happened in the last 10% , the father wanted to play the fae but got played instead, How? not clear to me. Why couldn't Aisling go get answers about her power alongside Lir? I don't know either. It felt a bit deus ex machina.

What I liked:

- The lore is very interesting, the difference between seelie, unseelie and humankind was a great plot twist and a very neat idea.

- Aisling kind of grew on me, after a while and I respect how she wants to be powerful and get to know herself.


I am a bit intrigued by what is going to happen now, but I need to confess that half the time the book felt like a chore.

This book launched right into the story of an arranged marriage between a human queen and a fae king. The world building went along with the rich scenes and descriptions of where we were headed and with the people called AOS si, which I loved. The book quickly became a chore to read though as the chapters were sometimes 30-40 mintutes long and not much seemed to be happening other than moving through the world and setting up expectations of said arranged marriage, like who their guards are, the creatures, and the shared living spaces and the expectation of procurring a prince baby. From what I understood early on, is that it was to save their people and the land. But I had very little connection between Aisling and the King, they had very few in depth interactions, so I wouldn't consider this enough of a romantasy in my opionion. I would have needed more if that was the main plot or even subplot of the book.

I enjoyed this book! I thought the world building was good but at times a little heavy. I enjoyed the tension between our two main characters, it was refreshing to read more high fantasy with a dash of romance! Looking forward to reading book 2!

This is a slow burn in every way, the romance, the writing, the plot, it's steady and builds to a climatic end that will have you desperate for more! The writing is beautiful and descriptive, you get great depth from the MMF as she tries to untwist all the lies she's been told. It can feel a little slow if you're used to some of the really fast paced romantasies that have been coming out but I really enjoyed it! I also didn't love how often she thought of herself as the Mortal Queen and him as the Fae King, in that sense it felt a little impersonal and got pretty repetitive. The romance was almost too slow burn, I loved Lir's character, he was unapologetic in his willingness to do anything to protect his people and kingdom and I respected the hell out of it. However, even though I loved both of them individually, I just didn't get that spark from them, I see sooooo much potential but there wasn't enough tension between them or special moments. I'm excited to see where book to goes!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review!

So, this book made me stay up until 2am because I was so engrossed. I think you could say I had a good time! Although this book has a lot of comparsions to ACOTAR and The Cruel Prince, I actually think a more accurate comparison would be The Bridge Kingdom without the assassin element. Which is great, because I loved the Bridge Kingdom, and I think the world-building and characters are unique enough to stand on their own.

I really enjoyed the concept for why the fae and the mortals are so at odds being the destruction of the wildlands, and the ever-encroachingness of iron and man-made settlements. I really enjoyed being in Aisling's head, and the glimpse of Lir I got, I really enjoyed. I wish he was more present as a character throughout the story, and my romantic heart wished for a few more almosts and moments of yearning. By the end, I wasn't really sure they even liked each other really. They hardly knew each other, so it seemed, but I am interested to really dive into their relationship, hopefully, in the next book.

Context is difficult in this book, for instance, Aisling's relationship with her mother is given almost no explanation but seemingly they don't like each other? Or don't care about each other? Or something? A lot of things happen off-page here that I think are kind of important. Aisling seems to know enough anout the fae warriors to recognize them by sight but I didn't even recognize them by name and description.

Also, lacking, as often they are in fantasy, were any friends for Aisling. The closest thing she gets is Galad or Gilrel, both of whom I'm not actually sure like her or she them. Dagfin definitely doesn't count as he's annoying and barely there. Her brothers certainly don't.

And finally, the ending. I didn't really get it? I see the cliffhanger and Aisling's choices and Lir's choices and I don't really know... It didn't make a ton of sense. But, I am so, so invested and engrossed. The story is so accessible and digestable and, honestly, addictive. I've already purchased the second book, and it's the next read on my list.

3 stars but really enjoyable ones!

This book got me in with the mention of enemies to lovers, hooked me with its opening chapters, and now I’m OBSESSED!

*Thank you to Second Sky and NetGalley for the eARC of this book; the review is my own.*

The Mortal Queen is a beautifully written, slow-burn (and I mean slow), enemies-to-lovers romance. At least I really hope that's how it turns out by the end of the series. I enjoyed reading this book very much and would have finished it more quickly had I had more time to sit down and lose myself within its pages. (My kids were on spring break for two weeks, so I've been occupied.)

Although a part of me was impatient with the extremely slow development of the romance, I'm actually okay with it and found it to be a much more believable take on the enemies-to-lovers trope than I usually encounter. The animosity and distrust between Aisling and Lir didn't suddenly disappear the moment they were married, giving way to passionate love. Their trust and interest came on very gradually, though I felt at times that Lir was more open to a true bond at an earlier time than Aisling was. But it made sense. Aisling had been taught, as fact, a vast number of things about the Sidhe that she had to wade through, learning for herself what was and was not true. Added to that, she had the familial love and loyalty she'd grown up with battling against the new freedom, power, and knowledge she gained among the fae. Her eyes were opened, but that didn't mean she could easily walk away from what she'd known her whole life. Her struggles were a prime example of internal conflict written well.

I would have loved to have chapters from Lir's point of view so that I could see inside his head, but I can appreciate the decision not to include any because this is Aisling's story, Aisling's journey. Although rare, Lir did offer brief glimpses here and there into his thoughts and his own internal struggles. Aisling described him sometimes as a stag and sometimes as a wolf, depending on which version of himself he presented. Regardless, I liked him--how he carried his responsibilities, his loyalty to and care for his people, his protectiveness of Aisling, the way he gently helped and guided her despite his own mistrust of her intentions. He was both fierce and reserved.

The author built the world and mythology well and effectively established the centuries-old conflict between fae and mortals. I felt sorrow for the losses on both sides, though I retained more sympathy for the Sidhe than I did for anyone supporting Nemed, Aisling's father. I hope for peace by the end of the series, but any true peace the characters gain will be hard won.

Overall, the writing was gorgeous, painting vibrant imagery of the characters and the fae and mortal worlds; however, it sometimes became a bit cumbersome due to the frequent sentence fragments and overabundance of sentences beginning with "For" and "So." Since this was an ARC, I am hopeful that those (and other) missteps were caught by a skilled editor. I don't mind sentences fragments and find they can effectively provide important emphasis, but sometimes they can be a bit overwhelming when stacked on top of each other. Even as it is, I can forgive the distractions of grammatical and usage errors because the story itself was so beautiful and enjoyable to read.

Now I can't wait to pick up The Savage Queen if I can get my hands on it.

Note: Nothing bad.

This book had me hooked! The angst and tension between Aisling and Lir were amazing. The magical world is rich and complex, leaning more towards epic fantasy, which I loved. The plot is unique, the characters are lovable, and the setting is stunning. The slow-burn romance and the concept of the 'caera' bond were fantastic. Highly recommend!