A gifted Audio ARC from NetGalley. Published date: 1/28/2025

This was a fun story with great banter, enemies to lovers, and a fun twist on fairytales. This is the first book in a Duology. It was fun getting to know the main characters but my favorite was Sojee. The author's writing style is different from what I normally would read. I am glad I was gifted the audio arc.

I really enjoyed this unique mashup of science fiction & fairytales. It had a slow start, but once you get to Bellis(hope I spelled that right I listened to the audio) things start happening pretty quickly. I’ll definitely be looking out for its sequel as we end on a slight cliffhanger. The narrator did a great job bringing the story to life.

The book's premise was really intriguing, and the book cover is so beautiful. The execution of the book, however? It needed some work. I have no doubt this will find its perfect audience, but I was not that audience.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC of this book.

Well, I had a lot of hope for this one, but unfortunately it just fell a little flat.

The premise was interesting, and I was familiar with the authors work from forever ago. I was interested in the fact that a historical fiction author that has been around for awhile was coming out with a more mainstream style book, and that it was more in the vein of fantasy/sci fi instead of historical fiction. I also was completely drawn into the cover - because as a full blooded millennial woman - 'The Swan Princess' raised me as a child, and this cover was giving off strong SP vibes.

I was really hooked on the first half of the story, but unfortunately toward the middle it fell apart for me. It was getting a little too tedious and I just found it hard to really connect or care about any of the characters or what was going on anymore.

All in all, it's an okay story. It was a decent/fun read for what it is, but nothing earth shattering. I do like the plot and premise, and felt that it was pretty unique, but unfortunately it just wasn't entirely well thought out toward the middle/end for me.

Thank you again to NetGalley/the author for the audio arc.

I loved this one so much. I knew I’d like it, but I got swept away in the writing and the mix of fairy tales strewn throughout the world. Kaley is a fantastic character that is able to utilize her knowledge of fairy tales to solve many problems in the world. This is like a portal fantasy, but instead of a portal it's a 3 year spaceship ride, which is a wild twist on the genre. There is a lot of suspension of disbelief in this one, but I found myself lost in the world so much that it wasn’t heard to suspend that disbelief.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ALC.

Jude has a very unique voice so I was interested to see how she took on a fantasy novel.

The book was very cozy. The world wasn’t too complex, so it was easy to follow. On the other hand, there wasn’t much world building at the beginning, it was more so sprinkled in throughout.

The story felt a little discombobulated at times. A lot happened, but I wasn’t sure of the purpose behind some of the scenes. Some of it came together towards the end and I realized certain scenes were mostly there to introduce characters that reemerge later, but the “plot” of those scenes weren’t entirely necessary.

Again, very cozy and mostly easy to follow. Interesting take including multiple fairytales. The chemistry between the romantic interests was a little hit and miss.


Overall I’m not mad at it. The ending left off on a cliffhanger and I am curious to see how the story develops.

Also, the narrator did a good job, no complaints!

I liked parts of this and then others I really didn't. The fantasy world is interesting for sure and I'm really wanting to learn more about it and how everything fits together so I'm glad to hear that it will be a duology. However, I felt like some of the writing and dialogue was weird or just not quite right. Like some of it made sense to me but some of it just really didn't and I found myself going "ok suuuuureeee." I'll definitely listen to the second one because I need to know what happens but otherwise this was just meh to me.

I loved the premise of this and really enjoyed the first half of the book, but then it really started to go downhill and ultimately I was disappointed. This had so much potential! I liked it enough that I would like to read the sequel. Narrator was fantastic!

As a historical romance reader, I'm a little appalled to say that this was my first Jude Deveraux book. (It's not historical romance.) Like many other authors, Deveraux made the pivot to what I guess is romantasy with Order of Swans. I say this because while it centers on fairy tales as the primary concept of the book, it takes place on another planet and has an intriguing scifi feel to it. It's also totally bonkers.

When Kaley's advisor rejects the central thesis of her dissertation, she's stunned. So stunned that she agrees to travel with a family friend to his home for the summer...except the family friend's home is a 3 year journey away and isn't actually on earth. And the friend orchestrated Kaley's life to help save his planet. Kaley of course doesn't know this, and is simply excited to be in a world where the fairy tales she studies seem to be playing out in real life.

This gave me the same vibes as the 2000 TV mini series 10th Kingdom, and I didn't hate that! I'm a sucker for fairy tales, and if 2000-era Meg had gotten her hands on this book she would have eaten it up. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me, even with its really bizarre elements. I think ultimately the problem is pacing - this ends on a cliffhanger and I was expecting a complete arc, so when the story finished without wrapping up, I wasn't ready. I wasn't invested enough in the characters or the romance (that said, the declaration of love is actually pretty spectacular!) and was in this one for the plot antics, so having it cut short was disappointing.

That was... a lot? I seriously don't know how I feel about this. I thought the premise was amazing and I enjoyed parts of the book, but some of if didn't make sense and there were a ton of characters. I might pick up the next book, though.

I went into this book pretty blind and absolutely loved it!! Initially I had no idea what was happening but once I realized we were in a world where fairy tales were real I got so excited! I think this was a great first book in the duo loft and can’t wait until we get some answers in book 2 :)

Was it new and ground breaking? No

But if you like worlds full of the stories, most of us grew up hearing and learning... but with naked men (no spice) this is a fun fast pace read.

The main character is taken to a world kind of like ours but what is fiction on earth is their real life there.

DNF ~30%

I feel a bit gaslit by this book.
The blurb and genres suggest a fantasy forward story with romance, and maybe romantasy. However, I felt like the actual story feels like a weird mix of fantasy and scifi. While I'm not opposed to scifi, it caught me off guard and it is also not particularly well done in my opinion. There are also some inconsistencies in the plot line, poorly researched elements to the characters, and a lack of finesse or elegance to the writing style that leads me to deciding to DNF this book.

First - our protagonist Kaley is a 26 year old graduate student, writing a dissertation on fairy tales and folklore. While as a PhD holder myself, I can relate that simply pursuing a PhD does not necessarily make someone smart (despite what TV and media tends to tell us), Kaley seems to be particularly dumb and bland. The plot set up for why she will travel to this other world also doesn't mesh at all with how PhDs are done. It is simply completely impossible for her to have spent years researching, writing and preparing to defend her dissertation, only to have her professor completely deny the process. While fields may vary, if the author had talked with literally anyone who had gone through this process, they would have learned that.

Once the plot gets moving, and Kaley goes to this other world, the way she just simply accepts everything around her with very little critical thinking is very confusing and offputting. The idea is she thinks she is going to a remote island to gather the folktales of a new culture. How does she not question basic things like 1) why a magic pen can make it so she can understand another language, 2) how she could have no idea or memory of how she actually got to this place (she acknowledges it and is literally like, "oh well!"). She doesn't even try to ask questions about the process, 3) be so blaise about how fairy tales seem to be true in this world. I didn't get particularly far, but there is reference to little red riding hood, the wolf and her grandmother. Kaley sort of jokes about how its a fairy tale, but then has ZERO reaction when the locals tell her she's right and how did she know?! Also her weird, instant animosity towards Tanek makes no sense and is so clearly just a set up for an "enemies to lovers" type plot line. Maybe its all just white girl confidence, but I do not understand how she can be so confident in her abilities to do fieldwork, with absolutely ZERO experience in any of it. Like even if she truly believed she was on a remote island on Earth, the way Kaley constantly uses slang and cutlural references is so cringey. I'm not a folklorist or someone who works with people specifically, but even I would know that if I go to another country, even one well connected to the rest of the world, I would not assume they know my regional slang. Like girl, come on! The rest of the characters all feel fairly one dimensional as well, despite the attempts from the author to convey secrecy or hidden plots that the reader is wanting to know.

Related to that last point - the story is told from a 3rd person narrative, but seems to weirdly skip around from character to character in terms of the POV we are hearing from. Maybe it is because I was listening on audio, but it results in a conflict between what I as the reader know, and what each character is supposed to know. For example, Tanek has like a fairy friend/ball of light who comes and talks to him. We have interactions between characters who know who this light is. But then at least one interaction happens where Tanek and Sojee are together, and the fairy character comes to visit. Tankey has a whole conversation with her, with Sojee there. But then later, Sojee acts like they don't know who the fairy is? I think the story would benefit from just being from a single POV, rather than jumping around characters, especially since the characters don't appear to have distinct voices in any way.

The worldbuilding also feels a bit of a mess to me, especially given how the characters react. Everyone is using horse drawn carriages, but also carry around sticks of blue light that give translation abilities or knock you out? They don't know what a cat or a cat-like creature is, but they have a bunch of species of birds and dragons? (Also Kaley - seriously girl? You see a freaking dragon and are just like...oh cool, I guess earth has dragons?)

All in all, lack of unique voices, a bland and uninteresting main character and poor integation of traditional fantasy and scifi elements make this a DNF for me.

Kaley accompanies her lifelong friend Jobi on a visit to his home in hopes of learning more about the isolated land that he lives in. She hopes to learn more about their folklore and fairy tales so that she can complete her dissertation. However, after being knocked out on the flight, Kaley doesn't realize that when she wakes up, she's not just in another country, but she has traveled to another planet. Upon this planet, there are many mysteries to uncover, and seeing some of the fairy tales that she grew up with on Earth coming to life is astounding.

I didn't realize that this story that sounded like fantasy would actually have such a strong sci-fi component. I did enjoy learning about Kaley's mysterious connections with Jobi and when she is sent off on a mission to retrieve a prince for his wedding, she begins to learn more about Tanek and Sojee, her travling companions.

The book was good and the story was interesting, however, it felt very complicated. A lot of the time, there were so many unusual names and backstories that it took a bit for me to follow it and determine who we were talking about. This is clearly the first part of a series, and it cuts off at the end with a lot of the mysteries still yet to learn about. I think I will want to read the second book as well, despite the intricacies of the stories.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions are my own.

Kaley's mother died when she was very young. She was home schooled and didn't have friends growing up. She had been befriended by a man, Jobi, who trained her in many things, such as yoga. She had been working on a PhD dissertation on folklore and fairy tales when her professor turned down her topic and the paper at the last minute. In her disappointment, she agrees to let Jobi take her to his home islands to do research on their folklore. But what Kaley didn't know was that she was spirited away to another planet 3 years away from Earth.

There she finds many interesting and disconcerting things. And she finds that the fairy tales that she was familiar with are taking place at the present time. There is royalty, different "orders' of people, and very different cultures. And she learns much more about herself.

I don't normally read fantasy, but I was offered this audio book. I found the story to be interesting. After I was close to finishing the book, I realized that the story didn't end with this book. It's the first book in a pair of books. So beware if you like books to be wrapped up at the end. Or you may want for the second book before you start reading the first.

The narrator does a great job in acting this book.

Not what I expected.

I think I’m disappointed because when I read the blurb I thought the FMC is going to be a part of the fairy tales herself and not just a sidekick of them. I love fairy tale retellings so she being the savior of the tales as an onlooker rather than being a part of it took me off.

I drifted off in some places too so as a whole I was bored at some places.

I also wish that authors stop forcing academic elements into stories when they aren’t actually doing anything to the plot. The second reason I wanted to read this was because the FMC was an academic. That part was so minimal.

Some people might love this though but for me this is all over the place.

Thank you to HTP and Hive for the ALC and E-ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me an audio copy in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.

When Kaley's thesis for her PhD is denied, she learns that her friend Jobi is on his way back to his home. A home with new fairy tales and folklore. A place where she can collect new stories for her thesis. On a whim, she goes with him... only to learn his home isn't here on Earth. Bellis is an entirely new planet filled with beauty and wonder and magic. But the longer she's there, the more she realizes that the fairy tales she grew up hearing and knowing are happening now, just a little differently. And with way more magic and violence. Which is saying something. Along with her companions -- Tanek of the Order of Swans and Sojee the giant bodyguard -- they set out on their task to locate the lost prince.

This was like one part sci-fi, two parts fantasy, and a half part romantasy. And I say it that way because I feel like the romance took a backseat for the most part and we focused more on the actual relationships both romantic and platonic, which I liked, but also COME ON, GET IT GIRLLL. Tanek was the grumpy/serious guide who slowly lowers his guard until she has found a Kaley-sized space all for her. And Sojee was so loyal and kind. I honestly loved seeing them all interact. And of course the slightly warped fairy tales which were phenomenal. I loved how this one was from start to finish and then that DAMN CLIFFHANGAR. WHYYYY. But in all seriousness, I loved this book so much and now I need the sequel.

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

I wanted to like this one and was very interested in the plot but in just could not get Into this or the characters.

The premise of this was fantastic but unfortunately the writing didn't work for me. It's si unfortunate because I am such a huge Jude in fan.. I wanted so badly to like this book. The characters were annoying especially Kaley and there was a lot just telling us what was happening without anyvreal world building.
The narration was just fine.

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I am a sucker for a retelling! This was a good blend of retellings and starting a new story around them. I though Alexandra Hunter was a pretty good narrator. I did get confused a little because to me she didn't change the men's voices enough but I always got back on track pretty quickly. Over all I thought the tie in for the original story and the retellings was nicely done. I will say that it has one of my most hated tropes where they just don't tell the main character is going on and refuse to tell her when she realizes that something is going on. I do understand it but I felt like but 80% they could have given her a better idea of what was going on. That being said I am excited for the next book and can't wait to see where it goes!