The Forever Queen is the final installment in the trilogy, and I went into it with exceptionally high hopes, especially given how phenomenal the first two books were. I was fully prepared to be blown away once again. However, as much as I wanted to love it, I have to admit it didn’t quite meet my expectations.

One of the main issues for me was the confusion surrounding the plot. It felt like it veered off in an unexpected direction, and not necessarily in a way that felt rewarding or satisfying. This shift left me feeling a bit disconnected, as it wasn’t the journey I had anticipated or hoped for based on the earlier books.

That said, I still have immense affection for these characters. They’ve been beautifully crafted throughout the series, and their stories have resonated with me deeply. Even in this book, their voices remained compelling, and I found myself rooting for them just as passionately as I did in the first two novels.

As always, the author’s writing style was stunning. The prose carried its signature beauty, and there were moments of brilliance that reminded me why I fell in love with this series in the first place. Unfortunately, despite the elegance of the writing, it didn’t have the same gripping effect that the previous books achieved. It lacked the emotional pull and the narrative momentum that had made the earlier parts of the trilogy so extraordinary.

Overall, while The Forever Queen didn’t quite reach the heights I’d hoped for, I still appreciate the journey it provided and the way it tied up certain aspects of the story. It may not have been the conclusion I dreamed of, but it still held moments that made the experience worthwhile. I’ll continue to cherish the trilogy as a whole, even if this final chapter fell a little short for me.

Thank you Net Galley and Second Sky for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward it the conclusion of this trilogy after the first two books, but unfortunately did not quite feel the same love for this finale. Perhaps it's because I did the first two books on audio but read this one on kindle, but it felt like parts of the story slow and repetitive, and I often found myself not as invested as I wanted to be. After some of the pacing felt slow throughout the book, suddenly the ending felt quite rushed and disjointed.

Despite all that, there were still aspects that I really did love. Ashley's writing is beautiful, and as such it wasn't too hard to pick up and finish. There were some character arcs I really enjoyed and actually wished we got more of. There were some heartfelt emotional moment throughout also.

I'm glad I have read the conclusion for the series, but it unfortunately didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Wow what an ending!! I'll say no more so I don't spoil it for readers but this ending was unexpected for me.

As the final book in this trilogy, there were some times where the plot became a little confusing but stick to it and it becomes clear.

I loved that we got to see a lot more of Lir in this book. As MMC's go, he's high up there for me. in this book he shows his dedication and love for Aisling, even though she doesn't remember loving him.

If you enjoy Fae world, magic and enemies to lovers give this trilogy a go!

My 5 star rating relates to how much I enjoyed the trilogy as a whole.

I really enjoyed book one so much and had such high hopes for this series. I enjoyed book two but it left me feeling disappointed, and unfortunately this book lost me entirely. I still appreciate Ashley’s beautiful writing and her ability to create such a beautiful world. But certain plot lines didn’t feel necessary and some completely confused me and didn’t make sense. I feel like the romance between Lir and Aisling was pretty much non existent throughout this whole series. We would get bread crumbs and tension but nothing would ever come of it, and when it did, it was taken away. This book felt like we went backwards and I was personally hoping for something different.

I would have loved to see Lir and Ash work together with their magic to face the mortals in the war and to see them explore and navigate their relationship since they finally came together at the end of book two. Instead, the whole plot revolved around Ash and this belt that took over her mind and made her forget/hate Lir. The whole purpose of this belt, to help Ash be able to wield a sword to fight the mortals, which she didn’t even end up doing. And we didn’t get the ending I was hoping for, which I will not say so I do not spoil anything.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the eARC of this book!

A beautifully written, high-fantasy romance book. I absolutely adore this writing style as it allows the reader to be fully immersed in an other-worldly setting.

This book was PAINFUL. My heart HURTS. Aisling and Lir have secured themselves a spot as one of my all-time favourite couplings. However, Lir goes THROUGH IT in this book and he deserves justice.

Whilst some of the plot lines in this book felt a little annoying, I still loved reading this. The epilogue however… I’m sad and a little disappointed it ended like this just because it HURT ME

Forever Queen is a tender, melancholic finale—emotional, introspective, and heavy with grief and transformation. The heroine we met at the beginning of the series is no longer the same, and this final chapter tries to reflect the cost of that evolution.

That said, this third book didn’t quite resonate with me as much as I had hoped. The rhythm at times weighed down the momentum, and I found myself occasionally struggling to stay fully immersed. Aisling’s persistent internal fog and emotional turmoil, though thematically appropriate, began to feel repetitive and distanced me from her arc rather than deepening it.

Still, there are moments of true beauty: quiet grief, strength in softness, a love that grows through weariness rather than fireworks. It’s a story of healing, of endurance, and of reclaiming one’s voice after loss. It’s softer than the previous books, more subdued in tone—but still filled with meaning.

Tropes:

Queen reclaiming herself

Grief and healing arc

Battle-worn romance

Strength in vulnerability

Found family & loyalty over legacy


A quiet, introspective ending to a powerful series. For me, it didn’t hit as hard emotionally due to the pacing and the mental fog that lingered too long—but it still offered a poetic and thoughtful close to Aisling’s story.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½ / 5

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I was so excited for the conclusion of this series. I loved book 1, but unfortunately felt the series went downhill. This book was a bit dense and took me a while to get into. The last 1/3 of the book was when the pace picked up and I was finally invested in the story. After this point, things moved very fast and it was almost too fast.

The side characters were absent most of this book, which left me wishing for the banter that usually occurred within the group.

I do love the magic and the author of this book series and would definitely read other works by her, but this book just wasn’t my favorite. I also enjoyed the continued development of Aisling and her family working on opposing sides of the war.

Tropes:
Familial betrayal
Unique Magic
Prophecy completion
Forbidden Love
Magical quest

Aisling was facing an inner battle against a foreign object that was taking over her mind for the majority of this book. Which deeply affected the relationship between Lir and Aisling. She spent the majority of the book hating him, but also being confused as to why she hated him. This was definitely something I did not enjoy. Possession is one of my least favorite tropes and the inner battle felt similar to possession.

Aisling and Lir get their happy ending…kinda. The ending made sense with the storyline, despite being a little sad and not what I wanted for them.

Thank you for the Arc NetGalley!

I was a bit hesitant in the beginning of the book, i have read book one and two and they where instant 5 start read. Felt there was something missing but then it grew on me. It to a turn that i really didn’t think and it’s refreshing to res a story that you can entirely predict.

Lir and Aisling gives Drogo and Khaleesi vibes.
The side-characters and world a bit Narnia with the talking animals and trees.

Highly recommend this trilogy!

Thank you Net Galley and Second Sky for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for the conclusion of this trilogy after thoroughly enjoying the first two books, but sadly, this final installment fell short for me. It felt like it strayed away from the story we were following in the earlier books, leaving me confused and disappointed.

One of the biggest challenges I faced was the inclusion of a particular plot line that I personally struggled with, which dampened my enjoyment of the story. Without spoiling, I’ll just say it had to do with a particular magical belt. While I appreciated some aspects, such as Lir’s chapters, other parts felt slow and repetitive, and I often found myself frustrated.

Pacing was another issue for me. The book had moments that dragged, with the story taking a long time to pick up, but the ending felt rushed and lacked the satisfying conclusion I was looking forward to. The previous books were fast-paced and engaging, but this one felt disjointed in comparison.

The romance also felt disconnected and lacking an emotional depth which was largely due to what Aisling was going through in this book. Moments that should’ve been impactful were overshadowed by other plot elements which made it hard for me to stay invested or left me feeling incredibly annoyed.

Despite my disappointment, there were still some enjoyable elements, including a few well-written character arcs and intriguing moments. However, as a whole, this book didn’t meet my expectations, and I ended the series feeling let down.

3/5⭐️ I was SO excited for this one and if I’m being honest, it just did not live up to my expectations. It had such a slow start that I was not anticipating since the first 2 books were 5⭐️ reads for me! It was still a nice ending to the trilogy. I found that I didn’t love Aisling as much in this book, and maybe that was partly due to Anduril. That stupid belt was getting on my last nerve. Lir was the star of the show for me. He can do no wrong. It was so nice to see him continue to fight for Aisling and defending her throughout the book. Overall this was a great trilogy!

Thank you to Ashley Metzler, Second Sky publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I have been hooked on this trilogy from the first sentence of the first book. This 3rd book was not only incredibly slow, but very disappointing. That said I do enjoy this author and look forward to future books.

This ending is the epidemy of all the feelings this series gave me and so genuine to the story but this HURT. I feel like I should process more but its been 2 hours and I can't not say whats on my mind anymore. This book somehow still gave me yearning!! WHATTT!? That 3/3 on yearning!

The characters were great. I wish we had more on the court members, but that is only because I loved those characters so much. Naturally, I'm feral for the MMC, and wow, were his chapters savoured. The FMC, however,.... I found insufferable, and it was hard to get through her chapters (in THIS book). BUT that goes in line with the story. It all makes sense now! The brother’s presence confused me a little bit. I don't know why he was there, but I am kind of crushing on him, so I’m not mad at it. There are so many characters in this series that I loathe, but they are meant to be loathed, and I adore that feeling.
The setting and the writing are top tier. I adore this world! It is so mystical and magical. I can picture everything so vividly because the author writes so beautifully and in such a lyrical/poetic way. I can't wait to read more of Ashley Metzler’s writing in the future. I'm just going to be waiting here, rereading my favorite passages until I can.
The plot lost me a little sometimes, but the ultimate goal was always clear, and the adventures and obstacles to get there were so fun!

Ultimately, this trilogy could not have had a more impactful conclusion. I don't think I will EVER truly process that ending, or maybe it’s that it hurts too much to think about. I am so happy that I have read this series. I always love new reads, but I never thought these books would become part of my prized possessions as they have today by requesting the ARC for The Mortal Queen.
"The Forever Queen" was so captivating, and I loved how the author emphasized how interwoven love and hate can sometimes be. There are so many passages that made my heart and soul ache; I could not forget them if I tried. I will be purchasing the physical copy asap to complete the trilogy and rereading these passages again and again in the future, I highly recommend starting this journey if you dare!!!

-Thank you so much to Netgalley, Ashley Metzler and Secondsky publishing for the E-ARC of this book, i'll forever cherish this journey ;)

I want to say thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

This book is well written which saves it some stars. Normally Ashley Metzler has been great with aligning her stories with their titles but my gosh this one doesn't do that. I've followed along now through all 3 books, the first took a while for me to get into but I liked it enough to request the second. The second gave me every thing I wanted and so much more, it completely befit its title. This though this torn my heart to pieces and not in a good way.

First the ending, I can see it I can get. But literally ? After everything that's gone on, this is what happens? Well I can see how it works , there's so many holes in there it's ridiculous and it's not a happy ending one little bit. The whole times it's power, finding herself, hatred, a well done forget my love trope, and fighting. All that happens, and you'd think she'd have the one thing she kept wanting most of all, which was freedom, to be free and all we've done is go in a circle. How is this different than how she started? Does it feel like reality? Yes. Countless people everyday get kicked down and trapped inside their heads and in reality. No matter what they do in life, life keeps taking hits. But everyday those people still possess a life. This wasn't that at all. She doesn't have a life, it's always a title and entrapment, when she's so close to hopefully having one this is what we get? It just hurts.

I've been so invested and so in love with this world, and this felt half done, empty, so hollow. This was a series I thought I was going to bring home to keep rereading whenever I needed it, but I can't now. Instead of being the Final book the Queen of forever, this will forever be the final book in a series that stole the original joy it brought me. It's not a bad book at all but it's one I could never bring myself to read again.

Thank you so much again I really appreciate being able to have closure with this series.

Ok I've slept on it and gathered my thoughts. Im so upset with this book. I gave this 4 stars because I absolutely loved book 1 and 2, I loved Lirs character, and I loved the dark classic folklore faerie vibe of the Seelie, Unseelie, and the fearie magic. I dont think this book by itself is a 4 star book, I still love it even though it definitely fell flat at times and hurt my feelings.

My disappointment, unfortunately started as early as the beginning of the book. The beginning felt so rushed and awkward. Lir and Aisling didnt feel like they were acting like themselves. And can we talk about Fionn???? What is up with him showing up and suddenly being helpful??? this was the strangest thing for me that I couldnt get over. He was so bent on either conquering or killing Aisling in book 2, him being helpful and apologetic felt so wrong. Even if it was for all of fearie kind, I dont think he would be selfless enough to help the way he did.

I also hated the belt. I hated that its name was anduril - thats way too close to Lord of the Rings for comfort. Im just glad it was a belt and not a sword. The belt also stayed on way too long. I am also not convinced wearing the belt is something Aisling would actually do. Shes been so conscious of faerie magic and trickery and now suddenly shes ok with ignoring all that to put on the belt?? just so she can be good aw sword fighting?? It just felt so forced and out of character to me. She has always known shes not a physical fighter and shes overcome her weaknesses with her other strengths throughout book 1 and 2 this felt off kilter to me.

The belt was bad but then the belt taking her memories was worse. Worse in that I didnt like it but it hurt my hear for Lir. The belt should have come off way sooner than it did. this plot line dragged on way too long.

while i dont hate the storyline of going into 'the other' to retrieve the goblet, I was really thinking there would be more of Danu, the Lady, and the mortals in this book. I wish there had been more of a showing of conflict between them instead of the strange dreams we get.

Once they go to 'The Other' I feel like the prose got its groove back and started to flow more and the characters started acting like themselves again, and things slowed down a bit.

I think Lir was the true star of this story. Lir can wax poetic. I love this seelie king so much. My heart ached for him this entire book. I am so unbelievably upset with how this ended. Upset because im so sad for Lir. This ending was so bittersweet and I hated it. But also upset because did this really need to happen????? Did Aisling really need to die???? I feel like we didnt need to go ripping peoples hearts out here. Also the baby????????? If the author reveals at any point that this is not Aislings baby I will riot. I'm so upset with that epilogue. Im so sad with how this story ended. I was ready to be ok with both of them dying but not with this. My heart is not ok with this.

Im so conflicted on this book. This 4 stars is all my love for Lir.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC.

I absolutely adored book 1 & 2 but book 3 sadly fell flat. The plot was unclear at times. I didn’t understand some of the motivations at times.

Aisling is very unlikable in this book. A mysterious belt is gifted to her and although others told her not too she decided because she needed power to do what she wanted. The belt took over her brain and she forgot Lir.

Also poor Lir. This fae was done for Aisling and she always seemed to be running from him. He never really got the chance to have her wholeheartedly.

There were situations that could have changed the book, like where Lir and Aisling were on a boat together and fighting. Why leave instead of finishing everyone off? These two were all powerful, even with extra magic from the Lady the way Lir and Aisling’s magic came together should have demolished the humans.

This book was just everywhere. It didn’t finish things with Fionne. It set up something that may have been a decent storyline but forgot it.

The belt just became nothing after awhile. Oh and it’s not unbeatable because apparently Lir can over power it.

Lir running into the meadow like it’s life or death to get to Aisling. Why? She was doing what you wanted her to do. What was the rush?

Lir all powerful, can see things coming before they do get randomly stabbed by Aisling’s brother while everyone is just kind of standing around? Hmm. Doesn’t seem plausible.

The characters say and do things that don’t make sense. Ex: Aisling starts to seduce Lir then stops after he says “I am your ruin.” She then goes on to explain why he’s this bad guy. It doesn’t make sense.

This quest to get an item no one else has ever got is like legit easy.

I missed the burn of passion of the other books. I missed the Aisling that was vulnerable. I didn’t like her in this one. The one thing I did like was the adventure they went on. It was fun. The rest just didn’t sit well with me.

Also the end. HEA? Open to interpretation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Second Sky for the ARC.

I was gave an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Thank you NetGalley and Source Fire Books for letting me review this e-ARC.

I just want to say, I have been on this journey since this first book came out under Aisling: Breath of the New Creature and patiently waited for book two and devoured it. I was so excited for these to be picked up by a publisher because I really enjoyed this series!

I also was very excited to get to review book three early, since obviously I had been waiting for awhile lol.

Here are my thoughts. I really enjoy Ashley's writing style and the way she tells a story. I want to say, that I expected a lot more out of this book and it fell a little flat for me... I feel like there were a lot of plot holes that just didn't quite make sense. I was also very disappointed with the ending. I have been on this journey for years now and wish that this had ended differently...

Thank you net galley for letting me read this book. I really enjoyed this series, it was such a different story to other books I’ve read. I did find this book good yet frustrating, after waiting 2 books for them to fall in love, to then be kept apart frustrated me so much. I also found the ending confusing, are they together? Is that her baby? That doesn’t take away from the great storyline though. I’ll keep an eye out for this author for future books.

This series is simply amazing and I can’t believe it’s over! I found Aisling when it was indie published and quickly became my favorite series of all time. Ashley had such a beautiful way with words. She paints such an immersive picture and atmosphere. From the beasts, to the sentient trees, to the Sidhe. Lir and Aisling are such a powerful force. The slowburn is my favorite. I felt tortured with Aisling’s memories of Lir being taken away because of the Blood Cord. Memory loss is my least favorite trope, but I made an exception for this book. I think their story ended perfectly, even if bittersweet. It makes sense. I will miss them, but I will for sure reread.

This book just really missed the mark overall for me. The romance between Aisling and Lir felt very lackluster compared to the previous two books. In my opinion their romance was strongest in the first book and then has gradually been declining. Their connection almost felt nonexistent at times.

I feel as if the story focused far too much on Aisling fighting the ancient artifacts power and her memories. I believe this is part of the reason that the romance was not as good. Aisling spent majority of the book hating Lir and viewing him as her enemy.

I also really disliked the ending. While they do end up together in the end, the other world prevents them from seeing each other except for one time a year. They also have a child together which leaves Lir to care for it forever since the child can also only see her once a year. It was not the typical happy ending that I usually enjoy from books. While I understand the reasoning for things to end as they did, I just didn't enjoy it. Thank you to Netgalley, Second Sky, and Ashley Metzler for an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion.

While I thought this was a great ending to the trilogy, the conclusion felt a bit rushed and confusing. For instance, what happened with all the other sovereigns? Also I feel as thought that some of the relationships from the past two books were overshadowed in this book. Like Gallad? He should have been given more of a story in this than he was. Overall, I thought it was a great story!