Tag: Romance

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Book: “The Coven” by Harper L. Woods

Publishing Info: Bramble, August 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Raised to be my father’s weapon against the Coven that took away his sister and his birthright, I would do anything to protect my younger brother from suffering the same fate. My duty forces me to the secret town of Crystal Hollow and the prestigious Hollow’s Grove University―where the best and brightest of my kind learn to practice their magic free from human judgment.

There are no whispered words here. No condemnation for the blood that flows through my veins. The only animosity I face comes from the beautiful and infuriating Headmaster, Alaric Grayson Thorne, a man who despises me just as much as I loathe him and everything he stands for.

But that doesn’t mean secrets don’t threaten to tear the school in two. No one talks about the bloody massacre that forced it to close decades prior, only the opportunity it can afford to those fortunate enough to attend.

Because for the first time in fifty years, the Coven will open its wards to the Thirteen.

Thirteen promising students destined to change the world.

If the ghosts of Hollow’s Grove’s victims don’t kill them first.

Review: So, I’ll be honest, I was a bit nervous going into this one, because based on the description alone I was getting strong “Gothikana” vibes. And we all remember how I felt about that… That said, there was a reason I picked that book up in the first place, and it’s the same one that drew my interest in this book: dark academia! I’m also always down for gothic vibes and romance. Though, I’m always a bit concerned when we venture too far into the realm of “student/teacher” type love stories. But let’s see how this one did!

Well, I did struggle a bit with this one, but it was definitely not the complete dumpster fire that was “Gothikana,” so at least we’re moving in the right direction! For one thing, this one was simply better written. The prose flows fairly well and, for the most part, the dialogue feels natural. And since we’re starting with writing, I’ll say that the spicy scenes were on the better side as well. This, of course, is very subjective, but I often find myself cringing during many authors’ approach to intimate scenes, but these seemed to be on the better side, avoiding many of the pitfalls I personally struggle with.

I also enjoyed the start of the book and meeting the main character, Willow. Her magical abilities were interesting and her backstory for why she was coming in to the school late felt like it was leading to a good arc. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the male main character, Gray. Not only does the book lean hard into “insta-love” between these two, but Gray is a fairly unlikable character all around. Now, to be fair, the author did provide a note in the beginning of the book about this character’s villainous tendencies, so I can’t say that I wasn’t warned. At the same time, he’s truly unlikable! There’s a fine line between writing a love interest who falls on the darker side of things, and then writing one who is just a manipulative jerk and a walking red flag. Gray is definitely the latter. So much so that I felt even more attached to Willow purely on a maternal level in that I kept wanting to dive into the book and be like “Girl, no!”

The plot was also all over the place. Things were happening, sure, but at times it felt almost random. Plot points would be introduced, dropped, re-visited and discarded at any given moment. It was incredibly difficult to know what exactly I was meant to be focusing in on at any moment, and this erratic approach to plotting left the pacing very off. I found myself becoming more bored than I should have been, given the amount of action that was taking place. But if all of the plot pieces are as disconnected as these, it’s almost the same as having no plot in the first place.

Overall, this was just an ok read. I’ll probably check out the second one, just because I’m trying to give more authors/series a second chance, but I do have concerns, based on this book. There is potential here, but the balance between the “romance” (insta-love) and the actual plot of the story felt off. I’d say readers who enjoy very villainous, dark romantic leads are the most likely to enjoy this one. But if you’re at all wary on that front, probably best to pass this one up.

Rating 7: There was potential in the main character and some of the fantasy elements, but I hated the male main character way too much to bump this one further up.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Coven” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Best Romantasy Books from Indie Authors in 2023 and Red Flowers – Covers.

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Bound to the Shadow Prince” by Ruby Dixon

Publishing Info: W by Wattpad Books, July 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: In order to protect her kingdom from the wrath of a vengeful goddess, Princess Candra must remain locked inside a tower for seven years. Seven long years without a friend―or a lover―by her side. And shut inside the tower with her? A Fellian, the enemy of her people, a fearsome warrior race complete with wings and claws and fangs. Nemeth is terrifying, cruel, and disturbingly magnetic. Candra should kill him for his supplies, but she’s desperate for his company…and his touch.

As time inside the unchanging tower rolls on, Candra uncovers the man behind the stony facade. And when their tenure hits an unexpected snag, Candra and Nemeth are forced to make a difficult choice. They’ll need to face an outside world they no longer recognize, one that threatens their lives and their surprising love.

Review: While I’m aware of the phenomenon that is Ruby Dixon’s “Ice Planet Barbarians” series, I’ve been a bit hesitant to jump in. While I enjoy SFF romance, I’m also incredibly picky with the balance between the fantasy elements and the romance. Plus, I’ve never really pushed my boundaries on the romance genre with more wacky paranormal beings than your usual vampires and werewolves. All of that to say, when I saw that she was releasing a stand-alone romantasy title, I though this would be the perfect opportunity to see what all of the fuss was about!

I’ll be honest, I went into this one fairly skeptical, ready to shift away to my every-growing TBR pile at the slightest provocation. And, initially, that’ s the way I thought it might go. The first few chapters before we get to the tower were a bit of a slog as I found it difficult to really like any of the characters on the page, including our heroine. But hoo boy! The minute the story got to the tower, the love interest was introduced, and the general stakes of the plot (being trapped in a dark tower for seven years) settled in, I was locked in!

If nothing else, Dixon’s style of writing is the definition of “approachable” and “engaging.” She simply has a fun and snappy way of writing that is quick to pull readers in and make the story feel action-packed, even when, objectively not much is really happening (again, see the fact that our main characters are stuck alone in a tower.) Given the restrictions of this setting, it was truly impressive how engaging Dixon made this portion of the story. It was so engaging, in fact, that I was almost disappointed when the story shifted in the second half of the book. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed a lot of that as well. But I will say that I probably would have been more than happy to have spent the entire book simply in the tower with our two main characters.

I also really enjoyed our main characters. Candra was a fun POV character, though as the story continued, I did find myself wishing for a bit more from her with personal growth or a more defined character arc. Some of the late-book action does speak to some changes in her perspective, but it still wasn’t a lot. But what we do get is still enjoyable! On the other hand, I really loved Nemeth! I’ll admit, again, that part of my hesitation about the “Barbarians” series and this one was how well the romance would translate for a very, um, non-human love interest. But Nemeth is so endearing in almost every way that you can’t help but love him! He was bookish and bashful, but also protective and confident when it mattered. It was also nice to have a love interest who so easily embodied the caretaker role in the relationship without this being commented on or seen as in conflict with any of his other character traits.

I will add here that that this book is DEFINITELY spicy, so readers should have that in mind! I knew it would be, of course, but this book makes “Bride” look like, well, a blushing bride as far as some of its spicy moments go. One thing that stood out in the positive for this book vs. other very spicy books that I’ve read was the timeline and progression of the romance. All too often, romantasy has an “instalust/instalove” problem where the book is so eager to get to the love scenes that character work and plotting suffer, ultimately making the spice scenes read as undeserved. Here, not only do you have to read a significant ways into the book to get to the love scenes, but the in-world timeline is over a year before Nemeth and Candra really start becoming intimate in any way. It was refreshing!

As I mentioned, the second half of the book took a major shift in the plot. And while I liked a lot of what this brought into the story, this is also the part of the book that I struggled with more. For one thing, given the nature of what is going on in the story, the numerous spicy scenes in this later half of the book started to feel like they were breaking up the pacing. They also began to feel a bit repetitive, and I think the book would have been better served, ultimately, to have cut out a few of these. There was also the seemingly required third act/late game challenge of trust thrown into the romance. This is a staple of romance plotlines, where right towards the end something goes terribly wrong (distrust, miscommunication, etc. etc.) that makes our characters start questioning their relationship. I almost always hate this part of romance novels, as I rarely feel as if these moments feel justified or believable. So, too, here. Some of the distrust we see is so obviously misplaced in light of the entire rest of the story that it was almost laughable. For all that I enjoyed the fact that this love story took place over the course of years, it made this late-game trust issue all the more silly. These are characters who recently fell in love or who haven’t had time to fully understand one another. As typical for me with these twists in romance novels, I began to roll my eyes a bit during this part.

Overall, however, this was a really fun read! It’s heavy on the spice and romance, so readers who enjoy that will likely love this one. I was also impressed with the measured pace of the romance and the endearing love interest. I’ll definitely be checking out more from Dixon in the future!

Rating 8: Fast-paced and fun with a nice love story at its heart, definitely one for the spicy romance readers!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bound to the Shadow Prince” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2024 – Paranormal Romance (Standalones and 1st in Series)

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Book: “The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst

Publishing Info: Bramble, July 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Review: Sarah Beth Durst is one of those strange authors for me. On one hand, I’ve really loved some of her books; I gave “The Bone Maker” a 9 rating! But on the other hand, while I started out enjoying her “Queens of Renthia” trilogy, by the end, I was incredibly frustrated by the series and gave the final book a 5 rating. But given how much I’ve enjoyed some of her books, she’s still an “auto-request” author for me. Plus, “The Spellshop” sounded like just the sort of cozy fantasy I was hankering for!

So, with that introduction out of the way, I’ll jump to the end of the review and say that this book fell solidly in the middle of things for me. It didn’t live up to the highs that I’ve enjoyed from this author, but it also was far from the worst. But let’s start with the things I unequivocally liked. And the first thing that comes to mind is the tone and “vibe” of this story. This book leans in hard to the “cozy” aspect of its subgenre, and, for the most part, does it very successfully. It’s whimsical, humorous, and full to the brim with lovable characters, including a wide cast of fantastical villagers, a beguiling leading man, and, of course, the hilarious sentient spider plant that is Kiela’s best friend. Durst’s style of writing is also well suited to this sort of light-hearted fare, and it was easy to want to sink into the lush scenes that were painted on the page.

There were two aspects of the story, however, that began to drag it down. One of them was Kiela herself. I have to say, I was honestly surprised by this turn of events since when Kiela was first introduced, she was hitting all of the right notes for me. Her devotion to her books was both compelling but also funny at times, and her general reflections on her circumstances were initially quite interesting and had me eager to follow her on her journey. However, once she really started to settle in to the run-down cottage, things took an extreme turn for the worse. What I had initially pegged as a love of solitude that was played up a bit for laughs I quickly realized was in fact Kiela being incredibly naive and, at times, fairly rude. I was shocked when I realized that she somehow thought she was going to live in this abandoned cottage and no one was even going to notice, that she’d somehow be able to sustain herself completely independently based on…what? It was honestly so silly that I was taken aback. From there, she proceeds to be “rescued” from this silliness by her kind-hearted, handsome neighbor who essentially feeds her and fixes her house. And she proceeds to berate him and be rude. I understood the first time, but then she seems to double down, and I found myself beginning to mentally root for her neighbor, thinking he could do better and should just leave her to her own foibles.

I also began to struggle with the world-building and plotting as the story continued. I simply don’t understand how this magic system operates in the way it does. It seems that all that is needed in this world to do magic is to know the correct incantation and say it. That being the case, it was incredibly hard to believe that this information had been successfully restricted in the way that it had. Beyond that, I began to question more basic things. For example, when we first visit the tiny local village, Kiela describes meeting a handful of very diverse fantasy beings. We’re talking a faun-like creature, another faun-like creature but with wings, a centaur, a being with four arms, Kiela herself (a blue humanoid being) and more. All of these on what we are repeatedly (!) told is a tiny, remote island. And, I’m sorry, I just couldn’t stop wondering about how the biology of this all worked! These sure sound like different species of people, and yet they’re all on a tiny island where you have to imagine there are very few of each and…well, you understand my confusion. It was things like this that left me feeling as if the actual cohesion of the world-building was sacrificed at the alter of cozy vibes. All of these people were adorable in their own right and clearly stood in for the type of “quirky villagers” you’d find in a similar cozy mystery. But this is a fantasy world still, these things need to make sense as well.

I also struggled a bit with some of the plot and Kiela’s own motivations and priorities. She begins the story hyper-focused on protecting the secrets of the books at all costs. Again, we hear all about this repeatedly (if you haven’t caught up, being a bit repetitive was also a sticking point). But as the story continues, she quickly flips to not only selling the spells of these books but outright teaching others how to use them (again, from a practical point, would this be a believable choice for someone whose only source of income is selling these spells??).

Overall, this was just an ok book for me. There were moments that were truly enjoyable, and when I wasn’t distracted by questions about the world or Kiela’s decisions, I could find myself sinking easily into the experience of the story. But that’s just it, it felt more like an experience than a fully-realized story. If you’re a big cozy fantasy fan, this might still be a great fit for you! But if you’re a fantasy reader who needs there to be more meat on the bones of your fantasy world, this one will come up lacking.

Rating 7: Vacillating wildly between enjoyably cozy moments and frustrating pitfalls in world-building and characterization, this book was a bit all over the place.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Spellshop” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Cozy Fantasy Romance reads.

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Book: “A Rivalry of Hearts” by Tessonja Odette

Publishing Info: Crystal Moon Press, June 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Two rival writers.
One prestigious publishing contract.
A bargain of hearts and seduction.

They say never bargain with the fae. They also say don’t get drunk on fae wine. Yet romance author Edwina Danforth has managed a blunder with both on her first visit to the infamous faelands. Now she’s trapped in a magic-fueled bet she barely remembers with a man she’d be happier to forget. The terms? Whoever can bed the most lovers during their month-long dueling book tour wins a coveted publishing contract.

The win should be easy for Edwina. She’s known for penning scintillating tales of whirlwind romance. There’s just one her imagination vastly exceeds her bedroom experience. But when failure means plummeting her career back into obscurity, losing isn’t an option.

Her handsome fae rival, William Haywood, poses an even greater challenge. Not only are his looks as aggravatingly perfect as his track record behind closed doors, but he has his own reasons for playing to win, and he won’t go down without a fight. Unless, of course, it’s a different kind of going down. In that case, he’s fair game.

Edwina and William clash in a rivalry of romance. But what happens when their objects of desire…turn out to be each other?

Review: I requested this one from NetGalley kind of on a whim. On one hand, it sounded like the kind of book that would be right up my alley: historical fantasy with a hefty dose of humor and romance! But on the other hand, I’ve been burned by the “cozy” subgenre of fantasy/romance many times in the past, so I’m always fairly apprehensive, especially when reading a new-to-me author. But this book is proof that it’s good to still go out on a limb with these things! Not only did I enjoy this book, but now I have an author with a back catalog that I can’t wait to check out!

There was so much to like about this book that I’m not quite sure where to start! I guess what it often comes down to with books like this, for me, is tone. How well does the author manage to capture the voice of her characters and do these inner voices translate into the cozy nature of the story itself. And on both counts, the answer is definitely yes! The banter was excellent, often leaving me chuckling aloud. And each main character perfectly balanced their growing interest in the the other character alongside a more meaningful personal arc. While the narrative was sweet and funny throughout much of it, this added level of heart helped balance out the book into a well-rounded finished product.

I also really liked the way the romance itself played out. This was very much a rivals-to-lovers scenario, but the author wisely didn’t draw out the rivals aspect of it beyond the point of reason (something that I often see in other romances like this, the same with enemies-to-lovers). Importantly, while their “rivalry” starts out in the typical “bad first impression” manner, as the story progresses, each character is given real stakes behind why they must compete with the other. I also enjoyed the “he falls first” aspect of this romance, especially given William’s unique backstory with regards to forming attachments and affection.

For her part, Edwina was an excellent leading character. I’d have to go back and check, but I believe we get more chapters from her perspective than Will’s, and this makes sense as she’s the avatar for the reader, also experiencing the land of Fae for the first time. I also enjoyed the overlay of Edwina’s life in the human world with all of the historical outfittings that come with that now travelling through the land of Fae that has very different fashions and cultures.

This was a blast of a read in pretty much way! This is definitely a spicy romance, so keep that in mind if you pick it up. That said, I think these scenes were done well, being both romantic and, notably, not off-putting with weird word choices and out-of-character actions. The plot is fairly straight forward, as you might expect. But the lovely characters, sweet romance, and bright sparkling world more than made up for it! Plus, we are introduced to the next couple in line to get a story, and I’m definitely going to check out that book the second it comes out!

Rating 8: Whimsical and romantic, this is a great book for any cozy fantasy fan looking for their next spicy read!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Rivalry of Hearts” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Pink Flowers – Covers and June 2024 Most Anticipated Romance Releases.

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Wren in the Holly Library” by K. A. Linde

Publishing Info: Entangled: Red Tower Books, June 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Can you love the dark when you know what it hides? Some things aren’t supposed to exist outside of our imagination.

Thirteen years ago, monsters emerged from the shadows and plunged Kierse’s world into a cataclysmic war of near-total destruction. The New York City she knew so well collapsed practically overnight. In the wake of that carnage, the Monster Treaty was created. A truce…of sorts.

But tonight, Kierse—a gifted and fearless thief—will break that treaty. She’ll enter the Holly Library…not knowing it’s the home of a monster. He’s charming. Quietly alluring. Terrifying. But he knows talent when he sees it; it’s just a matter of finding her price.

Now she’s locked into a dangerous bargain with a creature unlike any other. She’ll sacrifice her freedom. She’ll offer her skills. Together, they’ll put their own futures at risk. But he’s been playing a game across centuries—and once she joins in, there will be no escape…

Review: I was excited to check this one out when a publicist reached out with a copy for review! For one thing, the cover is lovely, and I’m always happy to have more pretty books. On top of that, either the author or the publisher knew what they were doing to pique a librarian’s interest: 1.) simply include the word “library” in your title (yes, we are that easy to please) and 2.) blurb the book as a vague re-telling of “Beauty and the Beast.” You know, the story where the hero gifts the heroine an actual library. So, let’s see how this all bore out!

While this wasn’t quite the perfect read I was hoping for, there was still a lot of really good stuff included, so let’s start with all of the positives. One of the first things that stood out to me was the unique world-building. I very much enjoyed the modern urban fantasy setting and the way the author played with the idea of a New York City that is still recovering from a massive reveal: that monsters are real. Especially in the first section of the book, we spend a decent amount of time roaming the streets with our main character and her friends, exploring all the various ways in which this shift in reality affected every bit of society. In some ways, nothing has changed, with the rich still able to essentially buy their way out of the monster problem. But in a myriad of more subtle ways, the entire culture of the city has shifted, from the lack of a night life to the delicate balance of politics at play between the city’s human and monster populaces. I very much appreciated how much time and effort the author put in to creating this world, and it was one of the things that really pulled me through the first half of the book when I was struggling a bit with the pacing and character work.

The characters were a bit more of a mixed bag. On one hand, I liked the fact that many of the characters, especially our two main leads, were truly morally grey characters. Our heroine essentially spends the first bit of the book telling readers that she got into theft simply because she enjoyed stealing, full stop. And then turned out to be good at it, hence her job. Unlike “bestest best assassins” who never kill anyone and when they do they then break down with massive internal crises, I appreciated that the author simply allowed her characters to be a bit questionable. This is a dark world, and in many ways, we see again and again that only those able to adapt have even survived up to this point.

That said, I did struggle to really connect to Kierce (weird name alert). In the first chapter, I really enjoyed her. She meets the mysterious love interest, and, overall, manages herself well, being both reasonable in her actions, entertaining in her commentary, and, notably, not simply overcome by good looks as so many heroines seem to be. That said, as the story continued, I struggled more and more to maintain my interest. Part of the problem, I think, is that shortly after this first chapter, Kierce goes back into the world and the reader is quickly introduced to a huge cast of supporting characters, all with various connections to Kierce and her life. It simply became overwhelming, and given how many of them there were, I was never quite sure where I was supposed to be directing my interest. Further, because so many characters are introduced quickly, many of them felt like they were presented in a flurry of “check box traits lists” before the reader was hurried on to meet the next one.

This wasn’t helped by the very nature of the story; that it, it’s one chock full of betrayal and secrecy. That being the case, for most of the read, I was left feeling off-balance and, again, unable to connect to any of these characters as they were constantly revealing/withholding information and betraying one another, to the point that it was almost easier to disconnect a bit than to try to keep track of motivations on an individual basis.

And, lastly, I didn’t particularly enjoy the spicy scenes in this one. The dialogue in these scenes, especially, felt a bit cringe-y to me. But this is an incredibly subjective area, so I’m sure other readers will not struggle with it the way I did.

All of that said, I do think this book has potential as the beginning of a series. The world-building was interesting and the writing was fairly strong throughout. Honestly, I think this will be a hit for a lot of urban fantasy fans who are looking for a spicy romance read as well. I struggled with some of the character work, but I’m also hopeful that some of this is now resolved in this first book and I will enjoy the sequel more. If this one has been on your TBR list, it’s probably worth checking out!

Rating 7: An intriguing world people with truly morally grey characters, though perhaps a bit too keen to betray and withhold information from one another.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Wren in the Holly Library” should be on this Goodreads list: Speculative Fiction Heist/Caper Stories

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King” by Carissa Broadbent

Publishing Info: Bramble, June 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.

The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.

When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.

But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power – and the devastating love that could be her downfall.

Previously Reviewed: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night”

Review: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night” was one of those rare books where I actually could see what all the hype was about! Were there familiar concepts employed? Sure. Was the romance fairly straight-forward? Yes. Was the twist a bit predictable? Yeah. But you know what? The characters were interesting, thought had clearly went into the world-building, and the writing was compelling. And most of all, I simply had a fun time reading it! All of that to say, this was one of my most highly anticipated sequels for the first half of the year!

So, this book didn’t quite reach the highs of the first book, but overall, it was still an excellent sequel! For one thing, I appreciated the way some of the reveals at the end of the first book were followed up on here, most especially Oraya’s relationship with her recently deceased father. While most readers are here for the romantic relationship, I think it is this complicated father/daughter relationship that really holds the true character arc of this story. As the story progresses, we peal back layers of trauma and crippling expressions of love. There is clearly darkness in this relationship, and much of this book is Oraya attempting to reconcile the man she grew up with with the man her father truly was. But instead of taking the easy way out, Broadbent doesn’t simply vilify this character and go from there. Instead, the story explores the nuances of this relationship, the way that love, hatred, and fear can become so wrapped up in one another as to be nearly indistinguishable. How people can hurt those they love best, all while convincing themselves that they are protecting them.

As for the plot, while the “Hunger Games” style competition of the first book was a fairly familiar device, I did find myself missing it some here. I often enjoy books that get into the nitty gritty of court politics, but for some reason I struggled to enjoy this elements as much here. For one thing, I felt like most of the players were fairly obvious, with the reader largely already knowing who stands where, who can be trusted, and what must be done. That being the case, much of the story then feels like a waiting game for our main characters to catch up.

I did enjoy the romance, for the most part. Again, due to the events of the first book, there’s definitely a slow build up in this area. Oraya’s trust has been broken badly, so it takes quite a while for her to come around again. And while this is understandable and necessary for good characterization, it did make the first half of the book drag a bit. I did appreciate, however, that Raihn was simply all-in on this relationship and simply spent the majority of the relationship wooing Oraya back to him.

I’m not sure how I feel about the decision to include POV chapters for Raihn in this book. On one hand, we learn more about his own history, which was very interesting. But on the other hand, his POV lead to one of my biggest annoyances with the book: the repetition of the phrase “there she is.” He would say this whenever Oraya seemed to return to her fierce, feisty self. The first time, it was kind of cute. The second time…ok, I see what we’re doing here. But then it just kept happening! Seriously, I stopped counting the number of times he said this at a certain point. All of the romance of the line was completely sapped and it instead turned into one of those annoying phrases that immediately threw me out of the book whenever it came up. I wish an editor had flagged this as something that needed to be paired back. Broadbent is a talented writer, so I know she’s capable of better writing then this level of repetition indicates.

Overall, however, I found this to be a completely satisfying sequel! It came through in all of the ways I wanted (a satisfying conclusion to the romance and central conflict) and even tackled a level of depth and nuance with regards to Oraya and her father’s relationship that I wasn’t expecting. There were a few writing quirks that got on my nerves, and I do think the plot dragged a bit in the first half. But that said, I think book will likely please fans of the first book, and I’ll be on the lookout for the next book Broadbent releases!

Rating 8: Full to the brim with romance, court politics, and family trauma, an excellent sequel all around!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King” is on these Goodreads lists: New Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy and Romance Novels with King in the Title.