Tag Archives: romantasy

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Romantasy Novella Review: Feral is the Beast

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

“I will not be attracted to this a**hole, no matter how pretty he is.”

Thank you to the author for the review copy! 

Feral is the Beast 
By Nisha J. Tuli 
Series: Cursed Captors, Book 2 
Book 40 of 2024
Pub date: March 20, 2024

.    .   .   .   .   .    .  series info   .   .   .   .    .   .   .   .  

This is a series of standalones, and the books can be read in any order. I have not yet read Book 1, but after reading this, I definitely want to!

.    .   .   .   .   .    .  book review    .   .   .   .    .   .   .   .  

Do you ever find yourself wishing that SHE could be the centuries old immortal and HE was the 20-something? Well, I have the book for you!

I absolutely love Nisha J. Tuli’s writing, and this spicy novella has all of my favorite elements:

✨ sassy, strong willed heroine
✨ absolute disdain for alphaholes
✨ fast paced
✨ lots of romance!

Feral is the Beast is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but our Belle character – Vespera – is a 400ish year old witch in hiding. She’s been forced to work for power hungry kings in the past, and is looking for a quiet life where she can make up for the damage she has caused. She lives in a small town and works as an apothecary. But the town is also home to a castle – where the Feral King lives. This King becomes a beast and frequently attacks unsuspecting villagers, and everyone lives in fear of when he will strike next. 

Vespera soon becomes the King’s prisoner, but refuses to admit to her powers. It’s a fantastic enemies to lovers set up, and we get to learn to like the King right alongside Vespera. I loved the side character Celeste, who forms a friendship with Vespera that shows us Vespera’s softer side. They spend time swapping romance books, and it’s so cute. 

Feral is the Beast is just under 200 pages, so expect a pretty fast pace with lots of spice. 

.    .   .   .   .   .    .  book synopsis    .   .   .   .    .   .   .   .  

The Feral King thinks he’ll break me. But I will break him first.

I’m a 400-year-old witch covered in tattoos—the source of my magic—but I’ve been hiding them for years, trying to escape my past.

After spending centuries at the mercy of royals who thirst only for power and the desire to make up for their less impressive “assets,” I refuse to be used as a tool for evil ever again.

It’s any other night in my apothecary when the Feral King—a beast who eats the local villagers for sport—kidnaps me and demands my help.

When I deny him, he tries to torture me into compliance, but pain and I are long-acquainted friends, and I will never be the one who falls.

This is a high-heat immortal witch and mortal man age-gap fantasy romance with enemies to lovers and forced proximity. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Raven Kennedy, or Jennifer L. Armentrout. Feral is the Beast is book 2 in Cursed Captors, a series of interconnected standalone stories.

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Fantasy Review: Blood & Steel

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Blood & Steel
By Helen Scheuerer
🎧 Narrated by: Mollie Stark and Sebastian Grove 
The Legends of Thezmarr, Book 1
Book 25 of 2024

Thank you to all of my friends who recommended this one, especially Dom & Marie-Lyne! 

✨ On Kindle Unlimited ✨

I absolutely could not put this book down. Plotting wise, it reminded me why I grew up loving fantasy books. Scheuerer manages to build a unique world without dumping a bunch of info on you. The world and conflicts all are introduced while the plot is moving and characters are getting to know each other. 

You all know I love a bada$$ FMC, and Althea is absolutely a warrior among FMCs. 

And of course, the romance is 🔥🔥🔥. I can’t wait to continue with this series! 

🎧 Fantastic narration. I usually need to read a couple of chapters with a print version to get myself really immersed in a new fantasy world, but I felt that this was clear enough that I could just listen to the audiobook without any trouble! 

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Novella Review: Six Scorched Roses

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

✨ Spoiler Free Review ✨

Have you been seeing The Serpent and the Wings of Night series on Bookstagram and been wondering if you want to get into the series? Here’s why you won’t want to skip the novella Six Scorched Roses!

Six Scorched Roses
By Carissa Broadbent
🎧 Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb
Crowns of Nyaxia 1.5
Book 22 of 2024

✨ Reading order ✨

I think this book can technically be considered a standalone, but it was recommended to me to read it in between Book 1 & 2, because the characters introduced in this book do show up in Book 2. I think the world building would be a little confusing if I hadn’t read book 1. 

✨ Review ✨

I am not generally a novella person – I tend to skip them honestly. However, this was a very purposeful and satisfying novella to me! After all of the fighting and action in Book 1, it was nice to spend time with Lilith and her medical experiments. 

Lilith’s town is being ravaged by an illness brought about by a god curse. Her sister is fading before her eyes, but Lilith is committed to finding a cure. 

Six Scorched Roses has a really good mix of plot and romance, and tells a complete story in just 187 pages! It’s a great palette cleanser before you dive into what I’m sure will be an action packed The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King! 

🎧 You might recognize Amanda Leigh Cobb from her work narrating A Court of Wings and Ruin and A Court of Frost and Starlight! She narrates all of the Crowns of Nyaxia books and I love her work. 

✨ KU subscribers can read Six Scorched Roses for free! ✨

[book synopsis ] 

Six roses. Six vials of blood. Six visits to a vampire who could be her salvation… or her damnation.

Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. But while she long ago came to terms with her own imminent death, the deaths of everyone she loves is an entirely different matter. As her town slowly withers in the clutches of a mysterious god-cursed illness, she takes matters into her own hands.

Desperate to find a cure, Lilith strikes a bargain with the only thing the gods hate even more than her village: a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood–the one hope for her town’s salvation.

But when what begins as a simple transaction gradually becomes something more, Lilith is faced with a terrifying realization: It’s dangerous to wander into the clutches of a vampire… and in a place already suffering a god’s wrath, more dangerous still to fall in love with one.

Six Scorched Roses is a standalone fantasy romance novella set in the world of the Crowns of Nyaxia series, perfect for those who love dark, romantic tales with bite and fans of Sarah J. Maas or Jennifer L. Armentrout.

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New Book Tuesday 3/5

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Thank you to the tagged publishers for the gifted books!

What’s on your radar for this week? 

🎁 ARC/ ALC / free publisher mail – noted even if I was sent a widget and didn’t accept it. Everything on this list is something I would like to one day read!

📚 The Bride of Death by F.M. Aden
Gothic Fantasy | Romantasy | BIPOC author

🎁 Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man by Violet Marsh, Forever publishing
Historical Romance | Mystery 

🎁 This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan, Forever publishing
Contemporary romance | BIPOC author 

🎁 Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage, The Dial Press
Cowboy Romance 

🎁 Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon, Simon Books
Modern Hades x Persephone 

QotD: Are any of these on your radar? What are you currently reading? 

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Spoiler Free Fantasy Review: House of Flame and Shadow

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

*No spoilers – just vibes* 

House of Flame and Shadow
By Sarah J. Maas
🎧 Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans
Book 13 of 2024

I have an instagram post with my advice about starting with the world of SJM, and after finishing Crescent City 3: House of Flame and Shadow, I stand by it. I think you will get the *best* reading experience reading the first 3 ACOTAR, all of TOG, the next 2 ACOTAR, and then the Crescent City series. The worlds build on each other, so I think that’s the simplest way to read and be able to catch all of the Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout the worlds.

The Crescent City series is urban fantasy, which I hadn’t read a lot of before diving in, and at first I didn’t like it. Fae, Angels, Demons, Wolf Shifters…and cell phones? And as we often see with SJM heroines, Bryce doesn’t really begin the books as her best self. But it went from jarring – the modern language, the swearing, and again – the cell phones – to something I was absolutely in love with. Bryce is the kind of sassy heroine that I fell in love with reading about since I was a kid, and she reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who is one of my favorite fictional characters. 

I think Book 1 is entirely from Bryce’s POV, but by Book 2 we have multi-POVs. Book 3 switches around even in the middle of chapters, so I think reading it in print is really helpful. However, Maas does well starting each POV clearly, and Elizabeth Evans’ narration makes it pretty clear who we’re following. While I felt like Book 1 had SO MUCH worldbuilding, and Book 2 had SO MUCH hanging out and learning about characters, Book 3 was straight action. The characters didn’t always make decisions that I agreed with, but they were decisions that were true to who they are as people. Overall, it was a very satisfying experience! 

I think what makes reading SJM so fun is the fandom surrounding it. As someone who grew up reading Harry Potter, I crave having a series that I’m reading as it comes out that I can make fan theories about and talk about with other readers. I sometimes wonder if I’m really a true fantasy fan or if I just like to join the fandom of 1-3 ongoing series and ignore the rest of the fantasy books that are being published! 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Fable buddy read! And thank you to all of the people who held my hand through my SJM journey!

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YA Fantasy Review: The Forest Grimm

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

The Forest Grimm
By Kathryn Purdie
🎧 Narrated by: Sarah Ovens 
The Forest Grimm, Book 1 
Book 163 of 2023

YA is such an interesting age range. Some books feel like they are written for 13 year olds, some for 16 year olds, and some for actual young adults. This one felt like “true” YA to me – the characters and stakes felt like it was written for teenagers. There wasn’t a lot of moral gray area, but characters did have to make big choices and show a lot of courage. 

All images shown were taken by me, featuring the Fairyloot edition of The Forest Grimm.

The Forest Grimm itself is filled with fairytale characters that you might find in the original Grimm’s versions – creepy but less moralistic. It was a fun play on the stories I was so familiar with. If you are a ‘fraidy cat like me, the creep factor was pretty mild, think a Disney original Halloween movie, not something truly frightening that will give you nightmares. (If I was a kid it might though – just wait until you meet Hansel and Gretel.) 

I read this as a buddy read with a friend over on the clock app, which was really fun. I had a prediction that I was ABSOLUTELY convinced I was right about – and I usually am when it comes to YA Fantasy. But Purdie surprised me! The reveal was logical but more surprising, and I really enjoyed that aspect. 

Overall, I’m on the fence about continuing this series. It’s good, but it’s definitely YA, and I’m not sure how much of that age range I will continue to read as I get so far removed from that target age group!

What’s a genre that you are hoping to read more (or less!) of in 2024?