✨ This E-Arc was provided by Flyaway Publishing via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review ✨

I wanted to love this. I love witchy books, I love romantasy, I love witchy romantasy books with factions & different alliances, it can be SO fun when done right.
Unfortunately, for me this book misses the mark.
We didn’t start off good, as far as our main character Iblis’ likeability is concerned, and honestly I liked her less and less as the story went on. I understand being conflicted but there’s usually a point in these stories where real decisions are made, not just put off and run away from..
I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it, and overall I’m not certain I’d recommend it unless someone was actually looking for something to burn time and get no real answers.

Unfortunately, this was a big miss for me. I was excited since this sounded like the perfect romantasy, but it felt too surface-level for me. A lot happened all at once and too quickly for me to truly engage with the story.

Interesting read. I'm a fan of smut, don't get me wrong, but having it appear so early on was perhaps not for me. Also felt like it was a little too integral to the story line for my liking. HOWEVER, the rest of the plot was good and interesting, and the characters were relatable.

I read this coming off an outstanding fantasy read and maybe I was hoping too high, but I needed more depth/ character building. I was so excited for this read, and still enjoyed it. I will be reading more by this author.

A thrilling and captivating read that keeps you on your toes. I kept wondering throughout the book who could be trusted and was invested in the characters and their motives and story was on point..

This book had a lot of potential, but the plot and the characters were not quite developed enough. The world that Raven More created was very interesting. The fight between the witch factions and the city of Luminous was compelling. The first 25% of the book was a very good read. However, the world just wasn't developed enough for what the author wanted to create and the story that she wanted to tell.
The backstory of the main character was talked about, but it was never shown. It was hard to understand her motivations throughout the novel. I wanted the history with her mother and brother explored more. I wanted the relationship between her and her love interest to be explored more.
The other issue that I had with the books is that everyone is a liar. There is no sense of who Iblis can trust. Nothing is shown about the motivations of the characters around her. All that is given is info dumps of information from people, but the reader cannot get a sense of what might actually be happening. This all made for a very confusing story.

Unfortunately it was a DNF for me due to the treatment of women. I was really looking forward to reading this based on the description but was really put off by the FMC having to receive lashings just by being seen with the MMC and he just stood there and allowed it.

While this is a new adult book most of the time it felt more like young adult. The characters were not well written and needed more development. The pacing was perfect. The plot was interesting but would have been more into the romance if the characters were more developed.

House of Primal Witches was a treat! I loved delving into this world and I think Raven More did a spectacular job showing me as a reader, so much so I could envision everything in mind. I plan to read more from Raven More in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Raven More for letting me review this book.

There are plot twists, definitely a lot of things I didn't see coming. But as the story progresses, it gets more predictable.

The action began right at the beginning and I love that. More books like this, please! However, some of it feels too quick for me. It's almost like a blur of action from time to time, and it can get confusing. Some parts feel too rushed.

I personally love how this book criticises so many acts from real-world claimed to be done for religion or faith or devotion. But there were also scenes where delicate subjects could have been handled better (like SA).

I recommend this book to everyone who loves to read fantasy with dark elements.

Includes:
Witches
Vampires

This gives kinda post apocalyptic vibes. Witches, Raiders, and more. It also gives The Handmaids Tale in some ways as well. I very much enjoyed it. This brought me out of my reading slump and I read it in one day. The characters are likeable. The politics are interesting. I hopw there are more books after this because I need them.

I really didn't get on with this book. The mix of puritanical beliefs, magic and resurrection compounded with all the lis made it very difficult to read. I didn't gel with any of the characters and found the style of writing challenging. Not one of my favourites.

this is so bad omg.
First of all, the idea of a woman having inherent powerful magic and renouncing it for, not only a man, but to be part of a patriarchal, misogynistic and puritan cult??? it’s preposterous to me.
Absolutely not. Yes, she changes her mind but the fact that she even was willing to? Nir cool girly.
Also the writing is very immature. The characters were flat and very one dimensional. It’s just… nope, save your time.

Unfortunately this one wasn´t for me, fast paced at times, an boring in some other parts this felt rushed and left me with not enough background. I couldn´t connect with the characters.
I´ve enjoyed the previos work of this author so I definetely going to give another try with her next book.

This is the equivalent of a quick romance beach book for romantasy readers. This book lacked depth in plot and characters. I was really excited from the description but the book did not read very well. It was just very basic and didn’t really grasp my attention at all unfortunately. I think adding more description of the world and the character development would greatly improve this read. There is potential here with some adjustments!

This was read as an ARC. Thank you to the author and netgalley!

I would like to thank the author, Flyaway Publishing and NetGalley for granting me an eARC in exchange of an honest review.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, as the abstract sounded interesting. Unfortunately, I considered not finishing this (short) novel many times, and only pushed through in the hopes I would find a few things to enjoy. I did not. Here are all the elements that made me lose interest, or, in my opinion, felt unrealistic or made no sense (be wary of potential spoilers).

- The novel is on the short side, and yet it starts really fast – too fast to my liking. There was barely any background to the characters, no introduction to the relationships or this unfamiliar dystopian/fantasy world… We’re just thrown right into it from the first sentence (I even thought I was reading the second book of a series because everything felt rushed in the beginning).

- This is very much just an accumulation of inner dialogues and spoken conversations. There are barely any descriptions, the adventure and plot advance through the fmc’s inner thoughts, and not through described action (which could help keep the reader intrigued, instead of learning everything because Iblis (the fmc) is complaining in her head about everything that’s happening to her). Nothing grounds the reader to a narrative: there’s no world-building, barely any description of the environment, etc.

- It’s awfully repetitive. Iblis just keeps repeating herself in different phrasing that all mean the same. Over and over again, sometimes paragraphs or chapters apart, she will keep referencing and moaning about the same issues.

- For such a short novel, the author is inconsistent with the plot and details: For example, in the first few pages Iblis explains that she's been raped, and has only known the “rough hands of raiders and their barbaric brutality” so she’s glad to have Acheron (her fiancé) because she finally knows what “sweet whispers, soft touches and sensual kisses” are. But a few paragraphs later, she says she once “enjoyed wild and untamed men” before moving to her new home. Another example: at first, Iblis seems to be mocking the way of the Luminite and it appears as if she’s only pretending to follow the way of the people so she can marry Acheron. But then we reach chapter 3 and she’s doing a complete 180, being a devoted believer and thinking she deserves punishment for her “sinful nature”.

- Iblis keeps referring to her “lustful nature” to the point where it’s her only personality trait. This novel was described as a new adult dark and sexy fantasy, but all I see is internalized misogyny and blatant objectification of the female body by the fmc herself (and many of the side characters, also).. I don’t mind if a character is horny but making it your whole personality and reading a book where “lustful/impure thoughts”, “sinful nature” and “feminine ways” are written every two sentences is annoying.

- Even though I didn’t expect the most complex world-building from a short novel, I didn’t expect it to be inexistent either. And because the world is only named, and not really explained (and then, when it's finally explained, everything is rushed and the explanations are vague and inconsistent) , it’s really hard to picture it, or to understand when it’s set. At first, I believed this was set in a fantasy, medieval-ish world but then surprise: a reference to Shakespeare in Love. It felt really out of place. When would Iblis have the time to watch a movie if, as she established early on, she spent her life on the run, escaping the Death Dunes and the raiders..? The time and place make no sense, and there are not many details to help clarify any of it.

- The characters were all really flat and their arcs were poorly planned. For example, the “villains” are bad just because the story needs bad guys . They are villains simply because of the prophecy: the backstory is half-explained and really not that well built, and their motivation is very superficial and unoriginal. Everything is just too simple, too convenient and there isn’t any depth to the characters’ personality or their personal story. But the worst of them all was the main female character. I get that she’s young, but how can someone make so many mistakes one after the other and never learn anything from it? All of her decisions were the worst possible thing to do. She was selfish, childish, and sometimes borderline idiotic. I maybe could’ve learned to appreciate her better if she had grown into a better/more mature person as the story went, but she remained the same.

Unfortunately, I do not think this book should be published as it is right now. I think the author should take the time to cut the many repetitions, add more descriptions of the environment and the world itself, develop her characters and the world they live in so to make her story a bit more coherent. The idea of the Primal Witches and the Chosen One/Chosen Weapon is an interesting one, but this felt like a first draft that needs to be polished, and that contributed to make me lose interest in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Author Collective 20 for the opportunity to read rate and review this arc which is available May 23,2023.

If you are looking for a very dark fantasy romance then this is the book for you. Lots of spice, questionable characters and for the love of fluffy bunnies check the trigger warnings. Read responsibly.

That being said yowsa! This was a very good read. It’s is dark yummy deliciousness. I want more. Like I finished the book and was damn I need more. I honestly can’t wait to see what happens next.

I’d like to start this review of House of Primal Witches by Raven More by praising it for its bold choices and unique ideas, at least when it comes to the romance genre. The story is a genuinely good one, sadly it is not very well told. The authors narrative skill simply doesn’t equal their imagination.

The prose is at best melodramatic and repetitive, at worst whiny, confusing, disjointed and inconsistent. One point may end up repeated, sometimes several times a page while other important details are left out making the story disjointed and difficult to follow. Basic scene writing structure is almost no where to be found in this book. Scenes often have little to no lead in; I found myself thinking the phrase “How did we get here?” too often. The lack also did the character a disservice on many occasions.

I will give an example of this from close to the beginning of the book. It is a scene where the protagonist is trapped and has to escape. The place is never fully described to the reader, even though the scene is long and there are many opportunities to write that X or Y are seen. So when she uses X to rescue herself, instead of this being a moment of us thinking her smart for using what was at her disposal, the lack of setup leads to the thought “how convenient”. It felt ‘deus ex machina’ and it really shouldn’t have. This scene stood out to me because I could literally count the missed opportunities to fix it and that frustrated me.

One thing that made the book confusing was the choice to tell many versions of the same story. I understand the reason why this was done, it wasn’t a bad choice, but the execution left much to be desired. It should have worked much better than it did and I will list the reason why it didn’t:
1- The manner of presenting this story was always more ‘tell’ than ‘show’, making the narrative feel uninspired
2- The telling of each version never had an effect on the protagonists motives or actions. In fact there is one scene where the protagonist thinks she will do X no matter what story she is given making the entire next scene pointless.
3- There is never enough time given to the story in the protagonists thoughts between versions being told to her. We only see her thinking the same thoughts that we have heard from her many times before and yet, when another conversation is had, she has seemingly worked out some of what is lies? It doesn’t make sense and again feels convenient.
4- If it is only meant to affect the relationship between the different parties then that difference should have been more pronounced but the characters treatment of each other doesn’t change much between versions.
When scenes end up having no real effect on the story in short or long term, it makes a reader wonder why they need to exist.

There are other problems in the way this story is told but I think I’ve demonstrated my point enough. I honestly don’t feel that this book should be published as it is now. It’s a pity because the story is really good and I would love to see it told better. I wish this author luck and I would be open to changing this review if presented with a better written version of this story.

What would you do for love? This book has an interesting premise: to be with the man she loves, Iblis must sacrifice everything: her family, her hometown, and her magic. Iblis will do this without second thought for Archeron, but blind faith won’t get her through the trials to come.

To be with Archeron, Iblis had to leave behind her city of sin and go to the purest city, where physical touch is forbidden.

This book throws a little of everything magical at you: there are witches and vampires, among other creatures. There’s Puritanical ideology. Names are taken from other major fantasy series: two main guys are Archeron (Feyre’s last name from ACOTAR) and Malick (one of the main characters from Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Blood & Ash series) but I didn’t feel the author copied these authors too heavily plot-wise.

The writing style of this book did not work for me. I felt there was a lot of telling, not showing. The order in which plot points were introduced confused me. Also, there was a lot of unnecessary (in my opinion) repetitive explanation of the different societies.

Thank you to Netgalley, Flyaway Publishing and Raven More for granting me an advance copy of this book in return for my honest opinions.

This author did a fantastic job. The plot, characters, and story line make this an enjoyable read. I don't understand sone of the negative and DNF reviews. For me it was a total five stars.

The plot kept me interested. Loved the twists and turns and added romance

Recommend.