Thank you to Hodderscape for the digital ARC and Rose Black for the physical ARC!

TIL DEATH DO US BARD had me in a grip from the moment I saw the author pitching it on Twitter, and I've eagerly followed its journey to publication ever since. I loved the D&D vibes, the cozy found family vibes, and that the central relationship was influenced by Geralt and Jaskier from the Witcher. The actual book blew me away with all that and more, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to read it early.

This book is so sincere and so warm, balanced perfectly by heart-racing action moments. Logan, our main character, had a beautiful arc of learning what sacrifice and forgiveness can mean—and that vulnerability is what allows old wounds to heal. BARD shows that love and trust are ongoing exercises, and that no matter what age or stage of life you're in, it's never too late to change. The relationship between Logan and Pie is so touching and romantic and angsty and brilliant and soft. I wanted to live in this world with them. All of my fingers are crossed that we get a follow up novel or novella—the story is complete as a standalone, but I think there's so much more to keep exploring with these two.

TLDR: "it's like geraskier in the witcher if the showrunners weren't fucking cowards and geralt wasn't fuckign mean to jaskier. and also it's better"

PRE-READ THOUGHTS
I need more low-stakes, cute, cozy, fantasy, adventure romances! High hopes for this one!

STATS
⚠️ Stay Safe, Friends: mentions of dv (not protags), being drugged, sexual harassment, consent not given, necromancy-related content
⛰ Cliffhanger: nope
🌶 Spice Check: maybe bell pepper+? Tbqh, I was not retaining anything at this point.
⭐️ Rating (?/5): 1/5
🔂 Re-Readability: absolutely not

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

TROPES SPOTTED IN THE WILD
•hidden identities (I guess?)
•magical quest to find lost love interest
•dude in distress
•necromancy and all it entails
•ragtag group of forced allies

SUMMARY + BASIC CHARACTER INFO AND RELATIONSHIPS
Logan, lost and confused after his husband suddenly goes missing, sets out on a quest to retrieve him and discover what secrets his bard has been keeping from him.

Character-wise, I'm just going to make this easy: almost every single character was terrible. Logan and Pie, the two leads, were so unlikeable and so untrustworthy that it made finishing this book an absolute chore.

AND THEN. AND THENNN. We had two more terrible characters in the main party, the Countess Necromancer and Ophelia.

Ophelia was so frustrating because, even though she has a history with Logan, she was violent and angry and mean for no reason constantly (as much as she could be given her state). It made it pretty impossible to have any real compassion or sympathy for her.

And the Countess? Talk about a disaster of a character. The entire time, from introduction to goodbye, she is sexually harassing Logan and Pie. Not only is she talking to them (and about them) inappropriately, but she also touches them. Often. Despite being told "no" multiple times. If she was a male character doing these actions to a female character, well...

WHY YOU SHOULD PUSH THIS ONE UP/DOWN YOUR TBR

UP
•I... can't think of anything. I feel terrible for that, but I really didn't enjoy this or my time reading it. Maybe if you don't mind the things I (and other reviewers? I don't know, I haven't really looked yet.) mention in my DOWN section, you might enjoy this read!

DOWN
•The Countess and her sexual harassment. It was so constant and reoccurring; it just made me sick. I don't know if it was supposed to read as cute or "quirky" because she's an old lady and so it's just something we can joke about? I don't know, man, I was just confused and grossed out.

•Ophelia. I mentioned more about why in the above section.

•Logan and Pie. Also emphasis on Pie. I'll throw this in a spoiler block, just in case. (view spoiler).

•Sometimes it felt like the tone was supposed to be satire or a parody or campy. But for those things to have worked, it needs to be self-aware. And this was not.

•I'm sure this will be corrected prior to publication but there was a ton of formatting issues, typos, etc. Again, I'm sure all of those will be fixed before release so take this more as just marking down an observation.

OVERALL
I did not have even a little bit of fun reading this, sadly. I had made more notes about things that bothered me, but I don't have the energy to dig through them when I think this review speaks well enough on its own.

Until next time!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

This is a fantasy romance with an established relationship that reads very much like a low-stakes cosy fantasy, and was reminsicent of T. Kingfisher's work and Can't Spell Treason Without Tea. I expected to love this, as I love dnd type stories, but sadly this fell very flat for me. I'll start with the positives:

+ A fun dnd-type setting that I really enjoyed.
+ An established realtionship is at the center, which is too rare in my opinion! There's always so much to explore in established relationships I think, and I liked that they weren't a "perfect" couple even though they're married.
+ Queernorm world!
+ Interesting side characters, but that I wish were explored a bit more in depth (especially Ophelia).
+ The story itself was fun, but fell a bit flat for me due to the pacing and my other issues with the book.

Now onto the negatives...

- The pacing was weird - either it was way too slow paced (particularly the beginning), or it went way too fast (like the ending).
- I felt that the characters were very cliched, which wouldn't be too much of an issue in a cosy fantasy story like this, but there should still be depth. Especially with the main characters. In a romance/romcom, I expect the couple to develop and change to that the relationship ends up stronger in the end, and I didn't really get that impression here. The chemistry wasn't the best either, but that's mostly due to the characters lacking much depth I think.
- The countess. Good lord, I got so tired of her jokes!! It is still sexual harassment if an older woman does it, and it's just as gross and uncomfortable to read about as if it were a male character making the same jokes. Not even the married men were safe from her comments, and it really detracted from my overall enjoyment.

So yeah, all in all its a fun cosy story with some issues, but that I think many would like (especially if you're into cosy fantasy and like the Geralt & Dandelion/Jasker dynamic from the Witcher).

I really wanted it love this as the premise is adorable and really grabbed my interest. I made it about 40% through when I realised I wasn't really interested any more and was more scanning the pages than actually reading. I wanted to like the characters but I felt a lot of them were a bit stereotypical. Though I liked Pie, but of course he's not in it much before he's 'kidnapped'. Logan I found a bit dull as a character, and so reading things from his point of view was a bit dull too. Some of the other characters gave me some hope at the start, like the ghost of his ex wife seemed fun at first but I soon got bored with her too.

I dunno, I really really wanted to like this one. It's not necessarily bad, and I bet there are loads of people who will love it to death. So I'm not saying don't try it, just that it wasn't for me.

A cozy debut! I really enjoyed this ARC. I found the characters entertaining and well rounded. Love a good LGBTQIA+ read!

Things I enjoyed:
- The banter!
- Each character felt very real (with the exception of the handsy old lady, that felt a bit off to me).
- The found family, off on an adventure vibe

Overall, really enjoyed it 3.5

I liked the pieces of this book, but it didn't fit together for me. I would have liked to see more of Pie and Logan's relationship prior to the main plot kicking off (quite abruptly) because I struggled to care about <i>their</i> story. I liked most of the characters. Unfortunately Logan and the countess were off-putting enough for me that I chose to DNF. The world, general plot, and tone are right up my alley but I can't work past a lack of interest for the characters themselves.

The writing of this book felt a lot like if the middle-aged adults that are always inexplicably in a YA novel all went on an adventure together. By that, I mean that the writing itself felt very YA, and despite their experience and age being integral to their personalities, the characters came off as more juvenile than I would have liked.
However, if you’re looking for a fun fantasy book for the sake of escapism, we have some of my favorite things -gay people, necromancy and mean women. So if you want something light and easy to read, this might be perfect for you.

Queer Witcher-esque fantasy with plenty of humor and romance!

Gruff but lovable, Logan the Bear immediately reminded me of the Witcher with his history of monster killing and seeming distrust of most people (and necromancers.) What sets this book apart from the world of The Witcher is this story isn't nearly as heavy and the humor (and romance) is more pronounced.

I enjoyed this queer fantasy novel with it's quirky characters and high stakes plot. Logan and Pie's relationship both present and past snippets is delightful. The ghost ex-wife is a great ongoing lesson for Logan and helps shape his character arc. The lonely but powerful necromancer, the Countess, adds a good dose of humor with her skeleton servants. Even the well-meaning but naive unicorn handler is a fun addition.

Rose Black creates an engaging fantasy world and a intriguing plot driven by Logan's deep love and commitment to his husband. I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this adventure!

this was a fun, sweet debut that was a quick & easy read!

set in a queernorm, medieval world, we follow the main character logan as he pulls together a team of "adventurers" (heavy quotes) to find his husband pie, who disappeared one night. the group consists of logan, a monster killer; countess adelaide, a necromancer; ophelia, logan's ex-wife and current ghost; and gary, who owns a herd of unicorns.

the first half of the book consists of the search for pie, the second half of solving his disappearance and bringing down the forces that made it happen. i hesitate to describe this as a "low-stakes" fantasy novel, because the personal stakes are quite high, but it feels and reads quite low-stakes and, in some parts, i would even describe it as 'cosy'. this very obviously takes inspiration from the witcher, namely the relationship between geralt & dandelion, but i would also comp it to t kingfisher works and legends & latte, both of which have given me the same sort of reader 'feel'.

as i said, it was a very quick read - i read it in two sittings - the writing was easy to follow & get absorbed into. the characters were fun and i especially enjoyed watching logan's 'growth' through the book. i also really liked the inclusion of gary & the unicorns!

i mostly enjoyed it, though i felt the pacing was a little bit off (the first half was much slower), and i got quite tired of the sexualising comments made by the countess to logan and pie, which felt like every other time she spoke.

This was a lovely adventure book with plenty of cute and cozy moments. For a debut, I thought this was solid. I liked the dynamic between Pie and Logan, and how Logan and his ex-wife were able to have an opportunity for closure. The story moves along quickly and the reader is swept along with Logan's feelings as he searches for his family and finds new family along the way. The only thing that broke me out of my immersion was the countess. I thought having a necromancer character made sense, and even a snarky flirty elderly lady was totally fine, I was just uncomfortable with her directing her jokes at Logan who was clearly not enjoying it. Otherwise, this was a fun read and I'm very thankful to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my thoughts!

I quit reading this book at about 45% through. The characters are bland and uninteresting. Pie and Logan's relationship is severely underdeveloped and I honestly don't know why they like each other. The world is underdeveloped and not at all cohesive. It felt like we were throwing unicorns in there because it's a fantasy book, so why not? The countess is absolutely the worst part. She sexually harasses every single person, but it's fine because she's old and a woman. It's absolutely disgusting that we're still meant to see her as a good person.
The fact that this book is compared to Legends and Lattes is a disservice to Legends and Lattes.

A fun, lighthearted, D&D-style adventure in which a retired barbarian mercenary has to pick back up his axe and gather up an unlikely adventuring party (including a necromancer countess and the ghost of his ex-wife!) to rescue his husband, a bard who's been kidnapped. There's banter all along the way as they face dangers and villains of all sorts, and the whole feeling of the book is light and sweet. I loved the latest D&D movie (Honor Among Thieves), and this fits nicely into that subgenre of fun fantasy adventure!

Thanks NetGalley for the arc. All thoughts are mine!

Til death do us bards is the perfect read for the fan of classic fantasy who wants to try a more cozy side. I came for the loving husbands I totally stayed for the old necromancer and the unicorn. Do yourself a favour and add this book to your tbr.

I had so much fun reading this, the writing was super entertaining, the characters were funny, witty and deserves a collective nap. Special shout-out to the necromancer lady who I LOVED.

Pie and Logan are so in love, it’s almost sickening. ALMOST. I could read a whole other book about them and their little cottage 🥹. I mean they’re grumpy x sunshine, how could I not love them.

Logan was surprisingly soft underneath his rough edges. He’s stubborn and driven only by his desire to protect his loved one. ALSO HE HAD AN AXE. LOVE THAT.

Pie was the absolute best thing ever. I love his sunshine personality, with a bit of trauma sprinkled on top.

I can’t wait to put my hands on the copy when it’s out, just so I can stare at the cover 🥰

This is possibly the best adventure book I've read - ever.

Logan "The bear" has finally settled down with his bard husband after a long time of slaying monsters. But when Pie suddenly disappears, he has to turn to some of the forces he has been fighting all his life, and set out with a flirtatious, chaotic necromancer and the ghost of his ex-wife, setting out on skeletal horses on their first quest to find a unicorn.
I think that sentence alone should be enough to sell this book to anyone with even the slightest interest in comical fantasy, DND, queer stories...

Amazing characters with incredibly well done arcs, a captivating story set in a fascinating world, with cool magic rules, a seemingly corrupted, or insane king and very amazing sounding creatures.
Logan is a grumpy softie and Pie is a sunshine with a dark past. The countess is too horny for her own good and Ophelia is an unfortunate victim of this world with a great hatred for her former husband.
Really, what more could you want?
Well, you might not know, but this book certainly does.

Til Death Do Us Bard is a fluffy read, with a lot of promise and a few little niggles.

Found families is a favourite trope of mine, and this book does bring that in heaps. It combines adventure and fantasy with a light plot, underpinned by some dark secrets that we learn throughout the stories. The time hops are clear, something other books can often struggle with, though I did wish for a clearer timescale of Pie and Logan's relationship. The plot did drag a bit, and I did put the book down for a little while to read something else before returning - not a DNF by any means, but it's not often I take a break from a book.

My biggest issue with the book - and it's one I know other reviewers have mentioned - is the relentless harassment from The Countess. She could have been a truly fantastic and complex character, and there was stunning potential there. However, despite clear boundaries and lack of consent from the MC, the sexual harassment was played off throughout the book as comic relief. This book clearly wasn't ready to tackle this, so it felt very out of place. Appropriate for the character, perhaps, but just not handled well.

Overall, an okay read. I enjoyed it, it had some compelling parts and the world building is good, but I think a word of caution is needed for some elements.

When I first heard about this I was anticipating a cozy fantasy with a bit dash of romance. Although the book was less cozy and more of what I imagine dungeons and dragons to be like, I really enjoyed the warmth of the love between the main couple. I liked the variety of the characters and the banding together to fufilll a goal, however I found the story to drag a little.

I got through the first half at a decent pace but it feels the second half was almost too long. It felt like I wasn’t making any progress. I liked the flicking between time frames and found it gave a really good insight to Logan and Pie’s relationship without it feeling like info dumping.

However I do feel the book could have easily ended a good 50-75 pages earlier and been more enjoyable.

An unfortunate skim-turned-DNF. I enjoyed the premise, and I’m a fan of D&D themed books. However, this story did not capture my attention, and I found some problematic themes that also deterred me from reading.

Logan is a retired adventurer who has settled down with his Bard husband Pie. After a strange night and suspicious behavior, Pie is nowhere to be found. Logan must set off and team up with a necromancer and a ghost to rescue his husband.

The book starts off with a brief scene between the couple, and I don’t really feel the chemistry. It seems like the Sunshine and Grump dynamic is strained by the secret between them, and we are soon left with Logan and his distress. He seeks assistance from the necromancer Countess, and I am met with a glaring problem. Her behavior towards Logan is downright sexual harassment. I find myself very uncomfortable, as well as confused as to why this was pitched as comedic relief. I'm sorry, it ruined the book for me. If this was omitted, I would have enjoyed the story more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this eARC!

Logan the Bear, a former adventurer, must take up his axe once again to find his bard husband and defeat a new evil facing the world.

I thought that it was an okay read. Some of the characters were pretty likable. I quite liked Logan. The countess would have been my favorite, but she was overly physically/sexually aggressive towards the male characters. It was played as funny and silly, but it made me a little uncomfortable.

The plot was pretty standard and cliche for fantasy (basically it was “oh no, necromancy”). That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it was written well enough, but it did feel a bit rushed at times. I enjoyed the unique take on unicorns though! I wasn’t a big fan of the flashbacks scattered throughout the story. I didn’t feel like they added much to the story, and I felt that they could either be omitted or done in one section.

This queer fantasy novel was honestly so cute and adorable, Magpie and Logan's relationship felt very wholesome and real, like two polar opposites that work together despite all odds. The short interludes throughout the story that give more context to how Pie and Logan met work well and help build a solid foundation for them as a couple.

The plot was fun and light, sending Logan on an adventure after his retirement to save his husband, plunging him back into a world he thought he'd already walked away from. Joining him on the adventure we have a necromancer and her undead horses, along with a few other interesting characters we meet along the way.

The overall vibe of the book was fun and light hearted, definitely not a heavy, political, world building fantasy, but one that was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless, a perfect light fantasy.

Thank you so much to Hodder & Stoughton for an early copy via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.