WOW, first, I cannot wait for the next book in this series!!!
This was a fast Adult Fantasy read and is the 1st of the Lady Witch series!
The two timelines of the story between Aramina and Rixon was so thought out. There relationship is complicated but they are tied together in this journey across their danger Demon filled land to help protect the citizen. Aramina is a Lady Witch who is bonded to (and secretly admires) her Wielder, Rixon who seems to detest her.

The story telling and spice were right on point for me!! I cannot wait to continue on their journey to Rockfall and seeing where their relationship goes!
1-5 spice level, a solid 3.5!

This is a honest review given in exchange for a ARC. Thank you!!

This book leans more into romance than fantasy, while still having those elements. There is a slow burn and close proximity if that is something you fancy. It definitely leans on those tropes that I know are beloved by many readers of these kinds of books. The emotions and the way that the character examines where she's been and where she's going is truly introspective. There is a very calm and centered nature to the storytelling.

Overall, for myself, I found some of the dialogue clunky; if I took the time to read the dialogue out loud it felt unnatural to me. I also was often frustrated with the use of fantasy terms for monsters and demons with very little description of them. I had a hard time visualizing what they were doing and where they were because it was often in the main character's head examining her feelings and exploring her past and current trajectory instead of developing a world around it.

I didn't find the stoic companion as mysterious and intriguing as I think some readers might, so for myself, it was not my cup of tea, however, I can see the appeal for those who want examinations of the character's emotions and the slow development of feelings between bonded companions.

Read this book if you like forced proximity tropes where the main character has to share a room with object of her annoyance and there is only one bed. I thank Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for giving me a copy of Wielders prize in exchange for an honest review.
I could not put this book down. Although the book is short, I felt that the characters were thought out and came to life as I was reading. The story didn’t feel rushed and we were given time to connect to the characters and the world building was great but not too long which I find off putting in other books. The chemistry between Rixon and Mina was intriguing and enjoyable. I enjoyed the flashbacks to the past where we could understand their dynamic better.
I will definitely be finishing the series and can’t wait for the next book to come out. I would like to see Rixons POV in the coming series.

Wielder's Prize was a simple but addicting romantasy (emphasis on romance) read. There could have been more world and relationship-building, but was still overall interesting enough to pull me in. The writing style makes it a very easy read, with enough detail to paint the settings in your head but without getting overly complicated.

I give this book 4 stars: I was so addicted to this book I couldn't focus on anything else, but once you put the romance aside it left a bit to be desired with the world-building and plot. As the first novella in a 4 book series, I hope the next books expand on this. I plan on immediately finding out!

I received a copy of Wielder's Prize from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

2 stars
Not really my cup of tea - it’s more of a romance disguised as a fantasy book than anything else

I actually ended up DNF’ing this because I could tell it was not up my street from the get go but if you like romance books that are very obviously romance you may (?) like this.

The description makes this book seem like it’ll be enemies to lovers but by page 2 Aramina is already looking at Rixon’s muscles and every time he speaks she seems to get heart flutters, so I wouldn’t go as far as calling them enemies. The lack of of tension bothered me.

I wasn’t a big fan of Mitchell’s writing or world building either and I felt like the reader was dropped in the middle of the story without much explanation (other than some occasionally hurried info dumping)

I received the ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This book was really good, definitely a recommendation for those who love magic, romance, and the forced proximity trope.

Thank you, NetGalley for letting me read this eARC!

Wielder's Prize is a high romantasy novella that follows a young witch, Aramina, and her bonded (and broody and witch-hating) wielder, Rixon. Newly "graduated" from the training academy, Aramina and Rixon receive their first assignment: travel across the demon-infested kingdom to aid another town. Along the journey, Aramina must confront her past to open up her heart.

I was excited about the premise of this novella, but was ultimately left a bit disappointed. The plot overall was lacking. It was certainly relying more on the romance aspect. Which is fine, but even that fell a little flat for me. Many things were repetitive. There is practically no buildup to their relationship. They are immediately obsessed with each other; no explanation why. Each chapter begins with a flashback leading up to the present timeline. These were meant to further expand upon their complicated relationship, but I still don't understand what was complicated about it other than the fact Rixon is a self-declared witch-hater. That part never had any impact on their relationship, nor do we know why he hates witches. Rixon and Mina were never enemies. I wish there had been more tension between them. It read like a first draft rather than a finished product. There is little to no world-building, and many questions are left unanswered. Why do the witches need a wielder? It's an interesting dynamic but explain the reasoning. Amarina was the only witch to receive weapons/combat training. There's hardly any information regarding the magic system.

I also wasn't a fan of Melissa's writing style. It was lacking depth in the storytelling, Mina seemed childlike (she is also a virgin) which rubbed me the wrong way because A) it's annoying and B) Rixon is older and possessive. I just didn't like their dynamic. "!?" was used I don't know how many times.

The smut scenes were decent, but that's about it. If you want something quick that you can read in one sitting with forced proximity, one bed, etc, you might enjoy this, but keep your expectations low. I don't see myself continuing on with the series.

This is a short book that can easily be devoured in one sitting. Its very romance heavy and there isnt a lot of world building. The main characters, Mina and Rixon, are likeable and their relationship develops well throughout the book. There are multiple flashbacks which are really well written and the ending is perfect, not too much of a cliff hanger but sets you up nicely for the next installment.

Thank you To Netgalley for the eARC

This is such a neat little novella. I did like that it jumped right into the story of the characters, and I did not feel like I needed any additional world building to understand the situation. I love the duo of FMC and MMC. Watching their story develop through flashbacks also felt natural and not forced. This is a great romantasy story, and it left me wanting to pick up the second part of the story to see where it takes Mina and Rixon and to see if my theories about the events of the story are true. Very fast, enjoyable read!

I received a complimentary copy of Wielder’s Prize via Net Galley and Melissa Mitchell in exchange for an honest review, which I am so happy to give because I loved this book.

Wielder’s Prize is peak romantasy. It has an interesting and unique premise full of magic and fantasy elements, balanced with a heavy load of romance and spice. I felt like the world-building was seamless, the characters and their stories were compelling, and there was enough action that I had trouble putting the book down.

This book felt a little like a spicier version of The Witcher, and I say that as high praise. I loved the world that Mitchell built, where women have this significant magical power that they use to work alongside male Wielder’s to destroy demons from hell. It was an interesting approach to have the two magical aspects so intricately tied in such a way that while each is powerful, neither can truly succeed without the other.

It was a clever choice to accomplish much of the world-building and history about how witches and wielders operated through Aramina’s flashbacks. World-building is usually the most daunting aspect of a new fantasy series for me, but using the rotating perspective through time ensured that the setting was established quickly and understandably while simultaneously building out the relationship between Aramina and Rixon.

For me, it’s important that a romantasy balances fantasy, action, and romance, and I felt like Mitchell executed that balance well. While the romantic scenes were not infrequent (and very explicit at times), it wasn’t the entirety of the book. There were a lot of fantastic fight scenes and a good amount of detail and events surrounding Aramina’s training and the present day that that had me as invested in the plot surrounding the witches, their wielders, and the realm as I was in the relationship between Aramina and Rixon. The pacing was also on point. Mitchell jumped into the thick of the characters and narrative immediately and the momentum only built from there.

The characters themselves were fascinating, and their conflicts kept me hooked and wanting to understand what it was that drove them and what contributed to the traumas they regularly faced. Aramina was particularly compelling to me. As the book went on, she became more layered and multidimensional as different pieces of her past unfolded to tell a better story of how she became who was, and how the events of her past impacted the relationships around her. I’m very interested in learning more about Rixon and what makes him tick as well, given that I felt he was set up to have a lot of future potential.

This book had me compulsively reading right from the start. It was concise, action-packed, and had a gorgeous romance that was drawn out in a perfectly. I’m so excited to learn that the other books in this series are already available as I’ll definitely be moving onto the second book shortly.

I read this book with an old account that I lost. Here is my review. The sipnopsis tells us the story of Aramina traveling through Raería. In the change you will encounter many obstacles. The romance of the book is well done and I liked the characters a lot. This fantasy is a fantasy in which romance is quite important (which I like). It's a good fantasy with romance but I felt that something was missing. I also recommend it if you like witches.

Wielder's Prize by Melissa Mitchell.
Lady Witch Series Book 1.
Every witch needs a wielder.
Newly bonded, Aramina sets out from the Citadel to take up her first assignment. Traveling across Raeria won’t be easy. Not because of the demons along the way, but because of Rixon. He might be the best wielder in the Citadel, but he has a questionable past. Plus, he spent the last two years pointedly ignoring her. Now she’s stuck with him. Not just for this assignment, but for life. She’s determined to remain closed off, to keep him at arm’s length no matter how flustered he makes her. Her heart is locked up tight, and for good reason. But the life of a witch is lonely. And Rixon might be exactly what her heart needs.
A good read with likeable characters. I did like Aramina. I'm looking forward to the next book. 4*.

Personally, I found this hard to get my teeth into. I enjoyed the idea of the story and am intrigued by the idea of it being part of a set of three novellas, however I found the world building to be a bit lacking and therefore struggled to immerse myself in it.

That being said, as a romance rather than a fantasy the plot is a lot more intriguing. The will they wont they kept up the tension and resulted in some spicy scenes that would appals to romantasy fans.

Overall, the focus of the book is not clear and perhaps for that reason could have benefited from being a full length book, but I am intrigued by how the themes and ideas in the novella will link with the next two.

This book pleasantly surprised me. I really enjoyed the writing style, which gave me great mental images and it had a plot that kept me interested without being overly complicated. I would have liked to see a little more worldbuilding and expansion, but I didn't end the book with an overwhelming amount of questions, so it still felt well balanced.

It was a super easy read that I ate up in a single day, putting aside two other books (both of which are very HYPED) in favor of this little novella.

It gave me the fantasy romance that I constantly crave with a spice level done exceedingly well. Not too grungy, but dirty enough to keep things interesting. Not only does this story offer us the classic 'one bed' trope, but also 'one saddle, and 'one bath'.... which is a new one for me, but I LOVED IT!

Wielder's Prize by Melissa Mitchell was noted by NetGalley (thanks #NetGalley for the read) as a little novella that would be one of three to make up the Lady Witch book. #WieldersPrize is the story of a Witch and her bonded Wielder. Filled with all the fantasy romance troupes, #WieldersPrize was a fun little romp. Surprisingly, while I am not the biggest fan of story telling done with time jumps, the "X years ago" way each chapter started and then finished with present day was not hard to follow and felt natural to this story.

For those who want the "will they won't they" typical to this genre, you won't be disappointed. And the romance takes a turn between the sheets which on my steamy scale gets a decent score for the amount of it, and the interesting way we get the steam since we never see the main characters completely seal the deal. But, it was still fun to read (and left me with the need to fan myself more than once).

The story seems like it might have legs too.  It was an interesting take on demons.  And it was full of fighting and action, and never left me feeling like the author wrote a helpless waif that wasn't worth the time and effort.  Instead, while a typical motivation drove her, she too became (in secret) and expert with some weapons and was completely capable of holding her own.  Where she falters in that is in the bedroom - Rixon all of a sudden takes charge, but isn't that part of what makes books in this genre such an escape from reality?  He is the hot, chiseled, quiet type except when it comes to pleasing our female character.  So typical.  But definitely worth the quick read that it is.  In fact, I am off to try to buy the second and third in the series!

This book was really good, definitely a recommendation for those who love magic, romance, and the forced proximity trope. The writing style is detailed and yet easy enough to understand exactly what is going on. The main character, Aramina, is a strong woman who is not afraid of danger and I admire her— It was nice to read about a character the same age as me! The flashbacks were used very effectively. I’m definitely going to continue with this series, as I am eager to find out what happens with Mina!

Whilst I enjoyed this novel, I felt that it fell a little flat on the world building and certainly focused more on the romance over the fantasy. I think it would have been better off if this novel was slightly longer so the author could be drawn into the story and desperately need to pick up the next phase of this series. To me, whilst I enjoyed reading it, the story didn’t suck me in enough to make me really want to pick up the second novel. I also occasionally felt that the jumps back to the past were boring, broke up the story in the wrong place and detracted from what was occurring currently.

I really wish the dedication page had held up in the way I expected “To every romance reader looking for their next broody book boyfriend. This is for you!”. Whilst Rixon I guess does some brooding, I expected more. I expected enemies-to-lovers-slow-burn-romance, however it was very cut to the chase we are insanely into each other. I wanted more tension, substance and reasoning for their interest in each other. I think the jumps to the past were meant to create this tension and explain their interest in each other, but it unfortunately never went into enough depth and just felt superficial.
Personally, I am a big lover of interesting side characters, now you would think the people Rixon and Mina travel with would be these people. However, I often forgot they existed. However, I will say the fighting instructor Herrin was super interesting and I hope that he gets some more time in the next novels.

I wish this novel had spent more time world building and making the reader understand Rixon and Mina, the romance for me could have come at a later point. However, I will say the smut was GOOD. I do love the written man who always puts his lady’s pleasure first. Rixon does have some very toe-curling dirty sentences through-out. I do have one large pet peeve, I hate when vagina is called “my sex”, like come on, is anybody really saying that? I also got a good olde chuckle out of the classic one-bed trope.

I personally really enjoyed the fight scenes and the training scenes. The imagery for the demon fighting and for training was artfully done. For me this probably highlighted the lack of worldbuilding. Why/how do demons exist? What do each of the holds look like? Why when they travel are they only met by other witches and wielders instead of whoever leads that hold? How are witches chosen (I know how their powers come about, the more trauma the stronger seems kind of off).

I would rate this novel 3 out of 5 stars. Overall, it was an easy, fun to read novel. Good smut, decent plot…but I just wished the author had fleshed things out some more. Hopefully, the world building improves in the next books and the romance only gets steamier. I would recommend this for an older audience, due to the smut and language. I believe readers who prefer more romance in their fantasy novels would enjoy this, along with people who just enjoy a bit of smut.

Loved it. Great main characters, interesting magic system & Society Structure ( Shades of The witcher I thought) and filthy, Spicy romance :) Definitely a series I will be recommending to my fantasy romance reading customers.

3.75★

First of all, I want to say thank you to NetGalley for the e-copy of this book. I don’t think I would have found it otherwise.
I’m very surprised at how much I actually enjoyed this book. It was quite good! And really fun to read.

Thoughts:

- I liked the writing. It was simple and fast-paced, and I enjoyed reading it.

- One thing I didn’t like was the author's usage of "male" and "female" instead of saying "man" and "woman" all the time. It wasn't a big deal, just something I didn't like as much.

- At the beginning of each chapter, we got a bit of a throwback in time, which helped a lot to bring some backstory of the characters. I loved that.

- The fight scenes were so well-written.

- I adored the characters! I loved Aramina as a tall, strong woman who can take care of herself, and Rixon with all his grumpiness. They were a very cute pairing.

- The romance was lovely. Slow and steamy, very enjoyable.

- Overall, I’d say the book is heavier on the romance side than the fantasy, but I didn’t mind it at all. It had enough world-building to keep me entertained. Obviously, I wouldn’t mind getting more of the background, but for the book’s length and it being the first in the series, I feel like it was good enough.

- The story, in general, was quite simple. Witches with their wielder fighting demons, but for some reason, it was entertaining to read!

- I’d definitely recommend anyone picking up this book and giving it a try. It’s a quick read. I will definitely continue the series - or at least give the second book a try. I’m curious how the story will go on.


Read if you like:

- Witches and magic
- One bed, one bath, one horse trope
- Grumpy MMC
- Who hurt you
- Steamy romance
- Spice

The story focuses on Mina, a witch, and Rixon, her wielder, aka a strong fighter paired with her. Together they defeat demons which are increasing in number but we don't know why. The story is told part in past tense which gives us an idea why there is so much tension between the two who are now bonded for life.

I wanted more but I'll forgive it with this being a novella and an intro to the series. I really wanted a little more backstory (especially for Rixon) and world building but hopefully those things are addressed in the next book.

All in all it seems like a good intro to the series. Moderate spice. No cliffhanger ending, but it just drops off abruptly.