3.5 ⭐

I enjoyed this a lot!

This is a slow paced fantasy, with a slow burn romance and multiple love interests - two main ones, one very minor. One is a friends to lovers dynamic, the other being enemies to lovers.

I liked the writing, and although the overall story/concept was not original or new, as I read a lot of fantasy, I found it interesting. I do think comparing it to The Cruel Prince is not doing this book any favours though, because it is not on that level at all - there's no tension, no banter, none of the politics.

I wasn't expecting it to be this spicy! Not complaining though, that was actually decent.

What let it down for me slightly, is the romance. There was not enough chemistry between Fia and either of the love interests, and I found it difficult to believe Irian's love declaration, considering how little they knew each other. I'm also not convinced you can be enemies with someone you've never met before, even in fantasy.

There were lots of little clues dispersed throughout, which all fit in together into nice twists and a satisfying end.

There is a glossary at the end, which should have been included at the start - there's not much point in having pronounciations and terms explained after already finishing the book.

I do wish that the other characters weren't as dull and flat as they were though. Fia and the Queen were my favourite, mainly because of their Rapunzel/Mother Gothel dynamic.

I am impressed that this is a debut, and I look forward to the next book. Those who like a love triangle and beautiful descriptions of nature will definitely enjoy this one.

* thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book via NetGalley *

Lyra Selene's A Feather So Black is an immersive read. I found it so easy to be pulled in to the story, losing myself in the pages in the world of Fia and Irain. The writing was beautiful, the world captivating, and the plot tense.

All in all I did really like this, I found it incredibly intriguing. I liked the mystery of the magic system and Fia's past, and the duality of Irain. I loved their story, and how we slowly but surely got to see them fall in love, and all the bumps in between. I'm excited for what's next for them.

What had me conflicted here is that at times this book very much felt like it was going to be a standalone, just with how it hardly did anything larger with the plot. It kept mentioning wider plot threads, but hardly ever got there, and I'm assuming this is all going to be dealt with in the sequel since there are so many loose ends. Yet, despite those loose ends, weirdly this still would work as a standalone? I'm not eagerly waiting for the next book now I've finished this. Interested, yes, but I can't say I'm thirsting for it.

This book therefore did feel at times like it was going slow and not much was happening. To be fair, I still don't understand a lot of what *did* happen and I feel like a lot of things just weren't explored enough to be understood.

But overall I liked the vibes, liked the complicated characters, and found the plot interesting, so this was a pretty decent read over all.

Absolutely couldn't put it down! I loved fia and irians story cannot wait for book 2.
Thank you net galley for letting me read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic!
Really enjoyable swan lake retelling.
However I would have liked a pronunciation guide as some of the words were really hard to understand in context.

★ 3.5 stars

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK (Orbit) and Netgalley for sending me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The writing was captivating and poetic and easily immersed you into the magical world of Tír na nÓg. I loved the romance between Fia and the Irian as I prefer enemies to lovers over friends to lovers. Irian was sexy, dark and morally grey and had a lot of likeable qualities. I loved how they exchanged pieces of themselves to each other through exchanging stories.

Rogan is a handsome prince betrothed to Princess Eala for a political alliance, however he shares a complicated history with Fia. I struggled to connect with him as he was entitled due to his upbringing as a human prince. He was a fairly weak character and inadvertently contributed to Fia's self loathing.

Fia is naive due to her abandonment issues and seeks validation in the form of love. This is to her detriment as it made her vulnerable to people who tried to hone her into a weapon for their own political advantage. She is a likeable character overall and her journey to self love and acceptance was empowering.

The love triangle was handled well. It wasn't dragged out as there wasn't much overlap between the two or internal conflict. Once a decision was made, there was no deliberation or back and forth afterwards which was appreciated. I think the right decision was made in the end that benefited everyone.

This was captivating and interesting take on fae concepts. Unfortunately if you're a seasoned fantasy reader you may find that these concepts aren't entirely new so the themes and direction of the plot is predictable. I don't think this is a reflection on the author as it's hard for new romantasy worlds to stand on their own feet when fae romance has already been done so many times over.

My main issue was the pacing. Because they could only be in Tír na nÓg for one night a month it meant so many pages were spent outside the folk land, where nothing was happening. Both Fia and Rogan were terrible at their missions and there was no sense of urgency despite only being there for a limited time so the story was spanned over nearly 12 months.

This book was largely dedicated to the history of Tír na nÓg and I’ll definitely continue this series as I'm curious about the direction of the book following the ending. If you're after a spicy, low-stakes romantasy this one will be for you!

*Received an e-arc through NetGalley, thank you to Lyra Selene and Orbit books for the chance to review and all opinions are my own*

TLDR: A personal 5⭐ book for me and a series I can't wait to follow, however, has the potential to be confusing to readers not well versed in Irish mythology. Note that there is a glossary at the back for any potential readers! I'd advise reading a few pages first to see if you like the feel of the book.


From the get go I was endeared to A Feather So Black with its weaving of Irish Mythology (some of which is obscure) and sprinkling of cúpla focail. I don't get to see much of my country's mythology and language and Lyra did a great job blending them into her story. There is a big potential though for readers to become quickly confused though if they have no prior knowledge of Irish Mythology as the glossary was put at the back of the book and I think readers could become overwhelmed by the various terminology used without any context to what it means.

As for the actual plot and characters, I felt like the pacing was always just right and balanced. Especially in the latter half of the book, when moving between Fódha and Tír Na Óg. I never felt like we had stayed in one place too long and even when chapters were left on mini cliffhangers, I never became frustrated with the time until the next chapter.

The writing is so lyrical and has a lovely flow to it but I could imagine it won't be everyone's cup of tea and would suggest reading a few pages first if you can to decide whether the writing style is right for you.

On a personal level this book was amazing for me and I'm incredibly happy to have found and read the arc but I do think the average person may struggle with the terminology as I said and the descriptive nature of the book may not suit everyone's tastes.

A solid 5 stars from me and I'm really looking forward to the next in the series.

4★ (Proper RTC cuz I'm sick, but I wanna write some of my thoughts down at least)

Thank you NetGalley for this e-arc. I got this book literally so last m,inute that I didn't even think I'd finish it, but I did and it was so good.

Some thoughts:
I loved the folk fae, I'm always here for those things. It's one of my favorite things to read about - instead of the usual hot ones (that copuld've been just elves).
The Celtic inspired mythology and folkore was so much fun to read about. I don't think I see that much in books. There was only one thing that was confusing to me and that were the names. I had no idea how to pronounce them properly, but that's my own issue and nothing negative to say about the book. (Tho there wer some words that I had no clue what they meant. Especially the names of the fae creatures.)
I loved our main character. She was interesting and fierce. She was enjoyable to read about.
I also loved the romance. Tho I'm not the biggest fan of love triangles, ngl. But this one seemed quite obvious.
The only thing I didn't like too much was the pacing. It felt a bit too slow for me. I wish things were happening a bit faster.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this!

I'll edit this review once I feel better, just wanted to write some things down :>

I really enjoyed this book and how it kept me guessing the whole time as to how they were going to fix everything. Or if they even were going to fix it. I can’t wait to see more of Fia’s story and how her and Irian are going to give Eala what she deserves haha

"I might not mind oblivion, if you were the one to deliver it."

I think the right word to describe this book would be enchanting, which is exactly what a retelling should be. I was sucked into the story instantly, and DEVOURED most of it in one day. If I wasn't sick & with a fever I would've finished the whole thing in one go, trust me. It really is that addicting.

Even the "filler-y" chapters where Fia and Rogan weren't doing much until the next full moon were interesting to me. One of the main reasons why is Corra, who was my favourite character. They were so adorable and funny, I'm hoping we'll get to see more of them in the sequel.

As a fan of love triangles I was fed well, both love interests were likable, though clues were given as to why one of them wasn't right for her throughout the book and I wholeheartedly agree.

I even had a bit of an internal struggle where I wanted Fia to be with him for a bit, even though I preferred the other love interest, but at the same time was like "no no don't do that don't hurt the other one!!!".

Strangely enough, there was no typical jealousy. As in, the two love interests didn't interact, and they did occasionally make comments about one another, but when they were with Fia it was just about them in the moment (or, in the case of Rogan, about Eala who makes this into a love square).

Overall it was handled well, which surprised me.

Now, as much as I loved Irian, I wish we got a bit more time with him, getting to know him and seeing him and Fia fall for each other. Yes, he had the best lines in the book after Corra and I highlighted a bunch of them, but I wasn't completely sold on the love front.

This ties into something slightly illogical in the plot, basically they can only cross over during a full moon, but I didn't get why they didn't just stay for a few months. Rogan okay human, but Fia could've stayed during her "seduction" mission quite comfortably. That would've made the relationship more believable.

Because basically they saw each other a dozen times, not even full days, just nights...and they are in devastatingly crushing love with each other by the end of it. But, for minimum half of those times, Fia was still in love with Rogan and didn't fully open her heart up to Irian and it just didn't seem fair, you know.

I can maybe believe that he is in love with her, but not the other way around (yet).

As for the rest of the story/plot, I wouldn't call this unpredictable (except for the ending), you can tell where it's going to go most of the time, but it's still a very fun and enjoyable read. It also had something that made it feel fresh. Like, yes, definitely a romantasy, but not completely typical?

Which brings me to the comps, I can't really say if it's like The Cruel Prince since I haven't read it, but I can maybe see a little bit of For the Wolf in it, though if you ask me this is much better than that book. If anything this is most similar to These Hollow Vows, but even then it has its own uniqueness that no other comps come to mind.

You can tell the author did her research for the worldbuilding and did it well. There's a glossary at the back (maybe it'll be moved to the front for the published copy?), but I felt like the terms used were explained properly in the text so I didn't need to reference it.

WHICH REMINDS ME! Okay, so you know how in every book the love interest has a nickname for the main character? Mhm, here it's...colleen.

There's nothing wrong with colleen, and it's actually kind of cute that he came up with that based on what she said at their first meeting, but I am so sorry, every time Irian said it, I would picture Colleen Hoover in my brain and the moment wouldn't be as romantic as it was supposed to be.

Anyway, the ending was great, I couldn't have hoped for a better one. It wrapped the most important things up, and if you wanted to stop reading at this book you totally could. I'm absolutely reading the sequel though, and really excited for it.

*Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

A dark, beautifully written fairy tale, with plenty of Celtic folklore in it.
A queen has lost her daughter, her husband and the magic of her realm to the Folk, or so they say.
A changeling, Fia, was left in place of the princess and raised to replace her.
The princess however was never forgotten, and as a hope of getting her back from Tír na nÓg turns into a plan Rogan (Fia’s childhood friend, ex-lover and promised prince to the lost princess) is sent on a mission to get her back home. Fia will accompany him, but on her agenda there is a lot more than just rescuing the princess.

I went into this book unsure if it would be for me (I am not a Romantasy/Romance in general person, but I love fairy tales and Celtic myths and legends), but I got hooked as soon as I managed to pass the first couple of chapters. It definitely has a lot more substance when compared to a lot of the other Romantasy available. Lyra’s writing is beautiful, and I truly appreciated the choice of leaving a lot of the original vocabulary untouched - it pushes me to discover and learn new things. A very solid debut in the adult genre for Lyra Selene.

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC to review. All thoughts are my own.

It's not often that I get the feeling from the beginning of a book that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it, but I was fortunate to experience an immediate hook to this world. Fia, a changeling with no memories from before she awoke in the human lands in place of the princess kidnapped by the Fair Folk, has spent the last thirteen years doing everything to please the Queen, her foster mother. From the beginning, I could tell the power dynamics of this relationship, after years of conditioning by the queen and the druid who honed her into the sharpest weapon, was not favourable to Fia in the slightest. Relying on Fia's naive need to be worthy of the queen's love and truly gain a place in her court, she is sent into Tír na nÓg to rescue the kidnapped princess from the geasa that holds her and other maidens trapped by the fae.

I loved everything about this darkly enchanting setup infused with Celtic folklore. The world-building compliments the experience and settles the reader into the wildly peculiar and deadly environment of Tír na nÓg, and derelict yet whimsical Dun Duragh. The story is told over many months, and I appreciated the author's attention to detail in showcasing the seasons in both lands and how Fia blossomed and withered with the changes in her character. The betrayals and manipulations paired well with this setting, especially with Fia's belief that the Fair Folk were complete tricksters, and came to learn that some of the humans around her were more foe than ally as the story continued.

I appreciated the slow pacing of the storyline. This story heavily relies on the Full Moon to gain access to Tír na nÓg, and whilst some convenience came from this plot device to enable time jumps, it still felt like the author didn't gloss over anything deemed important. It helped keep up the intrigue and allure of the magical lands and gave Fia time to build upon herself, her fae knowledge, and at some points, a good reprieve from all the twisting of side characters' machinations. I loved Corra, a trickster creature bound to Dun Duragh, and all the whimsy bargains Fia made with them. In all uncertainty, Fia had Corra, and those moments were well placed to alleviate the tension of reading Fia continuously fall prey to certain individuals.

The cast in this book is well-curated. There is somewhat of a love triangle, which isn't my favourite thing to read if I'm honest, but I would argue that it's more of a growth period for Fia from one to another. Rogan, whilst I understood the reasoning for placing him into this world to test Fia's vulnerability and push her emotions and loyalties to the max, gave me the absolute ick, even if half his issue was down to being conditioned to his role similarly to Fia. Irian, the supposedly fae villain of the story, in comparison, is the type of main male character I loved to read, and I was so fascinated by him. The slow burn of the romance between Fia and Irian is absolutely delightful, and the way this book ended has me eager to see what happens next for all three of these characters. The romance is tastefully spicy, perfect for lovers of romantasy reads. The thing I love most about this is that although the scenes are detailed, the spice is placed into the story well, and doesn't detract from the overall character growth Fia undertakes. The villains in this book are equally well-written and shocking to read. I ranged through a lot of emotions thanks to the actions of those uncaring of Fia, even those claiming to love her. Watching Fia evolve and accept her fae heritage was extremely rewarding in the face of all the trouble and weight of responsibility placed upon her.

I simply cannot wait for book two to be released. This world is addictive, and I'm invested in Fia's evolution from weapon for others to choosing herself and forging her own way.

Romantasy Friends, here is yet another one for you! A Feather So Black is the first in a new Romantasy trilogy.
Be prepared for a changeling girl, a sexy prince and a dark Fae lord. But also an adoptive mother who might love or use her... And a sister she I supposed to save from the fae world she got taken away to. So Fia starts her journey, and through it there are many doubts, and a lot of growth.
If you like dark, atmospheric fairytale taking place mainly in forests... And with romance obviously, then you got your next read.
Do we have a date or book 2 though...? Because hum... Please?!

*Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for access to the e-ARC against my honest review.*

“For anyone who has ever doubted if they were the main character in their own story. You are.”

“I was made of earth and sky and endless waters. I was made to be loved fully or not at all”

“I won’t have a choice when I finally take Eala to my marriage bed. And I won’t have a choice when it’s your fave I see - your body I imagine - for the rest of my life”

“It might not mind oblivion, if you were the one to deliver it.”

Fia a changeling left behind by a fae wanting to be loved and constantly trying to prove her worth due to her fae heritage making people only see the worst in her. Trained as an assassin and taught to fight on order of the queen she makes a strong, fierce and ruthless FMC!

The queen tasks her and Rogan to head into the fae realm and steal back her daughter in order to break the swan curse. Another mission of hers is to seduce the fae prince to steal an object that is powerful and wields magic.

Enemies to lovers
Friends to lovers
Morally grey daddy
Love triangles
Touch her and you’ll die
Magic
Fae
Strong FMC

A feather so black… a truly amazing, beautifully dark fairytale. I was hooked right from the start. Left craving the words written by Lyra Serene and the need to find out more. I am already begging for the sequel because this was everything!

The writing was poetic and amazing and everything I needed from this book. I am so so excited for the sequel! Lyra Selene is an amazing writer. Her book was so well written and flowed so beautifully. I was encapsulated by her words and devoured this book.

The plot twist and ending was emotional. I will need some time to get over my intense feelings!

The characters development through this book is amazing. Fia shows vulnerability and also her strength making her an amazing character and extremely likeable and relatable throughout. I loved her character. She was written so well! She goes from a naive girl to a strong fierce warrior woman showing great character development throughout the book and I cannot wait to see her grow more and come to accept her status as a changeling.

Irian is dangerous, all powerful and extremely mysterious however his fierce love for Fia is absolutely everything! He encourages her to be herself and does not put her down for her heritage like everyone else. He is morally grey and the character that I beg for more about in the next books because he is intriguing!

Rogan was a character I kept flitting between hot and cold on my feelings towards. He comes across so attentive and kind and everything I wanted for Fia to being selfish and careless with his actions that I could not decide if I liked him or hated him.

If you’re a fantasy reader who also loves some romance elements THIS IS FOR YOU!!! 🤍🤍

I recommend this book so much! I was hooked, dragged through all my emotions and have been left begging for more! Lyra Selene is an amazing writer and I cannot wait to read more of her work 🤍🤍

This was a beautifully written book. The tale of a girl so broken by abuse that she believes she can't be loved as she comes into herself is So wonderfully written. Fia is a delight as she finds herself. She makes mistakes, but who wouldn't, with her background? It's a miracle that she's even able to overcome everything, let alone triumph. Fia is so... Real, which is what I think makes this story so relatable.

I wish I had a physical arc of this books so I could feverishly highlight & annotate to my hearts content! As soon as I started this book, I knew it was going to be divisive, if I had picked it up another time in a different mood, I’m fairly certain I would have gone the other way, but as it is, I picked it up at exactly the right time & right mood, so I LOVED it!

I don’t even know where to start with this review, I feel like I can’t do it justice. Look, I know purple prose isn’t for everyone, I have liked some books with it but disliked many more because of it, this one though, blew me away! It was just so beautifully written, every word & metaphor felt thought out & carefully placed, it was overtly flowery (figuratively & metaphorically) which I loved. The vibes were also impeccable, it read in my head like a pre-Raphaelite painting, if that makes sense? Or a hazy flashback in a film, almost fever like in quality. I loved it either way!

The pacing was fairly slow, especially in the first half at least, but I enjoyed the build up & world building that gave. It’s definitely a slower paced book, however I think it pays off very well by the end. The slow reveals leading up to the ending were executed well & left me wanting more! Although it’s a loose Swan Lake retelling, it goes off nicely in its own direction but still incorporates the story we know & love seamlessly. One of my favourite things about this book was how tricksy & brutal the fae are! I love it when they’re still feral, rather than just humans with magic, so this was good to see!

I really liked Fia, she felt real & well thought out, her journey throughout the book was very plausible & I wanted her to succeed. Her flaws made her a more substantial character to me, I’m sure a lot of people won’t agree with some of her actions but that’s what made her believable, I definitely would have made those choices in her position, no one is perfect! Rogan I mostly just wanted to slap tbh, but I guess we need one of those in every book…? Irian I took a while to warm up to (again, planned), but by the end I was rooting for him! Special shout out to Corra for being an absolute delight!

I would definitely recommend the audiobook, Heather O’Sullivan does an incredible job! Her accent suits the material so well & her pronunciations were so helpful for when I flipped between the 2 formats especially. Her voice added a beautiful dreamlike quality to the book, I would definitely listen to more books narrated by her. I really appreciated that the publishers chose an Irish native to read this book too.

Thank you to Orbit UK (e-arc)/Orbit US (audio arc) and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I rate purely on vibes and my enjoyment of the book and honestly have thoroughly enjoyed A Feather so Black and I’m excited for the next book.

Fia is one of my favourite FMC, she reminds me of Jude from The folk of the air series and Tarisai from Raybearer. She’s a changeling being raised as a weapon by her adoptive mother, the Queen, with the task of rescuing her sister, the queens daughter from the folk.

She is fierce and I love it - the loyalty she shows to her mother and need to prove herself to feel loved is heartbreaking at times. She truly believes she’s dangerous and someone who is not to be loved.

The world Lyra has created too is so magical. It has beauty in it but also feels deadly at times. Loads of different types of folk and magic which I adore, and I can picture it all as I’m reading which is always a massive bonus for me.

I knew my deadline for the ARC was coming up, so when I picked it up I didn’t expect to love it so much but from the first page I was captivated and I’ve absolutely loved the journey.

Lyra Selene's debut novel. Imaginative Swan Lake retelling and almost unique, you could see the inspiration from Sarah J Maas and the influence of the original Swan Lake, but who doesn't want to take inspiration from those things.

Fia is our main character, a changeling left behind by the Fair Folk when they stole the Queen's daughter. Fostered by the Queen and honed to become a weapon, Fia is sent to the land of the Fair Folk to break the Swan curse on Princess Eala, and return the true daughter and heir, to both the Queen and Eala's betrothed - Prince Rogan.

☆ enemies to lovers
★ morally grey
☆ love triangle (I usually loathe this trope, but it felt really natural)
★ 🌶️
☆ TW: parental abuse, self harm, alcohol abuse

Fia and her childhood love Rogan journey together to the magical border and each month they travel into the land of tír na nÓg for the night, there they meet Eala and the other swans, along with the dark and mysterious Irian and try to find a way to rescue the Princess Eala and steal back magic for the human realm.

This novel is full of lovely story telling, complex characters and a beautiful writing style, but I do feel this could have been shorter while including more detail and answering a few questions. For example, half the swans don't have names or personalities, it felt like something was missing there, but this could have room to develop in future books in the series.

I enjoyed the self-discovery journey Fia goes on to find her self-worth. The magic system is intriguing and capturing as a reader. The pace of the book is slow and whimsical, it has a definite lull in the middle but it picks up nicely towards the end which pays off - I think?

For the love triangle, it felt really natural and I, along with our MC, couldn't truly root for either of them. All of the characters are flawed in my view, but that makes them relatable I guess. Except Corra who is just chef's kiss, perfect. I would enjoy a novella with Corra.

There is a Glossary at the end of the book which would have been helpful to see at the start instead.

Favourite Quotes:
♡ The dedication: “For anyone who has ever doubted if they were the main character in their own story. You are.”

♡ "I thought I might not mind oblivion, if you were the one to deliver it."

SJM references: '"Princeling?" I ground out through clenched teeth, "What in the Morrigan's name are you doing here?"' - "frost and starlight" - Tithe

♡ "I would do anything for Mother. Including helping the man I loved find the woman he was promised to marry"

♡ "Then I remembered, as I always did - my face was her face, and she was the one he'd chosen"

♡ "If I wanted you," he drawled, "I would go to any lengths to keep you."

♡ "they tried to hurt you. So I killed them all."

♡ "I smiled back at the man I meant to destroy"


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A Feather So Black is the first instalment of Fair Folk series, and we follow Fla, a changeling girl that’s left behind after a war between Fae and humans. We have a story with ancient gods and vengeful queens at the same time we have some references to Celtic folklore.

I felt like this was an adult version of the Cruel Prince, but better. The world building in this book was fascinating, and the mythological bits throughout the book were good. The characters were well developed and there were a few intriguing points in some of them. I must admit that I wasn’t expecting the amount of spice this book had but was a nice surprise.

Overall, the story is a bit intense, and I recommend it to fans of romantasy since there’s a bigger focus on the romance than the fantasy part. It has an interesting plot and when you think you know where the story is going, you’ll be (probably) wrong. I’m curious to see how it’ll develop in the next book.

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

Currently me and the Fae have some sort of hate-love relationship. I like stories about Fae, Fairies and the Fair Folk. I like their trickery, their lies, their deception. I like how those stories always keep me on my toes and alert. However, I've also read a few too many of them lately which means that it sometimes feels like it's more of the same. But, when I saw this story was gonna combine Fae with a Swan Lake retelling I had to request a copy from Netgalley. Luckily Orbit granted me a copy.

When I started this book I was immediately sucked in. That's mostly because of the writing style. Although the sentences were never hard to read, they had something poetic. It's clear that the author wrote this story from the heart and focussed on the emotions. I do think that because of that the story eventually feels a little longer than it should have been. Somewhen past the halfway point I noticed that I was really longing for the plot to develop a little quicker.

Although there are quite some exciting scenes and although there are quite some dangerous moments, it feels like it takes a little too long before the pieces of the puzzle click. The characters all struggle with their own doubts, worries, fears and hearts and that means that it sometimes feels like they forget about what they're actually doing. And no matter how much sense that makes, it does get a little frustrating as a reader at some point.

Which doesn't mean the character journeys aren't beautiful. On the contrary. Especially the heroine is really growing and learning throughout the book. You see her change, you see her losing herself and finding a better version of herself. You see her growing into the person she needs to be in the finale of the novel. I also really like how that finale of the book is exactly the balance this book is focussed on. The end of something and the beginning of something new.

I'm looking forward to the stories, reveals and twisted lies waiting for us in the sequel.

A beautiful romantasy novel inspired by Celtic folklore.

We’re following our fmc Fia as she embarks on a quest to rescue the princess from the fae realm.

It has a love triangle of sorts and a little spice 🌶️

The prose in this is gorgeous and lyrical and so beautifully written.

I would class this as older YA or new adult rather than adult fantasy but it was still amazing, action packed and I loved it!