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!

Thank you Little Brown Book Group UK (Orbit) and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

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

This story starts off strong by dumping a lot of names and information of the world on you in the first five pages.

The changeling princess has to travel to the fae realm to rescue the princess she replaced. In her company is the man she used to love. And to be fair I don’t see what she saw in him because he is obnoxious. (I saw him as Prince Charming from Shrek) he keeps pushing for her although she clearly said no.

And because she was so demoted by her environment she believes the shit he tells her and then goes along with it. I was screaming out loud after this point. Girl he is engaged to your sister!

The monthly visits to the fairy world are mysterious and almost had me skipping forward to get to the next visit. I loved the mysterious fairy stranger waiting for her and was really looking forward to see if he would be friend or foe.

The ending was a bit unexpected but even better because of it. Although the story tried to be a lot of different things. I liked the main part of it thoroughly.

🌶️: 2/5
⭐️: 4.5/5

“𝐼𝒻 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊,” 𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝓇𝒶𝓌𝓁𝑒𝒹, “𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝑔𝑜 𝓉𝑜 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓁𝑒𝓃𝑔𝓉𝒽𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓀𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊.”

A Feather So Black is a sizzling fantasy romance heavily inspired by Celtic folklore, weaving a tale of magic and moonlit forests, forbidden romance, and delightfully dark creatures.

We follow Fia, a defiant changeling who replaced a stolen Princess, as she begins a quest to defeat the dangerous fae lord keeping twelve cursed Princesses captive, save the Princess she replaced, and restore power to her family.

I really enjoyed Fia’s character arc in this book - as an unwanted changeling living amongst human royalty, she has been taught to hate the magical aspects of herself that didn’t conform for her whole life, and I loved watching her overcome her hatred and fear throughout the book.

The thing that initially sold me on this book was the intricate, whimsical world building and lyrical prose reminiscent of The Cruel Prince. I immediately picked up on this when I started and it got me really excited about reading it!!

The romance and tension in this was just DELICIOUS. I absolutely love a forbidden romance and this was just everything.

I loved Irian SO much in this. From the start, I couldn’t help but love him. Morally grey men are a weakness I can’t overcome. Most of my favourite quotes from this book are the things he said that had me screaming and kicking my feet. I’m obsessed with him.

The beginning of the book did feel a bit slow for me and it definitely took some time for me to really get hooked (maybe around the first 100 pages or so) but once I was into it I was IN.

Thank you so much @orbitbooks_uk for the arc! I’m very excited to see how this story continues in book two! 🖤

I liked this book. It was a fairly quick read with some bits that I wasn't a big fan of but all in all, I finished in nearly one go. The writing style was great and kept me wanting to read more. All in all, it was a good experience and I'll definitely keep an eye out for the author's next works.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for granting me an arc.

I enjoyed A Feather So Black, it gave Swan Lake vibes with maidens trapped to be swans during the day and human at night. One of the maidens is a princess named Eala and her mother wants her back, understandably. She sends Fia to retrieve her, a changeling who was swapped with Eala when she turned eight years old.

She journeys with Rogan, her childhood crush and the boy betrothed to Eala. A love triangle slash square occurs with Fia wanting Rogan, Rogan wanting Fia, Rogan betrothed to Eala and then Fia falling for the supposed villain. It's a bit of a mess and slightly chaotic. There is some spice too so I wouldn't recommend this to a younger audience.

I really liked Fia, I enjoyed seeing her come along as a person and figure out who she is as a person and Irian was great. I loved the way he was with Fia and how he let be, unapologetically, herself. I didn't like Eala and I didn't trust her. There was something about her that didn't sit right with me. All in all a good read and I'm glad I read it.

3.5 stars.

It's not that this was bad, it's more like there are questionable choices being made that taint the story in some kind of way.

Fia is a changeling, left in exchange for the princess Eala, who was taken just before all twelve gates to Tír na nÓg were closed permanently after a war between humans and the fair folk. Now, years later, a secret thirteenth gate has been discovered, and the queen has tasked Fia and her childhood crush Prince Rogan (who is betrothed to Eala) to save Eala and retrieve a weapon that could bring magic back to the human world.

So far so good.

This is more Romantasy than anything else, unfortunately. The base for the first half of the book is basically Fia pining over Rogan, who has a personality made of cardboard and white bread. She describes him as good and kind and warm, but on page all he does is sulk and drink, not a crumb of charm or warmth in sight. They end up back together, break up, have sex, break up, confess their undying love, break up. It's very repetetive and boring, considering that we readers go into this with the understanding that he is 1. the first love interest, who is never final in books like this, and 2. has no development or movement whatsoever. We know their "love" (which seems little more than childish infatuation, tbh) is doomed from the start. So why are we spending so much time on their weird back-and-forth? Maybe if Rogan (or, let's be honest, even Fia) was a more compelling character, it would work. But alas, it doesn't.

Plot-wise, Rogan and Fia saddle their horses and ride to that hidden gate to Tír na nÓg, which only Fia can open, and only once a month during the full moon. Thus, the story is split into single days, each a month apart, which hacks the book apart and doesn't allow the plot to flow organically. Furthermore, a major plot point is Fia's restauration of a ruined castle garden at the edge of the gatelands, which she initally starts because "she doesn't have anything else to do while waiting for the next full moon." Meanwhile, the castle she lives in is a day's ride away.
A day.
Not a week.
A day. She could go home anytime she wanted. Go to the gate, do their day-long exercise in running around Tír na nÓg to free Eala (who transforms into a swan for half the day), and then go home and continue their usual duties and works. Nothing is forcing her to shack up in that castle with only Rogan and a devious fey spirit comglomarate called Corra (admittetly one of the best characters in the entire book). Fia actually DOES go home, once. It takes her a day. It's a cute lil vacation. So why is she acting like she's stuck with Rogan? As if there's nothing else to do except garden and talk to Rogan? Hell, even if she didn't want to go home, she could visit the neighboring village which apparantly exists!
I don't know why this particular plothole irks me so much, but it does.

Eventually, she meets Irian, who is described as the one who keeps Eala and her swan maidens captive, and of course he is the most gorgeous being Fia has ever interacted with. Her relationship with Irian is definitely textbook Romantasy, with nothing really surprising happening, although they are much more intriguing than anything that Rogan could possibly bring to the table. Irian is so obviously the main love interest that it makes anything that happens between Fia and Rogan even more annoying and pointless. And of course he's mORalLY gReY (basically being good and nice, but with a gruff exterior), so ...

One thing I really did love about this book is the athmosphere created. It truly feels like stepping into a forest of thorns and brambles and broken things.
The prose is beautiful, if a bit strained and purple-y at times.
Eala is a VERY compelling villain. It's funny, because Fia's whole shtick at the beginning is the fact that no matter how hard she tries, she cannot ever reach the levels of love and devotion that Eala commands even in her abscense - and it turns out that yes, indeed, Eala is more interesting than Fia. By far. I wish we'd have seen more of her and her scheming.

So, yeah. Beautiful athmosphere, but it felt just a bit too clumsy to be truly good.

"But I should never have had to work so hard to be loved."

In A Feather So Black, Fia the changeling girl, forged to be a weapon by her human foster mother, is sent to the land of the folk with her childhood friend to rescue a cursed princess and steal a magical weapon to help save the human realm.

Ultimately this is a story of growth and self love and realisation. I'll be honest, it took me a while to really get into this book, I was interested but not entirely gripped until around the 60% mark. I don't want to spoil it but Fia made a choice that resulted in something I feel I don't get to read about enough in books happening.

The character development is very heavy, there is a lot of grey and no one person is portrayed as being ultimately good or bad which I thoroughly enjoyed. That's not to say there aren't some heinous decisions made because there are - but the reasoning and intentions behind those choices blur the lines of good and evil.

I would definitely say this is more new adult than adult as I felt a little too old to be the target demographic but I'm invested and look forward to the sequel.

This was such a unique story and I absolutely loved it!
A story of folk and humans and all things magical. Loved the celtic mythology aspect!
Fia,who isn’t human but isn’t folk, is left in the place of a princess when she is stolen away. She is brought up to be a spy, to hate the very people she came from and in turn herself and all that she is.
There is love and spice and heartbreak galore in this book as well as plenty of action and great plot twists.
The morally grey man you think you should hate..maybe you won’t! The princess you should want to see rescued..maybe you won’t!
Fia’s journey and her self awakening were a joy to read!!
I couldn’t put this book down and I cannot wait for the second one ❤️ This is the first book of Laura’s that I’ve read but it won’t be the last!!

🖤Celtic mythology
🖤Botanical magic
🖤Morally grey man
🖤Spice
🖤Touch her and die
🖤Enemies to lovers
🖤 dysfunctional family

Special thanks to Little Brown Group UK and Netgalley for providing me an advance copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review!

Lushly imagined dark fairytale! I fell in love with the dark atmosphere evoked by the beautiful writing style. Swan lake has never been anywhere on my favorites but this reimagined fairytale just captured me. It has so much that I was missing in The Cruel Prince.

Spoilers below:
The only thing I'd critique would be the needlessly long relationship between Fia and Rogan. It goes upto 60% of the book and made me question who was the MMC in this story. I wish there would have been more of a gap between when they end their relationship and when she begins one with Irian. I loved their meeting, but their relationship could have used more build up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited to read this book, especially as it’s a dark retelling and has been compared to the Cruel Prince, which is one of my absolute favourite fantasy books. Sadly, this book did not live up to my expectations at all.

A Feather So Black follows Fia, a human/fae changeling who was switched with a human princess as a young child. Having been raised by the high queen, a now 20 year old Fia is tasked with rescuing the princess from the fae realm, accompanied by her ex lover, who is betrothed to the princess. This was such a fantastic premise, but unfortunately this story fell flat in every aspect.

Firstly, the characters were all one dimensional, bland, and lacked personality. I couldn’t connect with Fia at all, and found myself getting annoyed by her internal monologue. She was either pining after her ex lover (who was equally as bland as she was) or reminding us that her mother had raised her to be a weapon.

The relationships between the characters were also very disappointing. There is a love triangle/square in this book, and I felt absolutely no chemistry or tension between any of the characters. The one relationship felt very insta-lovey, because the couple barely spent any time together (one night a month!) The love declarations felt so silly because it felt like they’d known each other for two minutes.

The world building was not well done. The hierarchies of both worlds were poorly explained, and the author regularly dropped Gaelic terms and mythological creatures in without explaining them. After finishing the eARC, I found a glossary of terms at the end of the book, which would have been better placed at the beginning before I started reading it.

The plot bored and failed to grip me, as well as being very repetitive. Being in the fae realm was by far the most exciting part of this book, but the characters barely spent any time there. This was because the fae realm was only accessible on a full moon, and the characters had to return to the human realm before sunrise. It felt like as soon as things got semi-interesting in the fae realm, I was yanked back into the human realm and had to endure mundane filler of the characters arguing, gardening, eating, and having boring sex.

A lot happened at the end of this book, which made the pacing feel very off. Unfortunately, nothing surprised me, and I finished A Feather So Black feeling very unfulfilled. I really should have DNF’d this book, but I just kept reading and hoping it would get better. Not one I will be recommending, and I will not be continuing on with this series.

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for this ARC in exchange for a review. Initially I felt that this story was lacking, but I was glad I persevered as I did eventually enjoy it.

There is a lot of ground work within this book which is clearly preparing the reader for the rest of the series. However it was very slow and clunky in places which I disliked. There is potential for the romance to become a major part of the plot line and I look forward to seeing how this is developed. However it is complex in terms of the love-triangle aspect. This left me feeling frustrated on a number of occasions and I was not fully invested in this aspect.

I loved the development of the FMC and felt that this combined with the magical world really held its own within the complex love story. I was left not knowing who to trust and who was on our FMC's side.

My main issues was that the writing style just wasn't for me. I felt I was using the dictionary function on my kindle more than actually reading the story. I am also not familiar with Celtic Folklore and felt that this hindered my immersion into the world.

Overall it is a good read and I would be interested in reading the sequel.

Below is the text of my review from my Goodreads account

Thank you, Lyra Selene, Netgallery, and Orbit Books for my advanced readers copy. This e-book was provided in exchange for my fair and honest review.

This book took me by surprise. In simple words, one might describe it as a cruel prince x Dark Swan Lake retelling. Indeed this book is what I think a lot of people on TikTok thought The Cruel Prince – more mature and romance-heavy. However, this book is a darker, fae-inspired re-imaging of Swan Lake where the villains Rothbart and Odile may be the ones you end up rooting for.

In this instance, Odile is our beautiful Fia, a former changeling child who was swapped out with her human sister Princess Eala who is trapped in the Fae land Tir na nOg. Her “mother” (Eala’s birth mother) charged her with the task of retrieving her daughter from the realm. Fia alongside her former love (and Princess Eala’s betrothed) the handsome Prince Rogan set out to find Princess Eala. However, when she finds that Princess Eala is trapped by the mysterious and cold-hearted Fae King Irian

This book blew my mind, captured my heart, and infected my soul. This is for the following reasons

Plot

Some may say this book is more character-driven than plot-driven. Indeed, because the plot is set up where all the action happens around the full moon, there are periods dedicated to character growth. The book has elements of the Cruel Prince trilogy due to the grapple for power between humans and Fae, but there is also a unique inspiration from Celtic mythology. I loved how every character operates in the shades of grey and you never truly know who to trust. For me, I was in anticipation of seeing who would betray whom, and things became action-packed at the end of the book.

Characters

Fia is an extremely likable character. You want to root for her. This book quickly becomes not just a quest for her family but a search for herself. The way we see Fia start as a willing political tool and “spare” to her sister slowly transform and own her power and worth is amazing. It was heartbreaking to see her portray herself as this ruthless assassin when in reality she had empathy and love for every other character. Fia is for those girls who don’t see their self-worth but start to realize they are badass and start taking matters into their own hands.



I really loved her Fae abilities and how she was a competent FMC but still found herself up against hurdles. The complicated relationship she has with her adoptive mother and sister is really interesting and fleshed out.

Let’s move on to our first MMC- Prince Rogan. The author described him as a toxic golden retriever and I think that is an apt description although I would describe him more as an immature golden retriever. However, a lot of his actions and dilemmas are based on the fact he is a Prince and has a duty to his kingdom. In a way, he reminds me of Liwei from Daughter of a Moon Goddess. I am excited to see how his character and relationship with Fia changes in the next book.

Fae Lord Irian is our morally grey bad by that you just secretly love from the moment you meet him. I love how he remains a morally grey person throughout the book and honestly a villain. But he isn’t “morally grey” in a tropy way, we realise that there are reasons he has turned out the way he has.

The way he talks to Fia and builds her confidence honestly makes me swoon. This man’s love language is positive affirmations for sure. I know the way Irian and Fia speak to one another through stories in the third person about their childhood, may not appeal to all readers. But I honestly gobbled it up.

Love Triangle

It felt, real raw, complex, and just as bit messy as real life. There is quite a bit of spice (definitely an adult book) but I felt real and necessary for the character growth- it didn’t feel out of place with the plot of the book. What I love about the two main MMC is, they are not superficial caricatures of tropes. Much like Peeta and Gale from The Hunger Games, Rogan and Irian represent two different pathways and facets to Fia and her self-love journey. I can see why Fia is attracted to both of them and loves them in different ways.

And when this love triangle started looking like a love square… oh boy… cannot wait for book two!

Writing

Special love must be given for Lyra Selene’s writing. It is magnetic and compelling. Lyra Selene to me has a poetic quality reminiscent of Lana Del Rey- you just feel the romanticism emanate from her soul onto the words on the page
There were several times I had to stop the book, and just do that weird silent cry you do when you read something heart-achingly beautiful. I hope she continues this way in the next book- and by the looks of the bonus chapter from book two, it looks like she will. Here are a few quotes that I fell in love with


“When you give yourself to me, I want all of you. I am not willing to share.”


“That is what loving you feels like. Everything hurts, yet I want more of it. To climb a little higher, to press a little harder, to drive the blade a little deeper.”

3,5/5 stars.

It took me a while to really get in tot his book. But once I did I really really enjoyed it and honestly couldn’t put it down.

The world and magic in the book was amazingly portrayed & written. Especially loved the botanical magic.
The romance was interesting, messy and infuriating at times, which made it even harder to put down. It both features enemies to lovers and friends to lovers.

I liked the character development of the FMC the most. Seeing how she went from a girl who didn’t belong anywhere, who hated herself and her gifts. To the a strong woman who fully embraced herself and everything she had to offer. Was honestly beautiful to see.

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK (Orbit) for the e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 Stars.

Fae, Swan Lake + the 12 dancing princesses and romance - safe to say I was very excited to read this book and it did not disappoint!

While I was not hooked from page 1 (the beginning was kind of slow for me), the book was easy to read and entertaining at all times, the writing fits the vibe of the book very well and I enjoyed the mythology and worldbuilding. Without wanting to spoil anyone, the story and pace picked up after the first few chapters passed and made me look forward to picking it up again. The romance and spice was there, the only thing that I was kind of „meh“ about was the love triangle, I‘m not the biggest fan of Rogan but that might be a me problem 😄.

All in all it‘s a solid first book for a trilogy and I‘ll definitely read the next one!

This faerie take has been pegged for fans of Cruel Prince, which as a Holly Black fangirl, I can totally see this link, it really is up there topping the dark and twisted charts!

Firstly, this is my personal opinion, for my tastes a little slow from the start (first 15%) and a little heavy on terms and names that are quite unfamiliar but reading with Kindle it easy to flip back and forth from the glossary. However, that being said once that ground work is set, the plot took off and I didn't want to put it down.

This book has strong fairytale vibes, vivid world building, I really felt like I was stepping into this world.

There are some real, raw and relatable themes of self love and self discovery in this story, explored within the strong FMC character's perspective. These moments were tender in places, brutal in others - this reader loves an emotional rollercoaster.

The supporting cast of character span across a broad morally grey spectrum, which adds depth to their decisions, drives the plot and just keeps you guessing with each page turn who you can trust.

The romance...well it's certainly here! And much like everything else about this book, it's an emotional rollercoaster; sweet, naive, tender, seductive, heart healing, heart breaking.

An intriguing, addictive and exciting read for fans of dark fairytales and morally grey characters.