thank you netgalley and victory editing for the arc!

just wow. i literally have no words. i absolutely LOVED this book. the characters, the world, just everything about it. the twists and turns kept me at the edge of my seat and i CANNOT wait until the next book in the series is out.

a true enemies to lovers, with some spice sprinkled in.

The way I had excitement running through me when I saw that this story had an enemies to lovers theme going on with a blend of fantasy elements mixed into it because that is on of my favorite tropes, and something so easily for me to get into. I was thrilled and rightfully so because the author really did this trope and the story itself justice!

The story centers around Astra, our main female character, a young woman raised in a unique educational institution where she and her peers are groomed to serve as stand-ins for the kingdom's royal figures in times of need. Astra must navigate the delicate balance of concealing her true lineage while preparing for her role. Despite her training, Astra yearns for a deeper connection, a soulmate, someone she envisions but cannot identify. Following an unexpected encounter with this mysterious individual, Astra is coerced into a marriage with the malevolent brother of the king, Marlak. As she adjusts to her new life with Marlak, a series of revelations unfold, unveiling hidden powers, unexplored realms, newfound friendships, and unexpected love.

This book took me on a captivating journey filled with magic and mystery. Right from the start, the story drew me in and held my attention until the very end. Astra, the main character, is someone I found myself rooting for due to her complexity and intriguing magical powers, setting her apart in the world of fantasy.

What makes this book stand out is the exceptional development of its characters. Witnessing Astra's growth throughout the narrative was a pleasure, and I look forward to seeing how she continues to evolve in future parts of the series. The relationship between Astra and Marlak, the unconventional antagonist turned ally, is skillfully portrayed, adding depth and tension to the story.

As I said before, I particularly enjoyed how the enemies-to-lovers trope executed in this book. The gradual transition from foes to friends to something more was expertly done, adding an extra layer of excitement to the plot. Despite Marlak's atypical appearance and backstory for a fantasy villain, he remains a compelling character.

While the story ended on a cliffhanger, leaving me eager for the next installment, I did feel that there were moments where more world-building could have enhanced the narrative. Nevertheless, the anticipation for what's to come only grew stronger.

Although there were instances where the storytelling felt more descriptive than immersive, and the big plot twist wasn't entirely surprising, I still believe this book is worth recommending.

Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the arc in exchange for an honest review! I will be posting my review on goodreads close to the book's release date but already posted my review on storygraph!

The premise of this was so good, it was giving Ruhn Danaan fanfic vibes, but the writing was terrible. I could barely get through it. I wanted to love this! I wish an editor or beta had taken a look at this. There’s so much promise here! It just needs to be refined!! I was also very frustrated with all of the back and forth miscommunication dialogue. It was reminiscent of iron flame’s “I can’t trust you!” Recurring fights. The ending where he fake betrays her was also very tired and mid.

Lovers of.... my review below ❤️

✨Rating✨4.5/5

- Morally grey princes
- Elemental magic
- Dreamy Romantics
- Marriage of Connivence
- Fae world
- Enemies to lovers
- Many Adventures


Definition of Romantasy I was obsessed from chapter 1.
This is for lovers of Acotar x the liars crown, Astra a decoy princess for her kingdom has very steamy dreams of the same man over and over again. To her shock this man appears to her on one of her dangerous missions as a decoy, Marlak realizes he can’t get into Astras mind and is forced to do the unimaginable….. he marries her. This was total plot twist for me and I was obsessed from the start. The world building and magic was so well written with such a powerful but as well as whimsical feel. I wanted to travel to all these courts as Astra did….plus traveling with Marlak wouldn’t be so bad😌. The ending truly took me through a whirlwind of emotions. I really cannot wait for book 2.

Loves the concept as body doubles for the prince and princess! Who also wouldn’t love a love wrought with tension twists and turns. This is my new favorite read of the year!

A cursed son by Day Leitao is perfect for a magic romance reader.

✅ Magic/fae / royal blood
✅ Arranged marriage
✅ Dark past
✅ Plenty of spicy scenes : mild (mostly in a dream)
✅ Angst
✅ Suspense
✅ Action
✅ Betrayal
✅ Tear jerker
✅ Cliffhanger

The book are slow burn since the story will continue in the 2nd book.

OVERALL RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars

setting
- 5/5 i really loved the world building in this! i do love fae and the world was interesting and i really enjoyed all of the different courts and learning about the world! in a lot of fantasy books the world building is the hardest part to get through but i didn’t feel that this was hard to follow or get through at all, which i liked!

writing
- 2.5/5 this was the hardest part for me bc i do really like the author’s writing style i just think that there were a lot of mistakes and some word usage issues that i didn’t love, and i also think that some of the language was a little too casual or modern for the fantasy setting the author created but that is a personal opinion!!! in that same vein though, i do think that that could make this book a little bit more palatable for people who are just dipping their toes into the romantasy space, so it’s possible it was intentional on the writer’s part!

characters
- 4.5/5 i loved the characters in this, i love love loved astra and marlak and this book made it so easy to root for them!!! and i loved seeing their character development, esp astra!! i also love that marlak is such a dynamic mmc with emotional depth despite his grumpy exterior, i just love him sm and i am so excited to see his character development throughout the series. i’m also very excited to see more of the side characters too, like ferer and nelsin, tarlia, ziven, and lidiane! i loved them so much.

plot
- 5/5 i was enraptured and interested the whole time, i really loved that this had a good mix of romance and politics, and i actually loved that it was pretty romance heavy — that’s how i like my romantasy!!! and this had SO many of my favorite tropes (enemies to lovers, forced proximity, fated mates, touch her and d!e vibes) and i really enjoyed it. **** SPOILERS INCOMING, skip to next section if you haven’t read!!! **** the plot twist at the end too??? i knew something was gonna happen after they confessed their feelings and got together for real but what the hell!!!! i was gutted tbh but i am so glad that astra came out of it p quick and realized that marlak was lying to her and he wasn’t faking his feelings and he only did it to protect her and he Does actually love her!!!

readability
- 4/5 it was honestly easy to read and easy to binge, the word usage issues did take me out of the story at times and there were times when i got a little confused about certain things world-building wise but thankfully they got explained pretty quickly and i was able to move past it. but overall i did love it and i binged it in one day

enjoyment
- 4.5/5 i really enjoyed this story and i had a really great time reading it, i felt so much for these characters and i loved the main couple’s relationship and i am so beyond ready for the next installment. tbh i am even contemplating getting the special edition bc i loved the story that much and i’d love to have it on my shelf!!

Got the ARC from NetGalley!

Not going to lie, the start of the book was a bit rocky. I'm glad I stuck around because the main characters feel fully fleshed out and had real interactions--not like those cringy quips that you'd think "no one would say that out loud".

The plot moved well, I love how given the third-person restricted point-of-view, we were as clueless as the lead character. Also really love the use of dreams in this book... *dreamy sigh*

Anyway, my only gripe would probably be that the side characters feel like side characters, what do I mean by that? It just means that with fully fleshed out main characters, you kind of expect just a lot more roundedness to the side characters as well.

It might also just be that this is the first book to a series and so the author's just trying to set the scene for everything to unfold! So excited to read the actual book and especially the sequel!!!

An interesting story, a lot of intrigue and mystery. It does take place world of magic and a society of different classes and types of people. Astra is being raised as a stand in for a princess, she is trained to protect and serve while also hiding her real identity. Her love interest Marlak, is not a hero type. He is trying to restore his throne by any means necessary. A forced marriage makes them rely on each other to discover the secrets that both keep. The story could be confusing to follow a lot of the time, I'm not sure if it is setting up for the next book, but plots points would happen really suddenly, but have little explanation. The story does leave off on an interesting cliffhanger. The author does have a good writing style that makes it easy to read, so I look forward to the next book. I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I tried so hard but ultimately had to mark it as DNF around the 50% mark. I actually love a good fantasy romance book, its one of my favorite genres! However, I found this book boring and unoriginal.

The dialogue was so cringey some times that I actually had to skim some chapters.
The FMC was annoying, not relatable at all and her inner monologue was hard to read sometimes. As for the MMC, I couldn't connect with him at all and found the main characters chemistry to be lacking. Although I would have liked to have read his POV just to see what was going through his head.

This was my first book by this author so I dont actuay know if this is just her writing style but I just didnt like it! Im sorry :(

If you like romance fantasy, fae, magic. This book is for you.

I don't think this is an enemies to lovers, more like lovers to enemies for me because they were both very sweet from the start! >_< even though they are both in denial...

The MMC is such a gentleman. He treats our FMC better as the story progress. And I found that he cared for her. His POV at the end of the book caught me by surprise!

giggling and kicking my feet when they talk about their dreams XD

Looking forward for the next book! OMG!

Thank you to Netgalley, lovely author and publisher for this ARC~!

🕮 ARC review 🕮

✰⋆☾ ⋆ A Cursed Son⭑☽ ✧˖°. Day Leitao ✰

🕮 Romantasy
🕮 Magic & Fae
🕮 Fated Mates
🕮 Dream Walking
🕮 Arranged marriage
🕮 Slow burn
🕮 Enemies to lovers
🕮 🌶🌶/🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶


"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐰, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐤."
𝐇𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫. "𝐀 𝐜𝐨𝐰, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧. 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐰?" 🤣

"𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞." ❤


Loved the book, Had a hard time getting into it but once I started to get into it I couldn't put it down. 😍
Can't wait to read the next book in this series! 🥰

Publication Date: March 6, 2024

🖤Fae
🖤Elemental magic
🖤Royalty
🖤Fated mates
🖤Grumpy x Sunshine
🖤Dream walking
🖤Enemies to Lovers

Astra was an orphan who was taken in and hidden inside the Royal Palace. She was brought up to be a guard and royal decoy. All she knows is duty.

Astra is sent out on a mission and soon finds her carriage bring attacked by the degraded fae prince Marlak. Marlak is a powerful Elemental fae with numerous relics.

Soon after their encounter Astra find herself sold and wed to Marlak.

They both have their secrets. Can they learn to trust each other enough to let down their guards, to share who they truly are?

I absolutely loved this book and found it hard to put down. Astra is quick witted and her banter with Marlak is top notch. They both like to push each other.  Their sexual chemistry is phenomenal, the tension.

I plan on ordering a physical copy of this book and can't wait for book 2

Thank you @netgalley @victoryediting and @dayleitao for this ARC

I loved this book! The enemies to lovers is done so well. The steamy scenes, banter, slowburn and forced proximity oh I loved them and devoured this book..

📚ARC Review: A Cursed Son from Netgalley📚

Thrilled to dive into an ARC of A Cursed Son courtesy of @netgalley, after reading glowing reviews from my bookstagram community.

A Cursed Son captivated me from the start! Rich with mysterious elements, it drew me into a world brimming with intricate kingdoms that I was excited to explore. The characters, with their depth and charm, quickly won me over. I was particularly captivated by the masterfully woven tension between Astra and Marlak, transitioning seamlessly from adversaries to something deeper amidst engaging banter and steamy dreams.

Eagerly anticipating the sequel, A Cursed Son releases on March 6th. Don’t miss out! Also, for collectors of stunning editions, be sure to explore the Kickstarter—I know I will. ✨

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this take on Fairies and Humans and how they look at magic.

Loved how the FMC was not a defenless woman and could fight her own way better than any man in the story.

How she didn't know Marlak loved her astounds me, with how protective he was from the start.

This gives fated mates a twist and it was amazing!

That Cliffhanger though, I'm eager to know what happens next.

*grumpy sunshine
*slow burn
*forced marriage
*connection through dreams

When I say I am OBSESSED with the connection through dreams trope, I mean it!
I was so excited to find out that this was a book where the two main characters have a connection in their dreams before meeting.

The “forced marriage with a Fae” trope is done quite often, but the author did a great job creating a unique world and keeping me engaged!

I thought this was such a fun read from beginning to end.

The author created a clear back story about our FMC, Astra, and how her only goal in life was to be a "stand in" for a princess. Seeing her growth during the story and her realizing she is more than that was so heartwarming!

This book DID have a big cliffhanger. (I can’t wait for book two to see even more character growth and how they are going to resolve the issues at the end!!!)

Thank you Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A Cursed Son by Day Leitao
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️
Tropes: Slow burn, grump sunshine, enemies to lovers.

I loved this book. A slow start, but worth every bit of it! The narration and banter was done so well and definitely deserves it’s own applause.

I would happily recommend this book to lovers of magic, forced proximity, and romantasy.

An engaging and interesting premise, I love the magic, slow burn and enemies to lovers premise and i was definitely hooked and will give book 2 a read however I felt in places the book could have used another round of edits as the language sometime felt a bit jarring/out of place.

This book was different than other romancy books I have read, intrigued me right in!

Love the snarky banter between the mains.
Slow burn well done ending that will break your heart!