A delightful story full of magic and yearning. LOVED it! It was so atmospheric too. The real world and the magical world colliding was such. Fresh take. Can’t wait to dive into the rest of the series!

Steeped in Irish Folklore this romantasy has romance and time travel. I enjoyed this first book in this series and hope to continue with the rest of the books soon. Would highly recommend it if you are looking for romantasy that feature fae and slow burn romance.

Ghosts, fae, time travel, and Trials! There are twists along the way. This was a good time for me.

# A Kingdom of Souls and Shadows
# 7/27/2024 ~ 1/15/2025
# 5.0 / 5.0

2.5-3 stars. Overall I enjoyed it, but there were a few drawbacks that kept it from rating higher for me. Characters were very inconsistent and a lot was telegraphed that could have been more impactful if they’d been more consistent and it had been less heavy handed.

The authors writing was charming and inviting but there was just something in the story line that didn't hold up it's end of the bargain. I will definitely check out her books in the future but this one wasn't a success for me. My biggest love in this book was the lore!

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book. I hated the FMC so much I just couldn’t get any further into it; she was so indecisive and annoying that she ruined the book for me. I also wasn’t a fan of the MMC, he didn’t provide anything to the book because he was overly secretive and rude to the FMC that I simply couldn’t find any interest of care for him by the time I got to a place I had to put it down.

really wanted to like this but man, I couldn't get into it at all. The pacing was just too slow. Add that into unlikable characters and it made for too difficult of a read. When reading is a chore, there's a problem.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.

Pretty good and great world building

I liked this one for the most part! I really enjoyed the folklore and the magical elements to it, but there were times that the FMC was a bit TOO back and forth with her decisions.

Overall, this one was enjoyable and I liked it!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Loved the irish folklore in this story. it is already a genre i really enjoy - fantasy, adventure and romance, all woven into a well-written story. A nice read.

It took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did, I found myself enjoying it. Well, sort of. The Irish folklore was particularly interesting and new to me, adding a unique element to the story. However, I have mixed feelings overall. That is why I state sort of up there.

While the plot had the potential to be phenomenal, the first half of the story felt quite underwhelming. The issue wasn't the plot itself but rather the lack of character depth and background. This made the characters, their romances, and their relationships feel somewhat unconvincing to me. I would have liked to see more development and connection to bring the characters to life.

Despite these shortcomings, the book does have its strengths. The folklore aspect was fascinating, and I appreciated the effort to weave it into the narrative. If you're interested in Irish mythology and don't mind a slower start, this book might still be worth a read.

Overall, this book is an intriguing read with some unique elements, but it falls short in character development, which affected my overall enjoyment.

A Kingdom of Souls and Shadows – Leslie O’Sullivan
When Eala Duir’s grandmother passes away, Eala goes on a hunt trying to learn about her history, her family, and find some answers. When the genealogy tests keep return inconclusive, she is left feeling defeated until she makes the decision with the help of a cryptic message from her grandmother to travel to Ireland with other Professors in hopes of finding some answers.
During her time in Ireland, Eala meets and is fascinated by Sionnach, a local expert who Eala discovers may be the one who holds the answers she is looking for. After Eala learns of the Fae realm, and how her history connects to the Fae realm, she struggles to embrace this newfound knowledge, wanting things to go back to when they were simple, but she can’t help feel the need to see this adventure to the very end.
I read this book back in the spring, and honestly, it took me a bit to get through. I found I had a hard time diving in due to the language sometimes used, the folktales, the history. For someone who is interested in Irish Folktales, I think this may be way more up their alley than mine, and they mind find some beauty in this book. Props to the author for writing such a tale, and I honestly feel horrible that I didn’t take to it. Unfortunately, I opted to go with 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Overall, A Kingdom of Souls and Shadows was a great read. I loved Eala and Sion both as individual characters and as a couple. They both felt very real and relatable (yes, the 200-year-old man felt relatable to a modern woman). O’Sullivan takes Irish folklore and moves it forward into the next century in a really fun and exciting way. This is book one in a series (Fae Destiny), and while the ending of book one could have ended there, I can see it leading into the next one. In any case, if fantasy, romance, and adventure are your thing, I highly recommend checking this one out.

Full review at link: https://thecosmiccircus.com/book-review-a-kingdom-of-souls-and-shadows-by-leslie-osullivan/

A Kingdom of Souls and Shadows got my attention with its excellent cover and intriguing summary. I'm prone to read just about any speculative fiction that plays with the concept of the fae and so throwing in a bit of mystery was bound to hook me. Character development and interactions were overall handled exceptionally well though the primary romance felt more than slightly rushed. The pacing was uneven throughout but it was not enough of a problem to take away from my enjoyment on a meaningful level and I do think I will be checking out any future titles from the author to see their continued development.

Single POV, Spicy, Magical Quest, Irish Lore, Slow Burn Romance, Fae. Enemies to Lovers

After reading the description of this book I was sold on the premise of Irish Lore/Fantasy elements. I really appreciated the imagery and descriptions. Eala and Sion have a slow burn romance full of yearning and growth. I enjoyed the way Eala was the lead in their first spicy scene, as most of the time in romance the MMC is the one to lead the moment and teach I found it refreshing Eala was the one teaching and leading him. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

I enjoyed this story! I thought it had some very unique story elements like the seven virtues, soulfall, and all of the Celtic history. I thought the concept and plot for this book was different and one I haven't heard before. I gave this book 4 stars because the love story was a bit odd at times. It was very sudden and hard to "buy in" to their story. It seemed Eala and Sion were in a relationship and then all of a sudden they weren't really sure. The love story and plot also seemed to be in constant conflict with each other, and I couldn't always decipher which one was more important to the story. By the end of the book, most of my questions were answered, as there were some parts that didn't make sense and had me asking questions. A lot of the characters also came full circle by the end. There were some unexpected events towards the end of the story that helped tie up loose ends. Overall, I would recommend this story and I'm looking forward to the second book in the series!

I really wanted to like this book, as I am going on vacation to Ireland soon. I have to say, I did not. The premise started out ok, but then as the book went on there were so many places that it was so choppy. The FMC going from I'm confused to I love you to I hate you to I love you in a matter of NIGHTS was ridiculous. The way she reacted and the follow up to that was so disjointed. The friend pushing the other guy on her was also giving me the ick. The ending was super predicable, but then to have everything resolved and end on a cliffhanger was also very frustrating as a reader. I enjoyed some of the folklore and Irish verbiage, but unfortunately that was all I enjoyed about this book. 3 stars is being generous.

I loved everything about this novel. It's fantastically written. I've never read anything with Irish folklore so it's refreshing to read this novel. I loved the build up to the story and the twists and turns.
The pace of the story is really good it keeps you intrigued and invested.

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing!
It took me a bit to get into this book, but I did enjoy it by the end! The Irish folklore was interesting and new for me-I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book with that as a basis. Nice ending to wrap the tale up!