The story has moments where it's hard to follow the train of thought and sequence of events. There would be jumps from one to scene to another without a smooth transition. This was a very fast paced book and maybe that's why some scenes felt like they shifted without notice. I liked the story but the romantic plot made frustrated at moments.

I enjoyed this book ! There was a breath of fresh air with the plot. I think the writing hooked me in from the beginning as it’s very descriptive. The world building was well done and I am excited to see where this author goes !

The plot holes in this book are overwhelming. The whole concept of the magic system is overthrown in seconds. And while this book has potential, it's too underdeveloped. I am interested in the sequel to see if it starts being more cohesive.

Disclaimer! I received this book through NetGalley. But all opinions are my own.

This was an amazing, fast paced read! I loved the characters and the world presented in this plot. After reading the blurb, I knew I had to check this book out, and I am so glad I had the chance to read it! After the ending, I am excited to read future books by this author!

Like most fantasy, this book has a slow start, and a slow build.

I wish I'd known I was going into a love triangle - that's not my preference. I think this book does need some TW, and readers should be aware of such, but it's not a bad start. It's about as spicy as a medium hot sauce - a little clumsy for the first scene, and better in the second. The cliffhanger was something though. Good way to leave readers wanting for the follow up.

It was fast paced, gripping and a wonderful read!

The characters and this world are amazing, I just fell in love with it all.

The premise sounded so unique and interesting to me, and I was not let down, especially in the second half of this book, the pace really picks up.

I ran out of time to finish this book and I was actually quite devastated because I was really enjoying it. I would have loved to see how this book turned out and it was really different from some of the other fantasy books I’ve read. I tried to purchase it but couldn’t get my hands on a copy which was also quite sad.

DNF at 27%

I dislike it when a book is short but takes forever to get to like anything that’s said in the synopsis. Or just slow pace in a short book in general. When I started realising this had that, I started thinking of not finishing it. Once I’d started thinking that I saw the main character wasn’t really making sense and the bit of the world-building I’d read also didn’t add up.

For instance, the main character, Khiara, has red hair – which in this world means shes a witch. She has to hide it because that’s very dangerous and she’d likely be killed. Then her red hair gets uncovered and… those who see it are… totally fine with it. All right, granted, it was in a sexual manner. Khiara was one of those characters who’s written to be all fierce and “I’m going to do what I want” and the book showed none of that. Plus everything else was all tell, not show.

I can’t wait to read the next book! I read this in one sitting. I did have a little bit of confusion with some plot points but overall with how easy and fun of a read this was, it ultimately was not a big deal.

Can we also talk about Riot?? I am OBSESSED. 🫶🏻

Thank you for letting me read and review this ARC!

4 ⭐ 2 🌶

I'll be honest, I was a bit concerned after reading reviews before I started my ARC... For the first 10% I wondered if I should have just DNF'd it from the getgo.. But I actually loved this story so much. Did Khiara say Cerise entirely too often for the first half? Sure. But other than that I found this world and the plot to be fascinating.

I went from thinking this was a MF story, to going ohhh maybe an MFM, and to finally realizing we were stuck in a good old love triangle. I won't spoil anything, but I'm pretty solid in my choice as we reached the end and have some very suspicious feelings about the other...

The spice was.... Interesting. The first scene was a touch cringe, but the second was much better. Really hoping we continue in that direction. The initial scene felt like the author wanted it to be that grey area between fade to black and just a bit spicy. Not using hard core terms and such... Then all of a sudden she was squirting on his face and I got some whiplash. Second was better. For sure...

The cliffhanger left us HANGING. By a thread. Like WHAT?! I'm officially chomping at the bit for book two. Gimme.

Witches, magic, revenge, and you just never know what your path will bring. Fun and fast paranormal adventure, kind of midevil feel.

This would have been a four stars, but the one scene made it drop, because honestly that portion was just a bit rough to read, it was a hurry up read this section and let's go. If that would be cleaned up a bit better (like potentially more realistic, or sexier or something?) then it would be back to four starts.

Did not expect a love triangle. Didn't expect it to be also a lot of revenge and magic (yes I expected some but not to this level). Was I invested? Yes. Did I enjoy the characters? Yes. Will I read the next one? Yes.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my DRC in exchange for my honest review.

3/5

The Cerise follows our fiery, stubborn main character Khiara. Since birth, red hair has made her a target, but after a tragic night when she gains powers, she can finally become the hunter. On the last part of her mission for revenge, something goes terribly wrong and now Khiara must decide how far she’s willing to go to save her friend.

Look. The bones are there. The world is there. The plot is there. This book just needs work on its execution.

I liked the bits about the lore and how the author didn’t spell everything out too much and is letting readers draw their own conclusions.

There’s some really good characters in here too. The love triangle did not make sense to me however.

Also. That cliffhanger? I know I read the ebook so it’s hard to tell where I am in the book. But that came out of noooowhere.

All that said, I AM interested in seeing where this story goes. I have high hopes for the sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW: rape

This will be a detailed and frustrating review, in which I will explain the reasons for my vote. I want to warn you right away that it will contain spoilers, so if you just want to read the reasons, I suggest you skip straight to the end. I want to point out that I am not a professional reviewer, but simply a reader who wants to share her opinion on the story. That said, I’ll leave you to my thoughts.

The sheer number of questions and doubts that this book has left me with in just 240 pages is beyond normal. When I read the synopsis of the book, I expected to find what it actually promised, too bad that from the first pages, I came across problems with both the plot and the characters.

The main problem of this story lies in its plot: the driving force behind the story is extremely weak and the way the author handled it left me puzzled. The protagonist, a Cerise—a sort of witch whose powers are tied to the four elements—seems to be at odds with the court, so much so that the king had decreed a law saying that those who have red hair are monsters. In addition, the protagonist's family was killed by soldiers, setting the stage for a narrative where the protagonist exists in a hostile world. What I do not understand is why the author wanted to emphasize the protagonist's hair color (red) as a symbol that marks her as Cerise if in the course of the story is completely overlooked. In the first pages of the book, the protagonist takes care to hide the color of her hair, although it seems that no one really cares about this feature. It remains unclear why the king issued a specific law on red hair if this aspect is not then exploited significantly in the plot. It seems more like an added element to create scenes rather than to give weight to the story. It would make sense if when she uses her powers her hair turns red or she uses a potion to hide its color. In short, there are plenty of alternatives that could have been explored further. Another aspect that is underdeveloped is the presence of the arches with torches that turn blue when crossed by a Creature of Legend. There is no clear explanation as to their origin or the powers they possess. The protagonist mentions that crossing that arch can have effects on her because she is a Creature of Legend, but does not know which. If it’s risky, why can’t she find another passage? Or why don’t she look for information? This little in-depth or inconsistent information is repeated throughout the book, making it difficult for the reader to immerse themselves in the story fully. In summary, the narrative is riddled with details that are either insufficiently developed or take unexpected turns, resulting in a lack of coherence and credibility in the plot This leads to a lack of consistency and credibility in the plot, which could benefit from a more thorough review. As a reader, I would have preferred to enjoy reading, but it becomes challenging when faced with situations where the information provided does not align or take inconsistent directions previously presented.

The fantasy element of the book is one of the weaknesses, as it has not been adequately developed. Apart from the main character who uses her powers, you will encounter only two or three Creatures of Legend throughout the story. I expected that the meeting with a Cerise at the service of the king would lead to a deeper dialogue, given the circumstances, but instead, everything is reduced to two lines. I don’t expect every page to overflow with magic, but I would at least like to feel immersed in a coherent fantasy world.
One assumption I made was that the protagonist was aware of her powers and how to use them. However, I later discovered that she lacks even basic knowledge beyond their origin. This seems implausible, considering that during the protagonist’s life experiences. It’s difficult to believe that she never tested her abilities or searched for information about them. This detail undermines the coherence of the character and the fantasy world that the author tries to create.

Although the characters usually manage to compensate for a weak plot, unfortunately, this is not the case in this book. I will focus on the three main characters: Khiara, the protagonist, and her love interests, Riot and Bash.
-Khiara is presented as a woman determined to avenge her family and herself, while also avoiding the dangers associated with her Cerise condition. However, despite the promising elements, the protagonist is disappointing: she thoughts too much and seems to lack tactical intelligence. I think it is an exaggeration that the protagonist killed people, considering that throughout the story she used weapons only once and on all occasions, she was helped. It is true that her magical ability may have helped her, but in reality, she has proved capable only of perceiving the people around her. Despite the difficulties she has to face her powers manifest themselves when she is exhausted in front of a Hunter. In the palace without the king saying… nothing. Perhaps in the future, there will be explanations, but the fact that they have been avoided here is serious.
An important aspect of her characterization is her past rape, which is treated marginally and superficially in the narrative. Despite the men treating her as an object, including her best friend, the protagonist doesn’t react. Even during her sex scene with Riot, she says nothing to him or even shows signs of rape trauma. This contrasts with his initial panic attacks and raises questions about the emotional and behavioral coherence of her character. It may seem that maybe in the course of the story, the protagonist has faced this trauma and instead nothing happened.
Furthermore, the death of Sage, a secondary character, is treated in a synthetic and not very emotional manner, despite the close connection with the protagonist. I mean, the protagonist helps Sage escape from an abusive husband who promised her freedom and she dies of poisoning? Without you using your powers to try and save her? This contributes to a fragmented and uninvolving narrative and has left me disappointed by the lack of emotional and narrative insight.
-Riot and Bash are the two love interests that honestly didn’t involve me. Although Bash was introduced earlier it is Riot that gets the most space in this volume. Due to the brevity of the story, the relationships of the characters with the protagonist are immediate: Bash meets Khiara already in the first chapter and helps her without asking for anything in return. Although he is the prince the fact that he establishes a relationship with a Cerise should lead to conflicts or thoughts from other people that do not manifest in the story.
-Riot, Prince Bash’s guard, initially expresses his displeasure with the protagonist but then becomes her advisor on how to dress. However, the lack of depth in the relationships between the characters did not allow me to distinguish which of the two could have been chosen by Khiara, I was surprised when she refused Bash at the end, but this did not change my disinterest in both characters.

In conclusion, I would like to point out that the inclusion of modern terminologies deviates from the fantasy environment created. I’m sorry to give such a negative rating to a story, but after all the explanations I left (even if they are not all) I decided to be as sincere as possible. I hope that my words have not offended anyone, because my only goal is to explain why certain aspects of the plot have not convinced me. I sincerely hope that the story will improve in the future since the potential for an engaging narrative is present.

In summary, the plot has weak motivations that need revisiting; the fantasy aspect is lacking and would need greater development; the characterization of the protagonist leaves something to be desired and the love triangle does not have the desired effect.

The synopsis sounded great but the execution was lacking. It was very slow, confusing at times and just didn't make sense. Some parts were good but it was not enough to get me excited about this book. This was just not what I was expecting and felt let down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

The idea of the story seemed absolutely incredible! Unfortunately the writing was hard to get into and follow. I felt like the pacing was pretty slow at times!

3 stars.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the overall concept and plot. I was a fan of The Selection and when I saw that it was in a similar regard but with a magical twist I had high hopes. However, this story jumped around a lot to the point I had trouble keeping track of what was happening at times. I felt things were never clearly explained or revealed too quickly. There seemed to be a lot of wording around a fast paced story that drew it out for 33 chapters.

SPOILERS: I also had a difficult time with how the romance was played out. First we are given Bash whom Khiara seems attracted to. Then out of nowhere Riot is introduced as another love interest. It seems Khiara cannot make up her mind, other than that she has no romantic interest in her friend Ezra. The romantic aspect was clunky and rushed with no sense of direction as to where any of it was heading.

However, I am curious to see how the rest of this story may play out because in true fantasy fashion we ended on a cliff hanger.

Overall, the book was okay and the concept was well thought out but I found myself wanting more and being let down.

The Cerise is the first book in a NA romantasy series, following Khiara, a Cerise (a being with magic and easily identifiable by their red hair), who has lived a life in hiding until she decides to find and kill the people involved in her family’s murder. This plan is derailed after her best friend makes a mistake and finds himself locked in the dungeon. Wanting to rescue him, Khiara enters the Culling, a competition taking place at the castle with the goal of helping the prince find a bride.

I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and the plot of the book. I was very engaged while reading, constantly excited to know what’s going to happen next. I loved the high stakes of the book, where she could be discovered as a Cerise at any minute.

My only issue is that there were certain parts where I was confused and could’ve needed some clarification. For example, her hair color is supposed to be an automatic death sentence, but when she reveals her hair, no one really cares (they kinda just take her word that she’s not a Cerise).

Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by this book, and I’m hoping the next book will offer more clarifications in regards to my questions. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

The Cerise, is a book about witches that are being hunted. It follows Khiara whom is a Cerise (witch). Khiara is trying to avenge someone whom attacked her, while in the process she ends up meeting two males. They will both play a crucial part during her journey and we are thrown in to a love triangle. I enjoy a good love triangle so it kept making me want more. The plot felt a bit short at times and I would find myself confused. It's as if I was skipping paragraphs and had to retrace only to find out I didn't miss anything. The beginning was also a bit on the slower pace but once I got half way I wanted to know more about what was going to happen.

Thank you NetGalley and Booksgosocial for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank NetGalley, Publishers BooksGoSocial, and the author Bailey Black for providing this ARC. Which, I will be giving my honest and sincere review.

Kiera wants to get revenge, she wants to kill the one who caused pain and suffering in her village. She has the experience and she killed before, but things don't go as she had planned. Now she needs to save a friend from the king. We see Kiara's inner thoughts, and struggles, during her path, she finds help during her journey, the friends she makes are either people she helps or end up helping her. 
A Cerise is a person born with magic but for the world all magic is illegal, causing everyone related to a Cerise, and even them to be killed. How do they know? They have red hair.


This was an amazing fantasy journey, with a first personal description POV. I can see how an enemy to lovers is built slowly, and the fact that he falls first is adorable. The book ends with a major cliffhanger, but that only means that we need to sit and wait painfully for the book to be released (Cries internally.)
Kiara is a strong female character.
I love the writing but the beginning felt a bit slow and repetitive. But I still felt very drawn to keep reading the book.