Thank you Net Galley and publishers for letting me read an arc of this book in return for an honest review.

Wow, this book took a turn for excitement. It is vastly different than the first in the series, but in a good way. It picks right up where the cliffhanger of the first book left off and doesn't stop. It's just go, go, go in non stop action. There's danger around every corner so I wish there was a moment to breathe and not constantly wondering if my favorite characters are going to die. Morgan is less annoying in this book having finally to stand up for herself. Unfortunately everyone she thinks she trusts is still giving half truths and hiding secrets for their own survival. She is a force to reckon with but everyone constantly just uses her. I hope she rises up to her own worth in the next book. I still just love the world building of this series, I feel like I can picture everything that happens like I'm actually there. And there's a slight cliffhanger in this one that's annoying too, but at least I have the next book to just jump right into.

Really enjoyed the series, was hooked the entire journey. Was invested in the characters the whole time.

I really enjoyed this book. Thank you so much Netgalley for an arc of this book. I apologize for the late review.

This was a great follow up to book one. I was engaged throughout and loved seeing the plot progress.

Court of Claws by Briar Boleyn** Court of Claws is a standout fantasy that grips you from the start with its unique premise and richly developed characters. Briar Boleyn’s storytelling shines as she weaves a tale of ambition, betrayal, and unexpected alliances. The protagonist is incredibly relatable, facing challenges that resonate on both personal and political levels. Boleyn expertly builds tension, keeping readers on their toes with clever twists and turns. The court setting is vividly depicted, immersing you in a world that feels both familiar and fresh. What I particularly loved was the emotional depth of the relationships. Boleyn doesn’t just create heroes and villains; she gives them motives and vulnerabilities that make every interaction feel impactful. Overall, Court of Claws is a gripping read that balances adventure with heart. Boleyn has crafted a compelling narrative that will stay with you long after the last page. Highly recommended for fans of immersive fantasy!

Rating: 4.5 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️.5
Format: e-ARC (409 Pages) - Already Out

This book picks up right from the cliffhanger in Book 1, where we discovered that Draven, the sexy bodyguard, is actually a fae. He saves Morgan, the protagonist, by performing a mysterious ritual.

Morgan finally heals and wakes up to find herself in a foreign land where the fae live after the wars among their kind. This place is actually located beneath a volcano, which is so cool! We also learn that Draven is a prince and must face deadly, vicious trials to compete for his throne alongside other candidates.

We delve deeper into the fae world, the origin of Excalibur, and the fact that fae tend to marry within their family-ish, not exactly incestuous, but for example, marrying your sister-in-law. The world-building in this book is amazing. The trials were brutal and so well done, and we finally got some smut and it’s spicy! Love it!

But this one ends with another cliffhanger, followed by a fantastic epilogue from a different POV. I’m super excited to continue with the series! 🥰🥰

I received a free advance review copy and am voluntarily sharing my thoughts. Many thanks to the author @briarboleynauthor and @netgalley for providing it.

Trigger Warnings: Kidnapping, physical abuse, amputation, animal death, animal abuse, cannibalism, child abuse, child death, parent/family death, domestic violence, homophobia, execution, murder, violence, infertility, misogyny.

Court of Claws is the second book in the Blood of a Fae - a romantasy series that is a genderbending retelling of King Aruthur. Book one is available here: Queen of Roses Like book 1, there's a lot of worldbuilding in this installment because this whole book takes place on a completely new continent. I loved how eloquently Boleyn lays out this new country/court system. I still wish there was a map available but maybe there will be for book 3??? I found the worldbuilding in this installment to be more natural when compared to Queen of Roses. Boleyn did a better job of showing, rather than telling the reader about the rules of this new court/country. I give Boleyn credit for this improvement in her writing.

However, where she's improved in world-building, the character development side of this book would take one step forward and two steps back...especially with our MFC, Morgan. Throughout the book, Morgan would have these spots of true insight & rational thinking and then do a complete 180 in the next paragraph - suddenly being so whiney and honestly insufferable. Sadly, the stupidness of Morgan is SO ANNOYING throughout this whole book - she complains about being 'kidnapped' when all the MMC did was save her f***ing life. Around 70% of the way through, the romance kicks off and I truly thought we were done with the FMC being stupid - and this is true until the very end when she reverts back to creating a new plot point by suddenly deciding the MMC again. It feels like the author can't create cliff-hangers/engagement for the next books in her series without creating some sort of false fight between the two characters - cuz this was very similar to book 1.

BOTTOM LINE: This book struggles throughout the first half, with Morgan continuing to be ABSOLUTELY INSUFFERABLE. Sadly, we got some character development for her throughout the second half of the book, but it's all reversed out within the last couple of chapters. At this point, I'm planning to DNF the series.

Thank you to Starwater Press, Brirar Boleyn & NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I fought with this book for the better part of a year before finally admitting to myself that I just can't finish it. There are two major problems with the book that make it an absolute slog to read.

The first is the nature of the plot in this book. Epic tournament plots require stakes outside of the tournament, because the reader knows from the beginning what the outcome of the tournament will be. This book has none. The stakes are just the tournament, and the reader knows who will win the tournament. By flipping to the dramatis personae of the next book, I learned that apparently our FMC wins instead of our MMC, but that twist doesn't work to increase the stakes, because the stakes are established long before that with that not being an option. I saw that in the next book and considered finishing this one to see how it happens for about two seconds before concluding that wasn't worth my time.

The second is the stitching. Teleportation is incredibly difficult to balance in a story. No effort was made to do it here. A stitcher can teleport an unwilling companion simply by laying hands on him. A stitcher can teleport an unspecified number of people a great distance by simply holding hands in a circle. I as the reader am thus left wondering why, exactly, the stitcher doesn't just teleport the evil brother into the middle of a volcano and leave him there to die. Or teleport him so far away he's disqualified before he can get back. This compounds the above problem, which is that there's no reason to ever read this book. There is no tension, there are no stakes, and the slow burn romance can't carry the weight of those missing elements.

I really enjoyed this book. Was not expecting it to be as good as it was! This is the first Arthurian Fantasy book that I have read and I really enjoyed the genre. I loved the mix of banter and world building. Will definitely be on the lookout for more books from Briar in the future.

I devoured this in one day unable to put it down until I reached the conclusion. This book was absolutely outstanding and so honored to be able to review the series! Fast paced and action filled with a nice little bit of romance. The ending was explosive and made me eager for book number 3!

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

This book has so much going on! We’re transported to a different place than in the first book, and the author’s descriptive language made it so I could see everything vividly in my mind which I loved. Lots more death and gore in this one, but loads of banter and spicy moments too. And a huge cliffhanger! I’m excited to pick up the rest of the series.

⭐️Trials
⭐️Magical Powers
⭐️Enemies to Lovers
⭐️Mythical Creatures
⭐️Cannibal Children😬

Thank you, NetGalley and Saltwater Press, for this advanced reading copy of this delicious series! Please note that these opinions are my own.

The book picks up right where the first book ended, with Morgan hanging on for dear life and Draven bonding them in hopes of saving her life with the mysterious being disguised as a child. She awakes from a coma in Draven's bed with two individuals gawking over her unconscious body. Let's talk about privacy!

The twist comes when Draven tells her she is his concubine and must pretend to earn favor amongst the Royals in the Umbral Flames Court. From then on, she is in for a ride, and all she wants to do is go home to protect Kaye. She is trying to stay hidden and out of the way but Draven is not being forthcoming with information as he should. He is a Prince who was banished for ten years for killing his brother but hasn't returned home for twenty. There are new individuals in the mix surrounding and protecting her, which gives Morgan a way of learning the Siabra way and things about Draven that begin filling in the gaps—these gaps not only about his history and ways but also about the fae. Danger does not linger away long since she learns Draven has to participate in the Blood Rising to claim the throne, and the opponents will do anything to win.

Where do I start!?!!?! I stumbled upon this series when I was binge "Requesting" a bunch of new releases on NetGalley, and I will say I am not mad at myself for my troubles! This whole series was juicy, and I could not put it down! I lost sleep and could not work because I had to know what would happen next. The book is straightforward in giving the reader more background into the fae's history. I love that the author built an entire world of retelling the King Arthur story, and it does not disappoint! This story's imagery, folklore, and magical realism are impressive. I love how the author details the world without doing too much. The characters that are added fit just right and complement each other well. I did find Morgan to be a little annoying, but I understood her frustration. We get to know Draven much better, along with his stubbornness and unwillingness to be vulnerable. The ending will leave you gasping at the events leading to the next book.

“I will never apologize for saving you. I will never fucking regret coming for you. And I would do it again in a heartbeat."

Court of Claws - Briar Boleyn
Pub date: Jun 30, 2023
★★★☆☆

(Thank you to Netgalley for the free copy in exhange for an honest review!)

Morgan successfully gain the sword of Excalibur only to lost it to some kind of powerful existence and nearly got killed by her former lover, Vesper. The story continues after Kairos Draven saved Morgan from certain death by forming an unbreakable bond between them. To ensure her safety, he then brought her to a whole different place, to his home—the Court of Umbral Flames. Turns out Draven is not the person he was on the journey to fetch Excalibur along with so many other truths Morgan needs to know. With Pendrath on the verge of war, she gotta work on how to escape Siabra Empire and return to Pendrath to save her people.

I jumped into this one right after finishing Queen of Roses. The story is very much solid to me complete with the perfect cliffhanger at the end of the first book. Court of Claws reveal a whole new chapter of this story as the map expanded, new characters showed up, and truths untold unveiled one by one. We get to know more about Draven that seems mysterious and untouchable in the first book, including his true self and his back story. I enjoy this one: the plot, the rivality, the forced proximity, and the development of Morgan and Draven dynamic.

Alas, there are some icks that's almost fatal for me. First, no character development. Morgan in this one is being unreasonably stubborn and annoying. She could have been assesses the situation better and act more mature knowing the burden and responsibility she held so high on her kingdom's sake. She acted all time savage even when she didn't need to resulting a rude behavior. Secondly, no matter how much i love the experience, i feel Court of Claws is messy and and poorly coordinated in terms of scenes and conflict-resolution placing. When there's so much happening, it made the story flows unsmoothly.

Either way, i'd love to know more of Morgan and Draven story in the next installment!

Thank you starwater press and netgalley for the gifted arc.

Unfortunately, I dnfed the first book and will not be continuing the series at this time. I was so excited for this series after seeing the Goodreads ratings, but it’s not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

The first book fell flat for me but kept me interested in the story. This sequel, however, I would not have finished if it weren’t an ARC copy. The FMC, Morgan, is just insufferable. Her personality seemed to me, completely different from the first book - this was especially bad during the few spicier scenes throughout the book. It felt like these scenes were written with different characters in mind and then thrown in after the fact. Also, the fact that she directly refers to Draven at one point as “that morally-grey asshole” made me put the book down for like two months because it irked me so bad.

The main antagonist of this book was so irrelevant that I can’t even remember his name. Outside of the trials, he showed up a few times for some annoying monologue scenes but never posed any real threat to the main characters. On that note, there are SEVERAL scenes where multiple characters go on paragraph-long speeches. These types of things can work after a big emotional build-up, but they were everywhere and just came off as cheesy and not genuine.

There were some really, really good plot ideas in this book but unfortunately none of it worked for me. I’ll eventually get around to reading the next two only because I already have eARCs of them, but I’m honestly not looking forward to them at all.

I loved book 1 and was scared book 2 wouldn’t live up to its predecessor. My goodness this book took me on a wild ride. Highly recommend reading it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️

Picking up right were Queen of Roses left off, I was ready for the continuation of this King Arthur retelling.

Briar returns with her amazing writing ability, paces the story perfectly, gives us twists and turns we don’t see coming, and hits us with spice that we were all hoping for in book one!
Morgan continues to be the strong woman she’s grown into and I love her even more in this book. The relationships she cultivates in this story, speak to her character and how she is nothing like her family.

Draven shows up in this book, in a way that there is no questioning what is between him and Morgan. He is perfection on paper. He fights hard, plays harder, but loves hardest! The lengths he would go for Morgan are amazing.

Even the secondary characters in this book are front and center! The way that Briar can make me care for some, while hating others is testament to her ability as an author.

Now…onto Book 3!

As always review trigger warnings before reading.

Tropes:
🌹 More Spice than Book 1
🌹 Forced Proximity
🌹 Morally gray MMC
🌹 Battle Cats
🌹 Deadly Games/Trials
🌹 Found family

A Decent Sequel, but Falls Short of the First

A Court of Claws delivers an engaging continuation of the series with rich world-building and plot twists, but it doesn’t quite capture the magic of the first book.

Morgan, once a compelling protagonist, becomes more unbearable and whiny in this installment, which can be frustrating for fans of her initial strength. The plot remains solid, though the pacing sometimes drags, and certain parts feel less essential with also a lot for for the plot fantasy turns than needed.

Overall, it's a good read for fans, but it lacks the excitement and character depth that made the first book shine.

The Blood of a Fae series is a great read for fans of Sarah J Maas- accessible for romantasy novices and pacing is easy to move through. Plenty of spice, romance, action, and high stakes. We'll written characters and chemistry. Overall an entertaining easy to read series with an intriguing world build and enough momentum to keep you reading

It’s no mean feat for an author to up the anti after a stellar series debut and yet Briar Boleyn has managed to deliver yet again in the second instalment to the Blood of a Fae series.
I could not get enough of this book! Briar’s writing style packs a punch and is so magnificently emotive that it left me all up in my feels, tears streaming a handful of times.

The exploration of the Fae realm, Draven’s past and his present situation is a captivating shift in storytelling. Romance and spice are absolutely delicious— the budding connection, both romantically and magically, between Morgan and Draven had me hook, line and sinker.

I was hard pressed to fault book two with its exceptional world building, new character introductions and further development of old favourites. When I say that it had me rushing to read book three, there is zero exaggeration.
A 5⭐️ read all the way!🫶🏻

Thank you for sending me an ARC.