Thank you NetGalley for this book!
The characters were very lovable, and the world building was very well done. The curse itself did take me a while to understand, especially with how the other cursed didn’t blame him (I totally would), but I enjoyed the storyline! The ending did feel a bit rushed, and I have no idea what’s going on with the Kings friend.
Despite this, I will definitely be reading the next book when it comes out!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Whimsical Publishing for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: death, grief, ableism, animal death, violence

“Queen of Shifting Sands” originally attracted my eye because of its gorgeous cover. Inside, I found an engaging slow-burn fantasy set in a desert kingdom on the verge of invasion. Lystra has been trained to one day take the throne as the Queen of Instanolde alongside her beloved King for her entire life. She wants nothing more than to bring joy to the people and for a long time, she’s eagerly awaiting her wedding day. However, before this can happen, Lystra and the King are ambushed and he is killed. Grief-stricken and watching as the life she prepared for vanishes, Lystra refuses to give in to despair even as it becomes clear that their rival nations are going to invade before summer’s end. To succeed, she must ally with her lost love’s brother, Elerek, who will now become King. Elerek has spent his entire life expecting to die at any moment and unable to touch anyone for fear of passing on his curse. Cursed to turn into water and eventually drown for the misdeeds of his father and without any faith he can be cured, Elerek was never supposed to be King. Forced into the role and out of the dark where he’s hidden himself, Elerek is forced to contend with people who look down on him for his wheelchair and perceived lack of strength. He needs an ally- and with Lystra adored by the people more than he is, she’s an obvious choice. The only problem is that Elerek can never reveal the truth of his condition to Lystra, and when they fall for each other as summer’s end looms closer, they must fight for their kingdom before invasion and magic can tear them apart.

This is such a strong debut novel with beautifully written disability representation and a powerful set of characters. The world building is expansive and you can really feel the desert heat as you read this book, I adored the idea of people travelling on cardants (lizards) and condors. Lystra was a wonderful main character, hiding her grief behind a mask as she tries to continue on with the life stolen from her by a violent attack. Her family- particularly her grandmother- are so dependent on her role as Queen and they’re willing to do anything to ensure she takes her place, even considering assassinating Elerek after the wedding. I loved Elerek so much because he was beautifully written, representing so much bravery but also doubt even when he has been told repeatedly that he isn’t good enough. His complicated relationship with his dead brother, and those he’s accidentally passed the curse onto through touch who he now views as family, made him into a noble and devastating figure. He has little hope he can be saved and I found this added to the already huge tension of the novel. I really enjoyed “Queen of Shifting Sands” in part because of it’s slow pace, because you feel more connected to the characters. I can’t wait to read more!

The desctiption was throughing me of a little. I was eagerly waiting for the main characters to interact together but after a quarter of the book they barley met each other twice and no word of marriage. This usually wouldn't bother me much, but the story is built with usurping plans and rivalry yet I knew nothing will happen as their going to marry instead... It made the story feel so long. I highly recommend to change the description up a little, not mentioning anything about the marriage. Because the story is really good.

I liked the premise of this story, I thought the way it started and how it introduced us to the characters and the world was very good. At times I felt a little lost because there were many characters and I couldn't fully understand the dynamics between them.

I liked the story in general, interesting to read but nothing special...at least for me.

I know that several readers liked it and that's why I think this story will have quite a following.

Thank you Whimsical Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved, loved, loved. This is peak romantasy set in a beautiful world. This was such a gorgeous presentation of slow burn. I'm always team dual POV and the author used both characters perfectly here.

I loved the characters. The stakes were high and I did feel the pressure reading. The writing itself was great to read and I just loved getting lost in this world.

I only just realized there was a prequel book so I'm moving back for that now.

DNF - 21%

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book. Unfortunately I wasn't really into the book and had no motivation to read it so I decided to DNF it. I kinda knew that I wasn't really enjoying it pretty early on but tried reading more of it to give it a chance. I honestly just didn't care about the characters and I felt really disconnected to the death of a character who was really important to both mcs. Since we got introduced to him after his death, I had no sympathy towards him nor did I really care about his death despite the two characters grieving. We also get flashbacks of him through the main characters and learn more about him through that but honestly, it got kinda annoying and he just felt so fake? I also didn't understand why people loved the fmc so much, she was seen as the Queen and she stated that all her subjects basically loved her and that she needed to improve on being a Queen to do the best for her people. The thing is, we get no explanation of why she is so loved and why she is so important to her people. She herself is the one who is stating this but we don't really get any evidence of her subjects saying that or other people around her circle verbally saying that. The only one pushing her to be the Queen is her grandma who's a horrible character. She herself is doubting whether or not she wants to be the Queen. I haven't read that far so I don't really know how this develops but there is this girl who is in love with the mmc and she makes me feel uncomfortable because she basically guilt trips him into being in love with her because of the choices SHE made because she loved him. Girlie, it was your decision so all the consequences and fault is on you but again I can't say much because I didn't finish the book. Personally there were just things in this book that I didn't really enjoy which is why I dnfed it, however the plot does sound very interesting.

I quite enjoyed the book when it comes to characters (love Lystra and Elerek) and world building. You quickly got a connection to the characters and got behind their thinking and the world is massive but well described.
I just struggled with the pacing a lot since it was extremely slow for me.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC. I was really excited for this one. The world building was great and I was intrigued by the dynamic between Lystra and Elerek. However, the plot was a bit slow for my taste so I quickly lost interest.

Queen of Shifting Sands is an amazing fantasy that is so unique. I really enjoyed following the main characters through the different aspects of their journey. The world building done by Kaitlyn Carter Brown is so immersive, it really helped you connect to the characters in the story. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

To be honest, I am slightly conflicted, and can't quite make my mind up about this book.

On the one hand, the writing was lovely - gorgeous descriptions and metaphors, flowing beautifully. On the other hand, the pace was so incredibly slow that I found myself bored very often. It took me 10 days to read this book - that's a very long time for me.

The overall concept was incredible, the curse original, and idea of a marriage of convenience between two people affected by grief was certainly interesting. Ultimately, I was disappointed with the execution of it all, because the focus was on the wrong things.

Lystra constantly wondering if Cormack knew about the curse, grieving his loss, yet falling in love with his brother fairly quickly.

I didn't really understand why Lystra and Elerek fell in love, I didn't feel any chemistry between them. I was hoping that the fact they couldn't touch would mean a lot of forbidden longing, but unfortunately this was severely lacking.

The pace picked up in the last 20%, but I personally didn't like the way things ended. This is book 1 in a series though, so hopefully, it gets better. Truthfully though, if the pacing of the entire series is the same as this book, it's going to be a no for me.

This story was insane and amazing and incredible and unlike anything I have read before. I absolutely loved following our two characters through their grief, romance, and battles, bother internal and external. I cannot wait to read more of Kaitlyn Carter Brown!!!!!

I thought this story was great and very unique. There are a lot of stories about someone hidden away, but this one was written in a way I’ve never read before. I really liked how immersive the world building was, and I especially felt connected to the characters, especially through the growth they experienced as the plot continued. Thank you Whimsical Publishing for sending me a copy of this book.

When I started the book I was very excited for the concept. I remember reading Girl Serpent Thorn when it came out and loved the idea of a cursed royal hidden away. So I was excited to see the same theme in this story. However I did not like the way it was done. It is supposed to be this deadly secret meant to be kept from everyone, but about half way through the book its seemed like the secrecy was discarded. And I am not talking about the big reveal in the last battle.
Speaking of the last battle, another theme of this boom is “one summer to live” and they spend so much time just discussing the possibility of the attack after wasting a bunch of time mourning and the waiting to get married. I understand that Elerek lost his brother and Lystra her beloved, but they repeat so many times they need to live and defend their kingdom. Then spend two weeks training their army. Mind you the training does not start until halfway through the book. The start of this book is very slow and then seems very rushed at the end. Based on the ending there is going to be a second book and I am guessing that the two books could have been combined into one.
At the start if the book I enjoyed Elerek and Lystra, but by the end I did not like them. Lystra talks about being a strong queen, and I think she really could be if she was part of the training of cardants and apart of that force when it came to the battle. However, she really just places herself into the box of figure head and then complains about being places into that box. Elerek l, I think, was very unfair and callous toward Myra for a majority of the book as he is pinning after Lystra. Then at the end he is distraught about losing Myra.

Like I said I was very excited of the concept of this book and thought the themes could be done very well. However the book moves so slowly and I think the characters contradict themselves many times throughout when it comes to their values.

With the death of her fiancé all of Lystra’s dreams come crashing down. In the midst of mourning and facing an invasion from a warrior tribe looking to conquer their country, she must make a hasty political marriage to the new king, Elerek : her fiancé’s brother! Together they must find a way to keep their country free but Elerek has secrets of his own that may stand in the way.

The world building in this book is fantastic. KCB’s vivid descriptions and wonderful creatures (giant reptiles you can ride and condors you can fly on!) create the fantasy setting of our dreams. The religion is based in the stars, which is something you don’t see very often in the genre, and their magic has a uniqueness all its own (Elerek’s curse is like nothing I have ever seen before, and Razhar’s healing powers are incredible, although apparently limited).

There is a great disability representation for even though Elerek is wheelchair bound he manages to do everything that he would have been able to out of it; he remains positive and determined, but still fair and compassionate despite the circumstances and in the midst of grieving the death of his only brother. None of the people treat him any differently despite his disability—in fact the only people to bring it up are his enemies!

The romance, however, seems rather forced to me, and it comes on very quickly, which makes it seem unrealistic. Lystra has no time to grieve her loss before she is flirting in the marketplace with random strangers and falling for Elerek after he gives her gifts. Elerek too was already in love with someone else yet feels no guilt for the person he cast aside to fall for Lystra, which honestly was just cruel to poor Myra. I feel that the relationship would have been better for them to become friends first—perhaps to grieve together for the person they both lost and then let planning the defence bring them closer together—and then transition into something deeper in book two. But honestly Lystra constanly comparing him to his brother would always make me suspect that he was a replacement rather than a real relationship.

The book does end a bit abruptly with too many questions unanswered so I am sure there would be a sequel, however I probably won’t continue with the series.

There are aspects of this book that are good. The prose is clean and provides just enough description to paint a rather gorgeous image of Instanolde and the characters. I found the mourning stripes at the beginning to be a particularly poignant image. I think many of the tensions within the story were interesting, perhaps especially Elerek's curse and the concerns and problems it created.
However, there were other aspects that made me stumble over the story. I had a really hard time understanding the characterization and motivations of many of the characters. Lystra was confusing since she had such a strong sense of duty and continually referenced her dedication to "her people" and yet a lot of her internal monologue sounded more like entitlement and desire for power. Her love of Cormek and love of her people were juxtaposed with her irrationally negative view of Elerek and her initial fury at him making her realize that war was coming. I don't really understand why she felt so strongly that she should be queen and Elerek needed to be deposed, especially when he was the one that first brought up how Instanolde was in danger and they needed to act. By her own admission she knew little about him, so why didn't she approach him with a more neutral feeling? It seemed she immediately decided he was terrible and couldn't possibly hack it as king. I guess part of it might have been poison dripped in her ear from her grandmother? But I didn't find the through-line to be very clear. I just didn't understand Lystra very well, and didn't empathize with her a lot. My continual struggle with her character made the story difficult to engage in.

This is a fantastic slow burn romance, I really appreciated the grief and pain in this book. The author doesn't shy away from it so we get this very beautiful, raw story of two characters coming together through their shared grief and hope to build a brighter future for their people. The worldbuilding was super unique and I really enjoyed the desert setting, it felt so real. I loved the representation of having the main hero in a wheelchair, especially in a romance, it's not something I've read before! His curse broke my heart and the cliffhanger at the end is gut wrenching

Queen of Shifting Sands is a slow read. I feel like I've been reading it forever, and that's its most significant problem. This book featured a lot of creative ideas, but I wasn't a great fan of how they were executed. The curse component was very interesting, and it's one of the things I'm looking forward to seeing more of in the future book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Whimsical Publishing for this advanced copy! You can pick up Queen of Shifting Sands now.

Kaitlyn Carter Brown did a fantastic job creating complex characters, an intricate world, and a gorgeous magic system. I love how we were introduced to these characters and their struggles and appreciated how their healing journey played out. I'm ready for more books in this series and from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Whimsical Publishing for the ARC of this fantastical novel.

Already from the description I knew this book would be interesting. Curses, royalty and a slow-burn romance? Yes, please. I was also pleasantly surprised to fin out that the MMC was in a wheelchair. It was great seeing that a disabled character still can be strong in a fantasy novel. We need more of that!

This book started off strong but lost me as it neared it’s end. I loved the first third of the book, where we meet our main characters and the situation that leads to their forced/arranged marriage and the curse. Elerek and Lystra are seemingly opposites who are forced into a political marriage, which starts their relationship, which for me developed a little too fast considering her former betrothed was his brother. I think if there had been more scenes showing their romantic development it would’ve been better, but a lot of their chapters were repetitive monologues about saving Instanolde from the Jarkin’s attack and how they couldn’t love each other because of the curse, which got old after a while. Speaking of protecting Instanolde, there was so much build up and talk for like 3 chapters of an attack, one of which barely showed action and all were too easily ended and felt anticlimactic. I wished for more action in a battle that’s been discussed and planned for throughout the whole book.

Overall, this book started out good but left me wanting more

Read if you like…
•arranged marriage
•curses
•slow burn
•disabled mc
•dual pov