Elerek has always lived with a ticking clock - his curse is slowly killing him and he knows the end is near. When his brother is killed, and Elerek is thrust into being king when that was never the plan, he knows he has one summer to get everything in order to protect his kingdom before he dies. Part of that protection includes marrying Lystra. Lystra was betrothed to Elerek's brother and has trained all of her life to be a queen - the people of Instanolde adore Lystra, and she is his only chance at convincing the kingdom to work together. One summer; that's all Lystra and Elerek know they have, but despite a definitive end date and knowing one touch would doom Lystra, they can't help the feelings brewing between them

The world-building in this book was so unique and I enjoyed the characters so much. Seeing Lystra discover that Elerek didn't have any ulterior motives and truly wanted Lystra to be queen was so gratifying - Lystra had been manipulated and mistreated by her grandmother, so of course she expected Elerek was going to do the same, but Elerek is a such a genuinely good person. The pacing could have been a little better, but over all I really enjoyed Queen of Shifting Sands.

I didn't know that this was going to be a series, so I kept thinking to myself "how is this going to be resolved in X number of pages???". Queen of Shifting Sands ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm eager to see what happens next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. ✨

This book was a pleasant discovery, I really enjoyed reading about the interesting world and amazing characters this book has.

This book tells the story of Lystra, a lady from an important family who is engaged to the future king, however after being attacked by enemies the king dies and Lystra, who loves and wishes to protect her kingdom, is forced to marry Elerek, the cursed brother who now becomes the new heir and future king of Instanolde so that she can become queen and protect her people from their enemies.
Let's talk about the characters!

“The people are obsessed with Torra Lystra,” Elerek muttered. He could hardly blame them. The image of the beautiful queen who had survived a Jarkin attack and returned with her betrothed's body burned into his mind with the heat of the funeral pyre.

I loved Lystra, she is such a strong and kind character, her devotion and love for her kingdom is admirable, I really liked her evolution throughout the book. Her people love her, although, I would have liked more explanation of her relationship with her people and the reason why there is such love for her. 👑

Elerek sat tall upon a cardant—Sama, she realized. Clad in armor, his shoulders were broad beneath the halberk. His eyes blazed with wrath, with fire, with a consuming vengeance. A king to execute the justice the invaders served.

Elerek was a refreshing character to read, I loved being able to read a character in a wheelchair and knowing that this was not a difficulty that prevented him from reigning as an excellent king, the love he has for his family is admirable and the desire to seeing his kingdom safe and at peace is something that moved me a lot. Knowing his story with his curse and everything he had to go through broke my heart. 💔

“I meant what I said, you were beautiful tonight.”

I really liked the relationship between these two characters, I would have liked to see more of the evolution of the love between the two, however I felt that their relationship was instantaneous and quick, having both lost someone important, it was difficult for them to confess their feelings. I loved seeing their dynamics and chemistry in some scenes and I hope that the next book shows more about their relationship. 🥰

what to expect?
✅ dual POV
✅ Cursed Prince
✅ Fantastic creatures
✅ Arranged marriage
✅ Found family

3.5 stars

I feel like the world building, the uniqueness of the curse, and the absolutely amazing disability representation in this book are definitely the strongest points for it. Those elements kept me engaged and very entertained throughout the story, and I'm so glad for that because of the pacing... was a nightmare. This book is so slow. It's a bit way too much for my taste, so I'm glad it compensated with the world building.
Now our main characters, with Lystra, I felt like something was missing, and after finishing this, I discovered a prequel is out, so I feel like it definitely should be read in order to give her some depth. With Elerek, I love him. I'm not saying much because I don't want to give spoilers, but I'm so glad that he proved that a disable hero on wheelchair works and can be as awesome as any other hero.
The romance I feel like it was a but too fast, so it didn't fully work for me, but I liked them together.
Overall, this was a great book, and I'm excited to read more of this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book swept me away on an enchanting adventure through a world brimming with intrigue, romance, and magic. From the very first page, I was captivated by the unique premise and expertly crafted storytelling.

The novel introduces us to Lystra and Elerek, two characters whose destinies become intertwined amidst a kingdom teetering on the edge of collapse. Their journey is filled with heart-stopping moments and tender exchanges that kept me utterly engrossed from start to finish.

What truly sets Queen of Shifting Sands apart is its masterful blend of romance and fantasy. The chemistry between Lystra and Elerek is palpable, drawing me deeper into their world with each passing chapter. And the vividly imagined setting, with its intricate details and rich history, added another layer of depth to an already captivating story.

Overall, it was a delightful escape into a world filled with magic and adventure. It's a must-read for anyone craving a dose of escapism and romance, and I can't wait to see what the author has in store next.

"Daughter of the Desert" is an enchanting and gripping read that transports you to a world of tragedy, love, and bravery. The story follows Lystra, who, after suffering a devastating loss, finds herself navigating a future filled with uncertainty. Forced to forge a marriage alliance with Elerek, the brother of her lost love and heir to the throne, Lystra and Elerek must face their own demons and protect their kingdom from impending threats.
Kaitlyn's vivid and immersive writing brings the desert kingdom of Instanolde to life, evoking the sights, sounds, and emotions of the world. From the grief and fear of the characters to the promise of new love, the book is a rollercoaster of emotions that keeps you engaged from start to finish. Lystra's determination and Elerek's transformation are beautifully portrayed, making them characters you can't help but cheer for.
Overall, "Daughter of the Desert" is a captivating debut novel that sets the stage for an epic series. I eagerly await the next installment and highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a compelling and immersive fantasy read. Thank you Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this ARC!

Queen of Shifting Sands is a slowwww book. I feel as if I spent forever reading it, and that's its main flaw. I read the prequel before getting into this, and it almost feels like it was written by two different people, because the pacing there was so much better than it was here.

Based on the blurb (and pretty cover), I was expecting this to be right up my alley, so I'm a bit sad it wasn't. For how exciting and action-y the prequel was, this was the complete opposite. All the way up to the end I wasn't sure if I wanted to read the next one, but that was when things finally started happening, so I think I will because I do want to know what's going to happen next.

Now for the good stuff, the characters!! Okay so, I liked Lystra the most in Daughter of the Desert, but my, how the tables have turned. I still like her, don't worry, but Razhar stole the show. He's my absolute fav in this book. I also liked Elerek a smidge more than Lystra.

I wonder though, if my ranking would've been different had I not read the prequel. Maybe Lystra would seem like a more engaging MC, but knowing what she's capable of, she just didn't give much of that here. There's still time for her to do so in the sequel, so I'm not too worried.

I also loved that Elerek was a disabled main character & love interest. He uses a wheelchair and proves that disabled MCs belong in fantasy worlds, so I will be shoving this book in the next person's face who dares to tell me they don't. I think it was very respectfully done, so hats off to Kaitlyn Carter Brown, you did such a good job, thank you.

I liked the romance between them, but it developed a bit too fast. Especially knowing how much she cared for and loved his brother. If they'd fallen in love by the end of the duology or somewhere in book two I think it would've worked for me more.

The plot reminded me a bit of The Wrath and the Dawn at the start and I liked it overall, I just wish more was happening throughout.

The curse aspect was so unique and it's probably one of the things I'm most excited to see more of in the next book.

Speaking of, if it continues where we left off, and with a similar pace, I could see the next one hitting four or more stars. It just had a bit of a rough start is all, now on we go to more adventures!!!

*Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I absolutely adored this! I loved the characters, the setting, the plot. This book does really well in adding magic with the hundreds of well thought out little details sprinkled throughout. Even the cover is beautiful. The author did such a wonderful job describing the setting that it almost felt like I could taste the food, smell the flowers and hear the music playing in the markets.

This book also has curses, political alliances, war, scheming, found-family.

I felt like the world building could have been better, but I've since read that book 0.5 focuses more on this, so it's probably worth reading the prequel before picking this book up.

I loved the dual POV, going between Elerek and Lystra. I did think their relationship moved a little too quickly, despite this being marked as a slow burn. I felt as though they didn't actually have much time to get to know one and other before they began falling in love. I did love that Elerek and Lystra were older than most fantasy main characters in popular fantasy books. I needed a break from the teenagers of the fantasy world shouldering the entire nations burdens for a change.

It was a very good first book in what I'm guessing is going to be a duology or a trilogy and I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop, especially with the way book 1 ended on such a cliffhanger.

The description of this book capture my attention right away and I decided I would give it a try. About a third of the way through, I almost gave up. It wasn't capturing my attention like I hoped - I felt it needed more world building, a more steady pace, and by 30% of the way through, I had caught some significant wording errors that threw me off. I didn't write down the 1st time, but the 2nd time I did because it was such a weird mistake: "a calculated expression seduced Elerek's face". I have never seen seduced used like this in all of the books I've read, so I looked up the word seduced to see if there was some meaning I was missing, but I just couldn't make it work. So this led to my next thought - the author meant to use the word "suffused". I could be wrong, but that word makes more sense there.

Anyway, I pushed through. At times the pacing picked up, and it felt like it was easier to read. The book ends at a cliffhanger, so reader beware of that.

I was going to rate this 2 stars, but the ending has me curious what happens next - so if it has me interested, it deserves 3 stars, I guess. I don't know if I will read it when the 2nd one comes out. We'll see.

Thank you #Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A kingdom on the precipice of invasion. A king cursed long ago. A queen determined to save her people. Lystra and Elerek have one summer to prepare but invasion isn’t the only danger they face. Lystra has waited and trained for the moment where she would become Queen of Instanolde. What she didn't expect was to become queen to a king she barely knows. Still grieving the loss of the man she loved so fiercely, Lystra does what she must to protect her people and her kingdom. Elerek is cursed and never imagined that he would become King of Instanolde. After the death of his brother he is now faced with a life he never considered and a queen he never planned on having. Together they must find a way to do the unthinkable.

When I first started this book it was so different from the novella that I wasn't sure if I was liking the way the story was going. I was wrong. I got so hooked into this story. This story is filled with so many twists and turns. The author did a great job creating such a rich and beautiful world with characters that are diverse and just as rich. I definitely recommend reading the novella "Daughter of the Desert" first as it is a great introduction to the world and some of the characters. I am so sad that I have to wait for book 2 because I need to know what happens next.

Queen of Shifting Sands begins with the death of the king of Instanolde, Cormek, leaving his elder brother Elerek as the new king. However, Elerek is in a wheelchair and suffers from a horrible curse that turns people to water after being touched. Meanwhile, Lystra, Cormek's betrothed, mourns the death of her love. Her family is an ambitious one with a manipulative grandmother insistent on making sure that Lystra becomes queen--and that she takes any means necessary to restore the Afghan family to the throne. The politics in this world are complex. Cormek is killed by the Jarkins, a group of marauders who threaten the very existence of Instanolde and who inevitably will appear at Instanolde's gates to topple the kingdom. The solution to this problem is to wed Elerek with Cormek's fiance, who has already won the hearts of the people. She especially enjoys training cardants--desert lizards that the people of Instanolde ride in order to cross the desert surrounding Instanolde. But the threat looms large; Elerek and Lystra must work together to build alliances and come up with a strategy before it's too late. However, Elerek's curse gets in the way. He is slowly dying and Lystra, who begins to fall in love with him, doesn't know how to break the curse. This is the first book of a series and ends on a cliffhanger. In this book, a lot of time is spent establishing the different smaller family and kingdom alliances that Elerek and Lystra make and on building these different cultures. Elerek's curse is unique and interesting, seemingly impossible to solve. And there are plenty of secrets to keep a reader interested. Lystra's attempt to understand the scheming nature of Elerek's household as well as the scheming nature of her own grandmother forms part of a fully-developed plot. Although romance is a part of the book, I wouldn't classify this as a "Romantasy" like Crown of Thorns and Roses. It's a bit more cerebral and focused on the politics of the fantasy world. However, that doesn't mean that it is lacking in character development. Love triangles abound and characters have complexity and depth. The powers and magical elements in this book are interesting and incomparable to other books, making it quite original. I would have preferred it to end with more closure, though, since reading through the length of it takes time and deserves a bit of satisfaction in the ending. But it's clear that a 2nd book likely will answer a lot of the questions from the first. Feels a bit like it was meant to be a multiple-book series, broken down from one massive manuscript.

"They'd taken vows of paper and destined to burn for the sake of their kingdom"

I loved this. The writing was beautiful, as were the characters. It was not what I expected from the story but the grief of the characters combined with the guilt of the curse gave it a sad undertone to the beautiful story. The pacing of the storyline was slow but it was done in a way that wasn't boring, the growth of their relationship was captivating as was the world building. There were so many beautiful quotes that I absolutely loved and this was an amazing story, highly recommend.

My emotions were toyed with. Watching Lystra and Elerek so slowly fall in love with one another while in the midst of dealing with their grief felt so realistic. They also had to deal with the grief of duties that were suddenly thrust upon them in the aftermath of Cormack's sudden death. Amazing world building. I felt like I could close my eyes and imagine everything that Kaitlyn described. The pacing was a little slow but the cliffhanger at the end made up for it I think. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment in the series!

What, it can’t just end like that! I need to know what happens to Elerek, and my girl Lystra 😩

This was such a beautifully written story about grief and loss, duty, and choosing to see people for who they really are. Lystra is betrothed to Cormek, the king, who is brutally killed in an attack, and instead she finds herself marrying Cormek’s brother, the prince-heir Elerek, to form a unified alliance for the kingdom as the new king and queen. Elerek however is cursed, and no one can touch him without becoming cursed themselves.

I loved reading about the kingdom of Instanolde, the world building was gorgeous, and I loved the characters. Lystra isn’t a warrior but she is strong in other ways that matter, she is the perfect FMC and I really felt for her throughout. Elerek is haunted by the curse, but is so determined and sweet - though I did not appreciate what he did towards the end..! I can understand it but I didn’t like it! I did appreciate the disability representation; Elerek is disabled and uses a wheelchair but I didn’t feel like he was defined by it.

The water curse was so original and I haven’t read anything like it before, and I loved the concept of the cardants (large lizards) too, though I can’t help but picture them as very large, bearded dragons.

I’m rating this a 4.5 because I wasn’t totally surprised by the reveals towards the end but I loved the plot, the characters and the tension between the MCs ♥️ The slow burn romance is very slow burn, which it has to be because you know, they can’t touch..! I hope Elerek and Lystra solve these problems and many others in the next book which I am impatiently waiting for!!

I feel like I should have loved this, but it felt incredibly slow. There just wasn’t anything that gripped me or made me feel any connection to the story. However, I love that we are seeing more representation in story telling and I’d like to commend the author on the diversity of her characters. Though I may not have connected to the story, having a diverse cast is important to me and many others. I also loved the creativity in replacing horses with a reptilian creature of her own creation. The author is incredibly descriptive in her world building, but unfortunately I just found myself not enjoying the story.

I DNF’d about 28% of the way in- but I want to be clear that I don’t think this is a bad book, it just wasn’t for me personally.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this. I will still be showing it on socials as I think the representation it provides is incredible. Hopefully it will get this fantasy novel into the hands of people who will love it.

I was drawn in by the cover of this book the second I saw it and was continued to be blown away by the story, the world building, and the inclusivity of having a disabled character. The pacing of the story unfolded very organically and I was left wanting more to read! Cant wait to see where this series goes.

This book follows Lystra and Elerek as they navigate a world threatened by an enemy army, resorting to a marriage of convenience to save their kingdom while grappling with a looming curse.
Overall, I found the book enjoyable, delving deep into character development and the intricate fantasy world. The curse added an intriguing layer to the plot, and the side characters served their purposes well. The setting was beautifully described, though I wished for a map. However, the pacing was slow, with much of the book feeling like filler. I struggled with the unfamiliar terminology, which disrupted my reading flow. Additionally, I didn't feel the romance between the main characters, and the ending left much to be desired. Despite these flaws, I believe it has potential as a fantasy series with further development.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley.

Very complex characters and the setting was wonderful. Thank you

I enjoyed my journey of this storyline it was entertaining and well worth reading. The characters are engaging and kept me turning the pages.

DNF @ 28% / page 100.

Lystra was due to wed the king of Istanolde, Cormek until he dies in a war and his older brother Elerek is next in line. Elerek then sets to wed Lystra to unite the clans of the kingdom to help fight the ongoing war. Unbeknown to Lystra, Elerek also has a curse in which if anyone was to touch him they die by combusting into water.

On paper I should have loved this but there were a few things that I didn't like and so ultimately decided to DNF.

Before reading the story I noticed there was a novella prequel that I read and rated 4 stars. The novella was fun and fast paced and introduced King Cormek and one of Lystra's cardants Ghira (which is like a reptile horse) and I fell in love with both characters and couldn't wait to see more of them. At the start of this story Cormek and Ghira die off page within the first couple of pages.... We also get to briefly meet Elerek, who I immediately disliked and we get his POV in this story.

I found the story slow paced compared to the novella and the writing very descriptive. I found myself having to look up the meanings of words often, that I never normally have to do, and felt like the author had a thesaurus and purposely picked the most obtuse word. At 100 pages in the only thing that had really happened was the war off page and Elerek agreeing to Lystra's Grandmothers marriage proposal.

I found myself only liking Lystra's' grandmother and I think she is a character who we are supposed to dislike!

It is a shame I couldn't get on with the writing as the world and plot seemed so interesting and I would have liked to find out how the story enfolds.

The title, cover, and description of this book drew me in from the start, but didn’t quite live up to my expectations of what I was looking for in a book at the time. The tone of the story was more somber than I anticipated, the pacing was a bit slow, and I didn’t find myself connecting well with the main characters. That being said, I do think there are other readers out there who will enjoy this book, it just wasn’t for me, unfortunately.