4.25 ⭐️

I really liked Crown of Earth and Sky. This series is only the second Arthurian retelling I’ve read, and I’m finding I really enjoy Arthurian stories! I simply could not put this book down.

The world building was well done while still being easy to follow, and I loved the characters. Veyka and Arran were great, and I loved their chemistry. I also really loved the side characters, particularly Parys. There was just something about him that was incredibly endearing.

There was more spice than I was expecting for book one of a series, and for the most part, the spice was well done. I do hope that the following books focus a little less on describing Veyka’s body. It just felt like there were a lot of mentions about her breasts and whatnot when there didn’t need to be. Arran is down bad though, so I can’t blame him too much for it.

I’m excited to dive right in to book two, Throne of Air and Darkness, tomorrow. Crown of Earth and Sky was a really strong start to a series, and the ending left me eager for more!

Thank you so much to Emberly Ash and NetGalley for the ARC of Crown of Earth and Sky. All opinions are my own.

I read an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
It took me a while to get into this book. Only because I didn't understand what secrets Veyka was hiding, or what the world was like. By 50% I was very invested and was trying to predict what was going to happen next.
At times, I had to reread certain paragraphs to make sure what happened, had just happened. Sometimes a character dies, and it's a shock.
The intimacy scenes had a lot of chemistry and could sometimes be eye opening,
I stupidly forgot to request book 3 of the series while it was available, but I have book 2 at least.
Hopefully more will be revealed in that book.

**𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘** 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒌𝒚 𝒃𝒚 𝑬𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝑨𝒔𝒉

Release Date: June 1, 2023

5⭐️4🌶

I loved this King Arthur retelling soooo much! Veyka Pendragon always expected her brother, Arthur Pendragon, to take the throne. But through a series of circumstances, she is required to marry the Brutal Prince and become Queen to lead and protect her kingdom. She doesn't plan to hold the crown for long. Only long enough to find her brother's killers...

The tension between Veyka and the Brutal Prince is delectable. There banter even more so. Veyka is the Princess of the Elemental Fae, and Arran has been Prince of the Terrestrial Fae for several hundred years longer than Veyka has been alive. One of the many reasons he is considered the Brutal Prince is becomes of his beast form that he thought he had under control until he met Princess Veyka.

A big thank you to @netgalley for approving me for this ARC!

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🖤“I see you- all of you. And I am not afraid.”🖤

⚔️“I’d let Annwyn burn, down to the last soul, if it meant Veyka’s life. I was as selfish as I’d ever accused her of being. I was in love with her.”⚔️

•spicyyyy King Arthur retelling
•arranged marriage
•forced proximity
•enemies to lovers
•bad ass, but self destructive FMC w/ character growth
•possessive barbarian male
•dual POV

I absolutely loved this book! I cannot wait to start the 2nd one. That cliff hanger 😳😳 I have to know what happened asap!!!

Crown of Earth and Sky is a King Arthur retelling with a fae twist! Veyka our FMC is a twin, being born just minutes after her brother, Arthur, he was the one to take the throne. Months after her brother takes the throne, he is MURDERED! Veyka is determined to find out who killed her brother and get revenge no matter the cost. After his death she is forced to take the throne and is assigned a betrothed from the terrestrial fae village. All while still heavily grieving the loss of her brother. Arran Earthborn is known to everyone as the “Brutal Prince.” He and Veyka don’t hit it off right away. There is a lot of sexual tension, but overall they absolutely despise each other! Veyka couldn’t care less about ruling the kingdom and Arran mistakes that attitude for her being a spoilt brat. Eventually they come to an agreement and team up to avenge Arthur.

The spice scenes and sexual tension in this book were 🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵 HOTTT! Arran’s beast being so attached to Veyka before his male self was really added to the story. It brought a feral, animalistic desire to his feelings for her despite his male self hating her guts.

I loved the way Veyka was written and portrayed. She experienced so much character growth in just the first book I cannot wait to see where she is by the end of the series!

This book was absolutely amazing cannot wait to get into the second one! This has to be one of my fave retellings! Overall the read was intense. It starts off semi slow but it still hooks you despite that. You are able to get to meet and know the characters and an idea of what to expect! I love it way too much. The plus size fmc also really gave me a way to connect and feel like this book was made for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the representation

2.5★
I would like to thank NetGalley for offering me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a nice read with potential, but unfortunately I didn't really get into it...
Arthur was a character I liked a lot but unfortunately he doesn't last long and despite that he remains my favourite character.
The author's writing is also pleasant but I've never been a fan of first-person novels. What's more, the novel plunges us straight into the story without any explanations or hints, which is slightly disturbing? Perhaps this was the author's choice?

Two things that bothered me the most were the repetition of Veyka's curves: I understood after the first time, so there was no need to rewrite it every two pages; and the repetition of the ‘You're Mine’: I found it unpleasant and not at all romantic. However, these are just details.

Where I had the most trouble was with our protagonist Veyka who, although she's traumatised (which could explain some of her behaviour), here she's just an irresponsible woman who only thinks about herself and is just disrespectful. If you don't want to do anything with yourself then at least do what people tell you instead of pissing the world off.
Arran, however, was an interesting character who I found slightly under-developed.
As for their relationship, there's really no hatred? It's inexplicable and not credible?

Oh, and in relation to the smuts scenes, they are quite present in this novel and are written in a rather vulgar and crude way. Personally, it's not the kind of thing I'm looking for as I tend to like romanticism and the importance of feelings, but if you liked the relationship between Nesta and Cassian (in the +18 side) for example, I think you'll like it.

This novel clearly has potential but is marked by a number of shortcomings. I would still recommend it especially for the Arthurian Legend aspect alone, which is always a pleasure.

Review on Goodreads:

summary:

emberly ash has written an absolutely amazing romantasy novel that has drawn me in with such an intriguing magical system. the pacing was decent and the writing was excellent, allowing you to feel like you’re witnessing the banter and deception first hand. the novel is also loosely based on the king arthur and knights of the round table legend, which added a unique twist to the story.

readers are slowly introduced to elemental and terrestrial fae, whereby the main characters veyka and arran, respectively, are bethrothed. this is to prevent an endless war between their two territories. having the dual pov was quite a bonus as both characters could not be more different. they eventually team up with her friends to root out the deception in her court. many secrets are unravelled, with a concerning one involving the undead.

initial impression:

the first chapter had me hooked off the bat with the fight between veyka and her brother, arthur. the scene was so intense that i genuinely thought she was going to kill him. we also get a small introduction to magic types: fire, cooling and mind reading, as well as, there being a cost to magic.

main characters:

after her brother’s, “supposed,” murder, veyka has been thrust into the role of queen of the elemental fae. she has a dark past after suffering from her mother’s torture and after finally being freed, she feel trapped again with so much responsibility. despite this, she’s humourous, sarcastic, a bit selfish and hell bent on getting revenge for her brother. she then meets arran, a war commander, who just wants peace for the entirety of annwyn. he lives up to his title of, “brutal prince,” perfectly. the arranged marriage trope is always a fav!

parys was one of my favourite characters. he’s my twin with his love of books! i was so relieved that he did not get eaten by those lizards in the witch’s tower because that’s such an embarrassing way to die.

climax & ending:

this all happened within a hundred pages or so, with the rest of the novel being slow pacing. i didn’t have any issue with this except that it was so predictable!! i knew it was either roksana or her daughter as the traitors because that friendly attitude was too good to be true. also i knew as soon as i read that gawayn has always been loyal that he was the traitor LOL. he barely had any scenes and was always considered trusting by veyka. knew her was preying on her downfall smh.

critiques:

- normally in some romantasy novels there tends to be an information dump about the politics and history of the world, but thankfully this did not happen. it made reading super easy and enjoyable.
- out of the goldstone guards, lyrena was the most interesting with her mind reading. so why did she not use it to discover who was the traitor?
- fell in love with some of the side characters so i wished we got to see their perspective at certain points. especially when veyka and her friends developed a plan for questioning the witch. i wanted to see more of their personalities and interactions.
- what happened with evander and gawayn’s brothers in investigating the disappearances of children? hope to learn more about this in connection with the rifts and the undead in the next book.

4⭐️ & 3/5🌶️

I'm sorry but this is such a ripoff of ACOTAR. This book sounds like Amanaratha got her solo book. I had to put this down multiple times.

This was a great reimagining of Arthurian tales with fae and a dark side.

I appreciated the way the author wrote about our FMC’s grief and trauma. I felt like this was really relatable for a lot of people. I loved our grumpy and brooding MMC Arran!

He is the morally gray MMC I’ve been needing for a while. And the way he appreciates Keyva’s full figure. Yes please, we need more of that in fantasy books.

Plus some very hot spicy scenes are always appreciated 🥵

Not to mention the cliffhanger?!?! I was shook! And I will be starting the 2nd book immediately following this review.

If you’re looking for a dark fantasy series with political intrigue and an enemies to lovers storyline then I’d recommend giving this one a go.

My only note/criticism that the beginning of this book was quite slow and I wasn’t really sure where the plot was going until I hit the 40% mark.

This was a great fantasy story. I thoroughly enjoyed it! My only complaint was that there were several grammatical or spelling errors that were missed in editing. The tension between Veyka and Arran was top tier. Definitely worth the read!

Crown of Earth and Sky" by Emberly Ash is a fantastic fae retelling of the King Arthur legend, blending romance, politics, and magic. It starts off slow, but once you get past the beginning, it's totally gripping.

The slow-burn romance between Veyka and Arran is full of tension and just the right amount of spice. I loved seeing Veyka grow throughout the story, and the political intrigue kept me hooked.

Emberly Ash does a great job mixing classic King Arthur elements with a fresh, new world. The nods to the traditional tale are subtle but satisfying.

Overall, it's a great read for anyone who loves steamy, dark fantasy with a twist on a classic legend. Can't wait for book two! Highly recommend!

Yes, this is 100% a book to read! This is the first book in the Secrets of the Faerie Crown series. The book got my attention right from the start.
Veyka Pendragon was the crown queen after her brother Arthur was murdered. After that, all she has on her mind is revenge for whoever murdered her brother! She then gets blindsided by Arran Earthborn, who turns her world upside down and ends up being all she can think about! They both tried to stay away from each other but they could not deny the connection between them!
Reading this book kept me wanting more! I enjoyed the development of the characters and the storyline. Whenever I had to put the book down, I just wanted to run back and continue reading! I enjoy books where the characters start one way and develop into a whole new person but for the better! By the end of the book Veyka and Arran were my favorite couple and I enjoyed seeing where their relationship went! Thank you, NetGalley for letting me read this free book and give my honest opinion. Thank you, Emberly Ash, for writing a well-written book. It kept me engaged the whole time and I continued to want more!!!

A great start to a fantasy series filled with romance, murder, mystery and prophecies that leaves you hooked till the end! The first book with a decent amount of world building is always a struggle for me compared to the rest of the series, but I do think this series has a lot of potential, especially as time goes on within the series!

Arran and Veyka have a ton of chemistry and their romance storyline will be fun as they are definitely lusting over each other, but no where near love yet. They are just learning to move past the hate and distrust, but we’ve got a while to go, and I’m going to love the drive.

I love the Queen of Secrets, because her secrets are so good, and make me wonder how the rest of the series will continue! I cant wait to come back to this series after I read this next book!

I enjoyed this story and the retelling of King Arthur and the round table. Despite her attitude towards others, I really enjoyed Veyka and understand her emotions and plight. I wish that there was more development of the side characters to solidify the relationships more.

I was very excited to receive this entire series on Net Galley from Emberly Ash! I'm trying to delve deeper into the fantasy romance genre, and this was a great start! A Crown of Earth and Sky received 4 stars from me. :) I loved the characters and the fantasy world as a whole. The reason I didn't give it a higher rating is because I think the world building could've been expanded upon more. The little bits we got I was very interested in! Hoping to get more world building in book 2. I also loved the spice in this book! It was written so well. Loved the hate to love trope, and the fact that they were obsessed with each other really quickly. I normally don't like that but in this book it worked. Can't wait to read book 2 this month!

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♡ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 (rounded up to 5) ♡
🌶️ 2/5

Arthur, if Arthur was dead? You can’t not read it 🤍🗡️🖤
I LOVED this. I read through it so quickly. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.
I haven’t read a book based on the Arthur legend before, but I enjoyed how Emberly Ash decided to write this retelling.
Veyka and Arran both stole my heart. I was as obsessed with them as they were with each other. They were both strong in themselves but also found strength in each other, which I loved. Neither was meant to rule, but they were both forced to take the throne.
I feel like there could have been some more world-building, but I liked that what was there was peppered in and wasn’t too overwhelming, as it can often be in fantasy settings. I also like that we started with the story background, learning about Arthur before we fell into Veyka and Arran’s story.
I also really enjoyed that Veyka wasn’t an all-powerful ‘chosen one’ and that she didn’t want the throne. The character development in the story was so good. I feel like all the characters really snuck their way into my heart one way or another (except for obvious ones).
I love love LOVED the secondary characters we got to meet. Cyara (and her sisters), Parys (I love him!!!), Gwen and Lyrena! They helped make the story, and I love that so much! I hope we get to see more of them in the following books, too, and maybe even see where their romances take them (🖤I really want Gwen to find the happy ending she deserves🤍)
I cannot wait to see where the story goes in the next few books!

Tropes:
🗡️ enemies to lovers
🗡️ arranged marriage
🗡️ forced proximity
🗡️ he falls first
🗡️ slow burn, dual POV
🗡️ Court politics
🗡️ strong, curvy FMC/morally grey MMC
🗡️ “who did this to you?”/”mine”

I would recommend this to anyone who loves romantasy! Plus, who doesn’t want to read about a badass girl and her 7ft man? 🖤🤍
I can’t wait to read book two 🤍🗡️🖤

*Note: there are clear trigger warnings that should be seen before reading including: grief, child abuse, depression, rape, imprisonment, torture and death of a sibling*

*I received an eARC copy in exchange for my honest review of this book*
Big thank you to NetGalley and Emberly Ash (and Cara Maxwell Romance) for the chance to read this book.

I was sucked in from the very beginning of this book. I loved Veyka , a grieving sister who now bares the weight of a crown she was never meant to have. The way the authors writes her character is a beautiful showcase of grief and its many forms. She isn’t delicate or soft, she’s fierce and determined. Though you can see that some of who she was had been lost in the grief she’s experiencing but her character grew into a better version of herself by the end.
Arran needs this marriage arrangement to work his people’s best interest and is confused by Veyka at every turn. Just when he thinks he’s figured out this queen she does something else that perplexes him. Reading him fall deeper and deeper for her while working so hard to get to know her was thrilling. The heat between them is intoxicating. The harder they fight the harder they fall. I really enjoyed the banter, and the overall choas that followed them.

I liked that this story had touches of Camelot but it didn’t take over the plot. The magic, land, curses, and lore is interesting enough to keep you invested when it’s brought up. You don’t get lost in explanation. I enjoyed all the twists and ahhh moments. The pacing was just busy enough to have you on your toes but not so much that you feel overwhelmed.

The ending was perfect. I like cliff hangers that make you want to throw your book against a wall (or kindle). It made me excited to pick up the next book and get back into this mysterious world.

Love this book so much it pulled me out of a reading slump which makes it one of my new 5 star reads for this month. So happy I got to read this book.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I LOVED this book!
It started off a little slow. The world building and identifying key relationships eased me into the story. Veyka is now queen after her brother Arthur is murdered, but not officially queen until she bonds with/married the terrestrial heir. The first part of the book introduces various characters while Veyka drowns in grief. Yes, it is a bit of a slog to read because no one really wants to dwell on grief because it's a hard subject, it makes people uncomfortable. But I am a firm believer in, its not about the destination, it's the journey you take to get there. To understand Veyka's character development, to really appreciate it, you have to see her at rock bottom. You have to feel the soul deep, bone aching loss that she's trying to survive. And I loved it, I loved the journey and seeing her come out the other side.
Arran is a bit of a prick but in the end, he's Veyka's prick and I love it. Enemies to lovers to epic partners in crime (or the solving of said crime..) He has his own traumatic past but is old enough to have come to terms with it, for the most part. He is gruff and violent.
Other secondary characters include Arthur's should've been queen, a trio of handmaidens, a few guards and two of Arthur's lovers. AND LETS NOT FORGET THE MOTHER... I want to know more about her!
A spin on King Arthur and the knights of the round table. It's a dark read with plot twists, turns and foreshadowing. Not to mention a bit of spice, intrigue, mystery and just the right amount (for me) of threats, violence and death. Veyka is a bigger lady, there's a lot of reference to her size in comparison to other Fae, but mostly it comes from Arran so I'm wasn't too annoyed by the frequency of it. Through his appreciation of her size the author brings our attention back to the fact that Veyka isn't a frail little bird. I loved that she was an accomplished fighter at the beginning of the book and didn't magically become a master fighter overnight. I highly recommend this book.
I cannot wait to dive into the next book because after everything that has come to light in this book, the secrets unveiled, the treasonous plots and betrayals uncovered, I do not want to waste any time.

What even is the plot? I feel like the plot is so muddled it’s hard to fully understand what the plot even is.

There’s no world building, not even one chapter dedicated to world building so as a reader you are thrust in with the concept you’ll understand the world around.

The repeated use of “ancestors” feels very much like a rip off of Sarah J. Maas’ use of “cauldron” and was very over used.

I’m all for spice but Veyka is such an annoying FMC with her constant need to find the next male to sleep with. It seemed like every chapter all Veyka can think of is what man she can get in her bed or showing her body in a way to persuade a man to do something.

I can never seem to DNF books but this book really tested my ability to push through. I’ll read book 2 and 3 to see if things get better but I’m really disappointed in book 1.