Aelia Springborn is the FMC and the main POV that we follow throughout the book. Aelia is the definition of broken and damaged, often turning to means of men or dust to help keep her demons at bay. This brought a unique perspective to the flow of the book as she copes with her traumas.

While reading you will be given glimpses into who/what has caused Aelia to turn into the stone cold mercenary that she is, and how her life ended up on the path it did. The book is quick paced with situations happening often one after another.

I wouldn't consider this a book about a love triangle. As the love is forced to change and evolve because of events that happen. To be honest, I have no idea which guy I would rather her be with anyways! There are a couple open door scenes but I found the romance was more secondary to everything else. The epilogue is a terrifying cliffhanger that made me interested in reading book 2.

When I first heard about this book being compared to ACOTAR I was a little nervous but I think K.W Foster has done a fantastic job with A Curse of Breath of Blood.

This book follows Aelia Springborn - a Queen turned mercenary breaking into minds for coin, navigating royal courts in Moriana.

Full transparency, Aelia is a morally grey, hot mess of a FMC on a mission to rescue her sister Baylis while stuck with her ex lover Caiden which immediately had me hooked.
When I think about the Amelia we meet at the start of A Curse of Breath and Blood this sentence really felt like it captured her-
“Famished from five years of living in cigarettes and hate”

The chemistry between Caiden and Aelia never quite hit the mark for me, with the plot movement it felt like we were expected to understand they were deeply in love from the get to, then hating each other and then back in love with each other. If the book were a little longer I think there could have been more relationship development between the pair and a chance for a slower burn - as well as ironing out the world building as it did get confusing at times.
Thank god for Tharan coming in clutch!!

If everything else hasn’t convinced you to give A Curse of Breath and Blood a go, here are some features that had this book checking all of my boxes-
- Love triangle
- Powerful but damaged FMC
- Fantastic villains
- Dual POV
- Stunning cover artwork
- Epic ending that has me desperate for book number 2

Overall an enjoyable read and an interesting take on a romantasy.

I wish the ARC had come with a trigger warning for passive SI, self-destructive bx, addiction, abusive relationships. While I wasn't too phased by these mentions, there are many readers who will want this addition. When it comes to characters, Aelia wasn’t exactly the most likable person, but none of the characters were likable for me. Aelia went towards unhealthy coping (i.e., addiction, promiscuity) but she did seem to see her overall worth despite the pain and trauma which did show a level of resilience. I was curious to learn more about the mind-breaking power but the slow writing pace made it so that curiosity faded. The world building and character descriptions were decent but not notable for me as a reader. The espionage-style warfare was interesting to follow. The romance was shallow at times but it felt somewhat intentional because of the time and trauma that has passed since Aelia and Caiden first fell in love. I found that this Foster did a good job of highlighting the difference between first love between teens and a lasting love that grows together. Another thing that made "A Curse of Breath and Blood" difficult for me to get through was the random information added and the seemingly random plot points that had abrupt mentions or changes (e.g., the beheading scene).

Overall, I had a hard time loving "A Curse of Breath and Blood." It's not a bad book, but it wasn't Ohmigod-let-me-read-more great either.

Review going live September 12

I loved this story. It was fast paced, had interesting characters, a flawed protaganist, "Who did this to you?", old love, new love, and so much more. Where it fell flat is the world building. I am still confused about all of Aelia's past that kept being referenced but never fleshed out as well as general world building that should cover the creatures living in this world, how the leadership works, religion, and magic. I felt that the book could have ended sooner so that the world could have been fleshed out more. There were also some confusing time jumps where I felt like I was missing something as a reader.

I love Aelia as a character. While she is badass, she is also real and has a lot of reactions to situations that I feel most people can relate to. I wish we would have more development of her and Caiden's relationship rekindling because it felt like one day they were at each other's throats and the next they were back together without any in between.

Overall, this was a great fast paced romantasy and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel.

As a reader, I am almost always drawn to pretty covers with a decent blurb. This book definitely fit that bill. However, I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did. This book gave me King Arthur vibes mixed with Once Upon a Broken Heart. We have warriors, who doesn't love a badass FMC who can hold her own in a fight, we have deep seated trauma and we have magic and spice. Without giving too much away, when Aelia and Caiden made their oath to wipe Caiden's mind after finishing their quest, my heart wept for them. This is a beautifully written romantasy novel which deserves readers to give a new author a chance as you will not be disappointed.

Tropes:

✨Fantasy
✨Spice
✨Enemies to lovers
✨Who did this to you?
✨Second chance love
✨Found family
✨Magic
✨Love triangle
✨Quest
✨Forced proximity
✨Multi POV
✨Forbidden love

4.5 ⭑
Aelia, our 30+ morally grey FMC, has been through so much. Heartbreak, trauma, abuse, addiction, loss of self, and yet she FIGHTS! Although Caiden is part of her past & holds hard memories, their relationship is special. I never thought a book could break my heart in an instant like this one did! But Tharan… Tharan is there to pick up the pieces. Aelia’s growth and vulnerability with him was truly a testament to character growth throughout this book. ALSO, a huge honorable mention goes to Amolie! Her compassion is bliss.

I was concerned about the time gap between the prologue and chapter one. There were a lot of unanswered questions that felt distracting. Around 30% I hit a turning point, and didn’t want to put this book down.

Now, the other side of this book.. the GIDEON side of this book… THE EPILOGUE OF THIS BOOK! I’ll just be here waiting for book two in this hot new trilogy!

This book was average. It definitely lacked some world building and some characters had depth and some didn’t. I like it but it isn’t something I would recommend often.

The beginning of the book was a little slow for me and as it did pick up a bit sometimes I felt like I was struggling through some chapters.

Thank you for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I think I just got overwhelmed after thirty percent of reading it. After then, I've decided to take a break from it. I love the whimsical dark feel though.

I really enjoyed this! I thought it gave some acotar vibes but also very different and I loved the magic in it. Also it had great romance where I could really
connect with it and root for it. Love the characters as well will be adding to our library and recommending to everyone!

This story had potential, but I mostly just felt overwhelmed.

There was so much info about the different species and the different territories and rulers that I couldn't keep it all straight in my mind. It also starts off in what felt the middle of the story. There is so much that happens with all the characters before the book starts that is referenced and it seemed like we were missing out on a lot.

Aelia was a Princess before she was married off, but we got almost no information about her country and the hierarchy. She got married off and was a Queen for 6 years before becoming "The Traitor Queen" and now she is an assassin, but I am still unclear about what happened for her to become a traitor. There were also casual mentions of Caiden and Tharan being Princes, but we got barely any info on Caiden's history and only a bit about Tharan too.

It goes back and forth in memories to give us some backstory, but it ended up confusing me a lot trying to figure out what timeline we were in. Maybe if the memories started at the beginning of a chapter or something? Mostly they were in the middle of Aelia having a thought and we weren't given any page breaks to differentiate. Granted, I was reading an ARC, so formatting may not be complete, but it served to throw me in and out of the story a lot.

It had some intriguing characters and a good group of different people. I also liked Aelia's mind magic and the different ways she was able to use it. Other than that, the book was very average with nothing really standing out to me.

Read if you love:
-Bisexual FMC
-Love triangles
-Humans, Sylphs, and Elves
-Political Intrigue

I received an eARC from Netgalley and the author. My thoughts are entirely my own.
Finish Date: 9/6/24, Release date: 9/17/24

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing this arc!

DNF @20% (71 pages)
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to connect with this book. The premise initially intrigued me, but the execution felt off from the start. I struggled to empathize with the characters, and the frequent introduction of new characters left me feeling disoriented.
I've seen the "Six of Crows" comparison used frequently, and I agree that it's often misleading. This book does not share the same tone, character dynamics, or overall atmosphere.

3.5⭐️
This was a great concept, and I really enjoyed the characters. The beginning had me hooked right away. This would have been a 4⭐️ read if it had some more world building. It just didn’t have the enough world building to help make the story fully cohesive. Which is kind of disappointing, because it really had the potential to be great, especially with the enjoyable characters.

When writing reviews, we often complain of books dragging along, but this one had the opposite problem. It was moving TOO fast, so the plot, characters, and worldbuilding were not adequately fleshed out.

I liked that the FMC was in her 30s, even though she really didn't act like it. She told us she was in love, but I didn't believe her since she's falling for every character she comes across. I fear corny dialogue has become an epidemic in the romantasy genre.

A quick and easy read - thanks to Netgalley, Aethon Books, and the author for this eARC!

Thank you for letting me read the ARC copy of this book!

I am very excited to jump into this book when I first read the description. The main character, a queen who became a mercenary because of her five years past live is quite thrilling and sad especially knowing the fact about what happened with her past relationship and what her current husband did to her. Knowing she carried her scars and tried to conceal it, feeling old when she only got 30, I feel you well woman.

This is not a high-stake fantasy for adult fiction, the history of their universe and humanity within it could be explored deeply, but the world is served with interesting elements such magical dust, witches, elf, beast, etc. As for the character, I don't know if it was the author intention to create a morally gray or just some missing points of the development. But I do feel a hollow spots if it claimed as morally gray character. Despite the character development is missing some points, I do enjoy the whole story.

The writing style is comfortable to read though there still lots of engagement can be built. I wish there are more Caiden's viewpoints about his past live and his feeling towards Aelia. Same goes to Aelia, it would be nice if her past is well-detailed so as a reader, we can bond well to Aelia. Remember that our main characters are on their 30, there should be more consideration and obstacles in their journey whether is personal-internal conflict or external challenges, everything should not be easy sometimes.

A Curse of Breath and Blood by K.W. Foster was such a refreshing take on fantasy romance. The FMC Aelia is a queen turned into a mercenary, but not of her own volition. Secret powers and ruthless husbands led her to become reliant on ways to numb herself.

Her past lover Caiden, finds and convinces her to help him save her sister. But after she is safe, Aelia must wipe his memories of her, and in thier home of Moriana, if a deal isnt fullfilled worse consequences can happen.

Love and resentment. Epic battles and struggles with addiction. This fantasy should be your next read. It was fast and fun ti get through and I cant wait for the next book to come out!

A psychic who struggles with an addiction to fairy dust.

Well, sign me up!

This fast-paced, action-packed book is full of all the fantasy creatures you can imagine!
This book has just enough romance and action to make it a great first installment for this romantasy style book.

This is definitely a deep dive into watching a character struggle with trauma.

#forbidden love
#antihero

I would give this book 3.5

This book felt like pieces of several stories pieced together into one. The world building is lackluster and confusing, and there is a ridiculous number of different mythical creatures for one book. I had no idea what was going on half the time, or why they were doing everything they were doing. It was all quite confusing, then it ended. The epilogue had a twist but that is not how epilogues work.

I thought Caiden would be end game for her because the way the prologue was written totally set it up for a second chance romance. Then they did get a second chance, and it was ripped away. That part made me shed a tear but I also thought it was dumb that it had to happen. THEN while she was devestated and crying, she had the thought that she 'wanted to kiss Theran and never stop.' She was attracted to and in love with everyone, even with a broken heart, and that makes no sense. It made all of the relationships feel inauthentic and not special.

Overall I was invested enough to keep reading as I wanted to know what happened and how it would end, but it ended with almost zero answers outside Aelia choosing someone to be with, so was it worth it...?

3 stars

This book had a lot of potential and many aspects that I enjoyed. I thought that the FMC mind powers were really cool - especially since in romantasy's these days normally powers are more tangible / elemental in nature, so this was a nice change! I also liked Aelia as our FMC - she was flawed, strong and I thought a well developed character!
Unfortunately where it fell a little short for me was the pacing was little chaotic, and I wish there was more world building. Additionally - I'm just personally not a huge fan of the love triangle type plot line - even if this one had a twist. I also felt there wasn't enough time spent to develop one of the relationship and it made things a little confusing.

Offering a unique blend of whimsy and darkness, 'A Curse of Breath and Blood' intertwines high fantasy with a thoughtful exploration of real-world issues.

The narrative centres on Aelia, a troubled psychic battling an addiction to fairy dust. The plot features a richly diverse array of mythological creatures that will delight fantasy readers. However, while the realm’s potential is evident, certain aspects feel a little underdeveloped, suggesting intriguing possibilities for future exploration.

Fast-paced and high-stakes, the writing delivers a compelling and action-packed experience. Although a few scenes may feel somewhat rushed, the prose remains accessible and exciting.

Aelia defies conventional heroic archetypes; she is a mature character grappling with a traumatic past and a turbulent quest for genuine affection. Her morally ambiguous portrayal is both chaotic and authentic, offering a heartfelt exploration of her inner struggles. The fraught romance between the leads is both tragic and compelling, sprinkled with mildly spicy moments while prioritising story progression. The protagonists are complemented by interesting supporting characters, leaving ample room for future developments.

The novel skillfully integrates fantastical elements - such as sylphs, mermaids, and a menacing kraken - with a nuanced approach to more serious themes, such as: trauma, addiction and heartbreak, creating a narrative that resonates on multiple levels.

'A Curse of Breath and Blood' stands out for its unique combination of high fantasy and emotional depth. While the world-building could benefit from further development in future installments, this debut is a strong start to the series. The book offers a fresh, layered story that will appeal to high fantasy readers who appreciate unconventional characters.

"Sometimes it is easier to sink into the roles already given to us than to fight for a new one."

Genre:
-High Fantasy
-Romance

Tropes:
-Forbidden Love
-Forced Proximity
-Fantasy Species
-Love Triangles
-Anti-Hero

Spice: 🌶️

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was really torn about this one because it had all the makings of a great story. It was fast paced, maybe too fast. The characters were interesting but the story didn’t flow for me. The MFC was unpleasant and threw herself at everyone and everything. She was attracted to everyone! I understand that she’s experienced something really awful but it was still hard for me to like her.
What drives a story for me is loyalty and commitment and she had none of that. Who did she love?? And having strong feelings for all of them just wasn’t realistic.
Thanks IBPA via NetGalley.
3.5⭐️