While I can see how this might appeal to some of our library's "romantasy" readers, this book just wasn't for me and I did not finish it. The magic system was very interesting but it felt like the worldbuilding and character development was passed over in favor of pushing a frenetic plot. I quit the book at 40%, at a point that felt like it should have been the end of the first book in a duology or trilogy. If the story had been given more time to show us the world instead of condensing the plot and having to rely on exposition dumps, I might have enjoyed this more. However, insta-lust and love triangles are also not my thing and this had both. The element that I was most excited by in the description - the Menagerie itself - only featured in two short scenes, which was incredibly disappointing as well.

This book should be the next Romantasy hit.

4.75⭐
🌶️🌶️ Open door, descriptive

The world is rich and interesting. Not totally new with witches and dragons and powers, etc, but they're all twisted in a new and interesting way. Things do not go as expected and the story stays interesting and engaging.

I agree with others that the beginning starts at full force and quickly tapers to something sort of slow. I actually put the book down at 17ish% and almost didn't pick it back up, but I'm glad I did. I finished the rest in one sitting and now I'm desperate for more. The good news is, this book is satisfying enough on its own and knowing there will be more is just icing on the cake.

Thanks to NetGalley, Specter Publishing and J. Ember Hintz for this eARC.

Thanks for the advanced copy of this amazing book! The relationships are very realistic and I loved the bond between the witches ! The relationship between the main couple was written really well! I would recommend to anyone who enjoys witchy stories with dragon shifters ! I can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next!

This is the next Romantasy everyone needs to obsess over!

Everly is a Witch in disguise hiding her magic from the crown to avoid serving in the military. Down on her luck after her parents death and her engagement to the crown prince being broken, she make some shady and dangerous deals. Deals that will throw her head first into danger and temptation.

It's been an age since I have been so excited about a new "system" of magic. I love how magic the humans use stems from relic from other magical creatures. The fact that witches don't live long as the magic burns through them adds an extra layer of fear for the characters who literally live fast and die young.
The romance element is very well done we have an excellent shadow daddy, who veers to the darker side of grey at times. This is a slow burn which works well with the enemies to lovers aspect of the relationship.
The world building is great we are given information at a good pace without info dumping and we know there are several kingdoms with their own political systems.

The only thing that I found a little odd is how much the fmc sweats- it's mentioned alot alot. She is sweaty in almost every chapter, I am not sure if it's going to be a plot point or not, I hope so otherwise it is a tad weird.

I am so excited for the next book in this series and I am already obsessed! Yes obsessed with this new fantasy world.

3/5 Stars

Thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I have mixed feelings, but overall I did enjoy reading this. Some parts of this were well really done, like the magic system. It was definitely unique, relying on various relics, which was refreshing and fun to explore. There were also a lot of well developed characters and unpredictable plot points that kept it interesting, especially in the last two thirds of the book.

The first third was a bit slow and confusing, though, as there was a lot of world building to achieve, and sometimes terms/concepts weren't clearly explained until after they became relevant. It became easy to forgive this as the book picked up and things became more clear, but unfortunately the ending somewhat took away from these improvements for me. It felt very rushed, which took away from the action and made it hard to fully appreciate.

I did give this a good try, but ultimately DNF'ed. The concept from what I did read felt really fresh. In this day of so many copy-paste stories, it really felt like I haven’t read something similar before which is really hard to accomplish. That was awesome.

It was a little hard to get into the book at the start since there is clearly a developed world that you are dropped into. I wish there was a glossary or some sort of better description of the world at the beginning because I felt like I had no idea what people were talking about in conversations. Magic, relics, witches, reavers, why witches get conscripted, etc. all needed better explanations up front rather than dropping the reader right in the middle of a fully realized world. That could be a barrier for anyone looking to casually read a story. It might be a personal issue in that I typically don’t like the “drop the reader right in the world” type books, but a glossary or even quick rundown as a prologue describing the world and major players could have been really useful. The book summary gave me so much more of a description of the world, but I wish the book text itself had a little more primer.

Okay, I swear all the time, don’t get me wrong, but it almost seems like the swearing is used for impact rather than just describing things in more detail. It sort of took me out of the story since there was a lot of swearing in the first few pages.

The transitions between sentences and situations were a little rough and felt like whiplash at points in order to just get to the next important topic. I felt like I had to go back and reread sentences sometimes to see if I was just missing something, but it was just a super quick topic change.

DNF -- While the premise of the book seemed interesting and initially seemed like something I would enjoy, I was ultimately worried about the content warnings as I began reading the book, and decided it was better for myself to not continue reading. I definitely think there are audiences who would enjoy this, I just did not realize it was as dark from the initial description.

Unfortunately i just could not get into this book and had to dnf it at 60%. The story just felt predictable and immature, leaving me struggling to really get into it. The cover is beautiful however.