3.5 stars

If you like yourself a morally grey shadow daddy, an interesting magic system, and a fiercely loyal FMC then this may be the book for you.

I really enjoyed the friendship between Everly and her bestie and wish I'd seen a little more of it. There was definitely an element of found family which is possibly my absolute favourite trope. The side characters are so much fun and well developed.

This is the first book in a series, I don't know how many sequels are planned but as an introduction to the world it's a good start, you get clues throughout of ways in which the world will open up further and develop in subsequent books. It has a lot of promise to reveal many more storylines and complexity. The ending was good and has left me wanting more, I'll be checking out the next book when it releases.

It is undeniably predictable, especially if you've read a fair amount of romantasy. The way some of the tropes are written is like a checklist, and kind of jarring at times. Almost as if they were thrown in to please, simply because they're popular at the moment and nothing was unique enough for me to love the book. I enjoyed the reading process though, it was a quick easy read with some fun moments, and I can see it being popular with romantasy lovers.

Thank you to Netgally for the digital review copy.

I do enjoy a good romantasy, this was such a great book. I loved the magic system and the characters. I really hope we will learn more about them and their stories.
Evelyn, a witch in hiding, meets a shadow summoner with a plan and a crew. When he learns her secret, he offers her a blood bond to help him with the heist in exchange for his silence and a promise to pay off her gambling debt. A distrusting and powerful MMC and a FMC who's done letting men tell her what to do make an exciting, albeit frustrating duo. Throw in a crown prince, who happens to be her ex fiancé, a dragon egg and enemies all on a quest together and you get a compelling story.
I can't wait for the next book, there were many questions left unanswered, but not being left on a painful cliffhanger was so appreciated.
Silas and Evelyn have my heart, I want more of them.

🔥 It's been a long time since a book has captured my heart the way this one did. Within minutes of reading, this novel immediately sunk its sharp claws into my heart and stole it from me, and I'm perfectly okay with that.

🔥 As someone who deals with chronic pain and mental health struggles, it's always refreshing to read a character who experiences the same ailments, and yet they're written in a way that is believable and inspiring. Someone who endures more than they should, but never gives up on living and fighting for others that they care about. That's exactly how Everly Thorne is perceived. A woman who is stronger than she gives herself credit for, and is tired of being told what to do by men in power.

🔥 I feel like no matter how I write this review, it won't do this book any justice. Between the amazing world building that you can tell was thought out so beautifully, the hilarious banter, all the magical creatures, the way magic was used among the witches, the constant plot twists that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and the fact that there was never a dull moment in this fast paced story, just left me in awe as I flipped through each page.

🔥 I'm saddened that I will have to wait an entire year for book 2, but I just know that it will be worth the wait. This masterpiece will forever have a special place in my heart. ❤️

🐲If you love these tropes, you will easily devour this novel:🐲

⚔️Heists
🗡️Enemies to Lovers
🫂Found Family
🐉Dragons
🖤Shadow Wielder
🩸Blood Oaths
🦹‍♀️Outlaws
🔀Plot Twists
🔮Magic
❤️‍🔥Slow burn
😈Villain gets the girl

I loved this book! The book's pacing was spot on, the characters were fantastic, the magic system was relatively easy to understand, and the enemies to lovers were amazing! Everly and Silas are the typical enemies to lovers, with he falls first, and there are some fantastic lines between them.

Everly and Silas's relationship in this book is summed up in two quotes:
Silas: "There isn't anywhere you can go that I can't find you while you carry my magic."
Everly: "If you try anything, I'll set your cock on fire while you sleep."

I absolutely adore it when the FMC is intelligent, and Everly is perfect in that regard. She wants to go against Silas, so she finds a way despite the magic binding them together. Everly wants to be stronger, so she runs, even if she hates it. Despite being weaker and facing insanity, she continued to push herself to be better the whole book. Silas, whew, he pushes Everly to be so much more than she thinks she can be. He holds so many secrets, and yet, over and over, he gives them up to save her. This book ends with a clear indication there will be more books to come; however, the cliffhanger is extremely minor.

While this first book was predictable, I still thoroughly enjoyed the journey. Watch out, Xaden, Rhysand, Kingfisher, and all the other shadow daddies...Silas is here!! I, for one, can't wait to read book two.

Next Romantasy five star
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⚔️Enemies to lovers
🪄Magic
🐉Dragons
🖤Shadow daddy
🏠Found family
🦹🏻‍♀️Outlaws
😈Villain gets the girl

Put Silas Drake on your list of book boyfriends. He’s swoon worthy!

Everly Thorne is one ruthless FMC. Loved her character development in every way. While the odds are stacked against her, she somehow keeps pushing through. Her perseverance and banter had me hooked from page 1.

The spice is spicing, the tension is GREAT! Very unique storyline. Couldn’t put this read down.

When I started this book I was a little hesitant to enjoy it right from the beginning.. but I quickly became hooked!

This book has a shadow magic wielding MMC, dragons, enemies to lovers, touch her and die trope, but also a fiercely independent woman who is just trying to protect those she loves the only way she knows how… by gambling (literally and metaphorically).

I enjoyed the angst back and forth between the two main characters. Silas definitely grew on me, he starts off as a total ass, but he cares so much that you just have to be in the right light to see it. I know she wanted to care for Gideon so very much because of their history, but it didn’t feel right from the beginning.

I do think the burning process for a witch needed to be in greater detail earlier in the book, vs piece by piece as you read the rest of the book. However, it was easy to follow, although Silas’ plans were never what you thought so it also did change on a dime.

Thank you so much for this ARC read!

The premise of the book was very interesting, I just needed a little more depth. Everything felt very surface level and at times it was hard to keep my attention. The ending also rushed and it was like once I got hooked, it was over and I was left disappointed.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ARC Review ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Specter Publishing, and J. Ember Hintz for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Masquerade of Bones takes place in a world where witches have short lifespans and become consumed by their powers, giving in to what’s called the burning and dying at a young age. Our FMC Everly is in hiding as a witch at the beginning of our story, keeping her powers hidden to all the ones she loves and cares about. Silas Drake is our MMC who is a dark shadow wielding outlaw. They must swear a blood oath to each other to fulfill their missions.

This world has a really interesting magic system that will suck you in from the beginning. Magical creatures were hunted to extinction and left behind powerful relics that the witches siphon their powers from. This magic system is unique and provides a lot of differences in how each character utilizes magic. It was a lot of fun to read and see the different types of magic each relic provided.

There were times the plot to this book felt like it did not follow your expected linear progression. It felt like I was halfway through the book before the premise of the book even began, and as far as romantasy it felt like it took a long time to get to the actual romance. The majority of the main plot ideas occurred in the last 20% and the rest was a lot of filler from my perspective.

This book was still a fun read though. It’s not my favorite romantasy I have read all year, but I would read it again. Everly is a strong FMC who learns to stick up for herself and Silas is a fun MMC, although it seems like you don’t get to learn his deal until the very end of the book. The author has provided a very helpful glossary at the back of the book, check it out to get caught up on a lot of the terminology and don’t make the same mistake I did in not realizing it existed until I was 75% of the way through the book. Thankfully you can use context clues to decipher what a lot of it means but why use context clues when the author handed you a dictionary.

Thank you for choosing me to be a part of the ARC team!

Thank you for the arc, NetGalley! Masquerade of Bones caught me in its grip within the first few chapters and never let me go. Fantastic world-building, great cast of MCs and side characters, excellent story pacing, some unique creatures, and a very cool magic system. LOVED all of the subtle nods to New Orleans/Louisiana 💜💛💚 even though this story is based in a fictional land.

The FMC, Everly, is a badass, yes, but she also felt very relatable. The MMC, Silas, is now one of my top 3 shadow daddies haha. The tension in their enemies-to-lovers romance was absolutely palpable.

Speaking of tropes, this book had one of the hottest “one horse” scenes I have ever read! 🥵 And found family (my fave trope)!

The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 was a small handful of scenes where I felt something wasn’t explored as much as it should have been to allow the reader to have a deep emotional response (rip my heart out and I will love you for it). This didn’t impact my enjoyment of the book at all, but I feel I could have had an even better experience if those couple of scenes were extended/clarified.

In the end, this book answered many of the questions raised so far and gave me quite a few that I’m eager to get answered as soon as I can get my hands on the next installment!

🐉 Fantasy
🐉 Blood magic
🐉 Enemies to lovers
🐉 Villain gets the girl
🐉 Dark southern gothic

Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5
Spice: 🌶️/5
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5

Everly will do anything to protect the only thing she has left: the home of her and her brother, the only family she has left. But what will that sacrifice entail?

Silas needs a witch with her skillset and can save exactly what she cherishes. For her services. But all is not as it seems. And Everly won’t go down quietly.

I’m 34% in and I still don’t know what a bloody Reaver is, just that Everly blames them for the unaliving of her parents. And Silas is one. Update: the glossary is at the end if you need to check anything.

I enjoyed the story. I feel like it had so many missing answers and very few explanations for what was happening and why and then the end was no explanation at all. I loved Silas but I was missing a certain cohesiveness between how fast the affection built up. Bas was the heart of the whole book. It was a fun read and I enjoyed it but I don’t see myself picking it back up for a reread! I would read the next one just to hopefully get some answers.

Thank you J. Ember Hints and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy! This is my honest and unbiased review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
# Pages: 418
Publication Day: 02.25.25

"I could steal a kiss from you right now and you wouldn’t do anything to stop me because you’re already thinking about it, aching for it, aren’t you little spark?”

🎭 Enemies To Lovers
🎭 Shadow Summoner
🎭 Witches
🎭 Mythical Creatures
🎭 Blood Oath
🎭 Forced Proximity
🎭 Touch Her & Die
🎭 Fated Mates
🎭 Mythical Creatures

A blood oath. A botched heist. A dangerous deal with the enemy…

Masquerade Of Bones by J. Ember Hintz was such an incredible romantasy read. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Between the world building, character development, magic system, twists, spice, tension, romance, and so much more, you’ll be fully emerged into this novel. Perfectly paced! Not to mention, it was set in swamps with gators, instead of the typical vibe for medieval stories.

The tension between Silas, our MMC and Everly, our FMC, was palpable. I loved their witty banter and seeing how their love develops.

"I'll never deny you anything you desire again. Im yours.
You have possessed me, man, beast, and magic." He presses my palm against his chest, directly above his heart. "I've been dead inside for two centuries. You're the spark that brought me back to life. You're the flame that burns inside me. I will be yours until my dying breath."

Overall, I highly recommend this read for readers that love a great action packed romantasy. Thank you netgalley and Specter Publishing for this great ARC.

Thank you to the publisher on Netaglley for this earc. All opinions are my own.
This was a fun, cozy time. What drew me in was the magic system, and of course the masquerade aspect.

Even though the masquerade ball is only a small part of the book, I still enjoyed it. The vibes of the world reminded me a lot of “The Artful Doger” if you’ve ever watched that show. A band of thieves, trying to use the main character to help them steal an artifact.
I found myself flipping the pages and losing track of time.

The romance between Silas and Everly was great. I liked their dynamic in how they challenged each other to do things they wouldn’t normally do. I lovedd their dynamic.
The female friendship was so cute. Wallace is Everly’s best friend, and she’s just such a good one. She literally makes a dress from scratch for her!!

I’m not sure how I feel about Gidion? He’s the prince and technically ex. I just couldn’t see any appeal to him and he got on my nerves! Everly is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

Like I said the magic system I enjoyed reading about, and I wish there was more! I wanted more detail of the creatures and their origins. But alas, I’ll have to wait for the next installment!

Okay, Masquerade of Bones completely blew me away. You know that feeling when you start a book and you just KNOW that it’s going to be something special? From the first chapter, I knew this would be a novel that people are going to be OBSESSED with. Honestly, books like this are why I am so passionate about reviewing ARCs—finding really great stories and getting to tell everyone just how much I loved it. What a rush!

This book had everything. The plot moved so fast, that it was completely unputdownable. I was up way too late reading it, and honestly? Zero regrets.

Let’s talk about Everly, because I was completely obsessed with her. She was kind, complex, and an absolute bad-ass. She’s the kind of heroine you just want to root for—seriously, I only wanted the best for her, even when the stakes were sky-high and things got intense. And the other characters? PERFECTION. Silas? Yeah, I’m officially in love. He was charming, complicated, and basically everything you could possibly want in a fictional boyfriend. The secondary characters were also all so delightful!

Oh, and let me just throw this out there: dragon. Yes, I repeat, dragon. That is all I’ll say on that (ahemmmmm perfection.)

If you’re into romantasy, this is the book you’ve been waiting for. It’s already available on Audible (so if audiobooks are your jam, go grab it now!), and it officially hits shelves on February 25th. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up ASAP— Trust.

I know a series is going to be good when the book doesn't end on a cliffhanger and I'm already excited for the next book. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this series!

It does take a second to figure out what is going on with the world building, but if you've read a lot of fantasy, it's not too hard to get into it. It might seem slow paced to readers who prefer fast paced stories, but after finishing the book it's obvious that the slower paced beginning of the book is essential background for the series.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romantic fantasy books!

This book was addictive from start to finish, and I was still thinking about it each time I had to step away.

It felt fast-paced, with a lot happening and something new around every corner. It was a breeze to read through—I was surprised to reach the end of the book.

The setting was unexpected! I’m bored of the versions of medieval Britain that are usually the backdrop in fantasy novels, so to read about swamps and gators was a pleasant surprise. It was also a unique magic system, unlike anything else I’ve read.

There were so many mythological creatures popping up, but it didn’t feel overdone, it just kept surprising me as I read it.

The characters are flawed, in the best way. Everly, the FMC, is interesting, sometimes frustrating, sometimes relatable. The MMc, Silas, has shadow hands, and if that’s what you’re into, you’re going to love this. The tension between the Everly and her love interest was perfectly done. At no point did I know how they were going to end up.

The cast of characters was lovable and interesting—I was left wanting to know more about basically everyone, and I will, without doubt, need to read whatever comes next in this story.

It was an unexpected, exciting read, with all kinds of magical elements, spice, and tension. Although it had themes of grief and some darker elements, it still felt light. A lot of fun to read.

I was hooked! This is an incredible romantasy filled with action, forbidden magic, gripping storyline, and romance. How the main characters hate each other but also want each other. Oof, that sexual tension was the best!

I wish I could read this book in one sitting, but life got in the way. This story is so well-thought and never a dull moment.

Every single character in this book was amazing. I loved the character development of the FMC throughout the story. I loved watching her grow to a fierce, sassy young witch. And of course, the grumpy but attractive shadow summoner was outstanding! *adding to my list of bookish boyfriends*

I sat on the edge of my seat the entire time. The action and suspense were splendid. The world-building was exquisite. When I was on the last page, I thought no, this can't be the end. I'm so looking forward to the next book!

Thank you, @netgalley, for the ARC!

Wow what an unforgettable ride. This book had me hooked from the first page. The way the author created a new and inventive magic system had me loving every second. Then the tension from our enemies to lovers was exquisite. If your looking for a feisty fmc and a shadow daddy that has the attitude of touch her and you die then this book is right up your ally.


Thanks to J. Ember Hintz and NetGalley for the free ARC for my honest review of this book!

I loved this book! It was a 5 star read from the beginning. The first chapter had me hooked. Masquerade of Bones follows Everly as she finds her self bonded to a rogue witch named Silas. She’s then forced to help him pull off an impossible heist only for it to go awry. Now, they have to salvage the situation while denying the attraction they feel for each other.

There were many wonderful aspects to this book. First, the tension between Silas and Everly was palpable. The spice was well done. The batter was witty and fun. There was hardly a dull moment and the book is action packed. I loved all the magical creatures we were introduced to and felt the world came alive on the page. I cannot express how much I wanted to know the next portion of the story. I am in desperate need of book 2.

Overall, this book has heists, magic, magical beats, tension and fated mates. It’s a perfect romantasy to allow your imagination to run wild. I cannot wait for the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Specter publishing for the chance to read an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

˗ˏˋ 5 stars ⟡ ݁₊ .

i was completely hooked from page 1 and was able to finished it in one sitting. ngl, this book is going to live rent free in my head for the foreseeable future.

i loved everly's character development, she was such a badass. and omg morally grey shadow daddy silas. *screams in pillow* definitely adding him onto my top book boyfriends list.

i'm obsessed with all of the side characters, also secretly hoping we get little novellas about each of them, especially thale and serin. loved the unique magic system and the world-building was phenomenal.

this was such an emotional roller coaster, i screamed, i laughed and i cried. i'm so looking forward to the next book, i desperately need more everly and silas!! definitely recommend this book.

⤷ thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t even begin to describe how much I loved this story, the romance was everything. I want more. I haven’t read much with witches before and this was honestly a perfect way to start. Silas and Everly were literally made for each other. The mission was cool, if not a little disappointing because they never made it to the destination. I was really worried it was going to end on a massive cliff-hanger but it rounded up pretty nicely but in a way that leaves it open. I started to leave each and every one of the characters

Thanks to NetGalley for the Arc