The Mortal Queen pulled me into a world of fae politics, forbidden magic, and an enemies-to-lovers romance that built slowly but beautifully. Aisling and Lir's dynamic kept me hooked, especially as their trust and chemistry developed over time.

The world-building is vivid, and the writing has a lyrical, almost fairy-tale quality. That said, the pacing in the first half felt slow, and it took a while for the plot to really get going. A bit more action or higher stakes early on would have made it even stronger.

Still, if you love romantasy, hidden powers, and morally grey fae kings, this is definitely worth a read. I’m excited to see where the series goes next!

Ａｕｄｉｏｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ
🌟🌟
Unfortunately, this story wasn't for me. I felt it was overly descriptive, and the phrase "Mortal Queen" was used too much. We understand she is human, therefore mortal and a queen. The premise is what caught my attention: When Aisling hears that her father has promised her in marriage to the fae king, a cold terror washes over her. This marriage means peace for her people but certain death for Aisling. Lir is alluring, wild, and dangerously perfect. She is determined to hate him, but his sharp tongue and fierce loyalty to his people spark an uncontrollable attraction.

I DNF'd at 30%.

The audiobook was good; the narrator did a good job. She was easy to listen to and understand. Listened at 2x speed.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬:
•Fae and Human
•Arranged Marriage
•Slow Burn

Thank you, NetGalley, and Bookouture Audio for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

The Mortal Queen by Ashley Metzler was such an enjoyable fantasy read! I really got lost in the world she built—full of magic, tension, and an intriguing mix of politics and romance. Aisling is a great protagonist; watching her navigate the complexities of being caught between two worlds was really engaging. The enemies-to-lovers trope played out beautifully, with just the right amount of chemistry between her and Lir, the fae king. The pacing wasn’t always fast, but the character depth and world-building made up for it. If you’re into fantasy with a bit of romance and plenty of twists, this one is definitely worth picking up.

3.5⭐️ This one had an interesting start, but I felt like it got kind of repetitive and was lengthy compared to how much was actually happening in the plot.

I liked that she was slowly unlearning the prejudices that she grew up with and I always love a slow burn. I was just disappointed that it was such a slow burn that led up to….a kiss. 😩

I thought the world building was okay, but didn’t necessarily stand out and didn’t feel unique compared to a lot of fantasy books out there.

The narrator did a wonderful job though, and really made this book even more enjoyable. Thank you for the arc, NetGalley!

Great audiobook narrator—each character has a distinct voice, and they blend together seamlessly!

The book itself is rich with fantasy and worldbuilding, with characters interesting enough to keep you hooked from start to finish. A solid listen/read all around.

Thank you NetGalley and Ashley Metzler!❤️

I’m a girl who loves a fated mates fae story, this was exactly that, so was I pleased? YES I WAS.

The reason that I haven’t given this 5* is because there is way too much repetition. Something would be said, and then it would be said again, and then it would be said again!

I was entertained by this book and started to enjoy it half way through, it was entertaining to initially I did struggle to keep track of the Lore of the world. I did enjoy it however and am interested in seeing what happens next.

Tried really hard to get into this but the beginning felt like a copy and paste of a lot of other reads. Really not badly written, good narrator, but just wasn’t holding my attention.

After finishing book one of this series I'm left wondering if the things that I take issue with will change later in the subsequent books. I enjoyed learning about the world through Aisling's eyes, going from complete ignorance, then mistrust, and then reconning with multiple versions of reality by the end. I was frustrated with how frequently the quotes from the men in her life came up. I understand their words haunting her, but it was a narrative device that I felt was used too heavily. Marketing this as enemies to lovers and slow burn is possibly accurate for the series, but based on the content of the first book, it feels off the mark. I look forward to learning more about this world and hope that book two showcases Aisling's new found autonomy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio/Second Sky Books for the ALC of this audiobook.

I was torn on rating this a 2 or a 3, honestly.

I went with three because I thought the narrator did a wonderful job. The idea behind the story was good and I found some of the other characters very interesting and I really did like Lir.

What made me want to give it a 2 star was a couple things. The first, the author was too flowery and descriptive in her writing. There were times it would have been great, but it wasn’t needed for every other sentence. After the third time of hearing Lir’s smell described, I got it. Also, out of nowhere a couple times were some random Scottish words like bairn and saying “aye” when at no other point in this story did anyone talk like this.

Then the biggest thing was the FMC. I understand her being raised by humans and having her bias. But she was so wishy washy with it. One moment, when presented with things that contradicted her beliefs, she’d start to realize that maybe they were wrong. Then in the next sentence someone else would speak poorly of her father and she’d instantly defend him. Think to herself that he must have had a reason. All the way up towards the climax of the story, she meets with her father, angry and realizing he lied, and with one little word from him, she’s second guessing things. Even this I could have MAYBE overlooked if he’d been a loving and doting father prior to her marriage. But he wasn’t. She talks about how he was cold and distant and they feared him as kids.

Her decisions at the end just annoyed me too much. I’m a little curious as to how this story is going to play out but not enough to read the next two books

At first, I couldn't help but find the FMC a bit annoying - consistently ignoring the reality around her in favour of believing her father. Like yeah, I get it, but also arghh!! It does lead to interesting character development, though!
I sometimes found it a little bit hard to follow as an audiobook as very descriptive, plus lots of words that I would have no idea how to spell, as well as names I would often get mixed up. So I think it might've been easier to read as a physical book? Though I will say, the audiobook was well performed and i did overall enjoy it.
Overall the tension was pretty good, the last third of the book was super intriguing, so all things aside - I would definitely be interested in continuing the series!

Aisling, a mortal princess, is promised to marry Lir, the fae king, in order to secure an alliance between the humans and fae. As Aisling gets to know Lir, she realizes she has much to learn about the fae and their way of life.

Overall I enjoyed this book, but I did have a bit of a hard time getting through it. Nothing super hooked me, and I felt just kind of along for the ride. I do think I would've enjoyed this more as a physical read. The audiobook narrators did a great job but I had a hard time following all the characters and groups of people since some had similar sounding names.

Tropes:
* Fated Mates
* Arranged marriage
* Fae x Human
* Slow Burn

3.5 stars

This book had me hooked! The angst and tension between Aisling and Lir were amazing. The magical world is rich and complex, leaning more towards epic fantasy, which I loved. The plot is unique, the characters are lovable, and the setting is stunning. The slow-burn romance and the concept of the 'caera' bond were fantastic. Highly recommend!

✨ Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book ✨

Ugh. This book was unfortunately disappointing. I can see how it could’ve been great, it has potential, the ideas are there, however it’s EXTREMELY over descriptive, so much that most of the time I was losing interest altogether about what was going on.

I had to skip some parts because there was nothing, absolutely nothing going on other than more and more description of things using way too many and unnecessarily complicated and long words.

It’s a no from me.

10/10! LOVED this book! Kept me engaged and on my toes. AMAZING book!! Wish I could read this for the first
Time again! The reader was AMAZING as well. I loved the different voices.

familiar tropes and themes
Fae, humans, prophecies & curses, fated mates, an arranged marriage.

I did not finish prior to the audio being archived. Will adjust rating once completed.

I didn’t love this book like I thought I was going to. It felt like there were so many parts that dragged on and I would lose interest and try to come back to it but it didn’t hold my attention. The main characters were not necessarily relatable and I just felt like the magic didn’t capture me in any way. There’s definitely an audience out there that would like this book but it just wasn’t for me.

⭐️3.5 Stars⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to The Mortal Queen! I think I would have loved this book so much more if I read it instead of listening to the audiobook. It was difficult to keep track of all the challenging names and at times the pacing in the story would be very slow and made it hard for me to pay attention. I think reading it would have been a lot easier for me to understand everything in the book so much better and help me see the details I missed in the audiobook. The beginning and ending of this book were probably my favorite parts. I was so excited to see what would happen the moment The Mortal Queen would be reunited with her family and see how they would react to the person she grew into. This story kinda gives me A Court Of Thorns and Roses vibes but with a lot of more of a slow burn romance and no spice. I’m excited for the second book in this series and can’t wait to see where the story will go next! Thank you again to NetGalley!💕📚

This book is definitely more YA than I expected it to be. Still a great fantasy read with some interesting world building. But if you are looking for and adult fantasy romance then this is not the book. The relationship between the two main characters is slow building and felt more like a friendship than a romance. The narrator did a good job making the story flow and added to the story. I do think it was just too slow and could've been shorter. That would have a more of an impact instead of having filler that felt unnecessary to the plot.

The exact rating would be a strong 3.5 stars. & it's quite a positive one too.

The Mortal Queen is the first book of the Aisling trilogy. It features our main character, a mortal, human princess who has been married off to a fae king. Human and fae lived within their borders for years, and humans believed that fae folks were hurting humanity out of their cruelty. So to rebuild the trust, peace, and a truce between the fae and the human, both kings decided to strike a marriage deal. The mortal king's only daughter was not a worrier like her brothers and believed all the stories they heard in the mortal realm like every other human. But, with the marriage deal, she has to live among the fae who are believed to be monsters, represent humans among the fae and survive as the sole mortal soul and story unravel.

The story felt like a typical start to a romantasy tale, even though I am not a huge fan of the growing romantasy genre so far, with the spice and the smutt, I liked the story despite my preconceptions. I liked the character development of the mortal princess to mortal queen, what she went through living amongst enemies while navigating her new life, literally. It's spice free and almost an epic fantasy story line with a sprinkle of a romance. Even though I'm not so eager for the next book, I'm intrigued to see where the story goes and I recommend this book to someone like me who doesn't want much spice in their romance, but wants to dip their toes into romantasy.