Tag: romantasy

Book Review: Half City (Harker Academy #1) by Kate Golden

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 496 pages
Author: Kate Golden
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: February 17th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.

Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.

She just also happens to be a demon hunter.

Ever since her father’s murder, she’s been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider. . . . Until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she’ll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.

But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about. Not when the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv’s father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, and fast. All while trying to ace her classes, not fall for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?

THIS WAS SOLID.

I previously enjoyed Kate Golden’s romantasy trilogy so I’ve been excited to pick this one up and yet again, it’s delivered! I’ll definitely be picking up book two to see what happens next. I’m a little curious how it’ll work out based off of romantic plot points. I took off half a star because I felt the page time vs. the *love* that apparently had formed didn’t line up. I would have loved if this great slow burn had been pulled into book two.

This gave me Shadowhunter vibes. There’s vampires and werewolves and demons and hunters who try to take them down. I thought the addition of the college and dark academia setting worked well. There’s an air of mystery that is played out beautifully without heavy info dumping or insanely slow sections. The pacing made me fly through this thick book.

I really enjoyed the FMC Viv and what she brought to the story. A flawed character with a strong personality who is deeply loyal to those close to her. It just worked. She has great chemistry with Reid and the friendships were meaningful too.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban fantasy romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 3ish open door
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: loss of a parent, murder, loss of life, weapons/physical violence

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Book Review: A Stage Set for Villains by Shannon J. Spann

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Rating: ★★★★.25
Genre: Fantasy + Romance
Length: 530 pages
Author: Shannon J. Spann
Publisher: Entangled: Mayhem Books
Release Date: February 3rd, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The gods are dead. All that’s left are the Players…

The performers of the Playhouse are as worshipped as they are feared, their enchanting shows bending hearts, minds, and even reality itself. Vicious, godlike, lethal. Eighteen-year-old Riven Hesper knows the dangers better than anyone, after her own encounter with a Player resulted in a curse that is slowly killing her.

When the Playhouse announces the spectacle of a lifetime—a chance for one mortal to steal a Player’s immortality—Riven sees her last chance to live. Desperate for answers, she infiltrates the competition. There, she finds Jude, the Playhouse’s brilliant, merciless Lead Player, whose charm is as dangerous as his Craft, and strikes a deadly bargain to save her life.

But with time running out and the Playhouse’s secrets unraveling into a disturbing picture, Riven faces a grim possibility: she might not be the hero of her story after all. In fact, she may be the villain.

Because the Playhouse doesn’t just tell stories. It rewrites them.

And Riven’s might end in blood.

Caraval meets One Dark Window in this lush and dark fantasy.

Thank you Entangled for the gifted ARC.

A GOOD DIFFERENT.

I know this is being marketed as a romantasy but I’d like to say that wasn’t quite it. It’s much more FANTASY with a smaller romantic plot line. Which isn’t bad at all, but not knowing that going in was a small let down thinking I would get more swoon.

One of the best things though were the plot reveals!! When one of the bigger ones landed I was flabbergasted. It made so many pieces CLICK that I was in awe. The formatting for this book was really cool. I don’t know how that comes across in the audiobook but I’m glad I eyeball read this one.

I enjoyed the journey and themes. It has a dark theater vibe I was here for and the characters played their parts well. AND, it’s a standalone! AND AND it’s closed door. There’s only kisses which (while I still wished there was more swoon) I was appreciative that it wasn’t spice heavy because I feel that’s harder to find sometimes nowadays.

The banter was top tier and I tabbed multiple passages that made me snicker in the best way. I enjoyed the FMC, Riven a lot. She’s feisty and kind of mean and means business. Her brash personality was such a good play off of Jude’s. I loved them together and needed more!!

Anyways, fantastic debut, I’ll be looking out for Spann’s next book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy + Romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: loss of life,

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Book Review: Brimstone (Fae & Alchemy #2) by Callie Hart

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Rating: ★★★★.5
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 672 pages
Author: Callie Hart
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: November 18th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Saeris Fane doesn’t want power. The very last thing she needs is her name whispered on an entire court’s lips, but now that she’s been crowned queen of the Blood Court, she’s discovering that a queen’s life is not her own. A heavy weight rests upon her shoulders.

Her ward – and her brother – need her back in her homeland . . . but the changes that have strengthened Saeris have also made her weak. Born under blazing suns, Saeris will surely die if she makes her way home through the Quicksilver. Which means that, once again, she must send someone else in her stead . . .

‘Keep your mouth shut. Stick to the shadows. And for the love of all seven Gods, do NOT crack any jokes.’

Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate has defeated armies and survived all manner of horrors, but traveling back to Zilvaren with Carrion Swift might just be the death of him. The male just will not shut up. Hidden dangers await them down the narrow alleyways of the Silver City. Unfolding secrets pose impossible threats. Fisher must wrangle the smuggler and accomplish his goals quickly if he wants to see his mate again.

A darkness falls across Yvelia. The realm and their friends are in danger. Together, Saeris and Fisher will pass through fire and brimstone to save them.

A DANG GOOD SEQUEL.

We all know that sequels can be very hit or miss. BLESSED BE. This was not one of those cases. I thoroughly enjoyed this book a lot and especially the duet narration.

I thought the plot maintained a fairly steady pace and I was consistently engaged in what was going on. I liked the expansion of the world and magic system and the forces between vampires and fae. And I’m obsessed with Carrion. I could read a bonus novella about him and would love every minute.

What my one tidbit in this book that stood out negatively was the fact that the main couple is endgame. They were endgame by the end of the first book and I think that took out some of the romantic tension I enjoy seeing. If it’s a series, at least draw it out until somewhere in book two??? Please???

It’s a good ending with a major cliffhanger reminiscent of other romantasy books I’ve loved. I’ll definitely be after reading book three when it drops.

Overall audience notes:

  • Romatasy
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 5+ open door
  • Violence: high

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ARC/ALC Book Review: The Trident and the Pearl (The Fisher King #1) by Sarah K.L. Wilson

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Rating: ★★★.5
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 464 pages
Author: Sarah K.L. Wilson
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: February 24th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A desperate queen makes a deal with the gods to save her land in this spellbinding romantasy debut from Sarah K. L. Wilson.

Queen Coralys rules the Kingdom of the Five Isles, but when disaster strikes, killing her husband and destroying half her nation, she pleads with the gods for salvation. And they do save her, turning back the terrible winds and tide and snatching her islands from the brink of destruction.

But the gods have a wicked sense of justice and they demand an exchange for their help: Coralys must marry the first man to set foot on her pier. Coralys expects the fleet of a neighboring country to come to rescue her people, led by its prince, a loyal ally. What she gets instead is a fisherman so sunburnt and stinking that her court can barely keep their breakfast down.

Coralys marries the fisherman just as she promised the gods, and sets out with him in his unkempt dinghy, with nothing but hopes of revenge against the gods to keep her from despair. But what she does not know is that the fisherman is actually the god of the sea. And he stepped on her dock for a reason.

His own kingdom besieged, his body terribly wounded, and his place as a god threatened, the fisherman has plans to turn the tides set against him and finally offer a place of refuge for his people. But working the magic he needs will require the help of the one woman bent on his destruction.

Thank you Orbit Books for the gifted ARC.

EH, I DON’T KNOW Y’ALL.

I will say that I’m still obsessed with this cover.

Alright, now about the inside of the book. Initially I was fine with it, I was leaning into the vibes and I love marriage of convenience so I wanted to give it a chance. I loved the ocean based setting and that there seems to be a lot of meddling gods.

Then somewhere in the middle it kind of lost me? I was getting frustrated with the FMC and how she was choosing to make her decisions and listening to parties that were pretty dang obvious not anyone Coralys should be considering which caused more things to fall a part. And then the romance was missing something. It felt like certain pieces were forced and since this is a series I think it would have benefited from a different type of slow burn.

This book isn’t spice forward, which is super nice because I feel that’s all I see lately, which does lean me towards wanting to try book two. I thought the conclusion was a decent cliff hanger and made me curious to see how this will continue.

I listened to the audiobook as well and I did like the narration.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: heated kisses
  • Violence: moderate+
  • Content warnings: loss of a spouse, loss of life, battle themes, weapons altercations

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