Crescent Crown

by Kimberly A. Rogers

A Lady Never Becomes a Werewolf



Complete Description coming soon!

Genres: Fantasy, Regency

513 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 3, 2024

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, which unfolds slowly (or is written long?) so that I took my time with it over several days. I really liked the mixing of magics and magical races in with mortals and the mortal court in Regency?-ish England (I’m not up on my England history enough to be entirely certain, so that question mark isn’t about the author or writing - my sense is this is a well researched book in terms of historical detail regarding manners and customs, etc. for the time period), and I thought it interesting that the werewolves were on the outside, looking in reputation wise, both because they simply haven’t cared, and because their culture is too friendly and overtly affectionate for the manners of high society England of the time. I also enjoyed the idea of mortals going about mortal business and having nothing to do with supernaturals, or mortals being in business with and around supernaturals. The dragons in this book are not at human level intelligence and function more as pets or trained working animals…though a bit more intelligent than our working dogs, for instance. The main character’s family is involved with raising and training dragons to be guardians or companions for other mortals and supernaturals. I thought that was interesting as well. Slavery and its horrible stain on history doesn’t seem to exist in this version of the world where the main character’s mother is from Ethiopia, and the main character is described as light skinned-Black and fluent in both English and whatever language her mother grew up speaking in Ethiopia (never named), but does not experience any societal discrimination due to her race or ethnic background. Gender roles are traditional in places and less so in other places.

I knew starting this book that there would be more to come in the series. I did not realize that the main villain of the book would not be caught and dealt with in this book. The romance between the main characters of this book is complete by the end of the book and the next book will follow a different couple, with the villain still lurking about in the shadows, apparently.

Rogers, in my experience, excels at understanding, caring heroes who are exceptionally patient and considerate of their partners. This is the case in this story as well. As ever, her writing is clear and easy to follow and the story moves along. Rogers is quite capable of upping the tension in a story (Rogue Spotter), but doesn’t always choose to go that direction. In this book, the greatest period of intensity is toward the beginning when Makeda is bitten. We know this is going to happen from the blurb; there wouldn’t be much of a story if it didn’t happen. Yet the way it unfolded kept me flipping screens until it was over, and a bit beyond that.

Makeda recovers and adapts/adjusts extremely quickly and well to the major change her life has undergone. There are references later in the book to how tremendous this change is and how difficult the adaptation was, but as the reader, I didn’t feel that difficulty so much. Part of me sees that as a flaw; like I should have had a better sense of that overwhelming sense of grief and loss and adjustment to a new normal and backsliding to grief and loss again, etc., while part of me is fine with not being dragged into the morass of trauma and grief the character should have been experiencing.

[Tabby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the concept of this book. A proper Regency lady finds herself unwillingly turned into a werewolf and now must integrate into a pack while also navigating polite society. Great story base!

Unfortunately the execution was messy. Was this a comedy of manners, a mystery, or a marriage of convenience romance? Crescent Crown attempts to be all three but never manages to balance any of them.

I personally found the world building to also be messy. There was a lack of explanation for just how this world works. There were also too many details thrown in that did not serve the plot and only made the book unnecessarily long.

My advice to all authors is that if your book is over 350 pages you might want to go back over your work and make sure it merits that page length. It almost never does and chances are you've thrown to many ideas in that don't belong.

[Alysa Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, too long

Overall, I enjoyed this story’s mix of regency and magic. I’m a fan of the over-friendly pack werewolves (vs the violent ones found in other books) and thought it made a nice juxtaposition to society manners. Four stars because it really was too long and could have used some editing for content - there were several su-plots that could have been cut or reduced (like the fated mates conundrum) and some sections went on longer than necessary. Interestingly, I also felt rushed at the end and would have liked a bit more time spent on the events of the final chapter. Still, would recommend if the subject sounds fun to you.

[Kessa Turnbull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laugh with or at?

Look, I loved this book either way and am SO PSYCHED to discover that it's part of a universe that I somehow missed. But I sincerely wish I knew whether I should be laughing with or at our protagonist when she completely freaks over bare hands touching. Or even brushing a wrist. I'm good either way, but I'd like to know which the author prefers. I'm not a huge regency fan (while I love Jane Austen, the only modern author I read the style for also has dragons. Werewolves work, too, though.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun

I love a good mix of gaslamp fantasy and paranormal romance. Especially when it's also clean. I am looking forward to the next book.