Königreich von Flammen & Blumen

Curse of the Dragons #1

by Raven Storm, Franziska Humphrey (translator)

Ich habe mein ganzes Leben lang im Schlammviertel verbracht und gesehen, wie die Feuerwächter alle fünf Jahre kamen, um die hübschesten Mädchen auszuwählen. Sie brachten sie zur Residenz, um dort ein neues Leben zu beginnen. Sie bekamen Ehemänner, Häuser, ohne auch nur einen Schmutzfleck, und so viel zu essen, dass ihnen der Magen nicht ständig vor Hunger schmerzte.

Dieses Jahr bin ich an der Reihe. Und der Drache, der unser Königreich dazu zwingt, sich unter unserer prächtigen Kuppel zu verkriechen und hinter Steinmauern zu verstecken, zeigt keine Anzeichen, verschwinden zu wollen.

Ein Schlammviertel-Mädchen hat im Spiel der Königin kein Recht auf Erfolg. Als ich mich doch durchsetze, versucht sie, mich umzubringen, indem sie mich in die Bahn des Drachen stößt. Aber wisst ihr, was noch schockierender ist? Als der Drache sich in einen Mann verwandelt und mich küsst.

Königreich von Flammen & Blumen ist ein Why-Choose-Fantasy-Roman mit Drachengestaltwandler und heißen, expliziten Szenen.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Romance, Romantasy, Fantasy Romance, Paranormal, Why Choose

299 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2023

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I hope my son eats you,” she viciously spat at me as I passed her, before turning on her heel and stalking off down the hallway. “Which one?” I shot back, unable to help myself.

2.5 Stars, rounding up to 3 based on how much I enjoyed reading this.

Before reading this review you should know that my review will be scathing but I do appreciate that this is a work someone put their heart into. I don't think it was all bad, just not it for me. There will be spoilers and TW's (fatphobia/sexual assault) will be mentioned. Read with caution.

I have thoughts........

1. This is The Hunger Games x The Red Queen + Dragons. But every character has a very smooth shiny brain with no lumps or valleys or ridges.
2. This is not a well written book. I basically hate read it.
3. I have not enjoyed hate reading something so much in a very long time. It scratched that itch.
4. I am absafuckinglutely reading the sequel.
5. I started reading this at like 8pm on a weeknight and stayed up until 2:30 am reading it because I was just that hooked, even though waking up for work was looming over me.


The Good:
- Mari did develop a backbone near the end (yay)
- Smuts not bad once you get through the incest and the fact that girlypop doesnt know how babies are made, what desire feels like, or how to cum.
- I have hope that Mari will knock some sense into tweedle dee and tweedle dum but not much hope.
- I obviously enjoyed the book to some degree, I just can't tell you why and I would not recommend this book to anyone I liked.

The Bad:
- I still have a lot of questions that were never asked and/or Mari never even thought to ask. Like do the dragons feel her pain and thats why they roared when she was hurt?
- So many things were just glaringly obvious to the reader but this dumb bitch can't put 2 +2 together.
- All of our MCs are dumber than shit. Does the author assume we are also dumb? I was almost offended at how the author would write just glaringly obvious things and then act like we should be shocked when everything unfolds exactly as expected.
- Following some sections was not visually lining up. I think some parts/scenes were described in a way that missed parts of the scene unintentionally. Maybe better editing would have fixed this!
- I want to drink bleach every time the King speaks.
- I am still waiting on the one girlypop thats lowkey the devil to have a redemption arc or tragically die.

The Ugly:
- The first couple of chapters have a ton of fat phobia, and for what? It felt like pointless insults of fat people just to show that the FMC was very thin. NONE of the fatphobia is ever mentioned as a TW.
- I hate the love interests. LOATHE HATE ENTIRELY! They are both just little bitch boys. So fucking stupid, never questioning mommy dearest, no backbone/perspective/responsibility/pride etc..... I mean really I really really really hate these fucking clowns. The only time I even remotely liked them was when they were mean/teasing to her because at least then they had a fucking personality.
- We didn't entirely go right past it, but one of the prince's watches Mari be publicly sexually assaulted and he did nothing until she made a scene where he then calmed her down but was just complicit in her assault. And while there was a great TW for the first 'inspection' this one was worse in my opinion and had no warning. I think the author needed sensitivity readers or more edits surrounding their trigger warnings.
- The lack of explanations/the lazy explanations of literally anything in this book killed me. The author struggled with showing and telling the readers how the world works and how the curse works. It felt more like winging it than actually planning out a complex story and planting seeds as we go. I am not convinced the author knows the history of the curse yet. Which is fine, its just obvious to the reader.
- The whole section of the book when she is dropped into the dragon's lair was awful and I laughed so much I almost cried. Let me take you through my honest to god reactions of this section:

Me, so excited that we are done with prince prick being the love interest and ready for an angry protective angsty dragon to dick our girl down so that she can see her worth and they can both destroy the bitch boy prince:

Me, when Zion is trying to save her from the big bad dragon:

Me when the dragon licks her:

Me having the sinking sensation that the dragon and prince are connected and I will somehow have to deal with prince prick some more:

Me, stressing out and finding out that the dragon is prince prick:

Me, finding out that Zion and Zariah are identical twins and one of them is a dragon:

Me trying to figure out who did the bitch boy prince shit and who was maybe still redeemable:

Me figuring out that both princes are insufferable:

Me not knowing which bitch boy to root for:

Me realizing that she is going to fuck the identical twins together at the same time:

Me figuring out that her fucking them both means I have to deal with 2 prick prince bitch boys:

Me when I find out that the brothers can speak telepathically to each other because fuck me of course they can:

My face anytime a dragon was angry and roared

Sure you don’t want a goodnight kiss?” My hand was flying up toward him before I could even think about it, but he caught my wrist. “Careful. I like a bit of a fight.” I wrenched my hand away, glaring. “RRRRRWWWWWRRRR!” I jumped badly as the dragon (no, Zariah) roared from somewhere above us, sounding pissed as hell. The accompanying rush of fire followed, and the tower swayed and shook with the force. The castle stones rumbled and vibrated. Zion didn’t look surprised at all. “He’s in a bit of a temper. Guess you’ll have to stay here for the night.”

and

I couldn’t think when he was pressing up against me like that, each of his hands taking one of mine and spreading it up on the glass. His head ducked down to mine, his teeth scraping against the back of my neck. Surely he wouldn’t— RRRRAAAAWWWWRRRR! I jerked back in fear as the dragon—no, Zion—landed on the dome only a few feet from us, massive claws digging into old grooves and even creating new ones as he roared his fury at us. His massive head gazed at us in irritation, anger welled in his black and gold eyes. Before Zariah or I could react, a wall of fire erupted straight at us. Someone was screaming, and I realized it was me. FWOOSH. The fire pummeled the windows. I expected heat. Fire. Flames and agony. I grit my teeth and turned away, Zariah’s arms holding me steadily in place. Wasn’t he going to shield himself? Wasn’t he going to run? Wasn’t it supposed to hurt?

and literally everything that ensues after a dragon gets jealous:

The hand licking scene:

Me, when the twins decide to battle it out to protect Meri from the other:

Me when the identical twin bros that hate each other and are territorial and protective of her decide to just both have her at the same time, because fuck me thats why:

Me finding out that Dragons cum lava:

So that's my review. You should hate read the fuck outta this book. It embodies, "This wine is awful, get me another glass."

[emma ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.25⭐ quite frankly, horrendous

[Ivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably one of the goofiest, corniest books I’ve ever read. The ONLY reason why I finished it was because the story was just enough to keep me going. It’s like this book was a toxic boyfriend who sometimes gives you enough affection to bait you into staying.

I find it hard to believe this book was actually proofread, and the plot holes and switch ups are crazy. If I was Mari, I would have beat the shit out of both Zion and Zariah a lot more than just once. Also the just straight jumps to sex. Yikes. Not even the spice kept me going. It was the telenovela, Indian reality tv show level drama that hooked me (unwillingly) and reeled me in.

Edit: I’m convinced all the people that gave this book 5 stars have genuinely never read a good, fleshed out book. I’m sorry for you all.

Also, I know I have no constructive criticism in this review. The book made me too angry. I’ve read better fan fiction. This was a hate read.

[🐍🖤 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess they’re going to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower if you know what I mean.

Great start. I was so hooked. And then… splat. Like going on a roller coaster and anticipating the drop as it climbs the highest peak, and then you just keep going up until nothing. Then you get off.

The whole book can be explained in one word: anticlimactic.

The plot is just chaotic, and the world feels small and kind of, young? Idk. And no explanation for anything and zero world building.
A dragon? Twins? Same dragon?? Slaves? Curse? Nobels forcing young girls into marriage? Rebellion?
It just felt messsssyyyy. And frankly, It was just boring. I skimmed the last pages. No romance to speak of. Sex? Yes. Unexplained attraction between characters? Yes. Dumb males? Also yes. Just random sex scenes with one of the twins and hinting she now has to sleep with the other twin to make it even???
It’s just all over the place and lacking depth.

Not reading the next book. Boring plot, boring love interests and no explanation or hint to what the bigger plot is. Meh. Felt like wasted time tbh.

Edit: I am honestly shocked at the people giving this 4 or 5 stars. I can understand two or three if you’re into threesomes or the incest part with the twins. But 4? 5???? For what???? A girl wandering around a castle all day doing nothing? Not even an explanation to what dragons are or how magick works. It’s pages and a lot of words describing nothing.
Mind boggling.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow beginning but what a cliff hanger! Great FMC, and overall storyline. It felt like the more mature books we wanted more of in YA so cool NA read. I do agree that it gave Hunger Games vibes throughout the world building.

I received this ARC for an honest review, all thoughts/opinions above are fully my own!

[Victoria Werngreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw a qoute on tiktok... it was not worth it :((
I think I’m supposed to root for the MMC's, but I don't like either of them 😅 no thank yew!

way too insta-love, pace was off + plotholes and I NEVER notice plotholes....

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly Excellent High Fantasy Dragon Shifter Why Choose Romance!

I didn't have any expectations going into this one. I got it for free on Amazon and knew it was a WhyC? Dragon Fantasy besides that I didn't even read the description or know much about the author. So imagine my surprise when this ended up being one of the best books I've read so far this year!

This is labeled as a Why Choose? and it is one but so far this seems to be a Menage only. That could change, but if it's going to those characters haven't been presented yet. Book 1 is a medium burn, The first and only sex scene in this book happens around 80% in, but with only one of the guys so we have a sort of slow burn happening with the other one

The Story takes place in a fantasy realm where everyone lives in fear of the dragon that terrorizes them. So generations ago the city was walled off with a domed roof made of a special material that wouldn't melt under dragon fire positioned above the city with space left between it and the wall so sunlight could still come in through the gap (this doesn't make a ton of sense I know the Dragon can still send fire in through the gap but I promise it works for this story somehow). The city has been divided into sectors based on rank, like the stone, bread, art, and noble sectors, The FMC is from the Mud sector which is the worst place to grow up and they live in squaller and starve.

The only hope for the people who live in the Mud sector is when the guards come to take the young to live or work in the "Seat" where the nobility and royals are. Every year the fireguard takes the boys to become guards like them. But young women from every sector including "Mud" get taken to be married off to nobles.

The FMC is considered old at 21 when they came to take her away at the beginning of the book. But instead of being married to a noble, she learns she's there because the Prince is looking for a bride. Despite there being a Bride contest there isn't any other woman drama. The contest doesn't last long leaving more time to dive into the mysteries of this domed-off city and the Dragon that terrorizes it.

The FMC journeys to the "seat" with girls from every sector who have been chosen, like her, to become a prospective bride for the prince. Along the way, she starts to question everything she knows about the city's structure and the rules that regulate it. Once she arrives that curiosity turns into a burning need to find answers to understand the point behind everything that seems amiss, like why can't they kill the dragon, why do the nobles need to marry people from different sectors, why are her people, the ones from the "Mud" sector, treated so badly. She wants to understand it all so she makes things better for the people in the "Mud" sector.

Things I didn't like...
This probably doesn't need a spoiler tag but I threw one on it just in case. The writing at the start could have been better. The author tried to cram the FMC's entire life into a single chapter and it didn't flow as seamlessly as it was intended to. But once you get past that it gets much better.

The description of this walled-off city with a massive metal dome over it that still lets light in through a gap between the wall and the start of the dome was confusing. More explanation could have been used to help me understand it. Also, everyone is sectioned off depending on their status and each status of people lives in their own "quarter". I really could have used with more understanding of the city structure. Is it round and sections are quartered off like pie slices? When we get to where the nobles and royalty live it sounds like they built that area on the side of a mountain, but I'm just not sure because again not enough description was given.

The FMC is a bit violent and I understand why considering the way she was raised but when she tried to or succeeded in punching someone or kneeing one of the guys in the balls it sometimes felt unnecessary. But it also wasn't complete overkill so it didn't bother me too much.

I want to tell you so much more about this story but it's really hard to do that without giving away major plot points which is why I think the description of the book is so vague. But if you love High Fantasy, Dragons, Court Intrigue, and Mystery with your Why Choose romance novels I highly recommend trying this one out!

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭐️ for keeping me just interested enough to keep reading.

From the constant grammatical errors to the telling and not showing type writing that was around a 13 year old’s writing level, this book is single-handedly one of the worst published works I’ve ever read.

I finished this book out of pure spite.

[Zoe 📚🌻 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry but everything felt so random and rushed. And at some point it looked like those werewolves mates stories i get on ads on facebook and instagram. This could be a problem of mine but i got all the plot twists before they would happen so meh.

[rosy★彡 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️
all of them were ridiculous but i had a fun time lol also it was a quick read tbh

[Rebecca Davenport · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a good book but I'm still reading the next 🤷

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Umm why the unneeded fat phobia literally every other second in the beginning. Basically a kinda bad version of the hunger games x the selection. Sorry it’s a brutal review

[Lover of books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Raven Storm for letting me read an arc of this book!!

I love the story. Mari is a very likeable character. The queen is someone I despise. The brothers are quite hot. The spice was good. I really appreciated that she had a trigger warning at the beginning of the book and in the chapter in question so you knew exactly when the thing was going to take place and how long it would be.

I am excited to read book to when it comes out!

[Jace · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 14%
I wanted to like this book but it's just.... Bad. The writing needs work, the characters thus far have been sort of cringey. Just not for me at all.

[Viktoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4🌟 I had low expectations, but the plot was lowkey actually so good and really interesting, and now I want the second one but I don't know if it will ever happen??

[frieda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lol this book made no sense whatsoever, i was confused most of the time and what was that ending? The last like 4 chapter made no sense! Ugh damn

[INASS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kingdom of Flames and Flowers By Raven Storm 🐉

Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 250

My rating: 4/5

“ I've lived in the mud quarter my entire life, watching as the fireguards came every five years to select the prettiest girls to go to the Seat to start new lives and get it all: husbands, houses without a speck of dirt, and enough food that hunger wasn't a constant pain in your belly.”

Just finished reading this ARC and it's the first one I've actually finished👀! (I just dnfed one and i don’t regret it)

Review:

I definitely liked the story, the world building and the mcs.
The story started a bit slow so it took me a bit to get into it, but once you're in, you're hooked.

The book tells the story of Mari who lives a poor life in the Mud quarter without education nor enough food.
Every five years, the queen's guards visit each quarter of the kingdom to choose the most beautiful girls to marry the nobles. However, this year, there's a twist: the girls must compete for the prince's hand and of course the evil queen wants only the best of the best for her son🤡.

The story is full of secrets and plot twists that i didn’t see coming i was literally just reading to find out what’s gonna happen to Mari.
It ends on a cliffhanger so I’m waiting on pins and needles to see what will happen between the fmc and the dragons.

Strong fmc 💪🏻
Magic 🪄
Dragons 🐉
Curse 👺

Please check the trigger warnings before reading.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing isn't my favourite, I'm not a big fan of the main character and the romance was pretty bad. It's a no from me.

More in depth:

I think the writing is a bit simple and so were the characters. I expecially dislike the princes, they're absolute morons. No respect whatsoever for Mari and not a care in the world even though the world is pretty shitty. They question nothing and seem to just not care? Fine if that's what you're going for, but why does Mari fall for them? Makes absolutely no sense. And why do they like her? Also makes no sense.

There are also spelling mistakes and a lot of things that don't make sense. Like her deciding to climb down the window? Where did that come from? Why? And then her finding people in a random cave? Where is the logic?!
And Mari is 21 and behaves like a 15 year old?

The sad thing is that I was so excited for this book. I saw the tropes and some quotes and thought I would love this. Nope. Bit of a letdown.

Still finished the book even though I mostly hate read it. But there are definitely worse books out there, so 2 stars.
Will I read the sequel? Maybe...

[Savannah Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overall plot of this book was decent, I would've enjoyed more character development and more details and depth on the "competition" between the girls, it felt extremely rushed. I also wish the kingdom had more build up and descriptions because it was pretty breezed over yet each "quarter" seems fairly important. When I started this book I thought it was a stand alone..then it abruptly ended on a huge cliff hanger. I finally found that there is a book two (Kingdom of Ash & Bone) so I'm hoping to have more fulfillment from it.

[Kristian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I... don't know why I read this book. I can't even begin to write a good review because this book took the smart part of my brain and made it mush. I have more questions than answers. The love interests were terrible. The queen was just a bitch. The king was a doozy. and the FMC was BORING.
I need a brain bath after reading this... so WHY DID I READ IT. Hate reading. That is basically it, and I hate DNFing books.

(but I'll probably read the second one out of spite and hate read my way through it as well.)

[Tahlia · Rating 1 out of 5]

My poor eyes dnf

[sairs_readsandreviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this is one sitting, needing to know what was going to happen to Mari!

This story starts with Marigold Mudthrice (there is a reason for the name!) in a punishing world of hunger and despair, where she is at the mercy of the fireguards and they are also a threat to her life and wellbeing. She is feisty and a survivor who will do anything to help her people.

The premise of this book is reminiscent of the hunger games and also has a selection process / competition for lower born girls to wed nobles. As we find that Mari is selected to go forward, we start to see and hear things that are suspicious and deathly in some cases.

There is a lot of plot twists and leading in this book, which I really enjoyed. I've got to say I was guessing them before they happened so they weren't completely out of the blue - our poor fmc was totally oblivious whilst it was staring her in the face, so incredulous that it could be the case which I had a little chuckle about. I do think she lost a bit of my respect for her at that point!

There is also a dome and yes.. a dragon..! Some really brilliant foreshadowing and intrigue for the story to come. Lots to get your teeth into.

Overall, I really did enjoy this and feel it was a strong story with lots of elements that kept me turning pages.

There were a couple of things that meant this wasn't a 5 star for me. I don't want to give spoilers so I will give an overview:
- There were some characters whose personality I couldn't quite figure out, I can see that this was a plot device but it felt confusing to me
- there was a big plot hole for me when two things happened at once that meant that the whole world would have seen a duplicate of something which would have had massive repercussions, but that wasn't mentioned
- the competition wasn't really resolved for me, the purpose was kind of unclear - there was lots of foreshadowing but it some ways it just wasn't logical that when the Seat were desperate for the lower bred girls, they would allow what happened to them to happen.

Honestly though this was a high 4 for me and I'm really keen to continue the story, it was a great ending and kept me wanting more. I have to know what happens next!

I received an arc of this book and this is my honest review.

[Adria Dumler · Rating 1 out of 5]

tldr: it is a complete dumpster fire, horrible characters and writing. save yourself from this disaster of a book

I don’t know what possessed me to finish this book. Spite? Boredom? A deep-seated need to punish myself? Whatever the reason, I pushed through, and now I need a brain bleach and a nap.

The premise had potential—Hunger Games-style trials, but with dragons. Cool, right? WRONG. So SO wrong. What I got was a painfully predictable plot line held together with vibes and the sheer stupidity of its characters. Our heroine, Mari, kicks things off looking smart, strong, and promising. Very quickly, that promise dissolves into her parroting the same few questions and wandering through the story like she lost the plot (and maybe her common sense).

Enter the love interests—two crown princes with the combined mental capacity of a broken nightlight. Their entire personality consists of: 1) being hot, 2) being mysteriously clueless, 3) being stupid little mama’s boys, and 4) wanting to bed Mari like horny golden retrievers in royal capes. They don’t know anything, they don’t do anything, and their main character arc seems to be switching between jealous, broody, and "I want to hide you away and breed you" energy. Romantic, right? Especially for a heroine who apparently doesn’t even know how babies are made.

And the writing. Oh goodness, the writing. If I had a dollar for every time I rolled my eyes at a grammar error, a poorly described scene, or yet another telling-not-showing moment, I’d be rich enough to pay someone to erase this book from my memory. It reads like a middle school creative writing project that got handed in at the last minute. There’s no real world-building, barely any backstory, and every mystery introduced is either forgotten, left hanging, or “resolved" in the vaguest way possible—if you can even call it that.

To top it all off, the book used a trigger warning… inside the actual story. Not in the front matter, not in an author’s note, but literally right before a scene like, “Warning: emotions ahead!” And while THAT scene had a trigger warning, the scene that was arguably MUCH WORSE and happened DIRECTLY TO OUR FMC didn’t get a trigger warning!!!! I can appreciate wanting to be mindful, but if you’re going to do it, do it well. Otherwise, it’s just another awkward bump on the already bumpy ride and pulls you out of the story when you are already hanging on by a thread.

The emotional whiplash, the inconsistent characters, the nonexistent logic—it was all just exhausting. I wanted to DNF this book so many times, but I didn’t, because I was too angry to quit. That was my biggest mistake.

Final thoughts: I hate-read this disaster to the end, and all I got was a headache, a rant, and an urgent need to go read something—anything—that respects its reader’s intelligence. Save yourself. Read literally anything else.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC from the author for an honest review.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/ 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
(slow-burn romance)

Kingdom of Flames & Flowers follows Mari, who is forced into a competition in The Seat to be selected as a wife for a noble, leading to a chance for a better life for herself and her mother from the Mud district, or die in the process. But this year is different, this year it's the Princes' hand the girls are vying for the most.

...

I really like Kingdom of Flames & Flowers, it really reminded me of The Selection by Kiera Cass, but sprinkled in some Hunger Games aspects and a dragon. It was a slower start, so it took me a while to get into the storyline, but once it picked up, I was hooked. There are a few twists and turns with this book and the cliffhanger at the end I was not expecting, but I am now REALLY looking forward to the next book.

There is a trigger warning in the book, I wouldn't have necessarily warned readers right in the middle of reading that it was going to happen, it ruined the flow of that scene for me a bit. I can see some readers liking it there so it's easy to skip if needed, but for me, I just didn't like it there. Having it at the beginning of the book would of been good enough for me.

There was definitely some slow-burn spice. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone 16+, the spice wasn't very dark, but due to the trigger warning, I would say it is definitely for a mature audience.

Thank you Raven Storm for allowing me to read and review Kingdom and Flames & Flowers as an ARC! Can not wait for the next book to come out.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rolled my eyes through this whole book. First up, the hunger games vibe, but dragons. Okay cool. But then it goes downhill.
Enter teen girl saves the world trope, but add two of the absolutely STUPIDEST princes you've ever seen as love interests. Like, I thought Mari was smart.. what she sees in either of those two idiots is beyond me. Every question she has, they just either don't know or have never thought of or whatever, then they just stare at her like dopey puppies and hope to get in her pants. Is this a plot device? Not that I can see, they're just completely dumb.
THEN there's the horny virgin trope where she's strong and capable and never really been interested in any guys because they're all rapists but when the stupid princes are touching her it's different and she just can't get enough. Just.. no.
Zero world building, no exploration of backstory, nothing else in details and absolutely no real character development.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading Raven Storm after I read The Dark Prince and I was hooked by how she writes her characters, so I was honoured to have been given an ARC for her new book and it didn't disappoint.

I really like the FMC Mari, she is outspoken, strong willed and determined to make change. The story itself is full of mysteries and twists that show that not everything is all that it seems. The way she finds information about the history of the kingdom and it's dome, is like breadcrumbs through the book and while not all questions are answered/confirmed, I am hooked enough that I have my own questions and am looking forward to readimg the next book in the series.

Overall, it is a strong first book that is immersive and showcases the important background about the kingdom and it's way of life, and the ending... Well let's just say I will definitely be reading book 2 as I am just as invested as finding the answers as Mari.

I definitely recommend this to other fantasy readers!

[mellismoodreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got the book as an arc.
Mari from the Mudquater and The Story in general have a lot of potential. I cant wait for the second book, since this one ended kind of open, leaving a lot of questions the second book will have to answer. Thr FMC is likeable while the MMC is kind of a jerk. For me, the only thing they would have going for themselves would be that they are Princes BUT without a backbone, deceiving, manipulating.... I hope the next book gives them some commonsense because the FMC deserve it!!

[Bevany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book. I did not want to put it down it's so good. I can't wait to share it with my fellow book reader friends. The storyline and the world is so fun. Highly recommended for readers of fantasy. Some smut but not an over abundance. I can't wait to continue this series and see what happens next!

[Kassidy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was entertained by this story and will continue to the next but i was disappointed to find that there are 2 princes instead of just the one. Reverse harem and why choose aren’t usually my jam.
Additionally, while the premise of the story is great, the execution is not the best and there are a lot of grammatical errors and a few plot holes.

[Megan Nikitkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this book. It had me on my toes the entire time. I love Mari and her story, from starting with nothing to where she went. I just had to keep reading. I preordered book 2 before i even finished book 1. An AMAZING story you wont want to miss!