Unkindness of Crimson Queen: A Vampire Romance

by Arya Sloane

Trapped between her own grief and an impending war that threatens to destroy everything Cordelia learned to love, vengeance is her only solace—no matter the cost.
And the cost is insurmountable when the enemy is always two steps ahead and her own shadows thread their claws through her soul, holding it hostage.
Shadows that cannot be fought off with swords.
Shadows that destroy from within.
Heartbroken and blinded by revenge, Cordelia must unveil her sheltered heart to the one who betrayed her the most before the darkness destroys what little remains.

Little does she know… Francis is willing to sacrifice everything to protect his Princess... Even his own life.

Genres: Vampires, Fantasy

300 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 28, 2025

Reviews

[El Johnson]

4.5⭐️
Ah! what a dark, deeply emotional and exciting second installment this was! I absolutely loved watching Francis (*SWOON*) and Cordelia's relationship unfold and develop in this book. This book was a wonderful concoction of yearning, banter, heartache and feet-kicking love.
Cordelia's grief was so raw and devastating. It was absolutely heart breaking going through her waves of guilt, heartache and loss. The feelings explored in this book were painful and all too relatable as someone who has experienced a great deal of pain, fear and loss themselves. I felt these themes were explored with much tact, unsettling understanding and met with necessary hope and reparation.
My only complaint for this book was that the ending felt a bit rushed. There was so much structural build up, plotical intrigue and tense anticipation that the end felt like it was over too quickly.
However, overall, this dualogy will hold a special place in my heart and I feel I will find myself revisiting this story again and again, for I am absolutely in love with Cordelia and Francis.

[Lana]

This story hit me in all the right places.
A gothic vampire romance laced with political intrigue, war, witty banter, and tension so amazing it had me giggling and kicking my feet!!

Francis’s constant urge to get on Lia’s nerves paired with her frequent, very sincere thoughts of setting him on fire made their banter an absolute highlight, haha!!
I loved how their relationship grew organically, built on reluctant trust and companionship rather than instant attraction (and that letter to Cordelia at the end🥹)

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆,
𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕.
𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆—𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆,
𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆—𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘’𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕.

The side characters were just as compelling, especially the found-family dynamic and what it revealed about bonds forged through love, loyalty, and belonging. Francis and Roxanne, in particular, gave me strong Lo-and-Ross energy, which I adored.

The story also doesn’t shy away from heavier themes of sexual assault, loss, and grief and portrays how deeply such trauma can embed itself into a person’s soul. It acknowledges that healing isn’t linear, that time doesn’t erase the scars, we just simply learn how to live with them.

[Danni Drummond]

Unkindness of Crimson Queen
Crimson Duet Book 2
By Arya Sloane

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶


🌙 A Vampire Romance
🖤 🩸 Play
🌙 Mental health rep
🖤 Political Intrigue
🌙 Humans vs vampires
🖤 Tension/lust
🌙 A vampire FMC who refuses to drink 🖤 human 🩸
🖤 Found family

Cordelia is back with bite in this second instalment of the Crimson duet, with her Found family, and they have a mission ahead that could make or break their lives as they know it, who will survive long enough to see it through?

This is filled with burning tension between Cordelia and Francis 🥵. Political power moves made left right and center to gain the power of an army big enough to take on the Wurdulacs. And of course twists and turns to keep you on your toes.

Unkindness of Crimson Queen releases October 28th 😘🖤

#vampireromance #gothicromance #vampires #bookreview #booktokfyp

[Brenda Yager]

Firstly, thank you Arya for this ARC read. I enjoy visiting this world you created. I enjoyed reading this conclusion to the duology and can’t wait to see what you do next.

Cordelia is a strong willed passionate person that shows her strength throughout this book. Francis is truly her equal. The world building and character development for all of the characters is wonderful.

[Tewzdai]

The emotional impact this book had was so good! The suspense was so high! Shout-out to Silver for being themselves.
I wanted this to be a 5 star read but realistically there were loose ends that never got tied up. I kept waiting for it to circle back to certain elements but we got no answers.
Overall the duology was really good and it's worth the read!

[Magda GK]

Ik had gehoopt op een mooie dark fantasy duology maar dit is gewoon weer smut wat zo ongelofelijk voorspelbaar is. Met moeite heb ik er nog 2 sterren van gemaakt. Jammer. De wereld was interessant genoeg maar daar is dan ook alles mee gezegd.

[Lilithya]

While I loved the first book, this one was too slow for my liking.

[Annie Hitchcock]

AMAZING

loved this series so much, a great read that definitely deserves more recognition and praise. Can’t wait to see what more Ayra brings!!

[Joani]

Another incredible book from Arya, A well done sequel that kept me up late reading and falling even more in love with the characters