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The Dark Queens #5

The Dark Queen

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“Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the fairest one of all?” We all know the legend, or so we think. But what do you really know of the woman behind the myth? Fable of Seren—daughter of the Sea King, and granddaughter of both Calypso and Hades. The blood of gods runs through her veins, but the young girl destined to one day wear the title of The Evil Queen is now seventeen and wants nothing more than to see the land above the waves, to be part of the human realm. One fine day she does just that, but the heaven she imagined turns into a terrible nightmare of pain, suffering, and lies that twists the heart of this starry-eyed girl into one of darkness and hate. Villains aren’t born; they’re made. But sometimes even villains get a second chance. Calypso, seeing the suffering of her granddaughter has concocted a brilliantly, clever plan—The Love Games. In Kingdom, there is one magic more powerful than even the darkest of spells…true love, and with the help of her BFF—Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love—Calypso knows exactly who Fable’s truest love is. A Native American god called, Owiot. Can this gentle, star-eyed god help Fable see there is another path she can take before it’s too late and the evil that beats within her heart consumes her soul for good?

127 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2016

79 people are currently reading
718 people want to read

About the author

Jovee Winters

37 books504 followers
Jovee Winters is the pen name for a USAT Bestselling author of twisted fairy tale romances.

Jovee Winters loves fairy tales. But she especially loves twisting up the fairy tales you thought you knew. You can visit her on the web at

https://www.facebook.com/joveewinters...

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5 stars
313 (47%)
4 stars
211 (31%)
3 stars
104 (15%)
2 stars
28 (4%)
1 star
7 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
Profile Image for Alaina.
7,360 reviews203 followers
July 6, 2023
First off, I absolutely loved seeing Calypso and Hades just being themselves in this one. I really adored their book and seeing that the romance between them still hasn't simmered makes me so happy. As for Fable, well I was very excited to see who the Dark Queen's mate would be.

Enter Owlot. I absolutely adored everything about this Native American God. The way he balanced out Fable just put a smile on my face. They had great chemistry throughout the book, and I loved when he called her his little darkness. Honestly, I really enjoyed all the nicknames for every couple.

The inner battle they have to face, as well as the games on the outside, were very interesting. We all know about Snow White and the Evil Queen, but this was a nice take on how someone screwed with them both.

In the end, I'm excited to jump into the next book and very intrigued why the mirror is still in the games as well.
Profile Image for Candace Tidwell.
326 reviews36 followers
October 5, 2018
I think this book has tied as my favorite with Calypso's book, in this series. Fable's story is revealed in The Dark Queen's book. It's tragic and heartbreaking but there just may be light at the end of tunnel for our queen. Book five in this series of evil queens, you will find out that not everything is black and white but maybe gray. Add it to your TBR and enjoy the magic of the series.
Profile Image for Jewlsbookblog.
2,210 reviews74 followers
October 9, 2017
The Dark Queen was emotional, poignant, sweet, and quite amusing at times. The dark side of human nature is exposed through rumors, judgement, and misunderstandings, while the opposite side reflects the love, friendship and loyalty that endured through difficult times.

I love fractured fairy tales and nobody tells them quite like this author! She makes me empathize with villains I’ve never given a second thought to and gets me completely invested in their HEAs! Most of the Kingdom series can be read as stand-alones, but reading them in order makes the experience so much richer.
Profile Image for Andrea.
562 reviews26 followers
June 27, 2020
I liked this; Fable's story is slightly different than the other Queens only because we see how/when she becomes The Evil Queen. One of the things I really enjoyed was seeing her POV during the fight with BABA Yaga..still hilarious! If you like fairy tales with a twist, then check out this series!
Profile Image for Crystal Moon.
46 reviews1 follower
July 27, 2016
Wonderful

A new twist on the story of a queen we all think we know. As the story is told Snow Whites step mother is evil to the core, a dark witch that hates the child for her beauty, but things aren't always what they seem....

Fable of Seren is a bright eyed young lady, raised in her parents undersea kingdom, she dreams of the world above. Being born with legs like her mother rather than a tail like her twin brother she feel a like she would truly feel more like she fits in above, with others like herself. Her first day on the land she believes she finds love in the King of the Enchanted Forest, however things aren't always as they seem....

Her tale is one of hope, heartache,and redemption. I truly enjoyed this read, and I can't wait for the next queen.
Profile Image for Brittany.
3,525 reviews27 followers
July 28, 2016
I have just falling in love with this series. The author takes favorite fairy tale stories and revamps them. I did enjoy this one a lot better than the last one. Calypso had made me so angry and it killed the book for me. This book was much better. I enjoyed Fable's story a great deal and I am still not a huge fan of the Games that Calypso came up with.
Profile Image for The Book Gawdess.
213 reviews12 followers
April 12, 2020
“LOVE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO BUILD A MANSION OF GOLD, BUT I’VE FOUND THAT LOVE CAN OFTEN DO WONDERS TO HEAL A FRACTURED SOUL”

Fable of Seren is the latest dark queen in this series. And she is literally The Dark Queen. She was not always dark, however, and this story shows what happened to make her the way she was.
In The Dark Queen, Fable is shown to have come from a different realm altogether. She is Calypso’s granddaughter and is born under the sea. However, she soon finds herself wanting to know what life is like on land. With her parents’ permission she leaves her underwater world and meets King George. They fall in love and quickly get married but she soon realizes things are not what they seem. After living through a nightmare, she changed and became the Evil Queen. However, Calypso wants nothing more than to see her granddaughter happy so she forces her to take part in her and Aphrodite’s Love Games. There, Fable meets Owiot, the Native American god of children. Much to her surprise, she finds herself falling in love, something she thought would never happen again.
As usual, Jovee Winters describes the scenery beautifully. The kingdom Fable lived in sounded gorgeous. So did the land Calypso and Aphrodite put Fable and Owiot during the games.
It was interesting to see the games from another point of view. I now understood why Calypso was a little biased towards Fable.
The series is actually pretty interesting and I love seeing how things are turning out for the different queens.

Suitable audience: Adults who like fantasy and romance. Not suitable for teens and children

Recurrent themes: Magic. Soulmates. Fairytales. Love. Loyalty. Mythology. Witchcraft.

Note: If you’re looking for an intense reading experience, this is not it. If, however, you’re looking for a quick, fun read with no major thinking involved, this series fits the bill especially if you’re into fantasy and romance with a touch of mythology.

Violence: Some people are killed in quite a gruesome manner
Sexual Content: A lot!!! This is definitely a book for adults only! There is also mention of rape, which may be a trigger for some
Profanity: Multiple uses of sexual euphemisms as well as obscene language
Religious Themes: The book stars Greek gods and goddesses. There is also mention of gods from other cultures as well as nature spirits. Magic and witches are also very present in this series.
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: None
Profile Image for Tiera McMillian.
1,160 reviews47 followers
December 1, 2018
This has got to be my second favorite in The Dark Queens series. Right up there behind Calypso and Hades themselves. I have loved Fable since book 1 and am so glad that her story has finally come!

Fable...the notorious Evil Queen, stepmother to Snow White! Things are never as they seem in Kingdom which seems to vilify females and not tell their true stories. Never fear however the tale keeper is here to set the record straight! Fable on her 17th birthday journey's topside from her underwater kingdom with a sense of adventure and quest for love in her heart. Of course immediately she finds a handsome widower King and thinks her life is set...Except for the look in the Gaurd Captains eyes.... Fast Forward through a nightmare of a life as Fable slowly looses herself to darkness, the only thing that has made her strong enough to deal with her horrors. Step in Calypso and Dite and their notorious love games... and A male god Owiot who has been tasked with saving her. Seeing her memories he knows of her horrors and hopefully he can turn her from the path she is headed down.

Owiot and Fable are great together. Their chemistry is amazing and Owiot is a romantic at heart. I will say that stories like this make me appreciate Baba Yaga's story and strength of character a little more. We have this female who made some dark decisions and instead of moving on she is wallowing in her guilt and drowning herself in the darkness, and needs true love needs to save her. I have always felt that the first true love you should have would be love of self, so when a hero or heroine go through that adventure of learning to love themselves before loving others it always gets in my feels!
Profile Image for Cocoa Bleu.
66 reviews1 follower
May 8, 2019
Although it was clear that there was major favoritism shown in this story towards Fable, her being Calypso’s granddaughter and all, I still enjoyed this book and the growth displayed in it. I think this interesting spin on the evil stepmother in the Snow White book. The fact that she was a prisoner of sorts to George and his “mother” and not really running the show as originally portrayed. I found the manipulation of her to make her the cold unfeeling shell heartbreaking and the choices she had to make to protect what little she had left of her soul so sad. Also the cheating and meddling in order to quickly get her out of the games had me shaking my head at times but I still enjoyed seeing the development of this relationship.
Profile Image for S.J. Stewart.
Author 13 books79 followers
November 10, 2021
This is a retelling of the Queen from Snow White with Winter's own twist. I have said this in all the reviews, and I will say it again, I absolutely love her writing style. It's beautiful and fits fairytale stories so well.

I did like this book, though it wasn't one of my favourites. I think the books before this just felt more in depth to me. That being said, it was still a fabulous read and I can't wait to start the next book in the series.

I think what threw me off is the timeline of this one, it went back and forth a little too much for me to get into the story, or maybe I felt that way after reading BABA YAGA's since part of the story was already told there and this was just told from the Dark Queen's perspective. Still... I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Definitely worth the read.
Profile Image for Nicole.
100 reviews4 followers
February 24, 2021
Overall I enjoyed Fable's character arc and I am enjoying the Dark Queens Saga so far. This book was fine but not my favorite. My biggest complaint about this book is how Owiot was as a character. I thought there was so much potential there but he seemed half thought out. I wasn't able to find much on the god but it would have been nice to include some more back story instead of just a general "Native American" deity. I was also very confused as to what kind of god he was as he was given so many different things (starlight, sadness, children, animals? etc), it felt very token-y which i don't believe was Winters' intention.

I
Profile Image for Lizzy.
202 reviews
August 15, 2023
Best Happily Ever After yet.

What can you really say about the Evil Queen in Snow's story. No one knew, until now, why or how it happened, just that she was an exceptionally evil witch. That Snow hated her was no surprise, but to find out it was because of something, other than the fairy tale of record, is a big surprise. What Fabel has to go through to get her Happiness is shocking but extremely relevant to her story. It's not just the games that give her the happily ever after but what she has to do after. This is a must read in this series and nothing you would expect. Happy reading!
Profile Image for Ann.
210 reviews7 followers
August 12, 2018
Forstå off all, I liked this one a little better than the one before with Baba Yaga, because it feels like we get more background story with Fable and how she became the evil queen and we also get some background about her mate Owiot. It was nice it didn't start of in the competition but still it is a bid sad that we already know some results from the battles from the Baba Yaga story. But I'm curios about the others so I will keep reading the other books in the series.
Profile Image for sstephreads.
277 reviews1 follower
March 7, 2019
Honestly, my least favourite book from the entire Kingdom universe so far. I think that having a part one which was all about Fable's origin story (which I actually enjoyed) took away from Fable and Owiot's time together and part two just felt a little bit rushed.
Fingers crossed for the next book.
120 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2023
Boring

This was definitely my least favorite in this series. I found myself scrolling just to get through it.

Also I can not stand the blue fairy. I know her book is coming up and I'm sure it will explain everything but she literally just let her keep getting rapped when she could have stopped it. I will have a very hard time looking past that.
Profile Image for Paranormal Books R Us.
461 reviews31 followers
November 7, 2018
The Dark Queen Review

Another wonderful retelling of an old tale. If you're a fan of good beating evil (even if it's not in the way you would expect) and happily ever afters I would recommend The Dark Queen.
312 reviews1 follower
August 24, 2018
The Dark Wueen

Have you heard vet wondered what caused the evil queen to be evil? Have you ever wondered if their could be a happy ever after for her?
Profile Image for LORRIE.
3,535 reviews63 followers
April 20, 2019
Transformation can good for the could. Poor Fable went through several transformations before finding happiness
1 review
April 29, 2020
Kingdom is amazing

Love every book in this series. You truly get drawn in to the books and can't stop reading them. On to the next book in the series.
232 reviews1 follower
July 11, 2020
Awesome Book 📖 💘 ❤

I absolutely love these books. The story of Snow White has always been a sort of favorite to me but I always wanted to know the Queens Story.
Profile Image for Heidi Hagan.
295 reviews1 follower
December 6, 2020
Enjoyed this one

I really enjoy all the books with the Kingdom characters . They are a fun mix and I like that there are different pantheons included.
Profile Image for Amber Smith.
1,925 reviews44 followers
March 1, 2021
I was so happy to finally get to Fable’s story! I just love her. Owiot was a great character too. He is her perfect match. I’m loving this series!
Profile Image for Mallory.
422 reviews3 followers
May 6, 2021
I really enjoyed this book it was great. I can't wait for more!
Profile Image for Samantha Christiansen.
65 reviews
January 11, 2022
Full of beautiful darkness,

Fable's tale is one of my favorites in this series a unique take on Snow White and the not, so Evil Queen.
Profile Image for Urban Fairy Godmother  aka... Jolene .
221 reviews35 followers
February 11, 2019
Aside from the Hatter's family, I think I'm equally in love with Calypso's. This is the story of Calypso's granddaughter, Fable. Once again, Jovee Winters manages to get us to cheer and feel for another famous Big Bad of fairy tales, The Evil Queen from Snow White. I believe Fable is also suppose to be a combination of The Evil Queen and another famous bad queen as well, but I won't spoil the fun. Instead, I'll let you decide for yourself and figure who I'm talking about. If you're a fairy tale nut like I am, you'll know what I mean...which queen.
I believe there are two things that made this story fun and different from the other books in the Kingdom series. First, it had to be told in two acts. Since this story continues the 'Love Games' Calypso and Aphrodite started in the Magic Queen, and because we needed to know what turned Calypso's granddaughter 'bad', we needed to hear what happened to her before the games started. How she became Snow White's stepmother. Once that's established, the second act picks up around the start of the Love Games, from Fable's point of view. The second thing was the introduction of Native American Folklore, Owiot (god of children). Before this point, all the characters were mainly from European fairy tales (and children's books), Greek mythology, and (most recently) a splash of Norse mythology.
So, as usual, I plead to any new readers of the series and of Jovee's work to start from the beginning with Her Mad Hatter (written under the penname Marie Hall) and work your way to this book, in order. While it's not necessary, I feel it helps the overall enjoyment of the world of Kingdom. Each story, though they all have HEAs, build on each other. Like a TV show, but better. Fable is referenced for the first time at the end of The Sea Queen. I think it's so much more fun reading up to her creation and already knowing her family tree, which goes a few books back from the Sea Queen into the Marie Hall books.
I loved every page of this book and can't wait to read more about Fable and Owiot. What's next? The Fairy Queen. See you on the other side... 😉😁😎
Profile Image for Alexandra.
Author 4 books7 followers
June 21, 2016
This Dark Queen captured my heart from the very first pages where she writes an open letter to us, ruthlessly laying open her heart, her innocent illusions and her high hopes for a happily ever after... and we already know it'll be crushed, we already know who she ends up to be. The Dark Queen, stepmother to Snow White, hated and feared and despised by all. But is she truly as evil as we believe her to be? In this excellent spin of the well known fairy tale we get to know the real story behind her - and her one chance of redemption. It's full of tears and suspense, full of emotion and angst. It's deep and dark and scary - but then it is romantic and funny and hopeful too. It's a book that gripped my heart in a steel vice and didn't let go. It's a heroine I could relate to, understand even in her darkest hour. She fights, she never gives up but she is all alone and that makes her weak in a way evil will always exploit. And before you go assuming, please bear in mind: She's the fairest of them all. And I like that - and seeing the cover I can fully understand why she's rightfully called this! And then her hero. Wow. Too good to be true. Gentle, kind, sexy... Perfect for her (he wouldn't be for me - but) I really liked him and enjoyed reading him. He's eye candy but so much more. All of that put into a exciting story with complex other characters in a fairy tale world that here really dips deep into the darkness (the movie in my head scared me a lot but it was awesome!). The spin with the mirror made me gasp and shudder, the one with the heart - oh so good. But I don't want to say to much, you'll see when you get there.

No spoilers from me but the end... the end will make you physically need the next story. Oh wow! Left me breathless. Read for yourself - and there is more! Start with the Sea Queen or with her first series, written as Marie Hall - it's worth every penny!
Profile Image for Amberly.
229 reviews
August 24, 2016
The Dark Queen's story. Hmm. So many ways to tell this one.

I liked the way the story went. Starting with stars in her eyes, only to be crushed and forced to become something she didn't want to be. Losing Snow White's faith and love because of an evil witch. Choosing to continue to be dark simply because she was denied the ability to use light magic for so long. Having a chance to redeem herself. As with Bab Yaga's story, I felt the most with this one. The Dark Queens are considered dark for a reason. Yes, they can have tragic back stories. But please don't try to tell me that they didn't make their own choices in using dark magick. And Fable's story did not do this.

Her redemption at the end clarified this beyond all else. She made her choices for many years. Yes, those choices were based on her tragic history, but she still made them. She never denied that she made the choices. And even though the choices tore her up inside, she continued to make them. Her redemption came from acknowledging that and consciously making different choices in the future. Yes, she found her ideal mate and fell in love. But love did not fix everything.

The cliffhanger at the end has me waiting impatiently for the next book. This is why I prefer to wait until the whole series is out!
Profile Image for Magick.
138 reviews21 followers
September 23, 2016
GOOD POINTS:
I liked the way she wrote how the evil queen became evil. And not even that she started out evil, because she wasn’t born that way, she was made by the things that had happened. I really enjoyed reading this one. It was funny and honestly, it was a sweet story. Her fated pare was a kind soul who was made to fit her kindness before she was evil. I liked that. She learned her lesson in the end. Sometimes we all have to face truths we don’t want to but we can, and we can become stronger from it.

I think my favorite character would be Owiot tho. He was a simple man. He wasn’t this asshole/bad boy we all love sometimes. He was simple and kind. He loved the stars and the flowers. Most of all he loved her soul. For the light and the dark parts of her.
It’s a love story. It was a twist on the evil queen. But it’s not really focused on that. It’s honestly about her finding love. And I enjoyed the simple love story.

BAD POINTS:
Its simple, fast paced and doesn’t have a lot of up and downs in their love. Its love at first sight. So I guess if you’re not into that, then it’s not all that great of a book.

OVERALL:
Want a happy never ending love story?

Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews

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