First off, thank you Netgalley for providing a copy of this book for me to read in exchange for an honest review. Now, I was really excited for the chance to read this as both my brother and myself were fans of the author's series The Selection. This is a YA romantic fantasy with the main characters just trying to do their part for the kingdom. I really enjoyed the world in the story, and it was an enjoyable day read. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in YA romantic fantasy as this one was such a fun story, my only complaint is that I wish there was a deeper development of the character's relationship before just getting straight to it.

Classic YA enemies to lovers story. It was exciting enough to keep my attention, but not sure I would read it again or recommend it

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for allowing us to read this ARC in exchange for our full and honest review.
3.5 stars

A classic enemies to lover YA book. I won't lie the start of this book can drag quite a bit. If it wasn't for the fact that I had an ARC of this for review I may have DNF'd it fairly quickly. However when the characters finally meet the pace picks up considerably. This is a classic YA book with a level of predictability. The love story was cute and I really enjoyed the two MCs together. Overall I did enjoy the story for what it was.

Not my favorite of Cass's stories but I did enjoy her writing as I have enjoyed her other series as well.

I requested this ARC because I was obsessed with the Selection series back in the day but the magic just wasn't there this time. While the story is presented as dual POV, the voices are basically the same. The characters fell flat for me, and the plot doesn't pick up until probably 30% or so through. By then I was basically skimming and not super interested. Overall, this was a miss for me, but I wonder if I might just be aging out of this genre (which is SO SAD).

I really enjoyed this story! I'm a big fan of the Selection series, so I had high hopes. Though mostly predictable, there were a couple of surprises thrown in. A few twists and turns to keep the reader's interest. I have several library patrons I know that will eat this book up!

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. I enjoyed Cass's previous works so I was excited to have a chance to read this. Having it be a standalone was good as most books nowadays feel like they are a part of a longer series that could be edited down. I felt it was a bit slow in the beginning but started to pick up more around 40% in. The dual narrators was good to see how both were feeling and reacting to one another and while the twists were somewhat telegraphed, I still enjoyed it. A great addition to Cass's work and I would encourage anyone who is a fan of her or of historical romance should pick this up.

I truly loved this book! I have been a Kiera Cass fan since The Selection and this story did not disappoint. While I found it a bit slow in the beginning, just because it took awhile for the hero and heroine to meet each other, I couldn't put it down the second half of the book. Definitely recommend!

I'm very upset that I have to say I really didn't enjoy thus book at all I felt from the beginning it was very dry and hard to continue on I like my books to grab my full attention from the get go and certainly didn't get that like I said I'm very upset about it because I have read this authors books before and was dso thrilled I got the chance to read it maybe it just wasn't for me I hope others like it and I hope the author continues to write.

I was excited to read this book as I have read all of Kiera Cass's books. The selection was my absolute fave.
This was an enemy to lover book but I feel like they fell so fast for each other it was barely enemy at all.
The book was better then her last but it still felt kind of off.

I would recommend it if you want a light read.

📖 𝑨 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔
✍️ Kiera Cass
4.5⭐️│YA Romance

“𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬? 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧.

“𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙. 𝙄𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝙄𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙡𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥, 𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨, 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝.”

I love a good star-crossed romance and this one delivered in spades. The two MCs, Annika and Lennox are independent, honorable, and most importantly— loyal. They way their fates have been entangled for years had me invested in this story from the very beginning. The forgiveness and understanding demonstrated by the characters had me in tears more than once. I enjoyed the sibling bond between Annika and Escalus and the found family Lennox discovered within his Commission group. There were so many great tropes explored that there really was something for everyone to enjoy.

✨ Star-crossed
👸🏼 Royalty
⚔️ Enemies to Lovers
💒 Arranged Marriage

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Annika is the princess of Kadier and although she is a princess, her life is no longer in her control. Her father is no longer the man she once knew, her brother is next in line to become King, and despite being beloved by her people, she will soon be forced to wed for political advantage.

Lennox has devoted his entire life to the Dahrainian cause to get back their land and stolen crown. Having made so many sacrifices, little else matters besides avenging his father’s death and taking his people back to their homeland.

On opposing sides of an impending war they cannot be with one another, but can they resist the sound of a thousand heartbeats?

Thank you NetGalley, HarperCollins, and the author for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This review was posted to Goodreads, Bookbub, Amazon, and my Bookstagram account on January 2, 2022. Amazon review is awaiting approval but will be live under my review link once approved.

initial thoughts: this book is not as good as THE SELECTION books, but much better than THE BETROTHED books.

this book started pretty slow, and up until halfway i wasn’t thrilled with the pacing. BUT about halfway in, something changed. basically, the romance began, and the book got so much better. this is an enemies to lovers (and also forbidden love) story, which is not usually my favorite trope, but the banter between Lennox & Annika in this book was really cute. there’s also a forced proximity part which is by far my favorite part. i am happy with this book, and think it will appeal to the YA audience that Cass is going for.

it’s your typical fairy-tale love, and reading it brought me back to 7th grade when i read about Maxon and America for the first time.

THANK YOU to NetGalley & HarperCollins Publishers for the gifted e-arc of this book!!

This book was a great mix of political intrigue and a great enemies-to-lovers romance! Like any good enemies turned lovers, there were plenty of sword fights and verbal assaults that led Annika and Lennox (names I really like for these characters) to fall in love in a truly magical way. I think the way this book described love was fascinating way to look at love, as more like a sound that envelops a person.
I love Kiera Cass’s writing, so this book was a great way to end 2022.

I thought this would be an insta-buy for my classroom, but I don’t know. I’m going to have to think on it. It’s a little dark, but not in a scary way. It’s dark in a way that my students may find a little cringey when it comes to animals. The romance is typical for a Cass book, which my student would enjoy.

Honestly I was fairly excited for this, but this is pretty meh. I am let down again, but after the betrothed I have learned not to get my hopes up. I adore Cass's writing and find her characters compelling but lately the plot lines have felt pretty bland. I just want there to be more to the story.

If you've read the Selection Series by Kiera Cass then you will want to jump right into A Thousand Heartbeats! Annika and Lennox follow the enemies to lover trope in a fun and heroic way. Annika is a beloved princess who absolutely adores her kingdom and she will do anything for that kingdom, even if that means doing something she doesn't want to. Lennox is a warrior ready to take back his proper kingdom to prove to his step father he's worthy but his kingdom is currently Annika's. Their paths end up crossing and their lives are forever changed as well as their feelings, not only about themselves but about the truths of their family history and the kingdom. The romance in this book keeps you engaged. Lennox and Annika develop a bond very quickly and they must navigate their feelings while trying to do what's right for their respective groups. The book is slow at first but picks up in the end. The characters and backgrounds were in depth and everyone was interesting to read about. I enjoyed the perspective switch between Annika and Lennox. Overall really liked this book and excited to read more by Cass!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅. 𝑰𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒍𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑, 𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉.

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔, 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕, 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒚."

A Thousand Hearbeats starts a little slow as the world and characters were introduced. It’s an enemies to lovers, grumpy x sunshine, slow burn, standalone love story. Annika is the princess who lives a cozy life, where her biggest worry was her emotionally absent father and who she should marry. Lennox is the fiercest warrior of Dahrainian army.

I felt such a deep connection to both Annika and Lennox. Annika is not the pretentious princess, but instead she’s the princess of the people, ready to do what she needs for the welfare of the people. Lennox has an icy shield, but under that, he is incredibly loveable, and he cries too. The chemistry between them is so good. The slow burn is almost too much to bear, and the banter had my heart.

This wrapped up nicely, despite a rushed ending, and I feel satisfied with the ending.

#netgalleyarc I wanted to like this, I really did but overall it was just meh. I generally like this authors works but now they all seem the same. I liked that the story was told in alternating viewpoints and that the chapters were really short. It took to almost the last part of the book before I found it enjoyable. I’ll buy it for my high school library but overall I personally found it meh.

I'm a fan of The Selection so I was thrilled to get an ARC of A Thousand Heartbeats. Overall, I loved the characters and the worldbuilding and am a fan of sunshine/grumpy pairing. The beginning was a little bit slow and the whole book was a longer than I think it needed to be, but I wasn't bored and I enjoyed reading this one!

This book was everything I was hoping for from a Kiera Cass novel. It was well-built and had me wanting to turn to the next page. I loved Lennox and Annika's story and how they had been so deeply connected over the past and through their lives. She had great webs connecting all the main characters. I also appreciated the clean-romance aspect of this book. Another beautiful novel I can add to my shelf full of Cass books!

As a middle and high school teacher, I'm always looking for new books to add to my class library, and to my curriculum. The description of this made me think it might be a great companion piece for my kiddos who love Romeo & Juliet. I love when they have that moment of recognition that Shakespeare's themes and stories are universal and timeless. So... in theory, this book would be great.
Except that it's not. It's soooo long, and sooo boring. Add to that a love story that is the premise but doesn't work. Man kills woman's mother. Woman thinks about it for 10 seconds and forgives him. Moments after meeting him. Huh? I get "love at first sight," but... really? There's so much ridiculous forgiveness in this story, it takes away any authentic relationships that might be established.
On top of that, just about every single thing that happens is so predictable, I really wanted to create a drinking game out of the plot.
The characters are one-dimensional and uninteresting, the plot is flat and unoriginal, and even the setting lacks creativity.
Sorry, despite trying, I honestly can't think of one reason to recommend this book.