This epic fantasy story has found family and forbidden romance tropes in it. Each character has its own tarot card that it’s linked to, which is really cool, as a tarot reader myself.

I loved the medieval setting and character designs.

Check out this romantasy if you can!

This book was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect much but it definitely exceed my expectations. It’s a tale of love and friendship, of magic and hatred. The clever use of tarot cards intricately woven with magic was intriguing. It contained relatable and compelling characters, all with a unique flare. Overall this was a great read.

I was looking forward to this book, the concept sounded interesting and intriguing. However I didn’t find the execution was done as best as it could have been, as book had so much more potentially to be greater. DNF at 50%

The mystery, the tension, love, friendships, the adventure, the action! This book has it all!!
I love how you can tell how much work has been put into this book with the details and the amazing descriptions of the settings and scenes.
At first I wasn't sure about the narrator third person form of story telling because I've never really read books like that. But I enjoyed being able to get multiple point of views in a certain scene that would be missed in block chapter character POVs.
The romance wasn't the main plot point. I loved how there was magic, struggle, culture, and romance. I was vying for everything and everyone every step of the way! I wanted the Captain with Morgana, I wanted her friend to be happy with the Duke.
There were twists I saw coming, but still enjoyed the arrivals of.
I absolutely loved the detail to the adventure part of this book with the mystery aspect of how to get through each part! It was very well done.
I also loved the importance of the cards in this! It was expressed multiple times. Morgana's mother was a believer, she was a believer. Everything was in the cards. But when it came time for the fate cards to play out in real life. I love how Morgana decided to change her fate. Such a good takeaway from the story.

*Thank you to NetGalley, Keen Quill Press, and to the author for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review*
DNF at 24%

Oh boy, I was so excited about this book. The concept sounded really interesting. The world sounded intriguing and the fact that people are born with their tarot cards which decide their fate sounds amazing. The magic was also interesting, and talking about mana and the way it drains was also interesting. Unfortunately, the execution was lacking. The writing itself was the issue in my opinion, many times the characters said things that made me cringe and I didn't really like the characters. I was expecting an adult fantasy book so tried to finish it but I really couldn't.

The story had potential but unfortunately it did not work out for me. And I wished there was a TW warning somewhere.

NetGalley did not put in a TW for SA of child and trauma!!

The premise is what really catch me by surprise and had me intrigued but how tarot cards wwre the fate of the characters.

But unfortunately this truly fell flat with too much unnecessary dialogue and NetGalley did not give any TW of SA of a child and trauma. But I felt like the story didn’t have the political intrigue that it promised.-

thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for a digital copy of cards of fate.

2 stars.

a promising concept, i was very intrigued with both the cover and the description when i saw it on netgalley. but, unfortunately, it underwhelmed me. it was rather flat and slowly became more and more of a chore to read. the plot twist by the end was something i anticipated, which made it less exciting and shocking. the love story between morgana and leo needed more chemistry in my opinion. feelings between childhood friends is a cute trope, but in this book i just didn’t feel… anything.

it was a somewhat nice read at the beginning and by the end, but it just felt too long and dragged out.

The story felt flat to me. The storyline, the characters, the chemistry just felt flat. And it failed to grab my interest to the end of the story. I tried to enjoy it but gave up after half of the story went on. I just read just to know how the story ended.
One, some of the plot felt unnecessary to the story. It doesn't help much in terms of character development or story progression. If I imagine some of those parts weren't in the story, it still can go on without missing any context. I see that the author tried to connect it with something but the connection made wasn't strong and doesn't justify much. The reason could be solid if it was written in the right way. For example the card fate. I even forgot that thing existed unless it was mentioned in the story. I see why it was put there (of course since it's the name of the story) but the card's existence itself wasn't strong. And I can list on more but that just spoiled the story.
Two, the main characters felt like a POV of the 2nd main characters. There's no problem with making a non-royalty as a main character. It's totally fine. But the main characters were written like the 2nd main lead but with their pov. And their chemistry, either Morgana-Leo or Lefreya-Leighton were bland. It doesn't hold any sparks. Nothing excites me when reading about their relationship progress. Basically the overall story doesn't reach my emotions.
But still thank you for writing this story!

Took me quite a bit to get into the story. I wish I'd enjoyed "Cards of Fate" more because I got instantly hooked by the cover and synopsis.
3 stars!

The concept of this book definitely drew me in, I just feel like the execution is not what I was expecting. I struggled getting through this book.

A fantasy adult with magic, monsters and tarot cards (🙃) not to be missed.

Morgana de Laurent is a witch living in Perdetia, the last kingdom of Dresbourn where the practice of burning witches is still in force. Orphaned during the anti-witch crusades of the cruel demon king, Morgana is adopted by a wealthy baroness, who urges her to hide her true identity.

In the midst of a major political transition, a sudden kidnapping sends the young witch and her lover, Leopold Ellingham, on an adventure to the edge of Dresbourn, while the future of magic hangs in the balance.

With "Cards of Fate" I approached A. R. Kingston's writing for the first time and I must admit I was particularly impressed.
The author's pen is very clear, smooth and compelling. I couldn't put it away and so, I ended up devouring it in just 48h.

The characters are all well characterised and right from the start I empathised with Morgana, our protagonist.

Being a fantasy with adult romance there are spicy scenes. If you follow me on social media, you know how much I "hate" explicit sex scenes, so much so that I sometimes skip those parts, but in "Cards of Fate" I found them very enjoyable and not disturbing at all.

"Cards of fate" is a story about facing your fears and yourself, how far we go for love and how much control we have over destiny.

I loved this book from beginning to end. However, I feel like giving it an average rating because of the overly predictable ending.
3.5⭐/5

*Thanks to A. R. Kingston, Keen Quill Press and Netgalley for sending me the ARC copy of this wonderful fantasy in exchange for an honest review. *

unfortunately i did not finish this book, for several reasons. first, this is clearly a fantasy world, inspired by the middle ages. however the characters spoke like they would in our world which i could not stand and it was taking me out of the story. then the pacing was just too quick for me and it was a lot of telling, not a lot of showing. finally, the fact morgana and leo were already in love! i would’ve loved to witness them falling in love instead of being told and then realizing they couldn’t be together, etc.

This was not for me. I was excited to read another book based on the Tarot but unfortunately this one was just not what I was looking for. The writing was meh and just kind of all over the place.

Most of this story I absolutely loved! I love the world building,the magic,the romance. I loved how it was unique I’ve never quite read a book like this one before new ideas and the way the author brought the story to life was flawless. I enjoyed the journey to the demon king my only complain was the whole story was getting there. The author spent very little time once there and with the bombshell of who he was I felt like we needed more time now if we get a book 2 and spend more time there then this will become a 5 star for me!

The cover and overview of this book really has me excited. Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver. There were times I thought that it was going to finally change and deliver, but it kept faltering throughout.

Perhaps a rewrite and some additional work not his one could lead to it being republished and makes a difference, but sadly, I would not give it a read as the first shot sorely missed the mark for me.

Let me start by saying the idea of this book intrigued me, and the story has such great promise, I hadn't really read anything where tarot cards were assigned and pretty much set up your life so I was really excited for a new idea.

Unfortunately the book itself just didn't live up to the premise, I tried to like this book, I wanted to like it so much but there were so many inconsistent moments and dialogue.

While we're talking about the dialogue it just didn't make sense, the current or 90s slang terms in a book that's supposed to be set in a magical world just don't make sense to me, and make it really hard to get into the book.

I did finish the book, and while there were moments that held promise it was just a miss for me and I truly hate saying that.

This is unfortunately a two star read for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Keen Quill Press for providing a copy of this ebook, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I really couldn’t get into this story, I even put it down and then tried again a few days later, just to make sure it wasn’t just the day.
I found it near impossible to connect to the characters. The dialogue seems a little immature, especially considering some of the content.
Overall quite wooden. I think it had a lot of potential but it got lost

I just reviewed Cards of Fate by A.R. Kingston.

Cards of Fate by AR Kingston

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley for review. My opinions are my own.

2/5 stars

I want to start by saying I love the concept of this book. I am a fan of the witch and tarot theme. I love that each chapter is named after one of the tarot cards. I think that this book could be excellent.

I do not think this book was ready for publishing. I think that the dialogue needs work - much of it seems forced and a bit cringy. With a little work, this book could be fabulous and, I believe, would make a great series. The concept is that good.

Beautiful cover, promising synopsis, but the story itself is rather flat and disappointing.
2,5/5 ⭐

From the very first page, I felt that the writing style was not going to be quite right for me. In itself, if the story appeals to me super hard, I can still get over that while reading. Unfortunately, I also found it almost impossible to empathise with the characters and their behaviour. They all felt very immature (even though this book is not YA but adult). Between the love interests, any trace of chemistry was missing. Content-wise, the story felt rather flat and poorly thought out, many things just don't make sense. Furthermore, things just happened out of nowhere and were resolved within five minutes every time (You can actually even find a fixed pattern in it: a monster appears, they fight, they get injured, defeat the monster, "I thought I'd lost you", nurse their wounds and resume their journey again). The magic system has potential but is not sufficiently developed. The same goes for the tarot cards. I was so curious when I saw that these would play a major role, but actually almost nothing is done with them in the story. You also get hardly any explanation of how the cards work and what they mean.

The biggest plus for me were the chapter headings, these are really beautifully drawn.

So, in my opinion, this book definitely has potential and takes off from a nice idea. It is the execution that makes it not my cup of tea I guess.