Member Reviews

In a world overrun by Beauty and the Beast retelling I found The North Wind to be a worthy but typical offering.

I didn't find anything inherently wrong here but the story is one readers have read time and time again. That made it an uphill climb for the author to really capture my attention. The Characters and plot all felt somewhat recycled from other tales and staying engaged and empathetic to Wren was somethings I personally struggled with.

I would be interested to see what this author would do with something wholly original...the writing was done well enough that I will look for future titles to explore!

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I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, but I was immediately drawn in by the vibes - a touch of Greek mythology and Beauty and the Beast. The slow burn, enemies to lovers really worked for me, Wren was not a completely likable character but it worked in this context. She had her own vices and imperfections and the North Wind was a well written tortured, misunderstood “villain”.
I do feel like it all wrapped up too neatly in the end, but the final chapter from North Wind’s perspective was so delightful and fun.

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Thank you to Saga Press for this review copy! My opinions are my own.

3.5

In the town of Edgewood, there is no shortage of suffering. The supplies are becoming scarce and with the looming threat of Darkwalkers appearing more and more, the people are scared.
Wren has always put her sister’s well-being ahead of her own. So, when the cruel immortal god, The North Wind, comes into town and chooses Wren’s sister to take as bride, Wren sets out a plan to take her place.
When she arrives at The North Wind’s citadel in the Deadlands, she has one goal- to kill the North Wind. However, over time she finds that her new husband might not be as cruel as she may have thought him to be..


When I first started reading this, I wasn’t completely sure what to think of it. I found Wren impulsive and completely reckless. I wasn’t a fan. However, that quickly changed the further into the book I got. What I didn’t like about Wren made complete sense with where the storyline was going. By the end of the book, she was my favorite character, and her fearlessness/stubbornness is one of the traits I love about her. She’s tough and her never-back-down attitude was a highlight of the book.

The romance is a slow burn and was well done. It felt organic and not pushed on us as readers.

This wasn’t a perfect book by any means. There are unresolved plots that I wish were resolved.

Overall, I recommend this to those who love enemies to lovers, found family, and a Beauty and the Beast retelling!

I’m excited to read book two!

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"The North Wind" by Alexandria Warwick is an enchanting retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," infused with Greek mythology. The story follows Wren, who bravely takes her twin sister Elora's place as the North Wind's sacrifice. Instead of being sacrificed, Wren becomes the North Wind's wife, much to his displeasure. She plots his downfall with the God of Spring, leading to a tale rich in humor, warmth, and spice. The novel masterfully blends pantheon gods into the retelling, creating a unique and engaging narrative.

Warwick's world-building and character development stand out, particularly in Wren's dynamic relationship with her sister and the cold, distant Boreas. Wren is a fierce and flawed heroine, while Boreas, the North Wind, slowly reveals layers beyond his initial cruelty. Their slow-burn, hate-to-love romance is well-crafted, filled with witty banter and genuine emotion. While the ending may feel a bit rushed and overly sentimental, the overall journey is captivating, making "The North Wind" a delightful read for fans of magical realism and mythological retellings.

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“Maybe we an be alone together.”
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick. This is a Beauty and the Beast inspired, enemies to lovers fantasy romance, and it definitely hits the mark. That description alone is what caught my attention. This story follows Wren, a village girl trying to survive the endless cold winter of Edgewood, doing everything she can to ensure her and her sister, Elora, survive the winter. When the North Wind enters the village to choose one woman, taken captive for reasons unknown, Wren will do whatever it takes to protect her sister, even if that means she has to make the biggest sacrifice to do so. Wren’s character is stubborn, strong, and witty. I appreciated the main characters developments and the banter between them kept me entertained. Wren meets some interesting characters along the way, portraying the importance of patience, love, and understanding. But of course with that comes struggle, disappointment and heartache. The story can feel like a slow burn at times and I do wish certain parts of the story were expanded on more, but it wasn’t enough to distract me from the story. There was a little bit of spice, but not too much for those who aren’t super into it. Some parts felt awkward but the romance in the story was definitely there. I thought the story had a great heart warming ending, and I can’t wait for the second book in the series. Not to mention the cover art is gorgeous. I have to give this one a 4/5 ⭐️

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Describing this book as inspired by beauty and the beast as well as Hades and Persephone is honestly pretty accurate and it’s safe to say I ate it up. The enemies to lovers was so good you could cut their tension with a knife and it’s safe to say the slow burn paid off. This book is perfect if you like ROMAntasy books (that focus more on the romance than on the world building). However I still really enjoyed the world that was created in this book and the picture that was painted. Side characters like Orla were great and definitely reminded of the side characters in B&B. I appreciate the character development in both Wren and the Frost King and every time he called her “Wife” I screamed. The epilogue was also really heartwarming and endearing and I’m glad we got to see that side of their relationship.

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This is a perfect read for lovers of ACOTAR, touch of darkness and plated prisoner series. A story of hades/persephone and beauty and the beast with some hot and heavy romance 🤤

Wren, a stubborn and resourceful heroine volunteers herself to the North Wind (aka the king of the dead/hades) to save her younger sister from being the King’s sacrificial bride in return for protection from the demons horrible ice age which seems to creep upon the town.

While Wren expects a dark, broody and cruel king, she is surprised with life in the underworld and all the hidden secrets of her husband and the realm itself.


I really enjoyed this read and the relationship building and world building was phenomenal. Honestly, the side characters are what made me stay…that and the steamy romance towards the end 😏

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Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for the eGalley to review!

If you love a slow burn, forced proximity, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance with a ton of yearning from both sides, brooding, and not one but TWO There's Only One Bed scenes, in the style of Beauty and the Beast involving the Four Winds of Greek mythology, then this is certainly for you.

Admittedly, at first I didn't think I was going to like this one much, as it doesn't start out very strong, in my opinion, and while Wren is headstrong and fiercely independent, she is quite exasperating not just for Boreas/the Frost King/the North Wind, but for me as the reader. Boreas himself has his flaws but at least they're in the god-who-has-poor-social-skills realm. He broods and is the classic misunderstood softie type--an easy swallow (plus he gets a super cute trying-his-best epilogue). Wren, on the other hand, is so narrow-minded in her focus on killing him (and any of her adversaries for that matter) that she never stops to think of any real solutions to any of her or her world's problems. Eventually she (mostly) comes around, but I'll bet I sighed as often as Boreas did in response to her actions.

Their romance is certainly the star of this story, though. I swooned *hard* reading it. Granted, this is my cup of tea, but woof are they poster faces for the tropes they're representing. There's even a cute in-text reference to Hades and Persephone in one scene, a romance that inspired this one. Which makes it sad that everything else happening in the story is merely set dressing or is only there as a stepping stone to their melting hearts. The stronger bits of lore are those borrowed from Greek mythology, which makes sense as it's highly transferable. Yet there's a whole subplot of "darkwalkers" (corrupted souls) invading the realm that is only really there to interrupt their revelatory moments (or cockblock them, if I'm being really honest) and to provide just enough outside conflict to have a subplot at all. It always lasts about a chapter or so, though, the real conflict of focus being that of Wren's battle with her own feelings as she grows into caring for and loving Boreas after unfairly hating him so much.

If you're into that passionate mutual pining and some really steamy scenes (be prepared for some graphic sex!), I encourage you to pick this one up. I'm curious about the other three Anemoi (the brothers of Boreas) as this is but one of the four planned for the series, but this is quite a high bar for any subsequent romances. Zephyrus, the West Wind, is featured heavily in this story and he did intrigue me; his book is coming soon as of the posting of this review. I only hope the lore gets fleshed out better.

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While the book had some interesting elements which originally drew my attention to it, it ultimately fell flat for me. It took me over a month to finish as I kept picking it up and putting it down.

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An interesting concept but it just didn’t really pull through for me! I didn’t find myself connecting well with Wren so I struggled in many parts of the book.

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The North Wind is described as Hades + Persephone meets Beauty and the Beast, and it gives just that. It felt very nostalgic in that sense. The slow burn was slow burning to the point that the bits of spice that I was carefully fed left me giddily screaming in bed haha. Predictable, but not in a bad way. Great character development and multi-faceted characters. Would recommend!

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There's something I find very comforting about a Hades x Persephone or Beauty and the Beast retelling. They typically aren't anything revolutionary, but the story always has great bones, and I generally have a pretty good time. This book was absolutely no exception. It did what I wanted a good Hades x Persephone retelling to do, to have a true enemies to lovers storyline. It bothers me a lot when the "enemies" portion is done halfway, and this book doesn't have this problem! They genuinely dislike each other, and it's a slow burn. So when the payoff happens, it's really satisfying. The characters were diverse and well fleshed out, and really seemed 3 dimensional, and the worldbuilding was really lush and atmospheric.

The only reason I'm not giving this 5 stars is it didn't do anything I haven't seen before, however the things it did it did well.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC of this book! I'm very glad I was able to read it.

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~ Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review ~

I loved the premise of this book, and I feel like it mostly delivered. It was hard for me to get into it initially, but once I did it got a lot better. It’s a sort of Beauty and the Beast retelling with some Hades and Persephone in there as well. I think that I did get those vibes, but it felt very isolated and kind of lost the plot for a minute towards the middle. There was nowhere near as much romance as I was expecting, however it is an enemies to lovers with the story only spanning the one book since the rest are focused on the other brothers, so there is only so much time to be spent on it. I was still a little disappointed at how little of the book had Wren and Boreas on like the same team, but hopefully we will see more of them in future books.

I’m still a little confused how the big bad villain was able to control the darkwalkers and the reveal wasn’t a huge surprise, but I am looking forward to seeing this person in later books and how they will come back from being such a bad person.

There were a lot of good things about this book that I liked. Wren is a pretty solid character, and I loved seeing her grow as a person. Boreas had his funny moments, and I enjoyed getting to see some of the other mystical beings that are in existence. The doors in the castle sound so cool! I wish I could have endless hallways of these doors myself, it would be so so so so fun to have those.

Before I mention the ending and some spoilers, let me say that this book is totally worth reading. It is a good book and perfect if you like strong female leads and frustrating male romantic partners (he gets better), and it would be an especially good book for fall given the whole underworld theme. I’m excited to read future books in the series and see how the writing and plot improves!

The ending! Oh, how I hated it. Be aware of * SPOILERS* , but I can’t not talk about the ending. I don’t entirely hate the whole ending- they end up together and have kids and it’s cute, he bakes her a cake, I love that stuff. But him giving up his powers?? Is that going to be the ending for every one of these books? Because how are the other three seasons supposed to have their guy in charge but not winter? Do we really need these guys if winter is going to happen anyways? I feel like this gave me more questions than answers, and overall I’m just never a fan of when main characters lose their powers. Also what is going to happen to their children? Lots of questions, and they may be answered in future books with the other brothers as the focus!

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I LOVE retellings and this one did not disappoint! To be honest, I forgot it was a retelling and just fell in love with the characters and world based on their own merit! The spice was great if you like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, knife to throat… you know, the basics 🥵

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I was really intrigued by this premise. I continued to be intrigued by Wren and her past and struggle, however, about a quarter of the way in my interest began to wane. There was a lot separating the MC's and a lot of unexplained lore. Not having a lot of context on the God's existence made it hard to stay in the story. I also felt the epilogue was unnecessary and did not fit the characters. I wanted to love this one but unfortunately did not.

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Wow. What a great read. At first I thought it was identical to A Court of Thorns and Roses and didn’t even really want to keep reading but I’m so glad I did. The enemies to lovers was done so well and the slow burn. I loved Wren and Borias together so much. I was so glad her sister came around as well and apologized for how she acted. Wren was a mess at the beginning of the book and I loved watching her grow into herself and find a purpose other than caring for her sister. The way she just stepped right into battle was amazing. I also loved that Borias got his happy ending and got to be human again. I hope there is another book after this one.

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A slow start romantasy however Boreas and Wren are far from the typical Hades and Persephone retelling. Wren is witty and suffers with alcoholism and both characters gain each others trust by learning and growing from past trauma together. Spoiler warning:


Love that there's an epilogue with a glimpse into their real life. My least favorite part is when the main characters find their "forever" and you don't get to see the mundane life baking a cake. :)

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What a disappointment…

I was provided eARC by publisher through NetGalley and this review is purely my own opinion.

It started pretty strong and I was so intrigued by the storyline, the world was so different and descriptive. Even it bothered me how Wren is Feyre wanna be (acotar) the story was way similar to acotar in the beginning maybe that’s why it was good in first 25% of the book. Characters and their backstory would be interesting but author couldn’t execute it properly. it was totally waste of time and energy.

In the beginning it started too strong and pacing was strong after 25% mark I was bored out of my mind, literally nothing happened I don’t know author tried to give us a story buildup but story structure wasn’t there, execution was so poorly done. Love story didn’t even start in 50% mark!? (That’s not how slow burn works) I thought this was romantasy!? I was reading different boring days, days after days with Boreas and Wren and build up was so poorly done. Despite of authors writing which is pretty good but the way she executed was very frustrating. I pushed myself to read literally every day and it took almost a month to finish it. I have never struggled to read any book like this before. I was going to dnf it but this is eARC so I pushed myself to finish it. (and I literally never dnf books) What a waste of time and energy. It was literally no plot and nothing to be excited or looking forward to. Romance was dry. Characters were boring. I couldn’t make any connection with the storyline and I was counting pages to finish so I can read a new book. I truly hated it. Even 2 star is generous.

FMC was unbearable and annoying. Her story could’ve been so deep and impactful which had a depth to it but as I said it was a waste of potential and the way it was written.

MMC was cool I guess. Romance was so weird no build up no banter no connection. I was in 70% in and still waiting something to happen other than food porn 😒 seriously it was so bad.

Book got excited and readable in last 85% and it’s literally sad that first 25% book and last 85% was only part worth reading for. It’s sad how much of a waste this book is.

I hated the day I requested this book on NetGalley and I am pretty sure I am not gonna read any ARC in a while because of this book! wheeww 🙄😒

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The North Wind has been on my TBR for such a long time and I’m glad I received an eARC and was finally able to dive in!

This was a pretty good fantasy romance. The North Wind follows Wren of Edgewood who is struggling to survive and take care of her twin sister. For hundreds of years the land they reside in has been encased in ice and surrounded by a barrier known as the shade, which protects Edgewood from the Deadlands. The shade begins to weaken, and the only thing that can restrengthen it is for The Frost King to take a woman from Edgewood and sacrifice her to the shade.

The Frost King arrives and selects Wren’s twin sister Elora as his sacrifice. Wren, being a protector, drugs Elora with a sleep tonic and takes her place as the sacrifice only to find that things aren’t what she was brought up to believe once she arrives to The Frost Kings citadel in the Deadlands.

I thought this was a good book! This book has betrayal, secrets, magic, witty banter, and a slow burn romance to top it all off. I will say I rated it lower because it seemed to be long for what it was. There was a lot of filler and it took me a bit to get through because I was kind of bored at times.

One thing I loved was the banter between Boreas and Wren. I continuously found myself laughing out loud while reading their dialogue! Overall, a decent read and I think I may pick up book 2 when it’s out.

Thank you to NetGalley, Saga Press and Alexandria Warwick for the eARC of The North Wind, available now!

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I liked Boreas, The North Wind. I felt that he had a lot of potential. I have mixed feelings about Wren. I liked her strength, snarkiness, and her compassion. Other times, she made bad decisions and trusted the wrong people. I also wanted a bit more history / world-building. Definitely a slow-burn.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC.

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