A round of applause to the cover designer!

Now, let's talk about the story: young princess forced to marry a young prince to save her kingdom from an impending war, and in her push and pull, war arrives at their gates, and they've got to flee and suddenly she learns that the war is all about who wins and gets to stay in power longer, but what of her life? What of the lives of those she loves?

So, it's got a myriad of feelings and with a fast pace, you can't help but get from one sword fight to another to another conspiracy to another and so on.

It's entertaining, that's for sure. Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

At sixteen Princess Charlotte is betrothed to Prince Young. Being that age, she acts as one would or rather more childish.

As the story progresses, we jump back and forth between multiple POVs and POVs that aren’t really necessary. It felt thrown in and not well planned.

The overall story was good but choppy at some parts.

Kingdom Cold was a pleasantly nice surprise. When I came across the synopsis, I immediately wanted to read it. I didn’t expect the author to offer me an ARC, nor did I expect I would finish this book in one sitting! This self-published gem is truly one to put on your shelves.

The book revolves around Princess Charlotte, who is told by her mother that she is to be wed to Prince Young of Vires. She obviously does not want to go through with it, but when her kingdom is attacked, her hand in marriage is renegotiated to someone with ulterior motives. Charlotte finds that the only one she could turn to is Prince Young, and his brother, Prince Minseo.

Like previous reviewers mentioned, Brittni has a way of writing that always leaves readers wanting more. Her writing style is effortlessly easy to read, and I could vividly put myself in the place of the characters. While I love the fact that Prince Young and Minseo were Korean and Princess Charlotte black, I don’t really appreciate how skin color was regarded. This is an excerpt from the book:

“But the Princess of Besmium, like many of the courtiers in her kingdom, had a brown skin tone, which I’d only seen once as a child when the King of Besmium visited my father. I had asked to touch the king’s skin, only to be scolded by my father, though I was too young to understand why.”

“…I froze. I tried not to gape at her, but I couldn’t help but notice her caramel skin, which glowed a yellowish-gold in the candlelight..”

Reading these paragraphs made me feel weird, and it would’ve been fine had he just described the color of her skin. I personally don’t enjoy seeing skin tones being compared to food, usually, authors don’t shy away from stating ethnicities of their characters. I also hoped they would’ve put an emphasis on Korean culture as well. Some of the characters felt underdeveloped and the ending was a tad bit lackluster but other than that, I didn’t really have any other issue with the book! I love it for its unexpected twists.

Kingdom Cold is not your standard childish tale of romance. It was really written very nicely and I grew attached to the characters and their own trials and tribulations. The novel has a lot of action and emphasis on consent as well, which also took me by surprise. But ultimately, this book is a coming-of-age tale set in the fragile times of war.

This book had an interesting plot however, the it was a little bit lame and cliché. The cover was pretty although, I'm not quite sure how cherry blossoms fit into the theme of the story. I understand that the main character does not wish to marry though I am unsure how killing her betrothed would solve anything. There were some great/creative metaphors, similes and other language features which I thought were very clever however, I did find the rest of the story a bit lame.

Ubfortunately, I had to dnf this book at 33%. The anachronistic writing style, the lack of description, and flat characters made it difficult for me to continue. Hence, I cannot give more detailed feedback.

I really enjoyed this, yes the main character is very self centred but I found that more realistic given the age and I found it interesting, fast paced and fun. I can’t wait for the next book. An interesting fun read, great characters and good plot.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

3.5 stars.

My thoughts are as disjointed as unfortunately, this book is. The gorgeous cover drew me in, and the blurb seemed interesting, but I was immediately taken aback by the spoiled, childish nature of the heroine.

Unfortunately the remainder of the book, and the characters follow suit, their actions largely immature and fickle. I also didn't really follow the tie-in/reimagining of Arthurian legend, other than a bit of haphazard name dropping.

I remain slightly curious to see where the author is going with this, but hope for more consistently likable characters in the next installment.

An ARC was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

First off, I have to say that this cover is absolutely stunning! It matches the book very well, so props to the designer!

The book was a very promising premise and I was not disappointed. The book hooked me from the very first line.

Secondly, the book is written so amazingly. The author manages to have both beautiful prose and action-packed scenes down to a T. Her flow and style were so easy to visualize. The pacing of the story is also so well done. It's fast-paced and gripping from start to finish that I actually could not physically put this book down.

Lastly, the representation in the book was awesome! The main characters are of Asian and African descent which I really appreciated.

Brittni Chenelle is definitely on my radar after reading this. I will for sure be looking forward to other releases by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

First of all, I have to say that this cover is stunning! It captures the essence of the book very well, so props to the designer!

Brittni Chenelle is a very promising writer. Her style and flow were so easy and I really enjoyed the prose. This story was promising also, but I found I couldn't get on board with the characters, particularly Charlotte. I realize that the characters were supposed to read younger, as they were as young as 16. However, there was a pettiness about Charlotte I couldn't stand. She was snobby and annoying, and it made it difficult to read anything from her point of view.

The representation in this book was awesome! I understand the author lives in South Korea and is very influenced by the culture; it shines through in her writing. The cast of characters were diverse and colorful, which I appreciated.

Chenelle is on my radar after this read. Even though I may not have loved Kingdom Cold, I can't wait to see what else she writes in the future.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was just average.

The good
The story was interesting, and I did want to know what happened next. I could visualize the world that was built by the author's words.

The bad
I didn't care about any of the characters, and I'm fact didn't really like them. I wasn't invested in what happened to them. The main character was a spoiled girl with no interest in the Prince on one page. Then suddenly she was ready to sacrifice for him. Really?
The story felt rushed rather than action packed.

E-arc provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

Oh man, I quite enjoyed this book! I'm not gonna lie if I say that I was drawn by the design of the cover.
Though the book is fairly fast-paced and the plot is very interesting.
I have to admit that some of the characters fell short personally.
Also, the writing was not the best and that's why I decided to give 3 stars :/

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.


I wanted to desperately like this book. The cover was cute; the story sounded interesting and enticing, and the character’s where culturally diverse, but it didn’t sing for me, and that’s ok. Not all stories sing for every person who reads them.

The story follows a cast of royalty through an arranged marriage, betrayal, war, unrequited love, and then eventual marriage. There are many bumps on the way, much like a tamer and more kind version of Game of Thrones.

There are some excellent parts of this story. Firstly, Chenelle wrote a very diverse story culturally. The two leads of the novel, Prince Gray and Princess Charlotte are of Asian and African heritage respectively. I like that; I also like how Chenelle wrote the settings, memories, and environments of the characters reflecting those upbringings. It is not something you often see in literature, and it is not something you see done that isn’t ham-fisted. The author was not throwing up her diversity flag yelling, “hey look at what I did!” She wrote it with class and sensitivity as is befitting. The characters culture is not a thing, it is a part of who they are, and that is how it should be written.

Secondly, I liked the leads in the story, especially Gray. Gray changed and developed as a character; he became more of himself if that makes sense. I love his progression as a person and leader and felt like he was an exceptional counterpart to Princess Charlotte. Charlotte also demonstrated growth. She started the novel as a typical teenage child with ordinary problems and ended as a scarred, but more emotionally mature adult.

Thirdly, the love story was charming. I don’t want to give too much away, but as the story progresses and the characters mature the bond that develops between the personalities is written well and is lovely.

The good of the story did not outweigh what did not work for me. I had a difficult time with the points of view changing from chapter to chapter. On the one hand, the multiple points of view were there to lend many voices to the story and/or scene, but they sounded very similar in much of the book. So it became both confusing and repetitious. It did get better as the story progressed, but I found it difficult connecting with any one character aspect because of the shaky beginning.

Also, I found that the story lacked the necessary detail to build a clear picture of events. We hopped from moment to moment before I could get a visual representation of the scene in my head. Again, this led to a disconnection to the characters and the setting.

The plot progression was strange for me also. The events of this story could easily fill three books but are reduced down to a distilled short single book. This seems like an awful missed opportunity. It would have made a killer trilogy.

Brittni Chenelle wrote a solid YA love story. Although the story is plagued with technical problems like pacing, POV, and lack of detail, the central love theme was successful, and the ending comes as quite a shock. Give it a try. It wasn’t for me, but maybe it will be for you.