I unfortunately forgot to download the e-book on my kindle before it was archived and/or lost interest in the book because it’s been on my tbr for way too long, so I wasn’t able to read and review it (on time). Since I Must give a star rating, I’ve given it 3 stars to stay neutral/in the middle. Sorry to the publisher for not having gotten around to actually read it. I never request a book without the best of intention to read it and review it, since I know how important it is to the authors in particular. But sometimes life happens and/or reading preferences change so much that you just don’t always get around to read a certain book anymore, even though at the time of requesting I was definitely planning to actually read it of course.

Having not read the previous stories in the series, this threw you straight into the action.

Although the characters were well developed, for me there was too much dialogue and not enough action.

An easy read which left some open endings for last in the series.

Tons of fun! Such a wonderful world full of witches and monsters and mystical beings. The prose was great and I can't wait to pick up more by this author!

This is the third book in a series but I was able to read it as a standalone and enjoyed the majority of this story very much!

Two kingdoms, one wanting peace and the other going along with it for now, meet for a wedding between the two children of their rulers. The bride runs off with her lover, leaving her servant with the task of taking the fall. Instead, our brave girl finds the fiance and they race to find his bride before the peace evaporates.
Although it took me a bit to get into this book, I really loved the journey and love story. The magic was also beautifully done and the premise for a couple moments was a bit awkward but worked well in the end. I love the magic system and the foundation of learning and controlling said magic. The characters were easy to love and root for and although I probably wont read the series, I really did enjoy this book alone.

DNF. Interesting premise and worldbuilding, but the writing style just isn't working for me. The characters also didn't seem totally fleshed out to me. This isn't the first book in the series, but it is the first book with these characters as mains, so I feel like I should be able to see them more clearly than I did in the first few chapters. I do want to read more fantasy romance, so I might backtrack and see if the first book in the series reads differently to me.

Sadly this book just was not for me. I prefer more detail and world building in my fantasy. I will not be reading more from this series

When I saw the title and the cover, I said to myself - I found another gem.
Well, I am sorry to say, but I could not relate to the story. It was all over the place for me. I drag the book a bit. Attempted it twice, but finished it on a good note.
3 stars here.

I liked it, the pace of the story was good. But something about the wrting style did not work for me. I had trouble getting into it

The summary really drew me in with this one. I enjoyed the premise but the pacing felt off. I wish I had loved it more.

Nicely entertaining and steeped in fantasy, adventure and magic. A good way to spend the weekend reading!

The writing style just didn’t work for me, folks. It came across redundant (kept using some of the same words over and over) and mechanical. The dialogue didn’t seem to flow smoothly a lot of the time either. Forcing myself to read it became exhausting and frustrating. Here’s to hoping others enjoy this book. It just wasn’t as good as I had hoped.

(I voluntarily read and reviewed a free copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not given any payment or compensation for this review, nor is there any affiliation or relationship between this reviewer and the author/publisher/NetGalley.)

Where to start?

The cover is eye catching and fits well with the book.

I found that the pace was a bit slower than I like. It felt redundant at times. The characters and the chemistry just seemed a little off. I'm not particularly sure where I lost interest. It's a good story, maybe it just wasn't for me or my frame of mind at the time. I feel like that does change the way you look at things. I do wish the pace was better with maybe a bit more action and less dialogue.

Even though it's the last novel in a trilogy it seemed a stand-alone even if I assume I lost some backstory.
On a general level I liked it.
It's an easy read with interesting characters and a good world building.
It's a takes a bit before any action but I appreciated it because it helped me to get to know the character.
It was a quite good reading experience, entertaining and fun to read.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Theme: A romantic fantasy that shows the trials of true love, duty to your crown and accepting who you are.

Nature of Review: I was given an ARC to review via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: The Witch King, the third and final novel in the Witch King Trilogy, is set to release September 16, 2019. It is available on Amazon in ebook format only.

Warnings: Talk of sexual assault, captivity, abuse and slavery. Sexual content, language, violence.

Kyr is the son of one of the most famous warriors in the land, and is destined to marry a Princess for the safety of his people. Kyr believes his duty to his people is above all else, even his own happiness. But Kyr can’t help but wonder what will happen if his betrothed finds out his darkest secret: that he is the only known male witch in history.

Ciel is a slave, born and raised to serve Kyr’s future wife. But when the Princess runs away with her true love, Ciel is left to pick up the pieces. Even if it means dying for her Princess.

But Kyr needs Ciel in order to trick their families into believing the Princess ran off with Kyr, to give the pair time to find her and bring her back. As they journey to find the Princess, they face trials that will change the fate of their kingdom, and test Kyr and Ciel’s relationship with the people they love, and each other.

This story, although set in a fantasy world with an impending war, is primarily a romance. Which I absolutely loved, since I’m a sucker for adorable romance. The tension between Kyr and Ciel starts early, focusing on their connection during the entirety of the story, with the world and their responsibilities being the conflict for the first half of the book.

I was so in love with their growing love, and enamoured with their humble romance and then growing to love each other, flaws and all. This was in every sense of the word a story about these two characters.

So, around 60%, when the true action started (as is expected with the conclusion of a trilogy), I felt a little lost. The connection that I enjoyed so much in the first half of the novel was gone in the midst of war and action. It was a dropping point for me, going from these character’s journey of discovery to a war with all these other characters and problems building on them.

This is where the other books in the series, which I have not read, would have come full circle. But I just found myself wanting to know the end as opposed to enjoying the story at this point.

There were also some transitions that were confusing, where I did not know when Kyr’s POV and Ciel’s POV switched over, and sometimes it switched in the middle of a paragraph or scene. But other than that, the writing and world building was enjoyable and carried the story well.

Overall, I found this story to be a romance genre first, fantasy theme second. I absolutely loved the first half for this reason, and was disappointed when it switched near the ending.

If I had read the first two books, maybe the ending would have been more satisfying to read about, and maybe I’ll have to pick them up to know what happened before Kyr and Ciel. But I enjoyed this story, and it’s a good read for anyone who enjoys easy reading and romantic fantasy ebooks!

While The Witch King is perhaps not my favorite of the series, that would be book one, it is still a fitting conclusion to the series. Nancy Holland gives us Kyr, son of the warrior, Thalgor (Thalgor's Witch). His obedience to wed to secure peace falls into chaos as the story progresses. There is duplicity, secrets, dangers on an unplanned journey as well as friendship, family, and love. The romance builds between the Kry and Ciel, the slave and bride impersonator as they face the dangers on the path that they take.

Each book in the series shows growth in the actual writing style of the author. I just personally like the characters in the first book best. In The Witch King the characters are still interesting. There is also a balance between the action, adventure and romance. I enjoyed the series as a whole so I would recommend it to fantasy romance readers.

An ARC of the book was given to me by the publisher through Net Galley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Witch King is the third and final novel in The Witch King trilogy by Nancy Holland. The series has been a romantic fantasy; all set in the same world, but with different main characters each time. Though they all connect back to one another, naturally.
Kyr is the son of Thalgor and Erwyn (king and witch, respectively). Now he must do what others before him have done; compromise in the name of peace. For him, that means agreeing to marry a woman he doesn’t love. Only, it turns out that she’s less willing to compromise for the sake of her people.
Ciel is a slave, and one who doesn’t expect to live through this adventure. She would have preferred to stay out of this entirely but felt compelled to do what was right, no matter the cost. So when she had to decide between fleeing or delivering information that would surely result in her death, she opted to do the latter.

“He closed his eyes and looked into the murky future. What he saw surprised him, but once seen, it made sense. A perfect solution, in fact, if he could persuade the woman in front of him both of his power and the innocence of his motives.”

Warnings: The Witch King, like the first two novels in the series, touches upon some darker times in humanity. There is slavery, lack of rights, and sometimes abuse. Ciel herself, one of the main characters in this novel, is a slave. And she acts like one that has been poorly treated. It is painful to see at times. And may be uncomfortable for some.

The Witch King concludes the trilogy that Nancy Holland has been working for. Finally, we got to learn everything there was to know about this land, the people, and their mysterious Witch King. And along the way, we learned about two new characters; Kyr and Ciel.
In many ways, this novel felt like the darkest of the three. Perhaps that is because of one of the leading characters, Ciel. She felt more…downtrodden than the previous two female leads had been. And given her life, I can hardly blame her for feeling that way. But it did make some notes heavier.
I’m not sure how I feel about the series concluding, to be honest. On the one hand, I had been looking forward to this book. I desperately wanted more information on the Witch King they’ve been alluding to this whole time. On the other hand, I’m not sure I got all of the answers I wanted.
And this is certainly my preferences shining through, but I had trouble appreciating Kyr and Ciel’s relationship in this novel. I know it was meant to be a slow-growing romance, but it felt like the least romantic of the three novels. And the difference in power was disconcerting at times. Perhaps others would enjoy that subplot more though, so don’t take my opinion too heavily here.
One thing I absolutely adored about this book? The cover. It’s without a doubt my favorite of the three, which is saying something (they’re all quite striking). I wish we could see this style of artwork more frequently.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Nancy Holland, Tule Publishing, and Netgalley for providing the opportunity to review this copy.

I have read all three books in this series, and I can say that the author has grown in her writing. I hope she will continue or start a new series, so I can read more of her.

There were a few things I noticed in the book. The romance in this book was just not fundamental and it was lacking in substance. Although Holland has improved her writing, in my opinion, her romances has been lacking compared to the first book. Kyr and Ciel were expected to end up together, and they did. However, it felt like they barely knew each other and just met. There was no feeling of a deep level of romance or mutual understanding. I think this is why the romance was lacking and why I did not care for it at all.

Moreover, Holland has many great ideas but her problem is that she wants to put them all in. It is just to cramped and the ideas don't get enough "room" to properly evolve. Holland needs to choose between her ideas and leave it at a few. The book should have been twice as long to work all the ideas out. It was not a compelling or organized narrative. The same goes for the world and the ending. Just too many ideas.

Holland has improved over these three books, so I'm convinced that in the future her books will be even better. She still has so many ideas, so I won't be surprised if there will be more series coming out.

55 points, 3 stars

The Witch King is the final book in a fantasy romance trilogy. It has its place, and its demographic. However, for me personally I just ended up disappointed. I felt that the series promised more than the finale delivered on.

I have read all three books now, and Holland was still a newer author when book one came out. The best thing I can say is that Holland has definitely grown as an author in the time between books one and three. Technically better with every new book. I look forward to looking into her in the future to see where she grows into.

Unfortunately, I found that the biggest draw of the book, the romance, was completely lacking in substance. In fact, while Holland has improved her writing, she seems to have taken several steps backwards when it comes to the romances. Kyr and Ciel were expected to be together at the end of the book by Holland, and so they were. Absolutely no care was taken into bringing about this outcome. They essentially went on a long walk, and they were in love before they even took off. Even though they had barely just met each other and didn't know anything about each other. I just didn't care for the romance at all.

Holland also still has a problem with too many ideas in each book. The author has so many ideas that she wants to include that she can't choose so she adds them all. Which ends up with each idea crowding out the last idea she had and everything running on top of each other. Which left me feeling like everything was half finished. It felt like the book should have been twice as long to flesh out all the ideas she had. It just didn't lead to a very compelling narrative.

Which was the same problem I had with the world and the ending. Too many ideas. Too many things set up that just didn't go anywhere. And not enough work put into everything.

However this was still readable. I think Holland will become even better in the years to come. I wouldn't be surprised if this series ended up with a spinoff, though. Holland clearly has a lot of ideas that she wants to write about when it comes to this world.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Nancy Holland, Tule Publishing, and Netgalley for providing the opportunity to review this copy.

First I was not aware that this is the 3rd book in a trilogy prior to reading. Having said that I think there was a lot back story I was missing when reading (ie the story of the witches, particularly the end results of a war and rules that are associated with using magic/killing). So I’ll start by saying this is not really a stand alone novel.

The book is also very very predictable and should not be labelled as anything but a romance novel. Nothing that happened in the story was surprising or interesting and I spent the first 3rd of it just dying for the main characters to just get together and get it over with! A lot of fast marriages and I love yous, a slave raises herself up to become a leaders husband and doesn’t do anything he says even though she loves him and she was an obedient servant for years, a warrior who’s secretly a witch man who’s never killed anyone(?).....a “bad guy” who wants to use and throw away his slave half-sister (it’s also not clear how the slave is still a virgin when she makes reference to her brother doing things to her for her whole life) ..it’s just a lot of eye-rolling and glossed over battles and quick acceptance of the information thrown at the reader.

I regret that I may have a more positive and different perspective if I had of read the first 2 books in the trilogy....maybe I would be more invested in the characters and care more about what is happening to them....

I wanted to love this book. The premise was so interesting- a former slave/servant and a warrior trying to save peace between their people after the woman he was going to unite with runs off with her lover. Magic, adventure, secrets - so my jam. Sadly it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

This book was clearly connected to two other books, but it truly did standalone. Reading the other books might have helped to orient you to the world, but I wasn’t left with a desire to go back and read them.

I think the book had a lot going on but nothing happening. I also couldn’t get in to the romance. I just didn’t feel the connection between them.