Wow, I really loved this one!!! It’s very much a slow burn, with a somewhat simple plot line, which made it easier to take in the different culture and court life described. I loved the two main characters and the way their mental health was explored. And the romance was just amazing, it was so palpable and well written!!


🌈 Queer rep: gay MM main couple (bi/pan), queer side characters, established third gender/non gender in society (using çe/çir pronouns)

This book is absolutely beautiful. The writing is very immersive and lyrical without being too flowery. The slow burn romance was satisfying and organic in a way that you definitely felt the falling on all sides. There's also really great political/court intrigue in this to keep it moving forward. Also the anxiety rep in this was fantastic and incredibly relatable. Queer love story that just gets it.

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. The pining, the angst, the romance in general absolutely killed me (in a good way). The characters were amazingly developed and so so likable. I was worried that the author would go a certain way with one character (Tadek) but she didn’t which made the story so much better. Kadou and Evemer’s relationship was so well-developed and believable; their devotion, respect, and love for one another really touched my heart. And the world building was done very well with the world being unique in how important the currency was. This is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year!

Thank you Netgalley and TOR/Forge publishers for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I typically love a lot of books that Macmillan/TOR/Forge have graciously provided via ARCs. However, this was an outlier.

I wanted to so badly love this novel. It's MLM romcom and a new fantasy novel all rolled into one. Yet, I thought for the exposition portion of this novel, nothing much was happening. I love a good slow-burn romance, if there was one, but I was rather bored. I put down and picked up this novel a few times and nothing sucked me back into the novel.

I think the world building had some missing points that could've been addressed better. It wasn't as immersive or built up initially that some commentary pulled me away from the plot as I tried to understand more of the world.

Given some side characters' actions, the main couple's chemistry felt a little forced and otherwise not smooth lined with the rest of the plot.

I'm disappointed to know this novel didn't work for me, but I'm looking forward to what new publications are coming up for TOR/Forge publishers.

My first book delving back into high fantasy this year of course had to have a very sweet romance and a touch of disability representation. As a reader, I immediately connected with Kadou as a fellow individual who suffers from "cowardice," which seemingly serves as a stand-in for anxiety and possibly OCD, albeit minor. The characters connect with each other well as the story unfolds. The conflict and events that occur are overshadowed by the personalities of Kadou and Evemer,  and even Tadek, which are allowed to grow and develop as these men come to understand each other.

A royal with a bodyguard romance with political intrigue and it's a slow burn. I love it very swoon worthy.

"A Taste of Gold and Iron" by Alexandra Rowland is a beautifully written fantasy romance that is sure to captivate readers with its vivid world-building and engaging characters.

Rowland's writing is poetic and lyrical, with descriptions that transport the reader to the richly imagined world.

But it is the characters that truly shine in this book. Kadou is a charming and complex protagonist, who struggles with his duty to his kingdom and his growing feelings for Evermer.

The romance between the two is beautifully rendered, with a slow-burn that is both sensual and emotional. Rowland's exploration of love and its many facets, including sacrifice and acceptance, is heartfelt and poignant.

Overall, "A Taste of Gold and Iron" is a stunning and memorable fantasy romance that is sure to delight fans of the genre. While the pacing may be slow for some readers, the rich world-building and complex characters make this book an all-time favorite and a must-read for fans of fantasy romance.

A Taste of Gold and Iron is nothing but queer romantasy magic at its finest. The magic system in this book is complex in its simplicity and completely unique to the culture of Arasht. It was fascinating seeing the different levels of skill of the magic users--those who can touch gold and feel its components and its authenticity--and how their abilities contribute to their society. Alexandra Rowland has crafted an incredible and vast world with so many possibilities, I truly appreciate that they took the time to properly build up the world with its different regions, cultures and peoples. (The politics in this book was seriously so intricate and that gave this book so many more layers.)

Besides the fantasy aspect and the fascinating worldbuilding of A Taste of Gold and Iron, I was enraptured by the slow burn romance between Kadou and Evemer. From a one-sided hate to love, the organic shift of feelings was so tangible even I was caught up with their emotions. It was also really fascinating seeing how Evemer went from just being obligated to protect Kadou as a royal to being completely devoted to him. I also liked that there was a conversation on mental health and how it affected Kadou's life, given the fact that the setting was more traditional than contemporary.

I've been a fan of Alexandra Rowland since their AO3 days and now that I've read their original works, I'll continue being a fan. Looking forward to seeing what else they have in store for us next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for an eARC of this book

I had such high hopes for this book. It was sold as everything I wanted in a fantasy book. And while I have seen some of the criticism about this book, I absolutely adored it. I devoured it. Also, the audiobook is so good.

I’m a sucker for a slow burn romance about people having to get to know each other and forced proximity is something I adore. I know it’s not for everyone and I know that a lot of people didn’t like that Evemer pretty much just said “highness” for a lot of the beginning of the book, but having a character be able to express so many layers of emotion in one single word just gets me. I can just imagine all the different ways intonation made the same word have so many different meanings.

I also really enjoyed Kadou’s character. He was so riddled with anxiety that he felt so badly about himself and put himself in difficult situations, but he was actually incredibly smart and useful in ways he didn’t even realize. I felt for him and I thought his internal dialogue was really heart wrenching as someone who deals with anxiety too. All those little moments where he was unsure of what to do or say, or worried that he did someone to make someone upset and I felt that.

The way my brain works the time line of books doesn’t really matter to me. I don’t really care if 5 days have passed or if 5 months have passed because I can’t keep track of it when reading anyway, so I liked that it felt like time was moving without me needing to pay attention to specific passages of time.

Overall, I devoured this book. It was fun and once the action picked up I was desperate to know what happened to Kadou and Evemer. I just adored how the two of them developed their relationship over time and I loved all the silent pining. I don’t even know what else to say because this book was just so so fun and I needed something fun and that sucked me in.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book, and I purchased it to keep on my shelf. I liked that it was inspired by the Ottoman Empire, something that I find uncommon in fantasy books. I fell in love with the characters and was pulled in by the court intrigue, the mystery, and the world building. My only issue was that the magic/fantasy aspect didn't feel solidified in the world. It was used minimally, and it didn't feel like it was important. It was interesting and a good idea, but I wish that it was fleshed out a little more. I hope to read more from this author and more set in this world.

This was one of the most unique novels I've ever read. I enjoyed the politics, worldbuilding and characters so much. I dragged my feet when it came to finishing this book because I didn't want to leave these characters and their stories behind. Kadou's anxiety felt very real to me and weirdly comforting. I kept comparing my own anxiety to his, though my panic attacks are nowhere as violent and sudden as his. I also loved the idea that he found people that could help him through his anxiety, even though they were technically in service to him. The romance was by far the best part about the book and I loved every tropey moment of it. Thank you so much for allowing me to read this and I can't wait to read more in his world.

3.5 stars

**ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.**

Basics
genre: fantasy, romance, LGBT, MM romance
setting: fantasy city Arasht, where princes can touch-taste precious metals
Kadou (mMC): the shy, anxious prince of Arasht investigating guild break-ins
Evemer (mMC): Kadou's stoic bodyguard, a specially-trained khayalar

Pros
+ The royal family structure is fascinating! For example, the queen's child's father isn't automatically the king, he's instead known as the body-father of the queen's child ONLY if the queen acknowledges him as such. It keeps the power in the queen's hands, no matter who she sleeps with.
+ slow-burn romance
+ queerness normalized in society
+ hate to love
+ chronic anxiety rep in Kadou
+ kissing to avert suspicion (I live for this trope)
+ hurt/comfort trope
+ oaths of fealty
+ only one bed
+ hair washing

Cons
- The "mystery" they were trying to solve was really obvious.
- The antagonist was really underdeveloped, which led to this being a really unbalanced narrative.
- The final resolution was over before I realized it.
- I don't even know if we needed the antagonist at all. The friction between the 2 MCs probably could have carried this story on its own.

Comp Titles: Captive Prince trilogy by C.S. Pacat (the bodyguard/prince m/m romance GOAT)

TW: chronic anxiety

Confirmed canon on page ace rep! I’m even more hyped!

Okay so there was only one ace character and they were a minor side character…disappointing.

However overall 3.5, rounded up for goodreads.
This was an interesting queer normative read with a matriarchal system and some interesting world building concepts. Nothing really happened though and everything was quite easily wrapped up or solved. The magic system was cool but barely explored which was disappointing for a book that seemed to go on forever.

I enjoyed it well enough and I enjoyed the fact the MC had anxiety and panic attacks which were well represented on page. However, as someone who has anxiety it’s actually very hard to read someone having anxiety. The circular thoughts don’t really help a narrative very much because, by nature, they are circular and hold you back. I actually feel that some of this would have been better told in more than one book with more plot included so it felt less circular?

At the end, the main couple were sweet and anything sexy was mostly implied or not in extreme detail which I preferred. This definitely feels like it’s trying to be captive prince a bit?
I am more interested in the world though and I have discovered there’s another series set in the world so this may be why some of the world building felt a bit lacking.

Also want to add that Alexandra does headship quite a bit randomly within same chapters with no indication which can be very jarring.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2023 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2023/01/2023-reading-list-announced-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

I loved this one--highly recommended. If you're in the mood for high fantasy political intrigue mixed with romance, which I always am, then this is the perfect book. As far as I know, it's a stand-alone. For fans of the Graceling series by Kristin Cashore, the Thief series by Megan Whelan Turner, and Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell.

All-Time Favorite, 5 stars

'You're not getting paid for this! ...You know that, don't you?'
'I'm getting paid as we speak,' she said with a grin...'I'm getting paid in chaos.'

I completely fell head over heels in love with this book. In this we follow Kadou, the brother of the sultan, a prince who desperately wants to do the right thing for everyone and who suffers from intense anxiety and panic attacks. We also follow Evemer, a straight laced khayalar, or trusted body guard who was just assigned to the prince after a diplomatic incident. Kadou is assigned to unravel a counterfeiting plot and things get difficult from there. Of course, this is a fantasy romance, so romance ensues along with the political complications.

This book is incredibly slow burn, but it is done so well. It is a bodyguard romance, but that is also done really well. I didn't realize how well the power dynamics could be done until I read this book. I feel like in other bodyguard romances that I've read, that part is sort of glossed over, and I loved them, but this may have ruined me for all bodyguard romances going forward because it just did it so WELL!

In addition to the bodyguard romance there are some other wonderful tropes that I absolutely love:
- opposites attract (disaster & order)
- one bed
- washing each other's hair
- misunderstanding to lovers
- a few others that would be too spoilery to include

There are several other things that were so well done about this book:
- there is fantastic mental health representation. Kadou deals with really intense anxiety, and I appreciated the journey that the characters in this book took to understand what was going on with that and the nuance with which that journey was handled. It is both the perception of others that undergo a transformation and Kadou's own self-perception.
- there is just fantastic representation, period. We have all different sexual orientations represented in a queernorm world, so that was lovely
- the world building was really well done. It was never over the top or info-dumpy but it was a very cool world
- the side characters are really delightful! Tadek is one of my favorites, and every time I laughed it was because of him.

I'd say that my only complaint is that I feel like the side characters beyond Tadek were a bit flatter than I would have liked, but they were still good characters and fit the story well. I also feel like the mystery that we were investigating was pretty straightforward and perhaps a bit too tidily solved. However, I would one hundred percent be willing to return and follow Zaliha as she navigates motherhood, sultanhood, and hopefully finds her person too!

Overall, I am very sad that it took me so long to read this, but I am absolutely delighted that I ended up loving it. Another book to add to my collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I apologize that it took so long to get to it. I got behind on reviews due to life stuff.

Multiple POV which worked very well for the story. Lots of different rep. Lots of world building. Thoroughly enjoyed reading

A Taste of Gold and Iron takes a little bit to get going, but overall it is an intense sweeping debut of courtly intrigue, betrayal, #drama, and romance. Evermer and Kadou are really just so cute, and the unexpected trope of marriage of necessity had me absolutely rolling. Half of this book was me screaming JUST CONFESS YOUR FEELINGS ALREADY!!!

Alexandra Rowland's 'A Taste of Gold and Iron' is a sweeping fantasy with a wonderful romance and high stakes. Rowland's story perfectly blends the romantic and political intrigue elements, which makes for quite the page-turner. The chemistry between the two leads was palpable on every page. Highly recommend!

Queer fantasy featuring bodyguard tropes? Sign me the heck up! The fantasy aspect of the plot was a bit unoriginal and predictable but the romance and chemistry between the MCs alone make it worthwhile!