Wow. This book took me on a JOURNEY! Queen of Myth & Monsters was a roller coaster of a book and had so many twists & turns I had no idea were coming. The ending of this book dropped me on my ass and left me to deal with it! I was so shocked that I actually gasped out loud. I was not expecting it to be over like that!
Adrian and Isolde together are a force to be reckoned with. I loved see them together and getting a glimpse into Adrian's head. They are like a wild fire together.
"The world is afraid of powerful women." There is a big theme of power in women and how men want to take it away. It's something that's been happening in our world since the start and something we continue to face. It's empowering to see Isolde handle this in this series. I can't wait to see what happens next!
Thank you to Scarlett St. Clair and her team for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a difficult review to write. While I did genuinely enjoy 'Queen of Myth and Monsters' I'm not sure I could read it again. The whole book was one emotional gut-punch after another, a constant intense rollercoaster of information and emotion. Scarlett St. Clair's writing is always good and she grows with every book but goodness I was a mess after! Not sure if I'll read the next one right as it comes out, I need to sit on this one a while.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

For me, this is slightly more interesting than the first book in the series. We exchange court intrigue for the battlefield (which, incidentally, encompasses the court when monsters wreak havoc). The sex-to-plotline ratio is more even too, even though it still feels like the sex is just thrown in for fun in some scenes. But the lack of characterization and depth in the story still plague the sequel, and the various threads become hard to follow.

Those who loved the first book would enjoy this and wouldn't mind the lack of closure. It was entertaining enough for me, but I'm not sure I'm invested enough to read a third book in the series.

This book was everything I hoped for! I can't wait to find out the rest of Isolde's story, and I hope she gets her own version of a happy ending, whatever that entails for her!

Scarlett has done it again! I’ve always loved Scar’s writing but this was another level.
One of my favorite things about her writing is the fact that so much research and love goes into her books. The myth, the lore like all of it that goes into the world building of this is incredible. And outside of the spice, I think that it’s my favorite part of this.

What a lovely second to this series. It’s devastatingly beautiful, but did we really expect anything less? It broke my heart and put it back together.

Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley and the author for this free arc in exchange for an honest review. Truly, honestly perfect. This was one of my highly anticipated reads of the year and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT! Please everyone drop what you’re reading and go read this masterpiece when it releases!

I really love this series. The characters are everything and I love the amount of passion and conflict this brings the reader.

The story is unfolding really well and it has tons of things to keep your interest throughout. Whilst this book is definitely the 'filler' for the next book, it wasn't painful to read. It was great to see the character developments and the shock character betrayals throughout.

I loved how both main characters interact and are coming into their own too, and I really love how the spice adds to the story rather than being the entire plot.

I'm really excited to continue following this series and I can not wait to read the next instalment!

Thank you for my ARC

Queen of Myth and Monsters picked up right were King of Battle and Blood ended. I really enjoyed book on in this series and although it contained a lot of the same elements: fighting and making up, sex, and violence, it wasn't nearly as entertaining.

After a while it became repetitive and even the steam could not save the story from dragging a bit. It felt like a filler between book one and three. I will definitely read book 3 because I want to see Adrian and Isolde get their HEA, but this was just an okay read for me.

As someone who did not read the first book in the series, I felt I was missing key information. Although, I enjoyed the plot, not knowing the back story hindered my ability to truly enjoy the character development. The book was also more graphic/explicit (violence and sex) than I was expecting. The main characters, Isolde and Adrian, do not seem to have a relationship outside of sexual desire. I would have liked to see a deeper love.
The secondary characters were more interesting and kept me guessing. This book's ending is set up for another installment.

It is no secret that I love Scarlett St. Clair. Part of that love is due to the fact that she never fails to surprise me. Ever. I reread KBB before starting this book and am so glad that I visited Revekka before I fell into this follow up. In my mind, KBB was the romance we wanted to get us hooked and QMM is the follow up that changes everything. It's got twists and turns and unexpected moments that kept me reading even when I knew I should do other things. It left me dying for more and a little haunted by everything that goes down in this book. You know it's a good one when you still have feelings days later.

1. Read the content warnings.
2. Read the authors note (this adds so much to the book)
3. Be prepared to want so much more.

Good book! This is the second in the series, great storyline. It’s a different take on vampires, good characters. Fast paced and good dialogue.

Thank you so much for an ARC of this incredible sequel. I could not put this book down. It is so good! It picks up right where King of Battle and Blood left off and it’s nonstop action to the end. There’s so much depth to the characters and storyline that King of Battle and Blood didn’t even begin to touch the surface of. Of course there’s smut, lots of it and that’s 🤤🔥🤩, but this book is so much more than that. So much more than what I was expecting. It’s breathtaking, tragic, devastating, and beautiful all at once. It’s a roller coaster of emotions and it is so freaking good. I highly recommend reading if you enjoyed the first book, if you love romance/fantasy, or if you just love a great story.

This took me a while to get into in the beginning but once it found it’s footing I couldn’t put it down. The traitor was not who I thought it was and it broke my heart, I’m usually pretty good at guessing that sort of thing. I did like all backstories and memories to help us understand certain things and situations. I liked the smutty bits obviously, I especially like it when Adrian takes more control. Overall I enjoyed the story, even though there was quite a bit of filler to get to the point. I’m not fully complaining since a lot of that was the smutty bits and memories. But not a whole lot happens until about 80% or so.

3.5 stars, rounded up

After reading the first book in this series, I was really looking forward to the sequel and couldn't wait until release day. When I learned I'd gotten an ARC I was extremely excited and this book definitely lived up to my expectations.

I was sucked in and fully immersed in the story from the get-go. I loved returning to the world of Cordova and seeing more of the story of Isolde and Adrian.

In this book, we delve deeper into some of the mythology and magic system of Cordova. We also get to see a lot more character development for both Adrian and Isolde as well as several of the side characters.

Plot-wise there's a lot more happening than in the first book and the stakes are higher. The pacing felt off at times and some of the plot points could feel a little rushed or out of place. However, this did not affect my enjoyment of the book and I can't wait to see where the story takes Adrian and Isolde next.

I have a thing for vampires, and this did not disappoint.

Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟✨
Spice:
🌶️🌶️🌶️

I love Adrian and Isolde and their constant bickering. There is so much growth and character development involved with this book, that I was left fully satisfied with the answers that Queen of Myth and Monsters unveiled. I love an angry romance, and that's what I feel this story contains. Adrian and Isolde step further into their past lives to figure out how to move forward. I don't want to ruin anything, so just know you're heart is going to hurt a lot, but it's okay, in the end... It doesn't even matter.

I'll edit my Goodreads review once more people have read this. I hate spoiling things for others. Just mentally prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster!

I wanted to love this sequel. In fact, I hoped that I would dive into this and find myself swept away. However, I should have gathered from my thoughts on the first book that this series isn't for me. I couldn't make my way through this book. In the end I DNF'd this book at 39%. I just kept hoping that it would pull me in, but instead I kept having to force myself to continue on. I do personally believe that this might just be a me thing. I have a feeling that many people will love this sequel and the direction it was heading. I am just not one of them. If you want a dark fantasy world, an alpha anti-hero, a ballsy heroine, drama, and a lot of smut then you will find this book/series a treasure. While I will not be continuing on with Adrian X Isolde, I will continue to pick up books from this author.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of "Queen of Myth and Monsters." As always my thoughts and opinions listed above are entirely my own.

Queen of Myth and Monsters is an amazingly intense dive back into Cordova, where we jump right into where the last book left off. Isolde and Adrian must fight enemies from without and within while trying to hold onto their love for one another.
This book was so very intense that I had to take a number of breaks while reading it just to process what happened. The trials that Isolde and Adrian must endure are heartbreaking and the end of the book left me absolutely breathless. Scarlett St. Clair has absolutely followed King a of Battle and Blood in the only way possible, with a book that leaves you unsure which way is up and who exactly you’re rooting for.

I was super excited for this one and I really enjoyed learning more about this world and seeing Isolde grapple with her two lives colliding.

I feel like there was a bit too much going on at some points. It felt like there was a new plotline happening in every chapter and some were never addressed again.

Additionally, the flashback scenes started to get confusing as there was no format change to clue the reader in to the flashback. This might be different in the final edition, but it was a bit confusing in the ARC.

Overall, that cliffhanger has me and I’ll definitely be waiting for the third book.

This is such a great sequel! It goes so much deeper into the lore and world-building, which is one of my favorite parts of this story. We also learn so much more about the characters and their backstories. Both Isolde and Adrian go through unpredictable changes from which they have to adapt and grow. The relationship between Isolde and Adrian is strained and tensions develop, but their bond is strong enough to endure.

There are new alliances forming, new foes coming to light, and the depth of the secrets and scheming takes us further into the twisty, volatile politics of this world. The stakes are even higher in the plot and it sets us up really well for the third book. The plot in this second book really shined and I felt it coming to the forefront of the story in an engaging way. I can’t wait to see how this all comes to a conclusion! I feel like we have reached a pinnacle where the world is set to implode and I’m excited to find out how everything resolves.

My only complaint is that sometimes the flashbacks are a little hard to follow. The sequencing of events gets a little muddled and hard to follow between what is happening in the present with Isolde and things she is remembering from her past. But this was minor in comparison to everything else that I loved about this story and didn’t take much away from my enjoyment.

I love Isolde’s character. She’s difficult and, some would say, hard to love, but that just makes me love her even more because it is so relatable. Adrian’s character feels more dimensional in this sequel, and we get to see some of this story from his perspective. This was an unsuspected and delightful surprise for me. I would love even more from his point of view in the third book.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves paranormal fantasy with equal parts epic kingdoms and spice.

Queen of Myth and Monsters
by Scarlett St. Clair
Pub Date: December 20, 2022
Sourcebooks, Bloom
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. Fantasy & Romance (spicy)
The next book in the epic fantasy series by USA Today bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair.

Isolde, newly coronated queen, has finally found a king worthy of her in the vampire Adrian. But their love for each other has cost Isolde her father and her homeland. With two opposing goddesses playing mortals and vampires like chess pieces against one another, Isolde is uncertain who her allies are in the vampire stronghold of Revekka.

Now, as politics in the Red Palace grow more underhanded and a deadly blood mist threatens all of Cordova, Isolde must trust in the bond she's formed with Adrian, even as she learns troubling information about his complicated past.
Here's what I appreciate most about Scarlett St. Clair. She is honestly and sincerely trying to make a different sort of romance heroine, one who doesn't need the man at all and is strong on her own. I don't know that I fully understand all of the mythology and world-building. Well written.
3 stars