This is book 3 in the Scarred Earth Saga and I would absolutely read the previous books before reading this one. In this one we get Ainsley Farmerson and Gruffyn of the Torn Moon Clan's story. Ainsley had never had any intention of joining her family's business. She had other plans for herself, and it didn't include a smithy or all the family drama. But when her family is torn apart and sides have to be taken, she knows that Beatrix needs to be taken down in order for her sane sister to be queen. Gruffyn has never wanted to be around humans. But there is something about Beatrix that draws him in. She is quiet but there is just something about her. Whatever it is, he is more than willing to fight at her side. And in order to keep Beatrix from becoming queen, he will have no mercy while he does so.

I absolutely loved this book! Ainsley has always been a character that I have wondered about. She didn't seem to be like anyone else in her family, and she truly isn't in most ways. But when it counts-she absolutely is! And pairing her with Gruffyn, who is also seriously quiet but fierce when he needs to be? Perfect! I loved all of their interactions and how their story played out. I also loved seeing characters from this author's previous series! I didn't realize how much I missed Annwyl the Bloody and all her dragon's!! I love that these two series and now interconnected!! This one was another hit for me!

So here’s the thing - I loved this book. I feel like I’ve been anxiously anticipating its release for over a year and it was ALMOST everything I was hoping for. It was EVERYTHING I’ve come to love and expect from GA Aiken. Some of the the falling short might be due to my expectations - as in I thought this was a trilogy so we’d be getting some resolution/conclusion in this book but alas we did not. Also, the romance was very much slow burn and very much peripheral but I don’t think that bothers me that much, I am excited at the prospect of MORE books in this series and I love the way that it has crossed over into the Dragon Kin series. That being said, you very much have to read the Dragon Kin series (which is no hardship at all because it is fantastic) in order to truly enjoy this book - which sets it apart from the two previous installments. This was chaotic, imaginative, action packed, unputdownable fun from the first word to the last and now i must lament the time that i have to wait until the next book.

4.5 out of 5 wine glasses.

This is the third installment in The Scarred Earth Saga series, we get Ainsley and Gruff, and with each book, we get a different couple, but they are all interlinked in the story, so I suggest you give it a go with all of them. The world-building is fantastic, I really liked how the author described everything, I also liked the way the characters were built and the interactions between them, the banter was good, the story kept me intrigued and if you like dragons as much as I do, give this series a go.

The main issue I had with this book was the 2 main characters - Gruff and Ainsley - they were almost like side characters. Their scenes were like side add-ons. There should have been more interaction with them, and the ending was so abrupt. I really felt they should have been more fleshed out.

Having read everything this author has written - and loved it all, this book is the first I have not given 5 stars. It is so chaotic. If you have not read Aiken's Dragon Kin series you will be totally lost. Yes, those characters are great, yes, it was great seeing them again, but........ The character development took such a hit with so many characters running around. Wow! Chaos abounds.

Aiken's snarkiness is evident and enjoyable. I did like the book, but, it was a bit much.

Archers, sisters, centaurs, queens (both good and evil), and dragons!!! The Scarred Earth saga (and this book in particular) has it all. It's the 4th sister, Ainsley's story, but it also seems to be a bridge book joining the dragons (from the Dragon Kin series) with Queen Keely and her armies. After all, Keely is gonna need all the help she can get to defeat her evil sister, Queen Beatrice.

This book really had alot going on. I enjoyed it so much. There's danger and laughter and zaniness and heat and...dragons!!! I enjoyed Ainsley and Gruff's adventures, and catching up with Queen Annwyl the Bloody and her dragonkin. And we get a glimpse at who will be featured in the next book.

I recommend reading the previous books in the Scarred Earth saga, and in the Dragon Kin series (although Aiken does do a decent job of bringing in enough backstory to not be completely lost).

Many thanks to Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

I have to start by saying READ THE FIRST BOOKS!
This is a continuation of not only the Scarred Earth Saga’s, The Princess Knight and The Blacksmith Queen. But also the Dragon Seiries. G.A. has created a whole world and the characters are intertwined and their goal is to kill the evil sister of the three sisters of this series Beatrice.
Think of this as the marvel movies of books.
Now our main characters of this book are, Gruffyn of the Torn Moon.
Gruff is the holder of grudges and proud of it!
And the tree loving youngest sister
Ainsley Farmerson.
I absolutely loved and adored this book on so many levels.
One the humor is as always laugh out loud and a giggle later while remembering something funny from this book.
G.A. takes you on a journey of her world and at this point in the journey she is introducing both world's beautifully I might add. Yes, there is a lot going on, but it's a chaotic time in there world and if you felt that, I believe it's because you're supposed too.
I mean they're going to war!
But in the middle of this, you find love, humor, friendship, action and a look at a sisterly bond with, hurt, anger, disappointment, bkots of provoking and above all else love.
I love these books, but this book will hold a special place for me. When I was gifted this book, my puppy passed away a week later. During the following weeks I read and re-read this book. It made me laugh when I didn't think I could. So I will love this book forever. Thank you G.A Aiken for making me laugh and taking me away for a few hours to your wonderful world.
Highly recommend because it's just a fabulous read.

The Heretic Royal is the third book in G.A. Aiken's hilariously wild Scarred Earth Saga. Haven't read the first two? I suggest you do so first, or else you'll be hopelessly lost. If bloody violence, hot-and-heavy human and centaur sex and incredibly bad language offends you...well, this is most definitely not the series for you. However, if you aren't of a delicate sensibility, you'll have a rip-roaring time. And to increase the fun, added to the mix are some of Ms. Aiken's most popular characters from her Dragon Kin series. Woohoo!

Ainsley Farmerson-Smythe is one of the younger sisters of Queen Keeley and Gemma the War Monk. She's not interested in being part of the family occupations of farmer, blacksmith or the religious life, and plans to break away. However, their soulless sister Beatrix is now against her former family and wants to see them all dead; she plans on being the last ruler standing. But the rest of the Farmerson-Smythe clan refuses to let Beatrix win. In order to do that, she must join forces with battle nuns (always angry), monks (always bloodthirsty) and overbearing centaurs. Gruffyn of the Torn Moon Clan of centaurs isn't terribly fond of humans, but for some unknown reason he's attracted to the uncontrollable princess who marches to the beat of a different drummer. Her older sisters underestimate her, and she's extremely brave when facing dragons and an angry queen from another land. No matter what, Gruff plans to fight by Ainsley's side to destroy Beatrix and her evil minions.

This story was a crude, bloody and sexy hoot! All of the characters on the side of right are always entertaining, while the evil Beatrix and her underlings are truly frightening. Ainsley was a lot different from her other sisters; she was a master archer who just happened to live in trees. She liked trees better than most people. She also wanted to break away from her family business. She certainly got the opportunity here when the dragons and Queen Annwyl the Bloody (of The Dragon Kin) arrive, mistakenly believing that Ainsley and her sisters were involved in child slavery. I found Ainsley to be more likable than her sister Gemma, who always seemed to put her down. Gruff the centaur was actually my favorite centaur of the first three books; he was more finely drawn and seemed to have more of a personality than those of the other centaurs. He was the Keeper of the Grudge of his clan (boy, those centaurs could certainly hold a grudge!) and spoke mostly in grunts. Others around him were totally shocked when they actually heard him speak to Ainsley. He was quite endearing and actually seemed to be a little shy around Ainsley. When he let loose, however, he was the MAN (or CENTAUR)! They didn't have a physical romance until near the end of the book, but it was quite, uh, explicit when it happened. The appearance of the dragons and Queen Annwyl were what really made this book so darn entertaining. This story was extremely bloody and violent, the little bit of sex was raunchy and the language atrocious (the "c" word was often used). If all that offends, it really won't be to your taste. But if you can get past that, you will be totally enchanted by these characters. The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but that's okay...it means there will be more fun coming!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Heretic Royal picks up moments after Princess Knight left off. What happens when Keeley and her family meet a mad queen? Anyone familiar with the Dragon Kin series will recognize the new arrivals.

This is Ainsley's adventure. As the next oldest Farmerson-Smythe daughter we've had glimpses of her in the previous books. This is her chance to shine.

With the help of her friends, join Ainsley and Gruff on a quest to find her place in the family and the kingdom with romance along the way.

GA Aiken's dialogue and action are laugh out loud funny.

The Heretic Royal is the third installment in the Scarred Earth series. While it could be read by itself, it is better to have read the previous books and the Dragon Kin series.

Can't wait for the next one!

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the eARC to read in exchange for an honest review!

Book 3 was okay and had a good deal of entertaining moments/characters, but that wasn’t enough to stave off the disappointment.

The beginning was very confusing. It was a bumbling start for me (and the characters) due to many shifting POVs. Things didn’t seem to settle until Angus Farmerson makes an appearance, gracing us with his pure goodness and loving self. I adore him.

The story doesn’t progress much or at least not as much as I would have liked. There’s too much passive inaction discussing what must be done and introducing numerous new characters on the good side (for lack of better words). Meanwhile, Beatrix and the bad side have been taking active approaches. So I had to agree when it was pointed out that Kaylee’s side would lose spectacularly without mercy and in a deadly fashion if she didn't start getting serious about the major threat Beatrix poses. A harsh but necessary truth that’s usually either left unsaid or not said bluntly enough. As a whole, I’m wondering if book 3 was meant to be a bridge before the actual end.

The bizarre and comical nature of this series continues to hold firm in this third installment. It’s essentially what the world would be like if everyone spoke without a filter, which resulted in lots of humorous dialogue exchanges. All these different families and relationships are to a certain extent highly dysfunctional. Still they bicker as much as they (secretly) care about each other in their own slightly unorthodox and insulting way. It’s chaotic but endearing somehow.

Throughout the story, we get to know characters who others tend to underestimate or have long-held and obviously wrong assumptions about. I liked reading about these misunderstood characters the most.

Ainsley is a cool character. She wants to prove to her older sisters that she is capable and useful. Now is her time to forge her own path instead of waiting for others to decide for her or let her contribute. Ainsley is undoubtedly cut from the same boisterous Smythe-Farmerson cloth. She’s also intelligent, kind, tough, sassy, skilled with a bow, and loyal.

Gruff is a taciturn centaur. Like the rest of his clan, he’s pragmatic, skillful, and can hold a grudge like no other. It’s amusing how Ainsley and his sister, Briallen, can understand Gruff’s grunts, growls, and silence so well. I also liked how Gruff treated Ainsley like an equal instead of a hindrance. I’m still baffled as to why his clan is treated so unfairly and can’t be trusted.

I really liked Annwyl who is known far and wide and even in hell as Annwyl the Bloody and the Mad Queen. Her character is gravely misconstrued. While, yes, she does have some wild, unhinged tendencies, I think she’s a product of her upbringing and exaggerated, fear-based rumors. When you get to really know her, you find that Annwyl is noble, kind, loyal, and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty (or bloody) to put things right.

"The Heretic Royal" had its ups and downs, which is sad as this was an anticipated book. Ainsley and the new characters introduced are what held the story together for me, especially those hilarious dragons. I liked the strong, female leaderships exhibiting what it truly means to be a queen. And I love the pretty cover art. Even though there wasn’t much development I’m still interested in reading on.

I always enjoy GA Aiken's books, but this particular one is definitely not a book to read if you haven't read all of the previous Scarred Earth books, as well as at least a few of her Dragon Kin books. This is a transitional book to tie the two series together. Not only did just about every character from the previous books appear, a multitude of dragon characters also appeared and there were multiple plot lines to go along with all of those characters. Yet somehow, in spite of all those plot lines, nothing much actually happened to advance the plot.

The book was too frenetic for me. I had a hard time following any of the multitude of plot lines or caring much about any of the characters since there were so many to follow, I do plan to read the next book as I'm interested in the overarching story arc and I always love the snarky banter and over-the-top humor, but I hope the next book is more coherent. For the little that Ainsley and Gruff were on page, I liked them but I felt like they really got short shrift in this book because of all the other distractions.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a joy to be back with these characters. I love this author and devour everything she publishes. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to laugh. This is the 3rd book in the series. Each instalment follows new main characters, but it has a running plot through out all three books. Each one ties up main plot of book with long running plot getting closer to the conclusion. If you haven't started this series yet go pick up book one, you will not regret it.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was clever, steamy, fun, fast-paced, and I didn't want to put it down. This book can be read as a standalone story, though it is book 3 in the Scarred Earth Saga series. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.

1. You HAVE to have read the first 2 books
2. Add the Dragon series too

Sadly, while I really enjoyed the first 2 books in this series, this fell very short for me. It was just mega chaotic and the main characters were very much side characters unlike the MCs in the first 2 books. In fact, this read more as a continuation of the Dragon books than the Scarred Earth saga books. We even got far less Keely time! It bummed me out. I still enjoyed some of the banter, but overall I think a lot of thing got lost.

I TRULY can't wait till Beatrix is dead, dead, dead.

A huge thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC

Having finished "The Heretic Royal". I would recommend that if you haven't read the Dragon Kin books, or haven't read very many of them you might want to get caught up.
Aiken has a chaotic writing style and this book hits hot and heavy. I won't give spoilers but the beginning of the book bounces around a lot and that makes it hard to get the gist of what's going on with so many characters if you knew nothing about them. This book is mainly about the action and much less about the romance. I would venture to say that it plays a tiny part in this book which is not her usual style. In the end, I really liked it and can't wait for the next one.

The Heretic Royal focused on Ainsley, Keeley and Gemmas sister.
I'm not sure if she is suppose to be the Heretic Royal? This title did not make much sense to me.
But in any case she is the focus on this story, for the most part this character is exactly the same as the two other main characters from previous books, but the way she is treated we are meant to believe she is very different.
The love story again is the same as the previous two books, only this time there are dragons.

This is my least favourite out of the three books, and I think this series is starting to lose me.
I feel like every book is the same thing over and over with the overall storying moving millimeters each book, there are no strides being taken and at this rate the series will never end.

This story took a bit for me to get into for the first few chapters. There was some confusion at first because it popped between several groups of characters right from the beginning. Story picks up from the epilogue of the Princess Knight with Annwyl and the dragons from the Dragon Kin series showing up.

The most enjoyable part is watching the antics of the characters and how they banter with each other. They will make you laugh.

I wouldn't dive into this without having read the first two, and preferably recently. I didn't reread and I was struggling not to get lost in the beginning. The POV is constantly moving (especially in the first quarter) and it takes that long to get your footing in the story if you don't have vivid memories of the previous stories.

It's got Aiken's trademark chaos, humor, and battles. But there are so many characters! It was a struggle to keep up and try to remember relationships. For the most part, I gave up keeping the peripheral centaurs, humans, and others straight. After that first quarter, the POV hopping slows down and it's easier to keep things straight. But still...

The plot was small considering how many characters there are. It's almost a placeholder between bigger stories. Lots of politicking and discussion.

I was disappointed after loving the first book so much that this one was so hard for me to manage. I'm hoping the book 4 will be slightly more focused and move the story arc more actively.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

G.A. Aiken is one of my favorite fantasy writer and their books never disappoints. This one is another very funny, entertaining and gripping novel
Great characters and world building, excellent storytelling.
Loved loved it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

First off, if you have NOT read the other books in this series, you MUST. This book could be a stand alone but it will be so much more enjoyable if you have read the other books in this series at the very least (The Blacksmith Queen and The Princess Knight), but you would stand to benefit having read ALL of Aiken's Dragon Kin books. Having said that, this book delivers everything you want it to --> more family drama, more depth and complexity of relationships, great humor, and satisfaction that there is more to come! I look forward to rereading it to find even more interesting nuggets on the characters that I missed because I was reading so fast to find out what happened next. This is simply a fun and fabulous world to immerse yourself in with enjoyable and oddly relatable characters despite the pure fantasy of it all. Definitely worth the read!

All our favourite characters are back but this time we get to meet new ones. Keeley is still protecting her family & all that live in her town but she knows that it won’t be long until her sister attacks. Can she really form an alliance with the mad queen Annwyl & the dragons? Can she trust them in the coming days? Gemma is trying to keep the peace but she is afraid for her young sister Ainsley but all she does is push her further away. Can they work together to stop Beatrix for good or are they all doomed?
Great to see the characters & what relationships they have each formed. A great read perfect cliffhanger moment. Can’t wait to read the next one. Plenty of lol moments, lots of blood & gory. Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for ARC copy.