“ Everyone is born with a fate card…Most folks these days preferred to pretend that they were the masters of their own destiny, but their card would guide them on their journey, even if they were not aware of it. “

I've always found stories about tarot cards and witches very fascinating, so when I saw this story with this cover I immediately picked it up. Unfortunately it was not what I expected.

The story is about a witch, Morgana, who lives in a kingdom where witchcraft is illegal.Having the princess as an ally Morgana is about to change the political system so all the magical creatures will be able to live freely, when the princess takes over the kingdom. But an unfortunate event changes the plans and the fate of these creatures is at stake...

Although the idea was great I found it not well developed. There wasn't the intrigue, the witch hunt and the use of the tarot deck that I would have liked. Also the dialogues were a bit immature..


Overall it is an easy to read story that can be picked up by someone who likes light fantasy stories.

Thank you so much Keen Quil Press and NetGalley for providing the eARC in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Keen Quill Press for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest review! This review is based on my experience reading CARDS OF FATE, and is in no way affected by my receiving an ARC.

In CARDS OF FATE by A. R. Kingston, we meet Morgana de Laurent, a witch who lives in the one kingdom where witchcraft is still illegal, Perdetia. She knows she won’t have to worry for longer, as her best friend Lafreya is poised to become queen. However, after danger strikes in the form of a kidnapping, Morgana and her beloved Leopold race to save the lives of many.

This book was really unique! I loved the magic system in this world, it’s one that I have not seen before. I also loved the worldbuilding; I wish there would be another book in this world so we could see more of it!

There was an aspect of CARDS OF FATE that I was not a huge fan of, however. Issues with danger or even relationships seemed to be solved quickly with very little tension. I would have liked to see certain situations take longer to be resolved.

Overall, this was a fun read. It was full of adventure, romance, and magic. The development of Morgana throughout the story was a particular highlight for me!

So as a woman with the name morgan, I have to object and cringy at the nickname Morgie that Leo frequently calls Morganna. Morgie is a no-go for me so that personally took me out of the story however apart from that this was a fun typical fantasy with the forbidden magic trope. Morganna and Leo however seemed to lack the chemistry that the love required. She seemed to have more chemistry with the Duke and I kind of wanted Morganna to be with the demon king until I figured out the plot twist. I dont know i mean this is a very easy fantasy with nothing super special or bad about it. It just kind of lands in the middle and I am bummed because I started out really excited and into the story but it just kind of felt rushed.

This book captured my attention with the cover. I honestly didn't read the synopsis very thoroughly because I wasn't sure what I was going into. I liked the witch and guard, friends to lovers romance. I also enjoyed the journey and all the creatures that were roadblocks along the way. The writing itself wasn't very engaging, I didn't feel the chemistry between the characters despite wanting to. I also wasn't ever sure what the ages of these characters were because they read very YA but yet the smut was very NA. I was also thrown into the story with names and places so it took me awhile to get the gist of the plot. The journey became very repetitive after the 3rd time they encountered a creature, Leo would get injured, Morgana would save him, she would question his loyalty, he would reassure her and repeat. Leo was also a very whimpy character for being this bad ass captain. The ending was really rushed. We spent all this time journeying to reach the demon king and only the last 10% was even that and it was really easy to do. Although I did like the twist ending with him being her father it wasn't enough. I ended up giving it three stars.

I loved the concept of this book, the magic system with the cards amazed me. But everything felt flat, the characters, the writing, the plot, the problems, resolutions, all of it.

I really liked the concept with fate and destiny (card), and how much you can control yourself. The characters are well written, and the story is good. I was entertained and will recommend this book to others who like fantasy, witches, and adventure.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for e-ARC in return for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I really did not enjoy this book.

The concept was really interesting but honestly got lost in the writing and almost became an after thought.

The writing style wasn’t for me, I found it clunky and the dialogue for me was unbelievable.

The story is over explained in some places (the draining of mana) and under explained in other places (what magic can Morgana actually access - this seemed to change to fit the plot).

There was a lot of repetitive info dumping and tropes that I just don’t go for - miscommunication, pregnancy - and plot holes.. at one stage a character essentially zones out while ‘off screen’ for a fight scene and animals regularly running away during fight scenes but conveniently returning once the action is over.

This book has given me a severe dislike of the word amble - why can no one walk and how does a horse amble exactly?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an opportunity to read this book. This is my honest opinion/feedback.

I intrigued of the premise of the book, especially because I am a professional tarot card reader. However, I struggled to work through the book because I felt like many other reviewers I felt like the world building and characters were a bit flat. The characters didn’t draw me in as much as I would’ve liked. I wish the author went into more detail about the importance of the fate cards. For example, why are Golden Empress and Hanged Man soul cards? What’s the correlation between the two? Could any two major arcana cards (e.g. Death and the Magician) be paired together? Again, maybe I’m nitpicking because I read tarot. But the chapter titles mad more sense to me than the premise of the major arcana/soul cards.

I enjoy fantasy fiction, but at times the dialogue between the characters felt stiff, like they were just going through the motions instead of really talking to each other.

The book has good bones but I just wished it was fleshed out a bit more.

I really wanted to like this one, but I just could not get into it.

Morgana is an orphan who is blessed with magic in a time where magic is considered to be terrifying and she had to hide her abilities. When her best friend, Princess Lafraya, is kidnapped by the Demon king Morgana must team up with Captain Leopold and Princess Lafraya's fiancé, Duke Leighton, to go and find Layfraya.

Will Morgana give in to her long time crush, Leo? Will they live to find Lafraya? And, who is the Demon King?

Unfortunately, while the premise of this book is excellent, I really struggled with the language. From "I concur" to "my bad". It just didn't work for me.

This was a very middle-of-the-road book for me. But I do know people I can recommend this book to that will love and enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Cards of Fate in return for an honest review. The book is about a witch in hiding trying to find her cousin, the princess, from the Demon Lord. Morgana, the witch, is being accompanied by Lafreya’s (the princess) fiancé, Leighton and the captain of the guard (and Morgana’s love interest) Leopold. I decided to dnf this book at 17%. The few things I think should be revisited are: 1) the writing. It was very hard for me to want to continue reading this book because the writing style felt akin to when I used to write short stories in middle school. I feel that maybe the author and the editor could go back and revise some of the novel. 2) the characters. I am sorry but I couldn’t attach myself to any of the characters. I feel they were very two dimensional and they would just say the most random things that in that moment no character would say. For example, when Lafreya is kidnapped, Morgana feels responsible because she was under her care. Leopold (her love interest) shows up and this man who is in love with her says (to the effect of) well if I had been there this wouldn’t have happened. But oh well. I just don’t think a character would say that to someone who they supposedly love. 3rd) there is mention of SA in the novel and they way it is handled feels (to me) very random and also brushed over like it isn’t a big deal. You have the characters inner monologue about how that was hard for her and then in the next sentence the character is acting like it wasn’t a big deal. It felt very weird to read. The book comes out 2/14/23 but I will not be purchasing it.

Thank you to Quill Keen Press for the opportunity to read, rate and review this book which is out Feb 14,2023

I found this story okay. Nothing about it grabbed me, felt special or even passed meh. Even the spicy parts were kinda blah. To be honest this was a chore to get through. The premise was great. Writing just fell flat.

But like always even if I don’t like it I really hope you give it a try. My yuck just may be your yum.

A dynamic and thrilling medieval romance story. It definitely gave me some Arthurian and magic vibes, so it will appeal to readers who are fans of that fantasy subgenre. The worldbuilding and magic systems are enchantingly rich and captivating; you will become lost in this adventure. Morgana de Laurent is a high stakes heroine who understandably wants to safeguard her partner as well as her powers. It's not often that I read a story about a witch on the run who actually has a support system behind her, i.e., in this case Leopold and Lafreya. If you enjoy stories about women embracing their destinies and finding love along the way, then this is the perfect read for you!

Writing: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Character Development: 4/5
World Building: 3/5

Warnings: Language, Sexual Contenr

Themes: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Cards of Fate is about a witch who lives in a kingdom that burns witches. Her best friend is kidnapped and she must work with a duke abd the captain of the guard, who she has feelings for, to rescue her. I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Sometimes I wished the author would go into more detail but other than that this was a good read.

This is great for anyone who loves magic, adventure and a quest to save a princess.

I received a free copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.

It was an interesting read and was very well written. I am currently working with Tarot and it was an interesting idea to not only have the characters rely of tarot for their fate, but to assign the chapters certain cards. My one complaint which I do see in other reviews, is that it just felt a little long, and then the ending rushed. I would have liked to have us be more with the demon king and have that drag out, I also feel like he was forgiven too soon. But still a good book that I would recommend to my fantasy lovers.

Thank You Netgalley for a free copy of this book! Now to my thoughts

TW: SA of a child is mentioned.

TL;DR: This book needs more time in the oven before it was written. The characters are flat. The world-building was difficult to follow. And the sex scenes had no tension.

Firstly, this cover is what grabbed my attention. Then the blurb about political intrigue grabbed me like a toddler holding onto their new obsession. The cover is beautiful, the intrigue is nonexistent. That is probably the best word for the book, nonexistent, all the promises that are given aren't held up. We are promised a scary demon king, he turns out to be easily killed with teamwork and magic. We are promised a country that hates magic. We get a few chase scenes. We are promised erotica. We get a couple who have no real barriers to keep them apart and are both. Nice? They're both normal nice people? I don't think there is one interesting thing about Leo that I can remember off the top of my head. And I don't even remember what he looked like. This isn't like reading ACoTaR and I can tell you what Rhysand, Tamlin, and Lucien look like. I don't remember what anyone looks like.

The world-building in this book is abysmal. There is such a great idea here. Fate being a part of everyone's life? How a society would suffer and grow because people know what they are going to do? That's fascinating, but it's not used. Not really outside of Morgana might or might not do something. Sadly outside of the premise things fall apart. Morgana's best friend is a princess who is going to be married so her husband can rule. Though she has a younger brother who in normal monarchies would have taken over after her. It's not explained why she is still going to inherit when her brother would. There is no explanation about the different countries we run through(and yes run, I don't remember the names because there was so little time in them).

Morgana has to be saved for 90% of the book and was knocked out for a good third so we were stuck with the guys who had the same personality just with different goals. The book feels like it's head hopping but the author utilizes scene breaks to justify the head hops. I started to lose track of who I was with and it became a daze for me. I wish we had stuck with just Morgana and Leo if we had to stick with anyone. The moment we popped into Baba Yaga's head I was done. Also yes, Baba Yaga is in this, and she's as disneyfied as I worried she would be. There was no world-building for her so she appeared out of nowhere and I was left questioning if we were in a Slavic country with characters with French names.

Just a little bit more on the romance. Leo and Morgana have the tension of a puddle of water. Why they can't be together on page one is flimsy and once they are on the run it keeps getting dragged on and on about how they both love each other and want to be together, but then don't. It is frustrating to read. and other is no 'will they won't they' it's more 'they're going to be together whatever'. And since they have no tension I also don't want to see them romantically together. The sex scenes were flat because there was no desperation. Then they have a lot of really boring sex scenes and I thought for one moment there was going to be a shift where Leo was going to be manipulating Morgana, but no. They were just horny. Nothing to shake up the story from the characters. They passively continued toward their mission.

Speaking of being passive. That was an issue throughout the whole book. The whole time Morgana and the gang are having to dodge what's happening to them. Yes, they are on their way to save the Princess (I can't remember her name, there were so many L names that I didn't learn the Princess or the Duke's names), but they don't do anything. There is no action being done. Gathering allies in other kingdoms. Tricking the demon king into a trap. Creating a cult to summon another demon who could fight for them. There were so many things the characters could have done to be proactive but they didn't.

I know I've ripped this book apart pretty hard, but I do this to warn folks and to get out all the anger I have in a healthy way. I do hope to see a book with this premise one day. I'm devastated that it wasn't this book. Also I'm giving this a two star review because I didn't DNF and I didn't see typoes on every page. Two stars means it's a book I wish I hadn't picked up and will advise against.

Cards of Fate by A.R. Kingston is a new adult romantic fantasy featuring witch Morgana, Knight Leopold, and Duke Leighton as they seek to recover the kidnapped Princess Lafreya from the evil Demon King. Described as “part thrilling adventure, part erotic romance,” this novel does contain those elements, but in the least satisfying way possible.

Content warning: sexual abuse. And major spoilers to come.

In the beginning of this novel, we learn that Princess Lafreya is in love with the ruler of a bordering dukedom, who himself is the subject of a curse due to his grandfather thwarting the Demon King’s first attempt at world domination. In order to lure the Duke to his demise, the Demon King kidnaps Lafreya. Our heroine Morgana is Lafreya’s cousin and political advisor, so she immediately volunteers to go after Lafreya with Duke Leighton and they are joined by Morgana’s lover Leopold, the Captain of the Guard. The majority of the novel covers their long journey across multiple countries and a sea in order to reach the Demon King’s lair in a land heavily coded as the Middle East. Their goal is to kill the Demon King to save Lafreya’s life and the Duke from his curse.

The three main characters have the maturity of sixteen-year-olds despite being in their mid-20s, and their speech alternates between contemporary surly teenagers and formal Middle Age nobles. The writing style indicates a reading level suitable for middle grade, and yet the frequent mention of sex and sexual abuse precludes the novel from being targeted towards anyone except adults. But even for an adult novel, I was shocked by the flippancy given towards the sexual abuse against Morgana, who is suggested to be a slut for her ongoing sexual activity after being raped by a trusted professor as a teenager. Rather than helping her work through her trauma in a healthy way, her lover Leopold waves away her trauma like an event to be forgotten and even shares her story with Leighton behind her back with no consequences. Additionally, Leopold is constantly horny for Morgana throughout the entire novel no matter how dire their circumstances, which comes across as wholly misplaced attention rather than affection.

The importance of tarot cards waxes and wanes throughout the novel. According to lore, everyone has a particular tarot reading fated for them from birth, which they cannot change. The three main characters plus Lafreya all hold “major arcana cards,” which indicates that they will be important forces for change and have a better chance of not dying in their personal quests. But the tarot cards are largely forgotten for the majority of the novel and they’re waved away as unimportant in the last chapter, so their use is inconsistent and confusing. Morgana’s magical abilities also seem to vary wildly throughout the book according to the needs of the plot. A tick that sucks out magical energy is conveniently used when the plot demands that she be weak, and in the final battle after being totally drained of energy, she springs back up completely renewed within five minutes.

Morgana talks about hiding her identity as a witch her entire life, and yet she openly keeps her natural purple hair and pink eyes- common signs of a predilection for some form of magic; so it doesn’t seem as if she was ever actually in any danger of being persecuted as a witch. She hides her witch heritage from her lover Leopold until past the halfway point in the novel despite them both being fiercely in love for years, which undercuts the strength of their bond. Her reasoning is to shield Leopold from persecution himself as Captain of the Guard, and yet the way he immediately forsakes his position in order to go on their rescue mission should have signaled to Morgana that he was trustworthy much sooner. It’s also unclear how a man in his mid-20s earned the distinction of Captain of the Guard.

The big reveal at the end of the novel is extremely predictable. Throughout the novel, the trio is thwarted by the Demon King’s minions trying to prevent them from rescuing Lafreya, and yet the Demon King personally rescues Morgana multiple times and is somehow able to visit her dreams to warn her to stop her quest. I’ll let you guess the connection between the two. Her memory of him had been magically obscured from her, so when she finally finds out the truth, she has to decide between killing him for the greater good or letting him live and destroy the world. But there was no great emotional connection with him built over the course of the novel, so the great reveal doesn’t leave much of an impression. And when it comes to actually killing him, the fight is over surprisingly quickly and with very little fanfare.

I had high hopes for a fantasy novel that combined adventure and romance with a dash of mystery via tarot cards, but unfortunately I can only warn readers away from picking up this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this arc to read.
I don't think I can say enough positive things about this book, fantasy with a touch of romance (FORBIDDEN ROMANCE AT THAT!). I really loved how unique this concept was and it really had me hooked beginning through end. While the book, I felt, somewhat lacked in painting a picture of the role of witches in this society and just some more details on the context of the setting, I feel like I really connected with our MC Morgana and her journey all together.

I was so engrossed in this book I forgot where I was. I think every fantasy reader will enjoy this as much as I did.
I just reviewed Cards of Fate by A.R. Kingston. #fantasyromanceromanticfantasymedievalknightswitches #NetGalley
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i love how the author implemented tarot cards into the story! that was what initially drew me to this title when i first requested it. if i had to really critique it, i wish there had been more emotional stakes and and a bit more of a slow burn on the romance, but overall it was a pretty decent read. i feel like the description could be slightly misleading though.