I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley. But all the opinions are my own.
TW – SA of a child
Cards of Fate follows an orphaned witch who was adopted and moved to a kingdom which kills witches. The main character then tries to help find someone who is kidnapped.
The description was just up my alley. Also, the idea of using tarot cards reminds me of another book I read recently and loved. So, I was extremely excited to read this book. I believe that the writing was not up to par with the content of the book. I think that the writing style was more suited for a younger audience.
I think if the book had more political intrigue, no trauma, and enrich the characters it would have been a much better book. As someone who has dealt with SA in my life a trigger warning would have been great. Also, I do not appreciate how the topic was handled in the book. It was done in poor taste.
There is a lot of spice that at times was cringe and did not feel natural. I wish this book was executed differently. If the writing style and dialogue was edited better, I think it would have been more enjoyable. The world building needed to be fully fleshed out and the ending was predictable.
I will not be purchasing or recommending this book.

“You need to die first. You’ll have plenty of time to rescue your girl. Trust me”
“Dear child, you can’t heal a wound by opening up a fresh ones.”
This book was totally unexpected!!! When I saw the cover and read the blurb I kind of had an idea of where it would have led me but I had no idea it would have been this good!!!
A fantasy romance with some characters you’d be fighting against the devil for.
Political intrigue as well as magic and a spicy romance made this book so interesting it was hard to put it down !!!
Morgana and Leopold were absolutely the sweetest and their friends so amazing I couldn’t just fall for them all!!
Leopold is mmc I don’t usually prefer (morally grey kinda gal here) but this time around his sweetness and devotion completely caught me in the net!!!
The magical system was great with mention of Slavic folklore and fully based on the deck of cards used for tarots.
And there were magical creatures too!!
But most of all I have to say I loved how the author dealt with the SA theme and how the character tries to deal with her emotions and feeling on the aftermath of that !!!
And that ending !!! Beautiful plot twist at the end of the book that, to be completely honest, was half expected and half not, and I absolutely loved it!!
I’m so glad I had a chance to read this book and I can’t wait for it to be out!!
“I am the luckiest man on the planet because you consider me to be important to you”
“What if I don’t care? What if I want to walk into hell with you and bathe in the flames at your side?”
“I know now that fate cards only show you a glimpse of your future. Good or bad, out destiny is up to us”

There is no trigger warning on Netgalley or in the beginning of the book - This book contains depictions of SA of a child by an authority figure and Mental Health issues and trauma responses relating to that abuse

I picked up this title due to the description - our main character an 'orphaned witch living in the last kingdom in Dresbourn to still enforce the practice of witch-burning' and the mention of 'a momentous political transition'.
I was expecting some political intrigue, some "burn the witch" vibes and then on top of that there is a kidnapping forcing our witch to go on a quest to save magic. It truly seemed like something I would enjoy.

For starters, there's very little political intrigue, and very little focus on the fact that our main character is a witch in a kingdom where witches are hunted - one singular druid is burned which takes all of 2 pages to discuss. So in that regard, I feel like the description is misleading. If you were hoping for "burn the witch" vibes you aren't really getting that here.

When I first started reading, I thought that I had accidentally requested a middle-grade novel, as that is how the writing presented. Which is fine, but I felt like right away I was not the target audience. Soon enough we had some very adult content (the description of SA and trauma) and I realized that this was not in fact a middle-grade book. This was disappointing because even though I originally thought that I was not the intended audience, I was much more forgiving of the writing style and the dialogue with the understanding that this was intended for younger readers. The mesh of spicy scenes and the writing did not mesh for me at all, it at times made me cringe. Honestly, I skimmed a lot of this.

I did enjoy the tarot card element, the idea of fates and intertwining fates. I liked some of the creatures and magic that appear throughout the quest (the death echos in particular were really cool to me) and I liked the characters to some extent even though their dialogue (which is a major part of how I get to know a character) was painful. I think the premise of the story had a lot of potential, but the execution did not work for me at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

DNF pg 174 (45%)
1/12/23 - 1/21/23

loved the premise of this and the tarot card aspect!

not much has really happened so far. I normally will give a fantasy about 100 pages to worldbuild and introduce the plot, but I was getting a little bored throughout the sections I had read.

here are some of my thoughts:

characters: 3 out of the 4 main characters’ names start with L (Leo, Leighton, Lafreya) and it’s a little hard to keep track of them. I’m not really attached to the characters.

plot: I could tell I was getting to a more exciting part when I DNFed the book, but it shouldn’t take this long. So far, it was just a journey to rescue Lafreya but there hasn’t been too much action. I actually enjoyed the earlier portion that showcased Lafreya and Morgana’s friendship a bit more.

romance: both of the couples were already in love when the book started, and I feel like the romance isn’t as big of a plotline as I would expect from a romantasy.

overall, the idea was there, but the outcome just wasn’t what I expected.

Cards of Fate has an interesting premise! I liked the use of tarot cards! Did not quite hit the mark for me!

At the beginning, I was a bit boring! Yeah sure things are happening but it all felt very superficial and at times it felt like incomplete! The plot twist, you can see it from a mile away!

Morgan’s is a good FMC but lacks depth! I didn’t felt like we got to know her or see her character develop. 😒😒

The spicy scenes, could have been better! The connection between Morgan’s and Leo was not substantial 😢

Overall, the book was ok. It had a lot of potential but there was never a point where it felt like “ OMG.. I can’t put this down”

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

I had a great time reading this, it was such a suspenseful read and had that great tense atmosphere that I look for. Cards of fate is a great read filled with twists and turns that will keep you occupied the whole time.

**TW** - There is no trigger warning on Netgalley or in the beginning of the book - This book contains depictions of SA of a child by an authority figure and Mental Health issues and trauma responses relating to that abuse

I picked up this title due to the description - our main character an 'orphaned witch living in the last kingdom in Dresbourn to still enforce the practice of witch-burning' and the mention of 'a momentous political transition'.
I was expecting some political intrigue, some "burn the witch" vibes and then on top of that there is a kidnapping forcing our witch to go on a quest to save magic. It truly seemed like something I would enjoy.

For starters, there's very little political intrigue, and very little focus on the fact that our main character is a witch in a kingdom where witches are hunted - one singular druid is burned which takes all of 2 pages to discuss. So in that regard, I feel like the description is misleading. If you were hoping for "burn the witch" vibes you aren't really getting that here.

When I first started reading, I thought that I had accidentally requested a middle-grade novel, as that is how the writing presented. Which is fine, but I felt like right away I was not the target audience. Soon enough we had some very adult content (the description of SA and trauma) and I realized that this was not in fact a middle-grade book. This was disappointing because even though I originally thought that I was not the intended audience, I was much more forgiving of the writing style and the dialogue with the understanding that this was intended for younger readers. The mesh of spicy scenes and the writing did not mesh for me at all, it at times made me cringe. Honestly, I skimmed a lot of this.

I did enjoy the tarot card element, the idea of fates and intertwining fates. I liked some of the creatures and magic that appear throughout the quest (the death echos in particular were really cool to me) and I liked the characters to some extent even though their dialogue (which is a major part of how I get to know a character) was painful. I think the premise of the story had a lot of potential, but the execution did not work for me at all.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

The concept for Cards of Fate is downright awesome, loved the use and theme of tarot that threads through the story. And while I can’t say I know much about tarot at all, it added some much needed depth to an otherwise fairly straightforward romantic fantasy adventure.

This tale takes us on a journey to rescue a princess from a demon king from the point of view of a witch called Morgana. A knight named Leopold joins her, as does a friend found in an intriguing character named Leighton, who rules a city nearby to that of the princess that they’re all trying to save. Morgana and Leopold are destined to be together, which is made very clear from the start, but the unfolding of their romance is a nicely paced one. Leighton seems like an extremely interesting character but often feels a bit like a third wheel in all of this, I would have liked to have known more about him.

Apart from the tarot theme, this novel reads like a good standard fantasy adventure. The twist at the end was extremely obvious to me from near the beginning but was worth finishing to see the development of Morgana’s character. The idea for the story is great but I couldn’t help to feel like it could have had a bit more meat and detail to it, same goes for some of the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my unbiased review!

A pretty solid adult fantasy with magic, romance, and monsters.

I love how the author intertwined the tarot cards and magic into the story. I only wish there was more to the ending. The ending was easily predicted and a bit anticlimactic. After a long and dangerous journey to find and fight the demon king, he went down too quickly and easily. Maybe if we had gotten more flashbacks of her childhood with her father, it would have made it more emotional. I want to see that internal struggle. It only needed a little more oomph and that emotional pull. Other than that, it was an enchanting story. I would recommend it to fans of adult fantasy and romance.

***I would like to thank NetGalley, A.R. Kingston (the author), and Keen Quill Press for graciously sending me an ARC to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.**

Morgana and Leo set off to rescue her best friend after she’s kidnapped. They endure supernatural conflicts, meet witches, and race against the clock to find her friend.

This book was great in concept but the execution was limited -mainly the dialogue did not sound like the characters were in their late teens. A lot of the character’s dialogue could have been cut by a third. There were so many cliches and explanation of feelings and actions that was a bit tedious to read at the end.

I really had a hard time staying interested in this book. The problem that I found with it was that the world was built too hastily, so it never fully came together. The concept and idea was wonderful, but felt incredibly contrived and even cringey in execution. I am disappointed with this read.

Cards Of Fate is an epic fantasy story that has found family and forbidden romance trope.
I enjoyed reading this book so much that I definitely already can tell that this is going on my top books list of this year

The story has a good pace and the writing style is beautiful. The characters are definitely what makes this book so good especially Morgana and her character development. Her journey of finding her voice and healing from her trauma was beautifully done.
The spice scene were not too much and felt realistic and didn't take away from the actual story.

If you love romantasy books then this is definitely for you.

3.75/5 stars! I found this to be a phenomenally unique premise for a story. The implementation of the tarot cards within the story was great. I enjoyed the story but it felt like an idea, rather than a full-fledged novel at times. But very interested in reading more by this author.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

A fun fast paced fantasy read! I enjoyed how the POV’s seemed to change within each chapter seamlessly! It helped keep each character stay relevant in each chapter!

Woof woof woof. steamy fantasy romance? not even romance, this was straight up erotic and sexy and fun as hell. wowza!!