Okay, so I feel like some context is necessary, in the spirit of full disclosure. I’ve been a fan of Thea for a long time, ever since I read some of her fics on AO3 years ago. So when I found out via a TikTok coment last year that she was publishing a new Southeast Asian-inspired fantasy romance (inspired by my favorite fic of hers, no less!), I quite literally screamed. Out loud. To myself. In an empty room.

Listen, I am nothing if not a rat 🐀

Anyone who follows me on here knows I’m dubious about romantasy. Some of it’s fun. Some of it makes me want to bang my head against a wall. But this book right here?? Full stamp of approval. Thea is just as talented as I remember. Her prose is beautiful, her characters vivid, her world immersive. I swung between wanting to scream at Alaric and Talasyn and giggling and kicking my feet. They’re ridiculous and I love them.

🐉 Readers who don’t know what to expect should probably be aware that this book handles a bit larger of a perspective than many of the other romantasy books I’ve read — it leans more on the epic side, starting with a massive war before scaling back to focus on the more interpersonal part of the story. That’s really all I can say without giving away too much, but trust me. It’s all worth it.

Read The Hurricane Wars right this second if you enjoy:

✨True enemies-to-lovers fantasy
✨Arranged/forced marriage
✨Forced proximity
✨There’s only one bed
✨He falls first (and he’s mad about it)
✨Detailed, creative worldbuilding
✨DRAGONS
✨Lost royalty

Thea Guanzon is quickly becoming a new favorite author! I absolutely adored the world building and the characters. The Star Wars inspiration/vibes were weaved into an original story so well, I was deeply impressed! Any author that can take a beloved story and world (and relationship) and make it their own gets two thumbs up in my book!

Nominated for Best Romantasy in 2023, The Hurricane Wars is an engaging fantasy series that captures the essence of a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance.

While the plot has its strengths, it also presents some challenges. Overall, I found it enjoyable, but I’m hoping that the second book will deliver a more engaging writing style and deeper character development. Guanzon has laid a promising foundation, and I’m excited to see how the story unfolds in the next installment!

I really LOVED this book. It was on my tbr prior to being a bookseller and since then it has been on all of my fantasy displays.

Not sure that I will continue on with this series. Everything felt rushed and somewhat lackluster with regards to the romance, at least for me.

I loved the romance! they understood each and could be themselves together. The chemistry between them was amazing! I also loved the slow-burn and the sexual tension between the main characters. There were several scenes that made me blush and smile so much. The writing is beautiful and descriptive. I honestly felt like I was living in the world with the characters. I felt so many emotions while reading this book, I cried, I laughed and I smiled. This book will stay in my heart for a long time.

From start to finish, I couldn’t put this book down. The chemistry of our main leads here is visceral and will have you turning pages, highlighting, and revisiting again, Guanzon’s world of intrigue, war, and romance is beautifully brought to life in The Hurricane wars. Absolutely do not miss out on the wonderful introduction into this 2 part series. One can only hope 2 parts can turn into 7! Enemies to lovers, unknown identities, destiny, secrets of the past that may unlock the future…. 5 stars of a delicious read. This is your next romance series obsession!

Sounded so promising, but unfortunately DNFed it about 1/3 of the way through. I listened to the audio book if that makes a difference, but just found it really hard to follow along. There were a lot of unnecessary adjectives to describe every little thing, way too many details where they weren't needed, and the whole hate/love relationship seemed to switch a little too fast for me.

AN EXCELLENT STORY!!! It’s a slow burn, but done in the most perfect way, with pay off! The author did a great job with the world crafting, characters, and a very interesting magic system! Cant wait for book 2!

A really solid debut novel, but it felt more YA than adult fantasy to me. I know this was a former Star Wars Reylo fanfic and sometimes that took me out of the world. I enjoyed this and can't wait for book 2 later this year!

It is a struggle to kindly express the issues that I had with this book. The main characters were flat, with the only real depth coming from them being if you were picturing Kylo Ren and Rey as the characters. The plot drags on way too long and sometimes entire paragraphs is just one giant sentence describing things. Also, it feels like this author didn't visualize the physicality of things. The main character is only a inch taller than her enemy love interest when he is sitting down, but she is capable of knocking him back with a head butt when he is standing? It just could have used alot more time spent editing the content.

This diverse read pulled me in with writing that encouraged me to reread sentences that captured my imagination. I loved the characters and soon became invested in them. Told in a 2 POV, the novel paints a picture of a magical world in which Talasyn and Prince Alaric are drawn together much against their will. The romance between them is written skillfully, as are the emotions and experiences of each.

Torn on this book. I had trouble reading it at first as I knew going in this was supposedly a fanfiction originally.

I’m a huge Thea fan from her fanfiction days and I’m so happy to see her embrace her original content and building on it for traditional publishing for a bigger audience. I’m not a huge romantasy fan but Talasyn and Alaric did satisfy my enemies to lovers thirst

🌶️- yes

This was so Darcy & Elizabeth coded - there were hand clenches - I lost my mind giggling.

We start the book in the beginning of the end. Dropped into battlefields of desolation and grief, thinking we know one thing but really there’s so much more to the story that we hadn’t gotten yet. Honestly, who am I even on at this point I don’t know.

Our two main characters start on opposite sides and then are forced to collide on a single goal while still trying to get the upper hand with each other AND fighting undeniable attraction.

The magic system was so cool. It was so interesting to see realm magic in use. I’m VERY excited to see it play out more as there’s so much to explore.

It’s a lush world with a giggle worthy romance but it’s a gentle pace through out.

- Light vs dark
- Arrangement marriage
- Secret identities
- Dragons
- Political interest
- Dual pov

This was a delightful read as a 🐀

I tabbed for:

- world building
- Magic
- Foreshadowing
- Romance
- Things I love
- Gods
- Objects
- Questions and theories

Hv sent this finished copy to me as an arc because I begged for it shamelessly - but all thoughts and feelings are my own they didn’t ask for anything in return. And hi 👋 if you have a spare Monsoon Rising kicking around… I would be ETERNALLY GRATEFUL because I’m DYING over here for more.

I went in knowing this was fanfiction. When you are reading The Hurricane Wars, you can feel the 'fanfic-ness' of it all. I did not like the writing style or the chaos the intro starts with.

I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley.
I have been waiting for this book since it was announced and the enemies to lovers was so good and I loved the magic and the blend of futuristic and fantastical elements.
However, there were some points where the prose rambled on for a little too long and I found myself skimming passages. Also, since we have both Talasyn and Alaric’s POV it makes Talasyn a little less sympathetic in her actions towards Alaric since we know Alaric’s thoughts concerning the matter.
I still loved it, and am eagerly awaiting book 2!

THW is my kind of adult fantasy. We've got two extremely touch-starved sexy people on opposite sides of a war, who "reluctantly" enter an ✨arranged marriage✨ to (i) smooth over some political business and (ii) basically save the world from an impending natural disaster. Throw in some opposing light/dark magic and our two main characters incapable of not being at each others throats (in more ways than one 😏) and I am standing at attention 🫡 .

Arranged marriage trope will always get me, and I am not ashamed to admit that. While it does take a little bit for things to pick up, once things start progressing between Alaric and Talasyn I struggle to stop reading and must keep devouring so that I can continue to squeal and kick my feet as I watch this tumultuous alliance turn into everything I could want and more.

I do feel it's my duty to add the disclaimer that I came into reading this book as someone who has read the original story this was inspired by an ungodly amount of times, and could recite the whole thing verbatim if I needed to. It is a god-tier comfort read for me. And I adore Thea. As such, it's fair to acknowledge that I am most definitely coming into this with a personal bias, and with some a priori knowledge that helps me have a better grasp on the world that Thea has set-up. But that doesn't make me any less hooked to know where this new story is going and see how these characters stories continue to be fleshed out.

If I thought about it long enough it's probably between 4-5 stars from me, and to be fair I will list a few of my minuscule gripes.
- Multiple relatively large time jumps where (arguably) a lot of individual character/plot development likely occurred, which I'm generally never a fan of.
- Felt lacking on the background of the Night Empire... which although their Emperor is half of the story, I feel like we only scratched the surface of what is going on in there. But, to be fair, this is the first of a trilogy so I am fine working under the expectation that we'll get more in future instalments.
- I am torn as to whether this would've benefited from the first book being more focused on Talasyn and Alaric's individual stories pre-meeting (in line with those previous two points). While I am a simple person, who just wants my two hot baddies to be at each others throats, I also think it would've help give the characters personal journeys more substance and really propped them up for their behaviour we see when interacting with one another. Particularly for Alaric, while I love my hard-exterior-grown-man-boy, I also think there are times that his actions/thoughts don't align with what you would expect based on his upbringing for the past 26ish years.
- Last one, towards the end we get a lot of the "he/she could never feel the same way I do about them/it's all a ruse" line of thinking for both of them... which is one of my least favourite devices in many "enemies to lovers" romances

ANYWAYS, I love this book and will sing its praises as well as gremlin Talasyn and her Night Daddy Alaric with his gauntlets (which must stay on) from the rooftops for as long as I live.

I appreciate the worldbuilding Guanzon did. Sometimes I feel like romantasies put worldbuilding on the backburner but this was not the case. I had a clear sense the world and the politics at play which made me appreciate this story so much more. THE HURRICANE WARS is very, very ReyLo. So if that's your vibe, you're going to love this but I can see why others may not.

I know a lot of people love this one, but it just wasn't for me. It was very much a Reylo fanfic, but moved a bit slower for my liking.