Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the arc of ‘Of blood and light’ by C Monk.

It’s so well written and reads with ease. I wasn’t sure what genre this is but why should we label everything!

Stunning read! Another author to add to my favourites.

I fear I've set the bar too high with this as my first ARC from netgalley.
5 luminous and resounding stars for the tale of River Greer. River is trying to save her youngest sister when she is stolen in the night and transported to a place light years from earth and straight into Arthurian legend. River will do whatever it takes to not only return home to save her sister but to save the foreign world of Thule from the mysterious blight. Along the way she will discover answers to questions of her past, including what exactly happened to her long disappeared mother and sister.

Now that the summary is out of the way, let me say this. I'm picky with writing styles. If I don't like the writing style I don't care how good the story is, I'm immediately taken out of it. C. Monk is such a gifted writer and story teller. I absolutely adored the writing. Descriptive but not droning, she knows how to paint a picture and tell a story without making it too flowery or losing me in the details. She kept me captivated the whole time. Normally I don't always like when modern/current language is used in stories because I feel it takes away from the fantasy/surreal element of sci-fi/fantasy stories. However, she uses the perfect amount of it to inject humor in the story and it offers us a way as the the reader to forge a connection with River.
I loved the characters and the world building, the story was paced very well.
Most of all, as an avid reader of romance I was a big fan of the romance in this story.
I can't wait to read more from this author and look forward to the sequel!

When I started reading this I had difficultly trying to categorize the trope of story this is, It's not enemies to lovers. It also isn't a kidnapped/imprisoned or mistaken identity trope either. It doesn't really fit into any of them. It is however exciting. It has an interesting premise with the female lead, River, being kidnapped and brought to another planet to be handed over to a Duke as his missing wife. Who just so happens to look just like her. This planet has it's own magic system that is dying and the duke is spending his life trying to keep things going on his land. River seems to fall in line a bit to easily with the archaic rules of owning women and controlling their every movement that exists there. She also seems to fall for the duke a tad too quickly as well. But there are deeper plots afoot, a missing duchess to still find and a world that needs saving. I really couldn't put down the book as it kept me interested through every chapter. So while it isn't my standard fare romance wise, it was exciting with a quickly moving storyline and a very detailed world and characters. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.