Okay have to be honest, I DNF’d this.

I really struggled with the audio. It was so hard to focus and figure out what was going on. I felt like this was all over the place and I couldn’t remember the characters names.

I think reading might be better. But I’ll try again a different time. Couldn’t hold my attention.

The narrators were fine.

4.5 stars
Ok what the heck, this was so good? I've seen such mixed reviews that I was pretty sure it was going to be a DNF but it was impossible to put down. I now have to get my hands on the Fairyloot edition since I skipped that month.
The tension between Aya and Will was impeccable and I couldn't help but hold my breath during their interactions. Aya is badass and I love how vulnerable and sweet Will is. There were some really killer good lines in it too! Aya's line in the throne room towards the end was especially cool. The dialogue is a little clunky but I didn't mind so much. Overall, it was a super enjoyable read and I'm glad I gave it a chance.
Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This has potential. This book uses some popular tropes such as rivals to lovers and a complex magic system. It’s not bad in anyway but now that I’m sitting down to write a review, I cannot find much that differentiates it from other fantasy books.The rivals to lovers bit has its sweet moments but I couldn’t understand Aya’s hatred for Will and the cause for it. There were also instances where the plot was predictable. Given that it is the first book in the series, maybe it gets more interesting in the next instalment and this serves just as an introductory.

The Curse of Saints is the first book in The Curse of Saints series. And I chose to listen to this and it was narrated by Devon Sorvari. Devon was amazing and I hope she does many more audiobooks. It’s a 14 hour book and starts out kinda slow but picks up and I ended up really enjoying it.
Kate Dramis wrote a YA fantasy romance that had enemies to lovers with a very slow burn. So much happened I liked it and I will definitely be listening to book 2.
I recommend this one.
Thanks Dreamscape Media via NetGalley.

L’univers est sympathique et attrayant aux premiers abords, avec tout un system de déités ( et que j’adore ça !) ainsi qu’une magie fragmentée en plusieurs éléments et affinités ( et je peux vous dire qu’il y en a des badass )
Malheureusement tout est survolé, n’ayant pas fini le livre je me suis renseignée à droite à gauche, histoire d’avoir d’autre ressenti et pas dire des choses complètement à côté de la plaque.

L’intrigue de base est sympa ( oui c’est le mot du jour), Aya, protagoniste féminin est une espionne de la reine mandatée pour trouver le pourquoi du comment un Pays voisin achète des armes au marché noir, Pays bien sûr dont le royaume a besoin pour passer l’hiver..
Es-ce une déclaration de guerre ?

Plusieurs autres intrigues vient se ficeler dessus, mais encore une fois tout est seulement survolé.
C’est bien dommage car Aya et son rival ( au solde de la Reine également) ont tout pour bien faire, mais rien n’est décrit, si ce n’est les habits, les détails et le fait que les bagarres dans les tavernes de soldent par des vêtements qui puent.

Bref, vous l’aurez compris c’est pas pour moi.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced audiobook of The Curse of Saints!

An enemies to lovers fantasy with kingdoms on the brink of war, political dealings, interesting worldbuilding and magic system!

I really enjoyed the audibook version and look forward to going back and rereading!

3/5 Stars

This was just okay. Overall it was a pretty average fantasy book. It had all the tropes. Spymaster. Magic, Enemies to Lovers. Unfortunately it just fell a little flat for me. I really wasn't the biggest fan of the way the characters were written, and found myself not connecting to them so my interest in the book itself dwindled. I will say the audiobook was pretty enjoyable. The Narrator for the audiobook did a great job and if your interest is peaked at all I would recommend giving it a listen.

This one was not for me. I ended up DNFing around 30%. I thought the characters and plot were very generic and it felt like a YA fantasy novel, event though it was marketed as adult.

The audiobook was also not doing anything for me. The narration felt flat and lacking emotion most of the time.

I may try to pick this up as a physical read at some point, but I’m not to bothered by putting it down.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the audio arc of The Curse of Saints in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! It was quite slow to get into but a part of me thinks it may have just been due to the format I chose (audiobook) as I’m usually needing something super exciting and extremely fast paced to keep me focus on listening. The narrator was great but I think I would’ve enjoyed the story more if I had read a print copy. I will be purchasing a print copy eventually as I did really enjoy this book! Love the charisma and the general badass-ery of Aya and Will.

This book was pretty good on audio, but I have a feeling it’ll be even better in the physical or ebook form so I’m gonna read it again like that!

Thank you Netgalley, Kate Dramis, and Dreamscape Media for an audiobook edition of The Curse of Saints in exchange for an honest review.

For the first 15% of this book I was a little lost in the info bump / it shifting between POVs with only one narrator. I think it would have been better to have the characters name at the start of the chapter so we knew who’s POV it was right off the bat. Or to have multiple narrators or someone with a little more range, I just struggled with listening to this book for the first few hours due to the narrator.

The magic system was interesting but I think I would have better understood it if I had read the physical book because it had a glossary of the powers. In audiobook format it was harder to keep the powers straight.

That being said Aya is a badass, if you finished the Throne of Glass series and want another that feels the same, this is it. Will is dark and moody, in the best ways. I loved the two together and I was rooting for them the whole book.

The love triangle works for this book mostly because it isn’t the main focus of the book and there is still a plot happening and character development.

All that being said I really enjoyed this book, for me it was a very solid four star read. Kates writing style was right up my alley and the story flowed really well. I will be reading the next book in the series.

🗡️ TOG vibes
🗡️ Touch her / him and 💀
🗡️ Rebels
🗡️ Royalty
🗡️ Badass FMC
🗡️ Side character lesbians
🗡️ Saints / God granted powers
🗡️ Love triangle
🗡️ He falls first
🗡️ Enemies to lovers
🗡️ Side Character with they/them pronouns

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Dramis & Dreamscape Media for an audio ARC of The Curse of Saints. This review is wholly my own and may not be reproduced (except quoted synopsis).

“As an elite spy and the Queen's Third-in-Command, Aya has dedicated herself to a life of discipline and duty, using her gods-given abilities to keep dark magic from ever returning to the realm. Her oath ensures she will always act to protect those she fights alongside—including Will, the Queen's Enforcer and Aya's bitter rival.

Forced by circumstance to work together, Aya and Will struggle to come to an uneasy truce. But when tragedy strikes, Aya instinctively reacts, unleashing a power that hasn't been seen in over 500 years. Shaken, she's confronted with an impossible truth: one that threatens the precious grip she keeps on her control. One that forces her to work with Will to discover who—or what—she really is. And one that could turn her into a weapon in a war she doesn't know how to win.

With Will at her side and untold power at her fingertips, Aya will have to decide: Has she been sent to save the realm she loves…or destroy it?”

I read select few fantasy novels each year and I was happy to add The Curse of Saints to that short list.

While I did enjoy the story, there were just a couple others in this genre that I have read this year and another yet to come that already beat this one out and the one I haven’t read yet (November), will absolutely beat it out. So I wasn’t as high on it as I possibly could have been if it had released maybe last year when there wasn’t such stiff competition to compare it to.

I try not to compare, but much of the plotline and the entire trope was just so similar to the others and it did not deliver as well as the other.

With that said – it was totally bingeworthy and I will absolutely continue reading the series as they release, but just don’t expect what we got from titles such as Fourth Wing, Star Bringer and will come with A Curse for True Love. Sorry – I had to name drop so you’d know what the comparisons are.

I will absolutely still recommend this title and give it 4 Stars.

3 stars for Curse of Saints!

I really liked aspects of this book and found comfort in some well loved tropes, I struggled to find something that made this book stand apart from others within the genre. I'm always a fan of a badass FMC but found Aya to lack depth at certain points. The romance was cute, but didn't really stand out to me. Overall I really did enjoy this book and would like to continue with the series because it still has a lot of elements I love. I just hope as the series progresses the characters become more fleshed out.

Content Warning: Violence, Death, Blood, Grief, Cursing, Drug use, Kidnapping, War, Torture, Manipulation

I spent so much time trying to figure out how to phrase my feelings toward this book because I struggled to put into words why I enjoyed this book as much as I had. But when I finished it while I was left wanting the other books in this series, a need to know what happens to these characters.
When I sat and thought about picking up "The Curse of Saints," it felt like picking up Fan Fiction in a fandom you've come to love. The characters might be a bit different, and the setting may have changed, but at its core, it's like coming home. Something you can fall into without really trying.
The biggest complaint I have is that we don't get to see more of the doggos.
- 1⭐ for not enough of the big doggos

Thank you netgalley for this advance listening copy.

Book review first.....
This is a deep fantasy read. There is A Ton of world building in the beginning.
If you are not already a fantasy reader this may not be the book for you to start.
That said I really enjoyed the characters. The love triangle and being pulled between what team I was on. I do wish we had more details on the wolves, I loved that aspect and hadn't read anything with wolves before.
4/5 stars

Audio review.
The audio for this was a struggle to get through. I ended up having to tandem read and kept switching to reading on ebook/physical books vs the audio. The narrator was very hard to get into. Her narration was emotionless and the differences between characters was hardly noticeable. (I listen to about an audiobook a day and have quite the experience with narrators.)
If I just had this book on audio it would have been a quick DNF for me.
2/5 for narration

This is my favorite genre so I always have high exoectations for fantasy, romance, especially enemies to lovers storylines. This did not disappoint. The book started off with action, and tge pacing continued throughout with plot twists, betrayals, fight scenes and romantic tension. The worldbuilding was well done and information given as the story went, keeping it from bring convulated and easy to learn. Warring kingdoms, a cast with four characters plus, and a third person omniscent narrator allowed perspectives to fully flesh out the world and characters. Yet, throughout, the reader still questions who to trust. All while a growing war emerges, magical powers grow, and relationships evolve. I enjoyed this one and look forward to the next in this series.

I couldn't get into this book.
So many characters that the storyline fell flat. I couldn't keep everyone straight and the romance was beyond predictable. I wound up so frustrated I DNFd and I freakin' hate to do that.
Maybe some other time, I guess.

The Curse of Saints was a very entertaining read. This book had just about everything: enemies to lovers, a love triangle, found family…. This book felt like a rollercoaster, every time I was sure of something, Dramis would through a curveball and I’d have to reevaluate! This was a great first book and I can’t wait to read more from Dramis and more of this series.

*3 stars*

This was a pretty run of the mill young adult fantasy romance with court politics. Not terrible but not memorable either.

The last third of this book was its saving grace. Both the characters and the world building felt very flat and one dimensional. I would have liked more on the magic system. This just felt like it lacked depth in all aspects. This felt too long, like maybe the story could have been condensed into a standalone. While the last third did pick up in pace and plot, I don’t think I’ll be continuing this series.

If you like a troupey young adult romantasy you might like this one. The audiobook was very well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this work. All opinions in this review are my own.

This book gave me TOG vibes but fell a little flatter. I really enjoyed the world the author built here and the politic aspects of it but i did get confused in the middle part of the book. I really enjoyed Will and Aya . They were two really good main characters and i found their banter to be fun in the first part of the book. I liked that they are the love interest here but i wish there was MORE. Like there couldve been more moments with tension and more romance to the plot. The one thing that drove me crazy here was that there was ALOT going on and ALOT of characters. I think that led to a lot of my confusion. Maybe if i had a physical book to tab etc i couldve kept it straight but i didnt know id have to do that going into this and it was even more difficult with audio. I am unsure if i will continue this series, but i think that for being a debut novel this is really good. also the narrator was good too!