This feels like it's pulling itself in 3 different directions. There's the long lost princess fairy-tale arc, the Wolf Shifter Romance arc, and the Howl's Moving Castle arc. It's taking three sorts of stories and... not blending them successfully.

I'm pretty sure that A.K. could write down a recipe on a soiled napkin, and I would still devour it. This book, much like A.K.s other series, I could not put down. The characters and the world are written so darn well that I feel like I'm there right beside the main characters.

AK Mulford did it again. They have put a new spin on Sleeping Beauty and added🌶🌶 and shifters. Fated mate is slowly becoming a new fave trope and love it.

This book was good. At first when I started I was a little put off because I’m not really interested in stories about wolves, especially shifter romance, but I can say that this one was decent!

The romance didn’t take away from the plot, and you get little snippets of Grae and Calla throughout the story that leave you yearning for more from them. Fated mates is always such a good trope, and I love the plot twist that was thrown in that involved this trope.

Not only did I enjoy Calla and Grae, but all the side characters that we meet, especially our beloved traveling musicians in Galen den’ Mora. Discovering Galen den’ Mora not only saved the life of Calla and so many others, but it also helped Calla discover who she is.

Now I will say, this story was very slow and boring at times. I found myself not interested in reading it so it took me about a month to get through, but I wanted to know what happened in the end.

Overall, a solid journey of self-discovery, queer identity, romance, and adventure!

Summary:
- shifter romance (wolves)
- fated mates
- childhood friends to lovers
- sleeping beauty re-imagining
- slow burn
- LQBTQIA+ rep
- royalty
- found family

Thank you to A.K. Mulford, NetGalley, and Harper Voyager for the eARC.

A River of Golden Bones:⁣
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Thank you @harpervoyagerus for my gifted copy!⁣
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I thought this was a YA fantasy. Boy, was I wrong when they started talking about relations. I had to rewind the audio to make sure I heard correctly. 😭 The spice was really random in my opinion, and still didn’t convince me of their relationship. The pacing did lull in some parts of the story, so I did have to trudge through this book. Thankfully, it’s book 1 in the series, so the foundation has been lain and we’re ready to dive in!⁣
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I really liked Calla and Briar, the sisters. The Sleeping Beauty aspect was really well done, and I loved the link between the two. I also am a sucker for a shifting wolf and fated mates, so this was perfect. ⁣
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I don’t really know how I feel about Grae. I’m kind of a little salty of how he acted towards King Nero and he really gave me no connection with our MC. I hope he really grows into his character arc for the next book in the series. ⁣
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Overall, this was one that I’m curious to see how book 2 will go, and will definitely give it a shot.⁣
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Out now.⁣
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QOTD: How was your Monday?

A River of Golden Bones was a fun twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. There was enough story change, and detailed politicking added to the narrative to make this feel fresh. I enjoyed reading this book and thought it was worth reading, despite being your standard YA romantasy. I give this a solid 3/5 stars, and I think many readers would enjoy this story.

Loved this!
I enjoyed the characters and how much thought the author clearly put into making it diverse and inclusive.
The world and storyline was easy read and magical, and the romance kept me hooked!

Tropes:
Fated Mates
Found Family
Queer Rep
Steammm

I really enjoyed this reimagining.
I'm a sucker for fairytales and romance! I am so excited to see where this story goes!
And am so happy to see werewolves are making a come back in books! And this cover! Omg it's gorgeous,

I absolutely adored this book. I found A.K. Mulford back in 2021 as a giveaway on Tiktok, and they have become a automatic read ever since.

I really struggled with this book. I went in so excited and thinking I would have it read in no time, but I had to force myself to read it.

There is very little world building. I kept having to re-read sentences to make sure I understand what the heck was going on.

The FMC was extremely one dimensional and kind of annoying. She had no personality except for punching people.

Calla and Grae had zero chemistry. It was just bleh all around.

Also, I appreciated all of the representation but it felt heavy handed and on the nose.

I have been waiting for this book since Calla and Briar were introduced. I’m a sucker for fated mates and wolf shifters, and combined with a fairytale retelling?!? THIS WAS PERFECTION!! If AK Mulford writes it, I’m gonna read it!
This book was inclusive and managed to capture twin dynamics in a way I don’t see in many fiction books. As a twin myself, I felt very satisfied with this book in terms of that aspect.
The twist on Sleeping Beauty was brought to a whole new level with warring kingdoms, complex villains, and an amazing end with NO frustrating cliffhanger to be found!
Thank you for this amazing ARC filled with perfection!

Thanks to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

River of Golden Bones is a fantasy romance about werewolves that works better than I expected. It has both exciting action sequences and hot steamy bedroom action scenes and satisfies in both areas. This is probably the most explicit of erotic scenes I've read in a novel and they worked well.

Things come together for a satisfying ending that wraps up some plot threads and leaves open a few for the sequel. It is just the right sort of hot fairy tail story and simple to follow with a single point of view throughout. It is fast paced and always keeps things moving.

3.5 stars rounded up. This is a sleeping beauty re-imagining where there are shifter wolves and sleeping beauty has a twin. I love a good fairy tale retelling so I was so excited to get this ARC. While it is an enjoyable story, it will not be among my favorite reads of the year. People who love shifter-romances, fated mates, and high stakes fantasy will enjoy this book.

I enjoyed the characters and the banter and relationships between them. The main character, Calla, makes many new friends in this series and it is fun to see her grow and begin to build her own personality and identity. I did not enjoy the plot as much because of the pacing. It felt that certain sections moved incredibly quickly while others were drawn out and slow. Because of the pacing issues, the world was not as well built out as I would have liked. For example, Calla talked about the importance of the pack throughout the book. But the section with the pack was incredibly short so it did not make sense to me why she would care about a pack that she met for only a few hours. I wish that she and her sister had lived with the pack for some time before the rest of the events in the story would have happened.

There are heavy themes of gender and identity exploration, which I found interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, Harper Voyager for providing an eARC of this book.

This was such a unique fantasy romance read!

About halfway through this, I had some very mixed feelings. On the one hand, I love the wolf society, the main character and their exploration of gender and identify, the found family. The last 70% of the story was especially wonderful, with a lot of unexpected twists and action as well as relationship building and some delicious spice.

The whole middle third of the book was tough for me, though. I’ve realized recently that I don’t much like the fantasy books where the bulk of the book happens “in transit” to an intimate destination. I don’t mind this when it’s a quest with maybe multiple and unknown stops, but when the characters have one area in mind and spend the whole time getting there, I begin to check out. This was definitely the case for this one. I began to get bored with the dialogue and repetitiveness, and it felt like there was a long while where Calla and Grae weren’t together when they really had no reason not to.

Regardless, I dud love the beginning and the end, even if the middle lost my interest. I will come back to this author for sure, ad I did love the character development and inclusion of diverse gender identity representation, as well as Calla’s exploration of it in real time. I think some of the things that missed for me were a personal preference, so j will give this a 3.5!

Thank you to Avon & Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this eArc!

I struggled with this one. It was such a slow start and it took until about 75 pages in to get to interesting parts. By then I wanted to grind my teeth because it felt like this was a character that just whined about things. The internal conflict came across as whining rather than turmoil.
I didn’t get attached to the characters until probably 60% of the book and by the end I wasn’t feeling wow-ed. I’m a bit dismayed because this was such an anticipated book, but it felt like a bit of a let down. I enjoyed it but I’m not sure if I would read something from this universe if there was another.

4.5**
Okay at first i was not vibing with the book because it was reading very wattpad like and I just couldn’t find myself getting into the book. But I pushed through and I am so glad!! i have not read a werewolf fantasy book before this book and all I can say is yes! This exactly what my reading genre needed to spice it up a bit. I think it was around 40ish% of the way through that I started to get invested. I will say that the store like was pretty predictable for me but I enjoyed reading through to the end of the book. I also really loved that this book did not end off on a cliffhanger but instead planted the seeds for the second book( fingers crossed) which I am already sooo excited for.🤩

I have yet to read a book by A.K. Mulford that I don’t like. A River of Golden Bones did not disappoint! Shifters, fated mates, sleeping beauty retelling, and spice. What’s not to love? Calla is a main character that was easy to connect with. The cast of lovable side characters added the perfect found family vibes without detracting from the main coupling. The romance aspect was great, and I loved seeing how the relationship developed. If you’re looking for a gripping adventure and steamy romance then this is the romantasy for you!

Thank you so much to Avon and Harper Voyager for providing this eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Mulford has grown as an author between this and her first series. More layered characters and more detailed story.

DNF 16% of the way in. I have never met a more annoying, naïve but somehow thinks they're hard MC. not to mention she's constantly complaining about "Girly" women and shocked that other people might actually ENJOY being that way. cool we get it - you're not like other girls!

Oh my gosh! This blew my freaking mind, I loved everything about this book, it was so captivating and the characters were amazing