Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn't influence my review. This book had so much potential, but the synopsis just made it seem better than it was. The love triangle pissed me off, and the MMC actual love interest did too. Overall, this book had too much info-dump, and the real romance wasn't really going anywhere for a long time, and it dragged the whole book along. The characters were annoying.

I enjoyed this retelling. It is a slower paced story for me. There are a couple sex scenes and one or two touches of profanity if that bothers you then be aware.

# A Feather So Black
# 3/26/2024 ~ 3/29/2024
# 3.5 / 5.0

I really liked this romanasty. It sucked me right in and I couldn't stop reading. At end I was sad I couldn't begin reading the next book right then!! Iloved the darkness and the myth elements. Fun fun fun. I'm recommending it to all my librarian peers🎉

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Ok I ended up really liking this book but it took me way too long to actually get into. I didn’t even end up enjoying it until I was about 45% in.

Fia is a changeling that has been exchanged for a princess. When she comes of age her “mother” the Queen sends her on a mission to rescue the real princess from the land of Tir Na Nóg. Turns out all of the girls who have been taken and exchanged with changelings are cursed to be swans. Now Fia must gain the trust of their Gentry who is in charge of them and successfully break the curse.

I will say I didn’t like the main character she felt very weak and self doubting most of the time. I also didn’t like Rogan which I guess I wasn’t supposed to but he was very annoying and spoiled and unlikeable.

I just felt like the pacing was very slow for me. I feel like there will be a huge fan base for this book but I’m unsure if I’ll continue the series or not.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Sadly this was a DNF at 52%. I loved the concept but the execution was lacking for me. Mainly, the plot was far too slow and the love interests were driving me crazy. The first love interest was a man-child who openly disrespected her constantly, and the second was a fae with shadows and tattoos (end of personality).

I truly hope someone else will find this book fun and enjoy! Not for me and what I would personally recommend to my followers though.

What do you MEAN this isn't released yet and I'll have to wait even longer for the second book???? Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for this ARC, I don't think I'll ever be the same again. Here's the thing, it's not like this was a 5 Star read for me. It's just written so beautifully and the plot was so mysterious and I genuinely want to know what'll happen next after the ending? Lyra Selene may actually have my favorite style of writing, it's filled with metaphors and descriptive words in such a poetic tone that it just brought life to everything in the world she created. The imagery I experienced reading this was insane. Faces on trees, Thorns and vines in people's veins, it was amazing.

I'm not going to lie, I have no idea how I feel about this book!

I originally picked it up because I'm fascinating with the mythology behind Changelings, and I really did love how the characters dealt with that.

The romance was... fine? I did like how the love triangle was handled.

I feel really awful to put it this way but it felt like ACOTAR-lite. Like I could feel where there was a hand in pushing for this book to be "more romantasy" esque which wasn't fair because overall, I really liked what it did.

I knew in the back of my mind the sister would end up being "not great" but I did appreciate the different in nature versus nurture. Like yeah you were both raised by the same mother but whew boy that nature aspect of that got to her TIGHT.

Yeah! An enjoyable read. I will say it was a long one and it felt long. Which isn't bad but the pacing was particularly slow in the first half which made the second half feel like it was speeding along.

Thank you so much to Orbit and NetGalley for a chance to read and review!

Included as a top pick in weekly March New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

4.3⭐️!

I thoroughly enjoyed journeying alongside Fia as she fought to discover who she is and discovered how to fight for what is most important.

The world building was beautifully done and I could see every bit of magic and trickery unfolding as Fia traveled from her home to a distant land to save her people. Traveling with her longest and closest friend, the readers are witness to Fia's slow burn romance elements that were both infuriating and exciting, especially as a love triangle developed.

The last quarter of the book had me captivated and I struggled to put it down as I HAD to know "What happens next!?"

The Netgalley version included a pronunciation guide near the end that helps clarify how certain names and places should sound.

Excited that this is a first book and already looking forward to the sequel!

Thank you, Netgalley, Lyra Selene, and Orbit for the beautiful opportunity to read this enchanting work!

Ugh, Fia, look at your life! Look at your choices! Your sister is absolutely scheming against you! Fia spent much too long having feelings for Rogan when she shouldn't have even given him the time of day. Aside from my frustrations with the love triangle this book also suffered from a pacing issue - nothing at all happened for long stretches of time and I found myself skimming about halfway through.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Edleweiss and Orbit for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cruel Prince meets For the Wolf? Yes please!

A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene is a fantasy novel set in world with fey and changelings. In a kingdom where magic has been lost, Fia is a rare changeling, left behind by the wicked Fair Folk when they stole the High Queen's daughter and retreated behind the locked gates of Tír na nÓg. Most despise Fia's fae blood. But the queen raises her as a daughter and trains her to be a spy. Meanwhile, the real princess Eala is bound to Tír na nÓg, cursed to become a swan by day and only returning to her true form at night. When a hidden gate to the realm is discovered, Fia is tasked by the queen to retrieve the princess and break her curse. But she doesn’t go alone: with her is prince Rogan, Fia's dearest childhood friend—and Eala’s betrothed. As they journey through the forests of the Folk, where magic winds through the roots of the trees and beauty can be a deadly illusion, Fia’s mission is complicated by her feelings for the prince…and her unexpected attraction to the dark-hearted fae lord holding Eala captive. Irian might be more monster than man, but he seems to understand Fia in a way no one ever has. Soon, Fia begins to question the truth of her mission. But time is running out to break her sister's curse. And unraveling the secrets of the past might destroy everything she has come to love.

Going into this book, I had no real expectations, except that it was going to be a Swan Lake retelling. What I did not expect is the love triangle, THE SPICE, and the general vibes that Irian would give off. Overall, this was a pretty good read. One that I would recommend to seldom few.

What an incredible read! We have a Dark Swan retelling with a sprinkle of Celtic Mythology. The writing in this story was beautiful. The botanical magic was enchanting. I thought the world building was great.

We have a great love triangle and a shadow daddy 👀 I believe this book sets up for the next one perfectly and can't wait to see what's in store.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the arc.

4.5 stars This book had me at a dark twist on the swan lake tale. Sign me up! Even so this novel exceeded my expectations! It is beautifully written for one thing. I know not everyone reads for lyrical prose and the feeling you can get over a perfectly expressed sentence, but I love it. There were multiple places in this book where I just had to stop and read a sentence over again to fully absorb how it captured something I could relate to! Just gorgeous!

But don't let me make you think this is all prose and no story, because the story is also very well crafted. It does move a little slow in the middle to provide some great character development, but I felt so close to Fia's emotions as the replacement Fae no one really wants as opposed to her "sister" Eala who is the perfect princess. Things are not always as they seem, however. The ending really captured me as wel.l. This was just a fabulous read from start to finish with an interesting romantic plot that works well but also isn't so entered the rest of the story gets lost. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good fairytale retelling with some romance and magic.

This was an interesting debut! I found the Celtic folklore aspects disappointing (I felt it was mostly the names and then some details which showed research, but I wanted more) and the court intrigue and complex characters wasn't there enough for the Folk of the Air comparison. This also suffered from a love triangle where one character was so obviously the choice but we had to waste a lot of time with the other character. That being said, I did appreciate the main character's emotional journey as she rethought some aspects of her childhood and her life and how she was treated.

I think readers looking for their next dark romantic fantasy hero to fall in love with will enjoy this one!

I was absolutely enchanted by this author’s writing style. I loved it so much that I reread many passages out loud to myself and marveled at the flow and beauty of her words. The author won me over right out of the gate with the perfect book dedication. “For anyone who has ever doubted if they were the main character in their own story. You are.” 🤌🏻 Absolutely beautiful words that were perfectly paired to our main character’s story.

Fae books are my bread and butter and this one checked all the boxes for me. With the popularity of ACOTAR, it is no surprise that the book world is currently saturated with books with similar themes. This may be a loose retelling of the swan princess, but apart from that, this never felt like a copycat or any other book I have read.

I think the love interest and the romance aspects could have been written a bit better, but other than that, I loved every second of this and cannot wait for book two. My biggest gripe is that there were many completely unpronounceable words or terms littered throughout the book and the appendix was at the end. I think they may be real Gaelic words, but really, who can say things like “banfhlaith,” “chiardhubh,” or my personal favorite “i gcothromaíocht” without help? 😅

I really hope someone will make a special edition of this soon because I would love to own a pretty hardback copy of this for my collection. 💖 This one was an easy 5 stars for me. If you love books on the fae, this one is a must read! 🙌🏻

Thank you to Net Galley, Orbit Books and the author for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely hated the love triangle in this book, which overpowered all of the actually super cool elements that I found so interesting. The mythology that Selene is building upon is so lush and fascinating, but it tends to get lost in the convoluted plot, weird pacing, and overemphasis on romantasy fan service. I haven't read many books that utilize Celtic mythology and legends so interestingly, and I wanted to see even more depth there than having the MC have such unsatisfying romance and character arcs. I wouldn't re-read this book personally, but I think it is a fine though wanting entry into the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Where to being?! This book was so refreshing and something I really needed to pull me out of a slump. I enjoyed every moment of it

Really enjoyed this one! Thank you Netgalley and Orbit for the ARC! If you enjoy romantasy, you’ll really enjoy this first installment which surprised me in a lot of ways.

This was an interesting and unique adult fantasy novel!

I received an e-ARC of the book from the publisher.

Update 3/23/24 - I decided to give this book a re-read because there were some parts I did not fully get the first time around. This book is still very hard to get into, I didn't find myself interested until around 30% in. But about halfway in was when I found myself really invested in the story. I love Fia's development as the story goes on and her and Irian together. What I still did not like was the repetitiveness of Rogan's begging. By the end of the book he still had nothing new to say and so I ended up skipping his parts this time around. I kinda wanted to know more about what happened with the Queen and Elea since those parts were kinda rushed. The writing is definitely heavy and reptitive at times (Fia also sometimes thought the same things over and over and over). In my second read I found I only cared about Fia and Irian. The side characters weren't compelling, I skipped a lot of the flashbacks involving Cathair and am very, very excited for the second book. Moving my review from 3 stars up to 4 stars and anxiously awaiting the second book.

This book took me quite a while to get into. The beginning felt very slow with a lot of flashbacks and story building but none of the characters early on were really likeable, to be honest. (and they kinda stayed that way throughout.) But once the story is set up and our FMC begins her quest, that's when my attention was truly drawn into this book and I found myself wanting to know what would happen next.

The weird sort of love triangle, not love triangle, reminded me a lot of Rhysand and Tamlin. Which is not a fault of this book because I love Rhysand and Tamlin and will read all sorts of versions of them any day.

The writing at times also felt a bit heavy. Not necessarily clunky, but more like the author lingered in some spots a little bit too long. And this is just a personal thing, but WHY did the author use the word "mantle" every other sentence? And if the mantle was meant to represent the character's cloack, could we just have called it what it is? A cloak.

Anyways, this book fits super well into the fantasy romance genre and I was surprised it was a bit spicier than I initially thought it would be! But that's something I enjoyed.

The world-building was stellar and the "real" MMC was a very nice touch but the side characters were incredibly lackluster and obvious in their intentions and the author wasted a lot of page space by repeating the same things. Especially when it came to our FMC's inner monlogue. And this book definitely did not pull me in right away, I would say I wasn't fully invested until around 25% in. I usually know if I want to DNF a book around 15%.

Overall a solid 3.5 and not my last Lyra Selene book my any means!

And a giant thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for sending me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!