Ever since she was a child, Zerryn has been close with Death. She watched her loved ones die, leaving her in the care of her father alone. When her grandmother stepped in to take the girl away, she then met the boy who she soon would grow up to love--or so she believed. But when a tragic accident occured and the boy, Celik, slipped away from her grasp, she was keen to save him and her village from destruction. Even if it meant that she had to go to the Underworld and signed up to be the Lord of Death's queen.

The book began like how a fairy tale would; a girl on a mission for the sake of "world peace" and it enticed me so. I was hopeful that it would be good enough to keep me entertained, how unfortunate that the magic lost its touch shortly after. There were some parts that weren't so clearly explained I feared I skipped important information but I didn't, and it read more as a "telling" not "showing" which I've never been so fond of. What's worse is I have zero affection for our main character. She's, to put it plainly, stupid. To compare it to Vasilisa is just embarrassing. The writing is not bad, but perhaps this one just wasn't mean for me.

While I enjoyed this story, I felt like something was lacking and to this day, I'm not sure what. In a world where we are constantly being bombarded with romance and fantasies, it's easy to draw similarities with characters from other stories and I found myself comparing with other books a bit.
However, I loved the atmosphere and the writing. Again, I did enjoy the story, I just felt that it was missing something. I would recommend this story to customers.

I must admit, the love triangle didn't work in this book. In general, I'm not a fan of love triangles, mostly because I don't like it when the mfc can't make up her mind and bounces back and forth between the two love interests, and that's what happened in The Bride of Death. This ruins the story for me as it makes it harder to root for the characters.

That being said, I did love the setting and the beautiful descriptions throughout the book. I did not find the book to be bad at all, just disappointing in parts.

When I saw the synopsis for this book I was really intrigued as I haven't read anything like this before. I also loved the beautiful gothic design of the cover.

Zerryn grew up on tales of the Lord of Death, Erlik Khan. In her small village, she and the rest of the residents keeps to themselves in fear of being taken by him. She spends her days with her best friend Çelik. When he suddenly starts to act strange and becomes possessed by a demon (the devil himself) in order to save him, she must visit the underworld and compete in three impossible trials to win the hand of the devil himself and become the bride of death.

I am a little bit divided with this book. I really like that it is based on Turkish folklore which I know nothing about and I love the mythology surrounding Erlik Khans character. This is an angle of the devil potrayed as I have never read before, and I found it really interesting. But I found the world building a little hard to follow and thought the book itself could have been better executed. I don't know if this is due to cultural reference but I felt like bits were missed and I didn't always know what was happening. I found it a bit disjointed.

I was expecting gothic fantasy but this book has more romance than I thought it would have which I really enjoyed. Who doesn't love a devil who just wants to be loved.

This is the first time I have read a book by F.M. Aden but I am sure it won't be the last.

Thanks to NetGalley and Northern Light Press for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What drew me to this book, besides the beautiful cover, is that the premise revolves around the story of Erik Khan, a god of the underworld in Turkic mythology.

This is a story of a village girl who travels to the underworld in order to save her best friend and encounters the god of death whom she strikes a bargain with in-order to save him.

This has all the markings of a fantasy romance with the underworld giving the story a gothic, fairy tale vibe.

There’s the traditional three trials for the MFC to complete, Hades and Persephone vibes, and a morally grey MMC that wants the girl.

It’s dark, moody, and the words are sensual and flowery at times. It reads more like a YA yet its content falls more into the adult category. There are moral dilemmas present and choices that sometimes fall into grey areas.

I would have liked a more detailed explanation why the heroine was “the one” for the beast. The nature of the relationship had a lot of tug and pull, sassy banter and innuendos. 🥵

I loved the concept and the gorgeous writing, and I’m a sucker for a heroine who tries to change the villain, so this was an overall entertaining read for me.

What you can expect:
~Hades and Persephone
~Beauty and the Beast
~Turkic mythology
~Fairy tale vibes
~Quest/trials
~Morally grey characters
~Villain falls first

🫶🏼 Thank you to Netgalley and F.M. Aden for giving me the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review!

I’ve had a difficult time getting into this one. I’ve tried starting it a few times and don’t think it’s for me, I hope in the future I pick it up and will try again, for now I will be DNFing.

Literally did not expect to become so hyperfixated with this book - I adore the characters and the trials as well as the slow burning attraction turned romance. This is truly a descent into hell story that I've been waiting for and done so well with the perfect touch of folklore and magic!

This book felt like a fairytale retelling. It had serene writing. It is a standalone which is always nice in the fantasy world. It has trials and demons! A fantastic mythological story.

Bride of death follows the story of Zerrin, a girl said to be touched by the devil, and seen as ill luck for all that have contact with her. Despite her difficulties being accepted in the community, Zerrin falls in love, and ends up in a quest to save her love, her family and her home.

I was a bit divided with this book because it was a brilliant idea that I feel it could have been better executed. However, I decided to improve the rating for 4 starts because I did like this story very much, and ultimately I felt I was being the mean professor giving a lower rate because the student has the potential to do more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was initially drawn to this book due to the title and went in with not having much information on the plot or background. I loved the way this book was written, it gave me a similar vibe to the 'the bear and the nightingale' of how the mythology and folklore had been woven into the story. I really enjoyed the whole book and as a stand alone it is a nice change to get a completed story.

What a lush, interesting read--unlike most other things on my TBR pile but I haven't stopped thinking about this one since I picked it up. For fans of stories that feel like fairy tales, this one won't disappoint.

This book is extremely hard for me to rate. In the beginning, I didn't enjoy the tone, but I feel it had a shift at a point of the story, and I've started liking it more.

The strongest point for me is the sense of humor in unexpected moments, and I've loved some of the characters. I was also really invested in the plot.

Why the low rating? I'm sorry but I can't overlook the issue of this being a story that potentially romanticizes grooming. The love interest has followed our female character all of her life, interfering with it. I really don't think him being present in her childhood was necessary to the story and it has left a sour taste in my mouth, despite the rest being really enjoyable. I'd be interested in reading this author's other works, hopefully not including such choices.

'The Bride of Death' is solid, enjoyable fantasy. I wasn't entirely sure where it was going in the beginning, or at least how our main character would get there, but I enjoyed it very much. The journey through Zerryn's life is my favorite part, the writing is so fairytale like and fluid. Zerryn is a great main character, getting to know her was delightful. The romance was fast and furious but it worked.

I think the only thing I struggled with was the conflict at the very end. I think the villagers were a tiny bit right? She was very much seduced by the demon? It felt a little forced, but all's well that ends well I suppose.

Thank you to NetGalley and Northern Light Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The four arms and eyes and mouths weirded me out. I couldn't get past it but overall the story was not what I expected. I think the concept was cool similar to shadow and bone and had a love triangle

I was really intrigued by the title and was very eager to read the book!
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it as much as I expected.
It seemed to be a mish mash of folklore and familiar plotlines with no new twists or surprises.

I enjoyed the dark mythology in this story, it read like an adult fairy tale. This felt unique to me in concept (and had a gorgeous cover)! I wish that there was slightly more world building in the underworld and that the romances had more depth to them across the board. I wanted to see more layers between the characters in the "love triangle" as I think that would have sold the ending to me more. Overall would recommend, I flew through this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review!

I really enjoyed this creepy fairytale. Zerryn is a wonderful protagonist with a fascinating arc from her small village to truly coming into herself. I loved her friendship with Beyza and their strange but lovely relationship. The Anatolian world is very visceral and immersive, and I enjoyed the details sprinkled in, even if it didn't totally match up historically.

It was easy to understand why someone would be seduced by Erlik, he was very charismatic and alluring, but I was disappointed that Zerryn <spoiler> sort of abandoned everything she stood for to get it on with him. I feel like her character would have been stronger if she either got with him and held her beliefs even in the face of everyone turning against her because she had her grandmother and her father and these examples of real love, or if she did go villain mode but with a code. It sort of felt like she got erased in favor of Erlik's idea of her, which made me a little sad </spoiler>.

Also I'm sorry but I cannot support four eyes, four arms, and multiple mouths. I kept trying to ignore it, but it really gives me the ick. If you want me to root for the relationship, he needs to be at least mostly humanoid, okay? Wings were one thing, tails are worse, but what is essentially a giant bug guy? I can't.

Like I said though, if you like a dark fairytale with some beautiful writing, and some wacky bits, I would definitely pick this up! 4 stars.

I really wanted to like this book because it seemed like it would be really interesting and compelling but from the first chapter i just found it hard to not only get into the story but connect with the main character. I found myself not really caring about the plot and how the story would progress. It felt like a chore to finish it.

I tend to like mythology retellings, and I was definitely interested in this one. It was compared to The Bear and the Nightingale and Uprooted, so I was intrigued because I loved both of those novels. This one did not hold a candle to them.

I wanted to like Zerryn, but I could not connect with her. I did feel empathetic in the beginning. Her struggles were real and interesting. Her apparent magic was something I wish could have been explored further in the beginning. She has a strong moral compass and is inherently good. She is sacrificing herself for her people. But as we continue through the story, her character is not consistent. Yes, she’s changing and evolving but not in a way that made sense.

This book started off well and it just went downhill for me. I struggled to continue reading it and found myself putting it down quite easily. The writing style was difficult to follow at times. The way it was written, the timeline would get confused, and I didn’t always know when the narration was talking about the present or the past. The fact that I had to reread things and go back pages to make sure I hadn’t missed something just made it seem like it needed a little more editing.

Overall, this just wasn’t for me. I was able to finish, but I didn’t like it and don’t recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Northern Light Press, for the ARC.

I really struggled with this one. It started so well and it just completely lost me quite quickly… the story just really bored me and, although I did finish it, I was never compelled to pick it up. I forced myself to finish so I could find out how it ended - and I hoped it would get better, but unfortunately it didn’t for me. The premise was really good and the synopsis really drew me in, but I just really didn’t enjoy this one.