This was just okay for me. Part of it moved very slowly, though the plot quickened significantly towards the end and became more engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for providing this ARC.
So when I started my journey into fantasy romance, I wasn’t expecting much to be honest. Thankfully I have been pleasantly surprised by the genre. I’ve read acotar, crescent city, fourth wing and others. Each one has been enjoyable enough to read but I’m pretty sure I’ve found in the crowns of nyaxia a series with the potential to beat all of them. When I read the serpent and the night of wings, I can say that in terms of fantasy romance, it was excellent and a better first book than all the other fantasy romance series. The second is no different and it’s just as good as the first. I can’t wait to jump into the third book and see if the series sticks the landing. My expectations are high but after these first two books, I have no doubt that the author will deliver.

This series has earned its way on to my Fantasy Romance classics shelf!! It will now also be on the list of books/series I recommend for the same vibes as ACOTAR (because everyone always asks)

I'm excited to see where the rest of the series goes, I love when series switch to new main characters but stay in the same world!!

4.5 STARS!

What a fabulous way to conclude the main story arc for Oraya and Raihn! All of the world building, scene setting, and character backstories from the first book set this second half up for the best kinds of plot twists and character development.

Watching Raihn figure out how to be a king, how to earn back trust from Oraya AND support her made me fall in love with him all over again.

And Oraya?? My goodness—-she has SO MUCH to deal with and overcome in this book. Losing her father, becoming queen, discovering her past, and building a future. She’s everything I wish for in a strong FMC.

I can’t wait to see more of these characters as we follow Mische’s storyline next!

DNF - @25%

What I like about reading series is that we already know and love the characters, and we get to deepen the story.

What I don’t like about a lot of romantasy series is that we have to live in a 3rd act breakup forever.

I think it’s interesting how Broadbent made our lovers enemies again, but *I* don’t like slow burns enough to do a second book of slow burn.

I tend to like fantasy that fights oppressive forces for more than just the benefit of the main characters, and in the 17 chapters of this book that I read, I was not reminded how either of these mains being in power would help anyone but themselves.

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up
Captain of the Carissa Broadbent Fan Club reporting for duty 🫡

She's done it once again. While The Ashes & the Star Cursed King is markedly different from The Serpent & the Wings of Night, I thought it was better. It had everything I loved about its predecessor and more. It was a slow-burn romance and a high-stakes political fantasy with all the thrills a perfect blend of those two genres has to offer. Though, the characters had so much more room to breathe, to process, to grow, and to fully come into their power.

Often I find with romantasy duologies that the second book will try, and fall short of, recreating the allure of enemies-to-lovers without souring it... but not this one. Oh no, I was at the edge of my seat the entire book. When I tell y'all I was at a loss for breath at that betrayal... yeah. The plot was juicy.

Broadbent has a deft hand at navigating complicated emotional relationships. Watching the two main leads learn to trust eachother, and in so doing learn to love in the other person what they hate about themselves, was poignant. But as much as this is a love story, it's also about a father and a daughter. Oraya has to uncover lost pieces of her past and and reconcile the fact that her father was flawed with the fact that he loved her more than anything.

(There was also plenty of badass sword fighting, spice, and vicious vampire shenanigans to space out all the sap as well. Fear not.)

The satisfying way that Broadbent ties together the beginning and end of her stories never gets old. The little symbolic callbacks feel like finding the last few pieces of a puzzle you thought you'd lost, and slotting them in.

I can't wait for the rest of the books in the Crowns of Nyaxia series! I'm so glad this world is expanding past one duology.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the eARC.

This book had me a bit confused, the storyline had quite a few gaps. I know people don’t like world building in romantasy but it needs a bit more. Definitely has a lot of potential and it was good just wished it was the next level so it could be amazing.

Carissa Broadbent is one of my top tier fantasy romance authors, she consistently delivers! This series is another banger and I loved the conflicting emotions between Oraya and Rain. I also appreciated how Oraya was instantly over the betrayal, as I find lost of romantasy rushes into a resolution so they can get back to the spice.

I will forever continue to pick up CB's books!

I had so much fun with this duo!!

It reads very easily for being so long! And it being a dual POV was the best choice.

I love slow burn and political intrigue and this gave it all.

My one qualm is that everything worked out a little too perfectly… but I’ll take it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Ashes & The Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent!

On a random trip to Walmart, I discovered The Serpent & The Wings of Night in the book aisle. It quickly jumped up to one of my top five favorite books of all time. I'd been in a reading slump and it was the first book I felt I couldn't put down in a long time. The Ashes & The Star-Cursed King did not disappoint. While I enjoyed the first book more, it was solely for the competition aspect. I loved all the trials and challenges that Oraya and Raihn went through in the Kejari as they slowly began to trust each other and fall for one another. The Ashes & The Star-Cursed King was the perfect sequel to such a brilliant book. In some books, the hate to love doesn't flow right. But it was the perfect transition of Oraya hating that she loved the man that killed her father, and then realizing that he had done more for her than Vincent ever would have. It felt natural and believable. I'm excited to be reading the third book next. One of my favorite characters from the very beginning was Mische, and the fact that she gets her own book is a testament to how adored she is. You know it's a good book when you're attached to the characters and you think about them long after the last page has been turned.

The banter in this book was topnotch. I was unsure how they were going to carry over the enemies to loves trope into the second book, but it was so well done that I read over half the book in one sitting.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

In The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King, forgiveness is a huge theme. After the events in book one, how can Raihn and Oraya ever trust each other? The betrayals, the lies, can there be a chance they could ever speak again? Within The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King we explore rebellion. We explore the idea of making alliances with people we hate just to wrest back power. All these awful compromises we are forced to make. But after so many of these, have we become the very powerful, cruel, force we tried to depose?

Wowowowoow!!! This book made me feel so many emotions and I am forever changed upside down right side up lol you name it! This book took me on an adventure and it took me on a ride! I would highly recommend this book to anybody! Trust me, I was not ready for the twists, and I was not ready for what the author had planned! It was just as good if not, even better than the first book!

Impactful. Romantasy. Just...breathtaking. I cannot get enough of this series and this author. The Ashes and the Star Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent was a 5 star reread for me! YES!

Love love love this book! Raihn broke my HEART at the end of the last book and it was so frustrating in the beginning, but it was SUCH an excellent transition back to being themselves :) Oraya is a QUEEEEEN

I liked but didn't love this one. It was a solid romantasy and I enjoyed reading it but it was similar to a lot fo other books I have ready so nothing really stuck with me after I was finished.

I love romantasy titles and I was glad to see Carissa Broadbent's new series. It's refreshing to go back to the world of vampires when so much today is either just fae or dragons. Book two unfortunately didn't resonate with me as much as the first one. It felt needlessly long too. I felt like it took too long for me to really feel invested in the book and while I appreciate politics and world building, this goes a little too hard. It's still a good series and I'll be reading the last one. I hope it doesn't take as long to pick up as this did.

Dual POV
Angst
Action packed

There she is........

I fell in love with the MMC Raihn and the FMC Oraya. Raihn was a powerful, confident vampire king that knows when to step aside and let his queen shine! This story was beautifully written with intriguing characters and descriptive world building. I am so happy Raihn and Oraya had their HEA, there were several times throughout the book I was afraid they wouldn't. The author had me on the edge of my seat with the action and storytelling.

I really enjoyed this series and look forward to reading more from Carissa Broadbent.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC read for my honest opinion.