I was thoroughly excited for this book when I read the blurb. The elements of Irish Lore running throughout the story were engaging and intriguing but unfortunately the rest of the story was quite underwhelming for me. This was not due to the plot itself, in that sense this book could have been phenomenal but there was unfortunately a lack of character depth, connection and background which made the characters themselves, the romance and the relationships all seem a bit non-convincing to me. In addition to this, the pacing was fairly slow which did result in me struggling somewhat to push through. I do however believe this author has fantastic potential and I will read books from her in the future.

DNF @ 30%

As much as I wanted to love this book because it sounded amazing it just wasn’t for me and I think it was the writing style and the pacing. This felt very slow and while the ideas behind the lore seemed interesting and unique I just struggled to stay invested and to connect with the characters and narrative.

Wow, where to start on this book? What a unique and lovely story. My favorite thing about this book was how it reminded me of old folklore.

In A Kingdom of Souls and Shadows, the fantastical is possible amongst the trials and tribulations of ordinary life. The FMC Ella or Eala, as she soon finds out, is caught up in a tale of self discovery and time traveling adventure to save the fates of souls doomed to forever relive the agony of toughest moments in their lives through a process called soulfall.

Aided by an ornery and cunning Irishman, Sionnach Loho, Eala must come to terms with secrets her grandmother kept and fairytales her grandmother told her that hold more truth than was ever let on.

The book is a slow burn at first, but once Eala comes face to face with the Veil the adventure begins and a fast paced exploit emerges.

For lovers of fairytales and folklore, especially of the Celtic variety, this is a sweet and wholesome tale with adventure and romance worth a good read!

Thank you to City Owl Press for the opportunity to read this tale.

The setup of the story felt whimsical and was descriptive, well written and supportive of build up to the mystery and main plot points. Leslie O’Sullivan also intertwines Celtic/Irish lore senselessly, adding to the world building of the story. As someone who frequently reads fantasy/romantasy/romance, I felt the character development and plot itself was unique from typical stories.

Do not go into this book thinking it’ll be like your typical “fae” story there will be a lot of romance, enemies to lovers etc. a kingdom of souls and shadows gives modern day setting with a twist of history/historical fiction, otherworldly elements and science fiction. There’s a quest and reluctant hero with a side of romance.

I do wish the ending of the story was stronger, and could have ended with the book, rather than continued, which resulted in the 4 star rating rather than 5. However, I did enjoy the read.

The idea of the book is not bad. And the execution wasn't too bad, but I wasn't convinced by the main characters falling in love. And if spicy places are written, then either they should be described in full, or they should remain "behind closed doors" 🙈 because eh, they didn't convince me either. And I guessed the "bad guy"... and from the description, the book was so intriguing and gave me so much hope... although maybe if all the spicy parts were excluded, the book would be great for a YA audience. 👌

I really enjoyed the concept of this book and exploring Irish based history and lore I didn't really know much about. I did enjoy the story but it was a little slow moving for me and sometimes I felt lost.
I do think this book has a lot of potential and will definitely be enjoyed by many readers.
I do wish the characters would have been a little more developed so I could connect with them more and feel more invested in their story.

such a cute book
Loved the idea a lot but it took me a while to get into the book I think it was me mainly

would totally recommend for a fast book and a great story

I am excited to say I have not yet read a novel based on this particular set of lore before. At some point it feels like you are always reading a different variant of the same stories, so it made a very nice change indeed. This was the best part of the book for me.

While I enjoyed the new lore, I did have trouble connecting to the main character... or any of the characters in that matter. They all seemed to be pretty two dimensional without enough background or exposure to truly make you root for any of them. I found myself reading without any stakes in the game for any of them.

Seeing as the bulk of the story falls within the span of a week everything moves very quickly in terms of character relationships. I was not on the same page as Eala in terms of the love interest, we went from thinking poorly of them to completely smitten in the span of a few chapters and I struggled to fully wrap my head around it. Particularly when Eala didn't even seem set on it herself and Sion was quite rude and off-putting through the whole thing.

For such a short span of time to occur in the pages, this book was a slow read. The beginning has to set everything up, which I am forgiving for as I find world building important, but it never seems to pick up. The drawing interest just isn't there to keep the pages turning.

Since it ends on a very open note ( I was not invested enough for it to be a cliffhanger) and since the characters prove to be so predictable, you can simply guess where it may be heading from here. I doubt I'll be reaching for the next book, if there is one.

Thank you to Netgalley for access to this book in return for my honest review.

A Kingdom of Souls and Shadows is an Irish Lore based Fantasy Romance with a Professor FMC and a brooding MMC.

The story has a very unique and interesting concept with a lot of history and lores .

It gives an Outlander with Fae vibes with fantasy folklore, slowburn romance and magical quests.

There were a few unexpected twists and turns which I enjoyed a lot .

However, what most resonated with me was undoubtedly how the FMC dealt with an intense fear of heights and got over it so wonderfully! My own experience with it being harrowing in its own right!
The other thing that was really awe-inspiring was how caring and supportive her BFF was.
This was a beautiful interlude for me!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Loved reading the mesmerizing and spellbinding story. After the death of Ella's grandmother, Ella finds out her real name is Eala Duir and a note from her grandmother to follow the inscription on the ring and to go to Ireland. When Eala first meets Sionnach Loho, she finds him obnoxious, but later learns they both have a mission to complete for Finnbheara, King of the Connacht Fae. Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written, and a must read Fae story.

I like the concept of this book but I had the hardest time finishing. It was sooooo slow and it unfortunately wasn’t a book for me. The world build and plot fell flat for me and left me wondering what was going on and when something was going to happen.
I couldn’t connect to either main characters. Sion was so rude and mean. I was over reading about him and his story real quick.
Also……Why on earth did it take Eala’s 28 year to go and help in just four days??? She really only had four days and bam she was able to help him!!!!! I don’t understand but she’s the perfect groomed woman.

I really wanted to love this but again I wasn’t the target audience. The cover however is beautiful.

Eala Duir has spent much of her life trying to live on the safe side. If the path isn’t tried and true, she doesn’t want anything to do with it. Everything changed when her grandmother passed away. First, a vague letter from her grandma reveals that Eala’s real name is not Ellie like she’d been raised to believe it was. Then her grandma asks her to go to Ireland to find out the truth about herself, but all she has to get her started is the cryptic message that was left to her. Once in Ireland, it turns out that the fae world her grandmother always spoke of is real, and that she can travel between worlds. What is Eala’s fate, and why is it so deeply connected with the sassy Sionnach Loho?

I really liked the overall concept of this book, but I ended up DNFing it at 52%. We follow Eala as she’s going through a major life transition. Not only is she trying to adjust to life without her grandma, but she’s suddenly thrust into a world of fantasy and magic while trying to figure out where she came from and what her grandma’s cryptic message means. While Eala has her best friend, Colleen, at her side, she quickly discovers that the answer to all her questions comes in the form of a sassy Irish man: Sionnach.

Eala is a solid person, but she’s also a pretty boring character to follow. Even when she’s in the thick of things, she’s the least interesting person in the mix and it’s easy for her to blend into the background. All of the other characters are far more interesting, and I think I would’ve liked the book a little more if we had Eala and Sion as rotating narrators. Sion is a man of many words, but he also keeps his cards very close to his chest, so there’s a lot of missing information that only he can drop into the story. By the halfway point, I was far more frustrated by the lack of communication between the characters than Eala is, and this story is directly impacting her life.

As I said, I really like the overall concept of the book. Eala can travel between worlds, including everything in between, but there’s also rules to follow. Rules that Sion has been very tight lipped about, which throws them into some pretty tight spots. Reading this ended up being frustrating in the end because it seems like there’s something huge sitting right around the corner, only that corner keeps getting further and further away. I think that there are some readers who will love this book, the romantic interest that is a red herring, and the pacing of the story. Unfortunately, it’s not a book that’s a hit with me.

This book wasn’t for me! I did DNF half way through. I had a hard time connecting with the female main character and thought the main male character was kinda mean?

When adjunct professor Eala Duir’s beloved adopted grandmother dies, Eala must journey to Ireland to find out what the cryptic message, “Find Me,” on an engraved ring means. As luck would have it, Eala’s college is taking a trip to Ireland, and while on this trip, Eala has a run in with a surly Irish tour guide named Sion. When Sion reveals his connections to the Fae realm, Eala realizes that helping him in his mission might be the only way to discover what her grandmother’s message means.

Yikes. Yikes. Yikes. Oh, I so badly wanted to love this book. With comps like Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies and A Discovery of Witches, I thought A Kingdom of Souls and Shadows would be right up my alley and I promptly requested an arc. But the publishing date has passed, and it took me nearly 3 weeks to finish this book. There’s a string of DNFs from other reviewers, but I’m not usually one to DNF past 20-30%. So I stuck it out until 50% when the story actually started, and continued to slog and skim all the way to the end through the flowery, dense writing and chaos of a plot.

This book had potential. It’s a unique take on fairy lore, incorporating a “soulfall” event, where special people can go into the “Veil” and help trapped souls pass into the afterlife. But there’s no explanation about why this happens or how these “Veil guides” come to be. Our main character spends most of the book asking questions and our main love interest spends his time denying her answers. So the world building is confusing and almost non-existent. Sion’s constant denial of answers feels like the author doesn’t even know and uses it as a distraction. I grew just as frustrated as Eala every time Sion would ignore her or refuse to provide the truth.

The romance is paper thin (at least on Eala’s side), happening over a span of like 5 days. We go through emotional whiplash watching Eala love and hate Sion on repeat.

(entering spoiler territory)

There’s no chemistry. The man goes on an emotional tirade, punches a car and scares Eala so badly that she runs and swears him off, and then she goes right back the next day. Sion is rude, not forthcoming, and has mood swings. A mess of red flags with red hair.

Let’s talk about the convoluted elephant in the room: Eala was not only groomed by her grandmother to be the perfect “soulmate” for her son, but that she’s also fairy Jesus. For those of you who haven’t and won’t read, our plot revolves about Sion, the Veil guide, needing help from Eala, a random girl from America to help him finish “soulfall,” an event where trapped souls lacking certain virtues need help moving on to the afterlife. Sion was given this task by the fairy king Finnbheara because Finnbheara used to be in love with Sion’s mom. Over 200 years ago, Sion was shot in the kneecap by Cornwallis, (yes, THAT Cornwallis) and his mom begged Finnbheara to help him. So for 200 years, Sion has failed over and over helping SEVEN souls. When he’s almost out of time, Sion’s mom asks Finnbheara to make Sion a partner, someone to help him so he’s not damned for all eternity. So Finnbheara, for SOME reason, decides to make a baby, plant that baby in a barren woman’s womb, and then let his EX-girlfriend (Sion’s mom) adopt her. That baby was Eala, and Eala’s beloved grandma is Sion’s mommy. Eala’s grandma raises Eala to be Sion’s perfect partner all while GROWN MAN 200 YEAR OLD Sion is sending baby Eala visions of sugar plum fairies ala The Time Traveler’s Wife. When Eala finally gets her butt to Ireland, she has only FOUR days to help Sion get his affairs in order and help all these souls he’s been neglecting before he’s sent to purgatory for all eternity. Of course she does it, because she’s amazing and smart. And Sion is absolutely USELESS. They raised and groomed this girl for 28 YEARS and sent her on her way FOUR days before the end. I don’t understand. I also had no idea what happened in the end, because the writing is so flowery, it disguises the actual plot. There’s an evil priest? But also Eala is fairy Jesus, so she channels the power of fairy God and destroys him? I don’t know.

I genuinely think this is a terrible book, and I’m sorry to say it. Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2 stars

DNF@36%

💌04/05/24

Spoiler-free Review💫

Thankyou to Netgalley, City Owl Press and the Author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!💌

I've decided to dnf this book after trying for 3 weeks to get immersed into the story😃✋🏻Unfortunately this book isn't for me. Want to know why I didn't dnf'd this early? well, it really started out great, I even felt this book would be somewhere between 3 to 4 stars, but boy, I was so wrong. I should never have had high expectations. Because I want to give the book a fair chance. After maybe like 20% or so, I had a hard time getting into the story, I had no idea what I was reading after that mark🤯 The writing style wasn't for me. I couldn't connect with the MCs- the FMC was what to say indecisive maybe?! the MMC was too rude. Half the time I couldn't even intercept what he was saying😵 I was so excited when I got the ARC, but *sighs* it eventually did lead me to an utter disappointment hole🕳🚶🏻‍♀️

💌03/19/24
It's giving 4 star vibes so far!

I read this book and struggled to get into it at the start. I loved the pick up in storyline as it moved on.

Kingdom of Souls and Shadows offers a tantalizing mix of fantasy and reality, weaving a captivating narrative around Eala Duir's journey into the supernatural realm. The clash between folklore and everyday life provides a rich backdrop for the story's unfolding mysteries. However, the inclusion of a love triangle and occasional lapses in character communication may detract from the overall experience. While the book shows potential for fans of supernatural adventures, it may not appeal to all readers.

Loved the story. Lovely plot. I give it 4 stars for this book. It doesn't reach the 5 star rate for me, but I would totally recommend this story.

I had fun really this book it was quick past and exciting I. I love the story line and characters it was so fun story . Would recommend reading it was a blast !

Unfortunately, I had to DNF around 21%. This book sounded interesting, but as it went on, I couldn't find myself wanting to continue reading. I might give this book another try in the future, but for now, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!