Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this eCopy to review

I really enjoyed The Cerise, I felt the characters of Khiara, Riot and Bash were well developed and very likeable. It was well paced and I loved the descriptions of the cloths and settings. The magic system was easy to understand and Khiara's feelings were well conveyed.

Khiara is on a mission to kill all the soldiers responsible for killing her mother and brother, we meet her as she is trying to kill the final man, Graves who cut her neck and raped her. But her friend who has helped on all the previous missions Ezra tries to make her fall in love with him by giving her a love potion. He falls foul of a disease which turns people feral and Khiara has no choice but to enter the culling (a contest to find the future Queen) so she can get into the castle to rescue him.

The love triangle of Bash, Riot and Khiara is intriguing by the end I'm really not sure if either man is trustworthy time will tell

The novel ends on an epic cliff hanger I cannot wait to find out what happens to Khiara next

Thank you NetGalley, and Bailey Black for the ebook in exchange for a honest review.

Khiara has magic, in a land where it is illegal. If anyone finds out she will be killed. She put herself at risk seeking revenge. When her friend befalls a curse she has to enter into the castle of those hunting her to save him.

This is a 5/5 for me. I love when a book truly starts on page one and doesn’t stop until the very last page. I was absolutely involved from the first page to the very last sentence. I did not want to put this down.

Khiara is a strong main character. Her internal dialogue was all over the place but that made her more endearing to me. I felt like I could’ve been one of the friends she tried so desperately hard to save! I loved her magic and how she wasn’t sure of all of it how cautious she was about truly using it. I loved how her history is sprinkled throughout the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed how the book was sprinkled with the world building. It wasn’t just thrown into the first chapter. I felt it really flowed with the story.

Bash- what can I say I squealed when the name Bash came up. I’m a fan of Reign so hearing Bash I immediately said ooo girl trust him. But my initial reaction to him was he’s shady. He is a love interest of Khiara and at first I was like oh okay they are destined to be together I’ll let this slide. But as the story progress that feeling in the back of my mind that he’s trouble wouldn’t go away.

Riot- broody bodyguard of the prince who challenges Khiara at every turn. I enjoyed that he was very up front with his feelings towards Khiara and her influence on Bash. I LOVED how his character and story developed. I did not see that coming. There was one part that stick out in my mind (no spoilers) that made my heart break and heal all at the same time and it’s all his fault. I didn’t even have time to cry because he was already fixing it. He was so well written. I’m swooning.

Graves- he’s not a good guy. The worst kind actually. I hope he gets what’s coming to him.

Ezra- I’m undecided on him. I don’t love what he did to Khiara but I can level with him a little. Other than his love for her I need to know why? I hope the next books give us answers. He knew her history so to take choice away from her was very frustrating. However I also don’t feel he deserves his current state.

There was a laugh out loud description of a man’s penis in this book. I never thought I’d laugh given the circumstances, but I can honestly say I will never think of the color purple the same.

There were hard topics that came up in this book, abuse against women, and sexual violence. I think they were handled in such a graceful manner. I am impressed by the male characters in the book and how they approached the MC regarding these topics. You can really tell these parts were written with care!

I usually don’t love books that end on cliffhangers, especially if I have to wait for the next one but this series is one I think will be worth the wait!

Disclosure: ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley

The Cerise is set in the kingdom of Arcane where Cerise are redheads hunted for their presumed witchy, magic-wielding abilities. Khiara is a Cerise that gets roped into a bride-choosing event for the crown prince in an effort to save her cursed friend. The crown prince, to absolutely no one's surprise, turns out to be the random guy she meets on the street. Some witch and witch-hunter vibes were there, which I did NOT believe was capitalized on. I really liked the somewhat unexpected romance and would happily read more of their relationship dynamics.

Feel like the beginning emphasized Khiara's sick friend, but that plotline was left to the wayside for much of the book. Will mention there was the use of "carbs" in there...which clashed with the medieval-ish setting.

I thought the love triangle going on was tolerable, and the romance satisfying. Would have liked to see more witchy stuff, witchy culture though.

Khiara is a witch, and magic is punishable by death. This is single POV, fun, fast paced, and even has a pronunciation guide. Which honestly, I wish more fantasy books included it.

While on a mission to kill the man who murdered her family, things go terribly wrong:
-She meets a suspicious man in the woods who seems immune to her magic.
-Her bestie gets sent to the royal dungeons after getting cursed and trying to kill her.
-The only way to sneak into the castle and rescue him? She’ll have to join The Culling. Which is essentially the bachelor, but during ye old times.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Does the premise make total sense? …no. But is there intrigue around the mystery man from the woods? 1000%.

As for her bestie? I couldn’t tell you why she was so hell bent on saving this man. He was cursed after attempting a love spell on Khiara. Then he tried to kill her when the magic took hold of him. She’s convinced she can unbind him from the curse but…eh, debatable.

If you read this, do it for the vibes. It’s super quick, under 250 pages, and the writing flows super well. It does end abruptly though, so it’s not the cliffhanger I was expecting. We'll probably get more answers in book 2?

TW: murder and flashbacks to rape.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

I love being pulled into a story right away, and that's exactly what happened when I started reading The Cerise a few hours ago.

Khiara is what's known as a Cerise, a woman with red hair and strange powers. Since Cerise are being hunted and destroyed throughout the royal territories, Khiara has learned how to hide her hair color and play the role of dutiful niece. However, she's also on a mission to avenge her late mother and brother who were killed by the crown. So far, she's found and dispatched of all but one of the king's guard who carried out the attack to her village. Finally, Khiara has located him and sprung her trap, but her closest friend, Ezra, makes a mistake that forces her to ally with king's soldiers, Bash and Riot. In order to get back to Ezra, she must enter the Culling, which is essentially The Bachelor, and use her forbidden appearance to win the prince's heart.

Things I enjoyed:
- From Blood and Ash (as advertised) + Belladonna vibes
- Hinting at the past with familiar scents and shadows of memories
- Possibility of a "What does it feel like... to lose?" moment in the next book

As a big fan of new adult and adult romantasy, I really enjoyed the author's writing style so I could sense where some of the story was going. I still have questions about Khiara's past and which characters are actually "good" and "bad," but I know the author is being intentional with her reveals. I was surprised by the emergence of a second love interest and I'm not sure who Khiara is going to end up with at this point, which means the love triangle is love triangling!

I'm really excited for the next installment of the Kingdom of Lies series! Thank you to the author and her publisher for an ARC of The Cerise.

Stars: 3.75

I have no idea which way is up in this book. I find most of the lore and the world building is poorly explained and the ending just left me with more questions. The thing between the characters is so unbelievably confusing, and so hot and cold I couldn’t tell what was going on. The second book has really got some explaining to do!

The pacing of this book could use some work. The first few chapters may also be very triggering for any victims of sexual assault. There are still quite a few typos. Some scenes and dialogues need some work on transitioning.

Overall, the book has good bones but just needs some fleshing out and editing.

The Cerise is the first book in the Daughters of Legends, Kingdom of Lies series. Khiara is a Cerise, a type of witch that has been hunted down and killed, along with anyone else who helps them, including her own family. She finds herself part of a competition called the Culling, a chance to marry Prince Sebastian and become a future Queen. But Khiara is only participating in order to help her friend, who is injured somewhere nearby.

The blurb drew me in, particularly with its focus on vengeance. I think that the story has potential and is likely to get better in future books as the lore and the world is further explored, but I think that the length of the book and the depth of the detail didn't quite work for me.

The book is 221 pages when you exclude the contents, the further book recommendations and the information about the author, and I don't think that 221 pages gives enough space to properly explain a unique fantasy world, establish a detailed plot and explore two separate love interests. Khiara didn't even join the Culling until 45% of the way through the book, which doesn't leave a lot of time for us to form a connection with either the two possible love interests, and everything happens very fast. I do appreciate that the first 45% was trying to introduce readers to the world, but because of the overall number of pages, even that felt rushed. In this section in particular I kept skipping back a few pages or a full chapter because it seemed like I was meant to know something that I didn't, but I couldn't find where it had been explained.

With an extra 100 pages, I think the story could have had more room to breathe, and to get deeper into the characters - all of whom seem interesting but just need more time devoted to them.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from NetGalley, but this is my voluntary and honest review.

The Cerise is a dark fantasy romance centralling around Khiara. Our main character is a cerise: a red-haired person considered to be (and for all intents and purposes is) a witch by the local community. Cerises and those who shelter cerises are hunted down by soldiers. Seeking revenge for the deaths of her family and her assault, Khiara becomes an assassin and has killed every soldier who destroyed her life and family. Bar one - Sergeant Graves. With the help of her friend, Ezra, Khiara embarks on her final mission.

I was heavily disappointed by this book, I stopped reading around the 20/30% mark. Khiara's inner thoughts are so up and down, it's hard to get a firm grip on what kind of character she is. Is she the seasoned well-trained assassin or is she a novice walking into a kill without a clear plan? Her feelings for Ezra seem to run from completely uninterested to suddenly lustful in the space of two chapters. The story feels incredibly rushed and ill-thought out. It doesn't help that this is a short book - fewer pages for the author to work with. As a result, a lot of the inital worldbuilding was Khiara's monologue telling us key information rather that it being shown naturally.

I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. I really enjoyed it. A completely unexpected love interest, a unique and interesting magic concept, and political intrigue. There was a lot of tension between several characters. A sort of love triangle situation as well. There wasn’t a lot of spice, but it was well-written and enjoyable. this was a super fast-paced and very short read. A lot of questions were left unanswered. I can’t wait for the next one.

This review is hard for me.

My heart loved it. The writing was compelling and the plot was interesting, even though the witches are called Cerise which bothered me a lot because Cerise is French for cherry. The witches are called cherries. And they have red hair. This felt a tad unoriginal.

Also, the FMC is the one well-defined character. She is independent, bold, and a feminist. Plus, her unexpected love interest caught me off guard with how much I loved it.

However, my head saw a lot of flaws, things that could have made the book so much better. I do not love an unnecessarily long book, but this one was too short. Many events are only glossed over, making it hard to feel emotionally invested. For example, (this is not a spoiler it’s mentioned in the first pages) the FMC was physically abused at a younger age, which is in itself sad, but I still didn’t feel empathy towards this specific event because the author did nothing to reach for our emotions. It’s mentioned a few times, without dwelling on it or giving that much detail.

Along the same lines, some other events are just hard to comprehend. As if the author wanted so much to keep it short, she condensed the descriptions to a point where I didn’t really understand what was happening. The same is true with the characters’ development. We don’t know any of their backgrounds, making them one-dimensional. They unfortunately don’t have a lot of substance.

Finally, the world-building also took a hit in this department. The author created new places and names, but it’s never explained how they fit together. I am a sucker for a map, but, even without it, it would have been nice to have more explanations on the geography of the world the author created.

Finally, the ending really nicked the rating for me here. Endings are hard, but this one was just anti-climatic. Because I read it on Kindle, I didn’t even know I was only a few pages to the ending, because nothing could have prepared me for it. There was no build-up to it. It’s okay to want to add a little suspense, but, in this case, for me, it fell flat. There was absolutely no resolution after a ton of information dumping, giving us the impression we were about to learn something big, that a plot twist was coming, but it never did. It’s nice to end on a cliffhanger and keep the readers wanting more, but you still gotta leave us a little something.

All in all, this was a 3.7 stars for me.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy to review.

Let's start this off by saying that overall it was quite a nice read, albeit a bit cliche at times. However, there were some parts that made me feel a bit uncomfortable. 

The entire world is set in some misogynistic culture and seeing as how real life is, I didn't really vibe with it, the relationship progressed really quickly and didn't feel too natural. Some scenes felt repetitive to me as well. 

The cliffhanger has got me curious for the next book but I also feel like barely anything happened in this book outside of Khiara's head. It kind of felt like a setup for the next book, which isn't necessarily bad but not what you'd like for the first book in a series. I wish there were more prominent female characters as well, she only interacts with possibly male love interests 😭.

I saw a review say they sometimes don't know if the FMC is 15 or 30 and I truly get where they came from. Sometimes she's very mature and the next she feels like a child.

Like other reviewers here, I finished reading this in just one day with the page count coming in at just under 250 pages. It is a very engaging story, and I enjoyed reading it. The plot kept me going with a fast pacing and good writing overall. The weaknesses here include the character development and the length of this novel. It feels unfinished as a story, and the cliffhanger ending only intensifies this feeling that this is only half a book. Our main character, Khiara, is motivated very strongly throughout the novel to help her best friend, Ezra, but I couldn’t tell you why she cares that much about him. The story provides glimpses into their life before the story began, but without Ezra having time on the page to elicit sympathy, I do not care at all what happens to him, especially when it is beyond Khiara’s best interest to continue helping him. Honestly, I disagreed with her entirely and feel like he really deserves what is happening to him, which is also extremely unclear by the end of the novel. While I liked the characters, I did not understand or buy the motivations that were established. I intend and look forward to read the next book in the series, but I wish they hadn’t been split into separate books from the start.
Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC!

TW: Rape is mentioned multiple times. Consent continues to be an issue.

The Cerise by Bailey Black
Published by BooksGoSocial
5/5 stars!!

Love love love this book!! Such a quick read with a enchanting plot and loveable characters! I wish it ended a little differently as I feel like a lot more could have happened to lead onto the second book. Riot and Khaira's relationship was interesting and I do think they have a great chemistry compared to Bash.
Revenge, a little bit of spice and a fast pace story line, this is such a good read if you are only starting to get into fantasy books. I would defiantly recommend this book.

I wish that some areas were explored more and that the relationship between Riot and Khaira was explored more. I cannot wait for the second book in the series.

Thank you to Bailey, the publisher and NetGalley for this beautiful arc!

"Your Mother would be screaming in her grave if she could see you now"

I finished this book in a day, it was THAT GOOD! Impossible to put down, the fast pace, plot twists, blindsides, surprise moments, mixed with the witty banter, humorous monolog, unlikely allies/Enemies to loves turn love-Triangle made it irresistible. The cover and description of this book had caught my attention, and I am so glad I got the change to read this because it was on a whole other level.

A well written, strong FMC, two enticing MMCs, a ruthless antagonist, a kingdom at the brink of war, lies around every corner, and truth in plain sight - The Cerise is THAT book

Khaira's stubborn nature, Bash's "Prince-Charming"-ness, and Riot's hardheadedness with a gentle kindness, made this trio one of my new favorites, I can't wait to hear news of the next book in this series, that cliffhanger was shocking and I MUST know more!

I really liked the premise of the story in The Cerise, but I felt like that’s where things ended for me. The FMC seemed to be very contradictory in the choices she made, and I never really felt invested in her character.

The story lags until about halfway through the book. Things then start to get interesting, but nothing in the book ever really gets resolved. All of these different story lines are happening simultaneously, and they are all left open ended. I love a good cliffhanger, but I don’t feel like every story line in a book needs to go unresolved, just to finish them in the second book.

I did like Riot’s character. He was the one I felt the most connected to in the story. I thought he was written really well. He reminded me of Ryatt from the Plated Prisoner series, because of his relationship with Bastian.

This was a 3.75 star for me, but upgraded to 4.
"The Cerise" by Bailey Black is a whirlwind of magic, intrigue, and romance that kept me hooked from the very first page. With its fast-paced plot and powerful witchy magic, this book delivered a thrilling ride. The dilemma of choosing between the prince and his guard added an extra layer of tension to the story, keeping me guessing until the very end (Still not sure who she will choose). And that cliffhanger ending? It left me desperate for more. I can't wait to see what happens next!

This was a good book. I do think the story was a little rushed and underdeveloped which made it hard to follow at times. Some characters appeared out of nowhere, with no lead up, and all of a sudden the main character has a sibling that had never been mentioned. The book was intriguing enough to where I want to read the second one. I am excited to read the second book.

This was such a good read! I was immediately sucked into the story and could not get enough of the characters. I went on a full emotional journey with these characters and I really enjoyed it. The book was easy to read and kept a good pace where I was never bored. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends and family.

The Cerise - Bailey Black
5+✨
Going into this I was not sure what I was going to get, I have seen so many books that says to read it if you like FBAA, (I don’t) BUT I love The Selection! So I had to give it a try, and boy am I glad I did. I was hooked from page 1, I might have a slight obsession with female assassins and revenge. Khiara is all that and more. The boys, well let me tell you this, I am team Riot all the way! There is something with Bash that doesn’t sit right with me, he seems a bit controlling and idk something is off for me.
The plot is amazing, we get twist and turns around every corner. I never felt even a tiny bit bored. I wish I had a time machine so I could go to when book 2 is released, and Bailey you did me dirty with that cliffhanger!
Anyways enough rambling, here is what you can expect from this book,
🗡️FBAA x The Selection
🗡️Badass heroine
🗡️Revenge
🗡️Secret powers
🗡️Strange curse
🗡️Enemies to lovers ish?

I highly recommend you go straight to Amazon and get yourself this book right now!
Thank you Bailey, NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this book!
I am leaving this review voluntarily💕