Boy has it been a while since I have been drawn so easily into a book that I struggle to put it down. The Unbroken Queen reminded me of why I love to read.

We follow Tressya, a bastard princess, and Tamas, the leader of the northern realms. The Unbroken Queen is duel POV, which was a really nice aspect to seeing how this story unfolds from both of the characters perspectives. Both characters were well written, although my preference was for Tamas’s chapters over Tressya’s. While I liked Tressya as a character, at times it felt like she was constantly just reacting to what was happening to her, and other times she took complete control over everything and everyone. I found that these were almost 2 distinct personalities that she had which I just couldn’t reconcile into one character. It was not obvious that she was playing the fool while she had no control over what was happening, especially since we have her internal monologue in her chapters, which I believe would have added so much more dimension to her character, with her intentionally being crafty and manipulating others to eventually play the long game to get her way.

The overall plot of The Unbroken Queen was surprisingly intricate and well balanced. War is brewing in a neighbouring Kingdom, not that the House of Tannard is aware of the threat to their throne. This underlying plot is the driving force to the events that occur, and individuals decisions as to how they react to the numerous situations that occur. Not only that, various other subplots are occurring that all have various meaningful impact on the main storyline and they were expertly woven into it with it feeling too overwhelming. Some we dont fully get to understand, as neither of the main characters understand fully what they mean. I hope that in the sequel that some of these are addressed in further detail.

One thing I shall mention is that this does include a very steamy sex scene, as well as describing a post sex discussion in another part of the book. Both of these are relevant to the plot, so be warned.

While it miss that je ne sais quoi that would have made this an easy 5 star read, I suspect most people will easily fall in love with this tale.

I don't believe that it is easy to write the perfect fantasy-romance book because, quite frankly there are few people that manage to combine these two elements in a good book. It is very easy to create a romance book set in fantasy setling but that is not a fantasy romance, at least not in my books. This one was not the one for me. I wasn't fond of the characters and the plot was lacking that epic element.

✨ARC review ✨
I’m very thankful to NetGalley and Terina for allowing me an advanced copy of The Unbroken Queen in exchange for an honest review

The Unbroken Queen follows Tressya, a bastard born princess who was raised by a secretive Order and is now being sent to a foreign kingdom with one order: Marry the princes, become Queen, and produce an heir
In her journey Tressya overcomes many obstacles, questions everything she’s been taught, and falls for the one person she shouldn’t
We also follow Tamas, a northerner who believes due to prophecies and foreseen futures by witches. Tressya and Tamas are two sides of the same coin; both working towards completely opposite goals but can’t help but being drawn to one another

Overall, I found the pacing of this book to be a bit stilted but I did find the story to be intriguing enough to push through. The world building and magic system were relatively easy to follow which helps make up for some of the pacing issues. As an avid and honestly fats reader, this book took me longer to complete than I thought but I am very glad I continued to read it cuz I ended up enjoying it a lot by the end. I really enjoyed that Tressya while not conventionally beautiful was loved and found to be beautiful due to her characteristics beneath her skin

Here are some other things you have to look forward to reading this book:

👑 Enemies to lovers
👑 Slow burn 🔥
👑 Secret Order
👑 Unique magic system
👑 Shapeshifters
👑 Rival Kingdoms
👑 Prophecies and Fates
👑 Strong FMC
👑 He falls first

The Unbroken Queen is available now as paperback from Amazon and on KU

Title: The Unbroken Queen by Terina Adams
Genre: Romantasy
Pub Date: March 26, 2024

⭐️ 4/5
🌶 3/5

🗡 Assassins & Shape Shifters
🥀 Illegitimate Princess
✨️ Secret Societies
💍 Arranged Marriage
💬 Banter for DAYS
🍻 Dual POV
💀 Deadly Magical Trials
🔥 Slow Burn
💛 Enemies to Lovers
💔 Epic Betrayals

Tressya is such a good FMC. I love the inner turmoil, the tension and conflict between her loyalty to herself and her heart, and her position in the secret society of female assassin's who she feels she owes her life to. I truly enjoyed her tenacity and wit. Tamas and the shape-shifters are so interesting! I liked the world building and associated lore, the mysterious creatures, and the unique spin on the deadly trials. There are so many plot points that you never know what will happen next!

THE CLIFFHANGER. I NEED ANSWERS. Book 2, The Reluctant Queen, will be available August 22, 2024.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Terina Adams for the digital review copy.❣️

This book seriously surprised me. At first I felt like it was lagging. It was really hard to keep readin for like the first 6 chapters or so but then it took off. I got a lot of Game of Throne vibes from this book. Mixed with some Tudor vibes as well. I loved the character development from Tressya the way she went from almost meek and shy to string and confident. I also equally love Tamas and how he went from a hardened almost Viking like personality to softening almost immediately to Tressya. Almost like he has always been waiting for her. This book will keep you guessing and wanting more. I give this book a 4.5 stars as I truly ended up loving this book. If the beginning had not been so heavy I think it would have easily been a five star read. However without all the information in the beginning you wouldn’t have understood the rest of it. So please give this book a try! I promise it is worth it.

Thank you NetGalley and Terina Adams for this ARC!
The plot was interesting and the magic system was unique, but I found the world building to be REALLY tedious and confusing. It made it hard to get super into this book. I wish the info dumps hadn’t been so confusing.
I liked the FMC and main MMC a lot but I was getting really tired of her being called ugly/not beautiful so much. I don’t think it needed to be reiterated that many times. I was also frustrated hearing it from the MMC because it kind of took me out of the romance if that makes sense?
I do believe that I’ll read the next book because I didn’t see that ending coming, and I’d like to see how the story progresses.

I really wanted to like this book based off of the blurb but it was unfortunately not for me. I had a hard time keeping track of everything as all the different clans, territories and character names seemed to blur together or sound/read too similarly. I also found myself rereading parts of the book because they just didn't make sense to me and were downright confusing at times. It was not a terrible book but it felt really drawn out and too slow for my liking.


Thank you Terina Adams & Netgalley for the gifted copy!

The Unbroken Queen by Terina Adams is Book 1 of the Bone Throne series. This book is a romantic fantasy. Get ready fantasy lovers because from page one you jump right into battle. This book starts off very intense but it works perfectly for the plot and characters. It may take a few minutes to catch up and figure things out but once you do the intensity and plot are great! I loved the characters from the minute they were introduced. They are well developed and discussed within the story. This is an enemies to lovers trope with a very slow burn romance. Something that just works for this novel. The action and romance are what this story is built on.

Tressya is a strong female lead who is part of a group called the Sistern of Silence. Tamas is the leader of the northern realm who is ready to lead his people. As you suspect the plot pits them directly against each other. Somehow there hearts take over though and love does what nothing else can.

I really enjoyed this book and the complexity of the dispute between the realms and what the heart wants. I can not wait to get my hands on book two and see where the author takes this story next. I definitely recommend this book to fantasy and romance fans!

The Unbroken Queen is the first book in the Bone Throne series. This is my first time reading any works by Terina Adams and it certainly won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is richly detailed, pulling the reader into this new world and its complicated history. Because of this, it is a slow start in the first few chapters. However once we find our heroine, Tressya the illegitimate princess, being wedded and shipped off to an arranged marriage to a foreign prince, that's when the story really gets good. I loved her character. She's feisty, smart and a trained assassin. She is thrown into royal political scheming and suspense, all the while fighting for her life. I hope the second book will give us all the answers. I enjoyed this enemies to lovers, fated mates, arranged marriage, shifter slow burn romance. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

I enjoyed this book so much. The dynamic behind Tressya and Taman’s relationship is incredible. As a reader I felt like I was immersed in the world. I liked that the ghosts that Tressya encountered offered some comedic relief in areas. The author did a fabulous job making the characters that we were supposed to hate, absolutely hate worthy and you are praying that they get what they deserve. I would recommend this book.

If you were a fan of From Blood and Ash, you'll like this. Tressya is a illegitimate heir raised within a group of assassins trained to do whatever necessary to carry out the will of the group, Tamas is a shape shifter who leads the northern kingdom hoping to claim the throne Tressya is protecting. I enjoyed this! Tressya isn't a pushover or timid in anyway and generally uses her skills regularly which is unusual in a fantasy. Tamas is so down bad it's adorable! I will say this is veryy slow to get into because the book jumps right in with fictional words and characters with no explanation. This makes for a very confusing first few chapters. Once you get past a certain point and connect a few dots it's a very fun book. I will definitely be looking out for book two.

Thank you to NetGalley and Terina Adams for a free ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

When I first read the blurb I was drawn to it and I was excited to read. Once I started to read I was disappointed because the beginning was so hard for me to get through. I feel like the author introduces a multitude of names of kings and species right from the start, making it hard to follow along. I found myself having trouble read seconds over again to understand what was going on. I was also not a fan of the book started with a spicy encounter with her secret lover. I am all for spicy scenes but it was ruining with some much information being thrown at you.

However, as I continued reading, I found that the author redeemed herself through the rest of the book. I particularly enjoyed the character of Tressya, the heroine who faces discrimination for not being conventionally beautiful and for being a bastard. Despite these challenges, she remains determined to prove herself by being a loyal member of her society.

Overall, while the beginning of the book was a bit rough, I found myself enjoying the story and characters as the plot progressed. the female main character's resilience and determination, as well as the interesting world created by the author, kept me engaged until the end.

Overall an enjoyable read. There were times when it felt like a ton of information was given at once, which made the pacing feel a bit off, but once that information was digested it was fine. Some things were told but not brought up again in the book, so I'm hoping those are setting up things in the rest of the series. Liked the politics and slow burn.

“The Unbroken Queen” is a slow-burn romantasy but fast-passing plot book by Terina Adams.
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Plot: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Characters: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Romance: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (slow burn!)

“Love and hatred. Both are passionate emotions.” This is my favourite quote in the book.

The writing style is amazing, reads quickly and you can’t stop at the end of the chapter. Language is simple without unnecessarily complicated words. A slow burn enemies to fated lovers until the last page. This fantasy romantasy book is a very promising start to a new saga. Lots of politics, royalty, thrones, love and war. A very good-written tale that will keep you on your toes. And as a plus has a double point of view.

Tressya is the unbroken queen but she doesn’t know it. She thinks she is a disciple of a Sistern and must obey her fate and marry the soon-to-be King of another realm. She is trained to be an assassin but she is much more than that in reality.
Tamas is a descendant of a bloodline of kings with the ability to turn into a beast any time he chooses. His purpose is to gain the Bone Throne but on his way there, fate crosses his path with Tressya’s and he falls hard at first sight.

This book makes you want more, I couldn’t put it down, I had to know what happened next. I loved all the interactions between Tressya and Tamas and the romance that was unfolding so slowly but was so rewarding when they finally let go. A prolonged burn but the interactions are in every chapter so you get some reward :)

I would recommend it to all lovers of magical kingdoms, enemies to lovers, forbidden dark romance and fantasy lovers as well. In my opinion, is a must-read and I am getting a copy for my library!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my early copy.

Sweet enemies to lovers romantasy! I liked the sassiness and banter of the MCs. Overall well written and descriptive. I do wish there would have been a map- and maybe there is in the non-arc version. I also felt like the motivations of the MCs in the beginning especially were not very clear/realistic, but they started feeling more like real people as the book went on.

This book was really hard for me to get into. The first third of the book was world building, which of course makes sense considering it’s the first of a series. However, I he over complicated names of people and places, along with the extensive history background, made it a slog to get through. But!! If you get past that point, it gets so much better.

Tressya is an illegitimate child of a king who is in the Sistern. In the plainest terms possible, that’s a girls only cult that deals with soul magic. She’s never been very good at it, and the Sistern never lets her forget it. So when she’s sent to a different country for an arranged marriage, no one is more surprised than she.

After arriving in her new kingdom, absolute madness unfolds. Forbidden love, deep secrets, and the overall questioning of everything she’s ever been taught. Tensions are high, chemistry is great, and the future of the kingdom is in the balance. Her character development is slow, which is upsetting but understandable as it sets up the series well.

Thank you for allowing me to read your ARC! Unfortunately, this book is not for me. I had a hard time keeping focus during the beginning due to my confusion with the different clans and territories and trying to keep all the names straight. It was a bit distracting and I kept finding myself wanting to reference a map. I won’t be posting my review on Instagram, for just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean someone else won’t love it!

My first read from this author and I’ll be reading her other books!

I enjoyed this book from start to finish! At times I did think the book was long but there was alot of information and so much going on so it makes sense but the world building could be alot for some.

I fell in love with both main characters Tressya and Tamas and cannot wait to have more of them in the next book! Their tension and banter was done well! Although I will say when we got Tamas POV we didn’t get as much from him as I would’ve liked.

I was crushed by the losses we had at the end and didn’t see them all coming, or I had hoped for some not to happen.

The shape shifting aspect is neat and intriguing and made me fall more in love with Tamas. He’s such a unique and fun character! But again I enjoyed him more from Tressya’s POV than his own.

The ending shocked me and crushed me and made me want more asap! I’m excited to find out what’s in store for Tressya and Tamas next!

Thank you NetGalley and Terina Adams for the arc!

It started a little slow and there was a lot of world-building getting thrown at you but once it found it's rhythm I really enjoyed the book! It's definitely a slow burn romance and though he falls first and SO hard, she takes much more time to come to terms with her feelings and at times it was a little frustrating! The romance was good but overall, the focus of the book was more politics and world-building, I feel like the romance (and hopefully spice) will tick up in following books. I will definitely be eagerly waiting for the next book!

This book has such an intriguing premise, but unfortunately wasn't executed fully.

The world building was heavy to begin with, but then I felt it was mostly ignored later on. The plot was fine, but could have been written better, a bit clunky and confusing at times. I also just didn't care for the characters and felt that I was forcing myself to continue.