3.25 ⭐️

Overall, A Curse of Breath and Blood was fine. The writing style wasn’t bad and the overall plot has potential. I just found it slightly lacking. It all ended up feeling very surface level, and I didn’t find some character interactions all that believable. Aelia doesn’t really act like a 30 year old to me. While I get she has a ton of trauma to work through that affects the way she is, it just felt like her way of thinking and her actions were immature for her age. We aren’t told Caiden’s exact age either, though it’s alluded that he’s at least 70, but he reads as very immature to me as well. I didn’t find Aelia and Caiden all that likable honestly. I did really like Tharan’s character though. He comes across as much more mature (which I’d hope so since he’s like 700 years old).

I did find it to be a little too insta-lovey for my taste. Like I said before, the story as a whole felt very surface level. We don’t really get to dive in to these characters feelings. We’re just told they are what they are. I wish we had gotten a little more insight.

It also felt like not all that much happened plot-wise. It sort of felt like I was reading a summary of the book rather than the actual book itself. It’s like it skimmed over too many details that would’ve helped with world building and character relationships while focusing a ton on stuff that just didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Because of the summary sort of nature of the writing, it was like characters would just pop up in scenes randomly or they’d essentially teleport through time and space. The timeline just was weird.

That all being said, I do see potential in this series, and I likely will continue it as I’m somewhat invested in the outcome now. I do hope we get a more fleshed out world and characters in future books though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aethon Books for the advance copy of A Curse of Breath and Blood. All opinions are my own.

3.5 ⭐
3.5 🌶️

This book explores a darker side of fantasy that is not often explored. Check your trigger warnings on this one. Several things make this one difficult at times. Aelia has been through it in her life, and numbing herself is her method of coping. She is pulled out of her coping mechanisms to a greater cause. This book not only has the fantasy quests we are accustomed to but also the quests of Aelia as she tries to find herself and redemption. It's a bit of a difficult read at times, but the MMCs Caiden and Tharan (although confusing at first) fit the story of Aelia so well. Other side characters round out this dark adventure. I wish the world-building was more in-depth; I found myself many times unable to really get a grip on what the world looks like or how it got there. There were exciting aspects, and I just wish they had been explored more. All in all it was a good read with a lot of emotion and adventure.

Thank you, NetGalley and Aethon Books, for the eArc. These opinions are my own.

This is book 1, but it reads like a book 2. This book drops you in the middle of it all and expects you to have a clue what's happening and to care.

Courts, so many courts with so many names, but no explanation or map to figure it out.
History. There was a war between who and when? Time jump and backstories all mentioned with no context.
Species - humans, sylph, elf, hob, on and on, but no glossary or introduction in the text.
Characters, every few pages someone new popped up. Some stayed and some didn't, but very few were beyond a basic line drawing. The that did stick around, that band from the start, were lackluster and weak. They needed fleshing out, beefing up, something.

This book needed more foundation to build a world and build characters I could care about. And it needed a less is more approach, throwing everything into it just cluttered up what story was there.
And there was a story. An older flawed female lead healing, saving sister and hopefully kicking ass along the way. That's the story I wanted.

And there's more in the prologue tempting you towards the actual book 2. I wasn't tempted.

Grab this book, actually don't. I don't recommend this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
🌶️🌶️/5

A Curse of Breath and Blood by K.W. Foster is a unique fantasy story. The beginning was a little slow but it definitely sped up once you kept reading!

I enjoyed this book a lot and I'm really interested in where this was going. I thought the cliffhanger was absolutely amazing! I wasn't expecting that twist.

I did wish there was more relationship building between Tharon and Aelia because I felt like it was extremely rushed. I also thought the world building wasn't the best, I'm huge in world building and I felt like I was thrown into this world with no context and so it was pretty confusing and I'm honestly still a little confused with it.

Regardless, this was still an enjoyable read and I am looking forward to book 2 especially with the way the epilogue ended!

content:
🩸He falls first
🥀Love Triangle
🩸One bed
🥀Court Politics
🩸Telepath FMC
🥀Banter
🩸Second Chance Romance
🥀Forced Proximity

Aelia Springborn is betrothed to King Gideon Ironheart, but she is in love with another. She must leave her love, Caiden, behind and start her new life as it is her duty.
Five years after Aelia is married off we find that she is now dubbed the Traitor Queen. Now living as a mercenary, Aelia, will do whatever it takes to survive and never return to her brutal and vengeful husband. She also struggles with multiple addictions just to cope with the nightmares and PTSD that she suffered at the hands of Gideon.
And now as if in a puff of smoke, Caiden appears back into Aelia’s life. Only to deliver the unfortunate news that her sister has been taken by the man she hates the most, Gideon. Aelia must break a deal with her ex lover to defeat Gideon and rescue Baylis.
Along their journey Caiden and Aelia find themselves in a predicament… vowing that Aelia will erase all his memories of their love together, in exchange for his help, they inevitably find themselves still deeply in love. But they must fulfill their bond to forget or fate will intervene.
Overall rating 4/5
I was perplexed by the choice in the beginning of this book to quickly show Aelia’s past love to then be thrown into a marriage. Then just as suddenly the story jumps ahead five years. This had me wondering if the past could have just been explained within the present timeline. I loved how all the characters in this book were flawed and how they embraced these flaws. It was refreshing from the normal fantasy books where the MFC is usually perfect or a hero. Filled with complicated and dynamic characters this book has a different feel, yet holds true to a core romantasy.
And that ending…….. I can't, I need more and appreciate that this wonderful gritty book had a HFN cliff hanger.

*Thank you to K.W. Foster, Aethon Books and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

We start by learning the back story of the main female character Aelia. Her sister has been missing for years and she’s on a mission to find her. Aelia’s ex Caiden comes back into the picture and there’s a bit of a second chance romance before a love triangle develops as Tharan evolves from a side character to a love interest.

I really liked the character development of Tharan and I’m looking forward to learning more about the rest of the side characters in book 2. The magic elements are intriguing and there are a lot of unanswered questions about the realm & overall world building, however there’s still enough of the storyline to keep you turning pages.

The pacing reminds me of Lord of The Rings - multi POV with several repetitive layers from different perspectives.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to netgally and Aethon books for my arc of this book for my honest review.

This book has potential, and I can see the vision, but I found the storyline very confusing at times. I felt a disconnect from the flow of the story, and that took away from my enjoyment.
I believe this story could be great, and it did draw me in enough that I would like to read the next book to see where it goes. I just hope the story runs a bit smoother in the next book.

I was so excited for this book. It had everything going for it; gorgeous cover, a synopsis that completely hooked me and some of my favourite tropes. This book had so much potential but really missed the mark for me.

I loved the first fifteen percent of this book and the ending left me intrigued to see what book two will bring but the rest of the book was a bit of a struggle for me to get through. It was fast paced and action packed but it all felt really rush and left a lot to be desired in terms of character development and world building. I had difficulty connecting with the characters and often lost in the world with the lack of world building.

While this book wasn't for me you may enjoy it if you like:

💜 Found Family
💜 Political Intrigue
💜 Love Triangle
💜 Forced Proximity
💜 Second Chance Romance
💜 Multi POV

Thank you to K.W. Foster and NetGalley for the gifted ARC. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

2.5 Stars. This one is a hard one to review. I liked the overall idea of the plot and romance but found a lot lacking. This was missing a lot of character development and world building which made the storyline very hard to follow. It felt like we were reading a sequel without having read the first book. I would have liked more of Aelia and Caiden’s background as well as what happened between Aelia and Gideon. Without all that, the story was confusing and lacked the depth needed to evoke any emotions for what was unfolding. It was a fast paced and interesting plot, but with all the above missing it fell flat and disappointing. Hoping the author can fill in the blanks for the second book because the idea was promising!

Publishing 9/17/24

Thank you so much to K.W. Foster and NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was not a typical romantasy, in my opinion. It was a lot better. There was quite a bit of worldbuilding and character development, which I enjoyed. There were also some interesting plot twists, which I wasn't really expecting.

Loosely based around Celtic mythology, there are some familiar figures such as the Morrigan, the Wild Hunt, etc. The land is divided into differe courts and a variety of creatures. The main character, Aelia, is a former queen and is broken and traumatised due to her abusive husband.

The characterisation of Aelia, I feel, is really well done. I enjoyed her character, even when she is self-destructive.

I am looking forward to the next one.

I had high hopes for A Curse of Breath and Blood based on the synopsis but was unfortunately underwhelmed by the delivery. This felt like a really rushed romantasy, with just one big event after another big event without any sort of character or world building in between. I did enjoy the beginning 20% or so, and the verrrrrrry very end, but the middle portion just didn't do it for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, K.W. Foster and Aethon Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Releases September 17, 2024.

3.5

🖤 Arranged Marriage
🖤 Drug Abuse
🖤 Blood Binding
🖤 Telepathy
🖤 Found Family
🖤 Quest

Aelia once a beloved princess and now a traitorous Queen. Five years ago she was forced to leave her lover, Prince Caiden to enter into an arranged marriage with Gideon. Gideon is absolutely horrendous. He manipulated and tortured her, broke her body and soul. Aelia eventually gets away and flees.

Aelia's sister, Baylis is currently missing, taken by Gideon. Aelia sets off with Caiden and their friends into order to find her.

Both Aelia and Caiden have been through a lot of hurt and trauma. They have a long history together.

High stakes, fast paced fantasy.

This new fast-paced, high fantasy story tackles real world issues with unconventional characters!

Aelia is a mature FMC that has suffered serious trauma and is addicted to fairy dust. We follow her and her exploration of herself, navigating her addiction/recovery, dealing with past trauma, and rebuilding relationships. During the story, we learn about hidden truths, family ties, and unique powers that are just developing for Aelia. She is somewhat an anti-hero and is a great addition to the incredible world of strong and reliant FMCs.

There are many different types of mythical beings in this book which is great for epic fantasy lovers like myself. There are also many supporting characters to develop connections with that offer up a great system for our FMC. A simple love triangle develops that is a good addition to the story, and isn't too complicated or distressing.

I felt like the world building and characterization were slightly underdeveloped and didn't really build a strong relationship with any of the characters. However, I think that this book is a great foundation for the series and there is much that can be built upon. The story flowed well and was easy to follow with a clear plot. I am invested in the storyline and looking forward to the next installment to see where the series goes!

First I want to thank NetGalley and K.W. Foster for an arc of this book, I appreciate the opportunity to read it!

I want to say first and foremost that I wanted to like this book, but I think it wasn't entirely in my attention span that it kept my interest. I enjoyed the first maybe 45% of the book, but after that so many characters were introduced that I couldn't keep track of who was who. I like books with good world building as well and sometimes the book seemed to miss that, which I'm sure others could understand more than me at this time. I did finish the book though and I gave it as fair of a rating as I could with not fully loving the book like I wanted to. I'm sure others will love this story and hope they do, but maybe I need to pick this book up at a different time and give it another shot.

First of all I loved this book😍 It feel like ACOTAR + King of Battle and Blood and I'm so here for it

The plot twist left me staring at the wall. I did NOT see that happen

The fmc was a little whiny at times but I definitely don't dislike her and her character development was amazing

✨𝒜𝑅𝒞 𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌✨
📖: A Curse of Breath and Blood: A Fantasy Romance Novel (The Mind Breaker Book 1)
🌸 Releasing September 17

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫

“𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.”

Due to their positions and duty, Caiden and Aelia knew their young love was doomed from the start. When Aelia is finally whisked away to the Highlands to her handsome betrothed, they resolve to part ways amicably. But everything afterwards was no fairytale.

Years later, Aelia is now a disgraced queen turned mercenary who reluctantly joins Caiden on a high-stakes mission to defeat the person who irrecoverably broke her. Along the way, she encounters the devastatingly charming Tharan, who she is immediately drawn to. As they all slowly mend their souls, will they be able to prepare their hearts for what’s to come?

Tropes:
👀 Multi POV
🗡️ St@bby FMC
🦮 Golden Retriever MMC
💕 Reformed bad boy MMC
♻️ Love triangle
🏰 Court intrigue
❤️‍🩹Hurt/comfort
💫 Magic bargains
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Found family
🌶️: mild

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘈𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩. 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦.”

Themes of memory, hope, and sacrifice resonate throughout this wistful and heartbreaking tale. I loved the interwoven memories in the story and the depiction of each character’s unique magic.

The author skillfully navigates the interplay between bad blood and broken hearts. All our MCs are grappling with trauma, hurt, and loss. Each character is beautifully broken, coping in their own way. But are they beyond repair?

With deadly bargains, ancient evils, and an unforgettable love triangle, A Curse of Breath and Blood will have you on the edge of your seat, unable to put the book down until the very end. I am begging for the next book ASAP!

Huge thanks to the author and NetGalley for the ARC opportunity! This is my honest and voluntary review

Aelia Springborn is the FMC and the main POV that we follow throughout the book. Aelia is the definition of broken and damaged, often turning to means of men or dust to help keep her demons at bay. This brought a unique perspective to the flow of the book as she copes with her traumas.

While reading you will be given glimpses into who/what has caused Aelia to turn into the stone cold mercenary that she is, and how her life ended up on the path it did. The book is quick paced with situations happening often one after another.

I wouldn't consider this a book about a love triangle. As the love is forced to change and evolve because of events that happen. To be honest, I have no idea which guy I would rather her be with anyways! There are a couple open door scenes but I found the romance was more secondary to everything else. The epilogue is a terrifying cliffhanger that made me interested in reading book 2.

When I first heard about this book being compared to ACOTAR I was a little nervous but I think K.W Foster has done a fantastic job with A Curse of Breath of Blood.

This book follows Aelia Springborn - a Queen turned mercenary breaking into minds for coin, navigating royal courts in Moriana.

Full transparency, Aelia is a morally grey, hot mess of a FMC on a mission to rescue her sister Baylis while stuck with her ex lover Caiden which immediately had me hooked.
When I think about the Amelia we meet at the start of A Curse of Breath and Blood this sentence really felt like it captured her-
“Famished from five years of living in cigarettes and hate”

The chemistry between Caiden and Aelia never quite hit the mark for me, with the plot movement it felt like we were expected to understand they were deeply in love from the get to, then hating each other and then back in love with each other. If the book were a little longer I think there could have been more relationship development between the pair and a chance for a slower burn - as well as ironing out the world building as it did get confusing at times.
Thank god for Tharan coming in clutch!!

If everything else hasn’t convinced you to give A Curse of Breath and Blood a go, here are some features that had this book checking all of my boxes-
- Love triangle
- Powerful but damaged FMC
- Fantastic villains
- Dual POV
- Stunning cover artwork
- Epic ending that has me desperate for book number 2

Overall an enjoyable read and an interesting take on a romantasy.

I wish the ARC had come with a trigger warning for passive SI, self-destructive bx, addiction, abusive relationships. While I wasn't too phased by these mentions, there are many readers who will want this addition. When it comes to characters, Aelia wasn’t exactly the most likable person, but none of the characters were likable for me. Aelia went towards unhealthy coping (i.e., addiction, promiscuity) but she did seem to see her overall worth despite the pain and trauma which did show a level of resilience. I was curious to learn more about the mind-breaking power but the slow writing pace made it so that curiosity faded. The world building and character descriptions were decent but not notable for me as a reader. The espionage-style warfare was interesting to follow. The romance was shallow at times but it felt somewhat intentional because of the time and trauma that has passed since Aelia and Caiden first fell in love. I found that this Foster did a good job of highlighting the difference between first love between teens and a lasting love that grows together. Another thing that made "A Curse of Breath and Blood" difficult for me to get through was the random information added and the seemingly random plot points that had abrupt mentions or changes (e.g., the beheading scene).

Overall, I had a hard time loving "A Curse of Breath and Blood." It's not a bad book, but it wasn't Ohmigod-let-me-read-more great either.

Review going live September 12

I loved this story. It was fast paced, had interesting characters, a flawed protaganist, "Who did this to you?", old love, new love, and so much more. Where it fell flat is the world building. I am still confused about all of Aelia's past that kept being referenced but never fleshed out as well as general world building that should cover the creatures living in this world, how the leadership works, religion, and magic. I felt that the book could have ended sooner so that the world could have been fleshed out more. There were also some confusing time jumps where I felt like I was missing something as a reader.

I love Aelia as a character. While she is badass, she is also real and has a lot of reactions to situations that I feel most people can relate to. I wish we would have more development of her and Caiden's relationship rekindling because it felt like one day they were at each other's throats and the next they were back together without any in between.

Overall, this was a great fast paced romantasy and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel.