4.25⭐️
Carissa Broadbent will always lure me in with her Romantasy books and I was so excited to see that we get more books out of the Crowns of Nyaxia world! Mische was obviously one of the best characters in The Serpent and the Wings of Night duet, and had such a backstory to tell. This book definitely gave us that and so much more. You get lots of Mische, but also so much more of the world’s lore. This book focuses a lot on the religious aspects of the world, but there’s also a magical quest of sorts that takes you into unforeseen territories. I don’t want to say too much at the risk of spoiling, but I will say this: This book has all of the things that make up a great Romantasy and the ending literally had me gasping and mourning the fact that the second and final book in this duet, is far from being released🥹 Also maybe we can have less chapter endings that say “and I was swallowed by darkness”…because there are A LOT.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy!

❤️‍🔥 Warring Gods
❤️‍🔥 Slow burn spice
❤️‍🔥 Challenging trials
❤️‍🔥 Undead puppy BFF
❤️‍🔥 Trauma bonding
❤️‍🔥 Descent into the Underworld
❤️‍🔥 Vampires

Mische was a character from the first two Crowns of Nyaxia novels that I enjoyed but didn't pay too much mind to. This novel made me feel so much empathy for her without making her into a completely tragic character. She is hopeful and so sweet. Her religious trauma is well written and such a difficult but interesting aspect of Mische.

Asar (and his unusual puppy LUCE, the BEST GIRL to EVER exist), is also excellently written, not just as a romantic interest for Mische but as a well rounded character.

I was initially skeptical of the general plot structure (journey to the underworld) being as interesting as the Kejari tournament from the Nightborn Duet, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. Fair warning - we are left at a HUGE cliffhanger, and I can't wait to see what happens in the second novel of the duet!

Carissa wrote her heart out with this one! I feel emotionally wrecked, in the best way.

A truly phenomenal start to the second duology within the Crowns of Nyaxia world/series.

I already loved Mische from her moments in the previously books, but following her through this truly harrowing journey was everything. She is a complex character with such a heavy and traumatic past, but she hides all of her pain and hurt behind this happy/vivacious personality. It was great, and truly painful, to explore her past and to see her face a lot of unresolved trauma throughout her journey.

Asar. oh, how I love Asar!! A shadow daddy necromancer vampire with his own trauma and painful history. I loved him right away, even when he was kinda mean.. but as the story progressed and the relationship developed, I just adored him more and more.

This is a truly delicious slow burn, between two very emotionally wounded vampires who are journeying through the underworld as they face increasingly dangerous challenges and creatures.

The spice we do get? *blushes* *fans self*

I loved every single word. The last 20% had me in absolute shambles!! My heart as racing and by the end I was just a mess of feelings. The very end had me SCREAMING. I need the next book yesterday!! the wait will be torturous, but it will be well worth it.

A new all-time favourite fantasy romance. I can't wait to reread it via audio!

Let’s discuss The Songbird & The Heart of Stone. It was just as beautiful, compelling, and heart-wrenching as I’d anticipated—easily one of the easiest five-star reviews I’ve given all year.

I always enjoy my time spent in any of Carissa Broadbent’s fictional worlds; she has never once written anything that didn’t feel utterly flawless.

But, this novel is in a league of its own.

Mische might be one of my favorite literary characters of all time. She is soft, kind, and driven entirely by her big, loving heart.

Throughout the novel, Mische grows and changes immensely from the girl we first met in Serpent & The Wings of Night. Yet, she never loses who she is.

It was fascinating to see this unrelentingly brutal and unforgiving world through Mische’s bright and hopeful perspective.

As for Asar—prepare to be completely obsessed. I love him and he might just be the only one worthy of sweet, sweet Mische.

Bottom line: The Songbird & The Heart of Stone is a stunning continuation of Broadbent’s world-building and character development. It balances beauty and brutality, hope and despair, perfectly.

Mische’s journey and new characters like Asar make this book unforgettable.

I’m trying to put together the words to describe how addicting I found this book to be. I fell in love with the Crowns of Nyaxia series when I first read The Serpent & The Wings of Night and a big part of that was how much I loved the setting and world-building.

I wasn’t sure how I felt when I read that Mische’s story was going to take place in an underworld type setting because I find it difficult to really create a vision in my head other than an expanse of darkness but Carissa’s writing is so captivating and vivid, I was shocked with how much I loved the setting and magic of the underworld.

Getting to know Mische’s past was outstanding and heartbreaking all together. It really made me love her even more as a character. Asar was a new face to the Nyaxia world and his character has easily become one of my favorites. I just wanted to say that if you are a Reylo girlie…these two characters will be your cup of tea! *chef’s kiss*

As the reader, we know from the start that Mische and Asar have very different end goals to their mission and I was hooked the entire time waiting to see what the outcome would ultimately be. The story line has me hooked, the romance is the perfect slow-burn, and I am just so attached to these two.

The ending of this book had me reeling! I cannot wait to see what our dear Carissa Broadbent has in store for Mische, Asar, and…well, my lips are sealed!

I’ve loved Mische’s character since reading Serpent & The Wings of Night, so I was incredibly excited to learn more about her in this book. Overall I enjoyed the journey & the writing was amazing as usual. Carissa always writes top tier romance. Hoping there’s another one to come…

This was a very highly anticipated read for me, and I am so excited I got to read it!

Overall, it was very enjoyable. We get to learn a lot about Mische’s story and her background while she goes on this crazy journey. I enjoyed Asar’s character and the dog🥹🥹🥹. The dynamic of the three of them was super sweet.

I will say that this book immediately hits the ground running and I was a little confused at first.. I wish we could have warmed up a little before getting straight into it. I needed a little bit more time to reorient myself back into this world since it’s been over a year since I read the previous books.

4.5⭐ THAT ENDING OMG 🤯

"Do not be afraid of death, Dawndrinker. Make death afraid of you."

This was AMAZING and honestly so freaking unique. I haven't read anything like it. I loved it and now the fact that I have to wait until book 4 is going to crush me.

CHAPTER FREAKING 33 🥵🥵🥵 holyyyyy. I love vampires. 🤭🤭


Moments:
"I like how your pleasure looks."

"I just played the notes that sounded like you."

"I'm patient. A man can't rush worship."

**4.5 STARS**

Content Warning: death, violence, grooming

I love this series and was so surprised there was going to be a book three but I am so happy there is and that I was gifted an arc! Once I saw I was approved I had to push all books aside and read it. Here are my thoughts:

Likes:

*Did I read this in two days? Yes I did! More like a day and a half because I was hooked but in a different way from how I was addicted to the first two books in this series. This is Mische’s story, Raihn’s best-friend/charge, and I was so intrigued about her. Whereas, the first two books was a story about the different vampire houses and had an intense trial – this book is about Mische’s upbringing with worshipping a God and how that worship shaped her life. There isn’t a trial in this story but a very big, dangerous quest which is filled with the dead and other monsters in the path to the underworld.

*Mische was groomed as a young child to love and please a God and now that she’s a vampire she is questioning her self-worth and dealing with the dualities inside of her – the powers of both a Shadow vampire and a Dawndrinker who is devoted to Atroxus. I actually love how the author exposes her devotion to supposedly something good and show how in actuality it was harming her. It’s a toxic relationship she has with her God. What I like about Mische is her optimism and sunshine quality even if she’s only faking it to make it. She has some deep seated self-hatred and guilt festering inside her and that was sad to see.

*Asar has an interesting history also – the bastard heir of the House of Shadow vampire king. He is the grumpy to Mische’s sunshine. He’s quiet, sarcastic, and has had a difficult upbringing as well as some traumas that have shaped him. He and Mische understand guilt and wanting redemption so badly, it consumes them. I like how he helped show Mische how the love for her God was harming her.
It’s such a slow, slow burn, I was craving for a nugget of romance in the beginning but this one is a slow build and I honestly didn’t mind because of the quest Asar and Mische is carrying out which is filled with so much action and danger. But when the romance finally presents itself, it’s good! I love them together.

*There is a lot of background story about Mische’s past, Asar’s past and Nyaxia’s past! I find this world so fascinating and was very hooked to every detail of it. I love how the Descent is the way to the Underworld – it’s filled with spirits, monsters, wraiths, and it is filled with danger. This world keeps growing and I love it.

Dislikes:

*I wanted more romance but I also liked that this wasn’t an insta-love kind of deal. They actually work as partners (even though technically they are enemies), the romance isn’t the main thing in this story, and I was surprised I didn’t mind it but by the midway point I wanted more flirting – but that’s just me.

*Their quest takes them into the Descent which is the in-between space between the mortal world and the underworld. The door to the Descent is a house that is sentient, called Morthryn, but there are times where I was easily confused as to where the characters were. They always find their way back to Morthryn but sometimes I was disoriented trying to figure out where they were.

*This is clearly an ARC copy and with that said, there were many typos which will probably get corrected in the final publication but it did trip me up a few times while reading.


My Thoughts:

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This being Mische’s story, I felt like it was a very true Mische story. Her sunshine personality shines through even in the darkest parts of Morthryn and the Descent and that’s what I adore about her. That even with all the things she’s gone through from being groomed by a God, turning into a vampire, losing the people she loves and now being away from her friends, warring with her self-worth and questioning her path – she is able to survive and keeps going. This one is filled with so much action, darkness and light, more world-building, a super slow burn of a romance and then that ending cliffhanger! I’ll be counting the days until the next book!

Rating: 4.5🌟
Spice: 2🌶️

Tropes/Themes:
- Adult fantasy romance
- Redemption story
- Hurt/comfort
- Forced proximity
- Grumpy x Sunshine
- Necromancy
- Traveling to the Underworld
- Traumatic pasts
- Meddling Gods
- Animal companions
- Slowburn romance with tension

This is Book 3 in the Crowns of Nyaxia series, and follows Mische and Asar, a new character introduced in this book. Asar is the exiled bastard Prince of the House of Shadows, but he’s better known as “The Wraith Warden” 👀.

This was definitely a redemption story for both Mische and Asar. We get a deep look into their pasts, especially Mische’s, and realize how much she struggles with “righting her wrongs”. Her story is devastating, and I love the relationship that develops between her and Asar. They start out rocky, but at the end, they were both willing to sacrifice themselves so the other can be happy (I won’t say any more about this! 😌).

I did find some of the trials to be repetitive, but more in the sense of wanting to know what happens next cause each new trial revealed new information about the character’s past. I wish we had chapters in Asar’s POV, but I’m assuming the next book likely will be dual POV.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and the characters, and I can’t wait to read the sequel ❤️

I’ve been ARC reading for Carissa since her World of Lost Heart trilogy, and I am honored to be granted approval for this book once she became traditionally published. Thank you to Carissa and the Bramble/Tor team for the ARC!

I have loved all books in the Crown of Nyaxia series so far and The Songbird and the Heart of Stone is no exception. This book was beautiful, sad, dark, and thrilling. I LOVED the setting and atmosphere, the character going on a quest through the dead felt at times like a container place and other times vast and deep with endless possibilities. I highly recommend Songbird and the Heart of Stone for the characters, the setting, and the romance. And I cannot wait to continue Mische’s story!

Thank you for sending me a copy of the 3rd book in the Crowns of Nyaxia series. If you are a fantasy lover girl like me then you def gotta check this series out! One you won’t wanna miss! Carissa is an excellent writer and she knows what she’s doing when it comes to all of her characters! She puts in great detail and emotion into all of it and it keeps you invested throughout the whole book! ❤️ Definitely one people need to check out!!!

I feel truly blessed to have received this arc! I re-read the first two Crowns of Nyaxia series with a special eye on Mische before diving in and I am glad I did! This book felt like a darker progression after Ashes and the Star Cursed King and drew me in immediately. Mische was a secondary character in the first two books, but she is fully developed and ready for the spot light in this one! This expanded world was at times hard to follow, I did feel the tree metaphor for the layers of the underworld helped. The ending was classic Carissa and really the only down side of getting an ARC is that now I am waiting even longer for the next in the series!!! 100/10!

First: thank you Carissa for the ARC, for letting me see a glimpse behind the curtain as this book was created. I want nothing more than to live inside your brain and paint pretty pictures for you to earn my rent.
Second: OMG YOU GUYS THIS BOOK. I don't even know where to begin. But I have a heart rate monitor that tells me this book literally, physically, affected me while reading.
I loved it so much. I saw myself in Mische- getting to know her was like getting to know a little bit of myself. And wanting the best for her means extending my own self some grace as well.

And Asar???!!! *Cue Saint Motel's "My Type" playing on loop*

There's such a raw vulnerability in it that left me aching, gasping. Carissa writes the way music feels. It's effortless, exciting, and dripping with emotion.

I literally can't say anything because i don't want to spoil anything. But MY GODS you need to trust me and read this book.

As erotic and biblical as a Hozier song, Carissa Broadbent delights readers in the newest, lush and dark Crowns of Nyaxia series installment.

Not a title to start before bedtime, this book sucked me in immediately. All the beauty and terror of a stained glass window in a haunted church, The Songbird & the Heart of Stone is one part romance, one part religious horror, and one part ode to Greek mythology. This book at times reminded me of the Percy Jackson series, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, and at other times of Dante’s Inferno.

As Mische grapples with shame and self-acceptance in the face of religious guilt and a lifetime of grooming, Asar, the Wraith Warden, bastard son of the House of Shadow, and half-brother of her maker, the vampire she just murdered–drags her down to the underworld with a mission she’s uniquely capable of helping him achieve.

This book was hauntingly atmospheric, dripping in lavish, romantic darkness as if it had just been pulled from the River Styx itself. An opulent love story verging on a tribute to Hades and Persephone dives into a tale much more akin to Eve biting the apple.

✨Book Review✨

The Songbird & the Heart of Stone - Carissa Broadbent

📖 Mische lost everything when she was forcibly Turned into a vampire – her home, her humanity, and most devastating of all, the love of the sun god to whom she had devoted her life. Now, sentenced to death for murdering the vampire prince who Turned her, redemption feels impossible. But when Mische is saved by Asar, the bastard prince of the House of Shadow with a past as brutal as his scars, she’s forced into a mission worse than execution: a journey to the underworld to resurrect the god of death himself.

📚 I have wanted more about Mische and her backstory since reading The Serpent and the Wings of Night and this book does not disappoint. Not only do we learn about Mische’s history we also follow her and Asar as they travel the underworld, facing the dark side of death and the ghosts of their pasts. This has a sprinkle of grumpy vs sunshine and some morally gray coloring that is my favorite. The worst part of this book was that it ended; I am already looking forward to the next installment of the Nyaxia series.

🌟 If you have read the Nyaxia series up to this point you are going to want to preorder this book immediately. If not, circle back to the start of this series! It is a fantasy romance with vampires, adventure, and some spice. The Songbird & the Heart of Stone is set to publish on November 19th! Special shoutout to Carissa Broadbent and @NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

Reading order for the Crowns of Nyaxia Series:
The Serpent & the Wings of Night
The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King
Six Scorched Roses (A Novella set to publish soon!)
The Songbird & the Heart of Stone

#BookReview #BookRecommendation #CarissaBroadbent #NyaxiaSeries #TheSongbirdAndTheHeartOfStone #Mische #Asar #BookLover
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4 stars ⭐

Carissa Broadbent is one of my favorite authors, so when I got approved for this ARC, I may have screamed a little. Reading Oraya and Raihn's story in the first two Crowns of Nyaxia books was such a beautiful experience, and those books remain some of my favorite fantasy reads. Through their story, I not only fell in love with Oraya and Raihn but also connected with Mische and her story.

So knowing I was about to dive into a book following her story had me very excited!

I missed Carissa’s writing (seriously… The way she writes books is unreal) and was eager to return to the world of Vampires and deadly houses. The storyline was engaging, and we learned so much about Nyaxia and the god of death – and the current state of the world following the ending of the previous book. It was also nice to get more backstory on Mische, especially her upbringing in relation to the sun god and everything that happened after she became a vampire. Mische is full of hope, loyalty, courage, and kindness…how could you not love her?! Like seriously.. I just wanted to give her a massive hug half the time and show her just how worthy of nice things and love she is. Seeing her self-development journey throughout the book was so beautiful and heartbreaking at times, and you can’t help but root for her to find every bit of happiness. I also really enjoyed Mische and Asar’s banter and liked seeing them together.

There were just a few things I would’ve loved to see more of!

- ROMANCE! Trust me, Carissa is the queen of slow-burn romances so I knew going into this, that it would be a much slower pace than some other books I’ve read! In comparison to the slow burn between Oraya and Raihn, I just felt like Mische and Asar’s romance was almost non-existent until we got over the halfway mark other than a few subtle hints here and there. Then, we all of a sudden jumped right into the realm of romance. I personally would’ve liked to have seen a bit more buildup and tension!

- It felt very repetitive at times, with the characters often facing the same battles and dealing with the same general issues. I found myself getting a bit bored during the middle of the story before things really started to pick up (and they definitely picked up!!)

- Asar... his character fell a bit flat for me. He’s described as the bastard prince of the House of Shadow, a mysterious necromancer, and a cold-blooded killer. However, I don’t feel like we truly got to see much of this! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed learning more about his past and seeing glimpses of his softer side, but I was hoping to experience more of the darker side of him we heard so much about. I think it would’ve made seeing the softer side of him more special!

Despite these few things, this book was still truly amazing! The first two books (and the novella) were just SO good that I went in with super high expectations.

All I will say is… THAT ENDING! I never would have predicted that. My jaw literally dropped and the gasp I let out at 1 am woke up my boyfriend so yeah.. 🤣

Overall, I still really enjoyed this book and will definitely continue with the series! I’m hopeful we’ll get to see more of Asar’s brutal side in book two LOL

Thank you Pan Macmillan, Tor Bramble, and Netgalley for the eARC!

This was an absolute brilliant book.
The journey To the underworld was breathtaking. Creepy. Haunting. Sad. Beautiful.

The ending Actually made me GASP.

I’m so ready for book 2.

C A R I S S A.

This book changed me: mind, body, and soul. I had no expectations and yet they were somehow still so blown away. The journey to the underworld, the romance, the necromancers, the gods, the vampires, AHHHHHHH.

I can't even explain how great this book is and how amazing it was to be back in Nyaxia. Mische is such a strong FMC and she is so different than Oraya (from Serpent and the Wings of Night). Miss Carissa can truly do it all.

god i love this series and with every book i find myself loving it even more, which i didn’t think it was possible. this was so addictive right from the very start. getting to be immersed back in this world was such a treat. so much tension, action, swoony moments that left me not being able to put the book down.