Overall, a fun start to a new series. Hannah, the female main character did take some time for me to warm up to. I enjoyed her character a lot more once we were firmly in Towerfall and out of the real world environment. One thing I wanted to see more of was the magick in the book. A little information is given and certain types or styles are mentioned but I wanted it to be fleshed out a little more, but that may be coming in future books.
I received an arc through Netgalley and all opinions are my own.

This was a new to me author and I'm not sure if I'd pick up another. It felt underwhelming and the characters fell flat. This was a miss for me all around. It just didn't fit the blurb that was given and the writing needs more work.

This book started off so fun and had a great premise. I also have previously enjoyed the author's older works, so I thought this would be a no-brainer. However, I believe due to the length of the book (or perhaps it was the pacing, as I'm not sure if this book was shorter than a regular novel), the plot, character development, and romance felt way too fast paced. As such, it was difficult for me to enjoy the unfolding of the storyline as I felt like pieces were missing and we were just hitting bullet points on a list.

The main character also struck me as odd- it was difficult to root for her when her line of thinking felt very erratic and not yet fleshed out.

I'm certain that if the book was given more time to breathe, it would've gained another star from me.

I enjoyed this book. the writing was good and the concept was interesting. However, the characters were not fully developed and the summary of the book was not fully materialized. I think with some more thought and some more tinkering it could maybe be something. I was kind of disappointed because I was a huge House of Night fan. Maybe I over played it in my own head, hoping it would be similar. It was not terrible, but it for sure needs to be fleshed out more.

I was a HUGE fan of the House of Night series in high school so I was pretty excited to read this. Unfortunately I did not love this. It was definitely a 2.5 star read for me, but when I can’t do 1/2 star ratings I prefer to overrate than underrate. It was pretty juvenile, as far as dialogue goes, for an open door romance. The plot was a bit convoluted and overall choppy. I’d finish a chapter and start the next and it would take me a few paragraphs to put together what happened. There would just be a gap in information and I’d have to piece together what occurred to figure out what was happening- I don’t know how else to explain it, but it was kind of annoying. Not much happens in the entire book, it could be half if it’s current length and still get the same point across. The relationship between the FMC and MMC really didn’t make sense- definitely insta love/lust. I also didn’t really understand her friendship with Marion- kind of like the romantic relationship it was just instantaneous and didn’t have much development. I’m not sure that I will keep reading this series, I didn’t really enjoy this.

I gave The Empress by Kristin Cast a try, but the description of this book does not match the actual content. For example, it was described as a romantasy with historical overtones, but it's a fantasy rom-com. The characters need attention and need to be developed better. I will not be reviewing this on my socials.

The Empress is a captivating start to a tarot-inspired romantasy series that pulls you into the intriguing world of Towerfall. The concept of parallel realms, with mirror versions of people existing in each, was such a fascinating twist.

Kane is everything you'd want in a morally gray hero—dashing, roguish, and fiercely protective. He adds so much depth and tension to the story. As for Hannah, she was incredibly relatable and refreshingly realistic. I loved that she wasn’t written as someone with hidden powers or extraordinary talents. Instead, her heroism comes from her growing confidence and learning to navigate a magical world despite feeling out of her depth. Her journey of self-discovery was a highlight and felt wonderfully authentic.

The story’s use of tarot as a world-building element was intriguing, though I was left a little unclear on the role of the Empress after she brought Hannah to Towerfall. Since this is the first book in the series, I’m eager to learn more about the importance of this card, the tower, and how the Arcana tie into the plot.

Overall, this was a refreshing take on the genre, blending high stakes, romance, and self-discovery. I’m definitely curious to see where the series goes from here!

I made it about 30% of the way through the book, but this just isn't for me. The main character isn't believable at all. She winds up in another world and doesn't seem to have any questions? Any desire to get back to her real life? She only seems concerned with how attractive the male love interest is, and as much as I love fantasy/romantasy, I need a level of believability too.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book. This is the first book I have read by this author. The Empress is the first book in the Towerfall series. Hannah the female main character is having a hard time nothing in her life is going right. She is handed The Empress card, which starts her on a journey.This story has a dark male main character. This book has many twists and turns before you get to the end. The book is fast paced and I greatly enjoyed it. I love forward to reading the next book in this series.

This title seemingly was meant to be mainly for pre-existing Kristin Cast fans. The description and content of the story were mismatched as the story promised within the summary failed to materialize by the end of the book. In fact, any type of plotline failed to emerge and instead, this title produced an instant love relationship, a heroine who increasingly made baffling choices, and the overuse of 'hip' buzzwords and pop culture references that failed to hit the mark.

The plot that did exist was confusing and meandered in murky, which made it difficult to understand the world. Additionally, it was never clear what the main conflict was, and the role of the various characters, such as Hannah or Kane, in resolving or protecting the realm. Instead, there were a lot of random side ventures that had nothing to do with anything beyond attempting to make it relatable to a new adult audience but instead, it was cringy. It was extremely disappointing, but I'm hopeful individuals enjoyed the story and found something worthwhile in the pages.

I couldn't really get into this book and the amount that I did read didn't make a ton of sense. Within the first 100 pages there was a metaphor of the kingdom being like an onion, many layers, some rotten spots. It gave Shrek vibes (if you know, you know). Everything felt too cringey and cliche, but the writing itself felt wrong for a book made for adults. I couldn't really appreciate the story at all. It felt like maybe there were sentences that had been deleted with the way it sort of skipped around. I stopped trying to read it after the first 100 pages, when it began to feel like a chore, which is sad because I used to really enjoy Kristen Cast's writing. Sorry, DNF at about 30%.

4.5 stars

Thank you Bloom Books and Netgalley for the ARC

I will say I do enjoy this book. Kristin Cast approaches this book in such a new way. While Tarot has Always been a sub category of magic and fantasy. I think she really lets it shine in it's fullest amount in this book. The idea of this series following a girl who enters the tarot card basically is such a cool idea. While tying this plot into real life witchcraft practice and tarot magic.

I think my only major gripe is the pacing and the beginning. The pacing feels kind of wonky but maybe that's just me. I feel like the beginning takes a bit of time to take off which is fine. However then the plot really starts to pick up the pace and starts to go faster. Which I usually don't mind however for this I think the slower more in depth approach worked. Which ties into my second point the beginning. The beginning doesn't really take time to create the world. Instead focuses on creating the plot device that moves the plot forward. I usually wouldn't mind but for this book I think seeing a more in depth look at the world would have been interesting.

However regardless of those negatives. Kristin Cast did an amazing job creating a New Adult Romantasy. While this is definitely outside of her normal genre. I cannot wait to see how the world of Towerfell will expand with future books.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a welcome break from some of the denser books I’m reading. It’s definitely insta love and insta lust. The premise was neat but overall I feel like this book fell short of its potential. Despite being spicy this book came off very YA and the main character was very immature and annoying in my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the opportunity to read The Empress by Kristin Cast in exchange for my honest review.

The Empress has an intriguing premise—a world based on the tarot deck, full of danger, mystery, and magic. The idea of the Arcana being real, combined with a high-stakes adventure, immediately caught my attention. Unfortunately, while the concept is unique, the execution leaves much to be desired.

Though marketed as an adult fantasy, the book reads like a YA novel. The main character, Hannah, acts and speaks more like a teenager than an adult. I struggled to understand her decisions or take the stakes seriously. Her constant reckless behavior—rushing into dangerous situations and ignoring obvious warnings—was frustrating to read and often pulled me out of the story.

The tone and humor felt forced, with attempts at modern, "relatable" jokes coming off as cringeworthy rather than clever. While I appreciated the effort put into weaving tarot into the world-building, the depth wasn’t quite there. Some parts of the story felt rushed, while others dragged, making the pacing inconsistent and difficult to stay engaged.

Despite these issues, the concept of Towerfall—a world influenced by the tarot deck—was fascinating. The author's research and accuracy about tarot added authenticity to the setting, and there’s potential for the series to grow if the characters and pacing improve in future installments.

Overall, The Empress has a promising foundation but struggles with maturity, characterization, and flow. It’s a decent start, but it didn’t fully live up to its potential.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book early! I think the author had a good idea but the execution of it fell flat. It at first gave Alice in Wonderland vibes, but the world building was confusing, and I had hoped the Tarot cards were going to play a larger part in the storyline.

I didn’t end up finishing it, about half way through, and maybe I’ll give it another chance at some point but the book just wasn’t what I expected it was going to be.

I was interested in this book for a number of reasons. I grew up with Kristin Cast's other novels so I was excited to read a book of hers that was supposed to have a adult female main character. Unfortunately, the book character acted and responded like a teenage girl, which left me very confused as a reader. Also the relationship between the main characters felt more driven by raging hormones rather than actual deep interest and infatuation. The concept of this book intrigued me as well but the execution of this novel fell flat.

I have read most of this author's YA work with her mother so of course I wanted to read this so bad. I thought it was an okay read, it's fast-paced and easy to get through. It reminded me of her YA books with the writing and flow. The fmc life is not going well at the moment and she finds herself out of the modern world and into a fantasy world after seeing a tarot card. She meets this warrior who kidnaps her to save her and help her heal. They are instantly attracted to each other she agrees to pretend to be married to him so she can escape the modern world.

The instant attraction worked well in this book and I liked the tension it brought. The mmc keeps secrets about his world and plans for the kingdom. The world building was okay, there's this kingdom that isn't doing well that he's trying to save even though he isn't allowed to do that. I thought the romance was cute though there is some miscommunication in it. There is spice in this and a lot of the praise kink. Overall this is a fast-read romantasy which I like cause sometimes they're so long. It also wrapped up very nicely so I'm interested in who/what the next book is about. Thank you Bloom for this arc.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This book had good promise but poor execution. A lot of the worldbuilding felt like it just was not fully thought out.

I hate to do this but this book was just not it for me. I made it to 50% and had to DNF.

I actually thought this was going to be a tarot deck when I requested it so that was my bad. I did give it a try when reading though and it was just slow and a bit boring. I am sorry.

This book was so much fun. Loved the use of Tarot in the book; was just enough without starting to get confusing which makes it feel like it is for everyone. Another highlight is how descriptive the author is when talking about everything from the setting to the clothing. Hannah feels like someone you could easily become friends with and her growth is inspiring. Worth the read.