4.5 STARS

I REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK!!

Such a vibe!! Now don’t go into this book thinking it will be a literary masterpiece because spoiler, it won’t be. But it will be fun. It will keep you on your toes with all the action and adventure in it. It will keep you up late, not wanting to put the book down, I know I didn’t want to put it down. And now I can’t wait for next book.

Un libro che viene presentato come un distopico, ma con scene spici non può essere privo di elementi critici verso temi politici e sociali. Praticamente per fare spazio alle scene spicy e stata tolta ogni traccia di politica.
La protagonista è detestabile perché è perfetta in tutto, ma non pensa mai prima di agire e continuamente fa scelte discutibili che portano a casini vari. L'insta love è imbarazzante perché non appena Wren vede Cross pensa solo a quanto sia figo, anche dopo aver assistito alla morte dello zio...ogni personaggio maschile viene prima visto da un punto di vista estetico e poi ci viene presentato.
Purtroppo per me è bocciato.

Silver Elite by Dani Francis is not the best book I've ever read, but it was exactly what I wanted it to be. It was exciting, it was well paced and I enjoyed reading it. Which is all I really wanted out of it in the first place.

I had a great time with this book! Silver Elite is a solid pick if you're into war camps, secret powers, and a bit of slow-burn romance.

People keep comparing it to Fourth Wing, and I get it. There are similar vibes with the intense training, enemies-turned-something-more, and high-stakes secrecy. But honestly, this one stands on its own!!!
The world is fresh, and the idea of Mods (people with altered abilities living in hiding) really pulled me in. I liked the morally-grey areas around who’s right and wrong, and the tension between the modified and unmodified added a cool layer of intrigue.

I absolutely love books that take place in brutal training programs, and this one checked all the boxes! The lessons, the rivalries, the constant feeling that someone could turn on you at any moment- it kept me turning pages.

That said, I did figure out who Wolf was pretty early, which took some of the suspense out of the romance. Even so, their dynamic worked. The MMC is one of those characters who sees way too much and is just the right amount of intimidating. Their interactions were tense in the best way.

Overall, Silver Elite was a fun, gripping read. If you like secret missions, complicated feelings, and strong heroines trying to survive in a dangerous world, you’ll probably enjoy this as much as I did. I’m curious to see where the series goes next!

Another main character with Cross and Wolf as their names? Coincidence??

In all seriousness, I actually really enjoyed this book for what it was. No where did I feel like this was a Sci-Fi or dystopian novel, but what I did like about it was the romance. It was fun, yearning, and man if I wasn't rooting for her to sleep with the Captain from the literal start. This book was a lot of fun, nothing revolutionary but fun for the romance and spice.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC!

Heart-pumping, kept me guessing, crazy twist, romantasy! For those who love a romantasy, add this to your tbr pile! It's sexy, fast paced and totally sucks you in.

You know what, I really wanted this to give me all the fourth wing hunger games vibe, It didn’t but that’s because it’s its own book & that’s okay! The dystopian & slow burn was done well in the book & I did like the banter between the characters . It was a fun read & I think I will re read on audio! I do recommend this to my fellow dystopian lovers! Training camp galore!

The comparisons to the Fourth Wing series are certainly apt, but after reading through it, I'd say that Silver Elite stands on its own as a new, exciting romantasy in it's own world. I was intrigued by the moral ambiguity of the idea of altered people, and their somewhat unexplained abilities, and the tension between the altered, and the unaltered. I have to say - I did clock the secret identity of Wolf pretty early on, and that definitely did a lot to lessen the inherent tension between Cross and Wren. Overall, a solid, solid read, and I'm intrigued to see where it goes next.

"Spicy budget Divergent”
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5
Audio performance : 🎧🎧🎧🎧

Series: Silver Elite #1
Series Type: Series
Genre: Fantasy
Sub Genre: Dystopian, Fantasy Romance/Romantasy

Tropes:
- Challenge's
- Enemies with benefits
- Forbidden Magic
- Forced Proximity
- Political intrigue
- Jealousy (him)

Other:
- Fantasy Species: Human magic users
- Format: Audible, Digital ARC
- Plot/Character Driven: Both
- Pacing: Medium
- POV: Single POV
- Narration type: 1st person, Audio - single
- Character gender : F/M
- Narrator names : Amanda Dolan
- Comparison titles: Spicy divergent
- Popular boyfriend comparison: FOUR reincarnated

👨‍👧 CHARACTERS
Okay. Let’s talk Cross for a second. The male lead? I wanted to fall in love, but he just didn’t give enough. I needed more tension, more chaos, more oomph. Like sir, where is your backstory? Where is your pain? Where is your depth?? 😩
BUT the female lead Wren!! Kinda iconic. Kinda annoying. She had moments where I wanted to shake her, but ALSO moments where I was like “YES QUEEN DO THAT.” She wasn’t some clueless little bird waiting for a man to save her, she already had the power, the grit, the sass. Was she perfectly written? No. But she was fun, and I respect that.

🌍 WORLD BUILDING & MAGIC
Let’s be real. This book was not here to serve us Throne of Glass vibes or Fourth Wing level worldbuilding. If you squint hard enough, it gave “Divergent’s messy younger cousin.” 💥 Like… it wanted to be dystopian, but it forgot to actually build the dystopia. The vibes were there, the logic? Not so much. Still, I had a good time pretending.

💖 WHAT I LOVED
This book was like a candy-coated fever dream flirty, fun, and just chaotic enough to keep me flipping pages. We NEED more dystopian books back in the rotation and honestly? This could be the beginning of the dystopian girlie renaissance. Did it change my life? No. Did it give me a cute break from high-stakes fantasy politics? YES. And sometimes, that’s the vibe.

💔 WHAT I DIDN’T LOVE
Okay let’s address the TikTok elephant in the room, the hate was LOUD. I tried to block it out, but once I saw the criticisms, I couldn’t unsee them. 😬 And yeah… some of them weren’t wrong. There was a lot of “where is this going?” energy, especially in the romance. I’m worried about the series keeping its spark. I’m hoping the next book proves me wrong, but for now… I’m cautiously curious.

📝 OVERALL THOUGHTS
This isn’t the next big fantasy romance. It’s not going to be studied by the romantasy gods. But it is a fun, good-paced popcorn read. Think: book slump cure, not book soulmate. If you go in expecting vibes over vision, you’ll probably have a good time. Just keep your expectations slightly lowered and you’ll be fine!

4.5/5

This sucked me in from the very start! It definitely gives Fourth Wing and Quicksilver vibes in the best way. Definitely a must read for romantasy lovers who want a bit of dystopia.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Worlds for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

It's been a hot minute since I picked up a dystopian novel and an even hotter minute since I enjoyed one. This reminded me of the best parts of the Divergent series, but with a more adult theme. Cross was our Four, and Wren was our Tris. Lots of similarities, but lots of differences too. The found family, even when Wren felt like she was betraying her uncle- this may have been my favorite theme throughout the book.

Needless to say, I enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait for the next one.

this one fell flat for me. i was super excited for it, but i just couldn’t keep myself interested enough to actually keep reading the book. I made it about 25% into it

If you liked the war college and romance of Fourth Wing then you will love this. There are no dragons but there is a lot of telepathy and you might meet a secret agent or two.

# Silver Elite
# 5/24/2025 ~ 5/31/2025
# 5.0 / 5.0

This book had me on the edge of my seat with the constant high stakes. The pacing was done well and at no point did I feel like the plot was dragging. It is an enemies to lovers slow burn with plenty of angst.

Wren, the FMC, must keep her secret abilities under wraps to protect herself from being killed. In addition to learning about her powers I also enjoyed learning about the other characters, with a few unexpected twists throughout. The constant tension between the FMC and MMC as well as fear of discovery kept me on edge throughout. The training program aspect was giving me fourth wing vibes, minus the dragons.

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

Honestly I enjoyed this book. I was nervous that it wouldn’t be good based on what I had been hearing on TikTok but I enjoyed it. There were parts that are predictable as they usually are with most romantasy but there was a twist that I didn’t expect. The biggest annoyance I had with this book is that the cursing was just weird. I can see how that might be construed as AI but I feel like it could also just be the author trying to make it seem like a post modern world where god was taken out of everything including cursing. Hellfuck was weird though and distracted me from the story a bit every time I read it. Otherwise I feel like this book is right up there with other popular romantasy books. I don’t understand the hate. I also am looking forward to book two.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was marketed in the worst possible way unfortunately. To be compared to hunger games, which is built on death, destruction and terrible choices, and this is just kind of surface level dystopia with sex on top of sex, felt out of touch.

There was so much hype around this book that I had to see if it lived up to it! I enjoyed it but I wasn’t blown away or obsessed like some others have been. I predicted one of the twists pretty early on, but it was still an enjoyable story. I’m curious to see where it goes, so I’m planning to read the next one. Read when you want a romantasy book with a character who is trying to infiltrate the elite forces team of her enemies.

Silver elite reminds me of divergent and powerless rolled into one book. The game is survival and not everything is as it seems. There are secrets and lies regarding the past and just who are aberrant.

O ate this up so fast! This was fast paced and exciting from the first chapter, the first page really. I didn’t want to put it down. I loved the romance in this and I love slow burn

3.5. Wren was born with abilities that make her easily identifiable to the enemy. She’s lived her whole life hiding her abilities and pretending not to be “modified” but she’s so powerful that she gets noticed by Cross (he’s noticed her for several reasons) and she’s not supposed to fall in love with him.

I am new to dystopian and while this wasn’t a terrible intro to it, I feel like it could have done a lot more! The most interesting part was the romance which I also felt was lacking but it could have been really fun getting more into the abilities or how they came about. I would have loved more world building since this is going to be a series (I think) I was entertained though!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Dani Francis, and Del Rey for providing this free ARC. This is my honest review! This published on May 6th.