What an epic fantasy romance! This was a thrill ride from the very first chapter all the way through to the end. I can't wait to read more from this author!

Is all the hype over this book actually worth it?? You bet your Prime self it is! Following Wren from abandoned daughter, to grieving niece, to inside spy is full of action, adventure and more than a little spice. This is a must read!!

It’s like Divergent. But also kinda like Hunger Games with the districts/wards. But also like military college (Fourth Wing without the dragons but instead just like humans versus inntinnsics?)
Basically this was a captivating dystopian novel set in a military college where they’re trained to destroy Mods (those with Telepathy that are “aberrations” and “defects”).

Wren is a particularly talented Mod in hiding until one day her skilled marksmanship puts a target on her and her uncle. She gets captured and then recruited into the Silver Block military college, hiding her identity because if they knew she was a Mod, she’d be dead before she could blink an eye.
She’s determined to fail out but the Captain that recruited her (who also happens to be quite attractive, how convenient!) won’t let her leave.

I can’t explain it very eloquently, but I just had so much fun reading this. The vibes were strong with this one. It’s not the most groundbreaking or original story, and the world building is minimal but I had a great time. The telepathy was interesting and sadly we only got a small taste of it in this book. I’m hoping it’s explored more in the sequels especially as Wren learns to use her powers.

It’s predictable at times (no spoilers but there are secret identities that I called immediately) but then there are some twists (particularly at the end) that I DID NOT SEE COMING AND OMG I NEED THE NEXT BOOK ASAP.

There’s definitely some excellent tension and spice between Wren and the MMC, Cross. The “we hate each other so much but why tf are we so attracted to each other” was delicious. I don’t care if it’s overdone, I was eating it up.

This was one of the most unique books I’ve read in awhile and I absolutely devoured it. I’m such a sucker for anything dystopian ESPECIALLY if you toss in some romance. I was absolutely enthralled up to the last page and if I don’t get the follow up soon I will actually scream (nicely, in a nice please send it to me way)

Everyone’s talking about it, you’re seeing it everywhere you look, so let’s get into this book. I’m gonna say something controversial right off the bat you guys…wait for it…I think people are having far more feelings about this book than warranted, good or bad. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being obsessed with a book, we all love different books and every book deserves to be obsessed over by someone. To me personally, this was a solid read; dark without being depressing, fun without being frivolous (okay a little frivolous but more on that later), not without flaws but not hate inducing. I was furiously flipping pages I’ll tell you that.

Wren is supposed to be the bitchy, cocky asshole of an FMC, and she was all of the above, but honestly I really liked her. Call me a contrarian, but I love a bad bitch. Her responses to her environment made sense to me. Not saying she’s relatable, she’s like the antithesis of me. She’s impulsive and reckless and will rush head first into a bad decision, but she’s also self aware and I love that in a girl. Yes, she has a bit of a thing for danger and guns but God forbid a girl have an adrenaline addiction. Her adjusting to being among her enemies and getting closer to them even as she’s supposed to hate them is very human and realistic if you think about it. Of course, her attraction to Cross is almost laughably quick and uncontrollable and again, is understandable while not entirely sensible.

Cross, on the other hand, feels much more two dimensional and far less badassey than we are told he is. I can’t tell if that’s deliberate and a sign of things to come or just a miss. I also don’t love his dialog (idk how to explain this). Their banter feels forced sometimes and sometimes hits just right. I did think they jumped the stages of their relationship far too quick, and I could’ve used more tension, but again, maybe that’s deliberate? Time will tell. Either way, I was invested in them by like 60%.

The writing comes off a little clunky and took a little getting used to, and we don’t get sufficient explanation of how a lot of things are possible so the world building ends up feeling superficial (like the uprising spy network and being able to transport easily to you know where). Although I do think the setup is all there for the fight against their systems of oppression in the coming books, unlike a lot of reviews seem to be insinuating. We can’t get everything in the first book. The book makes you uncomfortable and makes you sit in that discomfort, as a dystopian society should. Yes, I do think the moments of reckoning between Cross and Wren were far too anticlimactic and it felt like they just took everything in stride far too quickly, but I’m starting to think there might be reasons for that. Anyone who reads romances and gets the beats probably saw one of the more obvious reveals coming, but the last couple pages changed everything and make me real excited for the next installment.

I loved this book! It was exactly what I needed. I love Wren and Cross and their dialogue and chemistry. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

I'm not entirely sure if I enjoyed this book as much as suffered through it. The dialogue was clunky, awkward and repetitive. The characters were bland, boring and forgettable.. there was soooo much 'telling' and no 'showing'! And literally nothing happened in this book! The ending was also very unsuspensful. Every "twist" this story had was super predictable and I saw it from a mile away. I felt zero connection to our FMC- she was just ok. This in no way entices me to read the next books... this could easily just be a stand alone. I was excited to read a dystopian world again, but this fell very flat.

DIVERGENT x FOURTH WING

There's a lot of discourse about this book, but I, for one, truly enjoyed it and will impatiently be looking forward to the next book! The worldbuilding was gradual and fascinating, the pacing was excellent, and the romance--though I loved it--has an opening to continue to grow in future books.

I was impressed. And yes, there are some tropes and moments that feel like they were copy + pasted from other books, but I'm someone who enjoys tropes like this, so I didn't mind it at all.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Tropes:
🖤Enemies to lovers
🖤Slow burn
🖤Forbidden romance
🖤Dystopian fantasy

Spice Level: Moderate 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Wren is a telepath which is forbidden in her society. But this hasn’t stopped her uncle from training her to hide it. When her uncle is suddenly taken away, she makes it her mission to save him and along the way gets swept into being a double agent and join the silver elite squad and a whirlwind romance with her enemy. She doesn’t know a thing about her parents, her real name, but she knows one thing, she’s been friends with Wolf since the age of 6, someone she has only met long-distance telepathically. Will she get her revenge as a double agent, find out about her past, or even meet Wolf?

What I Loved: Storytelling was on point in this story. There was no lack of detail spared and it contributed to a well-rounded story that really is going to wow you at the end. It had everything you need in a romantasy: action, betrayal, goofy best friend, morally gray characters, dangerous enemies, crazy plot, exile, a cliffhanger ending that DOES NOT make you suffer and that is ALL I will say to not spoil it for you. The characters were definitely loveable mid-book and the romance build-up did not suffer in the story as you would think a slow burn would create. COULD THIS BE WRITTEN BY SJM UNDERCOVER?! Yes, I think so.

Perfect for readers who love: The Handmaiden’s Tale, Divergent, The Hunger Games

starting this off with the fact that i need the second book immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. this felt like a movie playing out in my head. full of TENSION, banter, suspense, betrayals. the ending??? wow.

this story is about a divided continent between primes (immune to a biotoxin) or modified (enhanced by the toxin). enter our fmc wren who is a mod with unique psychic abilities who is forced to join the continent’s silver elite military program. she uses this opportunity to infiltrate and aid an uprising. in this program she meets cross who is her commanding officer. they have a growing attraction with the best banter because they “loathe” each other.

i absolutely love cross. like the nickname he has for wren… “dove”… major swoon. you can tell he cares about her from the start even though he “shouldn’t” as they are on opposing sides. the taunting they do to each other knowing they have this attraction oh my gosh. i love them together so much.

tropes and themes: dystopian, high stakes, forbidden romance, secret powers, hidden identity, rebellion, and a divided society

This was a very tough read and review for me, because I do my best not to DNF books but this one pushed me closer than I've been in a long time. The marketing and hype around this has been intense, and I do think the book was mismarketed. Wren is not the next Katniss, and I would not tout this book as being truly dystopian. Just because a book takes place within a somewhat dystopic future doesn't make the story itself dystopian. I would classify this as much closer to romantasy along the lines of Fourth Wing, etc.

75% of this book was a long slog. The FMC Wren is more back and forth with motives and intentions than the girl who dies first in a horror movie, to the point of almost seriously detracting from the story. You viscerally hate Primes and what they've done to you, more than anyone the General, but omf his son is sEw HoT and you can't resist yourself?? The romance was far too forced, even with the entirely guessable plot twist regarding the romance. Wren also apparently can turn off and on attraction at will with anyone else, which is only minorly (massively) confusing.

All that being said, I think the bones for a good story are there. The last 25% of the story truly kept me hooked, and threw in a few surprises I didn't see coming. Less focus needed to be made on the romance, and this book would've been much better in my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to rate and review this book!!

The first half of the book was just okay to me. Not bad, not good. Just okay. It's written well, lots of funny dialog. Nothing really happened, though. Just a lot of just talk about past events that I found extremely repetitive. I quickly understood where the Fourth Wing comparisons came from. Academic setting. FMC being in said academy against her will. The friend group, etc. It also reminded me of a few other books. Except these other books excucuted the tropes found in in "Silver Elite" a lot better in my opinion. The "angst" between Wren and Captain Cross felt generic and predictable. The back and forth of Wren wrestling with her conscience about her feelings towards Captain Cross were completely contradictory and kind of annoying. The world building is miniscule. We stayed in the same setting for over half the book. I was so bored!! I couldn't take it anymore. I've seen so many people going crazy over Silver Elite since it came out. So maybe it's just me. I'm just not easily satisfied when it comes to Romantasy, so that's why "Silver Elite" and I had to part ways. DNF at 50%

Silver Elite is by far one of my favorite books of 2025. I could not put it down. I loved the FMC, her backstory, the way she meets the MMC, some twists I saw coming and others that had me completely shocked.

My ONLY issue with the book was the fact that the ending felt super rushed. I wish there was more information there. But I get that’s why we have the second book.
Which BTW, I need immediately!!

I will be thinking about this one for awhile…

I had an absolute blast with this one. I thought my days of dystopian romance novels were in the past but here we are, this was an amazing dystopian and I had such a good time with it. I got such Divergent/Fourth Wing/Shatter Me vibes. I loved that we got dropped immediately into the world and figured things out as they unfolded. I'm excited to hear more about the magic system. It was intriguing to see the different abilities and how they measure up. I can't wait for the next book in this series and it just came out!

Thank you to @NetGalley @delraybooks and @hambrightpr for a copy of this ebook.

My mind can't even wrap around what I finished. A top read of 2025 for sure. This was phenomenal. There are so many amazing releases this month and on this day and this is one that is going to top them all. All the stars! This deserves all the hype and attention. It is phenomenal and I want to read it again immediately.

Trust is an illusion in this cut-throat world of intrigue and subterfuge.

What a thrilling–and chilling–series of unfortunate events! My heart was in my throat as I devoured chapter after chapter. I’d be biting my nails one minute, crying the next, gasping in shock, sitting stunned in disbelief, or fanning my face as the flames of passion ignited between Wren and Cross.

The author was very good at making me feel uncomfortable. There’s so much gray area in the story and no delineation between the good guys and the bad. I was morally and emotionally conflicted at the choices each character had to make and the reasoning–or machinations–that drove them to their decisions.

When I think I had someone figured out, the plot would Inception-style twist, throwing me completely off balance. My gut clenched often, feeling the visceral sting of each and every duplicitous act, as if I were the one being betrayed.

After finishing the story, I'm more confused now than ever. I'm definitely going to need a second book right away. No, Ms. Francis, you can't just mike-drop the last scene and leave us hanging!

I couldn’t put the book down! I was completely mesmerized by the incredible architecture of this fascinating world.

Silver Elite is a dangerous adventure with shifting alliances, uncertain loyalties, and earth-shattering consequences.

100% recommend!

Just devoured Silver Elite by Dani Francis and couldn’t put it down! It’s got mystery, magic, and a badass heroine you can’t help but root for. The supernatural twists kept me hooked, and the slow-burn romance? Chef’s kiss.

First and foremost - marketing did this book a disservice. If you go into this book looking for Hunger Games (which is what the first comp title for it was), then you will be severely displeased. This book is more like Fourth Wing / Divergent / X-Men, and readers who are looking for that, especially those who liked aspects of Fourth Wing, I think might get more pleasure out of reading this book. There is the military/training/secret ops squad aspect that FW and D readers will recognize and appreciate, even though with our politics being what they are right now, I hesitate to recommend that as a bonus for this book. The "powers" that our fmc has are mutations that, I think, originated from radiation exposure hundreds of years ago, even though they're all telepathic powers and no storm-wielding or invisibility (yet). X-Men lovers could get down with that.
Also, to market this book as dystopian seems, to be, to be factual inaccuracy. From writingmastery.com: "Dystopian fiction is a form of speculative fiction that imagines a frightening vision of the future in cataclysmic decline. It presents an end-of-the-world, gloom-and-doom scenario. Dystopia is the opposite of utopia, a place of ideal perfection. If utopia is paradise, dystopia is paradise lost." 1984, Hunger Games, Handmaid's Tale, Fahrenheit 451, Parable of the Sower, etc. These are the classic examples of dystopian fiction, yes? While Silver Elite may hold this description on the surface level, it does not feel like it holds dystopian past this initial "aesthetic."**

**using words the author themselves has used to describe this book and why they wanted to write dystopia**

Within dystopian fiction, there is a necessary sociopolitical discussion that plays at large throughout the story, and plays a central role to the plot too. Politics regularly feature in these stories, especially that of a totalitarian regime meant to control every aspect of their citizen's lives. Again, we have hints of that here here in Silver Elite - surveillance drones, mandated infertility shots, government testing of children, and a few others. However it fails at a larger glance to talk in any meaningful way about the issues with these things, instead relying on implied distaste from the reader, and rather favoring to look more heavily into aspects like the romance between the characters.

Secondly, the "romance..." now, I like spice, don't get me wrong, but at some point it starts to feel forced and gratuitous. And that's what this whole thing felt like to me. The relationship bt the characters feels more one-sided, and another reviewer labeled this as dubious consent. It does certainly straddle a line, and I got the ick major time reading the mmc say some things to the fmc.
Also, obviously, a smart reader is going to pick up on the "twist" pretty much from the first insinuation, and that's what I did. So by the time it happened and the romance plot line developed, I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Maybe it's because I've read too many books like this; maybe this book was full of overdone tropes and character archetypes; or perhaps the writing just wasn't that developed.
I'm leaning towards a combination of all three; the writing, minus the spice, did feel incredibly juvenile. If it weren't for the explicit value of those scenes and the open-door policy, I would think I was reading a YA; the characters all felt so young to me, and I kept having to remind myself they were in their mid-twenties. Likewise, all the characters felt like they were copy/paste from other books.
I described Cross as Xaden and Four in a review video, because honestly that's what he is. Wren is like Violet, but without the chronic illness. There was nothing that felt fresh about them. Even Kaine fulfilled a plot line that was strongly reminiscent of another character from Fourth Wing (NO SPOILERS SO NOT SAYING NAMES).

Then there's the anonymous author. Which IS NOT A BAD THING. We love the intrigue of anons! Riley Sager when he first started coming out was anon. So was JD Robb. And Melissa Blair (at least for marketing, she was). And the theories about who this author could be are fun and time-consuming, and honestly the Threads about this are hilarious.
But Raven Kennedy and other authors have brought up good points about anon authors and the publishing space, raising a point that (not saying that's what this author is) industry plants/industry professionals could hide behind an anon name to publish the stories they want to sell. This way they don't have to go through the vetting process - they can have their storyline, hire a writer, hide the writer behind a pen name/NDA, and publish the book. There's also the concern with AI. Obviously this is something we need to worry about, especially in the publishing/writing space. With the rise of AI models and how these programs and models have farmed writing for hundreds of thousands of authors, how long is it before publishers start using AI to "write" books for them. Forget the NDA or paying a ghost writer (ahem, Patterson), just have a computer write it for you, run it through an editor, spend the money on marketing and packaging that you would have spent a fraction of on an author, and bing bang boom, social media hit baby!

If you've made it to the end of this, brava, give yourself a pat on the back. Long story short - do I recommend this book?...I will recommend it to certain readers I know will enjoy it. But overall, eh, not really. I'll still read the rest of the series bc I am intrigued enough to see what happens next, and I want to know where the author will take this to. But overall, not really. I hope the author, even if they decide to remain anon, is a real person, not an industry plant, and that they continue to develop their writing style! I think there is potential there...as long as they're not a computer.

I really really wanted to like this.
The writing just didn't hit for me. It felt like someone took Fourth Wing and threw it into chatgpt, to make it dystopian.
The fmc was annoying, and good at everything. Which always bores me. I love a character with faults, and room to grow.
The writing was fine. But it kind of just throws you into the world, and uses names and words that are never really explained.
Very meh, the hype around who the author could be is the most exciting part.

A feral, unhinged, breathtaking thrill ride. Silver Elite is everything.

I don’t say this lightly: Silver Elite was an instant favorite. The kind of book that doesn’t just check boxes—it ignites them. It’s sharp, explosive, emotionally loaded, and somehow feels both nostalgic and entirely new. Think: dystopian classics reimagined for a modern romantasy reader with zero patience for slow plots or weak heroines. It gave everything, and then some.

At the center of it all is Wren Darlington, a character I would follow into battle, betrayal, or brunch. She’s not your typical “reluctant heroine.” She’s calculating, scarily competent, and walking a razor-thin line between survival and subversion—and somehow still manages to be funny, vulnerable, and insanely readable. The stakes are real, the danger is constant, and watching her play this long game had me biting my nails in the best way.

Then there’s Cross Redden, the infuriatingly magnetic captain who proves that stoic + sarcastic + secretly soft = literary perfection. Their chemistry isn’t just believable, it’s lethal. It starts out sharp and guarded, but the buildup? The burn? The eventual unraveling of tension into something raw and real? Unmatched.

But what surprised me most was how well everything clicked—the worldbuilding, the pacing, the rebellion politics, the secrets (!!!), the found family elements, and yes, the spice. Every single piece was balanced with intention. Not a single scene felt wasted.

There’s also this underlying ache to the story—this awareness of how systems dehumanize, how power corrupts, and how hard it is to hold on to truth when you’re deep undercover. It gave the narrative real emotional weight beneath the action.

Final thoughts?
If you’ve been mourning the golden era of YA dystopia but wishing it grew up with you, Silver Elite is the answer. It’s fast-paced, unapologetically intense, and completely devourable. I lost sleep over it. I yelled at fictional characters. I highlighted lines like my life depended on it. And I would do it all over again.

Thank you, thank you, thank you NetGalley for the ARC—I already know I’ll be counting down the days to book two like it’s my job.