Silver Elite feels like the Hunger Games meets Divergent. It took a little while to get into the story, but once you get though it boy does it deliver.
In the story, there are modified, or "mods" who are banned and hunted down by the government. The FMC, Wren, is a mod, and eventually becomes forced to work for the bad guys. The romance in the book is a bit rushed and underdeveloped, but that's okay with me because the story is the main focus. Maybe it's today's current political climate or the gripping story - Silver Elite pulled me out of a major reading slump.

In this fast paced dystopian book there are two types of people, Mods and Primes. The Modified or the Affected are born with powers such as telepathy, healing, mind control and incitement. The Primes are in control of this world and being Modified is a guaranteed sentence to either death or enslavement in work camps.
Wren Darlington is a Mod of extraordinary power. But she is young and headstrong. One day after disregarding the advice of her guardian she shows off some of her skills and gets the attention of one of the Prime. Of course things go horribly wrong after that and Wren is forced into military service with The Primes while trying to hide her Mod powers and her growing attraction to the captain in command of her unit.
Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 3.5⭐️.
I really enjoyed the first 60-70% of this book. It was fast paced and I loved the chemistry between Wren and her love interest. The biggest issues I had with this book are the fact that it was not only entirely too predictable but it felt like a lot of rehashing of material we have already seen.
At this point I’m not sure if we will ever see another main character who actual listens to the advice of others again. Wren is continuously told don’t do something then decides she knows best and does it and then regrets doing it. After a while I’m over reading someone make bad decision after bad decision. I did enjoy this book and will probably read the next book when it comes out but for now can only recommend this as a get it from the library if you can book.

I absolutely loved this book! I finished it in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. It gave elevated and more adult vibes of other dystopian novels. There were trials, great banter, an amazing slow burn romance, and so many twists and turns that I never would have predicted. It was definitely a five star read for me, and I cannot wait to continue the series!

I loved the romance. Psychic pen pals?? SO GOOD. Overall, the book is fun but still pretty standard and could have used more development. I'm excited to see where this goes next, I think there's a lot of interesting possibilities with that ending!!

Thank you to Del Rey and Netgalley for the eARC.

This was sooo good! The dystopian genre is killing it right now. It was giving Divergent meets Fourth Wing. We’ve got a war between nonmagical people and people with psychic abilities, a cutthroat training program to become one of the Elite, and an Uprising trying to dismantle the system from within.

Wren is our badass magical MC, and Cross is our brooding and deadly MMC who happens to be a commanding officer on the enemy side. The forbidden slow burn romance was everything. I loved Wren so much and Cross had me swooning big time.

This book had me on my toes the entire time and the ending had me absolutely shook. The wait for the next book is going to be torture!

A big thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Silver Elite by Danielle Francis is a dystopian fantasy with a forbidden romance.

Wren Darlington was “adopted” by her “Uncle Jim” as child after losing her parents — Uncle Jim and Wren both have telepathic powers, which are punishable by death on the Continent. The elites find out that Uncle Jim was telepathic & Wrens is on their radar now…. She is taken captive and forced to train for the Silver Elite.

This book reminded me of Fourth Wing & Language of Dragons… minus the dragons and the slow burn forbidden romance reminded me a bit of Divine Rivals. The final half of the book had me at the end of my seat & there were so many twists & unexpected reveals that have me highly anticipating the next book.

I would recommend this to dystopian fantasy lovers who enjoy spicy scenes.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. Catch this book when it hits the shelves on May 6, 2025.

4.5 stars

𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲

This new and up and coming dystopian novel is all anyone should be talking about!

It follows the story of Wren Darlington, who lives in a country divided in two - there are the Modified, those with special psychic abilities, and the Primes, those with no abilities at all.

And unfortunately for Wren, being a Modified is punishable by death.

As she’s forced into Silver Block, an elite military training program, she must keep a low profile and hide her abilities, whilst also trying to take the system down from within.


💭 ℳ𝓎 𝓉𝒽ℴ𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈 💭

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I actually don’t have the words to describe how much I adored this book 🥺❤

I mean I’ll try though… 😉😂

✨ 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 ✨

If you are looking for a book with the slow burn of Fourth Wing and the thrill the old dystopian books like Divergent and Hunger Games gave us, this is for sure the book for you.

This book had me in such a chokehold, I didn’t put it down in two days.

Not only is it extremely well written, it’s full of twist and turns and moments that make your heart actually speed up. The stakes are 🅷🅸🅶🅷

And when you aren’t feeling the thrill and the excitement, I can guarantee you will have butterflies in your stomach from the ａｍａｚｉｎｇ romance that runs through this story.

Also, the fact that she has to hide who she is adds so much tension, betrayal and fear to the plot that will have you blood pressure levels through the roof!

If you like strong, badass, snarky FMCS who take no sh** from no-one, you will absolutely love Wren, and the banter, enemies to lovers, slow burn between her and our MMC is just absolute fire ❤️‍🔥🌶🌶

It’s incredibly paced and I was left wanting so much more. I can’t believe I now how to wait to see what happens next 😪

One of the best reads I have had this year and in a long time, I predict this series will be huge!

DNF at ~31%

I like dystopias. I like romance in the books I read. So I was prepared for a fun mix of both, but couldn’t find either aspect appealing in this book.
The characters were flat, the world-building lacklustre at best, there was no chemistry between the love interests, and the dialogue made me cringe pretty often, especially when there was attempted something like sexy banter or when he called her ‘dove.’ The stakes were removed by the protagonist being too special and the captain bestowing special treatment upon her. The writing is pretty easy to read, though.
If you’re looking for ultra-light entertainment where you can self-insert yourself into a Divergent-flavoured world in order to fantasise about being with a sexy captain, then this might be for you. It wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The rating is only for Netgalley.

In this dystopian fantasy, 150 years ago, a biotoxin nearly wiped out the world's population. Now, there are two groups of people on the continent, Primes—who are immune to the biotoxin— and Mods—who developed special psychic powers from the toxin, and they're at war.

This was incredible. The writing was so good and painted the scenes so well.

Much of this felt like a more fantastical version of some current events 🙃 although, maybe some of that remains to be seen with what there is to find out about the two groups in future releases in this trilogy. Parts of this book were very 1984-ish and some even Handmaids Tale-ish. Mix that with a dramatic romantasy and... 😮‍💨

My only drawback with this book was the way that Cross was written. Overall I think he ended up being a really compassionate guy, but some of the things he said, especially early on in the book, were pretty problematic to me. And not in a "charismatic, dominant, man who takes charge" type of way, but more the "don't leave your drink around this man" type way. If it wasn't for that, this would be a 5 star book for me, but he was just too hard to root for early on. I feel like most of this was early in the book and I guess could be seen as him teasing, but some of his dialogue was just not it for me. He ended up seeming like a much better guy than he was early on though.

Outside of early cross, this book was fantastic. Compelling, shocking, creepy at times. This isn't even out yet and I can't wait for book 2!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey for an e-Arc of Silver Elite by Dani Francis.

Not my favorite but not the worst book I’ve read recently. While I enjoyed some parts, it was missing that spark. The plot, characters, structure and world-building could’ve used more work and depth as it felt underdeveloped.

When it comes to our main characters, Wren, our FMC, wasn’t my favorite. Her mindset felt questionable at times, and she often made impulsive, poorly thought-out decisions. She couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t rescue her when in reality she was a liability. Her growth felt slow and underwhelming. I can see the potential for her character but I’m unsure if I’ll continue with book 2.

Cross, our MMC, was a bit more layered and intriguing. We still don’t know too much about him but he came out as a more rounded character and compelling.

Side characters didn’t get much attention and I felt like we didn’t really learned much from them or about them. The reveal of Wolf’s identity was predictable, which was disappointing.

Overall, the plot fell flat for me and there was not a lot of mystery to the story. It’s not the worst dystopian book I’ve read, but it lacked the shock factor and twist usually seen with these type of books.

This book just wasn't for me and that's okay! I didn't enjoy the writing style, nor could I manage to get invested in any of the characters. The premise was interesting enough, and I do think Francis has a lot of hope for future books, and hopefully I'll enjoy those more.

so so so good! the love child of divergent and fourth wing minus the dragons. absolutely could not put it down from the time i started reading! :)

HOLY SHIT. This book is my new obsession. If The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Shatter Me invited Fourth Wing to join their threesome, you would get this book. It feels like an homage, or rather a return, to the Dystopian Romance era. This is a book for those of us who grew up reading the aforementioned dystopian novels and are now adults and what the steamy, spicy, sexy version of those books. I LOVED this, and need book two like, yesterday.

It’s been a while since I read a dystopian book, but this one felt exactly like what I used to read when I was 12. This was a really big surprise. I picked it up on a whim because the synopsis sounded pretty interesting and I had a really fun time. The book itself isn’t perfect, but it was entertaining and that’s what matters.


In this book, we follow Wren as she has to hide her psychic powers in order to survive a world that condemns her people. In her attempts to not draw attention to herself, she ends up being forced to join the SIlver Block, the most elite of the military, where she does her very best to fight off the attraction she feels for her commanding officer.


Let’s start with the most obvious plot point in this book. The romance. It was fine. And why do I say that? I can’t say I cared for it in the beginning. The one thing I hate in romantasies (yes this book is a dystopian but I would say it can be categorised as romantasy too) was in this book: Insta-lust. I genuinely hate when no connection forms between two characters, but we still just move on to smut. Also, Cross was too much of an asshole in the first half and I can’t say I cared for him. But once we hit the 60% mark?? Oh god. That’s when I can say that it started being really good. The chemistry was there. It didn’t feel like insta-lust anymore as the attraction between them actually started to make sense.And I just started to fall in love with Cross too.


The plot was incredibly fast paced, it was one of the fastest 500 page book I ever read. I was honestly reading it whenever I had the chance. I was hooked immediately as I started. I even got emotional in the first 15% of the book which I found WILD. How did the author manage to do that?? Honestly, because of the impact it had on me that had to be my favourite scene in the whole book. That aside, iI did feel like the plot dragged a bit in the middle, but I didn’t mind that as much as I thought I would in the end.


A lot of things felt a bit predictable too. Every reveal in this book made sense, but oftentimes the foreshadowing was pretty obvious. It was something I could overlook, though, since there were still some things that surprised me. Although, if I paid more attention, I think I could have guessed those too hehe.


Wren was a pretty cool main character I won’t lie. I genuinely really loved her as a person. She was so sassy and sarcastic, I was honestly laughing every other page. And her loyalty to the people she loved??? All she did was to try and protect the people she loved and help them as much as she can. There were a couple times, especially towards the end where I felt like her character was a bit inconsistent and that affected my enjoyment of this story a tiny bit..


As I said Cross was a huge ass in the beginning, but the more time Wren spent with him he got so much better. We start seeing sides of him that he doesn’t really show when other people besides Wren are around and I loved that!! AND HIM CALLING WREN DOVE WAS MY FAVOURITE THING EVER!! I love nicknames in books so much.


Then we have Wolf. I loved him since the first time he was mentioned. I was a bit unsure of who he really was, for the first half of the book I was oscillating between two different characters but once we got past the 50% mark, I knew for sure who he was. And I was right. I have a soft spot for childhood friends in any kind of stories, so of course I loved him. Anyway, I can’t really say anything more about him without spoilers, so I suggest everyone reads the book to know more about him!!


I really loved a lot of characters in this book like Lyddie, Betima, Kaine and Xavier.

Lyddie was such a good friend to Wren and I loved how she kept helping Wren all throughout the book!! She was such a sweetheart.

Kaine was also one of my favourite characters. His interactions with Wren were literally the cutest and just as Lyddie he was also a good friend to her and such a good support for Wren?? He helped her a great deal at times.

Xavier was literally the greatest best friend anyone could ask for. The way he helped Cross with anything he needed and the way his help and love for his friend was literally unconditional???? He was honestly the biggest surprise to me, I had no idea what to expect from him.


There were honestly so many characters that I absolutely despised in this book, but I’ll let you guys see them for yourselves when you read this book. Aside from this, some of the characters that I loved did end up disappointing me and, by the end of the book, I was not fully sure what to think of them.. Only the sequel will help me understand them better.


The world itself was so cool, though!! The 2010s dystopian vibes were ON POINT!! There have been a lot of attempts at reviving dystopia in the past years and out of those that I’ve read none have managed to do a better job than this book!


The ending was full of a couple unexpected things, I was genuinely on the edge of my seat waiting to see how everything would unfold. The ending was probably my least favourite part of the book, though. So many characters just did some things that made me hold some resentment towards them. For some characters their actions felt justified, considering their upbringing, but for the others, it either felt stupid or out of character.


Overall, this was an astonishing debut with a strong plot and beautifully written characters that would evoke strong feelings in you as a reader and honestly if you want something easy to read this is the perfect book!!

Thank you Netgalley and Del Rey Books for an arc of this book in exchange of an honest review!!


┆彡 Silver Elite ★★★.5

I haven't stopped thinking about this book since I read it. I can't wait to add a physical copy to my shelf, and am already desperate for the next book!

I loved the world here, it was different to many fantasy books I have read and I really enjoyed it. I loved the connection that Wren had with her Uncle and where that path led, as well as the one she had with Wolf. So pleased to see that my thought were right with Wolf. I'm so excited to see how that pans out in the next book.

I thought Cross' development as we got to know him over the book was brilliant and loved the relationship he developed with Wren, it was a lot of fun to read.

This honestly is shaping up to be my favourite fantasy read of 2025, I think it is so far! You definitely need to read this if you like a romance and some violence.

A bioweapon fallout resulted in part of the population developing abilities that range from telepathy to healing. This group of genetically mutated people is called Modified or Aberrant, and can be recognized by their veins glowing silver on their arms when they access their abilities.

Wren is an orphan, raised in secret in a place called Blacklands, where darkness is absolute, aside from the little clearing her adoptive "uncle" settled them in when she was 5. He promised her parents he would protect her after they died allegedly helping the Uprising.

This is because, of course, this wouldn't be a dystopia without deeply rooted xenophobia (going both ways). The author doesn't fall in the easy pit of a black and white war, and focuses instead on the fact that both sides had their chance at power, and both sides did an awful job out of it, pushing their supremacist views, hence pitting neighbor against neighbor, and sons against mothers.

Wren has been raised without any contact with other children, and her only outlet was her secret friend "Wolf", who she spoke in her mind with, but she never met.
Proximity is usually needed to establish first contact, after which, each other's mental signature can be retraced regardless of distance. It's only impaired by consciousness. But Wren was nowhere close to Wolf when they made contact (or so we know).
They start talking to each other in their minds without never revealing who they are, and become emotionally close in a world of secrets. Trust is a rare commodity, and identifying details keep being omitted in their conversations.

The power system is one of my favorite things in this book. Look at this explanation about why mental voices are different from real-life voices:

I asked my uncle why people’s telepathic voices sound so different from their audible ones. “Have you ever listened to yourself on a recording and thought, I don’t sound like that?” was his response. “That’s because to your own ears, you always sound different. When we speak telepathically, I hear your voice the way you hear it. When you speak out loud, I hear your voice the way I hear it.”


I can also say that I enjoyed this kind of secret-identity pen-pals much better than Divine Rivals
But that’s not Wolf’s style. He has no filter, never has. And he’s an outrageous flirt, although the flirting didn’t really start until we hit our teenage years. One day, we were two kids talking about kid stuff; the next, we were discussing our love lives. A bit unnerving, considering we’ve never actually met."


So, shit happens, Wren is impulsive and ends up opening her first pit of spiraling consequences to her good but misguided actions, that land her as a conscripted recruit to Silver Block.

Enter our two hotties, a co-recruit and Captain Cross.
It's not clear whether there will actually be a triangle, so it's something that can negatively impact your experience, it's best you are aware of this beforehand.
One of the two seems clearly endgame, but the other is portrayed a bit too charming (and the FMC is not indifferent) that it's not clear for me if he's being kept for future developments.
Often enough, I know who I should root for, but I end up connecting with the other more. I do not know if this is voluntary or not on the author's part.
He gives me a thoughtful look. “Shower games over already?”
I flick him off, but he remains unfazed. “Didn’t realize the captain and I were in competition.”
“There’s no competition,” I grumble.
“Wait, what?” Lyddie sits upright, her gaze sliding between us. “Oh my gosh. Are you guys—”
“No,” I interrupt, while Kaine grins at me.
“Are you and the captain—”
“No.” My tone is even firmer this time."


The last 15% is an absolute whirlwind of plot twists, betrayals, other than the FMC being allowed by the author to do such a mess of herself and her circumstances, that she seems a really huge idiot 🙄😶 it's both refreshing and annoying to see. I'm undecided. She's a walking disaster....

This said I'll end with a couple more notes:
✍️ The writing style is surprisingly good for a debut, I've never seen a more solid debut! It could still be refined a bit, but I hope readers will be tolerant. I definitely see lots of potential and can't wait to see this author's growth!
I loved Wren's personality and humor in the first half, I loved much less how she took her impulsiveness to perplexing levels toward the end.

✍️ I liked the mod powers and system the most, along as the simple, but solid reasonings.
On the other hand, the romance and spice felt a bit lukewarm, and best in the banter phase, and a bit underwhelming once they, very quickly, succumb to their attraction.
But again, it's a debut so it's understandable!

ARC Review (ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group & NetGalley)

This book felt like a warm hug to my younger self. Forever a bookworm & fantasy fan who fell in love with Four from Divergent as a teenager, and has now fallen in love with Cross Redden as a young adult.

I would recommend this book for anyone who has lived out their Divergent/Hunger Games era and developed into their Fourth Wing (slash any spicy romance) era. And the best part???? It's only the first of the series!! I can't wait to see how the storyline ans the characters develop throughout the books in future!

Silver Elite makes me want to return to my dystopian era. 🖤

This was an easy and enjoyable read - the pacing was good, the world building wasn’t complicated, and we understand immediately the conflict between the Mods and the Primes. Solid tension to start, and then it just amps up after Wren’s uncle is executed.
Naturally, all this animosity gives Wren and Cross the perfect conditions to give us the good old enemies-to-lovers trope.

Wren was likeable as an FMC, not my fav, but she also didn’t annoy me. Girl had some serious self-control for being able to keep Cross at arm’s length for as long as she did. Not to mention being able to resist all of Kaine’s flirting! I’m also happy that she is self-aware and knows that she’s impulsive and stubborn as all heck.

Cross ended up surprising me - give me a moody, sarcastic, morally grey seeming mmc and I’ll be sat. But there was something a little extra about Cross that had me constantly wanting to learn more about him. I think it was all the surprisingly tender moments he had with Wren (the flower cave, okay!!). Then seeing him with his mom, that was game over for my emotions.

Unfortunately, the reveal with Wolf didn’t come as a surprise. But I was still happy with the result.

The side characters were pretty likeable or detestable (Roe, I’m looking at you), which always helps keep me invested in a story.

So in this, we’re getting:
- dystopian setting
- enemies-to-lovers
- hidden identity
- war college vibes
- forbidden romance

Overall I really enjoyed it, and I’m so impressed this is a debut novel! Thank you so much to Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore and NetGalley for this arc!

What a great first book! Well done Dani on an excellent story! The story follows Wren, a modified, who hides away from the Primes. As a dystopian it follows the usual theme of revolt/uprising, keeping the story engaging with conflicting emotions at every turn. The slow burn romance feels like a minor part of the story while the uprising takes centre stage, and I loved this. I really enjoyed Hunger Games and Shatter Me and felt that this gave me the same enjoyment.

This is what dystopias are meant to be.

Dystopias are one of my favourite genres and this book certainly delivered. Their main purpose is to explore the exaggeration of societal fears, and at certain points I was reminded so vividly of current politics that it could have been pulled straight from a newspaper (minus the psychic part).

This book was never boring and the characters are deeply impactful. I love the main character, who is flawed and stubborn in a way that is believable as opposed to annoying.

The setting has just enough of a foundation in reality to create a personal connection with it from the get go. But, all additional world building removes it far enough from the real world that it still feels like escapism.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this ARC.