The idea of this story is super unique, but I didn’t quite get sucked in like I was hoping to. It was enjoyable and I did get through it, but it’s a solid 3 stars for me. I was hoping to connect a bit more to the characters, and I wasn’t expecting there to be that much political intrigue. It was a fun story and idea though and I will be planning on picking up book 2 whenever it eventually is released. I will not be posting my review on Amazon, because I don’t like bringing ratings down. And I really appreciate the arc!

Warning: there’s an open door scene. As a book marketed for YA & teen readers, I feel that it could have been warned, a fade-to-black, etc. The rest of the book read like YA though.
I really loved the slow burn, though I do have to say: I hate Nouis. I don’t know if I’m too used to enemies-to-lovers or I knew from that start that Renza wasn’t going to end up with him, but he just felt so slimey. On the other hand, I loved how the author handled making these two enemies, Renza and Idris, fall in love. It was so well crafted and I’m a huge fan of the ending. This book was pretty fast paced and though sometimes I’m a little lost, there’s enough context to bring me back on track. Overall, an epic fantasy with a nice sprinkle of romance.

ARC Review - NetGalley/HarperCollins OneMoreChapter:

I quite enjoyed this story. A solid enemies to lovers (ish), with literal "soul mates" and the opposite "soul hates." I loved seeing the concept of a soulhate play out - someone you see and are immediately their worst enemy regardless of who they are!
This book is full of political intrigue, as Renza, the FMC is the youngest elected leader in her city. It's seems that the time frame is loosely based on Anciet Rome (?) with the strife between politics and religion.

There were plenty of times I was struggling with our FMC, Renza. Mostly because I KNEW what was happening before she did and it frustrated me.

While the story is marketed as an enemies to lovers, it doesn't quite deliver on the lovers YET. The ending certainly leaves room for more books to come in this series and I would love to see what comes next for Renza, Idris, and their beloved city as they rebuild.

Solid 3.5 ⭐️

This was a story concept I have not seen before. Every person has a Soul mate , who they love deeply and wholeheartedly, and a Soul Hate, whom they hate and feel compelled to kill. Some people meet their Soul mate or Soul Hate during their lives and some never do. Our main character, Renza, is a young woman from a wealthy family who, like her father, is an elected member of the government.
During our story, Renza comes into contact with two men, Nouis and Idris. Nouis is a friend from childhood whom she has not seen in several years. Idris is the son of a fellow government official who has also been away from their hometown for several years. Strange things begin happening in their town. Who is responsible ? Who can she rely on and trust?
I enjoyed the story and thought the Soul Hate Soul Mate was an interesting concept. I will look for other books by this author.

Firstly thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins YA and One More Chapter for the chance to read this early.

For a first read of 2025, this wasn’t a terrible read.

The premise is interesting, and intriguing, and the cover drew me in, but in reading the book I felt that at times the execution of it felt a little clunky and long winded.

This book is supposedly set in Ancient Rome, but the prose feel too modern for this to feel accurate.

The twists and turns felt a little predictable and although parts of the book really gripped me, the majority of it felt somewhat lacking.

This one definitely sounded intriguing when I requested it. The play of "soul mates" to "soul hates" is an interesting concept, and one that could have lead to a high-tension plot fueled by difficult choices and an exploration of free will vs. fate (something that I think doesn't get covered well enough in the "soul mate" romances we often see). However, I really struggled to enjoy it.

One thing that immediately stood out to me was the modern language. Now, this is definitely a personal preferences, so if you're a reader who enjoys modern lingo/language in your fantasy novel, right away, you're likely to enjoy this one WAY more than me. But I just couldn't get past it. The complete disconnect between the obvious historical references and the way that the characters spoke was simply jarring. We have characters walking around in togas but also talking about how they're "dating??" It's truly cringe-worthy at times. As an aside, I think that authors should be more wary when going this route for the simple fact that their book will quickly date itself. This is obviously unavoidable if you're, say, an urban fantasy writer. But why cripple yourself like this one did when the book is set in a historical fantasy setting?

I also felt like the characters were quite flat. I felt like I was drowning in tropes with nothing to grasp on to, following characters who were simple shades of others I've read before.

I struggled to enjoy this one. There was a good concept at its heart, but I don't think the author fully took advantage of it, instead retreating into a swamp of tropes and similar-reading characters. Readers who enjoy modern language in their romantasies, however, may enjoy this one more than me!

Very unique and interesting. It had good writing and the story kept my attention the whole time. There had been some parts that needed more attention, but overall it was a good story.

I adore this book! At first, I was unsure but not for long because as soon as the story got going (i.e. Idris appeared), I was hooked. This has definitely become one of my top 10 reads and I cannot wait to read more of Hannah Kingsley's books. Renza was my favourite character, but I loved all of the characters. I really could not pick out one flaw. This is a must read for any romantasy fans.

Thank you to net galley, Hannah Kingsley and the publisher for allowing me to receive an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was overall a good read but definitely fell flat in a couple areas for me. I dislike the flipping between modernism and historical fantasy - it throws off the story and ruins the cohesiveness of the plot. I also felt the plot line is original and interesting, however there was very little information given into the gods/goddesses and the whole soul hate premise. Overall, a really good idea for story, but didn't fully align for me.

What a unique premise! I had a blast with this one. So delightful. What a twist on a beloved formula!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Great title and fun premise. Definitely written for ya but enjoyable and a plot we don't see too often.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this story

I love a good prologue... this one was okay...
It was a bit info dumpy- I would have been more engaged with some more something- description? Dialogue? Less of a pamphlet or glossary and more of a story?

As for the rest of the book- it seems to be advertised as an enemies to lovers romantasy vibe, but the political stuff is a lot more heavy than the romance. This is not a bad thing- I quite like it to be more complex, but it was a bit misleading on what I thought I was getting into.

I thought the premise was super interesting and unique; soulhates- a kind of supernatural step further than enemies. But that is kind of the only interesting thing it had...
I didn't really LOVE or connect with any characters, the language went back and forth on if it wanted to be modern or not- feeling incomplete, and despite my love for political intrigue- it felt like it was missing some of the exciting intrigue and was just political stuff drawn out.

Do I think it has potential and the concept it cool? Yes, of course.

Loved the concept of this book! It had me interested from page 1 and after finishing it, all I want is MORE. It was the perfect enemies to lovers story with unexpected (but sorta expected) twists and turns. Great debut- I will definitely be anticipating her next books!

i LOVED this! A very entertaining enemies-to-lovers style book and I thought that it was so well done and had great banter, great characters, and interesting plot. Will be excited to continue on and read more from this author.

This book was great! The story was very interesting and it kept my attention the whole time and I could not put this book down. I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you for giving me a chance to read this book.
I loved it. At first i tought this would not be my kind of vibe. But i got sucked into the book as i got further.
Can’t wait to read more of this autor

☆.7
This novel could’ve been so much more.

I will start by saying that this is usually the kind of book that I enjoy so how disappointed am I that I finished this and realized how bored I was throughout my reading and how I actually could not seem to care about the story.

This is a very politically driven book and I don’t think it was done in a way that gives advantage to the narrative as you end up reading about political schemes for 75% of the story which just makes you so saturated with it that you lose interest in the small part of everything else that’s going on with our protagonist and her love interests. I felt like all the characters were one dimensional, they all fell flat for me. I could not find myself rooting for our main character nor could I care about anyone else, her love interest were mostly annoying, her friends all seemed to be duplicates of one another as they did not have a single personality, the villains were… mean I guess ? They were all just very bland and like I said you get so little of them in comparison with how much politics you’re fed that you end up not caring.

When I first started reading this novel I was actually so interested in the whole soulhate/soulmate bond I thought this was an original idea and such a cool concept for fantasy that you don’t often get. I was very excited to actually read more about that and how one would break a bond as it would seems to be one of the main themes of this book but it just end up being over shadowed by the political plot. The authors does not focus at all on the God/Goddess who created these bonds which would’ve been such a breath of fresh air in this book instead you get a lot of very repetitive scenes with our protagonist and her love interest where the dialogue/inner dialogue is all the same about being soulhate, I felt like I read the same paragraph four times.

All in all, I think there’s a story in there somewhere that I would’ve enjoyed. I don’t think this is a bad book at all, I just wish some things were more in focus while we got less of others. This is a debut novel and it feels like it, it’s marketed as a YA fantasy which I also think is true even though I would’ve liked more of the fantasy aspects. On a more positive note, I’m a big fan of the cover and I think it’s beautifully done. Thank you Netgalley and OneMoreChapter for this arc review will be posted on socials closer to publication day!

The concept of this book is excellent! The prologue in the beginning did an incredible job of laying the foundation of the world, and I was immediately captivated. I really loved our main character and found her motivations very believable. I ended up reading this in one sitting, which goes to show there is a lot of captivating content in this story.

When we got into the first chapter, I had a little bit of trouble jumping right into the political landscape and wish it had been more of a natural progression of us receiving information. This book was marketed as an enemies to lovers romance and had the potential to be excellent given the backstory of the world. However, I found myself wishing there were more interactions between our main characters to really sell this as a 'romantasy'. The focus was more on the political landscape, which isn't a bad thing, but the way the book was marketed gave me a different idea of what to expect.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

An unexpected favorite this year with a cast of interesting characters, a nicely executed plot with exciting mystery elements to it. I was hooked from the first page and couldn't stop reading until I reached the end.

I liked the worldbuilding and found the setting intriguing, the writing was good and the characters felt well-rounded for the most part. The idea of reverse soulmates is from what I can tell pretty unique and it made for an interesting dynamic between our characters. And it's definitely a case of enemies to lovers, but at the same time it's kind of not. Because the hate they feel isn't theirs, and they know it. It's still a very interesting bond though and it does pose a lot of problems.

I will give this book five stars because of the fact that I really enjoyed the plot and kept wanting to know more. I was really invested in this story and how they would solve the rising problems. However, I do feel like there's a lot of information that could be removed. The very interesting narrative and the plot and the characters often gets lost in exposition, info dumps, unnecessary details and other things that simply clogs the page. I found myself skimming a lot as I was reading.

And well, I am inclined to want to say that it was too predictable. The twists and turns weren't as much twists as they were perhaps meant to be. Now, I don't want to spoil anything here, but I could see the two biggest twists coming from the very beginning and I grew frustrated that the main character didn't. She's supposed to be a clever woman, adept in politics and all the kinds of schemes politicians use to get their way, yet she'd completely blind to the most obvious of truths out there.

But despite the downsides, I'll give this a five start solely based on the fact that I couldn't stop reading.