Behooved takes a familiar romantasy setup, an arranged marriage, a looming war, and a reluctant bride, and adds a refreshingly strange twist: the groom spends half his life as a horse. It sounds absurd, and in moments, it is; but the story leans into that oddity with a sincerity that works.

Bianca is a standout heroine: duty-driven, quietly strong, and living with a chronic illness that’s portrayed with care and nuance. Her bisexuality isn’t a side note, it’s part of who she is, integrated seamlessly into the story. Opposite her is Prince Aric, a quiet, bookish royal who’d much rather read than rule. His transformation into a horse (yes, really) adds unexpected humor, but also forces a kind of vulnerability that deepens their relationship.

The romance is a true slow burn, full of tension, mutual respect, and reluctant tenderness. Their banter feels natural, the emotional growth earned, and the stakes rise steadily without overshadowing the more intimate moments.

While the premise is undeniably strange, the writing treats it with just the right mix of whimsy and heart. Behooved doesn’t shy away from being a little weird, but it also never loses sight of the emotional core at its center.

A charming and magical tale of two characters finding strength in each other and themselves! The tone was whimsical and cozy, the MCs enjoyable and relatable with their struggles, and the romance sweet and earnest. And shoutout to the disability rep, it was so well done.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

Behooved is such a sweet and magical story! ✨🐎 The plot is totally unique and had me hooked from the beginning—there’s something whimsical and heartwarming about the whole vibe that made it feel like a cozy escape. The horse details were super fun and added a special charm that made the story stand out. 🐴💫

The audiobook narrator absolutely nailed it—their voice brought so much emotion and depth to the characters, and it made the whole experience even better. 🎧❤️

This book has a soft, gentle feel to it. The romance has just a hint of spice 🌶️ (very mild!) and honestly, it could almost be a YA novel in tone. That’s not a bad thing at all—it just feels like it might connect more with younger readers or anyone looking for a low-angst, emotionally sweet romance. 🥰

Now for the mixed feels: I loved that both the FMC and MMC were soft, real, and flawed in a super relatable way. 🙌 But I did wish the FMC had grown more emotionally. She struggled with insecurities throughout the book, and I was really rooting for her to find her strength by the end—but she kind of... didn’t 😕. It left me feeling a little bummed, even though we still got a happy ending. 💕

Overall, I’d still give this a solid 4/5 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It’s magical, different, and engaging—and definitely worth a listen if you're in the mood for something heartfelt and unique! ✨📚💕

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader copy of the book and audiobook!

This has filled the My Lady Jane-shaped hole in my heart. Also, weirdly, the Shrek-shaped hole.

Bianca accidentally curses her husband (of inconvenience) to turn into a horse every sunrise, and if that doesn't interest you, I don't want to be friends. This was so much fun! A romantasy that for once did not have the couple banging every 30 pages from the 25% mark but was actually deeply romantic and swoony (proving yet again why slow burn is still superior in my shelf). Bianca and Aric go on an adventure to reverse his curse and save a kingdom and I loved watching their character development and relationship bloom.

I also really appreciated the disability rep, although I had no idea it was meant to be celiac disease until I saw the author mention it after I finished reading. But in hindsight it makes perfect sense and was well-written.

I enjoyed this even more than I thought I would. A magical tale with so many important underlying themes. The MC learning her own worth after living a life of just hoping for a scrap of her parents seeing her value. Her leaving that dynamic lets the reader see her character develop. I really enjoyed Behooved and would recommend it.

Charming and lovely. I really enjoyed this a lot and brought me back to my childhood as a little girl who loved horses. I was bri intrigued by the magic in this world and wish that had been expanded on more but otherwise I loved everything about this.

I think there was a lot of premise in the plot, and for the most part it was well done. I found it hard to enjoy the main character though, it felt almost like she was too self sacrificing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bramble, Tor Publishing Group. and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy. You can pick up Behooved on May 20, 2025.

I should have absolutely loved this book. Marriage of convenience, forced proximity, and My Lady Jane vibes? Sign me up, I said. Unfortunately, after getting 26% in, I found myself bored to tears and forced to DNF. This book felt like the exact same plot as My Lady Jane but with none of the charm and camp. It took itself too seriously at times, and I just struggled to care about any of the characters. Perhaps that was more because of my reading mood, but for now, this was a no for me.

I think we all came to this book through a shared love of My Lady Jane. Who doesn't want more of My Lady Jane only to be cruelly cast aside by Amazon? Well, this book does a great job inserting itself in that horse-shaped hole in our hearts.

Firstly, this isn't My Lady Jane. I wouldn't even call it fanfic with the serial numbers scraped off. It's just heavily inspired. I did enjoy this novel--it's got a little bit of everything--a journey, a bi FMC, a love interest who is a horse during the day, and some palace intrigue. Yes, it's predictable. No, it is not great palace intrigue. But is the love interest magically a horse against his will? Yes, and that's what I came here for.

Bravo.

As a girly obsessed with My Lady Jane, I love a cursed to be a horse book. What a fun time, highly recommend!

This cover and synopsis caught my attention. As a horse girl, I needed to read this story. I enjoyed all the horse puns throughout. The relationship between the main characters progressed really well. I loved that they could communicate when he was in horse form. I really liked Aric's character, he's such a cinnamon roll mmc. I wish I had gotten a better sense of what Bianca's condition was. It could have been anything so I just sorta forgot about it after awhile because I wasn't getting any real insight. I also thought that for these characters being older they felt very early 20s. It did take me awhile to become invested in the story, probably around 30%. All in all this was a fine story just nothing very memorable for me. Three stars

• bianca, fulfilling her duty to her family, agrees to a marriage-of-convenience to the heir to the throne of the neighbouring kingdom, despite the fact that prince aric doesn’t seem to want anything to do with her. when a wedding night plot to kill him goes awry, and ends up with aric turning into a literal horse with bianca as the main suspect, the unlikely duo must work together to reverse the curse & clear their names.
• i went into this book with pretty low expectations, and was very pleasantly surprised with how fun this story turned out to be! we love a murder plot investigation, and the whole “king turns into horse at night” part just added to the fun!
• this one’s for the horse girls who never got over their dreams of marrying a horse one day, and spent all their spare time reading ‘saddle club’ & ‘pine hollow’ books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the ARC of Behooved in exchange for an honest review. This was so much fun!

A rom-com fantasy with an arranged marriage and a quest to fix a spell gone wrong… yes please. It gives My Lady Jane and Shrek with lots of witty and sarcastic banter. Light hearted, silly, cheesy romantasy in the best way.

What do you do when your husband is turned into a horse? That's exactly what our main character is going to find out! Horse by day and infuriatingly handsome man by night, they will need to figure out how to break the curse put upon them.

Major Lady Jane vibes on this one, which I loved. But this really didn't hit the spot for me otherwise.

I really want to love this one but it was just okay. It's a cute book and I laughed a bunch but I just feel like it didn't shine the way I hoped it would.

An incredibly cute premise with a sweetheart of a love interest that I wish in the end had played out more strongly than it did. I didn't feel the overall politics were well enough thought out to maintain the romance (it was odd to have a democracy be the source of evil while actually the inherited monarchy was good, really, and we should keep it). This is exactly the sort of romantasy I want as escapism: an almost princess bride fairy tale feeling with a love story that doesn't rely entirely on the man being big and strong and angry, but the execution felt flat.

I had a lot of fun with Behooved, especially with all the horse puns scattered throughout it. And as a horse girlie, I love anything where a horse is one of the MCs.

Both the main characters take a bit to grow on you, but I did end up loving them. Bianca is smart and strong, both mentally and physically as she fights through a chronic illness and against the foes on the book. Aric is also smart, and is very much a book worm who would rather read in the library than go to a ball. Together they end up making a great team.

Right off the bat, the comparisons to “My Lady Jane” are inescapable! Who knew there could be two fantasy novels where the love interest is cursed to turn into a horse by day?? Unfortunately, while this one did have a few high points, I mostly set it down wishing that stupid Amazon hadn’t cancelled the “My Lady Jane” show!

I do think this book is at its best when it was leaning into its romcom elements. The absurdity, the banter, and the swift-moving romance are all best appreciated in line with tropes found romcoms. In these moments, the characters were amusing and the love story sweet, if a bit underdeveloped. On the other hand, I think the book struggled when approached from a fantasy perspective. There simply wasn’t enough “there” there. The magic system was incredibly ill-defined and there were many plot moments where, if you allowed your brain to turn back on, you’d be left scratching your head.

I also struggled to enjoy the main character. While I appreciate the author’s creation of a character who suffers from chronic illness, I think the execution was too heavy handed to be very effective. In the first few chapters, especially, it feels as if this is the only aspect of Bianca’s character that anyone cares about, including Bianca herself! It’s referenced a truly boggling number of times in a very small number of pages. Of course, this is an important part of her life and is a source of friction between her and her parents, who see this only as a weakness. However, I began to feel as if Bianca didn’t have anything else making up her character either, defining herself completely around this one aspect of herself, which seems completely contrary to how one should understand people who live with chronic illnesses.

I also struggled with the romance itself. Alas, the story leans heavily into the miscommunication trope, one of the banes of my existence. The wild leaps of logic were truly baffling at times. For example, on the night of the attack, Aric and Bianca are both attacked. But for some reason Aric goes on to think that Bianca was behind it all? And, as is so often the case with this trope, much of the confusion and animosity between them could have easily been solved with a few very short conversations.

Overall, this was an ok read. Strangely, this is one of those cases where I feel like the book would have been better served to have leaned more fully into the comedy aspects of the story. The attempts at serious fantasy elements or its handling of important themes all became stumbling blocks to my enjoyment of the book. That said, straight romcom readers may enjoy this one more than me! Especially if you don’t care as much about the fantasy portions of the story!

Rating 7: While the book did have some sweet and funny moments, I struggled to enjoy it due to its weaker main character and the heavy use of the miscommunication trope.

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Cozy romantasy about a woman who accidentally turns her new husband into a horse on their wedding night and then must learn to trust and cooperate with him in order to break the spell and keep a kingdom from certain disaster. Great disability rep and sweet, witty writing.