Now this may be the review I was most far behind on writing, as I finished this ALC in FEBRUARY LOL. It’s been so long that I just finished the ALC of its sequel, A Traitor Sister, so you can expect that review to be coming up way sooner.

A Cursed Son by Day Leitao is another very well written Romantasy series that I absolutely adore. Astra is a human who was trained to double for her court’s princess. During the day, she trains, practices court manners and attends whatever court events that require her presence. But at night, she is plagued by sexy dreams of an unknown man. A very sexy man. Who she thought was just in her imagination, until one day he stops her carriage. The man from her dreams… is a disgraced face prince.

A Cursed Son was a delicious blend of court intrigue, adventure, banter, romance, and of course spice. I adore Astra and Malek for different reasons, and I love them even more as a couple. The second book is somehow even better than the first, so needless to say, it highly recommend reading this series! The narrators also do a fantastic job at depicting the main characters’ inner dialogues.

Thank you so much to Day Leitao, NetGalley and Sparkly Wave for the advanced listener copy!

Great read and once started easy to devour! I really enjoyed this read! 4/5 stars overall!
Enemies to lovers
Fae / Royalty
Marriage of convenience

Firstly, I would like to thank the author and NetGalley for providing the audiobook arc.
It´s been a few days since I finished this book, and I´m a little conflicted. It took me a long time to get through this audiobook I was slightly interested in the story but not obsessed. I thought that maybe it was just the audiobook but I also purchased an ebook still my involvement didn't get better. The premise of this book sounds great but I had a feeling nothing happened the entire book and I still have so many unanswered questions. Probably they will be answered in the next books but I´m still not sure if I will be continuing with this series. I can´t pinpoint what was bothering me about it but I wasn't able to connect with MMC and FMC and haven´t felt that they had a connection. But for me, it was an average fantasy book.
Still, I think this book would be great for people starting with the fantasy genre because the world was easy to understand. Also, this book had a flying dark unicorn named Cherry Cake and lots of interesting characters so I would give it a try just to get to experience this world and its interesting characters.

I was given this ALC from NetGalley,
I really enjoyed this story . Austria is a human guard trained to be the princess aka substitute for events and outings. She has secrets that she also has to keep and not let others know of her true self and dark magic, But she keeps having these dreams of her soul mate … when she finally comes face to face with who this person is she is dreaming about she can not believe who it actually is !

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Cursed Son by Day Leitao (Audiobook Review)

Romantic and dangerous, this steamy enemies-to-lovers romantasy had me hooked!

In her dreams, he surrounds her with warmth and longing—but in real life, he freezes her world. Astra, a false princess trained to impersonate royalty, finds herself entangled with a disgraced fae prince who turns out to be the man invading both her dreams and her destiny. Assassin. Liar. Dreamer. Their connection is as electric as it is forbidden.

The narrator was fantastic—they brought just the right tone to the emotional tension, the magical intrigue, and especially the sizzling chemistry between Astra and the prince.

This book is full of political deception, magical secrets, and steamy dreamscapes that crash headfirst into a cold, perilous reality. If you love fae princes, reluctant heroines, and spicy, awkward magical entanglements, this one’s for you.

Looking forward to the next in the series! 👑❄️🔥

⭐️: 4.5/5
🌶️: 2.5/5
Format: 🎧 alc

This was such a quick listen for me, because it had that perfect balance of unique world + characters I liked + plot movement, and I cannot wait for the next one.

Astra, to me, felt realistic in that she's thrust into this situation and is very much like "um, what the hell?" which....same, girl. She has been raised to be a decoy for her kingdom's princess to keep her safe under any circumstances, including standing in for the princess in marriage. She is very resigned to this life, even so far as questioning when someone wants to marry *her* instead of the princess she's trained to protect.

Marlak is more what I'd expect for this type of storyline--he's a little mysterious and keeps his mouth shut about, you know, any questions we have at all, but he's a little snarky and always giving us the vibe that he knows more than he lets on.

While I will note that the world-building wasn't as complete as I'd like, I am a SUCKER for forced proximity and this whole "in my dreams, he holds me" trope. I also listened to this on audiobook so it went quickly, and any gripes I may have had with syntax didn't bother me when listening.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, and ill be diving into the second book soon!

To my surprise, A Cursed Son totally hooked me. What I thought would be a typical fantasy romance turned out to be a fast-paced thrill full of dream magic, sharp banter, and sizzling enemies-to-lovers vibes. It had its usual “romantasy” steamy scenes but fit well with the unusual storyline and world building & character development was decent. With royal intrigue, elemental powers, and serious Reylo energy, it was an unexpectedly fun and addictive read. One for spicy Fae romantasy fans!

3.9 stars

You know that one plot point of Crescent City where Ruhn has a dream connection with another character? Mix that with the first book of The Bridge Kingdom series and you’ve got this book.

Is the magic system or world built out? No, not really. But it’s an accessible new adult fantasy that’s easy to fall into. It’s a fun time.

The audio narrator was engaging and enjoyable the whole time. Perfect for the vibe of this book!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced audio copy!

A good steamy romantasy with interesting characters and magic with a little different story line.
Good narration did good job with all voices.
will like to read the next book.
Voluntarily reviewed.

If you are picky about repetitive writing.... Don't read this. The number of times I had to listen to "so I decided to ask a question" made me genuinely want to quit this book. The story is fine, nothing special. It leans closer to being a mess than anything else.

The characters are pretty shallow and their dialogue is extremely corny or unrealistic. I cannot be convinced a 19 year old girl who has been stuck in a tower training her entire life can give "wise" advice like she does throughout the story. It just comes across as making her so perfect in every way because she's the FMC so clearly she is just amazing at everything!!! Oh and she has purple hair because she's so different and special!

I would not call this steamy or romantasy, that's just straight up false advertising. Oh she has sexy dreams about him? Well they are not described in really any depth so no, that does not make this "steamy". Let's all stop pretending something is romantasy just to lure more people in (looking at YOU publishing industry!!!).

Overall a middling read that didn't intrigue me enough to commit to a second book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sparkly Wave for providing an eARC of the audiobook version if The Cursed Prince by Day Leitao.

A Cursed Son is a steamy, fast-paced romantasy full of dream magic, sharp banter, and sizzling enemies-to-lovers tension. Astra, a royal decoy, and Marlak, a disgraced fae prince, share a mysterious dream bond that turns very real—and very complicated. With arranged marriage drama, elemental magic, and Reylo vibes, this book is a fun, sexy escape for fans of fae and fantasy romance. Add it to your TBR!

I am so in love with this book. This is easily one of my favorite books I have read! I LOVE the FMC and the mysterious villain 🙌🏻 Arranged marriage, steamy dreams, humor, and a slow burn enemies to lovers. The MMC is an instant top book boyfriend. All the feels of Rhysand but even more 🫠 broken, mysterious, deeply sweet, caring, protective. All the best swoon! This book had me laughing at the indecent situations and banter and pulled at my heart in the broken moments. The writing is great and I could not out this book down.
The audio is fantastic!!

❤️‍🔥 Forced Marriage
❤️‍🔥 Steamy Dreams
❤️‍🔥 Banter
❤️‍🔥 Touch her and ☠️
❤️‍🔥 Crawl to Her
❤️‍🔥 Burn the World
❤️‍🔥 Fated Mates
❤️‍🔥 Mysterious and Broody MMC
❤️‍🔥 Hidden Identities
❤️‍🔥 Elemental Magic


This is a 🌶️🌶️ (open door, descriptive) read

A fun romantasy story that was a fun listen. It had some generic similarities to lost of other romantasy stories out there but still felt unique. The narration was entertaining and kept my attention.

I had the opportunity to listen to an Advanced Listener Copy of The Cursed Son audiobook, and it's such a fun book. The narrator did a great job of portraying Astra and using her voice to convey naivete, confusion, sass, fear, & overall growth. You could feel Astra's journey throughout the course of the story. Marlak is your typical morally grey MMC, so of course, I loved him. There was so much tension throughout the course of the story, and it built to such a great cliffhanger ending. I'm ready for A Traitor Sister when you are Day!

A Cursed Son by Day Leitao was an enchanting read that kept me hooked with its mix of magic, mystery, and romance. The world-building was immersive, and I loved how Leitao created a universe where magic and political intrigue went hand in hand. The chemistry between Astra and Marlak felt natural, and their evolving relationship added a nice layer of tension to the plot. I appreciated how the characters weren't just caught up in their romance but also had personal growth and challenges. The pacing was steady, and while there were some moments I wished for more action, the emotional depth and clever twists more than made up for it. If you enjoy a good fantasy with rich world-building and a dash of forbidden love, this is a great pick.

3.5⭐️
I think this is a very promising debut and I am quite anxious to find out what happens next, but there were parts of the story that left me wanting.
The pacing of A Cursed Son kept me invested enough, even if I do believe the story is a bit long winded so far. I wasn’t bored, though I definitely wanted more world building and less inner monologues from Astra. As a main character, I felt she came across as a bit immature and naive and I really wanted to see more growth from her character. In fact, all of the character development seemed very slow to progress and it made it hard to connect with anyone. The plot seemed to jump around in places and because there was so much going on, it led to some confusion as to what the plot of the story actually was.
To be honest, I had pegged this book as a 3⭐️ read until I reached the end. The way that things started to come together really took me by surprise and I’m still reeling at the way things with Astra and Renak were left. I’ve already downloaded book two.
The audio for A Cursed Son was well done. Caitlin Kelly emphasized the characters inflections well and made my reading experience more enjoyable!

Beautifully written and the narrator had me at every moment, I felt captured!
I loved this book the ending nearly finished me off but I honestly really enjoyed this story!

3.75⭐️ rounded up

This was a fun story and I enjoyed the audiobook narration for it.
The premise of A Cursed Son is very intriguing. I love that Astra appears soft and pampered but is in fact highly trained as a bodyguard decoy. It gives nostalgic Padme and her bodyguard vibes, although the princess in this ACS is never actually seen. I also liked the setup of her bond with Marlak and that it was mostly realized in the dreamscape and before they’d actually met. Their first meeting was a great “oh shoot” moment. I do think their entire relationship was basically the miscommunication trope which did get very frustrating for me at times.
The overall plot was a little slow. There was good world building but I think the focuses was more on character and relationship development more than a central plot. Both are great things but the plot did feel like was a little slow paced. The ending, however, definitely ramped everything up big time, and I think we will get really good plot and action moving forward.
Caitlin Kelly does a great job as the single narrator for the book. She makes it easy to tell when she is switching between characters and also brings good emotion into her narration to help reflect the tone of the scene. I would look for books narrated by her in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley & Sparkly Wave for the ALC copy!

If you are a fan of romantasy you will like this book. Fun and fast paused, this makes for an easy read. The characters did not really stand out to me but it’s interesting world and to my knowledge no orientalist writing that can be seen in other books of the genre. Not my favorite, but worth the read.

I liked this audiobook and story and the narrator was really good at bringing a voice to the characters, I liked the connection between the MCs and would be interested to continue the series. At times I did struggle to follow the history of problematic relationships in the book but overall it was a good read.