I loved this book! Just the idea of the book alone was enough to interest me from the start. I love how the connections build throughout and how Katrien really comes into her own. The magic system was very interesting to explore and seeing how it was passed on definitely interested me. It's the little acts of service that had me kicking my feet during this book though, I won't say exactly what those are so everyone gets a chance to enjoy them. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this Arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well that was truly delightful. I have to admit I delayed starting this book due to the cover and the title- they led me to expect a little more world war/revolutionary war vibe which isn’t my thing. But this one is solidly fantasy battles and medieval-esque battle tactics which I absolutely can get behind. Somehow this book managed to have great action moments and yet also feel generally very cozy. It was a really enjoyable read with great characters who feel well developed, and a solid plot to bolster the associated character development. And the magic structure was a fun one too that didn’t feel too trite or overdone which can be rare.

A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace turns the basic premise of the romantasy novel on its head and that’s just the start!

The romantasy genre has been around long enough that I think most readers are familiar with the basic concept: the world is threatened by an evil dark lord, the hero must assemble all their magical prowess to save the world all while finding true love at the same time. Intersperse however many steamy love scenes are needed based on who is writing the story. It’s a by-now familiar premise, familiar enough that I was surprised to encounter a story that managed to turn the entire concept onto its head.

Imagine, if you will, a story that focuses, not on the hero and his circle of friends, but instead on the front line soldiers who’ve been battling the evil for years. It’s the eve of the last battle, no one is expected to survive the coming day, so two soldiers do what only seems natural and have a wild night of lovemaking before their inevitable deaths. Except, instead of dying to the forces of evil….surprise! The heroes of Good come swooping in, destroy the dark lord and the day is saved! The day is saved…and now the lovers have to suddenly talk about that thing they never thought they’d live to talk about.

Romantic fantasy awkwardness ensues.

In a nutshell, this is the basic plot of A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace by Emily Skrutskie. It is a highly entertaining read. After reading numerous stories focusing on “a lost royal” or the stereotypical golden hero, it was refreshing to see a story that takes the opposite approach. Legionnaire’s Guide follows Katrien and Emory, two front line soldiers who suddenly find themselves dealing with relationship questions they never thought they’d live to talk about. Throw in the complication of finding themselves suddenly following a (handsome) magic-imbued prince across the kingdom who is also something of an idiot, and you have quite the romantic complication at work.

This novel also goes to places few books of this genre do. If you think about it, most fantasy novels end with the dark lord being defeated and maybe a brief flash forward to show the surviving heroes planning the future before the story ends and the results are left to the reader’s imagination. Instead, this story starts with the dark lord’s defeat and we get to see a little of what rebuilding after the war against evil is over would actually look like.

It’s something you rarely think about but: what would it look like if the heroes of Good suddenly have to face life after their mission is over and that focus is no longer there? Not just for the heroes, but the common soldiers? When you’ve been focused on a single mission for so long, how does one get back to normal life, is that even possible? These are all very real questions and the author handles them beautifully.

What really draws me into this story is how fleshed out and vibrant the world feels. The author takes the time to describe the little details, like the heat of a summer’s day, the stickiness of mud, which all adds up to a world that feels real albeit removed from our own because of the magic that inhabits it. As a visual person, I could also appreciate the heavy descriptions given to food and various tastes encountered throughout the story.

Speaking of magic, A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace has one of the more unique magic systems I’ve seen in a story like this. I’ve become so used to fantasy stories that focus on “the power of this god” or “the power of THAT god” that reading a story where magical abilities are derived from angelic power feels refreshing and new.

Katrien is really the perfect character to lead this story because, being a front-line soldier, she is free to say out loud what the reader is frequently thinking. A notable case in point that occurs several times is, after witnessing a fantastic display of magical power, instead of being impressed Katrien is left asking “where was this power when we were dying on the front lines?” It really makes you question some of the taken-for-granted tropes of fantasy novels and wonder if Katrien is right, if these powers had been distributed equally instead of being concentrated on “the chosen heroes,” would the war against evil have potentially been won that much sooner?

In conclusion, if you’ve been looking for a romantic fantasy novel that runs at a different pace, A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace is the book for you. The narrative draws you in from the start, and while the story concludes fairly neatly, I wouldn’t mind visiting the world of Katrien and Emory again.

A Legionnaire's Guide to Love and Peace by Emily Skrutskie was a quick and entertaining read that I finished in a few hours.
A well written story that kept me hooked from the very beginning.
The characters draw you in and keeps you flipping the pages.
The characters were all realistic and very well developed.
I really enjoyed the writing style. I found myself hooked, turning the pages.

Tall muscular woman! Shorter muscular man!
I love you (said with food)!
Let's channel angels!
LET'S BUILD A ROAD

It be cuuuuuute y'all!

I adore cozy fantasies. They usually have interesting worldbuilding (we have that here), silly characters (yes), a low stakes plot (yes), and an overall message of love and hope (heck yes again). Cozies are meant to be a hug! I definitely feel hugged and loved. But also slightly annoyed by 19 year old royalty. Adrian, you're a snot and I bet your necklace would look lame in real life.

I really liked our MC Kat, but the love interest Emory could've used a bit more development. He was a little flat, particularly compared to Mira (who would've 100% been my soldier crush) or the 19 year old snot prince. But I still give points for this being a friends-to-lovers romance, which is light-years better than enemies-to-lovers I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL, and extra points for it being bi4bi.

Why eat a sugary dessert when you can just read this?

I loved the story, especially the part that seems very loosely based on the Roman legions and their work (remember, they were the main road builders in ancient times!)
The story of Katrien (Kat) and Emory begins somewhat ominously, just the night before what would be the battle where few of the legionaries expected to survive.
And just as Kat stares death in the face, the miracle no one expected happens, and the war ends. Basically, the book is about a love that, for one reason or another, is impossible: the rules of the legion, the slim chances of surviving a war against the forces of hell, among others.
An enjoyable and easy-to-read book, with an original plot full of adventures that makes it the ideal light read for a boring afternoon.
I thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
The opinion I have expressed above is based solely on what I think and feel about this book.

Okay, so I wanted to love this—battle-hardened soldiers, end-of-the-world hookup, friends-to-lovers angst? Yes, please. But something about A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace just didn’t click for me. The vibes were there, the banter was trying, but the pacing felt uneven and I never fully bought into the romance (even though I wanted to!). Kat and Emory had potential, but their chemistry kind of got lost in the political/military plot that didn’t feel fully fleshed out. It’s one of those books that had all the ingredients, but the recipe just didn’t bake right for me. Not a total flop—there were a few lines that made me smirk and moments that landed—but I definitely closed the book more “meh” than moved.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for the eARC.

This book was such a unique premise I was so excited to read it. I was not disappointed! It worked for me on all fronts. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, I loved the entire thing. :)

3.5 stars!
This has a very unique beginning! It’s starts out at would normally be the ending battle and overall end of a novel but then continues on to what happens after. Because of this rest of the book did feel like a second novel in a duology. This isn’t necessarily bad because it did make the world building quite easy to understand and all of the character relationships/dynamics were already solid, but it felt like there was a lot of filler and not a lot was happening. There was a lot of action in the beginning but once you’re closer to the halfway mark even with the demon lords waiting to strike, it got boring to me. I liked every interaction Kat and Emory had but once those were over I wasn’t as into what was happening next.
The main theme in this book is war but it felt super low stakes so if that peaks your interest I think you’ll really like this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc for my honest review!

4/5

This is like if at the end of Return of the King Aragorn forced every soldier who marched on the black gates to go and build a road before they could go home, a concept I am indeed obsessed with. Battle weary Katrien made a misguided call on the eve of a monumental battle she was sure not to survive: she slept with her battle partner and shield, Emory, never knowing a prince was on the way to stave off the demon hoards and save the realm. Now scores of soldiers, Kat and Emory included, will have to lay down their weapons and attempt the one thing they have been taught to never expect: peace itself—that and constructing a road across the kingdom before they can officially be discharged.

Emily Skrutskie pens a truly delightful fantasy romp that has all the sprinklings of D&D and Tolkien to keep even the most stalwart fantasy reader satisfied. I always love being dropped into the thick of the action with little or no immediate context to go on, falling in with characters as they face down turmoil and disastrous circumstances. This is exactly how we come to know these characters: our persistent spear Katrien, and Emory, her shield, partner, and unfortunate hookup battling at a hellmouth with imminent death approaching. Against the backdrop of a never ending war miraculously coming to a close, we follow a plethora of soldiers as they come to terms with this development and who exactly they are outside of soldiering. Focusing on identity, but with demon attacks, magic totems, and marvelous relationship dynamics, Skrutskie builds a standalone fantasy that feels expansive and oh so heartwarming. The Legionnaires Guide to Love and Peace takes a cozy overtone with found family and characters who would go to battle for each other under any circumstance. Undercutting the (mis) adventures is an uncertain romance that is heavy on the idiots to lovers; two people not unsure of their feelings, but whether or not they can have a future where they can keep backing each other. Here for more wondrous adventure from Skrutskie and tall muscular women being capable and worthy of romance!

What an incredibly unique and fun and cozy and inviting book despite the twists, turns, and nerve wracking bumps in the road along the journey!!!

I LOVED the experience of reading A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace! I have no history (at all!) with D&D but after hearing this book compared to D&D it has absolutely sparked my interest. I also love Emily being inspired by LOTR when writing this book and her comments about how the two relate!

Reading this book felt like a welcome departure from reality in that certain stigmas and beauty standards were abandoned within the pages and in many ways flipped on their heads! At the same time, the book was so relatable in the sense that many times the citizens doing the hardest work were often times the most overlooked. Likewise that certain classes were only elevated because of wealth and privilege that had been passed down from generation to generation. So while this was absolutely a romantic fantasy book to escape into, there was still so much depth and gravity inside.

And BOY DID I LOVE EMORY! I love a MMC who wears his heart on his sleeve. The way Emory clearly and quietly loved Kat throughout was beautiful. Anytime we would get a glimpse at the way he would look at her or the gentle ways he would touch her… those were my favorites. I really enjoyed that he loved Kat as she was and saw her so fully.

Because what is there not to love about Katrien?! I LOVE HER WONDERFUL SELF. I thoroughly enjoyed walking this journey alongside Kat. Her unique balance of self assuredness and insecurity was so relatable and was her moral code. I just really love everyone we got the chance to meet in this book. What a cast of loveable guys and gals. I loved Mira and Sawyer and Carrick and Giselle and Von and Giselle! It’s gonna be hard setting these guys back down.

And to speak cryptically and in a way as to not give away spoilers? The golden blur. Oh. My. I sobbed. And the part once we saw a beautiful glass ceiling? I just knew what would happen next! What a book!

Any final thoughts? I truly loved this one and only wish we had gotten more on-the-page romantic moments between Emory and Kat. I also would have loved to see more of their relationship and how it grew over the three years that the two were battle buddies. With that said, I’m very happy with the story we did get!

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace in exchange for my review! And thanks to Emily Skrutskie for crafting this wonderful story!!!

4.5 stars

An underdog fantasy romance with a lot of heart, <i> A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace </i> charmed me immediately. The book stars two legionnaires, foot soldiers in the human army, the commanders of which are chosen from magic-artefact-wielding nobility. The whole story is a manifesto on the power of the little man, a heartfelt assertion that the real business of the world gets done not with the flashy doings of the Great and Powerful but with the everyday actions of ordinary people trying to make the world a little better one step at a time. I loved that sentiment, and the way in which the characters embodied it.

The plot itself is greatly funny. On the eve of the final battle with the Demon Lord’s army, which they fully expect to lose, two legionnaires—Katrien and Emory—give in to a long-held desire for one another on the basis that it won’t matter when they die in the morning. Only, they don’t die—the day is saved by the kingdom’s hidden heir, who has been secretly raised to become the most powerful magic artefact user ever, and takes out the Demon Lord in one fell swoop. All’s well that ends well, at least… except that behind closed doors, the recently-revealed hero prince admits that his powers only really work after a hell of a charge-up period, so he’s awfully vulnerable to surprise attacks, and would the legionnaires mind being his bodyguards until the last of the demon lord’s army’s stragglers are mopped up? Katrien and Emory, and the rest of their legion, become the beleaguered guards/servants/underlings of a snotty, clueless hero prince for the next few months, grasping on to the promise of freedom from their army posts once he’s safely delivered to the capitol, at which point they can figure out what to do with their surprisingly-not-dead selves in the wake of a love affair that was only supposed to be for one last night.

The worldbuilding is refreshingly original, which I didn’t expect from a classic humanity-versus-demonic-forces-of-evil setup, with a fascinating magic system based on tokens left behind for humanity by long-departed angels, through which specific types of magic can be drawn. The world is a non-gender-divided, queernormative, pre-industrial fantasy setting drawing heavy military inspiration from the Roman Empire.

Katrien and Emory are easy to root for, and the prince is actually an extremely fun character to read about. The story emphasizes the deeds of people and collectives over the awesome power of the nobility via their birthright-granted magical artefacts, and the ending is an extremely satisfying underscore to that theme. I’d recommend this book to fans of Megan Bannen and Freya Marske, good-versus-evil fantasy, tongue-in-cheek storytelling, class consciousness, and Roman military strategy.

This was entertaining from start to finish! Easy 5 stars. This was written beautifully and I can tell the details were well thought out. The growing love between Kat and Emory had me swooning. And the dynamic between them and their comrades was built on such a strong foundation, you couldn't help but feel connected to them. I also really liked that the main female character was tall, strong, and muscular rather than the typical tiny & super short description used in most fantasy romance books. I do wish there had been a little more history for the magic system itself but it's really not a big problem for me, personally. I would absolutely read more books by this author and I highly recommend this one! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC and happy pub day!!

This was a cute fantasy friends-to-lovers romance between military battle partners Katrien and Emory who decide to have a dalliance the night before a big battle, not knowing if they'll survive the next day. With the battle ending in victory, these two have to decide how to proceed with their relationship as they embark on one last campaign and Katrien receiving an opportunity to work with the crown prince.

I loved the dynamic between Kat and Emory especially during their most vulnerable moments with each other. It was great to see our FMC as the badass she is welding a spear and having the protection of the MMC with his shield. Also the excitement the two shared on what foods they wanted to try when the war was over was just too cute.

An interesting aspect that I wish was touched on more in the story is the magical element that is present where people, usually the high class, have magical tokens that they can use to channel different abilities. The more one had, the higher standing they were. That put Kat in a bit of a predicament since she was the owner of one token, and so she had moments where she felt stuck between a common citizen and the elite. It added another layer to the story apart from the romance that was intriguing to read.

I really, really loved the dynamics between the characters in this story, especially Kat and Emory. Their relationship was done very well, although I would have liked to see them together for more of the book. Some of my favorite parts were when they were off doing things together without any other characters around, so I would have enjoyed seeing more of that. There were a lot of side characters, and some of them blended together for me, but the ones that made an impression were fun and interesting. I especially enjoyed Prince Adrien.
I liked the idea of the magic system, but I felt that it needed a little more exploration. I would have loved to learn more about how magic works in the world, and more about its place in their society. There was a lot of potential there that didn't feel fully explored.
Even with the battles, this managed to be a fairly cozy fantasy, and one that I'll probably re-read in the future.
4.5/5 stars
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Del Ray and Net Galley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Katrien, a no-nonsense legionnaire, figures she won’t survive the war’s final stand. So when she and her battle partner Emory share a night together beforehand, it’s a last act of comfort. But then the Demon Lord gets taken down by a surprise royal and his heroic crew, and suddenly the war is over... and Kat and Emory are left to figure out what comes next.

This book is at its strongest in the early chapters, with intense, well-written battle scenes and moments of emotional connection that hit hard. The story also shines in the downtime: I loved seeing the friendships between the soldiers wrestling, teasing, and playing games. There’s a great sense of camaraderie, and the dry humor lands without going over the top.

Kat is a standout protagonist—gruff, competent, and full of quiet longing. Her dynamic with Emory is thoughtful and slow-burn, and their relationship grows in satisfying ways throughout the book. I also really enjoyed the Roman-inspired military worldbuilding and the magic system.

That said, the pacing does slow down between major events. After a five-star start, some mid-book sections meandered for me. But overall, this was a refreshing, emotionally grounded take on epic fantasy and what happens after “the end.”


A great pick if you’re into cozy military fantasy with romance, dry humor, and characters figuring out how to live after the world doesn’t end.

Not quite a cosy fantasy (there’s a bit too much battle for that!). But definitely lighter than much romantasy on the market. A unique magic system. Interesting consideration of what happens after the big battle is over. The characters are regular soldiers—infantry—rather than some elite force. Friends to lovers figuring out where they stand. A solid read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

If you're looking for a sweet, low-stakes romance with just the right amount of magic and action mixed in, this is the read for you. I've always been curious about what the normal soldiers were up to while the big chosen heroes were saving the day, and this scratched that itch perfectly. The author did an amazing job giving us the soldiers' perspective, and you can tell the amount of research that was done to make the army feel real and competent. Kat was a great protagonist; she's said to only be about 21 but she and her love interest definitely felt like they could've been up to their 30s even, they were both so mature about the problems that came their way. I also appreciated the fact that Kat is a big, broad-shouldered, muscled woman who's larger than most people, including her love interest, which was incredibly refreshing to see. Emory himself was sweet and a little bit dorky, and his quest to try all the foods on the list he and Kat made together was one of the cutest things in this book. Their romance was very sweet and believable; normally with friends-to-lovers, I feel a lot of authors rely too much on backstory that the audience doesn't get to see but here, Emory and Kat's relationship was fleshed out well on the page, and you easily get the sense that the two of them match each other perfectly as comrades, friends, and lovers. The obstacles that prevented them from being together were also realistic for soldiers in their positions. The side characters were really charming as well; everyone from the golden prince Adrien to their comrades in their decade felt like real people navigating the world around them. My only nitpick would be that I wish there had been more hints about the real traitor before the final, sudden reveal, as I think that could have added a lot to the character's arc. Other than that, I absolutely adored this book, and while I have eagerly added the author's sci-fi series to my TBR, I hope they continue delving into writing fantasy. I'm excited to see what's next!

A lighthearted fantasy, with unique world-building and adventure.

I thought that Kat and Emory's relationship was wholesome and sweet; it was more of a romantic subplot than I thought key to the overarching story.

I enjoyed the other characters, especially Mira, and I thought the sequence of events pretty funny.

Overall, it was enjoyable.

This isn't my genre but I found myself engaged in the story because Kat is an intriguing character. She's trying to navigate what comes after war and her relationship with Emory, which she didn't expect to have. There's good world building (important for me) and the story hangs more on Kat than on the romance. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.