"–this was not the end. No. This was only the beginning."


Are you kidding me?!
This book is a freaking masterpiece! Bring down a confetti of praises for J.F. Johns 🙌🏻🎉 I rated this book 6⭐ which is a god-tier ranking for me.


I'm really glad that when I was browsing @netgalley and saw that gorgeous cover, I didn't hesitate to press 'request ARC'. Also thankful to Netgalley and J.F. Johns for approving and providing this masterpiece (you're gonna be mad at me for saying 'masterpiece' multiple times in this review)


THE SETTING: 9/10
Look at the map, it's gorgeous! The name of the kingdoms are kinda typical and common, but the addition of the Kingdom of Air and where it is located, makes it unique for me. It reminds me of One Piece's Skypiea 😘🤌🏻

THE WORLD BUILDING: 10/10
I love how each kingdom has their own traits, characteristics, languages, and pets (can I call them pets?) that makes them different from one another. It was described vividly and easy to understand. Love, love, love the concept of the Kingdom of Darkness. The food they eat is all ROTTEN. Gross but unique, and I'm here for it! The animals that represent each house, OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS, it wasn't just a symbolism, they're REAL — living and breathing!

THE CHARACTERS: 10/10
Why isn't a single one of these characters' average looking? THEY'RE ALL GORGEOUS 😍 I love Mal, I would grovel in her feet and die for her, but the rest? I would jump infront of a bullet for them too 🤭 And, it's so nice that there's not a single sibling rivalry going on, they all just love one another.

THE WRITING: 9/10
Like I said, it was easy to understand and follow. It wasn't perfect but who cares? Remember this is a self published book. In addition, I also love that in each chapter there's a sneak peak from Tabitha's point of view/diary. That one makes the story more intriguing

THE PLOT: 1000/10
I LOVE IT. I'M OBSESSED. I'M GONNA BE ENVIOUS TO THOSE WHOSE GONNA READ THIS BOOK FOR THE FIRST TIME. FREAKIN' PERFECTION 😘🤌🏻



OVERALL RATING: 10/10
This is a ✨MASTERPIECE✨


P.S.
If I live in the US right now, I would click that pre-order right away. Too bad I live in the Philippines, and ordering from the US costs me a LOT of money 😭

A rich, imaginative world with layered lore and a finale that truly delivers. While the story takes its time unfolding, the explosive final act makes the slow build worth it. I especially loved the depth of the world building and the dynamic between Alina and Kai, more of that, please! Mal and Ash’s romance could’ve used a bit more time to simmer, but I’m still hooked and excited to see what happens next.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and J.F. Johns for the ARC.

First of all, Mal? LOVE her. Such a badass FMC and I’m so excited to continue to see her growth throughout the series. I loved this, I loved the world building, I loved all the twists. Can’t wait for book 2!

Thank you J F Johns for allowing me to read your book in return with my honest review. This book was good and had potential, I just felt like things were missing. Maybe they will be in book 2. I look forward to reading it.

This fantasy romance novel features a unique and original storyline supported by immersive, in-depth world-building. While it primarily follows Mal Blackburn, the story is told through multiple POVs. Each character brings a valuable perspective that advances the plot, and I found myself just as invested in the side stories as I was in the main arc. The character and story development throughout were strong and consistent - aside from the obvious villains, I genuinely liked every character in the book.

At times, the writing felt a bit repetitive and disorganized, in particular some phrases/words were overused and the paragraph structure often sounded incomplete. But at around the 20% mark, something shifted and I couldn’t put it down. Whether the writing improved or I simply settled into the flow, I quickly became lost in the story.

One of the standout aspects for me was how the author portrayed the cultural differences between the kingdoms. Each one felt distinct and well-developed, which highlighted the vast contrasts in their values and traditions. This made the interactions between characters from different regions especially engaging. The inclusion of so many fantasy elements - wyverians, drakonians, fae, etc. - made it stand out compared to many other fantasy novels I’ve read recently. The world JF Johns has created is so vast and well thought-out, I feel like there are endless possibilities for the direction of the series.

The ending was unexpected and left me wanting more. I’ll definitely be picking up the next book in the series and recommending it for next month’s book club. I also need to get my hands on a hard copy. The cover is a work of art and perfectly embodies Mal Blackburn.

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash is a Multiple POV, Enemies to Lovers, Dragons AND Wyverns, Arranged Marriage, Cursed Fates/Prophecies Dark Romantasy that had me hooked from the moment I began reading.

The world building in this book is very thorough & carefully created to give you a true understanding of each kingdom & their characters. In A Kingdom of Shadow & Ash you begin your journey with Mal Blackburn the fourth born princess of the Kingdom of Darkness who has been given the choice to marry & unite her kingdom with the Kingdom of Fire in order to bring the eight kingdoms back together after 100 years apart. Marrying the Fire Prince will not be Mal Blackburns' only task, she plans to kill the Fire Prince to destroy a 100-year curse & save the 8 kingdoms.

I am absolutely obsessed with this story, the characters throughout this book are all so different & it is easy to see their personality show through each (Multiple POV) chapter.

I will say that I am very heartbroken, absolutely shocked & desperately wishing I could read book two.
I personally did not expect the ending, but it tied SO MANY little details back together. I am absolutely obsessed with this world, the characters & the possibility of where the author takes the story next.
Wonderful job & thank you so much to J.F. Johns & NetGalley for the eARC & the opportunity to read this book!

I always make snap judgments about books based on their covers, sucker for a beautiful cover, and when I saw this one on NetGalley I immediately requested this one shortly after reading the synopsis.

I do have to say from reading the synopsis and from the beautiful cover I actually didn’t enjoy this books as much as I thought I would, but it is by no fault of the authors or the story. The writing in here is beautiful, everything I could hope for when reading, and the story was incredibly great. I would describe this as a medium-slow burn, enemies-to-lovers, with a healthy amount of misunderstanding dashed in. The world building is great and there’s a large cast of characters you get to meet and love, or hate. And there’s just enough “mystery” to it in several elements: the curse, Mal’s existence AND her eyes, plus the witches!

So why is this 4 stars at not 5? It felt like a lot packed into a very small book and yet it’s around 600 pages long. But that’s because it is A LOT, there’s a lot of characters, and several of them have parts of the story written in their POV, and sometimes it takes a paragraph or two before you figure out whose POV you’re reading. The world itself is huge, encompassing 8 different kingdoms with at least a little history and characters from each one. Sometimes the pacing was slow, sometimes I felt like I was flying through chapters, and then other time I felt like I was flying through chapters and taking in a huge amount of information to realize I had only read maybe 5 pages. In some ways there was just a little too much in places and for me it was a bit overwhelming, but that is 100% my issue obviously.

There is a nice (😠) little cliffhanger ending so I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the next books, because even though this might not have been a 5 star book for me, I still enjoyed it every bit of the way!

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book absolutely took me by surprise. I’d never read anything by this author before and was just instantly intrigued by the cover and blurb but wow did this book take me for a ride!
I absolutely devoured this book from the first page, you got a taste of enemies to lovers - a forced marriage. You got 3rd person POVs from multiple people - which it does switch between quite quickly but doesn’t take away from the story at all!
The authors writing flowed really well and it contained perfect world building throughout and it was easy to read and follow along with the story line.
The last 15% of the book had me sitting on the edge of my seat. It truly takes you for a ride and that cliffhanger??? Get me book 2 immediately!!

Thank you so much NetGalley and J.F Johns for this eARC!

I truly loved the premise of this book! Arranged marriage and forced proximity are some of my absolute favorite tropes, and right off the bat we learn that the FMC is intent on assassinating her betrothed to end a century long curse. So, we know we are set up for a tension-filled enemies to lovers tale with plenty of betrayal.

The FMC is fierce and loyal, the MMC is sweet, vulnerable, and protective. This has all the makings for an incredible romantic fantasy. Where it fell a little short for me is it has multiple (at least 4) POV's and so I found it more difficult to form a deep connection with the characters with the constant switching between POVs. It does eventually come together at the end of the story, but some of the pacing felt off to me in the middle of the story while we are changing scenes to follow the cast of characters.

This has:
-Muti POV, 3rd person
-Arranged Marriage
-forced proximity
-Enemies to lovers
-political scheming
-dragons/wyverns
-prophesies/curses
-plot twists
-🌶️ low spice (there is sexual content, but it is not overly detailed/graphic)

Thank you NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!!! This book blew me away , at first I was hesitant on if I was going to like and I absolutely loved this story!! At the beginning it gives you all the information on 8 kingdoms and an entry from 100 years ago. At first I was like this is alot of information but don't worry as this story goes on you get the clarification through out about the different kingdoms and the princes and princesses. So A kingdom of Shadow and Ash is an enemies to lovers,cursed fate, arrange marriages, betrayal and plot twist story .You will adventure along with Mal who is a strong female character that is determined to kill the fire prince, to save the kingdoms from a curse placed 100 years ago .However, killing the fire prince might not be so simple...yeah I know intense right !!Not only do you follow the main characters through this story there are other characters that you meet and all I can say is I absolutely loved the character building and world building in this book all the detail that was put into making each setting and person I could picture it so well as I was reading. I would find myself laughing or smiling at how the characters interacted with each other. Now I would say I think the romance between specific characters could've used more slow burn tension maybe more banter between the two and built the relationship even more but gosh I still really enjoyed it. The plot twist, betrayal and shock in the book literally had me gasping and being like are you for real right now!!! As you read you do get Diary entries from a specific character and you get multiple point of views from different characters as you read and I think that really helped get the full story. This definitely ended in a huge cliff hanger and I'm ready for book 2 I need it now!!! Get this book and add it to your TBR you won't be disappointed.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this ARC. The main character is loveable, and I felt an almost instant connection to her. The mixture of history, world building and continued prophecies lead to a sensation experience for the reader and really evocative imagery. The character development is also really well done. I highly recommend!

I was absolutely pulled in by the gorgeous cover I will admit. I have never read anything else by this author but oh boy was a pleasantly surprised. The only thing I did have a hard time with was the third person POV. If you need a book to keep you up at night needing to know what the next chapter brings this is the book for you!

The synopsis totally drew me in, and the tropes were among my favorites. We also see some of my favorite fantasy creatures, so I had to read it. I absolutely enjoyed my time with this first book and the last 30% had me trying to catch my breath, I got whiplash from some of the twists ! The different POVs were interesting, some of the side characters had their time to shine and their POVs made sense. The dynamics of the FMC's family were really fun, and having all kingdoms with their different creatures and characteristics meet up in one place was very interesting. I'm really looking forward to the next book ! If you like enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn, court intrigue, dark magic, witches, dragons, wyverns, fae, and more, this is definitely for you !

Tabitha wisteria lost everything 100 years ago. Vowing a curse on the people 100 years on.

“Two children were born to stop the curse; a cursed child and a chosen one. The chosen child must kill the cursed one to save the kingdoms.”

Now the time has come and with tensions higher than ever, The House of Flame and The House of Shadow must come together against a bigger evil, uniting their kingdoms through a marriage alliance in order to break the curse.

Mal Blackburn is the 4th child in the royal line, a line that 100 years ago destroyed the witches, the witches who are now coming back to start a war! Prince Ash, is a warrior on the battlefield, but has his own personal battles in court life, despite being destined to be king of Flame.

Mal and Ash instantly dislike one another whilst simultaneously being drawn to each other. Will they be able to overcome their differences to save their kingdoms?

I loved this book! There are multiple POVs and I was invested in them all!!!

I usually find with multiple POVs that there are ones that I’d be happy to skip, but not in this book! The secondary characters are just as interesting.

The story was great, beautifully written with rich imagery and world building. I will say though, you need to be paying attention, as the character changes come pretty rapidly and aren’t titled, but this doesn’t take away from the book at all!!

4.5! ⭐️

Okay I went into this pretty much blind after being attracted to the cover and I was so so surprised. I really enjoyed this!

What to expect:
Badass FMC
Soft MMC
Forbidden love
Arranged marriages
Curses, prophesies and betrayals
Kingdoms and court politics
Witches, dragons, wyvern etc
Multiple 3rd person POVs

Now the last 20-15% had me on the edge of my seat. The cliffhanger ending was brutal. Book two please!!

Thank you NetGalley and J. F. Johns for an eARC of this book in exchanged for an honest review.

Wowwww wowowow. This book absolutely destroyed me. I am in shambles. This was INCREDIBLE. I absolutely could not put it down. My eyes were glued to every page from the start, and I was completely transported into this book like it was a movie playing out in my head. The scenes and imagery were perfect, I absolutely loved the magic systems and all the different kingdoms. It was so fun and interesting to read, and it felt so easy to picture it all happening.

Mal is an amalgamation of all my favorite FMCs put together. The cleverness and strength of Aelin, the dark fierceness of Manon, the kindness of Feyre, the wittiness and honesty of Violet. She’s such a well balance, incredibly likable character, I felt so connected to her throughout the entire book. She is such a perfect FMC to me and I am SO excited to read more of a story with her in it.

Aside from Mal, her family and their bond was so beautiful to read about. I absolutely loved all of them and their traits- but KAI?? 😭 Yes pleaseeee. I fear i’m obsessed with him. I absolutely love how strong the sibling connections are in this book for all the characters. It reads so powerful and I love that the most important people for all of them are their siblings. Haven, Kai, Kage, and Mal are just the epitome of an undivided unit, each having their own unique qualities and abilities that blend together so beautifully. Alina and Ash are also such amazing characters, I cannot wait to get more development from them in the next book! Honestly this book has given me so many new top tier book characters, I am so happy that the cover and description drew me in to such a new unexpected favorite book for me!! If you love throne of glass, one dark window, witches, dragons, game of thrones, acotar, enemies to lovers, I could go onnnn and on- you will EAT THIS UP. I want to scream from the rooftops for everyone to give this a chance to be your next roman empire book that you cannot put down!

The plot and the story building was perfection, I was absolutely on the edge of my seat. I was definitely shocked by some plot twists that I did NOT see coming until right when they were about to happen or right when they did, which was so nice because usually I feel like I guess them all! Absolutely gut wrenching ending, i’m dying for the next book already!!

I want to thank Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this beautiful masterpiece that has now sunken its teeth into my soul and taken up all the rent free space in my head. I am so blown away!

★ ★ ★.5
ARC Review!
A dark, slow-burn fantasy romance set in a world of cursed kingdoms and uneasy alliances. This one is packed with drama, angst, and high-stakes tension between two very different royals.

That said, I did find myself struggling with the third-person narrative and shifting POVs. It took a while to adjust, and the pacing felt a bit uneven. Chapter transitions were abrupt, and while the world-building was atmospheric, it leaned heavily into a bleak tone that made it hard to stay immersed at times.

There was a large cast of characters (normally a favorite of mine!), but most didn’t quite come alive on the page. Kai showed some promise, though!

Tropes I noticed:

Enemies to lovers
Forced marriage
Arranged royal alliance
Prophecy twist
Witches vs. kingdoms
Mal was a solid lead—strong, determined, and clear in her goals. I appreciated her drive. The story had interesting ideas, but some execution issues kept me from fully connecting.

Overall, a promising start to a series with a lot of potential.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! 🖤
I can’t wait for book 2!

So twisty! I didn’t even foresee some of the twists and I read a lot of books. This was a great read for going into it blind (other than it obviously being a fantasy based on the cover). It was more like a 4.5 star read. I wanted more Ash and Mal love story because it was so cute and wholesome when it shouldn’t have been. Seeing all the different POV’s come together was well written including Tabitha’s at the beginning of the chapters. Now I need the next book to come out ASAP.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash by J.F Johns. I really enjoyed this book! The author did an amazing job of world building and I found most of the characters stories interesting. I loved Kai and Alina's romance and development the most and thought their story was by far my favorite. I also thought the fire prince's background and character development was unique and as an SLP I found it really cool to read about in a book. My main issue is that I saw little growth with the main character Mal, I felt like she was very one dimensional and didn't have a lot of character growth. I hope that changes in the next book in the series.

Pick up this book if you enjoy:
- witches and warlocks
- magic
-enemies to lovers
- cliff hangers

Dark, Addictive, and Utterly Unputdownable!

😮Wow. Just wow.😮 🥀A Kingdom of Shadows and Ash🥀 by J.F. Johns completely swept me away. From the first page, I was drawn into a hauntingly beautiful world filled with danger, secrets, and unforgettable characters. The atmosphere is dark and lush, and the writing is so vivid that I could picture every scene like a movie playing in my head.

The main character is fierce, flawed, and utterly compelling—I loved watching her come into herself in a world full of magic, betrayal, and unexpected alliances. The plot moves at a perfect pace, with just the right balance of action, emotion, and shocking twists that kept me up until 3am reading “just one more chapter."

J.F. Johns has created a fantasy realm that feels epic in scale but emotionally intimate, which is rare and refreshing. If you enjoy enemies-to-allies/enemies-to-lovers dynamics, dark fantasy settings, and strong, resilient heroines, this book will be everything you're looking for.

Already counting down the days until the sequel. Highly recommended!