**Thank you to NetGalley and the author for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

This book was AMAZING! It weaves together century-old diary entries with the modern day story in such an interesting way to create unexpected twists.

It has a pretty big cast of characters from 8 different kingdoms, but Johns’ had this skillful way of slowly introducing them so you don’t feel overwhelmed and can really connect to each one. And while written in 3rd person, the chapters jump between these different characters to keep the reader informed and entertained.

And the relationships were *chefs kiss*. Honestly rooting for every one of them, although like most other readers, I fell a little harder for one of the “side couples”.

I highly recommend to all high fantasy readers!

Goodness me, this was such a good book. Highly entertaining. Would definitely recommend to others, that's for sure!

4.5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was SO good! Did not expect to like this as much as I did.

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs throughout and learning about Tabitha through her diary entries each chapter.

Really liked our FMC Mal and the development of her relationship with the MMC Ash, and the vulnerabilities they had to overcome but I really liked that we had another couple too! I am a Kai and Alina stan - the banter and the tension got me!! I think I honestly prefer their relationship and I pray they are endgame.

'You are not a nobody. You are the f*cking sunshine Alina'.

The plot was good, kept me constantly interested but the last part of the book was intense! I could not put it down. Did not see the twists coming and I need the next book like yesterday. Can't wait to continue the story!

PS. The chapter art and map were stunning!

i devoured this book omg! it had all the elements that i was looking for in a book -- enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, and political tensions. this book is written with multiple pov's, which i kinda found overwhelming at times unfortunately. i also found that the pacing was off, with the first half pretty slow and not lots going on, but after that it picked up and regained my excitement! i loved mal, our fmc, and how she stood up for herself! i, of course, loved ash, and his soft side, and i loved how they developed something so much more as the book went on. i cannot wait for the second book!

(Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher, but this has in no way influenced my review. My thoughts are entirely unbiased and honest.)

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash is a book that I would've definitely devoured if I was younger.

Like its title, it is your typical fantasy. Despite the cast of characters, unfortunately, none stood out for me that I am bored after finishing it (even with the wyverns).

Hoping that the author would reconsider the sequel's title because we're so over saturated with this type of fantasy stories.

I think this perspective is purely my own though, so take this review lightly.

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash by J.F. Johns opens with a bang - a witch’s curse that instantly sets the tone for something dark, magical, and epic in scope. The story is told in third person with multiple POVs, which I usually find overwhelming but it worked really well here. It helped expand the world and gave insight into so many corners of this fractured realm.

Loved Mal, the FMC. She’s strong, opinionated, and emotionally grounded and her bond with her siblings and parents felt real and loving. Ash, our MMC (aka The Fire Prince) might seem like your typical broody royal, but he’s surprisingly soft. He has a stutter and is super self-conscious about it, which made him feel really human and relatable. Their dynamic is initially strained - arranged marriage etc but it develops into something very sweet.

However, the second lead couple completely stole the spotlight for me - Mals brother Kai and Ash’s sister Alina. Their forbidden, slow-burn relationship? SO GOOD. The tension between them was actually better than the main romance at times.

Now, the stuff that didn’t totally work for me...

The book tries to do a lot - romance, politics, world-building, magic, prophecy, and a ton of POVs. The idea is amazing: eight kingdoms with different magical systems, magical creatures, and a war that cut them off from each other… until Mal is arranged to marry the Fire Prince to reunite them. The prophecy lacked clarity, and the central romance didn’t always deliver the tension or payoff that I was craving. The pacing was also a hurdle - it’s slow. For the first 50% of the book, not much really happens. Even the moments that felt like they were building toward something often ended too quickly.

That said- there is a lot to love here. The world is cool, the characters I connected with really stuck with me, and the ending left me curious enough to want the next book.

If you’re into these tropes, I still think it’s worth checking out:
🖤 Dragons / Wyverns / Magic
🖤 Enemies to lovers
🖤 Arranged marriage
🖤 Forbidden romance
🖤 Found family vibes + sibling love

This book was absolutley insane. I loved every minute of it. Honestly one of my favorite enemies to lovers books I have read. I can not wait for the second book, and would pay an ungodly amount of money to be able to read the second book right now.
I absolutley love the character building in this book as well as the politics and the magical creatures. I don't know who I should root for because all of the characters are developed so well. I could not put this book down and now it is 4 am and I am going to spend at least 3 hours trying to figure out what the cliffhanger will be.
You have to read this if you like romantasy and amazing world building!!

Thank you so much for the ARC NetGalley!!

Give me FMC that want to stand men, like please.

This book had me hooked with its promise of enemies to lovers in a fantasy setting and dragons and all the magic ones heart desires! There were defintiely all those elements in this book, which was amazing, what I feel lacked in this book was the book being fleshed out and reading smoothly.. There were times when it felt disjointed or too hard to follow, but seeing as we're jumping into a new world, this was something I anticipated.

As it's the first book in the series, my hope is this story will continued to improve and be a fantastic fantasy series that it has the potential to be!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

Mind the cliff - this ends in a major cliffhanger! Other than that though it was a good fantasy with a bit of romance. Thank you so much to the publisher for allowing me to be an ARC reader. Will definitely be interested in reading the sequel

Where do I even begin ??!!!!
This book took me through a rollercoaster of emotions and honestly I loved every second of it. From the beautifully descriptive world building to the extensive different characters we meet through out the book, I just loved it all.

Each and every character was such a fun experience to get to know with all their different personalities and pov’s. At first I thought it was a bit much since we get like 4-5 different characters pov, but honestly it ended up making the book that much more enjoyable since we could see the story unravel from all different perspectives. It did take me a few chapters to be fully immersed in it but it definitely got easier as I went on.

THE PLOT TWISTS !!!! OMG I don’t even know how to explain the emotions I went through especially in that last 10% of the book ….. 🤯🤯🤯 really trying not to spoil anything here but when I tell you please just persevere, if you feel like you want to dnf … DONT ! I promise it’s so worth it.

It truly is a beautiful enemies to lovers, slow-buurrrnnnnn, with revenge and dark magic and if you enjoy any of those tropes then you’ll love this. It is also so much more than just a romantasy. There is so many different elements to it, like political intrigue almost like a high fantasy story, as it has so many different kingdoms all with their own unique lands and laws and people. There’s the story line of war and power which took me a little while to figure out who was who but I got there in the end 😅.

There’s some spice in it as well and I think it was the perfect amount for this story. It wasn’t too explicit like some adult fantasy books I’ve read I’d give it a 2/5 on a spice rating. The perfect amount to keep you giddy and content. I just loved Ash Acherons character, whenever that man said a sentence my heart just melted for him 🤭

I cannot wait for this to be out in the world for everyone to enjoy and hopefully love as much as I did and just remember not everyone is who they seem to be 😏🤫❤️‍🔥

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash by J.F. Johns is the first book in the Kingdom of Gods series and if you like Fantasy with a bit of romance, consider picking this one up.

Mal Blackburn is our fmc and she belongs to the Kingdom of Shadow. Although she is something of an anomaly. See, she was born a fourth child of the king and queen and they never have a fourth child so Mal has never really had a place. But because the eight kingdoms have not spoken for one hundred years after destroying the land of the witches, Mal now has a task and role. She will end the feud between the kingdoms by marrying the fire prince. There's just one problem - Mal has been told a prophecy and that she is a key to it all. To end the curse that was placed on the kingdoms, Mal has to kill the fire prince, not marry him.

The Fire Prince - Ash has secrets but he is known across the lands for being cruel. If people only knew the truth. He hides behind that reputation so no one will ever know that he can't speak well in front of audiences. He has always relied on his sister to get him through situations he can't handle and when he is introduced to Mal, he knows things won't be easy but he's drawn to her.

As Mal and Ash begin to grow closer, the question becomes whether Mal will be able to do what she needs to do to end the curse or if her feelings for Ash will get in the way. Add to that, the witches, who have been looking for revenge against the kingdoms since everyone turned on them one hundred years ago, are getting stronger and it becomes clear that they are a bigger danger than anyone truly thought they were.

This one was a bit of a slow start for me. It's about 30% before Mal is even ready to leave her kingdom so you spend quite a bit of time in her head learning about her and her kingdom. Which is fine but just be prepared. Additionally, you get a lot of different perspectives in this book. Not only do you get Mal and Ash but you also get Kai (Mal's brother), Alina (Ash's brother), Vera (A witch), and a whole host of others...it was a lot of varying perspectives around what was going on.

Overall, it was a good start to this series and I will pick up the next book of the series to see what happens next. There was an interesting twist at the end that made it hard to put down and based on who was left, I need to know what their next move is. If you're looking for a Fantasy that has dragons, wyverns, action, and romance, consider picking this one up.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for providing me with an earc for an honest review. This book comes out on May 31.

I enjoyed this book. Fun, entertaining. Really love Mal as a main character. I'm not too keen on Ash but we will see with the sequel. There is also another couple besides the two main characters which is nice. I kind of like that couple love story development more. I can't gice it 4 stars cause I was bored at some points cause it took awhile to arrive to the plot. But I still enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed some parts of this, though it does seem pretty similar to other well-known fantasy series. There were almost too many characters in this for my liking. It wasn't hard to keep up with, but I found myself disconnected from them. There are abrupt changes between chapters and POV's, and it made the story feel disjointed at times. The vibe is dark and dreary and this ends in a brutal cliffhanger. I'm not sure if I would recommend. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

First I want to say a 3 star read is still a good read. Second I want to say thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash by J.F. Johns delivers total fantasy vibes—think royal drama, magical secrets, and that classic chosen-one energy we all know and love. The cover was the first thing that pulled me in—beautiful and atmospheric, it set the perfect tone for what was to come.
The world-building was thoughtful and immersive; you can tell a lot of care went into crafting this kingdom. While the pacing started off slow, once the story found its rhythm, it became genuinely hard to put down. Not every chapter was a page-turner, but there were definitely moments that pulled me in and kept me engaged.
The main character had some strong moments, and there's clear potential for even more depth as the series continues. Though it’s not my favorite fantasy read, it’s a solid addition to the genre with some unique elements and enjoyable twists.

Thank you to NetGalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 Stars!

Firstly, a huge thank you to NetGalley and J.F. Johns for the opportunity to read an early copy of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash. I really did not think that I'll be accepted for the request and I have to say that I was very shocked of how good the book had turned out to be!

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash starts off strong with a witch’s curse that instantly pulled me in. The story is written in third person but with multiple POVs, which I really liked because it gave me a look into different characters’ thoughts and made the story feel bigger. What I loved the most was the snippets of Tabitha's diary entry at the start of every chapter and hearing about her story breaks me truly.

Let's talk about the characters:
- Mal: I loved her! She’s strong, knows what she wants, and doesn’t just follow what others tell her to do. She’s also surrounded by a super loving and supportive family, which was such a nice surprise in a fantasy book. Her bond with her siblings and parents felt so real and warm.
- Ash: This character was surprisingly soft-spoken and not cruel like how other houses had perceived him to be. And you know what we love about imperfect characters??? Ash has a stutter and he always fear others judging him, I feel so personally connected to his character because of this!
- Kai and Alina: My favorite in this book! I love that we get to see quite a lot of the second lead couple in this book because their own story is so intriguing. The dynamic between them is actually more interesting than our main couple in my opinion, but nevertheless I enjoyed both very much. I didn’t expect to get so attached to them, but wow. Their slow-burn, forbidden tension?? It wrecked me in the best way. Their tension was on another level!

What hit hard in this book was how Mal is suddenly thrown into the Drakonian world, with the marriage oath, where women are treated SO differently.In Drakonian society, women are expected to obey the men, stay quiet, and basically just fall in line. The complete opposite of how Mal was raised — with independence, respect, and the freedom to choose her own path. Watching her confront that oppression, push back against it, and REFUSE to accept that this is “just how things are”? Gave me chills. You can really feel her frustration and how deeply wrong it all is. This part of the world building added so much weight to the story.

Also, can we talk about how well this book is written?? The way scenes are described made everything play like a movie in my head, and I have to say that barely happens with me. The world feels alive. From the clothes to the dragons to the political system.

The pacing in this book was done very nicely, and the last ten chapters were INTENSE. I was glued to the page. The twists, the reveals, Mal’s true identity?? I gasped. And that ENDING.

Some other comments I have:
- Spice: Barely there but done perfectly. Subtle, emotional, and totally earned.
- Quotes: So many lines that hit deep! Especially the ones from the male characters. They are all SO DOWN BAD for their love interests and it’s everything.
- Cover: GORGEOUS! Mysterious, magical, and stunning. I need this on my shelf ASAP.

Final Thoughts: A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash gave me everything. From a strong heroine, emotional slow-burn romances, a rich magical world, to the serious commentary on power and gender roles. The tension. The twists. The characters I can’t stop thinking about. I’m so excited for what comes next.

If you love these tropes, you need to read this book!
🖤 Dragons / Wyverns / Magic
🖤 Enemies to lovers
🖤 Slow burn
🖤 Arranged marriage
🖤 Forbidden romance
🖤 Found family vibes + sibling love
🖤 Down bad male characters

Wow! This book was incredible!

The world in which the book is set is so unique and well crafted. It was fascinating to read about!

The story is full of tropes we all love and i love that multiple POVs are followed so we can see multiple different stories unfold weaved within the main plot.

The main characters are fab, and I especially love the portrayal of the MMC and his speech impediment. I thought this was a really lovely change to the usual types of MMC’s we always get from books❤️

And that ending😱 incredibleee!!

Thankyou so much to netgalley and the author for letting me read this early!! I cannot wait to see what else this series has to offer!

I actually enjoyed this more than I expected to! I thought the writing was good, with lots of good description and world building. I liked the characters and the plot was easy to follow and I thought it was interesting. We follow our FMC who has to marry the prince to keep peace, but there are other intentions from both sides behind this! I loved the influence from other well known fantasy books I’ve read, and I am a sucker for anything that has witches / wyrverns / dragons etc!

My only criticism is I would have liked the pace to be a bit quicker as it was a little slow at times but other than that it was a solid read for me!

Thank you to NetGalley for proving me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first ever Arc read, and I was NOT disappointed!

The STUNNING cover had me requesting this book as soon as I seen it!! I have not read any J. F. Johns books before.

The beginning was a bit slow for me, I would say the first 30%-50%ish I was not sure how this was going to go. But I would say after that I was basically transported into the book and couldn’t put it down. I love third person writing so I enjoyed the writing in this book and thought it was pretty well written. This book has dark magic, hidden & unknown identities, arrange marriage, wyverns, dragons, witches, and fae and tons of magical creatures.

The FMC Mal was great, I loved her and really connected with her character. She was bad ass, fierce, sassy, and smart! I’m not sure I loved our Mmc Ash… I loved the vulnerability we see from him but I think it was almost a bit too much. Mal was just saving his ass much too often. I wanted to see the same fierceness and ability to hold his own and I think that fell a little flat for me.

I feel like I was left craving for more relationship building between them and I just never got it. It felt YA but with 2 “spicy” scenes and I don’t know that I would really call them spicy. There just wasn’t that SIZZLING connection between them for me.

Overall this had a slow start but such a strong finish! I think this was well written and I hope to get my hands on a physical copy for a shelf trophy!! Thank you for allowing me to read this!

A Kingdom of Shadow & Ash by J.F. Johns

Thank you NetGalley & J.F.Johns for allowing me the opportunity to be an ARC reader for this book.
This book took a minute to hook me but once it did I couldn’t put it down. The stunning cover is what drew me to this book.
Lots of twists & turns, secrets & betrayals.
The way this book goes from person to person and kingdom to kingdom made it hard for me to truly connect with the book which is what dropped my rating a little.
It is a great read just stick with it I’m hoping the second book goes more in depth with certain characters and their history’s like Tabitha and more detail about the different kingdoms.

Thank you to J. F. Johns & Netgalley for this ecopy.

I have not read anything else by this author, but it is mentioned that this particular novel is part of their Eternal Darkness universe, which could be why some things don't seem fully fleshed out.

I was thoroughly enjoying the first about 60% of the book. I was intrigued to find out more about the world, and Mal and her kin. I did not mind the world building at all and the last 15% also had me enraptured. HOWEVER -- the 70-85% mark seemed out of the blue for me. I don't know if I missed context or just wasn't connecting with Mal & Ash's relationship well, but it gave off insta-love aspects after they were supposed to hate each other. Like they fought once and that's all it took for Mal ?? Seemed a little out of character for me personally, so I was entirely thrown off by that.

I wasn't a fan of Alina & Ash's sibling relationship from the start. It gave off that Alina was in love with her brother more than just cared about him fiercely in my opinion. She just seemed too jealous with no real cause because Mal quite literally wasn't doing anything but being forced into a marriage. Especially at he beginning. I get that Alina was helping him speak because of his stutter and it was all for his image, it just seemed like a lot.

I felt like there was just one too many POVs; I do understand why there are so many, it was just a lot for a first book that I wasn't anticipating. Wren's POV with her wordage absolutely sent me off the edge. I understand having a character with an accent, but there were a whole lot of "ye"'s, "ya"'s and various cut back language that just was hard for me to read honestly. It's like if someone with a Scottish accent actually wrote down exactly, word for word what they were saying without "proper" english language sentence adjustment. Just was not for me.

I very much loved the history and world building / family lore we got from the Kingdom of Shadow / the Blackburns. The wyverns were a hit for me and I genuinely loved that every kingdom had their own animal or thing that was attributed to them, like the dragons and the basically pegasus'; loved those details.

A LOT happened at the VERY end that had me hanging on to every word. Some twists and turns I definitely didn't see coming which I always enjoy. in books. J. F. Johns writes very poetically, so there is lots of descriptive language and breaking down of visual things, which I definitely appreciated.

I will be interested to see where this story goes!