That ending! I loved the world building, the different characters and small intertwined stories. I hope to see more of Kai and Alina.
I read this as an ARC thanks to netgalley.

✨ ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and J.F. Johns ✨

3.75 ⭐️ — she’s morally grey, he’s soft, and I’m invested

Okay so… was this book revolutionary? No.
Did it give me all the vibes I needed to keep reading at 2AM like a feral little book goblin? Absolutely.


👑 The Setup

The worldbuilding felt familiar — like, if I had a dollar for every time I read about a kingdom called something vaguely ominous like Kingdom of Darkness or Kingdom of Fire, I could afford therapy and a custom sword. But you know what? I didn’t mind. It’s giving cozy cliché, and sometimes that’s exactly what I’m in the mood for.


🖤 Characters & POVs

We’ve got multiple POVs, and while I appreciated the range, I lowkey found myself speed-reading through a few just to get back to Mal and Ash. Like sorry not sorry, but they were the main event.
• Ash was actually a surprise fave. He’s soft, a little broken, and has the kind of quiet loyalty that makes me emotionally unstable. Normally I don’t go for the cinnamon roll types, but he got me.
• Mal is the moral ambiguity we all crave. She’s stabby, strategic, and trying her best not to crumble under the weight of an entire kingdom and her own trauma. Queen behavior.


📝 Writing & Vibes

The writing? Flowy but accessible. No purple prose overdose, no cringe dialogue. Just solid pacing, clean descriptions, and the kind of tone that lets you sink into the story without feeling like you’re doing mental gymnastics.


🔥 Romance (aka me screaming at my Kindle)

Slow burn girlies, rise. The tension was there… but I needed more before we got to the payoff. Like give me a scene with emotional tension so thick I want to scream into a pillow. Once they finally talked (and, um, did the deed), it felt like a switch flipped and suddenly they were all heart eyes and soulmates?? I needed a bit more internal struggle or messy vulnerability before the insta-true-love vibes kicked in.


📚 Final Thoughts

Will I read book two? The moment it drops.
Am I already manifesting more angst and morally questionable choices in it? Always.

If you like:
• morally grey female leads
• soft MMCs who would 100% die for you
• familiar tropes but executed with vibes
• and slow burns that almost burn you alive

…then yeah, you’ll probably devour this.


💬 Favorite quote:

“She had been prepared to kill, but he made her wish she had been taught how to feel.”

(Okay that’s not real but it should be??)


📖 see you in book two. I’ll be waiting for more chaos and longing 🫶

#KingdomOfShadowAndAsh #NetGalleyARC #SlowBurnAddict #NotLikeOtherKingdoms (but kinda)

This was a very compelling Romantasy story. Mal and Ash were fantastic main characters, with so much to unravel in their lives. I loved the multiple POVs of the siblings and members of the other kingdoms, and look forward to the rest of the series!

I really enjoyed this book!

The world building is exceptional but I did feel like at times the pacing was a little slow. The writing makes it easy to connect with the characters and I enjoyed the 3rd person POV. This book is filled with it all! Action, witches, dragons, betrayal and slow burnnnn. This book made me laugh, cry and left me flabbergasted at times with the twists.

Not quite what I was hoping for.

While the premise had promise—a cursed kingdom, shadows, secrets, and the eternal pull between light and dark—the execution fell short for me. The prose lacked the richness I look for in fantasy; it felt more like a draft than a fully developed narrative. There were moments where the story could have taken off, but the writing just didn’t carry the weight or atmosphere needed.

The characters felt familiar—but not in a good way. Another angry “bad girl” FMC paired with a broody love interest whose depth didn’t go much beyond a clenched jaw and haunted eyes. I’ve read this dynamic before, and unfortunately, this version didn’t bring anything new to the trope.

If you’re into surface-level drama and dark aesthetics, this might scratch the itch. But if you’re looking for originality, immersive prose, or truly layered characters, you may want to look elsewhere..

3.25⭐️

A unique New Adult Fantasy Romance with:

• Court/political intrigue
• Multiple 3rd person POVS
• Disappeared gods
• Prophecy
• Light vs Dark magic
• .5 🌶️

🌟 Synopsis: Hundreds of years ago, 8 kingdoms lived in peace. Until forbidden love resulted in the annihilation of the witches & their kingdom as retribution. Since then the remaining 7 kingdoms have lived in a state of feuding turmoil. To bridge the gap towards peace, Mal Blackburn accepts an arraigned marriage with the notoriously cruel Fire Prince. But, long ago a prophecy was foretold of a chosen one & cursed one and one must die at the hands of the other for peace to be found. Mal finds her heart developing conflicting feelings towards the Fire Prince, but she cannot forget her true purpose: to stab the Fire Prince in the heart.

🌟 The book did a good job of setting up the world/lore with a unique & compelling plot for future books in the series. I enjoyed the blend of past & present being told simultaneously to fully comprehend how the actions of the past affect present and why. While I did find it hard to connect with the characters, the plot was compelling enough to keep me entertained despite minor pacing issues.

🌟 I enjoyed how multifaceted the characters were outside of just a romantic aspect. Mal was both fierce and compassionate, strong willed yet empathetic. Ash had a composed borderline aloof outward persona that hid all the insecurities and turmoil within. While I enjoyed their individual character developments, I struggled to root for their romance as it was more insta-lust/reluctant attraction than enemies to lovers. They lacked the emotional depth I normally like to see in relationships, but feel like this can be developed in the second book. I loved how the Ash wasnt your broody, perfectly eloquent warrior and there was a disability rep.

🌟 While at times I found it hard to pick up this book, the lady 20% gripped me and I did not see that plot twist coming. The cliffhanger ending and the new twists definitely ensured I will continue the series!

I had high hopes for this one, but the writing pulled me right out of the story. I didn’t like how it switches POV’s mid chapter and the third person was hard to understand and fully immerse myself in it.

Wow. This book had me up all night! I loved this, a lot of PoV which really added to the story and made it more interesting, I had my favorites but didn’t find myself wanting to skip anyone’s chapter.

The fire prince(Ash) is not your typical mmc & it was pretty refreshing. The shadow princess(Mal) was strong, but not in a “not like other fmc” kind of way.

My only complaint, and why it wasn’t a five star read is, I wanted more of the “main” characters & I really wouldn’t consider this a slow burn, definitely insta-love but again that was because the interactions between them felt few.

Overall a very enjoyable read, and will absolutely be continuing this series!

Thanks to NetGalley and author for this Arc.

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash tells the story of Mal and Ash, who are about to be married to bring the eight kingdoms closer together.

The story is told from many different perspectives, which I really enjoyed. I also loved the overall concept. However, I felt that much of the story was told rather than shown, which made the beginning less engaging for me. Additionally, the enemies-to-lovers storyline didn’t feel very believable.

The last 30% of the book was excellent and sets up the next book really well.

Thank you to the author and net galley for providing me with an e-ARC for an honest review

4⭐ Exciting first book in a series by an indie author to watch and cant wait for book 2!
Tropes:
📖 Enemies to lovers
📖 He falls first
📖 Shadow Mumma
📖 Some spice 🌶️
📖 Dragons and Wyverns
📖 Political scheming and secrets
📖 Magic

Plot (avoiding spoilers) :
Mal Blackburn is sent to marry the Cruel Prince of the House of Fire to rebuild alliences with another kingdom. However she is sent with the intention to kill him to break a secret curse places on the kingdoms.

What I loved:
- I loved the story of the side characters Kai Blackburn and Alina Acheron, in fact for me, they were the characters I felt the most invested in. I really hope that book 2 will show us more of their relationship and Alina's character growth.
- The FMC was the shadow mumma with the "burn the world for him" vibes
- The world building and back story was well crafted and kept my invested in the storyline
-excellent side characters as mentioned above (Wren was a personal favourite especially her relationship with Kage)
- the ending was excellent and I went straight to find out when book 2 will come out!

What I disliked:
- this may be controversial, but I didn't like the MMC as a character. I found the stutter very off putting (don't come for me) and didn't add anything to the storyline. I felt the switch from enemy to lover felt forced and out of the blue. I would have much preferred some angst between the MMC and FMC- writing in first person would have helped massively I think.
- The Tabitha sections at the beginning of the story didn't make much sense and I felt the time line was all over the place with that.. I found myself skipping these.
- The book was about 100 pages too long in my opinion. The pace felt quite slow at tine until the last 25%.

Overall take away:
This is an exciting first book in what I think will be a great series. It is definitely a book that felt like a slower introduction into an epic story line (gave from blood and ash vibes in that sense!) will I read book 2? Absolutely! Would I recommend this? Yes!

4.5⭐ Thank you to J.F. Johns & NetGalley for this eARC! Chaotic review ahead:

Firstly the cover?! Instant yes.

Mal Blackburn the fourth born of the Kingdom of Shadows is tasked to break a 100 year curse by murdering her betrothed Ash. The arranged marriage trope here is executed perfectly and I LOVED reading how this relationship unfurled. Despite this pairing being the main plot line I couldn’t help but love the yearning between Kai Blackburn, (the fierce protective brother to Mal) and Alina. Their story of duty vs desire was heartbreaking💔

This book felt like it had everything?
-Powerful FMC
-Multiple love stories to invest yourself in
-Sibling bonds to love
-So many mythical/ fantasy creatures
-Witches/ magic
-Rival kingdoms/ political alliances
-Interesting side characters

I really really enjoyed this plot and actually was engrossed in almost every character which I think has a lot to do with the multi povs!
I thought the 8 different kingdoms with various characters and overlaps between them would be confusing but I found it very game of thrones-esq and loved learning about the history between the warring kingdoms and how that impacts all the alliances.

Plot twist I didn’t see coming too?! ✔️

Finally, I loved the diary entries from Tabitha’s pov at the start of each chapter which tells her story around the curse 100 years prior in parallel to the main plot.

This is set out to be a very captivating and binge worthy series! Can I have the next book please🫢 xx

Wow, I was truly blown away by this book. It gives "Shadows Between Us" mixed with "A Touch of Darkness" with a sprinkle of Manon Blackbeak and FBAA romance. The FMC Mal and MMC Ash were likable and have a forced marriage relationship slow enemies to lovers that you can root for. I was completely obsessed, however, with two of the side characters more and would love to see more of Alina and Kai.
Plot was beautiful, spice was 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 (we had an Elide Lorcan moment sadly) and I wish there was more, it wouldve definitely added to the burning chemistry. The story moved at a good pace and the world-building was manageable and not overwhelming at all.
I cannot wait for book 2 and book 1 hasnt even been published yet.
There's nothing I would change except to give me more spice! Well, maybe make the map more detailed too, like a true cartographer's map.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this.

This is a fantasy filled with enemies to lovers, curses, revenge plots, dragons and more!!! I still can’t get over the end of this books!! Need the second book ASSP. The world building was a little confusing, but the characters will pull you in. Our main characters are Mal Blackburn and Ash Acheron. Mal is a princess of the Kingdom of Darkness. She has to go through an arranged marriage to Ash Acheron, the Fire Prince. A prophecy puts them in each other’s paths. I enjoyed the dynamic between the two, especially as they got to know one another with feelings behind it. The enemies to lovers energy eats!! Looking forward to seeing where this series goes!!

Who doesn't love the start of a new obsession?! Here you go, everyone… You're welcome!

Mal Blackburn, princess of the Kingdom of Darkness, knows what she must do. She must go through with her arranged marriage to Ash Acheron, the Fire Prince. The prophecy demands it. But Ash isn’t the cruel, hardened prince of legend—he’s kind, and he looks at her with such softness. Ultimately with a war against the witches looming, Mal has to do whatever it takes to protect her people… even if that means killing the man she was never supposed to love.

Some books are a fast-paced romp, but this book holds weight. This book is rich, ominous, and as beautiful in its darkness as in its light. It is a complete and fully realized world that I soaked up and found myself languishing in. I took my time with this read, so I was able to absorb and digest every word and nuance.

First off, I love the dynamic: the dark princess forced to marry the light fire prince. You don’t see that often, and I adored the switch-up. Mal is stunning—both in her insecurities and in her confidence. She’s fierce and stabby, with a power she’s only just beginning to tap into. But her real strength lies in her heart. Ash is the classic hot, strong, golden-boy prince—but what makes him unforgettable are his vulnerabilities: his anxiety, his stutter. I loved seeing that kind of representation in a male main character. It made him feel so real.

Every character was treated with care and given a vibrant, distinct voice. When side characters don’t feel like side characters—and I’m eagerly scanning each scene for a glimpse of them—you’ve officially won me over. It takes a delicate hand to craft an intricate plot without letting it spiral into chaos, and this book nailed it. It was an intricately woven masterpiece.

And the ending? I was gasping, crying, pacing, yelling. At one point, my daughter crawled into my lap to comfort me. So, like I said earlier… obsessed.

I got an arc, but my rating/review are my own!

I was not expecting the last part of this book😮😮😮 normally this happens in book 3 in a series not in the first one 😮😮 was a good change!!
and all the plot twist's??? I'm still not over this book and i do infact need the next one asap!!!🤧🤧🤧


quotes:
••
"𝕾𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖇𝖊 𝖒𝖞 𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖊. 𝕴 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙 𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖉𝖎𝖘𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖈𝖙. 𝕾𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖇𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖋𝖚𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓."
••
"𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓭𝓸 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓪𝓼𝓴 𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓭𝓮𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓼."
"𝓖𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽, 𝓕𝓲𝓻𝓮 𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮."
••
"𝕯𝖔 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖙 𝖘𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌, 𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊?"
"𝕯𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊?"
"𝕰𝖝𝖈𝖚𝖘𝖊 𝖒𝖊?"
"𝖂𝖔𝖚𝖑𝖉 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖒𝖊?"
"𝕬𝖗𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖘𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖙 𝖙𝖔 𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖘𝖚𝖈𝖍 𝖆 𝖉𝖊𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖘𝖘?
••
"𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻."
"𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓯𝓪𝓶𝓲𝓵𝔂."
"𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝔂 𝓯𝓪𝓶𝓲𝓵𝔂. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝔀𝓲𝓯𝓮"
"𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓼, 𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼."
"𝓐𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱, 𝓱𝓾𝓼𝓫𝓪𝓷𝓭."
••

tropes:
☆🍁 dark romantasy
☆🍁 enemies to lovers
☆🍁 forced proximity
☆🍁arranged marriage
☆🍁 magical creatures
☆🍁 dark magic
☆🍁gods
☆🍁prophecies
☆🍁3rd multiple povs

Oh I loved this book so much 🤎
The story revolves around Mal Blackburn who has to marry the fire prince (Ash Acheron). She is an anomaly as wyverians don't have more that 3 children and she is 4th with the eyes of a witch. Mal accepts because she believes in the prophecy of the chosen and the cursed, her being the chosen and Ash the cursed, and she has to plunge a dagger in his heart.
Mal leaves her home with all her siblings and meets all the other princesses and princes (the lands have been kept separated since the great war so they don't know eachother).
Once Mal gets to know Ash more she falters in her decision of killing him and their love story is so sweet.
The prophecy is very vague and nobody knows what's going on exactly but it's so sweet to see them work it out together, and it has such a plot twist at the end. I loved how it unraveled.
This story is dark, pacing is very good, multiple POVs, it has magic, gods, curses, shadow familiars, dragons, wyverns, fae, great female characters and lovely men who like strong women. There is just so much that happens in this book. I don't think I was bored once.
Would recommend 1000000%
4⭐️ because sometimes the writing style breaks you out of the story, and 5 stars I reserve for great classics. But I think that's just me. Would read again, and considering getting a physical copy 🤎

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

This fantasy was so cool and addictive! A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash is packed with everything I love—curses, revenge plots, enemies-to-lovers vibes, and DRAGONS. Mal Blackburn is the kind of fierce, complicated heroine I instantly root for, and the slow burn tension between her and the fire prince? Chef’s kiss. 👑🔥

The world-building was dark and atmospheric without being overwhelming, and the twists kept me on my toes. Everyone’s hiding something, which made it impossible to stop reading. If you’re into witchy power plays, morally grey royalty, and fantasy that feels fresh but easy to get into, this one definitely deserves a spot on your TBR!

3.5 ⭐️
This was a difficult book to review because there are a lot of things that I like and enjoyed along with a few that I didn’t. This book started out as a real slow burn with a lot of character-driven story progression but the last 30% was explosive with so much happening it was hard to keep up with.

This was a fun, explosive start to a romantasy series. It had all the elements one needs in a fantasy including court intrigue, romantic tension, familiars, dragons, wyverns, witches, and a decent story line that keeps you intrigued and constantly guessing what’s to come.

The main characters romance plot was just ok and, although it’s supposed to be enemies to lovers, it didn’t really feel like that. There just wasn’t enough yearning and chemistry between them. I wanted more from them as the main characters of the story. The better love story came from the secondary characters and I kept wanting to read more about them than the actual main characters.

One of my critiques here is the author’s writing style. It’s written in 3rd person POV and jumps around to a lot of different characters without much of an indication as to who we’re initially reading about. Her writing left a lot to the imagination with things left unsaid and needed to be inferred by the reader. It felt disjointed at points in that some passages were full of detail that allowed the words to easily lift off the pages to form vivid and descriptive images of the story, while others left too many words left unsaid. It was a bit strange and hard to get used to, particularly towards the end where so much is happening.

The pacing of the story also felt off as if it didn’t flow naturally, it felt choppy with some parts very slow-going while others that went for fast if gave me whiplash. It just felt a bit fragmented.

With all that being said, I’ll probably still read the next book because the cliffhanger has me intrigued enough to want to know what happens to these characters.

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash is a romantasy with all of the elements we love as readers. A fierce wyvern-flying heroine, a brooding and misunderstood prince. An ancient curse and, of course, all manner of political intrigues between the Kingdoms.

I had a little trouble getting into the world building in the beginning (because I came off a string of contemporary romances.) But quite quickly, both the characters and world building became the things to pull me in.

The writing was beautiful, and it painted a very vivid picture in my head. The phrasing was almost poetic at times. It helped me become invested in the characters and their outcomes.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Where to begin? I haven’t felt this kind of feral, page turning rush from a fantasy since One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig. This book resurrected me from the ashes and launched me straight into a kingdom brimming with secrets and slow burn peril.

The multi-POV format was chef’s kiss. Each perspective added richness and tension, layering the stakes and hinting that something BIGGG is stirring just beneath the surface. You could feel that buildup. And the love interests? Plural, of course. There’s a whole buffet of brooding, bold, morally grey delights to swoon over and I clearly wasn’t just rooting for one.

The world-building had bite. The magic system? Dark, dangerous, and delicious. And the characters? Fierce, flawed, and entirely unforgettable.

If I had to dock a point anywhere, it’d be the character names. A few of them felt a little too familiar, like echoes of other fantasy books. However, It didn’t take away from the thrill, but it did occasionally make me laugh.

Still, this book is fantastic. It’s fast paced, moody, sexy and cinematic as hell. I turned the final page breathless and desperate for the sequel. I immediately texted my book chat about this as soon as I was done!