So… I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I did not like this. I’m so glad others are enjoying it but I cannot say the same for myself. Let me start off by saying I didn’t finish this unfortunately. I had every plan too but I don’t know I just kept falling asleep while trying to read it. The pacing was off for me and the world building isn’t all that great, I just found myself getting confused. All I was able to gather is the people she was living with have all be murdered by the sons (some dark supposedly evil men) and now she’s been kidnapped but has to keep her identity a secret until she can escape. Idk it just felt like this author had part of an idea and we are just coming in at the middle of that thought. Some parts felt random to me too but I guess (hopefully) it all makes more sense if you can sit through and finish it. For me it wasn’t really dark but I could tell it wanted to be. I wasn’t emotionally connected to ertha or fenris or anybody for that matter so I just didn’t care what was going on. I found it hard to get into the story and wanted to cry everytime I checked my progress and saw I still wasn’t to my goal of 50%. I don’t know If im slumping or because I enjoyed my last read (GOT) so much but I’m sorry I can’t do it. This is going in my dnf graveyard, probably never to be revived. *Finished at 34%*

Thank you NetGalley and M.A Brown for gifting me with an arc copy to review!! I really do appreciate it and I’m sorry the story wasn’t for me.

A dark romantasy, with a promising plot that in the end was not for me.

The world building was very good, and the whole “healing is bling” while kidnaped in enemy territory great. But, for my taste the execution was lacking. I know a lot of people like flowery writing but it was too much, and too distracting from the plot.

Also miscommunication is not for me, and the ending felt flat. Unsure if I will read the second book which I had all the intention of doing even if the writing was not my style. Well, we’ll see I really like the world building even if at times the vocabulary felt too crass.

The beginning with the glossary I would recommend it at the end, as it was too much information without even starting the novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory editing for an arc in exchange of an honest feedback. This book will be released on august 6,2025. I think some people may really enjoy it.

4.5 ⭐️ rounding up to 5

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. This book completely pulled me in. The worldbuilding is rich, immersive, and so well done. It has its own lore, language, and pantheon of gods, and yet it was never overwhelming or confusing. There’s even a glossary at the start, but I didn’t need to use it because everything was woven into the story so naturally.

Ertha is a compelling main character, and I absolutely loved her relationship with Fenris. Their banter was one of my favorite parts, and I’m seriously rooting for them. The political intrigue, secrets, and shifting alliances kept the tension high, and even though I predicted one twist early on, the big reveal at the end left me completely shocked. I need the next book immediately! There are so many questions I’m dying to have answered.

Tropes include:
✨ Hidden Identity
✨ Chosen One
✨ Slow burn
✨ Forced Proximity
✨ Betrayal
✨ Magical bond
✨ “Who did this to you?”

If you love fantasy with strong writing, unique worldbuilding, and slow-burn tension, this is definitely one to add to your list.

What an intriguing and stunning book. I really enjoyed it I do hope there’s more to come! Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and the talented author M A Brown.

Following this woman as she navigates enemy territory, a sudden romance, and begins to meet her true self was so wonderful. I cannot wait for more!

Thank you to Net Galley and M.A. Brown for the ARC.

Plot 3.75/5
Characters 3.75/5
Ending 3.75/5
Interest 3.5/5

Overall 3.75/5

-I had a little trouble really getting into this book, but after a few chapters of really setting the scene and introduction the characters, it felt very promising. Unfortunately it didn’t fully last until the end of the book. I felt myself quite distracted a few moments, I could t really focus on this book for a very long period at a time. I still find that the plot is intriguing but I had imagined things going different ways.

-I particularly connect with the character all that much. But, they were still interesting. I wish we had more of Ertha’s past, like in flashbacks to really see her history and her relationship with her sisters. It felt like those where overshadowed but her new relationships and the developing romance. Now, the romance, it definitely does feel quite like a slow burn romance where they don’t even like each other in the first book. That’s what I like in a slow burn. Fenris is an interesting character which I would also love to know more about. In this book, he felt very much like a side character but still the love interest. So hopefully we’ll know more of him in future books.

-The ending did started getting interesting again. But, again, it took different directions to what I had imagined. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I had hoped for something else. I didn’t particularly like the storyline with Kastor, and at the end that kind of blew up in our faces. But I’m glad that’s over and we can focus on other things in the sequels.

Ertha's story was so intriguing, romantic and tragic. I loved this story between enemy kingdoms and old magic. Would recommend for high fantasy readers. This had interesting political games which had great payoff.

I am literally enchanted by the cover of this book. It is so pretty that I need it on my bookshelf just to look at. This dark romantasy was lush and the prose was just as elegant as the cover. I loved every trope this book hit.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for this book, and I can't wait for other people to get their hands on this book.

It has been a while since a book surprised me in such a positive way; our MC, Ertha, has a quiet inner strength about her. She is flawed but feels so real and mature to me. Ertha is the kind of MC I would like to read more of, not a sassy heroine but a calm healer who has an inner light and strength about her that suffuses the pages. I did feel like she made an odd choice at the end, but I do understand my girl was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

A lot of the supporting characters feel unique and have their own story to tell. I love the found family in this one, especially with Munnin and Huggin. It was fun to see how Munnin especially challenged our girl Ertha to question people's real motives in a nonabrasive way.

And let us not forget about Fenris. Ooh, that man can do no wrong in my eyes (yes, I know, I know, I am a sucker for the dark and broody ones).

Overall I am excited to read book 2 and will definitely keep an eye out for it. While I saw most of the plot twists coming, there was a surprise here and there, the magic was interesting, all in all it was a great overall read for me.

The Seventh Sister is a rich and riveting addition to the dark romantasy genre, blending fairytale mystique with high-stakes political intrigue and a heroine who refuses to be defined by the forces trying to control her. From the moment Ertha is torn from the sacred halls of the Selenyss Temple, the story launches into a whirlwind of secrets, slow-burn tension, and the kind of lush worldbuilding that pulls you under like a spell.

Ertha is a compelling protagonist—resilient, deeply intuitive, and caught in a storm of loyalties that constantly shift around her. The Sons of Uther, equal parts myth and menace, are as enigmatic as they are dangerous, and the two central male figures—her eerie, otherworldly captor and the soldier she once saved—offer a romantic tension that crackles with uncertainty.

What sets this novel apart is its pacing: it never lets you rest. Every chapter peels back another layer of deception, magic, or emotion, keeping you guessing right up to the end. And just when you think you understand what’s going on, The Seventh Sister reminds you that fate is often stranger—and darker—than fiction.

Perfect for fans of The Prison Healer, Throne of Glass, or Flesh & Fire, this is a beautifully written, emotionally charged, and addictive read that lingers long after the final page.

I appreciate being given the opportunity to read this eArc from NetGalley.

Overall, I enjoyed the plot of the book. It has good bones, though I wish it had a little more fleshing out. Fenris was an intriguing MMC for what we were given. I liked the language aspect of the worldbuilding but wish the initial uses had been refined for clarity. (Ex: it took me several mentions to realize kalda was supposed to be winter. Still don't understand the sun/moon thing.) The lore around the Emrys (gods) was presented in a unique way, if Persephone/Hades coded. Respectfully, however, this reads like a first draft. I am giving it 3 stars because I was able to finish it in one day and was still interested in the story despite the issues. I truly believe it has a lot of promise but I highly suggest doing a serious edit before publication.

The biggest issues I had, proceed with caution:

> Ertha's personality is feeble in contrast to her actions. It felt like she was a different person than who the plot is actually for, if that makes sense. She frequently describes a situation as one way, then has an opposing reaction. She doesn't really have strong feelings about anything despite constantly describing everything as "knives" and "blades", and most of her emotional moments are shallow and short lived.
> Zero chemistry between her and the MMCs. The bonding bracelets have no real impact on the plot or their relationship until literally the end. She is too okay with demeaning "dirty talk" for someone with zero experience with men. Then she acts surprised physical acts with them are "so feral" when all the men have been treating her like shit the entire book... then she has the gall to tell another women that first times should be gentle. Girl???? You don't even believe that for yourself.
> The two enslaved prostitutes Ertha meets are the only dark-skinned people in the story, and also the only ones with fantasy hair colors.
> Many nitpicky things: I won't list them all here, but various "facts" are either mentioned once then never again, never explained as truth or one of Ertha's visions, or mentioned multiple times as A before being retconned as B. Her veil, her powers, why she was sent to the monastery, the babies, among other things.
> The erotic diary entry is completely unnecessary and frankly unrealistic for a written recollection of events. Should have been paraphrased or been a vision triggered by touching the book.
> I had a hard time believing this was looked at by an editor. At least 3/4 of the sentences have one of the following mistakes:
(I understand wanting to preserve the author's intended voice, but IMO these show some pretty serious issues with logic in the story and can interfere with the plot.)

- address multiple topics and should be split into several sentences
I could barely hear him over the din of the Sons' leering laughter and raucous conversation, as if they were in a tavern for ale and had not just slaughtered hundreds of innocent people for no discernible reason other than their vile nature to take rather than make, to destroy rather than cultivate.
VS
I could barely hear him over the din of the Sons' leering laughter and raucous conversation. When I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine they were boisterous drunkards in a tavern, not sober men fresh from slaughter. It made my stomach twist in disgust. Hundreds of innocent lives had been lost tonoct, simply because these Uthari invaders desired to take--to destroy--rather than make or cultivate anything for themselves.

- have an incorrect actor
I held up the green glass neck of the empty mead bottle.
VS
I held up the empty, green-glass mead bottle by its neck.

- are overwrought, too wordy or flowery
Rhapso hiccupped and giggled as she fumbled for a bit of parchment from a basket perched on the small side table next to the scrolling arm of her couch.
VS
Giggling, Rhapso leaned over the scrolled arm of her couch and began rifling through a basket of parchment perched on the nearby side table.

- use metaphors that were clearly chosen to sound cool but don't make sense
The two women dissolved like candied rose petals on a tongue into fits of breathless giggles.

- utilizes the wrong sense for metaphor? or wrong verbs for action? Lots of sight-based descriptions for things that are *invisible*
A voice like rancid oil > Rancid implies taste or smell, but voice is hearing.
I let my words snap and crack against his smarmy face and watched it contort from smugness and mold itself into rage. [Smarmy = Behavior, not Appearance] VS My words snapped in the chilly air, and I watched with bated breath as his smug face contorted in ugly rage.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

The blurb for this book really got me curious, so when I got the chance to read it early (thank you!), I immediately started as I was so excited.

I loved the overall vibes. It really pulled me in and was hard to put down. It was actually the first darker fantasy I truly enjoyed reading. The banter between the FMC and MMC was a highlight, and the breadcrumb-style clues sprinkled throughout were really well done, leading to some satisfying reveals. Plus, the chapter art was absolutely gorgeous and added such a special touch to the reading experience.

That said, I found myself a bit let down by the ending. After carefully building the world and characters for over 250 pages, the final 50 felt rushed and disjointed to me. I struggled to keep up and found myself wondering how we got there and why. It left me with a lot of unresolved questions. I believe this is the first in a duology (or series?), but even so, I wish the pacing had been more balanced. I caught myself looking at the page count thinking, “Okay… this is gonna be tight.”

Regarding the writing I really felt it did fit the vibe and added value to the overall experience. One personal quirk: I tend to notice repeated phrasing, and the frequent use of “my magic” started to distract me after a while. I also felt the spice scenes didn’t quite match the tone of the rest of the book and came across as a bit out of place for me.

Overall, a solid read with a strong atmosphere and lots of potential, but I’m hoping for a smoother landing in the next installment.

I clapped when I finished this book. Literally. My boyfriend looked at me like I was crazy. It’s so good, though! The slow burn was torture in the best way. And I do mean SLOW. Like a nonexistent, I-just-know-eventually-something-will-happen kind of burn. I can’t even say much about the MMC because I’ll spoil it but all I’ll say for now is I can’t wait for book 2!! I can just imagine the romance we’ll get as the story continues. This is the problem with reading the first book of a series. It just makes you want more! Following this author so I can get updates about the next book. What a great storyteller. Thanks so much to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this incredible ARC!

Read full extended review on my website

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

The Seventh Sister is an emotional and character-driven fantasy that takes its time building tension. M.A. Brown delivers layered relationships, a haunting backstory, and a protagonist who grows slowly but meaningfully.

I appreciated how grounded the magic felt—woven into family history and legacy. The prose is understated but evocative, and the themes of guilt, fate, and healing are handled with care. It may be a slow burn, but the impact sneaks up on you. A rewarding and thoughtful read.

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing for the arc!

Unfortunately, this story wasn’t for me. The summary sounded like something I would thoroughly enjoy, but I struggled with the writing style. It’s marketed as a romantasy - there was next to no romance. There was no chemistry. There was barely even any conversation! It’s also marketed as dark - barely. The random “dark” scenes felt like a speed bump in the desert - unfitting and, like, unnecessary? But there were definitely lots of em dashes!

Further on the writing, I found that it focused more on being descriptive rather than storytelling, and in turn, disrupted the slim chance of consistent pacing. The central theme of the story is balance, but there was none when it came to world building, plot progression, and character development.

Additionally, I couldn’t even tell what the protagonist’s goal was until maybe the last 20% of the book(?) I understood escaping was AN objective, but was that truly it? Maybe I had missed it, but whatever plot line involved Red Lady felt so disconnected.

Other people seem to review this book highly and I’m glad it’s found the right audience. Sadly, I’m just not part of them.

I DNF'd this at 15%.

I really gave it an old college try. Really did. But between the useless switch up of words like 'dey' for day, and 'noct' for night for some bland fantasy world flavoring, language inconsistencies (Vanyth versus Vanithian) and just plain bad grammar with phrases like 'I approximated where the bolt would be' among others riddling this book, I couldn't force myself to go on.

This reads like a high school creative writing project and it is absolutely not fit for publication in this state. If I got writing of this quality when I edited my college lit mag, it would have been rejected. It would be disservice to both to both reader and author. Hopefully, with the information one gleans from Netgalley and its readers, the course can be corrected. As it is, this book needs a much stronger editor to take it in hand, and even then I don't think that'll save this without the author working to hone her craft. There needs to be a couple more drafts between this and publication.

Like, some of the ideas are sound. Cute wolf illustrations. The concept intrigued. But this is absolutely not ready for publication, whether it be trad or indie. It needs to go back in the oven and bake for like, another three years. However long it takes for the author to get a better grasp of grammar and syntax, practice writing how people actually talk, and shaking off the tropes they've cobbled together and called a novel. The fact that they made it this far tells me they've the will to see this thought, just not yet the skill, and the skill will only come with practice.

I am not making this review public anywhere at this time, as I think this book shouldn't be brought to publication in the state its currently in. At all.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and a lot of things were done well within it. I enjoyed the dynamics between the FMC and MMC a lot. I’m a sucker for a gruff, protective man. The inclusion of mythology was both interesting enough to grab my attention as well as well-incorporated, such that it helped add to the overall setting and world-building. The beginning felt a bit shaky in that I felt more time could be spent establishing the bond between the FMC and her friend (in my opinion it would add depth to the FMC’s feelings toward the friend and make it more believable) but the book really hit a rhythm and made up for what I felt was a tad weak of a beginning. The intrigue within it was built rather nicely and there were several parts that I did NOT see coming! It was refreshing and overall an enjoyable read. I would surely read the next book!

PROS
- good attempt at avoiding anachronisms, I can tell the author is very much a fantasy person (although avoiding anachronisms doesn't mean just finding and replacing words, but rather interpreting them in the context of the world- bc of this some words became extremely confusing as to why they would change i.e. nightcap -> noctcap??? weird)
- concept is interesting
- imo given a few more drafts and improvement of chemistry for the main relationships this would become a book I would reread for fun.....it's just not there yet

CONS
- needs more editing + revising- obvious typos such as "retch/wretch" repeated mult. times; many metaphors overwritten and unnecessary. clauses seem to be separated strangely and independent clauses will be separated by only a comma and no conjunctions
- sentence length needs more variation especially if this is meant to be a lighter read as sentences tend to drag without reason
- a large problem with showing and not telling (very noticeable in metaphors, i.e. "weariness like lead" "grief like a knife" that seem deep at first read but actually just tell you what the character is experiencing instead of giving a more visceral description)
- personally cannot identify MC's major character growth throughout the story; in fact, MC's character seems to be inconsistent at times and extremely oblivious to obvious plot points in order to progress the story...MC also seems quite bigoted towards the Sons at the beginning of the book and while that is a starting point for the character to grow, the conflict is not touched upon at all but rather sort of pushed to the side
- MC's dynamic with both love interests remains stagnant throughout the majority of the book and changes drastically and without foreshadowing in like the last 2 pages, making the change somewhat confusing and unsatisfying
- tournaments felt thrown in at the last second
- MC and fenris give stockholm syndrome and im just being real.....actually that might be a problem with the concept. tying the love interest to perpetrators of genocide and kidnapping never works out well.....it's giving colonizer romance

This was a tough one for me. It’s well-written and started off really interesting. I loved getting thrown into the world with the characters and the language. We’re launched into the story pretty quickly too. There is definitely a Vikings feel, perhaps with a bit of ACOTAR. Ertha, the main character, a princess, and a healer, is great…. until about halfway through the book.

At this point, the story felt like it stalled as my connection with Ertha turned into being frustrated with her choices and lack of insight in the people around her. Perhaps she’s just sheltered, and I’ve read too many books.

3.75 stars: This is the start of a series, worth checking out if you are a romantasy fan!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and M.A. Brown for the arc.

The beginning wasn’t the easiest to comprehend, and I found myself a bit confused at first. My interest didn’t really spark until around the 15% mark—though to be fair, the blurb (which I saw after applying for the ARC) had already piqued my curiosity.

As much as the story was intriguing, I seriously considered DNF-ing at 20% due to the mentions of breeding—it just made me uncomfortable. That said, the writing itself was beautiful. It had a lyrical quality that pulled me in, and I found myself wanting to keep going just for the prose alone.

I had a gut feeling that Kastor was too good to be true... but I definitely didn’t see the twist with her being married to Fenris coming. That revelation was wild.

Despite my mixed feelings, I’m genuinely excited for the sequel and can’t wait to see where the story goes next.