Thank you to NetGalley and Second Sky for the ALC of The Serpent’s Bride by Kathryn Ann Kingsley. This dark vampire romance completely gripped me from the start! The FMC, Nadi, is a shapeshifting Fae fueled by revenge against the ruthless, mafia-esque Nostrom vampire family. After years of honing her skills as an assassin, she finally seizes her chance, taking on the form of the human bride meant for Raziel Nostrom in order to slip into his world and strike. But what she doesn’t anticipate is Raziel’s own deadly games and secret plans.

The tension between Nadi and Raziel crackles on every page, their banter is deliciously sharp, their chemistry intoxicating, and their power plays keep you on edge. And that ending? Absolutely jaw dropping! I’m still reeling and can’t wait to see the chaos unravel in book two.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ALC of The Serpent’s Bride by Kathryn Ann Kingsley. This is my honest, spoiler-free review.

🎧 Narration: 4.5/5
Desiree Ketchum does a fantastic job bringing the characters to life. The dialogue feels authentic and believable, and each voice stands out clearly. I did notice a small shift in tone between her general narration (descriptions, internal thoughts) and the dialogue, which occasionally pulled me out of the flow—but that’s a very personal nitpick, and overall the performance was excellent.

📖 Story: 4/5
The book opens with a bold choice from the FMC, who decides to take the place of the intended bride of a powerful, dangerous man. From there, the story unfolds in a world filled with mafia-like dynamics, deadly rivalries, and supernatural elements like fae and vampires. At its heart, it’s a tale of revenge, power, and survival, with morally gray characters navigating shifting loyalties and forbidden ties.

✨ Overall: 4/5
I really enjoyed the fast pace, the dark mafia-fantasy atmosphere, and the tension between the leads. The FMC’s deep anger and conflicted feelings contrasted perfectly with the MMC’s dangerously dark, morally gray nature. The ending left me reeling—and definitely eager for book two!

Thank you to Netgalley, Second Sky Books, and Bookouture Audio for an advanced listener’s copy of The Serpent Bride by Kathryn Ann Kingsley.

The Serpent’s Bride follows our FMC, named Nadi (but she is using an alias), who is a shape shifting Fae. She was wronged many years ago by our MMC, Raziel (a vampire), and his family after they slaughtered her entire family in front of her. She has spent the past 80 years perfecting her shape shifting and her assassinations to one day be able to take him and his entire family down. She learns that her chance to do this has come at last – the vampire will be taking a human bride who he has not met yet. Nadi decides to put all her training and grit to the test in her last bid to complete the revenge she had longed for by taking this human’s place to get closer to Raziel and his family to take them down one by one, even if it means losing herself.

This book was so much fun! I was addicted and finished in 3 days! I really enjoyed having older main characters. Nadi is 80+ years old, Raziel is 100+ years old. It made it easier to take on the dark tone of the book and mature themes when everyone is well past the age of consent. What I loved about Nadi (and the author) is that we aren’t just told that Nadi is a good assassin – we have multiple scenes where she is forced to shape shift to infiltrate and/or get herself out of trouble as well as multiple scenes where she is forced to fight and kill. I did not personally feel that this book falls into the trap of telling and not showing. I loved that Nadi was not a conventional attractive Fae – she is kind of a black sheep even amongst her Fae clan. What I felt needed more work is that Raziel (our vampire) is described as evil and ruthless, but I felt like he could have had more scenes to truly make this believable. He wasn’t as scary as he needed to be. Additionally, the inner monologues of both MC were slightly repetitive but not enough to annoy me.

It ends on an insane cliffhanger that literally left me shouting (IYKYK). The ending was so good that I sat on my bed and asked myself when the next one was coming out before realizing that this was an advanced copy and technically the first one had not even come out yet! I really liked the narration style, the characters, the dialogue, and the writing. I felt very captivated by it. It makes me want to read her other books while I wait for the next book in this series to come out!

The narrator (Desireé Ketchum) did an excellent job with the voice acting. Each character had different voices, and they were not obnoxious.
I cannot wait to keep reading this series! This is a series that I will be recommending to my friends and fellow readers! I am once again so thankful for an advanced copy!

5 ⭐️ NO NOTES

HOLY SHIT

if you like fantasy romance, enemies to lovers, vampires and fae but you also like mafia men, dark romances, and *holy shit the enemies to lovers are really enemies* then this is THE BOOK FOR YOU!!!!!

our fmc, nadi, is a shapeshifting fae assassin. YUP! YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! and she has been planning her revenge for *80 years* against the mmc and his entire family. nadi is such a badass and i never felt like she was weakened for the plot. she had her goals and she did everything to stick to them

on the other hand, you have our mmc raziel. he is a vampire and third son of basically vampire royalty. he can also hypnotize humans and loves to make them k!ll themselves instead of getting his own hands dirty (he has lots of creative ways to do this!) his entire family, and basically all vampires, hate fae and think of them like savages.

the book is set in a semi-urban fantasy. think: cars and electricity is new but g!ns are pretty regularly used. i’m not normally an urban fantasy girlie but this felt like a natural progression of technology instead of just inputting a fantasy plot into the real world.

i need the next installment of this series immediately because the ENDING? had me screeching!

for audiobook listeners, i listened to about 50% and then switched over to the ebook version! the narrator did an amazing job and i was on the edge of my seat the entire time!

huge thank you to The Nerd Fam, Second Sky, and Kathryn Ann Kingsley for the ARC and ALC of this book!

ARC & ALC Review

If you like:
- Vampire Mafia
- Spice
- Marriage of Convenience
- Dark Romantasy
- Revenge
- Fae shifter

This is the book for you 🧛🏽🩸

Overall, this was a good read. It was dark, spicy, and entertaining.

My one thing is this is advertised as true enemies to lovers but I fear it is not. The fmc falls for the mmc almost instantly. Although she fights with herself a lot in her head about him and does things an enemy would do, she fell for him fast. When you write an enemies to lovers, you want them to be true enemies where they actually hate each other and have that tension and attraction build up slowly. We didn’t get that here. Other than this, I did enjoy this book and look forward to book 2.

The plot had me very intrigued. We had mafia meets vampire which is a first for me and I loved it. It was something different for me which I liked. The spice was spicing, I love Vampire smut 😩🤭


The audio was good! It was your average audiobook, I honestly have no complaints about it. It wasn’t amazing but it also wasn’t bad. It was a good, solid audiobook. The narrator did a great job for the mmc, the voice was deep and dark! Especially during the smut scenes, I was like “okayyy”


4 Stars ⭐️

This story had an intriguing premise and a dark, atmospheric setting that pulled me in at the start. The worldbuilding was unique and there were moments that really caught my attention. However, the pacing felt uneven at times, and some character choices didn’t fully connect with me. I enjoyed parts of the romance and tension, but other sections dragged or felt repetitive. Overall, it was a decent read with potential, but it didn’t completely capture me the way I hoped.

Thank you to Bookouture Audio | Second Sky Books for the audio ARC! This audiobook is narrated by the always amazing Desireé Ketchum, no notes, she was perfect for this one!

From now on if anyone asks for a dark, enemies to lovers, this is the book I will recommend! Just beware of the cliffhanger.

My favorite thing in this book was the way the FMC thought through every action, each time I would try to predict what was going to happen next, she would show me how it would play out and then do something else. The use of 3rd person POV was very clever, and I felt like I was right in the action. The spice was earned, I absolutely loved the chemistry between the two MCs.

The world building in the first 15-20% is a little heavy but once it takes off, hang on tight!

When is pub day for book two?! :)

The Serpent Bride was such a fast-paced, easy read that kept me hooked from start to finish. The story is full of plot twists and ends on a dramatic cliffhanger that left me excited for the next book.

I really enjoyed following the FMC Nadi, a fae assassin, as she takes on the dangerous task of impersonating her enemy’s new fiancée to get revenge on him for killing her family. The tension between her mission and her emotions made this a great read!

Thank you to The NerdFam and SecondSkyBooks for the gifted ALC

Wow what a fast paced thrill ride. I loved every minute of this book. This book starts off with a bang and doesn't stop. The FMC Nadi is fierce, and the MMC Raziel is dark, steamy and scary. This is everything you need in a sexy fantasy book, the perfect amount of banter, angst and spice. I cannot wait until book 2, the ending of this book left me with my mouth open!

This story appealed to me as soon as I saw vamipes and what an introduction we get to this book from the very first chapter!!

It has some of my favourite tropes!
🩸Enemies to Lovers
🩸Arranged Marriage
🩸Forced Proximity
🩸Vampires & Fae
🩸Mafia Family Vibes

This isn't the first story I've read by this author, and I find they balance the story telling really well. The world building in this isn't too deep, but it doesn't need to be to get the point across. It's easy to follow and enjoyable, especially as I was listening to the audio version.

I loved the main characters Nadi and Raziel! Nadi is bad ass, out for revenge and hiding her true self whilst Raziel is dark, dangerous, and has a reputation of being feared by many. Both of them are curious and suspicious yet find themselves drawn to each other.

There's so much going on with Warrington clans, family drama, and plenty of secrets that keep you intrigued! After that ending, though, I'm going to need book 2 already 🙈

Thank you, Bookature Audio for the alc of this for my honest review 🫶

🎧🎧🎧🎧/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
📆 Pub Date August 28 2025

♥️ arranged marriage
♥️ Enemies to lovers
♥️ Fea/vampire romance

When SHE kills a man and HE licks the knife clean, this book delivers all the mafia romantasy tropes we crave. Their hate towards one another is clear, yet they also desire each other. Definitely a dark romance so I would read the content warnings before diving in. 😈
Desireé Ketchum's narration was excellent, which is high praise considering my usual aversion to the third-person perspective narratives. That cliffhanger ending has me dying to get my hands on the next instalment!!

I alternated between reading the e-book and the audiobook, and both formats were really good.

The story follows a fae assassin seeking revenge for her family’s death by pretending to be a vampire bride. Both the MMC and FMC were really well developed, and I couldn’t help but be drawn into their enemies-to-lovers dynamic.

That ending left me desperate for Book 2....I need to know what happens next and why!

If you’re a fan of fae, vampires, and shapeshifting with just the right amount of spice, this one’s for you.

The narrator gave these characters the justice they deserved. She didnt miss a beat and I was able to listen to this in one sitting! Now the story's review:
I dont normally say this when writing a review, but this was really well written. It has a polish to it, where if you are looking for a more intellectual read vs fun read, youre honestly going to be receiving both. A fantasy mafia romance with a fae assassin where the MMC is actually hate-able? Gimme. This didn't disappoint at all. I couldn't stand the MMC (Raziel) but I also really freaking liked him. The author wrote him so realistic that I was getting the ick from him because men are just, well, men; cant live with them, cant live without them. The FMC (Nadi), absolutely love her. She is perfect on absolutely every single way— smart, cunning, strong, and unable to help herself when it comes to a crazy hot male hahaha. Like do I blame her for her love hate relationship here? Nah. Not even a little. This story was a lot of fun and I found myself finishing it in one sitting.

Thank you Netgalley and Thenerdfam for the arc and audiobook of this

I went into this one never having heard of the author before and just going off the synopsis of the book. I'm a big fan of dark romance and vampires, so I was intrigued. The premise was very interesting and, with it being the first in a series, you do get a good dose of world building and relationship setup. The pacing is good throughout, but as we neared the end I wasn't sure what would happen to our two MCs. The book definitely ends with a twist, and I'm mad. I didn't see it coming, but I was at the same time so excited as it kept me guessing. The narration for the audio is really well done too, and I didn't need to speed this audiobook up too much for it to be enjoyable - I listened at x1.25. Overall, I would give this a solid 4 stars and I look forward to Book 2.

Thank you to Second Sky Books for sharing an advance copy of the Audiobook with me for review.

Omg that ending was amazing 👏🏼👏🏼 I need the next book now please!

I had zero expectations going into this but I honestly really enjoyed it. If you enjoy mafia romances and romantasy, this is the perfect combination of both.

This is a TRUE enemies to lovers! Like these two are literally out to kill each other (except only one of them is open about it while the other is secretly plotting).

Nadi is a shapeshifting fae and watched her family being brutally murdered by Raziel, the ‘Serpent’, years ago. She’s been on a mission to wipe out the vampire and his whole family and she finally gets a chance by pretending to be his human fiancé and marrying him.

Raziel is as bad as they come, the vampire has no qualms about hurting people, human, vampire or fae. There’s no morally grey here 😂 He hates literally everyone and on top of that he has a major inferiority complex when it comes to his family members.

I only wish we could have explored Nadi’s hatred a bit more, I fear she wasn’t angry enough at this man. Would have enjoyed some secret sabotaging here and there but it honestly felt like she was working against herself a lot of the time.

The ending more than made up for any problems I had and the book itself was actually funny. I laughed a lot at their inner thoughts and the story was easy to follow.

Really looking forward to the next book whenever it comes out!

This was a enjoyable romance fantasy with a perfect cliffhanger that has me itching for the next book!

The world building in this book was well done with the history they created between the fae, vampires and humans was so interesting. I'm excited to see where it goes and if they continue to build the different areas in the next book.

I will say that the "dark romance" part of this book was lacking a little and I think they build up the parts a lot for not much to happen.

From the audiobook perspective the dual POV was harder with just one narrater trying to change their voice for the male parts, currently I would recommend reading it instead of listening.

Thank you Netgalley and Kathryn Ann Kingsley for the Audio ARC. My thoughts and review are my own and have not been biased by the fact.

There was so much to unpack in this book! The world building and magic system were wonderfully done and not confusing (which I really appreciate). The characters all felt well thought out and had distinct personalities, albeit feisty (; Shapeshifters, vampires, secret identity, arranged marriage, and revenge; everything a reader could ask for, truly. I think what I loved most about this book was how incredibly well the author portrayed the BDSM aspects of their romance. The amount of trust, communication, control and surrender was IMPECCABLE. I have yet to interact with another book that has done it this well. Kudos to the author for that! The cliffhanger at the end has me chomping at the bit for book 2. Can’t wait!

I really enjoyed this book. Similar to other romantasy books but I loved the twist at the end. Def will be picking up the next one!

Great book! It took me a little bit to get fully into it because I was piecing together what was happening. But once I was in, I couldn’t get enough. There was just the right amount of spice, and it was placed where it didn’t feel rushed or forced. That ending had me audibly gasping and looking to my husband, saying “no freaking way!”

For the audiobook, the narrator did a great job capturing the emotions of the characters. Especially the anger, confusion, and attraction in them.

I can’t wait to see where this story goes in the next book!

—————

I would like to thank NetGalley for my advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.75)

I really enjoyed The Serpent’s Bride! Kathryn Ann Kingsley knows how to hook a reader, and I ended up binging this audiobook in just three days. The narration took this story up a notch. The voice acting, the little sighs, the emotion in the delivery: it made the book feel alive. I especially loved how the fae language was pronounced; it’s one of those details that works even better in audio.

The premise had me curious right away: vampires vs. fae with a mafia-and-revenge angle? Definitely my kind of thing, and not something I’ve read before. Our FMC is a ruthless assassin out for revenge after losing her family, and I immediately liked her for it. The MMC, on the other hand, is the violent and fearsome “bad guy” who is responsible for that. When the two finally meet, their banter and instant sexual tension had me hooked. Honestly, I found their push-and-pull even hotter than the actual spice (personal taste 👀).

The plot surprised me in some ways but was also a little bit foreseeable at times. There’s one choice the FMC makes that didn’t really line up with how she was set up earlier, and it frustrated me more than a little 😇.

Overall this was a fast, enjoyable read with a world and characters I want more of. The ending was a bit rude (how dare you cut it off there), but it definitely sets the stage for more action in book two. I’ll be picking up the sequel for sure.