I enjoyed this, it was a fast read and started off so strong!

If you like
Forbidden Love
Instructor X Teacher
Strong fmc
Fae
Academy Settings
Spicy Spice

Vicious Princess may be for you!

I really loved the start of the book but it has fizzled out a little for me as the story continued. It turned from more of a fantasy story into a spy action plot with many of the fantastic elements taking the back seat. The romance story was not really a slow burn as well. they fall fast and hard and especially the FMC is absolutely obsessed with the MMC which is not the trope for me (I’m looking at you too Violet….) I think it’s still overall an enjoyable read and I will keep an eye out for other work of this author.
Thanks to #netgalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

I really loved this book and can not wait for the next!

It has everything on my list for a 5 Star read:
- Shady MMF
- Kickass Woman
- Academy setting
- Loveable best friend
- Spice
All that is missing is a dog

Phoenix is out for revenge! When her family is brutally murdered Phoenix, a highly trained soldier, is determined to climb the ranks of her enemy and take them out from the top down.

When she meets the Shady MMF and has a quick evening, she thinks she is just blowing off steam and will never see him again. Shocker, he is also at the Academy. His position complicating things.

Phoenix is a determined, brave, strong woman. There is nothing and no one who will get in her way.

Thank you Netgalley and Karolina Wilde for this advanced copy of "Vicious Princess". All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars! The book started of easy to read and then I found it changed and I just wasn’t enjoying it as much. The spice felt forced and I wasn’t a fan of the last few chapters.

Phoenix is a badass, scarred fighter with a bow and a thousand reasons to trust no one and want revenge. Daegel is a brooding fae Major, torn between duty, family ties and the human woman who sets his blood on fire. When he becomes her mentor, the line between training and temptation blurs things even further.

I loved Phoenix; a gifted archer with a body map of scars and a talent for stabbing first - she’s fierce, flawed, and refreshingly unusual as a heroine. Daegel is the perfect broody foil, all tough exterior with a cinnamon-roll heart just for her. Their dynamic starts as it continues - with oodles of chemistry and crackling with tension.

That said, this book doesn’t shy away from darkness. The bullying Phoenix endures and the brutality of the underground gambling den hit me hard - they’re integral to the story, but they’re not easy to read. I also found myself craving more closure on a few loose ends: What happened to the lover she adored from the boat in the opening chapter? And his friend with the guesthouse? Meanwhile Daegel’s revelation left me side-eyeing him for the rest of the book. I was jumping on the edge of my seat for the final trial, waiting to see if a betrayal would come.

Still, the world-building is rich, the romance is deliciously intense, and Phoenix’s journey is one I’ll happily follow into the next book. If you love your heroines lethal, this is absolutely for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Karolina Wilde for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

ੈ✩‧₊˚Rating*ੈ✩‧₊˚
3.5?/5 Stars

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗Tropes˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗
🏹 One-Night Stand…
🪶 Instructor x Student
🏹 Warrior FMC
🪶 Human In A World Full Of Fae
🏹 Soldier In Academy

𓂃🖊Notes and Highlights-

‧₊˚ ┊Without balance, strength becomes madness, wisdom becomes cruelty, and spirit becomes decay.┊˚₊‧

‧₊˚ ┊Power is not only force but presence. Mastery of emotional and spiritual control is as vital as combat skill. ┊˚₊‧

💭 Thoughts-

-ˋˏ✄┈┈Ok, so I don’t know about you all but starting off the first chapter and page of a book with a sex scene… I usually just skip those to be honest…but I was definitely surprised to say the least when I saw this one…

-In the book the girl was all revenge, let them all burn, and die in a fiery abyss type thing. Then after like only 5 chapters it was like bye bye lives works hellooo boy candy who's also my teacher??

-With all those negatives though I did enjoy the book, in all it was a fun quick read even for its length. Yeah, it was a bit cliché, but I still enjoyed it and am honestly conflicted about the rating for it and may end up doing it higher. Or lower… so we shall see!

Now Playing:

⊹ ࣪ ˖Wolves By Selena Gomez˖࣪ ⊹
0:01 ❍─────── 4:28
↻ ⊲ Ⅱ ⊳ ↺
Volume: ▁▂▃▄▅▆▇ 100%
(This song is a vibe tho let's be honest)

Vicious Princess starts off strong and includes many of the familiar elements readers expect in romantasy. Our FMC is human, attending a Fae military school—scrappy, determined, and out for vengeance. The spice begins right away, so there’s no slow-burn yearning here. The book delivers good action scenes and a few memorable moments, though there are also some plot holes that will hopefully be addressed in the next installment.

While I’m not sure if I’ll personally continue with this series, I can easily see it finding a fan base among romantasy readers who enjoy these tropes and themes.

I received this book as an ARC. All of my opinions are my own.

This book had an interesting premise. That being said, it was difficult for me to stay inside the story with all of the difficult to pronounce names/places and other issues. Towards the end of the book the POV changed and we were not even notified that it was a different POV. I was so confused when the new character said he would walk around with his shirt off when I didn’t even know it was a guy yet! I was like…wait this can’t be Phoenix saying she’d walk around d without a shirt? What is going on? Sometimes the writing g seemed a bit to juvenile for this to be an adult book. I mean I was interested in where the story was going but some parts were difficult to get through because of the writing. Hopefully it was edited better before it was released.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vicious Princess by Karolina Wilde was an interesting read. The first chapter really hooked me. Then I lost interest along the way. I was totally confused by that last chapter. The whole book we had 1 pov of the FMC then all of a sudden we get someone completely different like who is this. character. I know this is a series so we have to wait till book 2 for answers as to what happens next. Will I read book 2 - I probably will to find out more. I give this book a 1 out of 5 stars.

Thank you for the ark.

I enjoyed the book, it was a good read, but for me all the explanation in the beging was confussing.
Most of it was explained in the book, and personaly I would have loved if the Glossary was in the back.
The story in itself was ekciting, and I am looking forward to finding out what happens next

This one is on me. I didn’t realize it was teacher/student and any variation of this gives me the ick. It was well-written and I do enjoy Karolina Wilde’s books a lot but this one just wasn’t for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook. All opinions expressed are my own.

4.5 stars rounded to 5

Vicious Princess is a 100% here for the vibes kinda book. It's the first in The Trials of Death and Honor series and follows Decarios human, Phoenix Wildarrow, fighting to make thru the mostly fae attended Ezkai Academy so that she can receive an invitation to join the Order and eventually amass enough power and protection to get revenge on the peeps responsible for her family's murder.

Things I loved:
🗡️ This book is super easy to get into - I was hooked from the prologue
🗡️ She's spicy! I was not expecting the level of spice and hello, page 1 of chapter 1?!?! I'm not mad about it
🗡️ Instructor/student, mentor/mentee relationship - I love a forbidden pairing
🗡️ Despite being human surrounded by a bunch of stronger fae, Phoenix is a badass
🗡️ We've got an array of human, fae, and dwarves
🗡️ Phoenix's love/hate relationship with Sassy Bitch (IYKYK)

Things I wish were better (which I knocked off a 1/2 star for):
🗡️ I wish the world building was a bit stronger - I found myself wanting more details throughout the book (eg, Kazh, dragons, Wetra)
🗡️ I would have liked more depth to the grief/anger that Phoenix feels towards losing her family because this was the main reason for wanting to join the Order
🗡️ There was so much talk about Daegel's parents and I feel like I was also left in the dark. I would like a better understanding of how the Caligos fit into his life. Will we learn more about his backstory in the next book? I hope so and maybe we'll get his POV in the next book?

I think the ending sets up really nicely for book 2, Blood Queen, and I'm very much looking forward to reading. I hope to see more POVs (who is this Kregger dude??) and hope to see Phoenix bond more with her fellow academy graduates since a good portion of her time in training was spent being massively bullied for things she had nothing to do with. Also hoping we get details on the Wildarrow family and what happened with the Royal Guard. I read the blurb for Blood Queen and honestly, I'm a little nervous!

Thanks so much to Karolina Wilde for providing a copy of this book to read and review via NetGalley. Since I ended up finishing this after it was already released, I read via my KU subscription.

Vicious Princess

Karolina Wilde

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Enthralling, Gripping, and fully Addictive

Vicious Princess feels like a mix of Fourth Wing meets Descendents. From the POV of Phoneix, a human that travels to the fae realm to seek vengeance for her family's murder, the storyline follows her struggles to fit in amongst the best fae warriers.

This book includes an academy style plot line and forbidden love tropes, with the FMC being the underdog of the story.

Once I read past the glossary and got a feel for the different terms, I could not put this book down. It's truly a five-star read!

Thank you, Netgalley and Karolina Wilde, for this awesome book!

──⟡⋆˙✩ 1 star ✩ ⋆˙⟡──

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ If I can’t have their respect, I’ll take fear instead. *ೃ༄

𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔 βօօҟͲąցʂ 𓍯𓂃

➽ One night stand
➽ Teacher/student
➽ Stabby FMC
➽ Human in a world of Fae

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕀𝕤 𝔸𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥: ℕ𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕪 𝔼𝕕𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 ᯓ★

So our FMC, Phoenix—yes, her name is actually Phoenix, I am not joking—has a traumatic past and now she’s all about revenge. But for that she needs power. So she joins the academy for fighters. Anyway, big rule of the place: don’t sleep with your instructors. And yet here we are in the classic “she hooks up with a hot stranger at the bar, then turns up to her new job the next morning and—surprise—it’s her boss” trope.

ೃ⁀➷ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖:

So this premise had potential. I was ready for tension, angst, forbidden spark. What I got was… our MMC saying crude things and her immediately melting over it. That’s it. That’s the “tension.” It didn’t give me butterflies, it gave me a headache.

ೃ⁀➷ Phoenix:

On paper, she’s everything I’d normally like. Traumatized backstory, sharp tongue, stabby energy. But in practice? She felt like the idea of a badass heroine instead of an actual person. Like a sketch instead of a painting. A “look, I’m strong and independent” signboard instead of a character who just is.

ೃ⁀➷ The MMC:

Do I even need to? He’s not bad per se, just aggressively uninteresting. The kind of guy where you blink and forget he’s there. Every time he showed up I wanted to roll him off the page like a sticky note I didn’t need. And Phoenix drooling over him? Girl, why. Yes, he’s tall. Yes, he’s good-looking—if I squint. But surrounded by other tall, good-looking fae men, that’s not exactly rare currency.

ೃ⁀➷ Other Characters:

Here’s where I get salty. Why, oh why, do so many of these books follow the same formula? Catty women clawing at the FMC for absolutely no reason, as if female friendship is some mythical creature that couldn’t possibly exist. Every girl? A bully. The only one who treats her decently? A man. Groundbreaking. Truly.

And that’s the part that stuck with me most—not the romance, not the revenge plot, not even Phoenix’s name. Just the fact that apparently, being a girl’s girl is harder than fighting an army of fae.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing a digital arc of this book to review. Although my rating clearly isn’t the most favourable, I do appreciate being given the chance to try out interesting books!

Nix is our main character, a human living in a world with different countries, inhabited by humans and fae. She wants to join a military order, in order to climb the ranks and get revenge.

Before anything else I want to clarify that I DNFd this book at 18% (I was trying to make it to 20% but 18 is where it changed to part 2, so it made sense). Because I didn’t finish it, there’s a chance it was in fact incredible from the next page onwards, and therefore I don’t want to give a bad rating. I feel like 2/5 reflects my feelings without acknowledging that this book still has potential to be enjoyed by other readers.

Unfortunately I was thrown off instantly by the prologue and the start of chapter one. The prologue is set 3 years before our main story, and is about 50% a conversation between Nix, her sisters and her parents, and it conveniently basically tells us straight away Nix’s entire backstory. Not only that, it also gives pretty massive hints to the rest of the plot, which are only more cemented by the next half of the prologue. It felt like one of those trailers where you see the whole upcoming plot quite clearly.

It didn’t really help that chapter 1 (3 years after a HUGE backstory event covered by the prologue in about one page) starts with an instant smut scene. I love a good smut scene but it was rather jarring to go from one page to the next. The rest of the chapter carried on like this, jumping suddenly from one mood to another without much warning.

As I mentioned at the start, I read 20% of this book. Generally, this book isn’t badly written; grammatically it’s all correct, and the sentences make sense. I did feel there was a lot of repetition of words very close together, making it feel clunky, as well as very basic descriptive phrases being used. It felt like it needed a couple of big edits, to trim off the excess that wasn’t needed, and to add more depth to what was left.

This might be a good book for you if you enjoy academy settings, trials, and fae. For me, it didn’t do enough to pull me into the story and convince me to stay.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Karolina Wilde for giving me the chance to read this as an ARC.

If you’re looking for a new fantasy series to sink your teeth into Viscous Princess is definitely one you need to check out.

Forbidden romance
Morally Grey characters
Spicy
Academia setting

Need I say more?

The pacing of the story is partly what sold it for me it gets right to the point and leaves you speechless with cliffhangers. I especially loved the ‘will they won’t they?’ Between the Phoenix and the MMC (won’t put the name because spoilers).

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

First, I'd like to thank NetGalley and the author-Karolina Wilde for allowing to this read this ARC

Now let's get into the review...


"Vicious Princess"- by Karolina Wilde was refreshing to say the least. It's been a while since I've gotten into fantasy books, and getting to read the first book in what I think will be a great series was awesome. It got me excited-reading and learning about new magic systems and a new world to discover. I really appreciate this Authors way of setting intrigue in her story writing. Some questions being answered, some not but the breadcrumbs are there. I think it sets a nice pace in the tone of the story and how it'll be unraveled by the series end.

I finished this book within 48 hours as I couldn't put it down, and the times when I did- my thoughts straying right back to the world of our heroine- Phoenix.

Safe to say I loved this book, and I can't wait to see what unfolds in the continuation of this series

Thanks for an e-arc of this book. I really enjoyed the story and the romance in this it was soooo goood and I found not out the book down! I love a fantasy book set in a school/training academy and this fully hit the spot. The fantasy elements and the world and powers was so interesting and I really enjoyed reading and imagining this whole fictional world. Can’t wait to pick up the second book!!

Vicious Princess delivers a potent mix of raw emotion, forbidden romance, and high-stakes fantasy. Phoenix is a heroine who earns every inch of her power, and Daegel is the kind of morally grey mentor who keeps you guessing and sighing.

From the first chapter, Vicious Princess grips you by the throat and refuses to let go. Phoenix, a scarred and determined human, enters the brutal world of Ezkai Academy—an elite training ground not built for mercy. Her mission? To avenge her murdered family by joining the legendary Order and rising through its ranks.

If you thrive on intense academy confrontations, morally ambiguous characters, and a romance that sizzles with heat, this one’s for you. Think Fourth Wing terrors, Throne of Glass grit, and The Bridge Kingdom tension wrapped into one addicting package.

I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Fantasy
Forbidden Romance
Instructor/Student
Spicy
Book 1 of The Trials of Death and Honor Series


This is the kind of fantasy book I absolutely love to devour.

Phoenix has lost everything, her parents, her siblings and her home in a blazing fire set by her own rulers.
She leaves the human lands to join the elite Order of Ezkal, an academy for the Fae to learn enough to avenge her family.
A night of passion with a stranger leads to complications when she learns that she has broken the ultimate rule before she even joins the academy. She slept with an instructor.

I could not put this book down, I enjoyed every moment of it. This is just the beginning, I predict that this is going to be epic.
If you enjoy academic rivalry, forbidden love and underdog gets the bone kind of books then this is definitely something you would enjoy.



I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Xpresso Book Tours for this e-arc.