This was a really solid debut Romantasy.

I would absolutely continue on and I NEED to know what happens to Darius and Lena. I d the side characters, the magic powers and there were some awesome reveals right at the end. I was completely blindsided. My mouth was hanging open. There was a lot of great tension to the story and the stakes felt very high.

However, there were 2 areas that floundered for me. I want to be honest because I genuinely believe this author is going to grow and improve so much. There are just some aspects that need tightening up.

The first thing was the pacing for me. I feel in certain situations we went round and round a few too many times before moving the story onward. I felt a bit of a yo-yo effect.

The other thing almost had me DNFing, so I'm gonna bring it up. This book was unnecessarily crass and strangely modern in that respect. I am in no way a prude, but it felt so "off" to be reading a Fantasy Romance and having so many c*cks and c*nts and p*ssy's flying around. It made me roll my eyes more than anything.

I know Darius and Lena are Fated Mates, and they are going to feel super duper attracted to each other. Cool! I'm here for it! Love that! However, it became ridiculous how we are worried about an ARMY OF SOULLESS and Lena is getting "slick" for him... Come on! From the first time they catch a glimpse of each other, that's all we hear about.

Yet this was called a slow burn... Sure, they don't fully consummate until later in the story but.. they are literally humping each others legs at every opportunity, mauling each other in public. It just made me lose respect by a certain point. Hence, I almost DNF'd because not only do they want to bone each other... but everyone else wants to bone them too and they spend half the time scaring off rivals. *eye roll*.

Okay, that's enough, I said I wouldn't rant as this probably won't bother everyone else. But there are other ways to show the heat and desire between two Fated Mates without hard pricks and slick lady bits. (Yes, lady bits is actually a term used in this book.) And I am only bringing this up because it happened over and over and OVER.

Again, there was lots of good to this story. I was very hooked after a powerful prologue and some dark elements throughout. Great characters and complex family dynamics. I see lots of promise in this series. That is why I was so annoyed by the other stuff.

If what I mentioned won't bother you, please give this a go. I will be continuing myself as well.

3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
2 on the spice scale

CW: SA, Forced Pregnancy, core, violence, torture, PTSD2024-arcs 2024-read16 s Lena91 17

Thank you Nerd fam for the gifted ARC!

I had really high hopes for this book, but it fell flat for me. I didn’t really feel any connection to the characters, and they came off as very one dimensional. The book was over 500 pages long and really not much happened. The romance was boring to me—they had an unexplained instant “bond” and were just kinda obsessed with each other and there wasn’t any depth to the relationship. I thought about DNF’ing many times but ultimately decided to stick with it.

Lastly, this book needs A LOT of editing. I’m usually not one to pay attention to typos but there were a lot. There were multiple times that characters names were misspelled, once a paragraph was written twice, and a ton of spelling/grammatical errors. Certain phrases were repeated excessively, such as “amethyst orbs” and “her cherry, vanilla, and cinnamon scent.” And the smut didn’t hit bc of the worst possible words: “cream,” “juices,” and “mound.”

I hate rating books lower than 3 stars…I just really did not vibe with this book and it took me a week to get through, which is a lot for me. the-nerd-fam12 s Cheri Sypolt51 14

Okay let me first say I was blown away with this book. It is a good balance between world building and romance. Perfect for the readers who want to start out reading fantasy. I fell in love with Darius and the fact that his pov was very heavy made my heart swoon. THE SLOW BURN HAD ME ON MY TOES!! I am obsessed how both main characters are so strong and powerful in their own ways. The ending…….. wow I did not see that coming and I need the next book to come out asap!!! 6 s Susan Carolynn132 586

4.5 stars! OMG screaming, finally a romantic fantasy that has actual world-building and a clear magic system. I read this in a day, and I couldn't put it down.

After thirty years of closed borders, the city of Seboia has been victim to an increasing number of attacks from the Gods Cursed Soulless. And its fae and immortal citizens with elemental magic are at the Soulless' mercy. Darius, the Captain of the Seboian Guard, is in charge of protecting his kingdom. But his duty begins to waver when a group of mysterious travelers enter the kingdom, one of whom is Lena. Lena has one purpose in Seboia—something that does not include falling in love with Darius. But as enemies lurk closer, Lena and Darius are thrust onto a new path.

I loved how the book immediately jumped into the action and was a very harsh introduction to the state of the kingdom. The first 100 pages of the book threw me into the world and did a great job of establishing that there's a looming threat, even though everyone seems to be at peace. Adelphia was easily one of the most interesting characters. I love how the prologue was in her POV, and that completely contrasted with the portrayal of her being cold and detached in the rest of the book.

The world-building was so interesting. The elemental magic, with jewel markings, alongside rarer gifts was great. It was easy to visualize the physical setting and the magic.

It was a pleasant surprise after the prologue that there was humor and banter throughout the book. Based on the first few chapters, I thought this would be a much darker fantasy, but the dialogue was fairly light-hearted and often comedic.

The side characters were great, and I loved how Amara, Aurora, Zander, Kade, Griffin, and Tristan all had distinct personalities. And why did I all of the side characters more than the main characters?

While the book was overall great, it did slow down in pacing during the middle, before picking back up again. I didn't fully understand the insta-love and insta-bond between Darius and Lena. It felt a bit unnatural, and Darius' possessiveness over Lena was a bit too much after he knew her for all of five seconds. And there were some choice words in the spice that were, let's say, not my cup of tea.

And while I love a good scheming unreliable female narrator, there was not enough information about Lena and her realm revealed in this book. I know it's a series, but I wish we got more answers in this book about who Lena was and where she came from. The lack of knowledge made me feel detached to Lena as a character. I also wish there was more information about what fate and the gods had planned for Darius.

But could not recommend this book more for romantasy readers who lean more towards the fantasy part of romantasy!

Thank you so much to The Nerd Fam and Ella Dawes for sending me an ARC of To Bleed a Kingdom. As always, my are one hundred percent voluntary and all opinions are my own :) fantasy-romance found-family insta-love ...more7 s Phoebe77

Thank you to The Nerd Fam for the gifted ARC.
(E-ARC)
Rating- 3 stars
I was super excited to read this book. The synopsis really sold this book for me and included tropes and things that I love in fantasy books. It sold me more being a dark fantasy romance book. I was so happy to have received an copy of this. This book was not bad but it was not fantastic at the same time.

To bleed a Kingdom is a dark adult fantasy romance book that features a fierce heroine, an alpha immortal with a cast of shifters and fae. This book does include trigger warnings at the start of the book-please be mindful of your triggers and protect your mental health. This book has:
Unique magic system
Found Family
Touch her and you'll die
Lush world building

As you start the book, there is a very heavy prologue that features a lot of the trigger warnings that is present at the start of the book. It is a very heavy scene, a scene that I had to put the book down for a few more days before resuming. Although the book is dark, it does become quite lighter in context and you really get to know the characters from the beginning of the story. The characters are described really well and the author gives plenty of context for each character. This also goes hand in hand with the amazing world building. The world building was beautiful and really made you get a feel for the place as it was packed full of tidbits and context. The author really did a amazing job with the world building.

The fond family/romance was also done brilliantly too but I really thought that it overshadowed too much. It was great to see a foundation of characters being developed and forming friendships/relationships as it really sets up for future books. It keeps you guessing on what will happen in future books. But the romance really took over to a point where by 35% in the book I was yet to see a actual plot. I knew something was happening with the main character Darius but it was lost and never picked up.

With no plot, it was a constant cycle of romance, fighting, posseiveness etc. Whenever Darius saw another male touching her, he would go off in rage and threaten to kill someone or end up killing someone. It became so predictable. I really felt the whole relationship was toxic- the way he made her say you're mine in the breath of a minute really got me annoyed. I really did not feel they should have been together. Furthermore, it was also a nightmare to guess what the female and her group of friends were doing in the town. There was no inclination of what they were doing or what they were up to. You had no way of guessing what was going on and after the ending of the book we still do not know.

I also want to point out that my copy was a E-ARC and had errors throughout. As we were told that these would be sorted out in the final copy, we were told not to worry. The repetions of phases as the colour of their eyes, the way she smelled, few spelling mistakes. In one scene, the same names were used that compared another character to another. I knew who the character should have been and thought that it would be corrected in the final version. It was not which makes me wonder if errors has been picked up and corrected. I also did not the fact that the c word as someone pointed out in their review 28 times. It was not needed at all.

I did enjoy this book in some parts but with the constant errors, lack of plot etc it really lacked for me as a reader. I do however want to say that the author does have some much potential as the world building and the fond family trope were excellent and really were the highlight of the entire book.kindle-unlimited4 s2 comments Lexi Rachelle Reads126 1 follower

I went into this book thinking it was going to be 5 stars and I was exactly right
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