Court Politics, Romance, Suspense, Wyverns, Dragons and much more!!

Mal Blackburn, the fourth child, the outsider with the purple eyes, finds herself in the middle of a long forgotten curse, where she needs to act to save her people.

I loved the main characters, the strong FMC, the families and side characters.

I did struggle with the length of the chapters and the pacing. But it was worth the perseverance.

A must read for anyone who likes enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, court politics and magical creatures.

A Kingdom of Ash and Shadow by J.F. Johns delivers an immersive fantasy experience with rich world-building and intriguing characters. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic adds tension, and the court intrigue keeps the stakes high. However, while the story is engaging, I found the pacing uneven at times, making certain sections feel slower than expected. Despite this, the novel offers a compelling mix of magic, mystery, and romance that fans of the genre will appreciate.

Fans of Tamora Pierce and Sarah J. Maas’ works will LOVE this new series, “Kingdom of Gods”. In Book 1 we see a Wyverian princess being married off to a Draconian prince- long standing enemies united by this new alliance. However, witches are stirring in their fallen land, powers are rising, alliances can and will be broken through murder and deceit.

I think it’s been proven that if you throw a dark fantasy theme, strong female main character, and a murderous plot into a blender it creates one damn fine book. “A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash” WORKS, and I cannot wait for my GR friends to get their hands on this story.

The world building is on point with history, kingdoms, ruling families, and spectacular beasts (think giant wolves, dragons, wyverns, phoenixes and more). The characters are complex with their own personalities, traits, and arcs- good & bad.

Run, fly, swim, just don’t walk to order this epic tale!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for a copy!

This book was so fun! It was so empowering, and I loved the fmc! The fantasy elements were perfect! I hope to read more from this author!

First, a million thank you’s to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

This book BLEW ME AWAY. It gave me the same feeling as reading ACOTR the first time. If you like fourth wing, ACOTR, and Game of Thrones you need to read this book. Is enemies to lovers one of your favorite tropes? I ate it up in this book. Or MMC and FMC are enemies to lovers back to enemies then back to lovers! My poor heart could barely handle it. I need book 2 in my hands ASAP.

Also, daddy Kai am I right? 😘

I would give this book a 5/5! It was such a great read, feeling almost like Game of Thrones meets Fourth Wing. I can't wait to read the next installment and I will recommend this book to every fantasy reader!

Thank you Net Galley and J.F. John’s for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

My overall rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️

The story follows Mal Blackburn who is the fourth born in the Kingdom of Darkness who is bound to an oath marriage to the Fire Prince.

The book is written in 3rd person and has many characters and POV’s throughout the book. While I typically love this writing style I found it somewhat hard to become emotionally invested in these characters and to actually know them on a deeper level, simply due to the changes in POV after almost every chapter. I found it hard to want to pick the book back up when I took any breaks.

I absolutely loved the enemies to lovers, tension filled slow burn between Mal & Ash…until it completely went away. It didn’t feel believable that all of the sudden they fully trusted each other and loved each other after only a few weeks of knowing one another. I actually loved Kai (Mal’s brother) & Alina (Ash’s sister) storyline to be better and actually believable.

Overall, the book was good and I would recommend giving it a try! The series definitely has potential to get better.

- a lot of things drew me into this book. first, the cover - the original cover. i’m not sure why it was changed to this one. it’s more, cartoony. in my opinion. second, the description of the book. you got witches, dragons, wyverns, a curse, etc.
- the book started off really slow. & i really wanted to DNF. i almost couldn’t get pass how the author tried to make eating fruit, sexual. but there was NOTHING sexual happening in the scene. i thought it was mainly filler. i probably would have wanted to learn more about why wyverians eat rotten food or what would happen if they didn’t eat rotten food.. than reading about the “feel of the juices” from the fruit… or just more history/culture.
- the book does have a slow pace to it. enemies to lovers & definitely a slow burn. there are also two love stories. i couldn’t decide who i “shipped” more. i think i just couldn’t relate to the characters. the whole book has so much potential. but it wasn’t holding my attention. i wanted to DNF twice.
- what i thought was really great that the author did, was that beginning of each chapter, there was a snippet of history that actually ties in with the story & what’s going on - kind of like a diary of one of the characters. & i like how wyverns are greatly incorporated - we don’t get a lot of those. points for being different.

The story follows the journey of its protagonist as she navigates a realm fraught with danger, political machinations, and personal challenges.
One of the best features of the book is its world-building. Johns creates a vivid setting that feels both expansive and detailed, allowing readers to fully engage with the environment and its lore. The magic system is intriguing, adding depth to the plot and influencing character development.
The characters are well-developed, each with their own motivations and have fantastic arcs. The protagonist's growth throughout the story is particularly compelling, as she grapples with her identity and the responsibilities that come with her powers.
The pacing is really engaging, full of romance and action constantly moving along.

Thank You NetGalley and J.F.Johns for the ARC!


While the story does feel a bit rough around the edges here such as certain scenes feeling a bit longer than they should have, and some of the characters feeling a bit lacking due to not fleshing them out just a bit more. With a bit more structure and polishing, this has such great potential to being such a great book! I loved the magic system, it was super easy to follow and understand, the world and setting are interesting and fascinating/ The slow burn between Mal and Ash was delightful to see unfold and the imagery was just chefs kiss!

Also I would just love to spread my love for Kai! He needs to be protected at all cost !

I think the concept and story for this book is incredible and usually something that is right up my street.

I enjoyed the characters a lot and thought it had of the foundations of a really good story moving forwards. I do think things felt a little disjointed at times and a little slow but it had really solid world building and I'm looking forward to continuing on with the series. Huge thank you to NetGalley and J.F. Johns for providing me with an ARC of this story!

Thank you netgalley for an E-ARC of this book.
This story follows many characters including Mal Blackburn who must end her new husband’s life. This story has a descriptive writing style that creates visuals in your mind. I loved the characters, plot and the world itself. I highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this book—it usually takes me a while to get into a story, but I finished this one in less than two days. I’m a big fan of multi-POV books, so that was a huge plus for me. I loved the enemies-to-lovers dynamic, the world-building, and the plot twists. Overall, I’d give it 4 stars!

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash follows our main character Mal, as she enters a marriage with a prince who is known as being cruel and wicked. But she is not entering this marriage for love — she’s been tasked with killing him to end the decades long curse, cast by a witch as revenge for destroying her kingdom.

The premise of the book sounded really interesting, but unfortunately there were too many elements that I didn’t particularly like that took away from my enjoyment of the story. I had two main issues with this book:

1. it took way too long to get to the main part of the story and
2. there was not a lot of depth to the characters

The story itself didn’t really get interesting until the last 30%, which is a shame because it got so crazy and there were a bunch of twists I wasn’t expecting, but by then I was not invested in it anymore. There were a lot of unnecessary descriptions that could’ve been cut out, which would’ve helped immensely with the pacing of the story.

My other main issue was with the characters — I felt like there was no depth to any of them, which makes it very difficult to get invested in their stories and root for them! There were also a lot of different POVs, which again makes it difficult to form connections with characters if we’re only spending a few chapters with each one.

Overall, I think this story had the potential to be something really great, but needed some structural changes!

Thank you to the author, J.F. Johns, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

4 out of 5 stars

Plot was interesting
Magic system was very easy and original
Bad b fmc
There’s nothing more I could want in a fantasy book

It was an overall well rounded fantasy

Thank you to J.F Johns for this ARC of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash.

This book took me by surprise, I did not expect to like it as much as I did. The world and setting is fascinating, and I am really looking forward to exploring more about the other kingdoms in the future books. I really enjoyed the characters, their struggles and the slow burn romance. I don't feel like it was rushed and there was a lovely development of the relationship throughout the book. My only criticism would be that the end of the book felt a bit rushed with detail added that felt a bit out of nowhere (without spoiling). Overall I am really happy to have discovered this series and am looking forward to the next book!

Honestly, I was intimidated at first with the list of houses and characters, but I found it so easy to get into. The flow of the writing and the imagery is absolutely gorgeous. I quickly fell in love with Mal who is an absolute icon, a FMC who can kickass. I instantly fell in love with her brother Kai (yes I will request that he is kept safe and well in the future)

The world building and characters are fantastic - well written and with so much depth. The tension and slow burn between Mal and Ash was exquisite. I'm excited to read more about them.

Thank you Netgalley and J.F.Johns for approving my request.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: ⭐️⭐️
Wow! This first book was an absolute surprise! I got to read an ARC a week early thanks to NetGalley and the author and I’m grateful! Shocking twists and that ending was such a good cliffhanger! I really liked the slow burn buildup with Ash and Mal and enjoyed their passion and connection, so the ending of course made me sad and happy simultaneously and I can’t wait to see how they work together in the next book. I also liked the other connections made between other characters and looking forward to seeing what happens with them too. I hope the witches and warlocks get what’s coming to them in the next one!
I also felt that the beginning entry from Tabitha’s diary to start each chapter was well done! They helped to understand her past story, how it connected to the present, and set up what would be happening in each chapter. This book was so well-written, a great romantasy that kept me reading all day so that I finished it within 24 hours. Thanks so much for this opportunity; I can’t wait to read the sequel!

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
Mal was giving badass FMC energy I love the wildness of her and also how smart she is.
Ash the MMC that you are. I loved him.
Character development was pretty good I loved the multiple POV but it was very confusing on whose pov we were in, maybe because it was an ebook..
I will be recommending this book to my friends.
I can't wait for book 2. The ending left me with questions and I need to know what happened next!
I enjoyed the writing style.
She was very descriptive and detailed. The only thing I wish was getting more world building more magic descriptions. I would love to read just a little more of the lore.

I enjoyed every minute of this book! Super strong badass FMC with the world on her shoulders but the strength and grace to take it! A timid and stuttering MMC, that I wasn’t sure was going to work, but blew me out of the water! Siblings just as strong and fierce as the main characters! The end of this book left so much more to the story for every character involved! Room for growth, love connections, friendships, and answered questions! This romantasy has everything you could ever want! A mission to save the realm, oath forced marriage, enemies to lovers, found powers and family, epic quest with witches, shadow wielders, fae, wolves, desert snake princesses, dragons, wyverns, and more! From start to finish I kept having to read just one more chapter! I couldn’t get enough! I can’t wait for “A Kingdom of Sand and Ice” to get here and find out what happens next to the amazing Mal and her crew!

This truly is a book for anyone who are fans of Fourth Wing or The Bridge Kingdom!

Thank you NetGalley and J.F. John’s for giving me the opportunity to devour this amazing story you have created! You should be proud!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️