Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This is an interesting little story. It felt a little flat at points but I warmed up to it and enjoyed it overall. It does need some cleaning up (several times "he" or "his" is used when talking about a female and it threw me a little bit, and some sentences felt a little convoluted) but I could get past it. If you want a quick read with some steampunk/romance/some fantasy give this a try!

I really enjoyed this read. There is a hint of supernatural mixed with Industrial Historical Romance. I wouldn't class it as steampunk. It's one downside was the ending. Everything became rushed. I felt like there were pages missing from the end because the story abruptly stopped. I felt the author did the characters a disservice by not fully completing their love story.

Victoria was resilient, intelligent and caring and I admire her independence in a time when it would be frowned upon.

A massive issue is the typos and grammatical errors. I don't normally give such a high rating to a book with that many flaws but I really enjoyed it. I hope there is a second book that gives the story the conclusion it deserves.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
(BEWARE there are spoilers in my review!)

I was intrigued by the cover of "The Wolf of Taliskia". An intricate steampunk-esqe cover, with a woman in a gorgeous 1800's style dress. I was even more intrigued by the plot synopsis! A woman inventor, the heiress of a company known for its amazing inventions, who is set to marry a prince of a hidden kingdom! How interesting! Unfortunately, the book crashed so badly that it went through the floor. It's terribly written and it feels like the author doesn't quite have a good grasp of English? For example, they keep using strangely worded phrases that make barely any sense. There were lines that threw me until I realize what the author meant to write. During the wedding scene, the line "My Father grinned at me from the end of the alley", bewildered me, and made me think that maybe there had been a scene change I hadn't noticed. But then I realized what had actually happened. The author used the word "alley" when they meant to use the word "aisle". That word change completely changes the sentence, in a bad way. There also was a line that was roughly "She is believed to be dead or in a sanatorium somewhere." and Victoria responds with "This is terrible!" ...HUH? The correct sentence is "That is terrible!". Did the author forget how tenses work? Also, the author has a weird thing against using contraction words. The book is riddled with grammatical errors, and they only get worse near the end. There are constant incorrect pronouns being used when referring to Victoria, using his or he when they meant to use she or her, so I kept getting confused about who is speaking. The dialogue is wooden and stilted. Scenes end almost as soon as they begin, and the constant scene changes get aggravating. So many scenes happen at random, and for no apparent reason. Side characters are introduced, and then never seen again. When it comes to the romance element of the book, there is NO chemistry between Istvàn and Victoria. The spice scene between them felt so random and out of the blue. Victoria herself is aggravating. Her feelings for the Prince changed back and forth so fast that my head would whirl. The Prince himself feels like a bland stereotype, or a doll to project desires onto. Also, the "mystery" element of the story literally doesn't exist. I completely forgot the goal was to find out who set off the bomb that killed her Father! It was the shoddiest "mystery" I've ever read. There is barely any world-building in this story, which is a disappointment because it had the potential to be such an interesting world! But I don't know how the systems in this world work! Is it science-based? Is it magic-based? Is it both? Who knows, cause I sure don't! The ending of the book is so contrived, that it made me roll my eyes. Then I thought it was over with killing the man who killed her father, but it didn't? The actual end scene has a Countess (?) kidnap Victoria to drain her blood to bathe in to achieve youthfulness, exactly like the real-life Countess Elizabeth Báthory. But gasp! She's saved by the Prince! Who...is a...werewolf? Or technically a shapechanger who can become a wolf? Why does this happen? For what reason? The final line is so random as well. Plot-wise, it feels like the author had a bunch of random scenes prewritten that she slapped together and called it a story.

Also, some of the lines said by Victoria felt a bit...racist. Or at the very least, prejudiced. I'm not sure if this was the author trying to be "time period accurate" but, Victoria said she was scared of getting scalped by Indians, and talking about the fact that the Cherokee had slaves felt unnecessary. Also, I would like to know, what in God's name are Mexican Pants? Or Mexican boots for that matter! One more minor nitpick, Victoria is described as blonde and green-eyed but the book cover has her as a brunette and blue-eyed? Weird choice, but okay.

Basically, this is the first (and hopefully last) book I've given one star this year. I honestly would say don't bother reading this one, unless you REALLY want to be annoyed.

4 ⭐️
1 🌶

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was captivated from the start because I loved that Victoria was written as someone I could relate so well to. I loved that she was a woman focused with her inventions and who didn't care what people thought of her. And I loved the arranged marriage trope.

When she traveled to Taliskia, I was giddy whenever there were interactions between her and the King, and I was at the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next.

I wish there was more of a character profile on István because though he is already represented as a dark and charming King, he has the potential to be the ultimate book boyfriend.

I was a bit confused up until around the 50+% whether the story was set in the past or future, and I was quite annoyed at the bits where Victoria refused to believe the legends. There were also a few grammatical errors, but nothing that would take away from understanding the story.

Overall, this was a great YA book, but if had much more intricate magic systems, world-building, and character developments/relationships, this would've been the ULTIMATE adult fantasy book.

A special thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book because the premise has a lot of promise but it just was not as polished as it could be. There were a lot of editing changes that should be made since there is often confusing punctuation and sentences. I also thought that the characters felt very flat to me, there emotions were very two-dimensional and could have been better written.

I liked the idea of the main character, Victoria, and her love interest but it was like watching two awkward inanimate objects talk to each other. I never understood why they liked each other. Especially the male love interest, Victoria is supposed to be a strong, independent woman but she still likes him despite all of the demeaning and derogatory things he says. Also, I did not love the way that Evans wrote about weight, it felt demeaning too.

Overall, I liked the folklore aspect of this novel and the basic premise but it needs a lot of polishing up for me to recommend it to anyone. The premise and ideas have promise though.

I decided to read this book because the opening scene sucked me in with a steampunk inventor forced to marry a rich prince to please her father and at the wedding, a bomb goes off and over 100 people are killed and she's deadly crippled. When she wakes, instead of folding, she heads off to investigate her father's murder and get revenge. Cute kings who supposedly can turn into wolves not with standing. A light fantasy romantic read, perfect for an introvert's evening off.

Written by Alex Evans, this novel follows Victoria, an inventor of the steampunk variety, as she hunts for the cause of her father’s death during her wedding to a prince. That is the rough summary, at least.

From the title, and the fact that there seems to be some myth surrounding a giant wolf in her fiance’s home, I was hoping there was a werewolf in this story, and actually the mythic involved in this novel was the best part, in my opinion.

The writing was fair, however, I found the characters to be very two-dimensional, and I honestly got a bit annoyed at how they spoke more often than not. You would think a prince would have better English skills. The plot was the only thing keeping me going, that and the temptation of a monster – which there did end up being more than a few.

This book also ends rather abruptly, and I’m not sure if there is a sequel in store or not.

If you are looking for a story in which steampunk meets fantasy, then this could be a book to try. It has action, it has really awkward romance, and it has a few twists that I didn’t see coming (such as who is and isn’t the bad guy).

I just wanted more from this story. More from the characters, and a bit of a better pay-off for the plot.

I did receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“She would make them pay. Even if it was the last thing she would do in her life”
“It’s fascinating. I feel like I’ve stepped into a history book”
“I never know what’s going to come out of your mouth. I like this”
Absolutely loved it !!!!
A fun, entertaining, quite short story about love, legend, an arranged marriage, a fake identity, and a hot shapeshifter husband who’s also the king of one of the most noble royal families in Europe !!!!
This book was just great!!! I needed to read something like this and I’m glad I had the chance to start with this one!
Victoria is a great leading character, with her vibe of a woman in stem even in (maybe) the 1800s who is not afraid to stand up for herself and what she believes in!!! And Istvan … oh well I probably know I would have fallen when he first was introduced… don’t I still didn’t know how nor way !!!
The legends and myths connected to the kingdom he owns and the mystery surrounding both the terrible experience that was their marriage celebration and his heritage … kept me interested from the first pages until the very last ones !!!
But this is also a book of fragility and physical disability and what it means to live through it and love completely !!!
If you haven’t read this book yet, I honestly don’t know what are you still waiting for !!
“There was another problem … She almost had a soft spot for Istvan”
“I can predict without any gift of prophecy … that tomorrow we will either become excellent friends … or mortal enemies”
“You will see. Love is magic”

Got about 30% into book and lost interest. Pity as the premise of the book appeared very promising. The style of writing was choppy and there was not enough of a setup in the beginning for the background story to grab my interest to keep going.

Arranged marriage? Yes. Mysterious male lead? Yes. Murderous scheming villain? Also yes.

Victoria's story begins on the day of her wedding day. A wedding she isn't entirely looking forward to as its an arranged marriage to a foreign and mysterious prince of Taliskia! Victoria would rather spend her time in her father's factory, experimenting, inventing, and contributing to the name of science. Shortly after saying 'I do", her and her mysterious groom are the targets of an assassination attempt. This leaves Victoria in a coma and her groom fleeing back to Europe. When our male lead didn't stay by Victoria's bed side, I knew the story was taking an unfortunate direction. It would have been so romantic for him to get to know her and nurse her back to health! Instead, Victoria loses a lot of weight (thanks to the coma diet) and journeys to Taliskia to uncover the villain behind the assassination attempt.

While Victoria was a strong female lead, I was often confused by her intentions and motivations. I also didn't care for the 'fat-shaming' the author not so subtly incorporated into the storyline. When we're introduced to Victoria, she's a chubby academic with double chins. After the coma, she's miraculously thin and slender and starts to received so much attention from young men! Basically saying if you're thin and petite, young men will fall over themselves to give you attention. And Victoria changed so much thanks to the coma, her own husband didn't recognize her! That was my biggest frustration with the story overall.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this story and providing my honest review in return!

An arranged marriage. An inventor in search of who is behind the explosion that killed her father on her wedding day. A crown prince, the likely suspect, and a rumour of a giant wolf that haunts his palace grounds...

First and foremost, this book would benefit from the attentions of an editor. It is riddled with grammatical errors and incorrect words, and plenty of punctuation errors have gone overlooked. That said, I do believe the author is French, and if this is the case then hats off to them for writing a book in another language!

While I enjoyed the premise of the story, the delivery was quite meandering and I was often left feeling as though Victoria needed to get her priorities straight.

The book is also rife with casual fatphobia - which is never addressed, and is not used to make any statement about societal attitudes. Victoria starts out as a fat woman, with pronounced double chins. This gave me momentary hope that I was getting a fat heroine - until I remembered that the woman on the book cover was slim. After the bomb goes off at her wedding, Victoria is severely injured and in a coma for several months. She is, understandably, thin and weak once she awakes. However, she then discovers all the things that she "couldn't" do when she was fat, and basks in the attention of men who wouldn't have looked twice at her before. While she is more or less uninterested in their affections, she does not show any disdain for the fact that they now like her simply because of her slim body. She even uses her weight loss as a disguise, saying that if she goes to Taliskia, István won't recognise her now that she's slim. It's ridiculous and quite frankly disgusting, although I cannot say that I was surprised.

I won't even get into the equally casual ableism. Suffice it to say that the way the author handles Victoria's post-accident physical disabilities is in an incredibly tone deaf way, including having her magically healed towards the end of the book. This book would have benefited from being shown to a disabled sensitivity reader during early drafts.

"Now she was slender and almost pretty, if one could forget her hand and foot. Why was nothing ever perfect?"

While the setting itself is in a steampunk version of our world, it was sadly light on steampunk elements. I did, however, enjoy the blend of steampunk and folklore. I thought that was interesting and it gave a lot of room to expand the world with future books in the same setting if the author so wishes.

I did enjoy Victoria's drive. She is a woman who knows more or less what she wants, and doesn't generally sit around waiting for someone else to do it for her. She was proactive and self-assured, and didn't suffer from being a weepy damsel in distress.

'The Wolf of Taliskia' is an intriguing read. Victoria is a science-minded girl thrust into a magic-minded new home, trying to find who killed her father and why. I love an arranged marriage set up and the whodunit aspect really added to my enjoyment.

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

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was well written with an interesting storyline and well developed charcaters, It had a dark, gothicy atmosphere that I love and I also really liked the paranormal elements. I havent read many steampunk themed books before and I will definitely be checking out more, as well as more by the author.

A big thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This was a different type of book for me. But I enjoyed the book. I think it is an urban fantasy/romance/paranormal. I liked the characters and the different locale. Victoria is an unique lady, and has an odd relationship with her husband. I would recommend this book. It is very different and unusual but still a fun read. 3.5

An interesting book with a strong story and female lead. I like a gothic themed story and this fitted the bill. Not my favourite book of the year but a decent read.