A big thank you to Netgalley & the incredible Briar Boleyn for the chance to review a Court of Claws!

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/ 5
Spice level: 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️/5
Tags: Fae, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed trope, powerful FMC, “touch her and die,” lost identity.

“I see you, Morgan Pendragon. I see you truly for everything you are and everything you will be and I claim you as mine.”

I am thoroughly enjoying this series, Court of Claws was no exception!

The second book in this series picks up where Queen of Roses left off, Morgan in a near-death situation, Draven coming to her rescue, and more questions than answers.

Court of Claws introduces a new land, new magic, new characters, intense politics, more spice and of course; even more betrayal.

I loved the building (and angsty) relationship between Morgan and Draven that we see in Court of Claws, it takes some of the tension from book one and multiplies it tenfold. Morgan starts to discover more about herself, the new land she is in, and finally be honest with herself about her feelings for Draven.

The trials in this book for the monarchy was a great twist, I am a sucker for trials and competitions. I am also a huge fan of the reveal of how Draven truly saved Morgan at the end of book one! I knew there was something more to the story with how he saved her, but what actually happened was a perfect twist.

The only thing I disliked about this book is Morgan’s constant “I hate you even though you have proved you’re great time and time again” attitude towards Draven. It screams immaturity, he proved over and over throughout the entire book he is only doing what’s best for her, obeying her every command, trying to help her with her magic and with anything else she asked for. She seems quite ungrateful in this book and I was not a fan of how she reacted to finding out about the truth of the bond at the end. Was he being 100% honest? Definitely not, but I do not think it warrants her reaction. MCs should develop throughout a series and to me, Morgan did not do much developing in Court of Claws.

Side note: LOVED the epilogue! It explains some unanswered questions from the cliffhanger at the end but leaves you hungry for more of the story.

Another well done to Briar Boleyn 👏🏻

🛡️Court of Claws 🛡️

⭐️5
🌶️3 1/2
💧4

Guys I’m shook!
This is the second book in the Blood of Fae series by Briar Boleyn. This book is even better than the first!

✨This series is incredible! ✨

It’s such a unique and mind blowing series it’s full of court machinations, fae and monstrous characters as well as the morally grey male you just can’t help but love.

It’s emotionally charged … yes I snot bubble cried a few times because man does Briar Boleyn know how to write emotive scenes that grip you in the guts.

The characters are complex and trying to predict the twists and turns just ain’t possible, so be prepared to be slapped silly with some stunning twists and they aren’t just at the end of the book but all the way through!

I love Beks 💙 - when y’all have read this I need to talk about this adventurous little miscreant

Draven, oh Draven how I love you but want to also stab you with a letter opener! 🗡️

Move over cassian/ rhysand/ Knox and all my other book loves because a new dark and brooding man is moving in 🥵

Oh and he has one wickedly divine mouth.. and don’t we know it but o hope you’re ready for the fire that will be stoked with the slow burn Briar has gifted us. 🌶️🔥


✨Tropes✨
——————
❇️Slow Burn that burns!
❇️Praise kink
❇️Spicy
❇️court machinations
❇️King Arthur retelling
❇️Fae

✨Favourite quotes✨
____________________

“Be a good fking boy and maybe you'll find out,”

“I will never apologize for saving you. I will never f^king regret coming for you. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. So don’t ask me to say sorry. Don’t expect me to. And don’t you ever, ever f^king say you didn’t deserve to be saved again, do you hear me? Listen to me clearly, you are worthy. You deserved saving. You deserved much more.”

“They might say one of my ancestors had f^ked a cat”

Thank you Briar Boleyn, publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this. ❤️

Review has also been submitted to Amazon and shared in Facebook book groups.

First let me thank Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.

And here we go...

This fabulous book is a dark fantasy romance with more than a few Trigger Warnings, so please use your discernment before you select it. Also, you want to make time to read Book 1 of the series, "Queen of Roses" first, or this book will not make much sense

In my opinion, this book is even better than the first and perfectly carries on without a hitch. The story captivates the reader in such a way one simply cannot put it down. I also must note I re-read it after finishing it just for the pleasure of it. I cannot let it go. It's one of those! In a nut shell, "Court of Claws" by Briar Boleyn is a gripping blend of delicious fantasy and romance that captivates readers from beginning to emotional end. With its compelling storyline, complex, believable relationships, and an absolutely entertaining atmosphere of danger and deceit, this book continues the series with a bang. I am so in love with the main characters, I can realistically picture them in every detail. Five***** shining stars all day every day! My recommendation is to run, not walk, to purchase this series!!!! Come to Momma book three ;) .

Thank you Netgalley and Briar Boleyn for this review copy!

This was a fantastic follow up to book 1. I loved seeing more of Draven's world and seeing him in his "natural habitat." I loved all the new characters we met and how well fleshed out everyone was. The characters and how they interacted felt extremely realistic.

That said, this book lost a bit of charm for me given that for most of it we were not experiencing the King Arthur reimagining that I loved from book 1. I could tell the book was being used to set things up for more of the reimagining to pick back up, but again, for the vast majority of the book, this was not the story I thought it was going to be. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book and love it (because I absolutely did), I just expected more of the Arthurian Legend in it than what we got. We ended up with a "trial to become the ruler" trope- and that was set in a completely different land than what we started in.
This was still a fantastic tale and I really loved it. And I absolutely cannot wait to read book 3!!

Briar Boleyn has definitely captured my attention with this series!!

While I enjoyed reading Queen of Roses, I absolutely loved Court of Claws. It was giving me all the ACOTAR feelings. I haven't found another book that emulated ACOTAR quite so well while still keeping me guessing with the interesting twists.

I am still having a hard time with Morgan's character. While she definitely experiences character development in Court of Claws beyond that of Queen of Roses, her personally borders on schizophrenic. It was difficult to follow her constant personality changes and I felt bad for Draven numerous times throughout the story. However, I still think she has the potential to be a badass heroine once she gets her emotions and loyalties together.

I can't wait to find out what occurs in the third installment of the Blood of a Fae.

I received a free copy for my honest review.

Upon waking after the quest to find Excalibur, Morgan finds herself in an unfamiliar and magical world filled with dark political intrigue. The assassin, Kairos Draven, is not an assassin at all but actually the prince of the fae court. In order to secure his place as emperor. Given that he was banished from court, Draven must compete in a series of trials meant to kill him. Through the course of the trials, Morgan gets increasingly more worried about the state of Camelot, and increasingly more attracted to Draven, even though she knows he’s hiding a whole lot from her.

Once again, no punches held. That said, I felt like I was straight up reading a mash up between ACOTAR and Blood and Ash. It wasn’t painfully obvious and there was a lot of wonderful plot points but you could so easily pick out who amarantha was. This also really diverged from the first book where there was a lot of Arthurian inspired characters and this time there were only one or two new additions that I could see. I also thought our new villain isn’t quite done yet so that’ll be interesting.

The second book was so much better than the first! Not saying the first installment of this series wasn’t good because I gave it 5/5 stars too but the way the 2nd book was written and the spicy scenes between Draven and Morgan were just chefs kiss to the storyline that was already started!

I can’t wait to read the next book and see what happens next for our characters! Definitely check this out if you are a fan of the fae, slowburn romances with a touch of gore!

Well done Briar! You did it again! 👏

“In Siabra culture, those of royal blood may designate a person who is not their official spouse as their... Well, as their...”
The blood drained from my face. “Your mistress?”


Waking up in a foreign land is bad enough; finding out that you are surrounded by people with unimagined powers who live in a volcano? I can almost imagine why Morgan is argumentative and surly. Draven is not the unassuming king’s guard, and he told everyone she is his mistress. Be his escort? She would rather join the temple.

For a story that began with elements of King Arthur’s myth, I am pleased that the story has diverged from there.
However, in book 2 Morgan has turned into a rebellious teen. While Draven stoically submits to her angry and confused ranting, I am flummoxed. She seemed so relatable in the first novel, yet she makes assumptions here that seem ghastly illogical!

Since she refuses to cooperate, Draven assigns two guards, Odessa and Crescent, and tells her not to exit the room. Of course she ignores that as soon as a young human boy finds her through the secret servant passages that we all love to imagine. Beks is great: I would love to have a know-it-all teen like him around.

Later Draven finds her outside the room, and upon her request, allows her to train with "the greatest fighter"...[spoiler alert] who turns out to be Odessa.

Honestly, for a book boyfriend, Draven is heroic and caring. “ I have no lust for endless slaughter between mortals or fae versus fae as my father and brother did. I wish for change. I wish for peace. Not only here in Myntra, but in Eskira," he wants to end discrimination and racism. And he loves an independent, stabby woman. What is not to love?

Does Morgan grow as a character? Yes, but she remains the dominant in the bedroom and threatens stabbing with a letter opener:
““Don’t make me stab you in your sleep tonight.”

A perennial favorite: there are a set of trials that Draven must pass to become the Emperor of his realm, upon which he promises to use his realm’s resources to bring Morgan to power. The second trial involves riddles which I think are too open-ended to have only one true answer, but I appreciate the attempt. The more Draven succeeds the more difficult it will be for their romance.

Trigger Warnings:
[] Morgan cusses too much, even when she doesn’t need to.
[] She is not likeable
[] Power sharing
[] Crown Trials
[] Betrayals and plot twists
[] Forced bond/marriage

I hope book 3 features a new character. This is not a standalone and ends in a spot where Arthur has conquered and created a harem from the captives...

It’s always worrying going into the second book in a series that it won’t live up to the first. I adored the first book in this series but I had no reason to worry. It doesn’t just live up to expectations, it exceeds them. Everything I loved about the first book, the second book expands on it and does it better.

The cast of characters is expanded and I love them all. They are so diverse and there is more found family plot. The magical world is also expanded, including new realms, races and magical creatures. I was so happy that there was more exmoor involvement in this book. There is a lot more action in this book as well compared to the first. So this book isn’t just for the romance fans.

Of course, the relationship between Morgan and Draven is also built upon. The slow burn romance really begins to sizzle in this one; expect spice! Particularly as the ‘only one bed’ trope is in play.

There are still lots of unanswered questions at the end of this book and it makes me so excited to read the next one. Amazon currently says it is due out in November!

This book is such an easy read and it’s so gripping. I highly recommend it for fans of romantasy and books like ACOTAR. This has easily become one of my favourite book series (and I don’t have too many), that I know I will go back and reread. I don’t understand how more people aren’t talking about this series!

Thanks to NetGalley, Briar Boleyn and Starwater Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
(A review has also been submitted for approval on Amazon).

This book is completely different from the first one. A complete different story, characters and land. And… I liked it.
The story though was a little predictable, but still enjoyable. I didn’t feel much chemistry between Morgan and Draven, not much chapters in which they interact and you can feel there’s something between them. And then something happens, and doesn’t feel completely right.
I like Morgan as MFC. She’s strong and doesn’t let people tell what she has to do, but she’s willing to sacrifice everything for the people she cares about.
I wanted to see more of the other SC, they were really nice to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Briar Boleyn for this Arc.

This is a fabulous sequel to Queen of Roses! The writing style is much improved from the first book and I am so excited to see how this develops in the next book in the series!

I found it hard to visualize many of the scenes which is where my 4 star rating came from. I would love more details in some of the scenes, especially ones involving the trials and battles. It was hard to understand what was happening sometimes without the aid of vivid descriptions.

The development of Morgan’s character throughout this story was great! She had such a full arc and left us wanting more by the end. I literally need to know what’s going to happen next immediately…speaking of that…when is the sequel???

I’m obsessed with this series! I need the next book right now! I just love Morgan and Draven. The story just pulls you in and you cannot stop reading! The ending was such a cliffy! Also loved one of the surprises at the end! I love the magic of this world. Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was absolutely hooked by this fast-paced, action-packed book in a way that I haven't been hooked by a fantasy romance since I read ACOTAR. It was stunning. The ending had me absolutely fuming and I can't wait to see where the third books takes the characters.

The only things that marred it were, like the first book, the few issues with grammar, typo, and misplaced or missing words (including an instance where a character was given the wrong name). Again, I feel the fault here lies more with the editorial team / publisher than the author.

I also felt that with Draven's character there was quite a big jump in his feelings, which sometimes made this version of him feel disjointed from the version of him in the first book, which could have been fixed by more hints in the first book. I also felt that his character again jumped at the ending - I still don't really understand why he acted the way he did. Nonetheless, I loved this book.

Thanks NetGalley and Briar Boleyn for the ARC!

Court of Claws is the second book is the Blood of a Fae series and it immediately picks up where the first book left off, so you have to read Queen of Roses to know what's going on. Morgan Pendragon wakes up in a strange place surrounded by strange looking people only to soon find out she's not at all where she thinks she is. Kairos Draven is the only person who looks familiar. He however is not who Morgan thought he'd be and spends the rest of the book grappling with that.

I honestly liked the first book better than this one, which is honestly shocking for me because it's usually the other way around. I gave this three stars as opposed to four like I did with Queen of Roses strictly because of Morgan. Even though she's the narrator of the series, I could not stand reading this from her perspective. She is sooooo hardheaded and has major survivor's guilt, so she won't allow herself to be happy. She lashes out at everyone, especially Draven, and it was incredibly annoying. Literally 50% of the book is Morgan raging about how much she hates Draven and how she wants to kill him. There is a moment where things are looking up and my feelings about her began to change, but then she returns to her angry self so I've lost all hope for her. I can't stand characters whose personality is just self-loathing.

I will say though that this book is incredibly action packed and has a good amount of spice. The twists are also amazing, which is definitely the redeeming factor. I will be reading the third book because I have to know what happens, but I'm really hoping that Morgan is better. She's so powerful and has a chance to represent something, but she has to let go of all the anger that encompasses her. Otherwise, she won't make it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

*May contain accidental spoilers!

Thank you to Briar Boleyn and NetGalley for the eARC of Court of Claws in exchange for an honest review!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
Spice: 🌶️.5/5

Oh man, oh man…when I tell you I feel strongly about this book, I mean it. Let’s start off with the good stuff shall we?

I absolutely LOVE the story of this book, it kept me completely interested and entertained the entire time. I love almost all of the characters, especially Draven, Beks, Crescent, and even Hawl. The villains were amazing, i thoroughly detested them which always makes for perfect antagonists. And I really love the whole Hunger Games/Squid Game vibes that it had going on.

But on the flip side…I cannot stand our FMC for the life of me! She is the most insufferable, whiny, immature brat and she irritated me TO. MY. SOUL. Which is so wild to me because I really liked her in the Queen of Roses, but her character in Court of Claws really drove me crazy. She really brought the book rating down for me, if it wasn’t for her character development (or lack thereof) this book would’ve easily been a 4.5. I get having a defiant, bad ass FMC but she didn’t come off that way, she really just came off as an ungrateful, spoiled brat that I very clearly cannot stand lol.

But aside from our FMC, Court of Claws was a fantastic read and I cannot wait for Empress of Fae to come out!!

This is the second book in the Blood of a Fae series. It’s a retelling of the Camelot stories with a fae twist. Heads up, you need to read the first book or you wouldn't understand this one.
Draven is still morally grey, but now we get to understand why (at least I did so).
Morgan's will is, once again, not heard even if it is for her own good... or at least that's what Draven thinks (he should already know that Morgan hates not being able to choose her own path at this point, right?)
We will get to know about Draven's people in this book, and we will love and hate them equally.
I would love to read the last book of this saga.

Court of Claws by Briar Boleyn (pen name of Fenna Edgewood) is the second book in the Blood of a Fae series. It’s a retelling of the Camelot stories with a fae twist. Morgan finds herself in an unfamiliar land bonded to Draven and battling her mixed feelings about this. The story unfolds with an intense elimination-style competition to win the crown of the kingdom. The new ruler is announced and more chaos unfolds via some unexpected plot twists.

I enjoyed this book about the same as the first one. I liked getting to know the characters more, particularly Draven and his court. There were a lot of twists and turns throughout the story that kept me wondering what would happen next. The third book in this series comes out in November 2023 and I plan to read it.

"Something about his touch on my skin felt more right than anything I have ever felt before."
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{I was gifted this ARC in exchange for an honest review of the work, these opinions are my own.}

Spice rating: 5/5

Awakening to memories of devastating truths, in a bed that is not hers, and a land unknown Morgan must figure out how to move forward and defeat her enemies... All with the help of her "kidnapper" Kairos Draven.

When a book can you pull you out of a book slump that another book is putting you into you know its more than good. I was an ARC reader for book 1 of this series and was pining for this second ARC, and it honestly couldn't have been dropped at a better time; I had been forcefully dragging myself through a read that I ended up DNFing after having picked up this book.
The plotline revolves around King Arthur but its done so well that it seems like it own story entirely! The characters develop in the perfect way, the first book was slow at getting to the main romance but let me tell you aha OOHH BOOYY does this book make up for it

* Kairos Draven is THEE definition of a morally grey MMC and at times has you wanting to pull your hair out while other times he makes you want to fall to our knees and worship everything about him. And yes he does in fact use the "Who did this to you" line in both book 1 AND 2.
•Morgan Pendragon is a badass FMC. She doesnt hold back anything, her opinions, her fighting, her love, her hate, everything is all out in the open for everyone to see;Which also makes it even better when she continues to have character development.

Once again there are characters who are secondary who are brought in for you to love.... And to hate.. Briar Boleyn is also next up in line for Queen Of Cliffhangers so get ready to turn to the last page and just stare at it willing more words to show up that wont.

2.5 ⭐️ What the hell was that?

Omg, I'm so proud of myself. I can't believe I didn't DNF this. The book was bad, like really bad. I know dark romances aren't my thing, but seriously, what was this? Queen of Roses wasn't dark, and the realisation that this second instalment was... well, it was unpleasant. This wasn't even a dark fantasy romance, it was just dark fantasy with toxic af characters. Both MCs suck. She's a doormat and he's unhinged, trying to convince her that he's the one for her, but also not(?). It was as confusing and frustrating as it sounds.

Things I enjoyed in this book include:

- The fact that I was absolutely right and this is absolutely inspired by ACOTAR with the three trials/ games and the fact that the romantic lead from book 1 is now dead and gone, and the MMC is Draven, not Vesper.
- The exmoors, duh.
- Beks and Hawl.
- I appreciated that the list of triggers is available at the end of the book.

Things I didn't enjoy:

The list of TW to take into account for this book is literally longer than this review. I'm going to leave here the list, and I will add new ones since I think there are some missing ones. Triggers include: abduction, abuse, alcohol consumption, amputation, animal abuse, animal death, cannibalism, child abuse, child death, decapitation, deceased family member, domestic violence, drug use, homophobia, infant loss/death, infertility, murder, physical abuse, poisoning, slut shaming, violence/gore. Also, child abandonment, amnesia/memory loss, fire/burning of people, forced marriage/mating, lies/deception by SO, imprisonment, forced paralysis on someone fully aware, parental alienation... Is the fact that the fmc's f*cking stupid a trigger? Because I think it should be. This woman is the least believable character I've read in a while. And it's not because she's supposed to be half-fae trapped in a magical far away land. No. I mean she's the whiniest, most insufferable person ever that, when given the choice to get the situation that she hates and is constantly complaining about reversed, she says no! She says no and decides to just go with the flow and keep taking it. Seriously, wtf?

I could keep complaining about this book for hours. The MMC is horrid. He's supposed to be the hero, but all he does is lie, hide vital information from her, force her to do things against her will, he DEFENDS CHILD ABUSE (that part is ingrained in my memory), and is constantly, overall, unbearable and an absolute fraud.

I might've been able to defend two/three characters within the hundred, give or take, that are in this book (including side characters AND animals)... but I'm not going to. Read this at your own discretion, but I would not recommend this book. You might enjoy it if you like dark high fantasy books with extreme violence/toxicity with a hint of romance.

This review has already been uploaded to Goodreads :)

Four and a half
In this book we catch up with Morgan as she finds herself apparently the paramour of Draven in his home court. No she definitely didn't sign up for this but if she wants to return to help save Camelot then it looks like she has to play along as wicked games are afoot !
Ok hands down this is even more exciting than the first book Queen Of Roses and yes that promise of romance is realised . However believe me Morgan has Serious ( yes it deserves a capital S) trust issues which admittedly made me want to shake her more than once. You will Oo and Aa for Draven though as he's almost a perfect hero. The situations the couple face are truly vile and the Fae can be as heinous as you imagine. They do terrible things and yet Draven thinks with Morgan he can change things and I seriously have doubts. What is interesting though is that we get more about Morgan's antecedents and history, well technically just snippets. Plus the supporting characters added greatly to the proceedings and as a lover of He Man I adored the nod to Battlecat ! That epilogue though is everything I wanted, whoop whoop so roll on book three.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair