As soon as I received this ARC, I devoured it. I was simply ensnared and it refused to let me go until the very end. I read this book in one night.

I find that a good parameter of an exciting and fun book is when you sacrifice something to continue reading; your time, your hunger, your basic needs. Blood Queen was an exciting romantasy book that hooked me from the start and refused to let me go.

At 23, Layla's parents, the king and queen of the kingdom, are murdered in their beds. At 28, still haunted by their murder, has barely given thought to running her kingdom Kusmal. She simply spends her time slinking in the shadows of her kingdom, assassinating supposed 'threats', and trying to find out the culprits involved in her parents murder. She leaves the running of the country, to her advisor, Brandt.

One of her parents last wishes was her marriage agreement with a neighbouring kingdom. In a way to honour her parents, Layla agrees to continue with this arranged marriage, to a man she has never met.

As Layla finally begins to open her eyes on the inner workings of her country, she discovers far more than she anticipates. Uncovering the numerous secrets and deceptions was thrilling, and reading Layla get immersed in the conspiracies within her country was a great way to introduce the world, the players and the dangers she has to navigate. Layla's trust in others was constantly challenged and reading the unravelling of her world view was a tense affair, filled with bloody action scenes and angsty romance scenes.

"You're mine. No one fucks with what's mine."

The dynamic between Rune and Layla was a highlight of the book. The world-building was confusing and adding the conspiracies with secret organisations, different royal families, rebel factions and secret drug-running operations, it was all very complex and muddled. Rune and Layla's arranged marriage turned lovers-to-enemies-to-allies was very sexy, sometimes funny and a little too unstable. It was very hot-and-cold-and-hot again for my taste.

"Are you seriously jealous of a fake husband? After you tried to kill me?"

The predictability of the plot is a common critique I am seeing, and agree with. I found that I don't mind it as much when I am enjoying the story too much to care. The fantasy and action elements, as well as the romance, outweighed the pitfalls I found in the world-building, and the predictability.

"there was a part of me that realised his darkness matched my darkness."

I find that I sympathise with Layla. I too aim to avoid things that are difficult and painful. I am the queen of procrastinating. I love sticking my head in the sand and letting the world go by. However, I have no one relying on me. I am unmarried, with no kids. I imagine in some sense, a kingdom full of people who, in some respects, are like your children. like your children. You need to nurture, and care, as well as respect them. Give them the tools, and the help to prosper by themselves. Layla has chosen to avoid her entire job of being the Queen, protecting her people and making the country prosper. She is allowed to grieve, but there must come a time the grieving period is detrimental to all, including her. Layla passed that, and more. She has no knowledge of the workings of her country and others have noted and exploited that. Her people can tell she is a pawn Queen, simply a figurehead, and they all hear whispers of her propensity to murder her citizens for no reason. Under the cover of darkness, Layla goes out and assassinates others, but she believes that there are justifiable reasons for these deaths. With such animosity growing among her citizens, I doubt telling them her supposed reasons will sway their opinion of her. Her actions speak louder than her words, and unfortunately, she doesn't speak to the public at all, so her actions are the only thing that they know, and can judge her for. And they do. As do I.

"Yes, you're both terrible people with too many knives."

Layla had flashes of brilliance, like uncovering the secret meeting, or the dock-working stint, but I found her decision skills lacking and the ease that many people were able to manipulate her concerning.

Blood Queen was a spicy romantasy that was a great end to the year 2023. It was a dark fantasy with an arranged marriage, royalty, conspiracies, betrayals, secret identities and a cliffhanger ending that made me scream and demand for book 2.

Would I recommend this book?
Big yes. I loved this book. I inhaled the entire book in a day and I want more.

Will I re-read this book/series? 
Yes, I would re-read this book. I am excited for the next in the series and would love to re-read this one just before the next is released.

I had a hard time with this book to be honest.
The story sounds promising and has a lot of potential, but the MCs were absolutely not for me.

Layla comes across more like a teenager than an adult woman and Rune didn't seem much more grown-up to me than her.
Their relationship just didn't work me, although I really liked the idea of them meeting (🌶😉) without knowing each other before the official introduction.

The cliffhanger was well executed though.

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

"Sit down before I take you on this table."

Layla is known as the Blood Queen. She'll do anything for her kingdom. After her parents' death, uncertainty and murder plague the lands. An arranged marriage to a foreign prince gives her hope for peace. However, more lies are unearthed, and Layla needs to find out the truth. Will she finally find out who murdered her parents?

Do you ever feel like a book is just alright, but you want to read the next one to see what happens? That's this book.

It's not that it was a bad book, but I found it predictable. I knew within the first few chapters who the killer was going to be. The bad vibes were definitely there.

I also felt that the main characters were wishy washy. For example, Rune was described as a cold-blooded killer one minute and acts like he's a scared child the next. He is strong and then weak in the following chapter. Layla went back and forth a lot on both love and trust. Rune and Layla relationship was very "I love you and then I hate you". Same with Layla trust in people, she lacks the ability to decide on your feelings. The inner monolog could be too much at times.

However, there are positives about the book as well. I appreciated that Rune was very protective over Layla even though she clearly doesn't need it. His cut throat attention was attractive. There was also some really good spice throughout the book, but I wanted more!!

The plot was very simple but easy to read. I didn't feel like it was long enough, and not a lot happened. The whole book left me wanting more, I would have loved for it to be longer. So yes, I want to read the next one just to see how the story continues.

I enjoyed reading The Blood Queen. It was a good read, I enjoyed the idea of the Soul shards in the form of animal companions. The relationship between the main characters was interesting.

Read the book in a few days, but believe it was archived before I could finish. It was a good read and look forward to the next book.

"Seems like a lot of people think the worst of me, but I perpetuated that persona. I let people fear me."

I enjoyed Blood Queen but I didn't LOVE it. I had a really hard time getting into this. For quite a while I was really feeling like this was a YA masking as a NA novel. The FMC felt incredibly adolescent for a 28yo female. Thankfully she did redeem herself a bit by the end and did have some character growth that I could appreciate.

Blood Queen was such a great read! Very fast paced and hard to put down. Layla is so tough! From the very beginning you can tell she’s not going to be your typical Queen. She does anything and everything to keep her people safe. She doesn’t care what it takes, when it comes to her people and her kingdom, they are first in her heart.
Rune was the perfect morally grey character that we all love. Definitely a touch her and die vibe!
The spice was done fabulously and that CLIFFHANGER!! Very well done! Cannot wait until book 2 comes out.

"You're mine, No-one fucks with what's mine"

Potential spoilers ahead!

After her parents murder, Layla finds herself Queen of Kusmal, widely known as the Blood Queen, and feared amongst her people. However, ruling hasn't been all it's cracked up to be, striving to live up to her parents fair but iron rule, in a Kingdom plagued with murders, betrayal and a rebellion on the rise, Layla decides to follow in her parents last decision, and marry a prince from a neighbouring Kingdom. Hoping this new union will bring peace, stability and hope for a better future for her Kingdom, but on her last night before her betrothal's arrival, Layla decides to don her working class alter ego 'Lia' and have one last passionate night with a stranger, soon finding out that this meaningless tryst may just jeopardise everything she longs to uphold.

Layla started her time on the throne, revered by the people within her Kingdom, as the daughter and only heir to Kusmal, she had big shoes to fill, with her parents being desperately beloved by all. So when she finds herself in a predicament that leads to her accidentally murdering someone whilst protecting an innocent, the Kingdom suddenly switch sides, labelling her the Blood Queen. Hellbent on revenge for the murder of her parents ,Layla is head-strong, and determined to keep the peace within her kingdom even if it means committing murder in the process. Layla holds her own and has razor-sharp wit, never without her trusty daggers nearby. I enjoyed seeing the morally grey side to her, and her ruthless, unflappable and brutal demeanour towards people who underestimate or attempt to besmirch her. She's sassy, and exceptional at banter, using her cunning wit and intellect to her advantage, and is cut-throat and ruthless when she wants to be. At times though she was inconsistent with her thoughts and feelings, and it felt sometimes like emotional whiplash with how quickly she changed her mind about certain things.

Rune, Layla's bethrothed Prince, is also ruthless, but also domineering and possessive. His banter with Layla was electrifying, he has a dirty mouth and he doesn't shy away from using it. However, his hot and cold demeanour was off putting at times, and pulled me out of the story. He changed his attitude so rapidly that you were never quite sure where you stood with him, it felt like two different people were entrapped in one body. Also, his misogyny towards Layla sleeping with him the night before he arrived, even though he did the exact same?!? Unreal, also the sheer aggressiveness with which he corners her about it made me rage like nothing else.

'Blood Queen' is a story full of betrayals, political intrigue, rising rebellion against the monarchy, and dangerous, sinister, plots. It grabs your attention from the first page, it's deliciously gritty and dark, with a lot of different plot points unfolding at once which kept it thrilling and entertaining. It also has a complex magic system with soul bonds between people and animals, which was refreshing, but it felt a little lacklustre and underdeveloped, which was only really touched on in passing, and it felt like the same parts were repeated but no additional depth added. Also the intense undercurrents of misogyny towards women and the fatphobic comments laced throughout really got under my skin. They added absolutely nothing to the plot but just felt like snide jibes at others for entertainment value alone.

Overall, this was an okay read, nothing necessarily impactful or spectacular, I also guessed the twist pretty early on, and I found the revels to be lacking the impact they could've had, and the dialogue did feel a little forced and juvenile at times.

This book was unfortunately not for me. The premise sounded interesting, but the writing felt too juvenile. The fmc is suppose to be almost 30 but read like a teen, the mmc and romance didn’t click and I struggled to stay focused on the story. The crow was a plus but that was about it. Also the author overused certain words and descriptions (for example luscious, who even describes their own hair as luscious?) which just made me struggle even more to properly get invested in the book.

Layla is the Blood Queen. Known for her ruthlessness and proclivity for assasination, Layla refuses to fully commit herself to her role as queen. Her world is turned upside down when Prince Rune, the man she has been arranged to marry, shows up and shows her she may not be able to trust what she has been taught.

This book includes:
- a rivalrous romance
- assassin queen
- arranged marriage
- concealed identities
- betrayal and reconciliation
- familiars

"Blood Queen" has so many elements that I love, and I will not be surprised if it gets popular. Unfortunately, this story was not for me. The story line was very predictable, the characters did not feel well developed, and plot and dialogue read very YA to me. The character building, specifically, almost caused me to DNF several times. Neither Layla or Rune felt grounded in any key traits or motivations and their personalities warped to match any current plot point the characters encountered.

I wish there weren't explicit scenes in this book, so that it could be YA and the book could be marketed to an audience that could enjoy it.

I recommend this book to lovers of "Serpent & Dove," "Raphsodic," and "the Harbinger."

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Caitlin Denman, and the Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

Mixed feelings about this book, I flew through it, finishing it within 2 days, but the main character reads like a teenager rather than the described 28 year old. Her solution to any confrontation was running away... I loved the romantic tension between the characters and the plot twists were predictable but enjoyable nonetheless. Didn't like the cliffhanger ending, even with another book potentially in the works, the ending just felt unfinished.

The main character truly aggravated me; at 28 years old, her maturity level was comparable to that of a 16-year-old. Her default was to hate everyone and flee, and sometimes it was justified, and other times it wasn't. Her mood swings gave me whiplash. Sometimes she needed to take a seat, utilize her mind, and consider things.

The characters' inconsistent behavior bothers me as well. Rune and Layla, the blood queen, differ greatly from page to page and when contrasting their deeds with their words. By relocating the servants to opulent guest apartments instead of the chilly servant ones, the queen is being painted as a caring and hospitable monarch. But it sounds so fake given how inconsistently she discusses everything else.

This was a really unique and interesting read! I loved that the storyline moved at a fast pace so it was easier to get through. Although the main character at times needed to go beyond I loved that she was independent. Hated the cliffhanger but can’t wait for book 2

I enjoyed reading The Blood Queen. I enjoyed the interaction between royals and their soul shards- I liked what this added to the story. The main character was a bit frustrating because she wasn’t seeing the whole picture, but I loved that she was a strong independent character that went to great lengths to find out the truth. I did not like the ending because of the major cliffhanger, but that also makes it exciting to see what book 2 brings.

3.5 stars
I found Blood Queen to be a really fast-paced and enjoyable book. It was a little predictable and there were quite a few inconsistencies... but overall I enjoyed the story!

Sadly, this book turned out to be not my cup of tea. There were a bit too many inconsistencies and things that didn't flow right with the story in my opinion. The general development of both characters and story could have been handled differently as well. I really had to push myself through to keep on reading, partly because of the very immature characters. Nevertheless it reads very fluently once you put yourself to it and has an interesting magic system that I would have liked to see more of.
2,5/5 ⭐

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. My opinion is and remains my own.

Blood Queen is a snarky fast paced tale that follows an orphaned queen who protects her kingdom from thief’s and spies with a bloody blade and her shadow powers that cloak her dark as night hiding her from prying eyes. Her only trusted confidant is her trusted advisor (who has mentored and cared for her safety) who also advised her parents before their murder.

What happened to her parents and why she murders by night is not fully explained but much comes to light as her arranged marriage looms near. The time has come to meet her groom and she sneaks out for a night of fun that will have deep ramifications for her upcoming marriage. The world building and magic system is a bit weak and I hope to see greater development in how and why Layla has powers and ultimately what does it mean for her kingdom . I think there’s a lot of potential for growth and I look forward to seeing what happens in the future.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had potential. The premise, the setting, even some of the side characters, were strong. I liked the soul shards. Unfortunately, I found the main characters very lacking and their relationship far too superficial and toxic.

Layla, the main character, was far from a heroine. I love a character with relatable flaws. But, the way Layla was written - weak, detached, submissive - was not for me. Rune was a disappointing male lead. Violent, deceptive, abusive. These characteristics made for a volatile relationship based only on vanity and lust.

Much of the book is spent with Layla coming to realize that her kingdom is on the brink of ruin due to her lack of leadership in the wake of her parents death. The story is unfocused, the pacing seems off, and none of the characters are redeemable. I was quite tempted to put the book down after (spoiler alert) Rune attempts to murder Layla. Excusing that, justifying that, was a big NOPE for me. Unfortunately, the series cannot be salvaged for me for that reason alone.

I like FMCs that are strong headed and don't need saving. Layla was a character that was right what I wanted in that aspect. She was maybe a bit too distrusting at times and would change her mind about the prince too often. The twists were predictable, but I still enjoyed the story. I liked the MMC, being a brute but still being a softie with his "queeny". The betrayal was an interesting part of the story. I enjoyed the writing and the pacing was nice. I'm curious to see where the story goes next. Recommended if you like strong FMCs, morally grey main characters, and betrayals.

I was sucked straight into this story right from the blurb - it had everything going for it that I adore. I always love diving into a new fantasy realm and learning about the new world and politics.

Layla was a straight up bad ass physically but mentally, I couldn't believe she was 28. She was very immature and far too trusting considering she's meant to become Queen. Her attitude in general was quite childish too and I didn't really warm to her.

Rune was.. interesting. I saw his character coming a mile off but I did enjoy seeing him come to Laylas aid, even when she didn't want him to.

What I did like was the sex positivity. When Rune tries to shame Layla for her one night stand, she doesn't get upset but instead points out his misogyny. Layla is a woman who enjoys her pleasure and isn't ashamed to go out and get it and I applaud her for that!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to borrow this book for my honest review.

Death gave her the throne, now death is how she will keep it. As a queen of a kingdom plagued by murders, Layla struggles to live up to the expectations her parents had of her. Whispers of rebellion and dissent grow daily and a murder stalks the townspeople. In agreeing to marry a foreign prince, she hopes to find a way to bring back to the land but will also be about love.

This story caught my attention within the first chapter. Our fierce queen is smart, strong, gifted with magic, viscous and has sex appeal. Her character was written with dynamic and impact. Ruin our steamy, strong, alpha male that also hold magic is such a likable person although can be seen as a very grey character.

Overall, if you are looking for something quick, a bit of mystery, action and steamy but mild romance this is the book for you. The ending ends on one heck of a cliff hanger! I look forward to pick up book 2.
3.75 Stars rounded to 4