Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed this Romanian and Ancient Greek inspired story! It was a really fascinating mash-up of cultures that I don't think I've ever read before.

Irina is a fantatic protagonist. She has a strong moral compass, and neither condones Stefan's worse actions or condemns them. She tries to understand and wants better from him. It's so nice to have a heroine understand her morally grey love interest, but still demand better from him. She refuses to compromise her own values, but always chooses compassion. I really, really liked her.

Stefan and Irina's relationship evolves slowly and fascinatingly as they traverse more and more of the underworld. The nature of the underworld was Greek-inspired but hard to wrap your mind around in a way that makes sense for an ever expanding and changing eternal afterlife.

I loved the ending. I loved Stefan and Irina's choice and how they made it together. I thought it was a wonderful example of how they'd been shaped by their negative experiences but chosen to grow together as people.

And the ending was perfect. A nod to the Greek myths and a really lovely choice.

On a completely different note, Irina has an incredibly badass moment when <spoiler> she asks if Father Simeon even knows her name. I literally felt chills. She knows who he is and she in only a few words lets him know. It's incredible. What a culmination moment. </spoiler>

Overall, I loved this story. There's something for everyone with traditional vampires, Greek myths, romance, family, and some unsettlingly fluffy animals. Would highly recommend!

Five stars.

Romantasy isn't a genre I often reach for, but I had previously read 'The Shadow in the Glass' - a retelling of Cinderella, with gothic vibes - so when I saw a new title from JJA Harwood pop up, I had to give it a go!

The book follows our main character, Irina, on a quest to rescue her sister's (Catalina) soul from the underworld. In order to get there, she needs an immortal guide - cue grumpy vampire, Stefan.

Stefan's been terrorising the town for a while. So the locals are only too happy to offer her up to be his wife, with the hope of finally sending him off to the afterlife.

Together, they head into the great beyond in search of Catalina's soul, with Irina offering herself up like an all-you-can-eat vampire buffet along the way.

I LOVED the world-building in this and the unique cast of characters. The romantic build up was really well done (you could cut that tension with a knife!) and I found myself really rooting for them both throughout.

If enemies to lovers, forced proximity/marriage and vampires are your bag, this is well worth a read!

thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for this arc.

this was a very interesting story. i enjoyed it a lot though most parts, and a little less through others, but overall this was a solid book.
i was not prepared for all the emotions this would stir in me though! i thought i was in for a fun, romantic fantasy book, and definitely did not expect to be crying for 10 minutes straight.
regardless, i will read more by this author in the future.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that tore my heart out quite as much as this! You know it’s a good author when they make you feel things this deeply and move you this much.

I enjoyed the Land of the Dead most in this book. It seemed to be a bunch of different mythology entwined together to create something new and unique. I was a bit throw at first going from a eastern European setting to a Greek underworld but it wasn’t long before I saw what the author was doing and really appreciated it.

I also loved the traditional take on Vampires. I loved taking the vampire back to its roots while also showing Stefan’s humanity and backstory in a blend of modern vampires and traditional ones.

Overall, I think this is a book I’m going to remember fondly.

The Greek tale of a lover slipping through the layers of hell to fetch back a loved one has been given a new spin. Take a Romanian folk 1700s vibe, the many death rivers, an enemy to lover trope, a vampire and this is what you get.
This wasn't quite what I had in mind for some reason. I liked the premise, and after reading Lore Olympus I think I was hoping for something more fun. The tone is not very personal and I was a little bored. I didn't particularly like the main characters, so that never helps.
This wasn't for me, but I believe this will be right up the alley of readers who enjoy romantasy.

The premise of this book was so intriguing and the first chapter / part had me hooked, but ultimately, it fell flat and I ended up DNFing about halfway through.
My main issue was the way the enemies to lovers was executed. The bickering between them felt forced and I just didn't like how the trope was done here. It also didn't help that we didn't get much insight into the backstory of our two main characters, so it all just felt a bit two-dimensional.
The setting and world building also had great potential and I especially loved the historical setting.
However, the underworld confused me – I like a twist on a concept, which is definitely what we got here, but I still can't say I liked the way it was done.
The dialogue bothered me a lot, as it was way too modern for a historical setting. It just takes me out of the story and at times it made the bickering between the main characters sound a bit juvenile.
I also wish there had been chapters. Not having chapters can be done well occasionally, but I didn't feel like that was the case here, and it also didn't feel necessary as I couldn't really see the purpose for the storytelling.

This all sounds quite negative, but I did enjoy the plot for the most part and for a while, I was determined to finish since I really wanted to find out how it all ends. But after a while, the points that bothered me just overtook that desire, and I chose to DNF.

Maybe I just wasn't the right audience for this, as I can definitely see someone else enjoying this more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

Irina is about to be married off to a dead guy, well undead really.

There is a superstition that if a living person marries a dead unmarried person, it'll rest their soul and this is the villages last ditch attempts to stop the killing spree.

Irina is doing this for her own reasons too, she needs someone not of the living to take her to the Underworld to find her sisters soul.

Is Stefan the one to do this, and what will Irina have to pay for this help... she'll pay in blood it seems... but anything for family!!

I really enjoyed the story and the premise of this book, although one thing did put me off, but it's a formatting thing. There are no chapters. In a nearly 400 page book it's split into only 5 parts, the majority of the book being in just one of those parts.

Without this issue, this book would definitely have been rounded up to a five star read on here, but it meant I was sometimes not reading in short periods as I'm someone who really likes a natural stopping point in the book.

Not a criticism really as the story is great regardless, but just a heads up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the review copy, all opinions my own.

out now!!

Switched up Hades and Persephone vibes, sweet and meaningful.

In a fit of desperation to save her sister, Irina agrees to marry a vampire terrorising a distant town so he’ll act as her guide in the underworld. Irina is on a journey to save her sister whose soul is trapped while her body is still living.

This is a really sweet YA, I did enjoy it but it equally I would have enjoyed it more if it had been about 100 pages shorter. The journey was quite long.

I really liked the character development and relationship between Stefan and Irina. The characters were really well done.

My favourite bit was actually the ending which I thought was brilliant.

If you’re looking for spice this is not for you, it’s chaste and sweet and young and well done.

Thank you #netgalley and #harpercollins for my #arc

This story takes us into the depths of Death’s dominions where the living who enter unbidden, will be subjected to pain, fear and darkness. In this trip into the death lands, however, there might also be the chance of Love.
Our journeyers are on a mission together to find a soul. Will they succeed, or will they fail and be stuck in the land of the dead? Whilst there, they cannot eat or drink. If they manage to get out, will Irina keep her vow to kill the vampire?
So wanted to know how it ended but didn’t really want to finish it.
A great read. Haven’t read a good fantasy novel like this for a long time. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Magpie and author JJA Harwood for this eARC

A haunting, eerie and enchanting book.

A Steep and Savage Path starts out dark and ominous with a gothic horror vibe. However it transforms into so much more and absolutely took my by surprise with its world building and hauntingly beautiful writing and story.
I don’t want to spoil too much, however I will say if you like an emotional journey through the underworld with compelling characters, this is the book for you!

"Daddy, what did you do in the Romanstasy Wars?"

Despite reading a fair bit of fantasy and the odd bit of romance, I can't say I have read anything that has been directly described as romanstasy before, and after reading this, I am still not convinced it is all that representative of the sub-genre. Because while a lot of the tropes are here (young vampire, tragic backstory, enemies to lovers), it does generally seem to be more interested with playing with its afterworld tropes and let the romance tick along on the side,

Irina is a teenager being set up to become a bride of the dead, a newcomer to the small Transylvanian village which is being plagued by a vampire, she volunteers to marry it and then destroy it. There are open questions about the village, but we know from the start that Irina has an ulterior motive, namely, her sister's soul appears to be in the land of the dead, and she needs passage to find it. And since vampires are both dead and alive, she is willing to make this terrible bargain so he can help her save her sister. Of course when the vampire turns up, and after she has placated him with charms, Stefan turns out to be a pretty honourable chap, and as ever with books with vampires as lead characters, the lore and backstory needs to be softened, and there is still a fair bit of blood letting, albeit willingly, to keep him alive. Of course, as the venture further into the quite Dantean vision of the afterworld, they discover more about each other: Irina is plagued with guilt, and Stefan has a much more tragic backstory.

I enjoyed Harwood's commitment to the vampire lore, and obviously there is instant colour from the Transylvanian setting. But what is interesting here is how Stefan's vampire was created, which gives the tale additional pathos. The romance works, not least because they are already married from the start, but the book understands the kind of bargaining you have to do with any "escaping the land of the dead" narrative, and this has a cleverly bittersweet denouement. It felt more like gothic horror than romance, though it is very clearly a romance, and I enjoyed it a lot.

his book was a fantastic surprise, and I devoured it in almost one sitting!

J.J.A. Harwood crafted a beautiful and daunting journey through the underworld, that becomes increasingly emotional the farther we go in.



“I started seeing her differently. I realized how kind she was. She can be so gentle, but there’s a core of granite to her. Everyone else just… faded away.”

I enjoyed this book, however I would not compare it to the cruel prince. As a “villain” Stefan doesn’t really measure up - he’s not morally grey, he’s cruel for about five minutes and then is a good guy. It was interesting to see a vampire written as a teenager who was actually a teenager and not a 500 year old immortal though.

This book gave me spirited away vibes with the whole world of the dead, I enjoyed the characters and the whimsy and it hit me hard at the end - be prepared to cry.

Overall a fun book, but I feel like it was oversold a little with the books it was compared to. The enemies to lovers plot was weak so if that’s your thing, take this with a pinch of salt.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the advance reader copy.

The concept of this book is very interesting but unfortunately felt like it didn’t fully hit the mark.
A few issues I had were the lack of chapters which made the story feel longer and like it was just running on.

The romance felt like it came out of nowhere and I feel like the last 25-30% of the book were what I wanted from the whole book.

3.5 ⭐️

I have mixed emotions about this book. Overall, it was a good read, but it's not a book i'll be rushing back to.

One of the main things that put me off, which probably didn't help, was the layout. It is split into 5 parts rather than split into chapters, so some parts felt like they dragged on as I struggled to find a decent place to stop and take a break. I felt it made the book longer than what it actually was.

I enjoyed the beginning when we were introduced to Irina and Stefan, lost interest a little as they made their way through the Underworld and then started flying through it at 60%. I really wanted more information on Stefan's back story, so I think that's why I lost interest in the middle as I felt I was skimming through parts, hoping we found out more about Stefan.
Some areas of the underworld felt like gap fillers and seemed a little unnecessary. I would have rather they stayed in another area longer and had some of their bonding moments happen then. Constantly moving between areas took me out of it a little.

Irina and Stefan's relationship was interesting, but it felt more like a reluctant allies to lovers rather than enemies to lovers. I found Irina to be a little frustrating sometimes, but considering what she was doing and what she was going through, I can understand why she made certain decisions. Overall, I thought she was very brave and determined. There's no way she would have been able to do what she had otherwise. I really wish we got more of a focus on Stefan. There was so much there, and what we got wasn't enough. He was a gentleman at heart and the way he cares for her? I liked his character development the best.

In the end, I did enjoy it. I just didn't meet my expectations.

This book is perfect for fans who enjoyed the eerie atmosphere of One Dark Window and loved The Songbird and the Heart of Stone.

The writing pulled at my imagination to create a vivid and hauntingly nightmarish world. I deeply enjoyed the development of Irina and Stefan's relationship, which happened gradually and quite organically. Loved their banter and how they both individually grew as characters.

It's hauntingly beautiful and steeped in delicious worldbuilding, with intricate and compelling characters.

And yes. I bawled my eyes out x

I read The Thorns Remain last year and instantly fell in love with this author's writing style. This one was exactly the same.

I wanted to read this because i saw the words vampire/human romance and became obsessed with wanting to read it. This is so much more than a romance book - yes it is a big part of the story but there is so much more to it. I loved the world and travelling through the underworld with our characters. The slow burn of Irina and Stefan's relationship kept me captivated from page one. For most of the book I wasn't sure if they would even get together as they seemed like they hated each other.

My favourite part about this book was Stefan and his character growth from the moment you meet him. He is constantly keeping you on your toes. You think you know him and then he does something that completely throws you. I love how much he deeply cares for Irina even though his life has been cruel and unforgivable. You really see him come to terms with the fact that not everyone is bad. Stefan deserves to be loved and accepted for all that he is and Irina did exactly that.

Overall this book was everything I hoped it would be. 5/5 stars again for J.J.A Harwood. I will buy anything she writes.


I would like to thank HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | Magpie and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review

This was such a wonderful read! I really enjoyed both the plot and the characters as I did with previous books by the author. However, I really struggle with the length of the chapters. They are way too long, and it's actually putting me off. Other than that, I feel like these books are more telling than showing as well, which is another thing I struggle with. That being said, I truly enjoyed this book, and it might have been an easy 5-star read if not for the things mentioned here.

I liked the idea of the story, but was not sure, if it‘s really a story for me. At the beginning I was still not of the opinion that I will like it as the main character Irina was not that likeable and the plot development was a bit slow. But the moment they entered the underworld I was hooked. I like the idea that the afterlife is a mix of different beliefs and there is something for everybody. The author managed to include the folklore of Romania, classical literature and Christian beliefs, what makes the story quite interesting. I liked also the character of Stefan, in a way even more than Irina.
I recommend this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'A Steep and Savage Path' by JJA Harwood.

I'm afraid to say that I just didn't connect to this book. I don't know if it was because the mood was rather sad for most of it and I just felt I wasn't ready to read something like that. There is definitely an audience for this book but not me.