ALL THE STARS!!! Whoever described this as Peaky Blinders meets Six of Crows was spot on! The vibe is vibing and, honestly, it felt very original and the writing was so immersive, I forced myself to slow down towards the end because I did not want to leave the Kenton Hill.
I will not reveal too much as I genuinely don't want to ruin your reading experience but my take is that the world building and magic system were unique and masterfully delivered. It was easy to follow yet I was given enough information to be able to picture everything in my head clearly and a testament to Stacey McEwan's talent is the fact that the book felt very cinematic, I loved being in this world!
Then we have the characters. There is so much character development and main and side characters were brilliantly fleshed out. Patrick absolutely stole my heart, he is everything I want in a MMC and more (he even quit smoking, I mean...!!!). My favourite side characters were Tess and Donny, loved them!
The pace is great and at no point did I feel bored. I could not put the book down, I was thinking about the story when I was not reading it and the last 20%, wow, action picked up, the plot twists kept twisting and I had a mini panic attack when at 94% or so I could just not fathom how this is going to end. The cliffhanger is BRUTAL, I can't lie. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself until the next book is out. I do believe thought that Stacey has a very good idea of where she wants to take this story and I'm so excited to see what happens next, it feels like it's going to be epic.
The romance is slow to develop and this is not a book that will tick the chilli rating if that's what you're looking for. I really like my spice but I will admit, as the story progressed, I felt like I didn't need it, honestly! The yearning, the angst! Stacey did such a great job at making me feel all the feels and being emotionally invested, I actually think the way the intimate moments were portrayed were very true to the vein of the writing and the overall vibe. You will find me here, waiting (not so patiently) for the next book!
I immensely enjoyed this one, it is such a beautiful book. Thank you to Stacey McEwan, Simon & Schuster UK and NetGalley for this review copy, all opinions are my own.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 SIX. STARS. PERIOD.
I just finished A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwan, and I’m not okay. Imagine The Last Airbender vibes but with an Earthbender x Peaky Blinders x GOD-TIER Romantasy twist and you might be halfway prepared. MAYBE. Because this book? It wrecked me in the best way possible. 😮‍💨🔥

From page one, I was GONE. This story grips your soul and drags you headfirst through an emotional, cinematic, high-stakes whirlwind. The past, the pain, the passion, the way the FMC and MMC crash back into each other is SO addictive, I couldn’t put it down. I was kicking my feet, gasping out loud, and full-on squealing like an unhinged piglet. 🐷💗 (No shame!!)

Let’s talk Patrick.
✨ Morally grey
✨ Mob King Vibes
✨ Darkly funny
✨ Secretly soft for her
A literal walking contradiction, and I ate up every crumb. He’s moody perfection with a gooey cinnamon roll center, and yes, he has OFFICIALLY claimed top spot on my book boyfriend list. My heart!! 💔

And that ending??
I AM UNWELL. I’m deep in a book hangover that’s so real, so raw, I’m basically wandering around like a ghost begging for the sequel. 🫠📖

If you're into high-stakes tension, slow-burn heat, unforgettable characters, and stories that live rent-free in your head... run, don’t walk. This book will ruin you, in the best possible way. 💥

You’ve been warned.
✨ #ReadItNow ✨

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. - Freya, arc & monthly book box pick reviewer (athenafreyag on Instagram)

I couldn't put it down and I couldn't stop thinking about it while I read this. I can't even stop thinking about them now! They sucked me into this story, this world, with these characters, and I don't want to get out!!

We follow both Nina's and Patrick's povs, and I love it so much when we get chapters from both main characters. The story starts when Nina and Patrick are children, when they stumble upon a cellar with idium crates. Idium is the substance that gives people their magic (but how that magic manifests itself is different for each person, i.e. they have affinities). They had been told that bloodlines regulate who has magic and who doesn't, but Nina and Patrick discover it's been a huge lie and manipulation from the governing body. It turns out that Nina becomes an earth charmer and gets enrolled at the academy, whereas Patrick disappears.

All Nina ever dreamed is to become an Artisan (person with magic) and leave her life behind. Her father is a poor alcoholic, and all she's ever wanted was to escape that life like her mother did. But life at the academy wasn't rosy, either. We see Nina grapple with life at the school. She must hide her true identity, and she must perform well. She's constantly looking over her shoulder. She is a miner's daughter, after all. She has seen what miners go through, whereas everybody else at the academy comes from a noble family, for the most part. The author portrays class division as well as Nina being torn so well. Nina is smart and powerful, but she's never felt like she belonged anywhere.

Patrick is a leader first and foremost. The rebellion and his town depend on him. He makes the tough choices and brutal decisions. He sees a way through even at the darkest of situations. Even though he has a family with brothers and a mother, he also feels quite alone. Leadership, after all, is a lonely position. He only trusts his family, but he wants to trust Nina. He wants to let her in. I really liked how morally ambiguous he is because one, he has good intentions, and yet, he does bad things for those good intentions. He is the character who does what must be done, morality be damned. AND HE HAS A DOG!!!

The tension and angst in this book are UNREAL!!! Wow, how they bicker and argue and negotiate with each other. Their chemistry is off the charts!!!!

I also liked the entire character ensemble. Each character brings something different to the story, making it more nuanced. We have characters with PTSD, some of whom cope with alcohol, we have ambitious characters, we have some loyal and dedicated ones, and we have some who just want to survive. SECRETS AND PLOT TWISTS EVERYWHERE! I kept gasping, and my eyes left my eye sockets at some of these reveals.

The worldbuilding was really refreshing and cool. I mean, get elemental powers from a substance that needs to be handled by an Alchemist and we only have 3 of them?! Miners who try to find that substance and are poor and traumatized because of it? Artisans with their fancy powers far away from those miners? I was fascinated by the worldbuilding! Even though books with elemental powers is nothing new, how the author brought out those powers is definitely new and original. I've never read anything like this.

10/10 character development
10/10 romance
10/10 worldbuilding
10/10 plot
10/10 obsessive read

This is a story about doing what's right, about having to make tough choices, and most of all, about choosing for yourself in a world bent on choosing for you. This is one of my top reads of the year! Now I want to go and see what other books this author has written because holy moly, I became a fan for life.

This book is the July romantasy pick for an American monthly book box company, and I am renewing with joy!!

I was excited to read this book as it sounded like everything I usually enjoy. However, although it started ok and ended pretty good, the middle was meh. I struggled to stick with the book - although glad I did in the end - but hopefully others will enjoy it more than I did!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

3,25 stars.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all thoughts are my own.

I fear I have bad news... I was disappointed with this book. I really didn't want to be, and I was so excited to get to read an ARC of it! But unfortunately, too many things annoyed me and ultimately I couldn't rate it higher.

The beginning had me intrigued and I really liked the overall world and plot, but I felt like it quickly started lacking feeling. The writing was a little bland and I had a difficult time discerning what our main character felt about anything. I wanted to get to know her, see more of her reactions and hear her thoughts. I am pretty sure it was originally written in 3rd person POV but then changed to 1st person - and I think it shows in the writing, especially in the beginning where it just doesn't really feel like we are in her head. But it got better around the 30% mark, the writing felt more natural, and I started connecting more with Nina.

And I do think the book had its strengths with interesting characters and a few really good twists that I liked. But I think the pacing was just way too slow for me, and I honestly felt like nothing really happened which made it hard to stay engaged. And yet the romance between our main characters happens really fast, which is a bit of an odd mix. I did like the romance, I just think there could have been a bit more tension and yearning before their first kiss. She is only there for a few days before they are suddenly falling madly in love with each other, and I would have just liked for that to be stretched out a bit so it lasted longer and felt more natural.

There were also a few things that didn't really make a lot of sense to me.
SPOILER INCOMING:
Tanner suddenly not being able to wait any longer after only giving Nina a few days to locate the Alchemist (when he has already been waiting years) seemed a little weird to me. It obviously takes time to gain their trust, so why did he expect her to be able to move so much faster than Theo and Polly? And how did the Artisans use the tunnels when they weren't finished? If they knew the precise location of where the tunnel was and how far they had gotten, I guess they could have dug a hole and entered the tunnel through it - but how did Polly know that? She wasn't ever in the tunnel and it doesn't make sense for the information to be send to others, so why would she be privy to it? And if she was, I think we should have gotten more info on it, so it felt more natural, because it confused me quite a bit.
END OF SPOILER.

But I think my biggest issue with this was the kind of story it was, and therefore the use of some plot points that I'm not the biggest fan of.
SPOILER INCOMING:
The whole lying and betraying and not coming clean and just asking for Patrick's help... It frustrated me so much. And of course, when she finally decides she needs to tell him everything, she is going to do it "later" and by then, it's (of course) too late. Of course Polly betrays her, and of course it happens right then. Of course, of course, of course. It's just very predictable and not my favorite way to tell a story, because it's so obvious (which is annoying) and so overly dramatic (which is unnecessary). This is my personal issue with that kind of plot progression, and it does not mean that it was necessarily done poorly - I just think it's very frustrating to read, and it makes me mad at our main character and the story, which obviously affects the overall reading experience.
END OF SPOILER.

Also, quick sidenote: why were there almost no important female characters? We have a total of three, and one of them is our MC. The rest are men. I understand the world she created and how the miners' stories are crucial, but I really do feel like she could have chosen to create more women with important voices.

Anyway... I think the story had a lot of potential, and I did like a lot of the elements throughout. The magic, the conflict, the characters and their struggles. I would have just liked to see... more. More plot, more things happening. More romancing, more honesty. More of all the good things that could have made the story great.

This was an okay read, I had a good time with it. I enjoyed the writing a lot. I would definitely read more from this author. But this didn’t hit like I wanted it to.

I was so excited when I got the approval come through for this E-book. I heard such good things about it so I couldn’t wait to get stuck in. And Stacey did not disappoint!! I loved this so much! It was giving major Peaky Blinders vibes but with magic! It had me hooked all the way through.

Slightly obsessed with the morally grey MMC Patrick….

‘Look somewhere else Nina, I’m only so strong’

I loved the dual POV with Patrick and Nina. The ending was so chaotic and that cliffhanger!! 😭

I am heavily invested in this and I cannot wait for the next book to see where this story goes next.

I have already preordered this book for my shelves!

Thank you @simonschusteruk @netgalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Forbidden Alchemy was such a refreshing and original read — Stacey McEwan has built a world that feels both industrial and magical, full of layered politics, found family, and a romantasy dynamic that absolutely delivers.

The alchemy system was one of the standout elements for me. It was so unique and well thought out, and I loved how it tied directly into the social structures and the characters’ personal journeys. The romance? Tender, charged, and completely absorbing — I was rooting for these two the whole way through.

That said, the early time jumps made it a little harder for me to fully connect at first. While I understand they were necessary to build the foundation, I found myself much more engaged once the main plot took hold and everything started falling into place. From that point on, I couldn’t stop turning the pages — the twists and emotional punches kept coming, and the ending left me reeling (in the best way).

An exciting and heartfelt start to what I’m sure will be a powerful series. Bring on book two!

Fabulous read - i dont usually like school based books but this was amazing, like hogarth meets class struggles and usually I can see twists coming a mile off but really didn't see this one, cannot wait for the next one

A forbidden alchemy by @staceymcewanbooks explores wealth discrepancy the differences between the 1% and the rest of us in such a unique yet soul-crushing way. There are artisans, the elite, and then there are craftsman, the workers. What defines their differences is magic.

I have never read a magic system like this before, it's completely unique. People have magic, but they must drink a liquid that can only be extracted from the earth by an Alchemist, an incredibly rare type of artisan.

Nina is a lowly craftsman. But on her 12th birthday, just like everyone else, she is given an elixir to discover if she is an artisan hiding in plain sight. When she overhears a conversation not meant for her, she is faced with a choice to BECOME an artisan. It's her lifelong dream.

Nina is discovered to be an earth charmer and makes a her way through magic cool the top of her class. She's on the path of highest success, everything she's ever dreamed of. Until the starving, neglected, abused craftsman organize and attack the artisan capital. Her entire life changes and she must choose a side.

A huge thank you to @sagapressbooks and @amara.books for this beautiful arc! It was such a good read and I am forever a fan of Stacey McEwan. I'll have her baby any day! 😉

4.25 ⭐️

TLDR review: slow start, but when it got going YES YES YES 👏🏻
Think Peaky Blinders criminal gangs 🔫 slow burn 🔥 enemies to lovers 🗡️ elemental magic 💧 he fell first 💙 revolution and resistance 💣

Set in a gritty, bleak, world where, at 12 years old, fate and drinking a vial of liquid sets you up for your future. Or does it?

Perfect for lovers of romantasy with an undertone of underground criminal gangs. You’re looking at an element based magic system, set in a broken mining community (think Thatcher mining strikes), with Peaky Blinders gang dynamics, in a world where division is enforced by those in a position of power in the big city.
Starts slow, but BOY does the pace pick up to a full on Olympic SPRINT by the end.

Story: 4.25/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Spice: 🌶️ 🌶️ (rating chart at bottom for ref)
Pacing: 3.75/5
Plot twists: 4.5/5
Magic system: 3.75/5

From a close-knit miners town comes our main female character, Nina, who is determined to become an Artisan and wield power she was never expected to have. But a chance meeting, a discovered secret and four vials of liquid set Nina and fellow miner’s son, Patrick, down a path of resistance, revolution and betrayal. Asking them both: what would they do for the world and people they want to protect?

This was a book I couldn’t pull myself away from.
Now, you need to bare with it initially. The pacing in the first 25% of the book is a LOT of set up and time jumps to establish the FMC’s history. I wasn’t vibing with this, and it felt both rushed (through her history and life) but also ironically slow (as we don’t get much happening to hold our attention). But I can see why the set up was needed, it’s just where the star was lost for me as it was starting to lose me!

But then we really got into the swing of things! There was action, tension, plotting, shootouts. And that love triangle, well I thought that was going to be deadly at one point…
And the characters! I LOVE the Colson brothers, it think Stacey did an incredible job with them. Witty, flawed, stoic and, at their core, caring deeply for their family.
Patrick, our MMC, giving Labrador puppy in a Doberman coat. The world on his shoulders, yet desperately wanting to be that carefree boy who danced. I fell completely in love with him, and what he was trying to protect.
I found Nina a hard character, she wasn’t unlikeable at all, but I think her being caught in the crossfire made it difficult to be in her mind and also be sympathetic. But by the end, I ached with her and her choices.

Magic system was a bit lost amongst the other elements, and I feel like it was secondary to the main revolution plot. I guess it’s because we spent the majority of our time with the Crafters (non magic wielders) so it wasn’t explored as much. Maybe this will change in book two.

That ending. The last 25% of the book was relentless with twists and drama and revelations. The hits DID NOT STOP COMING and I loved if. That last quarter of the book was easily 5 ⭐️

Overall, I really enjoyed it. Loved the characters and cannot WAIT for the next book. That slow, unsteady start took a little away from my rating, but the middle and ending made up for that in droves. YES 👏🏻 PLEASE 👏🏻 MORE 👏🏻 OF 👏🏻 THAT 👏🏻


Thank you so much to the publisher, author and NetGalley for this ARC, all views and opinions are my own ✨

Spice rating:
- low to no spice, just kissing
🌶️ - Low spice foreplay, fade to black/closed door sex
🌶️🌶️ - One or two open door “soft” (not overly explicit) sex scenes and/or spicy foreplay
🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Multiple open door explicit/detailed sex scenes and detailed spicy foreplay
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Lots of open door sex scenes and spicy detailed foreplay
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🌶️- more sex than plot

What an absolute treat of a book! It's hard to imagine a better romantasy being released this year.
Nina and Patrick meet as children as they await partaking in a yearly ceremony that should direct the path of their lives to come. What they discover that day sets off a chain of events that eventually sees them through to adulthood, where the story picks up apace. The world building is subtle yet deft and the characters are complex and wiley. I'm reticent to mention twists but there are many surprises til the cliffhanger end. I'll be needing the sequel immediately please, Stacey McEwan

Consider me buried alive🪦That’s how many plot twists got piled on top of me during the last few chapters!💀

“You will sink this tunnel. Bury us all.”

In a world divided by power, your destiny is determined by a single vial of Idium. Drink it, and your blood could awaken elemental magic, marking you as a prized Artisan. But if nothing happens? You remain unchanged, a lower class Crafter.

But what if Idium isn’t distributed equally?🧪

Our two main characters Patrick & Nina uncover this brutal corruption & find themselves on opposite sides of a class war, Artisans vs Crafters.

Patrick leads the Crafters revolution, imagine Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders 🙌🏼 Morally grey but fiercely loyal to his family & town. I was swooning during his chapter POV’s.

“He’s bad to those who’re bad. No idea if that makes him good, though.”

Nina who is a powerful Artisan finds herself constantly pulled between both sides of the war but the biggest pull is towards Patrick. Hello banter, tension & possession 🔥

“Trust me, darlin’, he’s always lookin’ at you, even when you think he’s not.”

This book is for you if you love
>Elemental Magic
>Political Intrigue/Class war
>Secret identities
>Multi POV
>Found family (Donny🙌🏼)
>Tension & slow burn
>Betrayal & Plot twists that leave you emotionally unwell 💁🏼‍♀️
>Australian Author ✍️

“We’re stuck between two guns now…That’s all there is to it.”

Thank you NetGalley for the E-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I will be racing to buy a physical copy on release day!

This was incredible!! This book had me hooked from start to finish and exceeded my expectations.

A Forbidden Alchemy felt like a breath of fresh air in this genre. I absolutely loved the Peaky Blinder vibes and the world that was created here with the magic of alchemy.

The characters had depth and personality and I appreciate that we got to see them change from childhood to adulthood and how their circumstances have shaped their perspectives.
I loved both Nina and Patrick and the romance had me swooning with the tension and banter. Patrick might actually be one of my new favourite mmc’s. I also can’t forget about the amazing side characters and found family.

Now, the plot had me INVESTED. So many twists! Nearing the end of the book, I could literally feel my heart beating out of my chest waiting to know what will happen. I would do anything to be able to read book 2 because of that ending. This is definitely one I’ll be thinking about for a while.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for this e-arc💕

This was such an intricate world created. The story kept me on the edge of my seat as I wanted to find out what happened as quickly as possible. The vibes were amazing, and Patrick is an incredible MMC - I loved the way in which him and Nina met. The tension of the back story (them meeting as children) is incredible and adds such high stakes to the romance aspect.
I'm genuinely really excited to find out how this story ends!
4.5 stars rounded up to 5 here.
Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster UK for the ARC via NetGalley and for giving me the opportunity to share my honest thoughts on this book.

A Forbidden Alchemy is an adult romantasy with dystopian vibes that felt a bit like Divine Rivals in atmosphere. The premise really drew me in and the story ended up giving me exactly what I was hoping for. The whole book felt so vivid and immersive. I can picture everything so clearly, l almost feel like I’ve just watched it on film.

The writing style made it an easy read and the world building is kept simple. There was a real focus on the characters, the Colson family especially all felt so real and lifelike. Nina could be frustrating at times but it was easy to sympathise with her after learning more of her backstory. I enjoyed the romance although found myself wishing it had been a slower burn. Nina and Patrick had such great chemistry as adversaries but it was over too quickly. I sense we might be returning to that dynamic in book two though, which I’m very excited for.

The plot was a little predictable in places. I guessed the major reveal at the end from very early on although it didn’t impact my enjoyment, and the twist midway through blindsided me! I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this book and if the second book in the duology is as strong as this one, I can see this being a new favourite series!

Stacey McEwan is a fantastic writer, I love how she builds unique worlds, and creates tension from the first page.

This book is a blend of magic, romance, and rebellion, following Nina and Patrick, two young people from mining towns who find themselves stuck in a sticky situation. If you love books with fabulous world-building, slow-burn romance elements, and high stakes drama, this is the book for you!

This was a lot more fun than I expected! I loved the tension and character development throughout and the system of magic in this world. At times I felt like the romance was written around tropes rather than the other way around, but overall it was an exciting first instalment.

Oh, A Forbidden Alchemy is an absolute triumph. The yearning, the atmosphere, the sheer depth of emotion—it pulls you in like a spell woven too tightly to escape. But the plot? That’s where it becomes something truly extraordinary. So intricately crafted, layered with twists that hit hard and fast, keeping you on edge, refusing to let you settle. Every revelation reshapes the story, makes you rethink everything you thought you knew, and somehow, it never loses momentum.

The concept itself feels fresh, sharp, and utterly compelling—class warfare intricately intertwined with alchemical intrigue, turning power dynamics into something even more volatile, dangerous, and deeply fascinating. And the execution? Flawless. The world-building drips with detail, making it feel tactile, rich, and unforgiving.

But the characters, oh, the characters! Morally grey in the most delicious way, each one navigating their own convictions, ambitions, and betrayals with motivations so deeply personal, so achingly real, that it’s impossible not to get invested. You root for them even when you shouldn’t, even when their choices teeter dangerously close to ruin. It’s that perfect balance of complexity—so much depth, so much conflict, and yet, every decision feels earned.

It’s rare to find a book that grips both the mind and the heart so thoroughly, but A Forbidden Alchemy does just that. And then some.

I flew through this! It was a fantastic read.

I was hooked from the beginning when we meet Nina and Patrick, both from similar poor mining backgrounds who want very different things in life. Patrick wants to be a miner like the rest of his family and Nina just wants out and feels she is destined for bigger and better things, despite the odds being stacked against her. They meet as kids when they uncover a great secret in their country by accident. They reunite as adults and the sparks fly.

I love the tension, the secrets, the betrayal, the romance, the banter. This book has it all. The pacing is fantastic and keeps you hooked throughout. I finished it in a day because I didn't want to put it down.

The only thing that bothered me was some of the tropes that come with the romantasy. Constant declarations of trust and love towards the end but still keeping vital secrets I find annoying and frustrating. Other than that, an excellent read.

4.5 stars rounded up