This was a strange one for me. It took me a little while to get into but I was really into it after about 50%.

I think this has one of the best opening chapters in a book I’ve ever read. It literally grabs you by the throat and thrusts us into the courtly politics, culture and magic of this world through the eyes of one of the two main POVs - Shan.

There is a lot of creative and intriguing concepts at play here - Blood Workers and The Eternal King. The subjugation of the Unblooded. This aims at being revolutionary France through an exploitative system of blood magic that demands blood taxes from the unblooded citizens. It is dark and vampiric without being a vampire story (not quite anyway). This magic feels fleshed out but the world less so. Perhaps it will be developed more in book 2.

There are two main characters Shan and Samuel and side piece Isaac. I loved the two main POVs. Samuel’s struggle for goodness despite a debilitating power that makes him want to control. Shan is fascinating as a murderous, spy, super lady noble who will stop at nothing to get her goals met. Her flaw is her pride and inability to see the truth of the people closest to her as she tries to protect them. Samuel is probably too golden retriever. He trusts too easily and loves too easily.

At times this is a book about revolution/dissidence and the many forms it can take, and at others it’s a crime solving murder mystery. This was good but I couldn’t help feeling that it wasn’t quite done in places.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley for this eBook, preparing me for reading the ARC of Lord of Ruin! My review is all my own opinion.

Okay, wow. Shan is one hell of a morally grey FMC! For a debut novel this is really solid writing, with good world-building and a fascinating magic system that I hope we do learn more about in future books.

It may be trite to give comparisons, but I got strong Wu Zetian (in Iron Widow) vibes from Shan LeClaire - especially given the poly rep. And the political intrigue of something like the Halfling Saga by Melissa Blair.

The redirection in the mystery plot was really well done - I was shooketh by the reveal! And despite the blood it wasn't too gory (I'm pretty squeamish), even when there was explicit violence.

The other POV character, Samuel, didn't engage me quite as much, but not through any fault of the characterisation. I just think it's more difficult to draw engagement for a character when the plot is Things Happening To Him rather than him actually having agency over the storyline.

Romance was well explored, and the trans character was handled really positively which I appreciated. Definitely a good book for those who enjoy political intrigue, Vampires, and Yearning. Would love to have some Isaac POV bonus content from this!

Looking forward to reading Lord of Ruin now!

This book started with a real bang and had me sold with all the darker elements - the blood magic, political intrigue, spies, and a villainous heroine with a hunger for power. But unfortunately, it didn't hit as hard as I'd hoped.

The plot gets a little waylaid by investigations and romantic subplot, and lost focus a little. The writing is solid, between the pacing and tension it was an engaging read. However, with everything that was going on - the numerous characters, the complex world, shifting alliances - it all felt a little underdeveloped. I found myself needing more depth, which I hope we'll get in the next instalment.
That being said, the romance had some tension and nuance that I appreciated, and the magic system is fun and fresh - though I'd love some clearer sense on how it actually works, the limitations, the rules and what have you.

Overall, a good pick for fans of political intrigue and rising tensions between different factions. It reminded me a little of This Woven Kingdom, but darker and more bloody.

Thank you Orbit for this ARC!

Mistress of Lies surprised me in all the best ways. With its rich worldbuilding and morally complex characters, it felt like an alternate universe version of Assassin’s Creed with strong The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo vibes. But with added spice and a more personal edge.

I was completely invested in the characters and the world they inhabit. The pacing kept me hooked, and while I was expecting more gore based on the tone, the intensity still delivered. The ending left me breathless and desperate for the next installment.

This one might not be for everyone, but if you love morally grey heroines, dark historical fantasy, and stories soaked in secrets and bloodlust, it’s absolutely worth your time.

📚 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆
𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗶𝗲𝘀: Shan LeClaire, a blood‑magic heiress, crashes into the royal court with vengeance on her mind and Samuel Hutchinson on her arm. Together, they toppled empires, tangled in vampiric politics, and left a blood‑soaked mess in their wake.

𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝘂𝗶𝗻: Six months after that coup, Shan’s queen‑ing over a starving nation; Samuel’s playing political chess as Royal Councillor; Isaac? He’s off embracing monster vibes, and now I’m three seconds from a panic attack.

🍵 𝗧𝗲𝗮 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
👉 Okay, Shan’s grown from badass to *ruthless monarch* energy, and I’m here for it—especially when she raids royal chambers for *more blood, pls*.
👉Samuel remains the most tragic cinnamon roll—every time he tries to fix the system, the system bites him back. I want to wrap him in bubble wrap.
👉Isaac as the “blood‑bent beast”? WILD. Dude started as sidekick, now he’s channeling literal ruin. I both fear and stan him.
👉This book is darker, spicier, and *smarter* than the first—more court scheming, more betrayals, more EVERYTHING.
👉I literally gasped, I literally whined, and I literally bookmarked pages to reread at 2 AM because I’m masochistic like that.

Top Tropes:
🩸 Vampiric blood magic
🖤 Morally grey characters
🔪 Grumpy/sunshine
🔥 Enemies to lovers
🏛️ Political intrigue
🧬 Found family

This has the bones of a fairly incredible book. But the meat of it - the blood of it, if you will - didn't quite live up to its potential.

First, let's talk about what worked. And first and foremost in that category is Shan. One of the two POV characters, Shan is an absolute star. She has different sides to her, quite literally with her personas of the Sparrow and Lady LeClaire, she has determination, and she doesn't always make great choices. But that makes for a great character! Yes, too many other characters called Shan clever (often to her face) without her doing anything particularly clever, but I can overlook that for the first five or so times it happened. I thought Shan was captivating and engaging, none more than in the opening chapter - which sounds a bit like, "Oh, it's all downhill from here," but I mean. It was a VERY strong opening chapter.

I also thought the political aspects were very cool and had lots of potential to create a fully fleshed out world over the series. I like political machinations, and this had all the setup for that! I think that's another reason why Shan was such a wonderful character for me, as she was the one involved in the politics and being torn in a couple of different directions between her desires to make her world a better place and to gain power.

While I didn't really care for the romance(s) personally, I did appreciate the poly rep and the lack of love triangle! Cheers for that!

And while parts of the worldbuilding were a bit shallow, such as information about other countries, I think the history of their own country was intriguing and there was some great groundwork laid to expand upon the entire world.

Finally, I liked how different this take on vampirism was. At its bones, it really wasn't that unique of a take, I suppose, but the way it was presented in the novel as a whole and interwoven was refreshing!

What worked less well for me? Samuel, the other POV character, was . . . difficult for me. It wouldn't be fair for me to say that he lacked depth, because I don't think that's true, but he was somewhat boring for me if only because his character just seemed TOO good. He's almost the perfect moral compass with very little lapses into any vices or sins or, you know, complex thoughts. I understand that some of that is positioned in such a way to set him as a contrast to his family and that it's an important part of his character, to be afraid of turning out like his family, but it made it low stakes because there was absolutely no doubt that Samuel would emerge as a beacon of goodness.

Otherwise, the main thing that kept me from being drawn into this book was simply the writing. It was perfectly serviceable. It was fine. But it just didn't work for me. I think that's in large part because there were so many paragraphs and pages that would be describing things, telling you things, and often not broken up by dialogue. Which can be a stylistic choice, to be sure, but the style of the prose didn't work for such a choice for me, and instead, those paragraphs and paragraphs just came across as a writer who was still finding their voice and falling into telling over showing. I think some more writing experience would help better flesh out the characters and the world as well.

There were a handful of other things that I could nitpick, but ultimately, those were the big things that I think impacted my enjoyment of the book. That said, both are things that can easily be fixed in future books in this series, and I hope they are as I think this book and this world have a lot of potential. Plus, that cover is so gorgeous that I'd love to want this series on my shelf, and let's not underestimate that. So, overall, a fantastic concept whose execution couldn't quite live up to its full potential - but there is potential in this creative debut.

Thank you to the publisher, Orbit, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

☆☆☆☆ (3.75)

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for this ARC.

“Mistress of Lies” kept me entertained from beginning to end, and that’s ultimately what matters most. K.M. Enright presents an innovative concept that feels like a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre — the core idea is bold, intriguing, and full of potential.

Where the book stumbles a bit is in its execution. The world-building, while serviceable, never quite deepens beyond the surface. I often wished for more immersive detail to anchor me in the setting. The love triangle also felt like a relic from the YA boom of the mid-2010s — it didn’t offer much beyond what we’ve seen before.

Stylistically, there were some noticeable repetitions that pulled me out of the story. The word “demure” appears so frequently it loses impact, and the phrase “blood and steel” is used to the point of becoming unintentionally comical.

Despite these issues, the story itself was compelling and moved at a satisfying pace. However, the ending wrapped things up a bit too neatly for my taste — I would’ve appreciated more complexity or unresolved tension to carry into the next installment.

Overall, Mistress of Lies is a flawed but enjoyable start to a series with real promise. If you're in the mood for something fast-paced with a unique premise, it’s worth a read.

Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright is a once in a lifetime book. So so good. I totally recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic and the story is immaculate.

3.5 stars for blood, betrayal & a big ol’ info dump

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher & the author for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

If the first few chapters of Mistress of Lies were a drink, they’d be a blood-spiked cocktail: sharp, dangerous, and served with a dagger hidden in the napkin. I loved the cutthroat tone at the start. Shan was out here killing her dad and climbing the political ladder with the kind of cold efficiency that made me chant “yes queen, slayyy”

However, Samuel’s heritage reveal came really early on (I believe it was around the 16% mark) and after that the story just dragged tremendously. I honestly think this book would’ve benefitted so much from letting us figure out Samuel’s past through clues and consequences instead of waving it in front of us like a royal scroll. Show, don’t tell, remember? Especially when the world is this rich and full of potential.

The murder mystery? Barely simmering. At one point, the king (who I absolutely loathed!) snaps because Shan and Samuel aren’t making progress, and I was sitting there like “Actually mate, I’m with you on this one” because these two were actually doing more brooding and kissing than actually trying to solve the case…

As for the romance, the throuple dynamic had promise but felt more like a plot device than a natural progression. Still, I appreciated the attempt to do something different in a genre that often sticks to its fanged guns. And that final stretch of the book? It did pick up speed again. Enough that I went from a meh-leaning-3 to a “fine, take your 3.5 and some of my curiosity for the sequel.”

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me a copy of Mistress of Lies.

After seeing this book around, I wanted to try it as it sounded intriguing! The blurb had me hooked and the story not as much. However I think it’s only because of me.

The novel was well-written. I enjoyed the alternance between Samuel and Shan’s pov, but I wasn’t attached or obsessed with the characters.
I enjoyed the twist at the end and also the world-building.

I would still recommend it overall!

This book started with a bang, and it seemed like it was gonna hit just right, but alas, it disappointed me very much.
Our FMC was built up so freaking high in the first few chapters, only to fall short for the rest of the book. And the MC was quite unrealistic. The whole middle Arc, where he "gets swept up" into his new role is so dumb and makes no sense. It made no sense for his character specifically and it all fell short for me. I ill not be continuing this series.

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for my digital review copy.

3 stars.

This book was good.

The approach to blood based magic was what drew me into this book and sadly, I came away from it wishing the magic had more development.

The first chapters of this are very promising and instantly show us what type of character Shan is (I absolutely support women's rights, but more importantly, I support women's wrongs.) Shan is someone who will do absolutely anything to get what she wants and I love her for that.

We start out strong with Shan scheming and there's a background plot of murders, so this book has some murder mystery notes, but then the main plot gets pushed to the back burner whilst we focus on more on the relationship side of things between Shan, Isaac (a childhood friend), Samuel (a crucial part of her schemes). I did come away from this wishing that the murders weren't pushed so far back for a large stretch of the book.

There's a lot of representation in this book! We have a transmasc character, multiple mixed race characters, polyamory!

I did enjoy this book by the end and I'm interested to see what happens next, though I did wish the magic system was more developed.

Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for sending me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Mistress of Lies is a dark fantasy novels that follows Shan LeClaire, a blood worker and a noble who is trying to get her family out of shame after her father turned them to ruin. She follows her own plans to protect her non-blood worker brother. We also follow Samuel, who is a bastard with high morals, and he’s conflicted many times throughout the story.

I’m really sad about this book. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024. I feel like there was a lot of potential and the story started with a bang. However, I lost my interest really quick, and that’s probably because this book had a problem with telling, not showing. For example, we’re told Shan is a very good spymaster and mastermind, but we never really see this in action. Samuel was supposed to be a kind-hearted person who would always fight for the poor people, but we also don’t really see that. I think I couldn’t connect to the story and the characters because of this. I also didn’t really like the romance between the characters. It felt very insta-lovey and based on lust and that’s not the kind of romance I like. In terms of the plot, nothing really happened until the ending.

Overall, I feel like this had a lot of potential, but it ended up disappointing for me. The book probably needed more time to be properly fleshed out. The author is definitely talented, but this just needed more.

Mistress of Lies felt like a mix between Master from Secrets from Game of Thrones and The Nightshade Trilogy characters.

I will say that as having just completed The Nightshade Trilogy before starting this book has put it as a disadvantage due to all the comparisons I was drawing throughout the book between the two stories - MMF romance, god like powers, evil king, the distrust between the main characters etc (can't say more without spoilers).

Even with that said, I did not particularly like any of the characters or feel the connection between them. The romance felt forced upon us, the plot felt weak and the ending felt rushed.

I was so looking forward to reading this book and had it on my TBR for a while so I guess I expected more from it. Disappointing.

2/5 ⭐️ because I still finished it, hoping for it to redeem itself.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really on a roll with some great books, but sadly this one has thrown it off, and I have DNF'd it.

The writing style just did not work for me, the characterisation felt flat, and it could not hold my interest. This is so frustrating, because the book has such a cool premise, and poly rep, so I was hoping for a good time, but it just was feeling like a slog to me.

If this book's premise sounds interesting to you, give it a shot and you may enjoy it, but if your taste is similar to mine you might not have the best time with it.

A Blood Worker and a mysterious young man must work together to uncover a murderer and take down their corrupt king at the same time. Part murder mystery, part political thriller, with themes of racism and classism. Pacy and has a lot of potential, but the book suffers from telling not showing, with numerous things happening off page. A number of things in the plot and world were hinted at then never followed up on, like why Shan wants to topple the government. And, just in case you missed that this is a romantasy novel, everyone is horny all the time. Not one for me.

I enjoyed the premise and world building- the idea of blood workers was a great interpretation of the vampire myth. However I felt that the character of Shan was under-developed, we met her at this strong, ruthless woman who had risen from the ashes of her distraught childhood but by the end she was almost simpering, powerless and had completely taken her eyes off the goal that we were led to believe was intrinsic to her being.
I think other people would really enjoy this book but sadly the character change was just too much for me to get behind.

I'm nothing if not a supporter of women's wrongs, so with Mistress of Lies opening up how with does, I was bound to have a great time.
I loved Shan's complexity, the slow peeling back of layers to reveal what she does for the people she cares about (although admittedly she does make a few questionable decisions for a spymaster at times), and how well her personality worked with Samuel's, at times so different from one another and yet so similar, but Isaac, I'll admit, is my favorite out of the three, and I'm very curious to see what the author does with them next because Mistress of Lies lays opens up so many juicy possibilities.
The take on vampires and blood magic felt refreshing and was one of my favorite aspects of this book, though the magic-system was a bit hard to follow at times, mostly since there didn't seem to be too many set rules, and sometimes I got the sense that characters got certain abilities because it was convenient. I have one major issue with something that happens with one of the character's powers because, for the build-up, it got it was resolved a lot quicker and easier than I expected, but I won't go too much into that because of spoilers.
Mistress of Lies will likely appeal to readers who greatly enjoy character-driven stories and don't mind too much when the plot isn't as tight as it could be, which is where I happen to sit.
The vibes and viciousness were on point.

Thank you, NetGalley and Orbit, for the ARC.

this book ruined the demure trend for me, because ofc Shan was confident and bold, but she had to pretend to be demure and soft, and in some company she had to put a mask and be demure and i don't know if you understood, but she had to act demure - like gosh did this book went thru any editors? anyone heard of synonims?

same thing with reputation- it was constantly drilled into my mind that reputation was everything, that they had to maintain perfect reputation, that reputation was not only clothes you wear, but also how you act and that reputation was the most important thing - I UNDERSTOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME

it was Samuel who was slow and and constantly bitching that, oh no, I'm rich now, i don't belong here, I'm just a normal guy, i want to wear my old clothes and don't want to learn how to use my scary power, I'm a monster🥺👉👈, he was created to be the most "innocent" of the trio, but he was just naive and ignorant af

the whole world felt lacking and plot felt lacking, there was this murder mystery, but it was in the background and up front was what Shan was wearing today and how she was smarter and scheming and lying to everyone, because she was the only smart person there who understood how power play works

I would like chapters from Isaac pov, cus he seemed the most interesting character in this book

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.