I loved this. One of the best things I've read this year. I did that thing when you get to the end and feel so sad to be leaving the world that you contemplate just starting again from the beginning straight away. This is absolutely going to be a huge hit come its release in September, and rightly so.

I loved Grey as a lead character - her characterisation felt nicely complex and nuanced. I loved Kier and the romance arc; the author avoided a lot of the usual fantasy romance cliches which was refreshing, and I appreciated a romance that felt genuine and authentic rather than insta love.

I really enjoyed the world building and the way the magic system - a mage and a well, always paired together - allowed space to explore what it meant to work in a long-term partnership like that. I also liked the nods to Arthuriana and this concept of an island that could disappear and re-appear. There's so much to explore there!

I also enjoyed the ending! I can't say much without spoiling it, but I liked that the author held her ground and didn't let them off that easily.

I'd assumed this was a standalone but am thrilled to see it's listed as part one on Goodreads. I'll definitely be picking up the follow-up, and I look forward to seeing where the author takes these characters next.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy.

5⭐️ Firstly, thank you to NetGalley, Little Brown Book Group and VL Bovalino for this ARC!
Well, this was a glorious Arthurian triumph! This book hit so many of my favorite things in a story… fabulous world-building, a super unique magic system, and characters you actually care about.

The friends-to-lovers arc totally got me. I’m officially obsessed, having not really been in to this trope before. You can feel the years of love and history between Grey and Keir, and it was just so refreshing to read about a relationship that’s already so solid and devoted. I wanted the best things for them both.

Also, the queer normative world was so good. I loved how natural it all was, and the found family vibes hit hard. Every side character brought something meaningful to the story, and I honestly could’ve read whole spin-offs about them. I’d love to know more about Brit and Ola for instance.

If I had one tiny gripe, it’s that the setup took a while, and I found myself waiting for that click moment until about 60%. But once it got going? I was fully in. The second half absolutely delivered.

2025 truly is the year of the Lady Knight and I’m here for it!

Edit: upped this to 5 🌟 because I’ve had time to reflect and this book hasn’t left my mind all week!

★★★★★ — Full of yearning, one of the best books of the year so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book UK for the opportunity to read this early, it will easily be one of my top books of the year.

Saying I read this in one sitting would hardly be an exaggeration. I read 9% one evening, then devoured the remaining 91% the following night until it was far too late and I did not get enough sleep. But I forgive the author, because this book was everything I've ever wanted.

If there’s one thing I’m picky about, it’s romance. Most of it is too fast, the payoff unearned, the chemistry nowhere to be found, and the horniness of the characters gluing my steel blue orbs into a permanent eyeroll. I’m not really the target audience for most romance anyway, what with being an asexual lesbian. But this book. Oh, this book DELIVERED.

I’m usually cautious around friends-to-lovers. I’ve read one too many "he’s like a brother to me… BUT NOW I FIND HIM HOT?" progressions, and to be blunt, it gives me the ick. But this book wasn’t like that. Grey has always had feelings for Kier. She’s never seen him as a brother. She loves him so much, and you can feel it. You can feel the feral devotion she has towards him. THE YEARNING. V.L. Bovalino, I owe you my life for writing such delectable yearning.

Also: my sincerest apologies for thinking this was a heterosexual book. Both Kier and Grey are bisexual. And it’s a queer normative world! We’ve got NBs, trans men and women, lesbians, we’ve got it all! It’s genuinely so nice to read about a world where the biggest issue isn’t surviving bigotry. Those stories are incredibly important, but sometimes it’s nice to imagine a world where we aren’t discriminated against.

As an ace person, I don’t typically enjoy sex scenes. They usually make me cringe or roll my eyes, but it was quite acceptable here. I don’t mind it when it’s a logical next step in a relationship and not just trying to titillate the reader (this is a personal preference and not a judgement on those who enjoy it though!). So no cringing, just me being happy to see them in love.

I really liked Grey. She was a great main character. It’s hard to talk about her without spoiling anything, but she’s everything I want in a lady knight: strong, smart, flawed, interesting. I loved watching her interact with others and slowly make friends despite being a constipated stick-in-the-mud. Like, look at you go!! You unclenched and weren’t unpleasant. I’m so proud of you, babygirl (genuinely). I love standoffish and grumpy main characters because they’re so opposite to me and it's cathartic.

Speaking of making friends, I adored the supporting cast. Ola and Brit, Eron, Sela (my daughter, fr TT^TT), and even some of the more minor characters were all so well-written.

Loved Kier. Top-tier male lead. It’s refreshing to read about a man who respects the FMC and isn’t a dick to her. He’s a kind-hearted man, but not too soft either. His dynamic with Grey is everything. It can be summarised as: WILL YOU STOP TRYING TO DIE FOR ME, THAT’S WHAT I’M TRYING TO DO.

The politics and worldbuilding were also really strong. I’ve always loved the concept of one person being the source of power and the other its wielder, it’s a trope I’d love to explore in my own writing one day. Bovalino did a brilliant job with it here.

In short: this book was romantic, emotional, magical, and just so full of heart. I'd like 10 more on my desk by Friday please.

(Tiktok review to come soon)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of The Second Death of Locke.

<b>Review Summary:</b>
This book starts off strong, with a fascinating world, amazing queer rep, and a set-up that instantly brings up themes of exploitation, power imbalances and control. I thought this was going to be a powerhouse of a book, the type that would have both a gripping story and a powerful commentary. However, in the second half of the book, a lot of the themes faded away or were undermined, while the world-building and geopolitics got increasingly more wishy-washy.

I still think a lot of people will enjoy this book for the romance, but for me, the fantasy elements of the book fell short.

<b>I would recommend this for readers wanting:</b> friends-to-lovers romance with plenty of yearning, queernormative worlds, fantasy vibes, emotional healing

<b>I would not recommend this for readers wanting:</b> fantasy with a romance sideplot, political fantasy, strategy that stands up to scrutiny, logical worlds/economies/systems of government

<b>In More Detail:</b>
Let's start with the good points: this world is delightfully queer-normative and has so many different kinds of rep. There's a big focus on explicit consent in the sex scenes (although I also wished our main character Grey would stop thinking about how she'd previously, as a healer, touched the love interest's intestines). There's a lovely band of adventurers who go on a quest together. The book is full of yearning and sexual tension. The mythology is interesting.

The beginning of the book also sets up an exploitative situation in which our main character is part of the exploited magical class (the Hands/Wells). She's frequently dehumanised and treated as lesser than the love interest (a Mage), who is allowed to just take magical energy from her to do as he wills (often not communicating with her beforehand as he does so). She's not allowed to refuse a role as his personal, round-the-clock source of magic; she's reprimanded by others for not addressing him with his title; she's not supposed to speak in meetings; training manuals compare her to a dog.

Toxic? Yes. Potential for a powerful commentary on social inequality and oppressive systems? Absolutely!

Which is why it's even weirder that not only is there no satisfying resolution to this situation, but at the end of the book, she becomes <spoiler>basically the most powerful women in existence despite being completely oblivious to power imbalances. Her fellow adventurers now serve her. She doesn't do anything to reshape the relationship between Wells and Mages. And the book even magically makes the bodies of her entire nation of dead subjects disappear, and shortly after, she imports a new population of soldiers and their families — although there's no reason why they'd choose to move there, and there's no focus on how she's supporting them and ensuring they have jobs, and she would personally like to not let new people move there. Somehow this also happens in just two or three weeks. I felt really let down by how the book set up this amazing political theme only to become a book about the protagonist basically cos-playing being a ruler.</spoiler>

That's not the only part where it felt like the world-building was vibes over substance. The book is focused on a sixteen-year war between five or six nations. But there didn't seem to be a well-thought-out reason for why everyone went to war, the geopolitics felt incredibly wishy-washy, strategies didn't make sense... Countries prop up allies for no reason other than sentimental attachment, not seeking to take control themselves <spoiler>even when a "nation" was literally made up of one person with no army or money</spoiler>.
It also felt like no thought was given to how courts and countries are run, particularly in relation to economies and organisation.

Another major theme in the book was making sure that magic doesn't disappear. But for most of the book, we only see magic being used for: brutally killing people, producing precious jewels out of nothing, creating a kind of bubble so people can't overhear conversations, and creating magical lights and fires. It was hard to care about magic not disappearing when I wasn't seeing any of the ways magic could be used for good.

Several plot points also felt contrived to tug an emotional response out of the reader rather than actually being logical. In this way, it felt like the fantasy elements were being sacrificed for the sake of the romance.

On the plus side, the romance is compelling — but also frustratingly unhealthy, especially at the end. As one example, <spoiler>the protagonist doesn't tell the love interest that he actually died and was returned to life on a loan, pending a decision on her part about what to sacrifice in exchange for his life. When he finds out several days later, via overhearing her confide in someone else about it, he is rightly furious and she gives him some space. Eventually she goes to him and he forgives her. But, this means that not only did she betray his trust like that, but she left him alone to process the fact that he died and could still be returned to wherever the dead go. She doesn't support him in that at all.</spoiler>

To be clear, I don't think my issues with The Second Death of Locke necessarily make it a bad book. It's clear from other reviews that a lot of people love it, and I can see why. But I think if you want a well-developed and logical fantasy world as well as a compelling romance, this may not be the best book for you.

I’m UNWELL. This book is a friends to lovers masterpiece – and I don’t say that lightly. It has the kind of yearning, emotional slow burn, and intimate connection that leaves you feeling utterly gutted (in the best way). I LOVED it. Wouldn’t change a single sentence.

Okay, let me start by saying that friends to lovers is my favorite trope, and always has been. I mean, there’s just something about two people who’ve known each other forever, who share all this history, and then suddenly those feelings start to shift. The fear of messing it all up, the quiet pining, the things left unsaid — that’s the kind of stuff I live for. I’m so happy that this book delivers all of that, and honestly, even more.

V.L. Bovalino crafted a story that explores love in its most vulnerable, selfless form without ever veering into the overly dramatic or cringey. Grey and Kier’s relationship is one of the most organic, powerful portrayals of love I’ve read in fantasy or romantasy. The kind where every glance, every act of trust, every choice screams devotion. You can almost feel their connection and the pining as you read. And honestly, it doesn’t feel like just romantic love, but more like a foundational element for both of them. I mean, just knowing they’re there for each other is enough to carry the entire love story in this book.

The worldbuilding is also incredibly well done. In this universe, magic users are divided into wells (those who provide magic) and mages (those who use it). Grey is a well to Kier’s magic, and that bond only deepens the emotional stakes. All of this unfolds against the backdrop of a war that’s tearing the world apart, and the constant danger makes everything feel more more urgent and also more heartbreaking.

And then there's Grey's secret (which is no spoiler, as it’s already mentioned in the synopsis): she’s the heir to the lost island of Locke, the origin of all power. This secret is what drives the plot and shapes Grey’s arc. The book is written from her POV, and as the story unfolds, we dive deep into her past, her trauma, and her fractured identity. This kind of deeply personal and emotional storytelling worked extremely well for me.

I also have to add that there’s a phenomenal found family element in this book, with secondary characters who feel like actual people, not just one-dimensional sidekicks. Thanks to them, we also see how beautifully normalized queerness is in this world. The relationships Grey and Kier have with the rest of the crew highlight themes of loyalty, friendship, and sacrifice. Honestly, love takes so many forms in this book, and each one is given weight and care.

Long story short: if you love friends to lovers, a deeply emotional fantasy plot, and characters that will live in your heart for months — this book is your 11/10. I’ll be thinking about this story for a long, long time, and I can’t wait for the next installments, which (as we’ve been told) will feature different couples.

I absolutely devoured this book, I could not put it down. The relationships, the yearning, the gothic fantasy, the grief, the power, the bond, the queer-normative setting — it’s all devastatingly gorgeous.

I can’t recommend it enough. One of my favourites of 2025. I hope and beg that’s there’s more coming for Grey and Keir 🙏🏻 I cannot stop thinking about them.

Let the lady knight genre continue to thrive 🗡️🩸🏰

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and OrbitBooks UK for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2025 is the year of lady knights, and also the year of phenomenal books about their wild and reckless adventures and I love it! From the moment this book was announced I have been desperately awaiting the day it would land in my lap, and this book turned out to be everything I could have ever wanted and more.

There's something about Tori Bovalino's writing that I just immediately click with. My only experience of her work before this is her incredible short story in the collection The Gathering Dark, which gripped me like no other story did and had me in tears, and I was glad to find that this book had the same effect on me. From the very first page I sank into the delightful prose, immediately captivated and at ease in a new world and story. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that captivates me so, but I'm so glad that it does.

I adored this book in every sense, and likely will not be able to put all my adoration into words, but I will try my hardest. The worldbuilding felt fresh and original, and intricately woven, with an intriguing magic system of mages and magical wells, and an expansive and nuanced political landscape, with warring nations that I'm excited to see laid out on a map, and explored even more in the following books in this series. The representation was excellent, with a queer-normative world and a wonderfully queer cast of characters, as well as disability and chronic pain representation, which I was very glad to see.

I thought the balance of plot and romance was handled very well, and both storylines were equally as compelling, with high-stakes and brutal battle sequences, a found family journey of chaotic and very queer knights, with bonds that felt real and raw and deeply trusting, a journey of reclamation, and of course, Grey and Kier's sweet romance, a tale of childhood friends and their close, instinctual bond. I'm not someone who reads a lot of romance, and yet I found myself so invested in Grey and Kier's relationship, delighted over their adorable interactions and laughing alongside their banter. I loved how deeply rooted their bond was, developed from childhood and based upon trust and mutual respect and unending devotion.

This book was adventurous, dark, heartbreakingly tragic (I found myself teary many times from the 70% mark onwards) and high-stakes. And yet this was also funny, filled with love and hope and so much spirit. I have so much more I could say about this wonderful book, but I'm not sure how to put all my adoring thoughts into words, so just know that I thought this book was absolutely phenomenal and I cannot wait for people to get their hands on it when it releases in September! I adored these characters, I adored this world, and I cannot wait to see what Tori Bovalino does next, and I cannot wait to eventually return to this world.

Thank you, NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first, I was quite sceptical as the cover seems very historical and the blurb didn't sound like that. But don’t worry - it’s a proper high fantasy novel. And if knights and horses and kings exist in a fantasy world, I'm perfectly fine with that. And honestly? That cover has grown on me. I love the style and it’s truly something different to the usual fantasy book covers. Beautiful.

As for the plot - wow. There are plenty of book series that are way too long. I get that authors want to make money, but often one book would’ve been better than two, or two books better than three. In most of these cases, the books end up stretched out and boring. Not in this case. There was so much happening. For once I’m gonna say that this could’ve easily been a duology, if not a trilogy. After the first 40 % there was a scene that already felt like the grand finale. And afterwards, it just didn't stop. So much going on, so much excitement! I don’t know how V L Bovalino managed to stuff so much plot into this book. And it didn’t feel like too much at all! If it had finished after the first half, I would've been happy, but this way, I was even happier that I could just keep reading. I really loved it. There are quite a few authors who might want to take a note.
There weren’t any great plot twists that had me gasping, but I couldn’t have guessed where this book was going to end up. It was all very exciting and I didn’t want to stop reading.

I love the magic system with the mages and the wells. Very nice to have magic be achievable only in partnership and it was executed very well.
Apart from that, the world building is not amazing, but it’s fine. I would’ve like to get more descriptions of the surroundings. And perhaps more explanations of the countries, what everything looks like, their customs and cultures. The way it was, they seemed a bit interchangeable, aside from the fact that we had “the good guys” and “the bad guys”. But it was alright.

The characters on the other hand were great. I loved the crew and how they were working together. I loved Grey’s and Kier’s history and how they had known each other for almost their entire lives, but their relationship still managed to grow and change. The personalities weren’t all that different, but they all felt like actual people. I loved the little bantering, the discussions and disagreements.
I’m not a fan of miscommunication (or no communication), but it didn’t feel forced in this book. Same for the LGBTQ+ representation. Very nicely done. Present, but not overbearing.

The thing I probably enjoyed most about this book was the writing. It felt real. They are at war, so everything is dirty and bloody and muddy. The whole book was pretty gritty, and I loved that it wasn’t all sparkles. So many fantasy novels with a war have lots of scheming and planning and then just one huge fight at the end - and sorry to tell you, but wars don’t usually work like that. In this case, we know of plenty of battles, we know for how long this has been going on and we don’t just get told all of that. We get to see it. Very nice.

There are two things I have to criticize though. First - I can't say how often Grey loses consciousness. It's a lot. On one hand it's quite realistic with everything that's going on, and I appreciate that there's actual repercussions for getting into fights. But I'm worried about her! That girl must have some proper brain damage from all the times she's gotten knocked out. And all that fainting can't be healthy either.
Second, and that's a bit spoilery: Authors. Please commit to killing characters. I hate it when someone dies only to get resurrected again, if resurrection hasn’t been in the game beforehand. Everything tied up nicely in the end, but sometimes I just wish the heartbreak stayed that way. Deaths don’t carry the same meaning if they can just be reversed. And it doesn’t matter if there’s payment, if the payment isn’t as horrific as the death itself.

But overall, I really enjoyed this. More than I would’ve thought.

Apparently this is going to be a trilogy. This book could’ve been a standalone, so I’m curious to see what’s going to happen. I’d definitely like to read the next instalment though.

Thanks to Orbit, for letting me read this E-ARC

!!!this review contains spoilers!!!

When I started The Second Death of Locke, I was feeling incredibly optimistic. The synopsis had me intrigued, the cover is absolutely stunning and one of my favourite books is listed as a comp title. I was fully expecting to, at the very least, enjoy most aspects of this book. But my actual reading experience was a messy journey that left me feeling deeply underwhelmed and dissatisfied.
 
The Things I Liked:
-              The queer representation: it’s an unfortunate truth that most people’s perception of fantasy is very much cis and straight, so having a world that is just so full of queer characters is something that I’m happy about, no matter what else I may think about the book
 
The Things I Have Mixed Feelings About
 
-              Sela: though she was heavily underutilised, I still came to enjoy her character because out of everyone she felt the most like an actual person instead of just words on a page the story treated her more as a plot device than someone whose unique perspective might be an interesting contrast to all the other main and major side characters who are exclusively soldiers
-              The magic system: the way mages and their wells function is really cool but I feel like there was no real exploration of the different dynamics that come with that and just dumping the information about different kinds of mages in the beginning ultimately worked to the stories detriment because I simply couldn’t remember all the information and didn’t really know to what extent other mages could be a potential threat. The idea of wells being exploited was brought up early on, but I feel like it was ultimately inconsequential when it comes to the actual story of the book.
-              Grey/Kier romance: their relationship starts off somewhat entertaining, I wasn’t giggling and kicking my feet, but I wasn’t dreading their interactions either. However, the longer the book goes on, the more bored I became with their dynamic and their „conflict“ towards the end just felt incredibly contrived and annoying. By the time the book finished they just felt like any other romantasy couple
 
The Things I Didn’t Like
 
This section is going to require a more in-depth approach, so I am asking you to bear with me.
The first chapter already gave me a bit of pause, because I found the prose to be rather clunky and the world building to be extremely heavy handed. It felt as though the story wanted us to just understand the world as quickly as possible, without much attention being paid to incorporating the information in a way that felt natural. As I kept reading, I wasn’t bothered by the prose as much but sometimes the dialogue did feel anachronistic for a medieval inspired fantasy setting.
The more the story went on the more I started to begrudge the simplicity of the plot and the fact that the stakes of the book weren’t really felt. Since the book was describes as being perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth, I expected a plot that carried some sort of complexity or mystery, but this plot felt incredibly straight forward, which isn’t inherently bad, but given the way the book was marketed I just expected something else. After Sela was returned to her mother though, I really started to wonder where the story was going and the story beats that ultimately followed significantly dropped the book’s rating for me.
There’s no storyline in media I hate quite as much as the “character a hides a secret about the life of character b form them for no good reason instead of communicating like an adult” plot and unfortunately that’s exactly the type of story we got in this book.
Grey hiding Kier’s death and the choice she is given, having him stay alive or not, is something that simply doesn’t make sense to me. The thing that is reiterated time again and time again is that Grey loves and would do anything for Kier and he feels the same about her. Kier has made is abundantly clear that he wants to be wherever Grey is, which would be the Island of Lock for the vast majority of her remaining life (outside of maybe a few diplomatic visits). So, the idea that Kier having to stay on Locke for the rest of his life is as bad or maybe worse than Grey giving up her power, something that would lead to further political unrest and wars meaning even more death and devastation, is just nonsense. Grey doesn’t want to strip Kier of his autonomy by binding him to the island forever while she is already actively stripping him of his autonomy by fully intending to make the choice about whether to do that herself and only telling him about the situation afterwards. The moment he finds out (the manner of which feels contrived and cliché) should be huge and something that leads to an actual conflict and change in their relationship, but the entire thing is resolved in what feels like two minutes and afterwards it might as well not have happened at all. Grey did something that absolutely betrayed Kier’s trust but is almost instantly forgiven and the whole thing entirely forgotten, leaving the selfishness of her behaviour never properly acknowledged or addressed.
This ties into another issue for me, which is that Grey’s constant urge to sacrifice herself feels as though it’s supposed to be seen as a character quirk instead of the massive liability that it is. Grey doesn’t feel like she’s intended to be careless and unreasonable, but she just keeps acting like it. She continues to do stupid things that often come from a place of understandable selfishness, but selfishness nonetheless, which she doesn’t seem to recognise as such, and no other character calls her out on it. This doesn’t make her feel complex or flawed or layered, it simply makes reading her story frustrating, because she never learns her lesson or evolves.
In terms of other overarching issues, there are three things that I want to highlight before I talk about the ending, the first being how Grey constantly going unconscious and waking up somewhere else grew very tiresome, very fast. It’s not an unheard-of method of moving your character, I wouldn’t even consider is a bad one, but having it happen over and over again throughout the entire book, to the point where it’s feels like it’s happening every other chapter, makes the whole thing seem like a cheap gimmick.
The second thing is that I simply don’t buy that Kier and Grey were able to hide their secrets for as long as they did. Pretty much every character they come across in this book figures them out in 0.2 seconds and I cannot suspend my disbelief enough to just say that all those people were simply cleverer than everyone else they interacted with in the years preceding the story, because that’s just stupid.
And the last thing I want to say in that regard is that the world overall just felt underdeveloped to me. A very clear example of this is that we don’t really know how other people (who aren’t their friends) would perceive the relationship between Grey and Kier, once she became High Lady of Locke. We know that while they are soldiers, it’s something that is heavily discouraged and would be frowned upon, because it can make mages and wells overly attached to each other. Great. But once they become High Lady and Commander, we have no idea what implications them being together has. It’s suggested that it could be seen as inappropriate for them to be together in one single line towards the end of the book, but we don’t know why it would be inappropriate. Is it because he is seen as too lowly for her? Is it because of a perceived power imbalance? Is it because among nobility pre-marital sex is frowned upon? These seem like silly questions, but they just prove that we don’t really know how this world works. The romance is the central element of the story, and we simply do not know how it is viewed within the story. Is them being together going to deter other nations from extending offers of marriage? Could that lead to further war? None of these things are ever addressed and it makes the world seem more like a simple back drop for the love story, instead of an actual place.
After the Grey and Kier fight, which felt like a cheap attempt to add more tension to the back half of the book, the actual ending also fell utterly flat for me.
Grey’s involvement in the final battle was:
-              Instantly rushing into battle, even though she said she would stay in the fortress, thereby risking the destruction of the island, should she and Kier be killed, which is something that tends to happen to a lot of people during war
-              Unnecessarily and stupidly revealing herself as Locke and instantly getting almost stabbed to death, because she went out in ceremonial armour, which is something she should have absolutely noticed as an experienced soldier
-              Ended the battle singlehandedly with the only hinderance being that she had some reservations about temporarily limiting her enemies’ access to magic, something she knew she could reverse, before falling unconscious for the umpteenth time (to my understanding she didn’t even need to be near death to do this, because it seems like she has no issue with restoring their access afterwards) (somehow none of the sovereigns, war veterans and strategists that were advising her ever suggested doing this)
The battle was absurdly anti climatic and everything that came afterwards just felt hollow. I truly don’t know what the future of this trilogy is going to look like because everything already got tied up in a neat little bow of disappointment and quite frankly, I do not care.

At the end of the day, The Second Death of Locke is just another generic, run of the mill romantasy, which left me feeling incredibly frustrated. I don’t doubt that this book is going to find its audience, but personally I have zero interest in continuing this series and can’t in good faith recommend this book.

1.25⭐️

Going to be writing a more detailed review closer to the release date, but I absolutely loved this book! Friends to lovers is just the sweetest trope.

Dark, dreamy, and absolutely captivating. I was hooked from the first page.. There’s something so atmospheric and emotionally rich about this story. Locke as a character is both tender and feral, and the themes of grief and love hit so hard. It’s haunting in the best way, with gorgeous writing and a story that stays with you. I absolutely loved it.

This book was a very fun surprise and it proves that friends to lovers is the superior trope, and no one can say otherwise.

I really enjoyed the writing and the prose; it was beautiful. The magic system was very unique, and the connection between the mages and the wells was very interesting. The world building and the court politics were amazing and it left me wanting to know more about this world.

The main problem for me was the pacing. It was a very slow start and I struggled getting through the first chapters.

The main characters were the best part of the book, in my opinion. Grey and Kier were both incredible. The trust and devotion to each other was very special and heartwarming to read.

The found family was amazing. I loved all of the side characters; they all had amazing personalities and little quirks and flaws that make them really unique.
Honorable mention to Grey’s relationship with Sela, the protectiveness and the way Sela reminded Grey of herself was very touching.

Also, I absolutely loved the representation in this book. The main characters were queer and the side characters, were trans and non-binary.

The pace slowed down a bit near the end and the final choices were predictable. Also, the ending was a little bit disappointing and bittersweet. I really wanted a happy ending for both of them.

Overall, an amazing start to a new fantasy series and I am very excited for the second book. (Hoping for an interconnected standalone).

This book was so so incredible, it wrenched me right out of a reading slump and had me doing a marathon to finish it.

I am just so deeply in love with the two main characters, I laughed and cried absolutely too many times to be healthy but I wouldn’t change either of them for the world. I will admit, I am a sucker for a good friends to lovers story but this one?? This just blows the trope out of the water. I’m so obsessed with their yearning. I genuinely hung on their every word. Especially Kier’s. I can’t get enough of Kier… I suffer, I suffer.

Not only was the characters just so vibrant and incredible, the world was so so unique and enticing. I loved the magic system, it was so rich and so rigid it made everything so electric. There is huge limits to the powers in this society, with mages only having one affinity and not being able to use magic without their chosen well’s finite power source. And the Well’s not being able to wails on their own. It just added this tension and rigidity to the magic that felt… so realistic.

All in all I loved the pacing, the romance, the yearning, the found family, the world. I can’t wait for everyone to read this book because I think it is truly a masterpiece from Bovalino and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves!! Bring on book two!!

Review;
I received an advanced copy through NetGalley. I read the blurb and thought, "This book is for me."

Can I just say what a job it is to read this book? The magic system and world-building are easy enough to get into without being too complicated. However, the writing itself is amazing, the prose beautiful, and the characters are so well fleshed out. I felt I could know them; they were normal people. I sometimes find that with fantasy novels, the mindset is somewhat unrealistic, but these characters were relatable.

Everything I want in a book is here: plot, characters, and that compelling need to keep reading to find out what happens next. I don't like spoilers or summarizing the book's plot in a review so you're getting all the reasons why I loved this book, but I did forget to mention the romance. The love story and romance are top-tier.

I'll be first in the queue for the hard copy to add as a trophy to my bookshelf, and I'll be plugging this book for a long time to come.

I absolutely adored this book! Give me all the medieval, fantasy romance, lady knight books, this was everything! I also loved that even though this is part of a series it reads as its own standalone which was so refreshing. The writing was excellent, the world building, the found family, the revelations and twists. So much happened alongside the epic love story. I honestly need this book to be made into a movie. Like now, there I said what I said.
“She was Locke, and Locke was her”
“What is love, without freedom?” She murmured against his skin. He leaned close to kiss her shoulder, then to whisper in her ear, “What is life without you?”
Absolute swoonfest over Kier, they don’t make guys like him no more!!!

First off, it is so refreshing to read a book that feels complete, even as it's part of a series. Too often lately I've started reading a book that is a duology or more and it ends abruptly, or with questions. This feels complete to me, even as it's easy to see how we could spend more time in this world, one that I would love to return to. The pacing is great - nothing feels rushed or stretched out, and a new obstacle is provided as an existing one is overcome.

Secondly, it's also refreshing to read about competent characters. Of course they make mistakes sometimes, and sometimes there are no good choices they can make, but so often with fantasy (and particularly with female characters) I am just so confused or disappointed. When characters are brought up as rulers, they don't seem to know anything (thinking about A Fate Forged In Fire here, I'll admit) or they immediately fall for the enemy.

It's not that Grey is flawless - she's not, neither is Kier. But she's not frustrating, either - she makes the best choice that she thinks is available to her and when she makes a mistake, we understand why. I also loved her relationship with Kier - it's so easy for fantasy to fall into the enemies to lovers trope - Grey and Kier are friends first, and we really feel the strength and power of that relationship before it goes anywhere else. It was really lovely to read about, and it felt very real to me.

Something else I really appreciated was that Grey does not give her powers up. When that choice was presented to her, I was worried - we see this all the time in fantasy, with Nesta, with Alina, and I just want them to let women be powerful! Well, Bovalino DOES let Grey be powerful, very much so, and Grey really feels the weight of that power.

With this, I didn't feel like Kier's death/not death was a cop out. I did really feel the weight of his death and I did question whether the book was going to keep him dead - the stakes felt high to me and real, in a way they often do not. And deciding between his freedom and Grey's power was a very difficult decision, one that none of the characters took lightly - the thread of grief remained, even after the decision was made.

Overall, I really loved this. It was such a pleasure to spend time in this world - I will say, at first I felt a little overwhelmed by the world building and information, all the regions and rulers' names and so on, but as I read on, it was easy enough to grasp and understand. I can't wait to return to it.

Thank you to Forever Publishing and Net Galley for the ARC in Exchange for my honest review.

All magic will die if Grey Flynn, the secret, hidden heir to the Island of Locke, where the root of all magic lies, dies. That does not stop her from dedicating her life to her mage, Kier, though. She'll do anything, be anything, sacrifice everything (including herself) for him, for her soul burns with the deepest and truest of loves for him.

What stuck with me the most after finishing this novel, was how brazenly Grey Flynn loves - and also how incredibly bad she is at communicating like a healthy adult. These two things are both my favorite and least favorite thing about romance novels (and stories with romance-heavy plots) and so I find myself… conflicted when trying to write a review for The Second Death of Locke, which is a sweeping, deeply romantic fantasy epic.

What I loved most about this novel was the way themes of devotion and betrayal were explored through a chivalric -positively Arthurian- romantic lens. There are keen paralels to be drawn between Grey (as well as other characters from this book) with the likes of Lancelot who is an icon of courtly love and devition and Gawain, whose courage and adherence to the code of knighthood is tested time and time again. Grey too is undyingly devoted to her mage, her love, Kier, and continuously ends up in situations where her courage is being pushed to its limits - and where she perseveres because of her devotion to Kier and the others she holds dear.

Another thing I appreciated was the prose in this novel. It is hauntingly beautiful and immediately transported me to the medieval-like world in which The Second Death of Locke is set.

As mentioned, though, I am conflicted about this novel. And that's because it contains a lot of tropes -which admittedly were necessary for the story to progress the way it did- that just do not work for me. I really don't like it when characters are keeping secrets from one another when the most logical thing to do -especially when you're all in mortal danger- is to communicate. To ask for help and for advice, and this happened in The Second Seath of Locke on multiple occasions. At first I could write it off because certains bonds perhaps hadn't been forged yet - but after the bonds had been forged, it was just frustrating, and it made me put down the novel more than once. I can't lie, I really struggled with that.

This got a little better by the finale of the novel though, and I am a big fan of the friendships that were forged in this novel. Because of this, and as I am really intrigued by this world, its magic system and how Grey's story will progress from the end of the novel, I will be continuing this series.

Highly recommended for fans of fantasy romance with gorgeous world building and the highest of stakes - just make sure you're able to cope with your share of “I'm not going to talk about this and carry all of this all on my own”.

I received an early copy of The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino, published by Orbit, via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Many thanks to the author and publisher for the trust, all opinions are my own.

It is incredibly rare that I dish out a 5, even for ARC reads, but I absolutely loved this so much.

This is what fantasy/Romantasy books should be in my opinion. Great characters, excellent plot and fantastic dialogue.

Grey and Kier are a formidable duo and I absolutely adored the fact that this book didn't necessarily follow the more popular trope narratives. It was a wonderfully fresh read full of deep emotions and realistic characters.

The descriptions of pain, anguish and grief were absolutely sublime and they will stay with me for a long time. I loved the relationship between Grey and Kier, it was one of the first genuinely believable ones that I've read. No unnecessary bravado and fixation on looks.

I absolutely ate this up and I'm so sad that I've finished it. One of the best books of the year.

The Second Death of Locke by V. L. Bovalino was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I was absolutely stoked to receive an ARC, followed shortly after by a physical ARC that took my breath away. I love audiobooks, but this is one of those rare times where the text version is a full experience in itself. The beautiful cover, the title pages, the logo that I’m sure will be tattooed on fans’ arms, everything has been designed with such care. Even before diving into the story, it’s clear this is going to be a standout physical book.

The novel is split into distinct parts, with epigraphs interspersed throughout that are so rich in tone and myth they could be their own prequel novella. The early chapters build the dynamic between the two leads, Locke and the mysterious Grey. It’s a mutual, symbiotic relationship, but it carries the ache of imbalance. One side clearly wants more. The structure of the storytelling itself is a "time seesaw," a term the author uses that fits perfectly. It allows you to understand these characters intimately across shifting moments.

While the central quest is established early, it’s the execution that makes it shine. I guessed a twist, but it didn’t lessen the impact. The way it unfolded was just so satisfying. Grey is a phenomenal character, fierce and introspective, “just as capable with the inside of him as she was with the outside.” The worldbuilding is paced perfectly. I often found myself wondering about a detail, only to have it explained just when I needed it.

Kier was a standout, instantly lovable. As an ex-land surveyor, I can also say his thoughts on cartographers are correct. We are, lol.
The fireboy imagery, the handwritten notes, the shifting tone of the Ghostwood sequences, all of it made this feel like something crafted, not just written. Every element had an intention.

I can’t recommend this enough. It’s haunting, beautiful, and brilliantly built. A book to read, reread, and display when I get my hands on an inevitable special edition.

I am all here for lady knights and the men who yearn for them.
When I got approved for an e-arc of this book I was beyond thrilled. The writing is beautiful (honestly it kind of reminds me of how I write which I love haha ). Our two main characters are beyond bonded with each other which I should’ve eaten up but I think the world is explored very quickly in the first few chapters which led to too much infodumping.