This was my first dark romance. I adore vampires and thought this would be a good beginning. It was. I enjoyed the assassin killing her greatest enemy by pretending to be his bride. It was fun and very steamy. Nonnie is a sarcastic, pessimistic Fae, Hell bent on avenging her family. Maybe, also, someone who's been waiting to be loved for a very long time.

I felt like the insta love was too much. There was no reason for them to fall for each other. I'm hoping they end up having a fated mates storyline to make it better. Right now, though, it's very instant attraction and love without any justification. He fell for her because she's not like other girls. He thinks she'll be hard to break. Honestly, she's just sassy, and he likes it. She falls for him because he's hot and sometimes has a soft spot. He doesn't.

The story was very repetitive in the fact that she was there to kill him. The fact that they don't fall in love. They are lone wolves in a lone world. They aren't made for love, but for killing. She would kill him. It got a little annoying hearing how skilled she was and how often she had to remind herself she hated him.

The ending was good. I enjoyed the cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to reading the second one when it comes out.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

🎧 I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narration was fantastic. The narrator’s voice fit the dark, dangerous tone of the story perfectly and made the tension and chemistry between the characters even more addictive.

🗡️ Nadi’s plan to infiltrate the vampire mafia clan and destroy them all was deliciously bold, and the fact that she’s a fae shifting creature made her even more of a force to be reckoned with. She’s a total badass, and honestly, it’s easy to see why Raziel—the dark and dangerous vampire mafia man—starts falling hard for her.

🔥 The tension between them is razor-sharp banter mixed with dangerous attraction. While Nadi starts out hating him (and fully intending to murder him and his family), she falls for him almost instantly, giving the story an intoxicating push-pull dynamic.

🩸 One thing that pulled me out a bit was the constant reminders from Raziel’s vampire family that she wouldn’t survive in the end. I understood the point, but after a while, it took some of the suspense out because it kept hammering home the idea she wasn’t going to make it.

🖤 Still, I loved the mafia-meets-vampire world, with just enough intrigue, family politics, and danger to keep the stakes high. The pacing was quick, the tension was relentless, and the romance? Spicy, toxic, and exactly what dark romance fans live for. By the end, I was firmly on Team Nadi’s Revenge.

✨ Tropes you’ll find here:
🖤 “Enemies”-to-lovers
💍 Marriage of convenience
🧛‍♂️ Vampire mafia
🦊 Fae shifter FMC
⚖️ Morally gray characters
🗡️ Revenge mission gone wrong

Big thanks to NetGalley and Second Sky for the ALC! 🙌

🎧 ALC Review 🎧
Narrated by Desireé Ketchum
Bookouture Audio – Second Sky Books
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

A dark, vampire romance blending gothic and psychological fantasy. The heroine is resilient and emotionally scarred. The Serpent male lead, Raziel Nostrom, is ruthless – exploring the dynamic of vulnerability, dominance, and psychological tension. The “bride” trope anticipates forced proximity, power imbalance, and ultimately, emotional unraveling.

The narrator does a phenomenal job of conveying vulnerability, tension, and slow-burning desire. She gives each character an individual vocal identity, helping to track the different shifts throughout the book.

This book has so many twists and turns and keeps you fully engaged. The beginning started off a little slow but it builds and the ending was unexpected and I loved it! Great read!

This was my first book by Kathryn Ann Kingsley. I will definitely be picking up more after reading this one while also patient(impatiently) waiting for the second book.
I really enjoyed the world building in this one. The different classes of people the hierarchies were all super interesting.
I enjoyed that the FMC and the MMC were neither fully good or fully bad. They were both morally gray, and it was a refreshing break from a clear hero, clear villain.
I also just found the FMC extremely likable .
I kind of knew the twist at the end was coming, but still enjoyed it.

3/5 stars!
its my first vampire book in many, many years and a great introduction back into it! lots of slow burn vibes, heated tension, arranged marriage, lost but found, and an assassin's dream to take out the vampire.

The last sentence? floored! I had no idea where the last chapter was going, and I was pretty shocked. id love to read more about the FMC in her natural form exploring more in the next book!

Thanks netgallery for letting me have this ARC!

ARC and ALC review
Publication date 28 August 2025.

"The Serpent's Bride" by Kathryn Ann Kingsley is the first book in the "Bloodlines" serie.
This is a dark vampire romance.

I received an e-ARC from the Second Sky and an ALC from Bookouture Audio (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

What you can expect:
- dark fantasy
- shapeshifter fae assassin x vampire mafia boss
- revenge plot
- hidden identity
- morally gray characters
- enemies to lovers
- slow burn with spice
- arranged marriage

This book really has enemies to lovers. And they are both morally gray (he is a darker shade of gray).
Nadi is a shapeshifter fae that needs to get revenge on the vampire that killed her parents.
So she shifts into Raziel Nostrom's future bride and plans his death.

This is the first book I read from this author and I like the writing and the world building.
The characters are well developed and my favorite is Nadi. She is so strong and ruthless (but she only kills bad people).
As the book only have Nadi's POV, we discover Raziel from the interactions with her and his reputation.
He is a deathly mafia boss, but is more bark then bite with Nadi.
He kept telling her that he will kill her in a sacrifice and it felt a bit repetitive.
The tension between them is so intense and the slow burn turn into hot spice.

The audiobook is narrated by Desireé Ketchum and she does a good job with all the characters.
It was easy to follow the story and I was a good experience.

I did not expect the twist(s) from the end and the cliff hanger left me speechless.
Hopefully there will be a dual POV (and narration) in the next book.

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️and a good time!! I really liked Nadi, she is fae and way older, which we don’t see enough of. She was insecure about her true appearance and I could relate with her, she had flaws. She was also a shape shifter and that was pretty cool. I absolutely loved Raziel, killer/murderer/alpha and completely unapologetic for the way he is, what can I say, I am a sucker for the “bad guy” in my books.

Spice was 2/5 🌶️🌶️ the chemistry was incredible and I couldn’t wait for them to finally get together.

A few JAW DROPPING moments, I don’t want to give away and spoilers but Nadi is kidnapped and I was shocked by who!

Also I wanted to absolutely melt towards the end when we got a cliffhanger that I was truly NOT expecting! I am so ready for the next book!!!

Desiree Ketchum was the narrator, I was fully immersed and she did a very good job on Raziel’s part but I would have loved a duet with this book, would have made this a 6 star!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture audio for the ARC audiobook.

Omg omg omg…

5 stars ⭐️

Vampire x fae assassin
Aquatic shape shifter
Revenge Plot
Morally Grey characters
Mafia vibes
Slow burn
Cliff hanger

Hear me out!

Now this.. this is how you do a morally grey action packed dark fantasy!! Absolutely thoroughly enjoyed this book devoured it in 2 sittings what a great range of fae human vampire characters, I loved the FMC Nadi she was kick ass and the MMC Raziel he’s absolutely morally grey grey grey not to mention his sister she’s wilddd.

I loved the insight into the history of the world the wilds and the history between the fae human and vampires.


The pacing and plot was on point!

And Wow 😱🤯 that cliff hanger!!!! I’m soooooooo ready for book 2!!!!

Thank you to second sky books for the ARC opportunity

The cover and title of this book drew me in right away, once I read the description I knew it was a book I needed to read. Fans of Haunting Adeline and Crowns of Nyaxia? Sign me up!

Nadi, shape shifting Fae, trained all her life as an assassin to get revenge of Vampire, Raziel. An opportunity arrives to disguise herself as Raziel's new bride so she can get close to him and his family to enact the revenge she has long awaited for.

I really enjoyed the fact that both love interests were unredeemable but you also can't help but like them! The tension and angst between the two characters had me wanting more, especially as neither of them wanted to feel that way.

I will say the chapters were very long which I am not always a fan of and I would have preferred to have two voice actors for each character. However, she still did a great job at portraying the characters.

Lastly, that ending!!!!! I am looking forward to the next book and see how their characters progress.

𝙰𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠
🌟🌟🌟🌟.5
The Serpent's Bride blew me away! I like a fast-paced book, and this book is definitely fast-paced.
I devoured this book. This book has some tropes I really like:
• Marriage of Convenience
• Vampire vs. Fae
• Revenge
• Strong Female Lead

The audiobook is narrated by Desireé Ketchum. She did a good job, easy to listen to and also understand. I listened at 2x speed.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Revenge plot. Marriage of convenience. Mafia. Enemies to lovers. Fantasy. Dark romance. This story is a meeting place for a lot, but it works together so well. I found myself pleasantly surprised with the pacing of the world building. When it comes to fantasy-adjacent, it's easy to feel like you're drinking out of a fire hose. This was not the case here.

I loved the steady build of tension between our 2 main characters, Nadi and Raziel. It took until almost 75% of the way through the book to get to any spice, but it felt well earned -- especially because Raziel was hard to approach initially. It wouldn't have felt right for it to happen earlier.

I fear that fae assassins have been ruined for me (here's looking at you SJM...). But I did find that Nadi's humanity worked for me. She wasn't a bloodthirsty killer - just someone who wanted to honor their family.

I cannot believe the cliffhanger this one left us on. How long are we talking about waiting before I find out what happens next...? Because I don't know if I can take it!

3.75 / 5 stars, rounded up

The serpent's bride has action, intrigue, secrets and spice. I enjoyed how the fmc was a strong and independent assassin bent on revenge. Raz was hard to read, and difficult to love at first but he's wormed his way into my heart.

I read the Maze of Shadows series and loved it so I am so excited for the rest of the Bloodlines Series. The banter, the deception, the twist at the end *chefs kiss.* When I say enemies to lovers, this is the vibe I want!

Thank you for arc.

I really enjoyed the story.
The chareters were writtien in a way that made me both hate them and love them at the same time.
The narrator did a great job bringen the characters to life, and I can't wait to se what will happen next.

First off!! That ending blew my mind!! I wasn’t expecting that, and it was literally fabulous.
I planned to give this a 4-star from early on because of how much I was enjoying it, but something was holding me back from thinking it should be higher than a 4. But that ending is making me need the second book right now!! And I’m contemplating a 4.5 or even 4.75.

I loved this lot of characters—the author clearly put a lot of work and thought into these people to make them bad, but so good at the same time.

If you love a mafia vibe, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, arranged marriage, high-stakes revenge plot with morally gray characters, a slow burn, and a strong female lead, this is your sign to pick this up on release day!!

I can’t recommend this enough, and just typing this review has made me realize it’s definitely right on the edge of 5 stars—so 4.75 stars it is!!!

Now give me the next one! *Grab hands*

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book early. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*Thank you to NetGalley & Second Sky for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinion*

RECAP: Fae poses as a vampire prince’s bride to avenge her parents - but falling for him was never part of the plan.

REVIEW: Let me tell you, I BREEZED through the majority of this audiobook on a roadtrip. I couldn’t get enough of Nadi & Raz! And that cliffhanger?! GIVE ME MORE, immediately!!! I took off a star because I felt like some parts were slower/seemed to drag on, but the plot was still addictive. Narrated by Desiree Ketchum, who has such a lovely voice, even when switching among characters. This was my first book by this author, and I do believe I’ll need to check out her backlist.

Overall this book was a fun time, and the ending was a twist I didn't see coming. The audiobook was well narrated and I did enjoy it, I just had a bit of a hard time deciphering when the POV changed to the male main character. Since this wasn't a dual narration, I think it would have been beneficial to have chapter headings with character POC changes to alert the listener.

I loved the Mafia vibes with vampires and fae, it was such a fun and easy to devour book. Thank you for the opportunity to listen and review this book, it will definitely be one i recommend to people searching for these vibes.

thanks to netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a review!! I really liked the idea behind this book, it was super interesting and kind of reminded me of slaying the vampire conqueror which I also loved. I liked the ending it was insane!!! finished this in 2 sittings, super fun and addicting!

This book was a 3.5 ⭐ for me

Interesting plot, not the classic enemies to lovers book.

Would have been nice if the characters were a little more fleshed out. Some plot points make no sense. I understand Nadi wanting to avenge her family, but she kills some of her family to get closer to the vampire she wants revenge on for killing her family? Makes no sense. Raziel as a character is a little flat, other than being entirely self-centred, no conscience and doesn’t get along with his family, we don’t really know much about him. I found a few of the scenes quite repetitive, especially the times we see Nadi’s thoughts. The other characters were mostly window dressing and again, a little flat.

The premise was interesting but it just didn’t quite work for me.