A well-developed enemy-to-lovers fantasy.
An athlete is swept into a world of dragons and finds new passions in Baker’s first installment of a fantasy romance tetralogy.
Thirty-something Liz Chadwick is an up-and-coming Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter in Houston. After Gideon Evans—Liz’s childhood friend, training partner, and crush—leaves to join the military, she attends the local elementary school’s fundraiser carnival with her mother and her three siblings, Jade, Coral, and Sammy. Out of the blue, the carnival is attacked by dragons searching for an artifact known as the “Heart.” Liz’s mother is “ensnared” by an electro dragon named Ocharta, who has electrically based powers, and Liz is later ensnared by Axel, a shape-shifter and the prince of earth-affiliated dragons. In the context of the novel, ensnared refers to dragons who connect themselves to special humans, known as brights, with a magical pact that provides mutual benefits and powers, with the caveat that their lives depend on each other’s well-being; if one of the ensnared is hurt or killed, then so is the other. Liz leverages this last aspect to protect her siblings and Gideon. Meanwhile, Axel routinely saves Liz from harm by apparently requesting help from the powerful dragon Azar; later, Axel’s secret is revealed, which changes Liz’s status in the society she finds herself in. Her suppressed memory may hold the key to finding the fabled Heart. Over the course of this fantasy romance novel, Baker excels at stoking the passion that Liz and Axel share as well as describing the competition that arises between Axel and Liz’s would-be suitor, Gideon. Baker effectively marshals a large cast, including Azar’s siblings, who allude to Azar’s betrothed, Asteria, whom he’s expected to marry soon; later in the novel, the main characters begin a journey to another country. However, the narrative sometimes abruptly resolves key plot points or leaves them dangling; presumably, some may be picked up in planned future installments, but some readers may initially be confused. Overall, though, this book lays the foundation for complex and engaging worldbuilding and introduces a tough-minded and appealing protagonist.
A well-developed enemy-to-lovers fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2023
ISBN: 978-1949655742
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Purple Puppy Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
For readers of the once-popular dystopian YA novels who are now all grown up.
In a distant future, after the Last War when the human population became endangered, a new society formed from the ashes, strictly to optimize procreation.
But not procreation between just anyone. This society, ruled by the Illum—a mysterious authoritarian group—assigns mates to select for the best traits and to breed out defects, to grow the Elite population living in the clouds. Protagonist Emeline is a stubborn and bored young woman, working her days away on the ground as a Minor Defect—one of the class of women waiting to be approved for mating with an Elite, and hoping to never be banished further from society. Emeline’s instincts are apparently to reject the rigid decorum of her society, but she spends years trying to follow the rules set out for her, or at least dissociates enough not to challenge her way of life, until one day an elusive and charming man, Hal, walks into her office to talk about art. The same day, she is approved for mating and matched with Collin, the youngest member of the Illum, in the sort of pairing that hasn’t happened in decades. Courtship with Collin is full of luxury—fancy dinners and balls in the clouds—but also lies and days of discovering secrets kept from her, while trying to keep the Elite’s rumors and malicious Press at bay. Caught between these two men, with their own agendas, and so many unanswered questions, Emeline must decide what she wants, if she can want anything at all. With a rebellion rising in secret and the repression of the Illum close at hand, she’ll find what she’s willing to lose for the ability to choose for herself. The dystopian worldbuilding is underdeveloped at best, so get swept up in discovering truth from lies quickly before it starts to fall apart in your hands.
For readers of the once-popular dystopian YA novels who are now all grown up.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9798217090990
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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