Category: Romantasy

The South Wind by Alexandria Warwick

On By TracyIn Fairytale Retelling, First Person Narrative, New To Me Author, Paranormal / Fantasy, Part of a Series, Romantasy, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The South Wind (The Four Winds, #3)The South Wind by Alexandria Warwick

Tracy’s Rating: 2.5/3 of 5 stars

Series: The Four Winds, #3

Release Date: May 27, 2025

Princess Sarai of Ammara has less than three months to live before death claims her. Cursed as a child to die on her twenty-fifth nameday, she will do whatever it takes to secure her realm’s future, including an arranged marriage to Prince Balior, a handsome young noble from a neighboring kingdom. But another man vies for her attention as well: Notus, the South Wind, god of the desert breeze, and Sarai’s ex-lover.
Sarai is determined to stay away from the god who betrayed her and honor her father’s plan. But Prince Balior has an agenda of his own, and as Sarai learns more about her betrothed, she realizes he might be a dangerous threat to her people. So despite her hatred for Notus, she fakes their engagement to escape the arranged marriage and unearth Prince Balior’s true motives surrounding his obsession with the menacing labyrinth that sits in the palace’s grounds.
But darker forces are at work, and time is running out. Together with Notus, Sarai must face the horrors dwelling inside the labyrinth to save herself and her realm—but in order to succeed, she must confront her pain and the monsters she carries within herself…

My Thoughts:
I loved the idea of this story, a mix of myth and fairytale, featuring a fake betrothal and a slow burn second-chance romance with a bit of intrigue to keep the pages turning. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me for several reasons, the primary reason being that the book is written in the first person (this is obviously a personal opinion, I dislike reading books written in FPN, so if you like that style please disregard my bias) the second reason was the lack of chemistry between Notus and Sarai and finally, Sarai herself annoyed me, she was whiney for most of the book and while she does redeem herself, it was too little too late for me. Overall, I think my dislike of the FPN tainted this book for me and while I liked the idea of the story, I didn’t like the execution and felt like it was more of a YA story than adult romantasy, however, I did like Notus and enjoyed the mythic elements of the story and I thought the intrigue was very well done. This is the third book in the series, but I believe they can each be read as standalone titles without diminishing the reader experience.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

Love Cursed by Leisl Leighton

On By TracyIn New To Me Author, Paranormal / Fantasy, Part of a Series, Romantasy, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Love Cursed (Gods Cursed Series, #1)Love Cursed by Leisl Leighton

Tracy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Gods Cursed #1

Release Date: 1/17/2022

Julianna Stevens is a most unusual witch, she works in the Coven’s library, but what makes her unusual is the fact that she is allergic to magic! This makes for a very lonely existence, as she is forbidden to mingle with mortals, yet she can’t be exposed to magic, leaving her with only her grandmother Violetta, the Grand Matriarch of the Stevens family and the Melbourne Coven Leader, the voice that she constantly hears in her head and Bastien, a cursed demi-god tied to her family. After an extremely horrifying date with a warlock with waning powers, she returns home humiliated and depressed. But the next morning she finds an old journal and realizes that she has been cursed, and her inner voice is the voice of Lianna, a vestal virgin with powerful magic who fell in love and was cursed by her high priestess. Breaking the curse will finally free her, she just needs to find her soulmate and the place where the curse was cast. What could go wrong?

Bastien has been cursed for thousands of years, doomed to a lonely existence in the presence of his beloved, but unable to speak of the curse to anyone. Each day Bastien shifts into a cat for half the day and shifts back to blind human the other half. Julianna is the reincarnation of his love Lianna, but she has no idea and even thinking of her causes him unbearable pain. To break the curse, he enlists the help of a fellow cupid to give Julianna a hint to breaking the curse. In doing so, he hopes to finally break the curse and be reunited with his beloved and hopefully find their son who was stolen by the high priestess who cast the curse. It seems like simple solution, but it soon becomes clear that the curse isn’t going to as easy to break as they thought and their only chance for freedom may be lost.

This was very intriguing story by a new-to-me, I was completely sucked in this book and read it in one sitting. The book is not long, but it packs quite a punch, it is filled with magic, curses, heartache, family, soulmate love, sacrifice, low steam and a happy yet bittersweet ending with the promise for more magical mayhem. This is the first book in the series, making it the perfect place to start, especially if you prefer your romantasy written in the third person.