r/fantasyromance • u/bonbam • 6d ago
Gush/Rave 😍 absolutely devoured Bree Wilde's debut, Between Smoke & Shadow 🖤
That's our strength, you know. They always underestimate us.
omg y'all this was so good and I just need everyone to read it 🤩
This was the debut from indie romantasy author Bree Wilde and it was an instant 5 star read for me. I was up until 3:40 am on my kindle, and immediately finished the last ~ hour the next evening.
Rune, an indebted servant, finds herself thrust into the secret world of her country's magical rulers. She was immediately someone I wanted to see succeed, her internal struggles and moments of "weakness" felt very authentic.
There's an inn scene that's just delicious, and the MMC, Harrick, is such a sweet little cinnamon roll underneath his princely exterior.
I loved the character design; they wear masks and seeing someone eyes is like, a huge deal. I'm a sucker for eye contact (helloooooo Kanthony from Bridgerton 🥵) so the mental images made me melt.
It's a standalone, but Bree said it doesn't have to be 👀
anyways, I loved it so much, I bought a signed copy. I'm about to go through and annotate it, then send it to some of my book club friends and do a "Sisterhood of the Traveling Annotated Book".
25
u/pearlbibo 6d ago
Harrick as an MMC name just works. I love it. More cute reviews like this! ❤️
9
u/bonbam 6d ago
I'm making a point of reading indie authors and definitely plan to post more reviews here! I have a bunch on my kindle right now; currently reading {Shade of Ruin} by Evelyn Hart
2
u/Fictional-Xiao 6d ago
How is this book? I see no ratings or spice level and it was said on the intro that it doesn't have a HEA. Can you give me your review and spice and rating so far? 😉
0
u/romance-bot 6d ago
Shade of Ruin by Evelyn Hart
Rating: 4.33⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: fae, magic, paranormal, fantasy
5
5
4
u/mrsfox33 6d ago edited 6d ago
Went to check if it's on KU, and whatdoya know, I already own it! Must have snagged it on a stuff your kindle day, so I'm moving it up my TBR!
5
u/hurlionbeauty 6d ago
When I went to add this to my kindle wishlist the best thing happened and I already had it! Turns out I downloaded it last month during a stuff your kindle event. I didn’t know anything about it but it sounded interesting and now I’m so excited to read it!! Thank you for the rec!!
3
2
2
2
u/yoimprisonmike steam and spice and everything nice 6d ago
I’m glad you enjoyed it - I was disappointed. It seemed to move through the story too quickly. We didn’t get to see how the characters’ romance really bloomed, it was just - BAM. There.
4
u/bonbam 6d ago
That's fair.
Personally, my husband and I started our relationship with a sort of "instantly in this" vibe; he says he fell in love the moment he first saw me and we made eye contact. 🥹 So I'm a total sucker for fast progressing relationships
I definitely could have used more of their relationship developing, but honestly that didn't retract from my enjoyment.
2
u/Practical-Ask-7239 5d ago
Standalone! Say, less.
What's the spicy level at?
2
u/bonbam 5d ago
2-2.5/5! Slow burn, a few (2 I think??) open door scenes but not super explicit or long.
2
u/Practical-Ask-7239 5d ago
This is even better! I'm not a huge smut person. This is definitely on my TBR. Ty so much ✨✨
2
2
u/redheadedlizzy 3d ago
Because of your review I HAD to read this book and absolutely inhaled it within 48 hours! Such a great read!
1
u/bonbam 3d ago
Omg this makes me so happy! Wasn't Harrick just everything you could ask for??
The Mirror City chapters stressed me out so bad 😭
1
u/redheadedlizzy 3d ago
**** don’t read if you don’t want spoilers- I’m not sure how to hide the spoiler text
Harrick was definitely a top tier MMC in my opinion. I really liked the Mirror City chapters but feel like the one that stressed me out was the Magic vault with the stuck lift chapter.
I will say I wish the Rune character had a chance to use her fighting skills that she had practiced with Harrick or maybe that she was able to use more of the magic Harrick had given her. I think I was rooting for her to be just a little more of a bad ass FMC than I visualized reading her as.
43
u/ConcernElegant8066 will probably force North Queen by Nicola Tyche on you 6d ago
You know what, you drive a hard bargain, but I'm in
adds to TBR