Name: Reign & Ruin
ISBN: 9781951607012

J. D. Evans

An epic, adult fantasy romance set in a land of domes and spires, and magic. She wants to rule in her father's place, where no woman has ruled before. He wants to protect his people from war, but who would ever trust a man who wields the forbidden magic of death? They must stand together to align old enemies against a new one.

Reign & Ruin

This was a great debut novel. Some bits of exposition were a bit boring but the romance was really charming and felt genuine. The character building was really well done and even the secondary characters felt well crafted. The magic system and politices were interesting enough that I’d like to know more about how they’ll play out down the line. However, the sneak-peak from the next book seems to follow different characters which I’m not a big fan of because I always get too attached to the original POVs I’m introduced to (I’ll miss being with Naime and Markam) buttttt I’ll give it a go. 

Kierce

the ending was a letdown. i’m so sorry. had a pretty slow start in the beginning, but then it was the most romantic and intimate book ever. FMC and MMC are a perfect balance of each other and their relationship was really beautiful. i loved the MMC because he was so insecure and human. the ending was just … predictable boring. it’s a very political book, not much action, so i was expecting some fun twists and turns and instead it was exactly what i thought was going to happen. i did enjoy it though, only because of the romance. 

big ab

C. J. Daley 

I was given an e-book of this to judge for the Indie Ink Awards for Prettiest Book Interior. I really wanted to judge it fairly for the category, as I had several under it, so I actually ended up getting a physical copy for myself. The designs on the chapter headers as well as the pages are absolutely stunning. One of the most beautiful and designed books I’ve ever seen. 

The subject matter of this book though, I will admit is not really my speed. This would fall under smut or spice, or what I refer to as fantasy porn, and that is something I typically do avoid entirely. So, it’s kind of hard to judge around all of that because the book itself is mostly following with that. The story itself is probably 70-75% sexual tension, with the actual climax of the story being the climax of its characters… 

I will say that otherwise, the story is mostly a political struggle. Any author that can write a book entirely about inner conflicts tends to get some respect from me. It is a slow burn and very dialogue heavy. Every character has a part to play and is part of the game. It has a ‘good for her’ ending with a female lead that is strong and powerful, and the ending is definitely earned throughout the story. 

Personally a 3/5* for me. If it wasn’t for the sexual content, this book would probably have been missing an important piece to the story, but for me, it’s also what held back my enjoyment.

Anyaconda

Absolutely loved it!
The best fantasy romance I've read maybe ever?!
Great tension, realistic scenes, characters actually falling in love and not just lusting after each other's body.

The author has me hooked. I'm already onto book 2 in the series.