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Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry

20 reviews

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I've been craving reading a romantasy, and this scratched the itch and then some. This was just pure fun and excitement the whole way through, and I absolutely tore through it.

Odessa is a princess from the kingdom Quentis, but she considers herself a forgotten princess because her older half-sister has been groomed to represent the kingdom and eventually marry the Turah prince, thus satisfying the realm's peace treaty, the Shield of Sparrows. But somehow, Odessa ends up being the one to marry the prince, and she suddenly gets whisked away to a new kingdom, with no idea who to trust and how to perform her duties to her home kingdom and her married kingdom. To complicate things, the monsters that have always plagued the realm have become even more feral and deadly, and the realm is barreling toward a migration of the deadliest monsters at all.

I don't know if I've ever read a romantasy with monsters, and I loved it; it added some flair to a genre that can be pretty repetitive (as much as I love it). The world building made a lot of sense and was doled out methodically, and I appreciated that we learned along with Odessa and that we got lots of answers without the whole game being given away. The writing was no-frills and well-paced, and the plot was unpredictable without being unrealistic. Odessa is easy to root for: she was never trained to be a leader or be the integral part of a political marriage, but she has grit and determination and throws herself into her role. As for the romance, this book has a relatively slow burn, but I loved that - I haven't read a true slow burn romance in a while. The relationship between Odessa and her love interest (this is hard to talk about without giving away spoilers lol) blooms steadily, with trust and intimacy growing in a believable and nuanced way. The slow burn also makes the sexual tension incredibly strong, which I always love. I can't wait to read the next book in this series (and watch it on Amazon whenever it comes out)!

I also enjoyed that there wasn't really a twist at the end. Odessa knows who the Guardian is and they've proclaimed their love for each other, and they don't have any secrets between them. Instead, they have to separate to try to fix the realm's problems, which I always enjoy in a romantasy more than the traditional twist of the love interest not being who the main character thought they were and the main character regretting falling for them etc.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Quite the cliffhanger. Some things seem so predictable while other twists come from nowhere. Excellent world building and character development. Some parts overly drawn out or graphic, but easily skipped. Looking forward to the next book.

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚π₯π₯ π‘πšπ­π’π§π  β™‘οΈŽ 5🌟

β™‘Β΄ο½₯α΄—ο½₯`β™‘

5 stars! 5 freaking stars! Let’s start off with the plot! OBSESSED! Freaking drags you in from the very beginning, especially because the love interest are introduced in the beginning of the book! You already have so many questions and suspicions about what’s going on and every time you think you have something figured out a plot twist ends up happening that you never see coming! 

It’s suspenseful, twisty and mainly plot driven with a subplot of romance but throughout the book the tension between the romantic couple is there! The spicy scenes aren’t too much and doesn’t drag on and you find yourself enjoying the side characters and the roll they play in the story. Very much a found family. 😭 

The way that this book is set up leaves you with questions unanswered which I hope/expect will be revealed in the next book, which I need like NOW! πŸ˜‚ With the cliffhanger at the end, I felt unsettled, anxious and all of the above. I need to know what’s going to happen next with these characters and what journey awaits them! 

Thank you, Entangled Publishings & Red Tower Books for the physical copy! 

Highly recommend for fans of fantasy romance! πŸ”₯

β™‘οΈŽ π—‹π—ˆπ—†π–Ίπ—‡π—π–Ίπ—Œπ—’β™₯️
β™‘οΈŽ π—†π–Ίπ—€π—‚π–ΌοΌ†π—†π—’π—π—π—ŒπŸ§š
β™‘οΈŽ 𝖺𝗋𝗋𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾𝖽 π—†π–Ίπ—‹π—‹π—‚π–Ίπ—€π–ΎπŸ’
β™‘οΈŽ π–Ύπ—‡π–Ύπ—†π—‚π–Ύπ—Œ π—π—ˆ π—…π—ˆπ—π–Ύπ—‹π—ŒπŸ˜ˆ
β™‘οΈŽ π—Œπ—…π—ˆπ— π–»π—Žπ—‹π—‡πŸ₯Ή
β™‘οΈŽ π—‰π—…π—ˆπ— π—π—π—‚π—Œπ—π—Œ πŸ‘€
β™‘οΈŽ π—Œπ—‰π—‚π–Όπ–ΎπŸ”₯

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This completely exceeded all of my expectations & I was already really eager to read this one! I love a good romantasy book but this story gave us so much more. It had an amazing and detailed world building without slowing down the story and a slow burn that was straight perfection. The author gave you just enough moments with this characters to root for them & want them together but did a fantastic job making the focus be on the plot and the development of the story over the romance.
It’s been described as The Witcher meets Cinderella and it definitely delivers. We have magic, monsters, feuding kingdoms, mistaken identities & reluctant heroes.
Odessa feels very real and relatable without being just another damsel in distress (but also not a warrior Chosen One either 🀣)
I was on the edge of my seat & already can not wait for the sequel because that ending blew my mind!
Thank you to NetGalley and Red Tower for this ARC.

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