A review by floofymoosereads
Court of Vines and Vipers by Emberly Ash

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

This is the third book in the Secrets of the Faerie Crown, a dark romantasy series that is a loose reimagining of the Arthurian legend. Tropes include a stabby FMC, touch her and die, mental health rep, fated mates, found family, healing & comfort and a plus size FMC. This is a dark fantasy romance so please see content warnings for dark themes and explicit content. 

So there’s a pretty major part of this book focused on something I can’t say because it would spoil. We’re just going to call it “Arran’s issue” in this review. 

The Lovely: As with the prior books, I love love the characters and their relationships. We did get to see a lot more of Cyara in this book, and we meet a new character I adore. But, back to the MMC and FMC. The author makes you care about them on a deep level and you become invested in their lives, their relationships and their happiness. The MCs’ relationship in this bit is tumultuous at best due to Arran’s issue, to the point I was worried for them. But their relationship feels more realistic this way - messy and complex. 

Rating: 5/5 Stars 3/5 Flames 

Recommendation: I received an advance review copy, and am leaving this review voluntarily. The last book hurt me several times over and left me sitting on my bed crying. This book was more like death by a thousand cuts - slow and gradual - due to how Arran’s issue impacted his and Veyka’s relationship. Oh, and while the ending was a nail biting cliffhanger, exactly, it still wrenched the knife in my heart. The fourth and final book of Veyka and Arran’s story will release late this fall, with a couple spin offs planned for side characters. If you like dark romantic fantasy with strong character and relationship development, and that hits you in the feels, you would like this book.