A Kingdom of Iron and Wine

Happy Tuesday the 13th, fellow readers! I know, it isn't quite Friday the 13th, but I post on Tuesday, so it works. I have a dark paranormal romance fantasy book for you! It's called "A Kingdom of Iron and Wine" by Candace Osmond. It's the right amount of mysterious and dark with all types of paranormal creatures to make it into the October reading list.

Before we rush in, let's start with the trigger warnings.

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Trigger Warnings:

Profanity

Alcohol consumption

Mentions of smoking

Attempted SA

Mentions of murder

Attacks/violence

Stalking/spying

Kidnapping/holding captive

Sexual encounters

The alcohol, as it is even in the title, is a recurring theme. The smoking is super minimal and only mentioned in passing. The attempted sexual assault occurs at a frat party and with recent news/events it could be triggering to some so please keep that in mind. It is only one scene, and it was used to introduce the MMC in a hero type role. The murder involves the FMC's parents and gun violence. The kidnapping involves fae that go missing. The sexual encounters are the spice that I rated as a one pepper. There are a couple of encounters, all brief and with minimal detail.

Avery is such an intriguing FMC, female main character. An orphan raised by and home schooled by her aunt in the country. An artist with a focus on whimsy and a dream to move to the city with her bestie Julie. I love how Avery doesn't see herself really as an orphan and she isn't held down by the loss of her parents or tied to grief over their murder. It's a different take, but it is refreshing. The friendship between two orphans who found loving homes is beautiful, though. Julie and Avery have that sister kind of bond and having that with my own best friend, I connected with them as characters.

I do have a little pet peeve with a writing choice in this one. Cut aways. Those cut to the next scene moments. Sure, it is okay to use them. However, they do take away from the story and more world building, character building, and plot building could be done with just a couple of more sentences. The first five chapters especially had a lot of cut aways and that's when the building really should be happening. I struggled a little with those first five chapters due to slowness and then the cutaways. However, I promise the cutaways got better after the beginning and the pace picked up. I was drawn in then and devoured the rest.

World building. If you've read my other blogs, you will know that I adore world building. If you are new, now you know, too. Candace Osmond not only gives us a new perspective of our own world as "Ironworld" and a glimpse of a historic college town, but she gives us a Faeryworld and even pockets in-between. It's fascinating, fun, and mysterious. I love it! The other characters are also fabulous. There are so many different types of fae and so many things to learn. I enjoy a rich world like Candace created.

The romance. I like that the romance doesn't completely interfere with the coming into her own type plot that is occurring. It ads to it, which is perfect. Romances can be all encompassing both in real life and in fantasy so it's refreshing to have a little more balance and see a character take a break to gather herself thoughts. At 18, that is some next level life skills. Applause to Avery.

Here is my official review.

A fantastic start to a dark romantasy.

Avery's story is so intriguing. It took me a bit to get past the first five chapters as they were a little slower and included a lot of cut to the next day scenes. However, once I kept going I fell in love. It's dark, mysterious, exciting, and overall a fantastic story. There are multiple worlds to explore and fantasy creatures to learn about while Avery has her coming of age moment. I need book two!

If you want a good balance of mystery, fantasy, darkness, art, and romance, you should pick up "A Kingdom of Iron and Wine" here: https://a.co/d/09ip2CK5

That does it for me for this week, dear readers. Please join me again next week for another wonderful recommendation. Until then, curl up with a good book.