Court of Claws: A Dark Fantasy Romance (Blood of a Fae Book 2)

I had a blast with Court of Claws! The world keeps expanding in exciting ways, especially with the Siabra making their debut.Kairos really grew on me this time around. We dive deeper into his backstory, and while he's still a bit mysterious, his motives started to make sense. The reason this didn’t quite hit 5 stars for me was Morgan’s occasional over-the-top reactions. Her stubbornness is part of her charm, but sometimes she was just too frustrating—like she’d shut down rather than seek answers. I found myself wanting to shake her a bit! 😂 Still, I like her overall, just not as much as in the first book.On the bright side, Morgan and Kairos have great chemistry. Their banter and interactions were a highlight. I also enjoyed meeting new characters and discovering different types of fae. Here’s hoping the next book keeps up the trend!Court of Claws definitely turned up the steam compared to Queen of Roses, and it looks like Empress of Fae will be even hotter. This series is a dark fantasy romance, so if that’s your jam, dive in. It’s not super dark in my opinion, but definitely check the trigger warnings if you’re sensitive to that.Fated Mates 💕✨Enemies to Lovers ⚔️❤️Forced Proximity 🤭🏠Found Family 🏡💖Steamy Romance 🔥💋Mysterious Backstory 🤔🔍Dark Fantasy 🌑🦄New Fae Types 🧚‍♂️🔮If you’re into high fantasy, fae, and steamy romance, this series is worth a read.

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!*I was eager to jump into this book as soon as I finished Queen of Roses (aka Book 1). This twist using well known characters from Camelot for this series is fresh and engaging with some fantastical elements interwoven in a rollercoaster of events. I loved Book 1! The slow burn was brilliantly done and really ignites in this second book. As a side note, I was not a fan of the sexual banter using “good boy” and “good girl.” (ie. “now be a good girl…” or “[insert sensual act here] for me like a good girl/good boy”). You get it. Drayven exhibits such respect for Morgan throughout the series that it is incredibly unlikely he would suddenly start demeaning her at their most intimate moments by talking down to her like he was talking to a dog. I was less surprised when she spoke to him like that because, although she acknowledges at some moments that she has some form of respect for Drayven, her actions and behavior toward him are consistently disrespectful. He’s done a lot for her, and she has done a lot for him. He values this about her but Morgan is willing to stomp all over his considerable actions when she doesn’t like something in the slightest degree. It’s okay. Still 5 stars but her immaturity is trending toward 4.I enjoyed the plot, but struggled with the main character. Morgan has no concept of loyalty or responsibility and it. gets. old. Morgan will go through events and say things that don’t seem to mean anything- ex: In Book 1, once she starts coming into her fae powers after her near death experience, she vows to never let anything keep her from practicing magic and living to her full fae potential. Yeah, she SAID that, but then later in the book reneges on her words, only to take a completely opposite stance in Book 2 by vowing to NEVER practice or learn about her fae powers even after remembering the time in Book 1 when she made the first vow, and then freaking out at Drayven when he delicately attempts to approach her about developing her considerable powers. So yeah, she’s a hypocrite, but what’s worse is that she reacts as if Drayven is the one at fault. Never mind that she admits to herself and others that, yes, there is a very scary possibility that she could accidentally burn everyone and everything she knows to the ground and should learn how to wield her powers, but what could be worse than Drayven attempting to followup on that out-loud admission by trying to set up training? Nothing! Morgan acts as if NOTHING can be worse than that! Hmm. Still 4 stars.So here’s where this book became frustrating. Morgan keeps her secrets, right? There is plenty of information she withholds from Drayven, but the second she finds out he has not told her something from his past, relevant to her or not, she immediately wigs out and hates him. She wants to stab him. She wants him to die. She says some of the cruelest things to Drayven, even as he is trying to give her information, without giving a single care for the horrible things she is saying. For example, when Drayven tries to explain to her about his father’s ominous rule over their kingdom (a man Drayven does not like and whose horrible actions he absolutely hated and is trying to make right), Morgan carelessly attacks him with “oh your dad was a real bastard and you are his son so you are just like him and all of the Sabra people are evil like him.” This is just as he is beginning to give her the brief history of his people (whom he generally does not approve of), yet she takes that moment to needlessly insult him and every person in his kingdom because she is simply mad that she is there. As she says this, she seems completely oblivious in this moment to the fact that she, too, had a tyrant king as a father, and saying these things to Drayven is like saying that she, along with every single person from her home kingdom, are exactly like Uther Pendragon. And at no point does she acknowledge this irony. Instead, she reverts back to that barb tirelessly throughout the story, any time she feels Drayven has wronged her in the slightest degree.For the last 10% of the book, I seriously considered adding this book to my DNF pile because, despite everything that has happened between Drayven and Morgan since the tale began, everything Drayven has done to help Morgan, to SAVE Morgan, to give her what she wants, and despite Morgan’s own admission that Drayven is a good man, she shows an utter lack of loyalty right at the end by not even giving him the benefit of the doubt when he shows up after the last trial. She turns on him at that moment and remains in a teenage hissy fit until the end of the story. No “thank you” to Drayven for saving her life. No “thank you” for anything at all! It’s possible to be upset with someone while remaining loyal, but instead we get selfish teen drama from a not-teen. I would’ve given this book 3 stars but I LOVED Book 1, so I rounded up. Looking forward to Book 3 but hoping for no teen fits!!

Thank you so much to Briar Boleyn for my Advanced Reader Copy of Court of Claws! This review is comprised entirely of my own thoughts & opinions, & is based on the copy I received.Eeeeeek I loved this book so much! I thought it was even better than Book 1, Queen of Roses! We pick up pretty much where Book 1 leaves off, with Morgan waking up in an unfamiliar place, essentially bound to Draven, the male she cannot stand.The angst and tension between these two was *chefs kiss.* Absolutely delicious!! Morgan fought the attraction every step of the way! I like that she’s flawed and her character growth in this book was absolutely inspiring and beautiful. After everything she has been through, it’s a bit easier to understand where’s she’s coming from with being so back and forth with Draven. She has to learn to accept herself first and trust herself before letting others in.I LOVED getting more backstory on Draven and it honestly made me love him even more than I already do! And while Queen of Roses had the slow burn in it, this books amps up the spice level! I couldn’t get enough of these two. Their chemistry is just so amazing, so delicious, and you can’t help but wonder every time they interact how Morgan is going to react and what’s going to happen between them! It made this book so unputdownable!Everything about this was PERFECT. The world building, the pacing, the plot, the romance, the spice, the action! I loved every single piece of this book and everything in it.I’m so in love with this book and this series and I’m so excited to jump into Book 3!! I can’t wait to find out what happens after that cliffhanger ending. Briar is an amazing storyteller and she’s doing something really special with this series. I’m absolutely LOVING every single word of these books!

The world, the story, the characters and the perfect amount of spicy for my liking what’s not to LOVE! If your a romantasy fan this one’s for you!

Como en toda relación (especialmente en las primeras), es un libro que te sube y te baja, detona tanto deseo como enojo y frustración… Además, me encanta que esté tan enfocado a la inclusión y a la equidad de género 🥰

This series continues to impress me. I'm just loving it. It goes.from strength to strength.Morgan was quite testy to say the least in this book. But considering all she's been through its hardly surprising she would be prickly.II loved finding out more about Draven and also meeting new characters. I'm looking forward to finding out what Arthur has been up to and how Kaye is.

FINALLY someone who does enemies to lovers right! I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed that Morgan doesn't roll over and let Draven walk all over her. She calls him out on his bullshit and walks away. She's not putting up with this. Not like this.For this alone, the author is now on my auto- buy list.

I have never left a review before, however for this series I felt like I had to.I have read many fantasy book before (including the famous Sara J Maas series) and I would have to say that Briar Boleyn has outdone herself.I had read some reviews about the quality of this book in particular (court of claws) and in my honest opinion, I feel that they had expected the writer to stick to a storyline that is less cliff hanging. Though I was passionately on the edge of my seat, reading to figure out what will happen, it was well worth the read and I actually enjoyed this series over other famous fantasy books.POTENTIAL SPOILER**The story started beautiful, with so much emotion that it was easy to emphasise with. The fantasy mixed with real-life situations…wow, I couldn’t stop reading.The ending was just as better. It was not rushed. It was not sudden, and it actually was written so perfectly that you feel satisfied with the series coming to a close.Thank you so very much Briar!You’re incredibly talented and I can’t wait to see what else you produce.