slow burn romance – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: Shadow Trials (Heartless Gods, #1)

Author: Evelyn Hart

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 437

Publication Date: 4/14/26

Publisher: Evelyn Hart

Categories: Fantasy, Romance, Series, Romantasy

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Evelyn Hart for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

She’s trained her whole life to kill monsters like him and the dragon he rides. Now, he may be the only one who can save her…

Humans are treated like cattle by the Godforged, the terrible creatures created by the gods to wage a never-ending war with each other. Fiona’s spent her life learning to wield magic stolen from the divine, to protect her people from the violence. Now she’s given the chance to become the thing she’s sworn to kill.

The God of Darkness’s champion is dead, and he’s holding a series of trials to decide who will be his next, open to anyone, including humans. If Fiona wins, she’d control his army… and how it treats innocent humans. And none of them know of the powers she wields…

These trials are filled with the strongest and most ruthless of the Godforged. But if they discover the secrets she hides, it will doom all her people.

In this world of magic and violence, there’s one person who truly understands secrets. Azric Cyrus, Death’s champion and first dragon rider, is the most brutal of all the Godforged. And the most beautiful. With wings of bone, shadows, and seduction as his deadliest weapons, even the gods listen when he speaks. Even more reason for Fiona to be wary when he takes an interest in her.

Destiny is not a fixed thing, and as its strings are pulled from behind the shadows, these two broken souls must learn to trust each other. Their lives are the least that hang in the balance.

Perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, Crowns of Nyaxia, and The Games Gods Play, Shadow Trials is the first in a long, epic romantasy series that will follow multiple couples. It does not end an HEA, but the series will.

Content Warning: torture, death, violence, dark themes

+~ Shadow Trials is book one in a fantasy series that follows a human, Fiona, and her quest to complete deadly trials in order to become the Champion of Nixthos – who is the God of Darkness and Secrets. The world building is heavy, there are many gods, many champions of the gods, different species, different lands, prophecy, lore, dragons and it is a lot to process, which makes the beginning slow going because of all the information and names to know. But I settled into the story after 20% into the book and then I was addicted to the story. There are some dark themes in this book, especially with Fiona and Azric’s pasts. Also mentions of how some species are created is pretty gruesome.

+ There is a huge cast but our main characters are Fiona (the human with a Priest for a father) and Azric, the Prince of Bones. We get her POV for 90% of the book and then Azric for 10% at the end. I really like Fiona because she’s human and knows her limitations but she’s so brave because she wants purpose in her life even if it means her death. She questions everything, even her choices, but I like that she never takes anything at face value. Azric, is a complicated man, he is Fae, he is blessed by the Gods, but he is broken. Learning more about what happens to him is dark, but my heart broke for him because he had a good childhood, he had a good life until the god he is promised to comes calling. Then there are secondary characters that are very interesting, like Fiona’s father, Azric’s parents, the Fae like Darian, and so many more.

+~ There is romance but it is a very slow burn, barely there spice, though there is a some steam. I love that it is a slow burn because there are so many things happening in this story. It feels like the deadly trials were the most important thing in this story and it was appropriate that the romance take a back seat. I liked seeing Fiona and Azric get to know each other instead, especially with what happened to Azric in the past. I think a slow burn is good for them.

+~ It took me two days to read this book because I was so invested in Fiona’s story. I actually love the length of this book, it wasn’t too long and not too short. But because the world-building is dense, I felt like I missed a prequel or something. Sure enough I checked on Goodreads and I missed a whole series before this book – which now makes total sense why I felt the way I did. I think I got through this book pretty good though without even reading the previous series, but when I have time, I will pick it up because I’m sure it will explain so many things.

+~ The pacing was a little up and down, definitely slow in the beginning, but it was steady throughout, which I appreciated – personally I like a little more romance in my romantasy so I might have been searching it out and got impatient when I realized how slow of a burn this story is. But I love the build up to the ending, and I’m looking forward to book two!

Final Thoughts:

There is a series before this one I think you should read called Shadowed Debts, and I didn’t know it existed until I finished Shadow Trials. But I think if you read Shadowed Debts you will not feel like you are thrown into the world, like how I felt while reading this book. It’s not a bad thing, but it made me feel like I was missing a big chunk of history, despite that I still found this story addictive. Fiona’s character is new to this world also, so through her, I learn some of what took place before Shadow Trials. I love the world-building, but it is heavy. I love the slow burn romance and am invested in Fiona and Azric’s story, I’m totally rooting for them. I’m going to read the previous series while waiting on book two!

Read if you like:

heavy world-building
more fantasy than romance
deadly trials
dark themes

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Author: Brigid Kemmerer

Format: Hard cover book

Pages: 477

Categories: Beauty and the Beast Retelling, Slow Burn Romance, Young Adult

Book Blurb:

Fall in love, break the curse.

It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

MY REVIEW

In A Curse So Dark and Lonely, we meet Harper, who is a girl with Cerebral Palsy. She lives in Washington D.C. and is on a job with her brother Jake, as a look-out. Her family has fallen into dire straits and her brother has to do what he has to do to keep the family surviving. During her job with her brother she sees what seems to be a kidnapping and gets involved. In her attempt to help she gets transported to an enchanted castle, in a parallel world/dimension. A Prince lives in this castle with his Commander, whose name is Grey. The Prince is under a curse and must make a girl fall in love with him within a season. But at the end of the season is when he turns into a beast, so for about five years he’s been unsuccessful. The stakes are raised now because the enchantress who cursed Prince Rhen informs him this is his final season to break the curse.

When I think of Beauty and the Beast – I think about the Disney movie with bookworm Belle and the Beast who is already in his beast form. And he shall remain that way forever if he doesn’t break the curse *before the last rose petal falls*🌹 .

In this retelling, Prince Rhen is still in his human form, eighteen years old to be exact (for the past 5 years) and his beast only shows up at the end of the season. The beast is different every time but it does the same thing – kill anyone in it’s path. It’s taken a toll on the Prince who’s killed his family, his friends and his people over the years. It’s quite gruesome when you think of it and really sad.

I love Harper. She is brave and determined when plunged into this new world, and dealing with her physical limitations. And in most instances she pushes past those limitations which made me cheer her on. She’s also worrying about her mom who is dying and her brother who might be getting into trouble with some bad people. Harper can’t do anything for them while trapped in Emberfall but she doesn’t do nothing either.

I thought the beginning of the book had promise, especially when she enters the enchanted castle. But my mind started wandering in the middle of the book as I waited and waited for this magical love to appear between Beast and Belle, oh, I meant Harper and Prince Rhen 😉. I was starting to think it wasn’t going to happen as a hint of a love triangle started to manifest between Commander Grey and Harper.

So how does Prince Rhen try to make Harper fall in love with him? He has barely any hope that the curse will break . It just doesn’t come naturally for Rhen and Harper, they both have such high defensive walls to penetrate, though Rhen’s is much higher I think. Trust takes too long to develop between them, and as Rhen keeps worrying: there is NO time. So instead, Prince Rhen, Harper and Grey spend the time planning for the needs of Emberfall if the curse is not broken. It’s another reason why I love Harper – because she brought in the wild hope in this hopeless situation, not for Rhen to fall in love and break the curse, but actually to help his people no matter what happens.

As far as it being a Beauty and the Beast retelling I think it did it pretty well. I caught the similar elements from the original story and I loved the unique spin on it. The action in the last half of the book was exciting – I mean a lot happens when the neighboring kingdom comes for Emberfall, Rhen’s beast is about to make his debut, and Harper’s mom is dying back in D.C. Whew! 🤷🏻‍♀️ And don’t get me started on Lilith, the wicked enchantress that started the curse in the first place. She pops up here and there just making life hell for Rhen and Grey.

Also we find out a few interesting things about Grey at the ending of the book which I definitely have to know more about like…yesterday.

I can’t recall ever reading a book with a protagonist that had cerebral palsy, so thank you to the author for making me more aware and giving us a tough heroine who rose to the challenges to save her loved ones in whatever predicament they were in.