3.5 stars out of 5
I had mixed feelings about this collection. Romantic Realms: Hearts at War is an anthology of 10 clean, enemies-to-lovers, romantic fantasy, longish-short stories, no steamy scenes here. I’ll review each of the stories in the order I finished reading them, so if you plan to read the entire review, strap in, and apologies, because this is going to be long! Hehe.
“Faerie Boots: Beyond the Faerie Wall,” by Michelle Helen Fritz
A woman finds out her cat is really a faerie.
This story had some really good descriptions and expressions. I cracked up a few times at some of the nicknames Emerlyn invented for Alaric! Their speech was a little dated, though. I get that the language was deliberately aged to fit a certain historical period, but sometimes that led to flowery speech, and dialogue that came out a little unnatural. Still, I was charmed by the idea of a cat/faerie.
“Fatal Hearts,” by Evelina Griggs
Two otherworldly assassins must team up to take down a final boss.
I loved the banter between Kade and Liv! I could read another book where they go on similar adventures, if only to hear them arguing the way they do here. Ms Griggs takes full advantage of sensory details too, and I felt genuine fear when the MCs were acting out of their control. I’d have liked to see the final fight go on for a little longer, though.
“Shattered Shadows,” by Brandi Elledge
Royals hide their children in another land to protect them from the Dark One.
This was the shortest of the lot, with four chapters and a prologue. The first sentence of Chapter 1 was so strong! (I’d share it but you should experience it for yourself 😀.) Some of the descriptions of the fantasy realm were really neat. However this story had some familiar tropes: love triangle, overprotectiveness, brother’s best friend. It was hard to keep track of all the many characters, one of whose names kept changing. There was a paragraph in the first chapter that gave enough explanation to render the prologue unnecessary. Considering the premise (shielding children from a threatening, dark overlord), I expected more mention of him. The author however was a little more focused on the development of a romantic relationship, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it left a lot of questions unanswered.
“Rise of the Crimson Dawn,” by Jacqueline Pawl
An unlikely friendship blooms between a prisoner and the nephew of the man she tried to kill.
I loved this! At first it irked me that it was only 10 chapters long, but then I realized that it was a testament to storytelling mastery, that Ms Jacqueline could fit a story so complete and immersive in such a limited space. I enjoyed the thorough worldbuilding and the detailed magic system. I loved discovering new supernatural abilities. It was a bit on the gory side (because of which I had to close it at some point and go read a different story to give me some time to heal). Getting to know Nyx and Aldric was a treat, and even if I didn’t initially agree with their actions, I got to understand them. Really visceral imagery. Kinda scary. Glorious ending.
“Alias: Husband and Wife,” by Harper Lynn
A time-traveling assassin gets her mission interrupted by a familiar stranger.
This story started on a high, and ended on a high. To be fair, if you're going to write this much humour in a story, and maintain it till the end, I am putty in your hands. Harper Lynn knows how to write banter! I loved Sarah and Robert! They matched each other in wit and sarcasm and barbs. They were imperfect. Vulnerable. Funny. Insecure. Kickass. This one wasn’t heavy on the fantasy, but it used it just enough. Loved it.
“The Hex Code,” by Brooke Clonts
A programmer teams up with a witch hunter to free her kidnapped brother.
It took a while for me to get into this one. I had so many questions reading it. I wasn’t even sure who I was supposed to be rooting for. But these questions got answered. This story was really well-written. Ms Clonts went hard on the details and descriptions (I stopped to highlight some of them because they were so good). I enjoyed getting to know the main characters, seeing the softness behind Hugh’s roughness. The end was really thrilling too!
“All In,” by T. S. Devon
A law enforcement agent must arrest a criminal who just happens to be her ex.
Probably an insignificant detail, but it was pretty refreshing to see an author use “lie/ lay” properly. Hehe. It was nice to understand the reasons for Cam’s actions, and I was genuinely grateful for a chance to empathize with her vulnerability and connect with her. Unfortunately this happened in the 14th chapter. Out of 17. While really nicely written, some of the lines of this story are a mashup of young adult favourites. Frustratingly handsome. Cocky. Moths to a flame. Drawl (Liam drawled so much I wasn’t sure if he spoke in any other way). Heart skips a beat. Smirk. Infuriating smirk. Cocky grin. Infuriatingly charming. Lips crashed against mine. (I found the line “chaos of butterflies in my stomach” really neat, though.) I wished for a point of view besides Cam’s after a while. She’s a good narrator, but every single thought she had, from the moment she saw Liam in Chapter 2, was Liam-coloured. Somehow I never really got to know Liam. There was an attempt made to justify his actions, but it came really late, and by then I didn’t know if this was a couple I should root for. The urban setting was interesting, though, as was Madam Ruby.
“The Dragon’s Curse”/ “The Dragon’s Heart,” by Shae Merritt
A powerful sorceress gets magically bound to the son of her greatest enemy.
Circe was so haughty, I initially read along waiting for her hubris and or character development. I don’t even like forced proximity stories. But this was great! It had a twist. It had great descriptions. Like, Ms Merritt really bothered to flesh out this universe and each individual’s actions. I loved Rehan, and how he asked the important questions, bringing Circe’s doubts to the surface, making her question her motivations. I loved seeing her get vulnerable. I liked how these two genuinely couldn’t stand each other, and I got the chance to see the development of their attraction. And that ending! Loved.
“Tricked by Love,” by Nicole Zoltack
A shapeshifter tries to trick an elven prince into marrying her.
The premise held so much promise. The idea of impersonation to meet a hidden goal can be really fun to read when done well. I like that Morlok wasn’t immediately enamoured when he saw Lyria. His immediate suspicion meant she had hit a snag before her deceit could properly unfold, and that was really interesting already. But…this wasn’t a particularly engaging story. After introducing Lyria, the author presents an info dump. There’s so little dialogue, and so much internal musing. There’s lots of telling, and not enough showing. Descriptions are good, but so much time goes into describing appearances, and Lyria’s clothing. Things are constantly said and said again. “She’s playing her part flawlessly. Unreadable expression. Calculated movement. Flicker of something before her expression turns guarded. Tension.” Facts we know are repeated. When they say they’re attracted to each other, I can only take their word for it. Somewhere in the middle they had a “new goal,” one I neither knew nor understood. There were villains introduced, but this was in the 10th chapter of a 10-chapter story. If a little more time had been spent developing these villains and their motivations, so it threaded throughout the book, it could’ve built more suspense. Much mention was made of Lyria’s and Morlok’s quick wit and banter. It would have been nice to see it.
“Hearts and Hammers,” by Sophea Chan
Rival blacksmiths must confront their feelings for each other.
Ordering this anthology so this story ended it was a fabulous decision. And it’s not just because of me and my weakness for humour. This story was great. It started out funny, then went sad, then just turned downright sweet. It genuinely warmed my heart getting to know these characters, probably warmed my heart more than any of the other stories. I loved the imperfect characters, and their imperfect actions. My heart’s warming now just writing about it.
Overall I liked this collection. Some of the individual parts were really strong! I’d recommend this to people who want to read clean romantasy/ get started in fantasy but are overwhelmed by five-part stories whose component parts are four hundred pages long.
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