Cover Reveal: Fated to the Frost King by Robin D. Mahle & Elle Madison

A brutal Frost King. A bastard fae bride. A bond neither of them wanted.

                                             Cover Design by @coversbychristian

Book 1, in Frostbound Court Series

Out wherever books are sold, June 26, 2025!

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Everly Elarion never asked to be chosen. A bastard with a dangerous lineage, she’s spent her life surviving in the shadows of powerful men. Now she’s being forced to marry one.

Draven Ashwynter, the Frostgrave King, rules the Winter Court with an iron will and a heart carved from ice. Just when the kingdom teeters on the edge of ruin, the Court’s Visionary comes forth with a solution: the king’s fated mate has been found.

He’s meant to receive a match to his power. An equal. Instead, he gets Everly—illegitimate, defiant, and the last woman who would ever kneel to a king.

She doesn’t trust him. He doesn’t want her. But fate never asked their permission.

As enemies close in and old magics stir beneath the ice, their cold alliance begins to thaw into something far more dangerous than desire. Because in a court ruled by frost and blood, love isn’t just a weakness.

It’s a weapon.

And when war comes for the court, it may not be the kingdom that shatters first.

Fated to the Frost King is a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romantasy, perfect for fans of Carissa Broadbent, and Sarah J. Maas.

Tropes waiting to ruin your life:

❄️ enemies at the altar

💔 slow-burn tension (all the yearning)

🔥 only one bed (you knew it was coming)

🔪 touch her and unalive

🖤 sarcastic heroine vs. cold-hearted king

🌙 fate, secrets, and forbidden power

If you like your romantasy sharp, slow-burning, and soaked in winter magic, FATED TO THE FROST KING is for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Elle and Robin are award-winning, USA Today Bestselling Authors of over twenty works in the Fantasy Romance genre. They are known for writing realistic, complex characters, witty banter, and epically gut-wrenching romances, topped off with eventual happily ever afters. Their books are also filled to the brim with slow-burn enemies-to-lovers dynamics, feisty heroines, and the only-one-bed trope – which is, in their humble opinions, the best trope of them all.

Connect with Robin and Elle!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mahleandmadison/

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mahleandmadison

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2095591903798074

Website - Home - Mahle and Madison

A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton

Title: A Kiss of Shadows

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Merry Gentry # 1

Publication: September 30, 2000, 480 pages

Source: Personal Library, Audiobook

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My name is Meredith 'Merry' Gentry, but of course it's not my real name. I dare not even whisper my true name after dark for fear that one hushed word will travel over the night winds to the soft ear of my aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness. She wants me dead. I don't even know why...

I fled the high court of Faerie three years ago and have been in hiding ever since. As Merry Gentry, I am a private investigator for the Grey Detective Agency: Supernatural Problems, Magical Solutions. My magical skills, scorned at the courts of Faerie, are valued in the human world. Even by human standards, my magic isn't flashy, which is fine by me. Flashy attracts attention and I can't afford that.

Rumour has it that I am dead. Not quite. I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. To speak that name after dark is to call down a knock upon your door from a hand that can kill you with a touch. I have been careful, but not careful enough. The shadows have found me, and they are going to take me back home, one way or another.

So the running is over. But the fighting has just begun...

MY THOUGHTS

I’ve never read a Laurell K. Hamilton novel before, but she’s known for two popular and well-loved series, so I decided to check out her Merry Gentry books, starting with A Kiss of Shadows. The synopsis intrigued me: a faerie princess in hiding, living in Los Angeles as a private investigator at a law firm? That sounded promising. Unfortunately, the book went downhill fast and never recovered.

If you’ve read Urban Fantasy, especially from the early 2000s when this book was published, you’re probably familiar with the genre’s typical format: a central plot (usually a mystery), a personal or romantic subplot, and an overarching storyline that spans the series. A Kiss of Shadows doesn’t follow that structure at all. In the very first chapter, we meet Merry as a PI and a princess in hiding. You’d think the story would revolve around keeping her identity secret while solving a case but nope. Within a couple of chapters, her identity is revealed, and the case she was working on is quickly dropped and never mentioned again.

Once her identity is exposed, Merry is swept back into the Faerie Court and plunged into political intrigue. Naturally, not everyone is thrilled by her return, and predictably, assassination attempts follow. She’s constantly surrounded by a cadre of supposedly elite warriors who are all eager to protect her... and, of course, sleep with her.

I didn’t enjoy Merry as a character. Everything came too easily for her. She fled the court and wanted nothing to do with it, but suddenly she’s more powerful than the queen, named heir to the throne, and every man she encounters is instantly obsessed with her? Come on. Even more frustrating was the repeated reminder that she’s descended from five fertility gods, making her irresistible to every single male. Yet these so-called strong warriors all behave like lovesick teenagers whenever she’s around. It got old fast.

For a book that was absurdly long, A Kiss of Shadows had no real plot and very little actually happened. The story essentially follows Merry as she’s pursued by a parade of men from Los Angeles to the Faerie Court and back again, all of them waiting for their turn in her bed. The characters were flat and two-dimensional, the plot was nonexistent, and there wasn’t even a single memorable scene.

I don’t recommend this book; there are far better faerie novels out there.

For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison

Title: For a Few Demons More

Author: Kim Harrison

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: The Hollows # 5

Publication: March 20, 2007, 456 pages

Source: Libby, Audiobook

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Despite dating one vampire and living with another, Rachel Morgan has stayed ahead of trouble until now. A serial killer stalks the Hollows, claims victims across society, and ignites a vicious Inderland gang war. Rachel hides an ancient artifact that could stop the killer or start a battle to the death among supernatural races of Cincinnati. Every action has its price. When the vampire master Piscary is set free and the demonic Algaliarept dares to walk openly under the sun, even Rachel Morgan can't hide forever.

MY THOUGHTS

For the love of all that is holy, can we please stop with the Rachel and Ivy storyline? It's extremely toxic. It’s not interesting and adds nothing to the overall plot except to frustrate the reader. The beginning of For a Few Demons More is bogged down by Ivy-related drama, which unfortunately overshadows what should be one of the main storylines; a murder investigation. It wasn’t until the final 20% of the book that things finally picked up and got interesting. But getting there was a drag.

I own most of the books in the series and feel somewhat obligated to read them, but with each new installment, my tolerance for the characters continues to dwindle. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, the only characters I’m remotely interested in are David and Trent, maybe Quen and Ceri now. Everyone else, Rachel included, has been disappointing. We’re five books in, and Rachel’s character development has stagnated or worse, regressed.

In this latest installment, we see that most people fear Rachel, assuming she works with demons (which, to be fair, she kind of does), and therefore believe she’s a powerful witch. Yet when it actually counts, like when Kisten was being attacked by vampires, Rachel failed to act in any meaningful way. Once again, she survives not through cleverness or growth but thanks to the help of others or sheer dumb luck. I don’t like Ivy, and when a supposedly climactic scene involving her came around, I didn’t feel anything. The prospect of losing her wasn’t upsetting and unfortunately, she’s still around.

I genuinely hope the next books improve, especially now that certain characters are (hopefully) out of the picture. I also hope Harrison removes Al from the narrative. I thought he was gone, yet here he is again. If there’s an endgame involving him, it’s not apparent. He adds nothing of value to the story. If you removed him entirely, the plot wouldn’t change...which says a lot.

At this point, my reviews of The Hollows series are starting to sound like a broken record. Nothing has improved, and the characters remain a hot mess. Rachel is always whining and crying. I started this series hoping for a mature urban fantasy. So far, it’s just not delivering.

Magician: Master by Raymond E. Feist

Title: Magician: Apprentice

Author: Raymond E. Feist

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Riftwar Saga # 2

Publication: November 1, 1982 499 pages

Source: Libby, Audiobook

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He held the fate of two worlds in his hands...

Once he was an orphan called Pug, apprenticed to a sorcerer of the enchanted land of Midkemia.. Then he was captured and enslaved by the Tsurani, a strange, warlike race of invaders from another world.

There, in the exotic Empire of Kelewan, he earned a new name--Milamber. He learned to tame the unimagined powers that lay within

MY THOUGHTS

Magician: Master is the second half of the first book in the series and continues the story of Pug and Tomas. In the previous volume, Pug was captured by the enemy while his friends in Midkemia dealt with an ongoing war against the Tsurani, alien invaders from across the rift. This installment gives readers a deeper understanding of the Tsurani people, their governmental system, and, most importantly, their reasons for coming to Midkemia.

The story spans ten years. When we first met Pug and Tomas, they were barely teenagers. By the end of this volume, they’ve become young men leading vastly different lives, each propelled toward unimaginable power. Tomas is imbued with the abilities of an ancient suit of armor once worn by a Valheru, a Dragon Lord. And Pug—unsurprisingly, given the title; joins a brotherhood of magicians and becomes one of the most powerful magic users in both worlds.

The writing remains dense, much like the first volume. However, since the characters, plot, and world-building are already well established, there's less exposition to digest. While the war continues in the background, the focus shifts more toward character development. Side characters like Arutha, Martin, Amos, and Laurie receive more attention, and I found myself just as invested in their arcs as I was in those of Pug (now Milamber) and Tomas.

All in all, Volume II is a solid continuation. There were moments when the pacing dragged and made it hard to stay engaged, but the standout scenes more than made up for those lulls. I plan to continue the series, though I won’t be in a rush to pick up the next book.

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

Title: The Jasad Heir

Author: Sara Hashem

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Scorched Throne # 1

Publication: July 18, 2023, 523 pages

Source: Personal Library

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Ten years ago, the kingdom of Jasad burned. Its magic was outlawed. Its royal family murdered. At least, that’s what Sylvia wants people to believe. The Heir of Jasad escaped the massacre, and she intends to stay hidden, especially from the armies of Nizahl that continue to hunt her people.

But a moment of anger changes everything. When Arin, the Nizahl Heir, tracks a group of Jasadi rebels to her village, Sylvia accidentally reveals her magic—and captures his attention. Now Sylvia’s forced to make a deal with her greatest enemy: Help him hunt the rebels in exchange for her life.

A deadly game begins. Sylvia can’t let Arin discover her identity, even as hatred shifts into something more between the Heirs. And as the tides change around her, Sylvia will have to choose between the life she wants and the one she abandoned.

The scorched kingdom is rising, and it needs a queen.

MY THOUGHTS

I've had The Jasad Heir on my TBR since its release but hadn't gotten around to it due to the mixed reviews. I'm so glad I finally gave it a chance; it exceeded all my expectations!

The Jasad Heir is an Egyptian-inspired Romantasy that breathes new life into some of our favorite tropes. That said, I wouldn't categorize it strictly as "Romantasy", a term I'm honestly not fond of. This book is so much more than that. It's a perfect blend of action, suspense, romance, rich cultural depth, an engaging plot, and, most importantly, complex and compelling characters. The story is very character-driven, which is exactly what I love.

I was astonished to learn that this is Hashem's debut novel. The writing feels like the work of a seasoned author. The attention to detail, the depth of research, and the immersive world-building are top-notch. It’s clear how much heart and hard work went into crafting this story. I was hooked from the very first chapter.

I absolutely loved the characters, especially the contrast between Sylvia and Arin. Both are stubborn, strong-willed, and in control, but while Sylvia embodies controlled chaos, Arin exudes disciplined restraint. I truly appreciated the slow-burn tension between them. It felt subtle and organic, unlike many recent Romantasies that tend to overemphasize the romantic tension to the point of being forced.

What stood out most to me was the world-building. Readers get glimpses of the four main kingdoms, their rulers, citizens, and daily lives, it was fascinating. The trial arc, though brief and occurring later in the book (around the 70% mark), was well-executed and kept me engaged. I've read plenty of trial and competition-centered stories, and I can confidently say the trials here were above par—concise, well-paced, and genuinely interesting, without dragging down the story.

If you haven’t read The Jasad Heir yet, I highly recommend it. With the final book in the duology just around the corner, there’s no better time to dive in!