Curse of the Thorn King: Wayfarer Fae, Book 1

I highly recommend this book!I read this after reading the Fae Isles books and it’s a Steamy retelling of beauty and the beast. Ms. Marshall is a genius when it comes to romance I’m not entirely sure why she’s so good at it. I can’t pinpoint the words that make her writing so excruciatingly good at but she is a master.

I really enjoyed this retelling! This read was a quick read, and had all the love you need in it! I love the King and the assassin. Cannot wait to continue this series!

The writing in this book is top-tier! So vivid with lots of imagery! And the queen of banter has done it again!!! The slow burn was perfect and these characters were so lovable, their dynamic was so well done. Definitely a swoon-worthy romance.I adored this book! The way that Lisette can create unique magic systems out of the ordinary is an art form and is the real magic!I loved how this story has elements from the original Beauty and the Beast and the more modern versions. I also liked that it felt like its own story.While this book is a standalone with an overarching plot, I cannot wait for book 2 in this series. I can’t wait to dive back into this world and hopefully see guest appearances or references of these characters and explore more of this map! I highly recommend this book!TROPES:💘Enemies to Lovers♥️He Falls First🥰Hurt/Comfort👑Tormented Hero MMC🔴Forced Proximity🔥Slow Burn😏Witty Banter🗡️Assassin Heroine🦇Fae🌹Retelling2️⃣Dual POV💐Unique Magic System🌶️SpiceAnd More…

Is more banter than spice, and you'll have to wait past the 50,60% to see some actual steamy scenes.As usual, the spicy scenes from Lisette are OTT so the wait is worth it ;) .Regarding the banter, it was good but a little excessive in some pages and the background story from the heroine's town took too much importance imo.But overall it was good . I will be reading the second standalone book because although this was a 3 star there is smth in L Marshall's writing that just makes me smile :)

I do not know where my original review went so I’m repostingIncludes:- Beauty and the Beast vibes, but with a Fae twist- Enemies to lovers- Slow burn- Forced proximity- Standalone HEAThere are now two books I love that have opening sentences that reference bars of soap.@authorlisettemarshall ‘s books never disappoint me and this standalone is no exception. I absolutely love her writing style, the unique magic systems she uses, as well as her ability to convey such vivid details regarding things like clothing and places. It really helps someone like me (who isn't a good visualizer) immerse myself in the story.It also MUST be said that Lisette has really mastered the art of writing the slow burn for me. With fun characters and banter, she sprinkles in little breadcrumbs here and there that help with the romance build up and, baby, I'm hot on those breadcrumbs' trails just EATING them up.TLDR; Put this on your TBR.

Fun read with some of my favorite things: enemy to lover trope, magic, badass FMC, some build-up/steam, and the occasional glimpse into the MMC’s POV.

✨’Would it truly be that bad?' he muttered, and for the first time since she'd awoken, there was a hint of humanity in his quiet words, a crack in that jaundiced shield. Warm breath brushed past her scalp. His arms didn't let go.'If you ended up here with no way to leave?'⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌶️🌶️🌶️Fantasy Romance 📖🥀Oh, these moment with our MMC reach deep for me and make me love him all the more! Curse Of The Thorn King is @authorlisettemarshall’s new and utterly enchanting Beauty and the Beast retelling, and I absolutely loved it! This steamy, forced proximity, enemies to lovers story is the first installment in the new Wayfarer Fae series and I fell hard for these characters!✨I thoroughly enjoyed the unique flower magic systems, the assassin plot, all of fun additions of Lady Lockwell's Handbook of Etiquette, and how that factored into the story. The flirtatious and stabby banter between the two main characters had me grinning like a complete fool as the romance developed….all while experiencing the moments that made my heart ache and even break for our MC’s as the plot unfolded.🥀As I read Curse of the Thorn King I was consumed by that quintessential balance of angst, tension, steam, COMPLETE frustration (in the best way) emotional turmoil, and swoon worthy moments that my heart has come to associate with the magic of Lisette Marshall’s writing. This authors always makes me feel allll the feels ✨✨It is no surprise that I intimately drawn to these characters and their story.✨I highly recommend Curse Of The Thorn King to fantasy, fantasy romance, and romantasy readers.

I will be honest and say that Fairytale retellings were something I thought had been overdone and weren’t something that particularly appealed to me. I had read other books by this author which is why I even decided to give this novel a chance. I’m so glad I did.This book was a fantastic read and I devoured it in less than 24hrs once I finally sat down and decided to read it. I will never doubt Lisette Marshall again.

The book read fast and easy which was nice, but overall it felt rather boring and the characters seemed plain and not very well developed.

I read this book because I’m a big fan of the fae isles series, and Lisette did not disappoint. She has a gift for writing characters that you just fall in love with and become so invested in. She also comes up with unique magic systems, and has a great sense of humour. I’m really excited to see how this series is going to develop. She’s definitely become one of of those authors where I’ll read anything she writes. (And yes there is spice, and it is steamy)

Curse of the Thorn King is a short, whimsical and spicy retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a twist of the victorian era society, faeries and flowers upon flowers.The Beauty here is the down-on-her-luck human assassin Briannis Iavi, who needs to unalive the Faerie King not only the escape her own end but also to reach her promised dream life: The quiet life of a respectable lady.The Beast is the current and last half-dead King of Faerie. Quite literally half-dead. His left side of his body is just a corpse. He is not fond of humans and their treacherous lies, therefore he is more than a little angry when they send the beautiful assassin to infiltrate his castle and unalive him.What I loved about it:-Briannis was just such a stubborn and cunning little thing. I loved her ability to empathize and reason with herself and the situation she is. Her character arc of wanting to be proper respectable lady to wanting to live the life that made her happy was very satisfying and very well executed.-She almost unalives him twice. She like actually successfully knifes him and almost successfully poisoned him. It was really refreshing to read about, because usually the author says the FMC is an assassin and is here to unalive him without ever like even trying to harm her target more then once.-Moridyr was just how I love my MMC. Emotionally vulnerable but also a little shit about it. Also with heaping amount of desperate longing and pining, but also lots of unabashed teasing and scandalous thought and a pinch of cynicism and pessimism.-Marshall just has a way of writing her heroines and heroes that I’m thoroughly obsessed with. I have read two of her other series (The Fae Isles series and the Princess and the Spy) and loved all of the leads and their romances. And this book is no different in that regard.-Briannis and Moridyr’s romance was very sweet and steamy and a little funny. The instant attraction they had for each other while also hating each other and Briannis actually trying her hardest to unalive him, was just perfect.-The castle Rosethorn Keep was just so whimsical. I want to live there. Unlimited food, unlimited clothes, unlimited flowers and freaking library? Sign me the fork up. I will volunteer to live there forever and never leave.-Half of Moridyr’s body being just straight dead was so cool. Like have never read something like that as the Beast-form before. It paints a great visual.What i didn’t like so much:-All these strict and proper societal rules that Briannis desperately tries to uphold while endearing, were just a little to much for my taste. But that is mostly a fault that lies with me and not really with the book. It just isn’t something I personally have a lot of patience towards. Others will probably like or love this aspect a lot more than i can.-The beginning was just a little stilted for me. Like Marshall didn’t really find her flow of this book just yet. It got way better when Briannis finally met Moridyr. Everything starts flowing a lot better after that.-Briannis hypocrisy (if i should call it that) was also a little annoying. Girl YOU tried to unlive him, why the fork would he be nice and respectful to you. Of course he is going to lock you in a room and force you to tell him stuff so he can figure this out. Gods…So I recommend this book to everyone who like the Beauty and the Beast retellings and who love enemies to lover with all the banter and who love faerie smut.All in all I loved this book and i can’t wait for the next one!**All censorship is being made against my will! Eff You amazon for not letting me write the word k****.**

Full disclosure, I forgot I had signed up to be considered for ARC, pre-ordered the book, and then was given the advance copy 😅 I also adore Lisette’s Fae Isles Series, so while this is a completely honest review, I am already a firm fan of her work, worlds, characters, and story-telling.This book was no different!!!! Okay it was a little bit different from our darlings Creon and Emelin, but we still have a fierce FMC who has murder on her mind, and a royal who is bound by duty and sacrifice. Our FMC might even be the antagonist in this book??There are obstacles! One of them is the desire for murder! The other is forced proximity like you have never seen before 😂 most of this story is literally just the two main characters as they navigate this prickly situation they find themselves in.Lisette is EXCEPTIONAL at crafting beautiful characters who are flawed and carrying the scars of previous hurt. One of my favourite parts of her stories are when the characters make a choice that drags the reader into the pain and anguish. Things don’t flow smoothly to the HEA. The pain and confusion play out in a very human and believable way (as human and believable as a Beauty and The Beast retelling can get).There is medium level spice, a whole lot of tension, and therapeutic dismantling of the burden of other people’s expectations.