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Review: Daughter of the Cursed Kingdom by Jasmine Skye

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Daughter of the Cursed Kingdom by Jasmine Skye

Daughter of the Cursed Kingdom (Witch Hall #2)
Jasmine Skye
Feiwel & Friends
Published February 24, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Daughter of the Cursed Kingdom

Two girls, bound by magic, must work together to stop an oncoming war, while grappling with unresolved feelings and terrible secrets in Daughter of the Cursed Kingdom, the thrilling conclusion to Jasmine Skye’s queernormative romantasy duology.

“If I ask you to walk into danger with me, Rosamund Holt, will you do it?”

Born a bone witch, with the power to raise the dead, Shaw has spent her life preparing to take her place as Death’s Heir, so she can lead her people to victory in an unavoidable, prophesied war. But then she met Rosy, sweet, stubborn Rosy, the most powerful bone familiar she’s ever known, and the only person Shaw has never been able to predict. Rosy, who doesn’t believe in the prophesied war that has consumed Shaw’s entire life.

“I won’t be their weapon, but I will be yours.”

Shaw has won Rosy’s loyalty, but Rosy has made it very clear she’s not willing to share her heart, a fact that Shaw is determined to respect… no matter how much it hurts. But now, as tensions with Vinland rise and secrets about the Witch King’s motivations are revealed, Shaw needs Rosy and her entourage more than ever. Will Shaw become the conquering warlord she was prophesied to be, or will she be strong enough to find a new path forward?

My Review

I loved the first book in this duology and really looked forward to the conclusion of Shaw and Rosy’s story. Weirdly, it took me most of this book to notice that Shaw’s perspective is written in first person and Rosy’s is in third person. I’ve read books like this before, and obviously, it didn’t bother me. It didn’t register with me until I was hundreds of pages in.

Rosy is my favorite character of the two, but I loved Shaw more and more as the story progressed. She faces such hard decisions and grows so much as a character. The relationship between her and Rosy stays largely in subplot territory throughout the book. Considering the threats the two girls face, it’s unsurprising that this would be the case. I liked the balance between the romance arc and the rest of the story.

I couldn’t always keep the magics sorted in my head, but I love the attention to the different types and how they work together. That made the story world feel rich and full to me. The cast of characters is inclusive in terms of gender identity and the relationships represented. One character also becomes disabled during the course of the story. At first, the others focus on healing their friend. When it becomes clear that even magic cannot provide a total physical healing, their focus shifts to addressing pain management and mobility needs. This character maintains an active role in the story until the conclusion. I appreciate that Skye not only included a character with a disability but also showed the experience of injury and recovery.

All in all, a conclusion worth reading. It’s a little longer than I’m comfortable with these days (470 pages), but I managed to make my way all the way through the story, and I’m glad I did.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Characters have the ability to perform magic. Some can shift into animal shapes. Some characters encounter ghosts. A ghost can become angry and attempt to possess someone. This is dangerous and harmful. The fix is to soothe the ghost and help their spirit find peace. A bonding ceremony can relationally join two people and allow them access to one another’s magic.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Shaw and her classmates have been raised to serve in the military and attend an elite magic military school. Characters face battles and ambushes in some scenes. References to the death of a comrade. One character becomes disabled as a result of injuries from an attack. One character violently ends their life in one scene.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Not Now, Not Ever
Lily Anderson
St. Martin’s Press
Published on November 21, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Not Now, Not Ever
Elliot Gabaroche is very clear on what she isn’t going to do this summer.

1. She isn’t going to stay home in Sacramento, where she’d have to sit through her stepmother’s sixth community theater production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
2. She isn’t going to mock trial camp at UCLA.
3. And she certainly isn’t going to the Air Force summer program on her mother’s base in Colorado Springs. As cool as it would be to live-action-role-play Ender’s Game, Ellie’s seen three generations of her family go through USAF boot camp up close, and she knows that it’s much less Luke/Yoda/”feel the force,” and much more one hundred push-ups on three days of no sleep. And that just isn’t appealing, no matter how many Xenomorphs from Alien she’d be able to defeat afterwards.

What she is going to do is pack up her attitude, her favorite Octavia Butler novels, and her Jordans, and go to summer camp. Specifically, a cutthroat academic-decathlon-like competition for a full scholarship to Rayevich College, the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program. And she’s going to start over as Ever Lawrence, on her own terms, without the shadow of all her family’s expectations. Because why do what’s expected of you when you can fight other genius nerds to the death for a shot at the dream you’re sure your family will consider a complete waste of time?

This summer’s going to be great.

My Review
I thought the connections between Not Now, Not Ever and The Importance of Being Earnest made this a super fun, unexpected story. Elliot’s struggle to figure out what to do with her future with regard to her family’s expectations for her definitely pulled me into the story. It wasn’t the most satisfying plot element, though.

Actually, I have to say I was pretty excited when I figured out that Brandon (if you read The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You, you’ll remember this guy!) had a pretty major role in this novel. I loved finding him in Not Now, Not Ever.

Lots of the characters have secrets of their own, which had me hooked. It seemed like every time I thought I pegged what was going to happen, some new layer emerged. That made for a fun reading experience for sure.

On the whole, I think I liked these characters better than The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You but prefer that plot over Not Now, Not Ever. Not to say I didn’t enjoy both—I totally did. Anderson delivers strong dialogue and banter with some really fun geek culture in both books. Fans of Cori McCarthy’s You Were Here and Anderson’s debut novel, The Only Thing Worse than Me Is You will want to add this one to reading lists.

Recommended for Ages 14 up

Cultural Elements
Elliot is black. Her step-mom is white. She’s also from a family with very strong military traditions and feels pressured to join follow in that tradition after high school, despite her other dreams. Two of the boys in the summer program are gay and start a relationship.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys and between a boy and girl. It’s implied that a boy and girl have had sex.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
At one point Elliot drinks alcohol with a friend.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: TAP: The All Powerful by J. K. Brown

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Sci-Fi, , , ,

The All Powerful
J. K. Brown

Amazon | Goodreads

When the Alyon military wrongly sentences Jason for committing an impossible crime, he and two allies must escape before they’re killed. As Jason, Josh and Jacqui explore the world outside the military, they discover powerful abilities their commanders kept secret from them. They also find other allies with secrets of their own. Together the team vows to stop Shadow Leader, the sinister man who seems to be at the center of everyone’s problems. The only problem is finding a way to overcome him.

I loved that this story is written in present tense. I’ve only read a couple of stories written that way before, but I really like that it keeps the action feeling really urgent and immediate. The characters were interesting. Vend’s backstory really captivated me, and I liked the old man who helps the team along the way. None of the characters were as complete as Jason himself though, and I found a couple of the girls to be a bit uneven. Sometimes they were really together and smart and other times they sort of flaked out. It’s not that someone couldn’t be both, I just felt like a little more integration of those two roles would have made them more believable.

From reading the author’s note in the back of the book, it seems like this idea might possibly have started as a video game concept? Or maybe the author had wanted to write a video game at some point? Not sure. But the story definitely has the feel of a FPS video game with strong military themes and magic. Some elements of the story world were really cool. The haunted house was super creepy.

I think this book would appeal most to gamers who like Diablo or Call of Duty style games or books with a more plot-oriented, military-focused telling.

Language Content
A couple references to Hell. A commander refers to “damning evidence.”

Sexual Content
Brief reference to a girl having been enslaved by a man. She doesn’t specify what he’s made her do.

Spiritual Content
Scarletta has an ability to summon a powerful spirit being who protects her and her allies. It’s mentioned that others have similar abilities or can learn to summon spirits. Some characters command Shadow element, which is like a physical darkness. Other elements can be controlled/used too, like fire, wind, light, etc.

Violence
Several battle scenes. Brief references to torture or characters having been enslaved. The detail isn’t overly graphic, but there are enough scenes that it’s perhaps a better fit for older readers.

Drug Content
None.