Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - A Dawn of Onyx

I wouldn't have expected something from a debut author is be this GOOD and make me stay up all night reading. It's very tropey but if you love enemies to lovers, slow burn, one horse, forced proximity, he falls first, "touch her and die" vibes, this has it and does it well. It's got dragons, witches, fae, oh my!

There is some fleshing out that desperately needs to happen, especially in terms of the MMC who is delightful, but some things about his personality I felt I didn't understand by the end. Some people have also complained about the lack of world building, but I didn't find an issue with that because the FMC narrator has lived a sheltered life, there's only so much SHE knows. I'm hoping that both of these things w about the world. I'll get resolved throughout the rest of the trilogy.

I also loved the growth of the FMC from timid and afraid to being a bad ass lady but you don't see much growth out of anyone else. There isn't a ton of side characters but I LOVED Mari and hope we see her story more and learn about her abilities.

Content Warnings

bookaholic84's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

coffeexbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

✨✨✨✨

🌶️.5

Gather round folx, it’s another day of 🌈✨ I stayed up later than I should have and read this book in one sitting ✨🌈 … and I don’t regret it.

2023 is starting off great for me! We are on another book that is just 😩. The debut authors are just hitting it out of the park lately and I am 👏🏻 living 👏🏻for 👏🏻 it! Trust the hype on this book!

Let’s meet out FMC shall we? We start off the story in the Kingdom of Amber with our girl Arwen, the local healer. On top of her duties as a healer, she is trying to find something that will help cure her sick mother and nothing seems to be working. The other thing she is facing? Her brother and his bff (also her first love) have been MIA for a while and haven’t written to the family since going off to war against the big bad wolf that is the Kingdom of Onyx. Well, wouldn’t you know, her brother shows up with a ton of coins that he stole from some Onyx soldiers and is being tracked down by said soldiers and is essentially bringing them to his family home so they need to skiddadle outta there ASAP. Of course, if all went to plan and they had escaped, this story would be done within the first few chapters but alas, Arwen gets caught in the crosshairs and is being held captive in the dungeons of the Onyx kingdom and is told that in order to gain her freedom, she must pay off her brothers debt.

While in the dungeons, she meets a mysterious man who is in the neighbouring cell and they build somewhat of a friendship. Little does she know, he’s hiding a secret from her… and he is her only hope to escape. Dun, dun, dunnnnn!

If you are a fan of:

⚔️ Enemies to lovers

⚔️ Forced proximity

⚔️ One horse

⚔️ “Touch her and you die”

⚔️ Morally grey men

⚔️ Fae, found family

⚔️ Hidden Identities/ Betrayal

Then this is the book for you!

Btw this is a slowwwww burn! Do not expect a ton of spice in this one. I think we are going to get more in the second book. Usually I’m not a fan of a slow burn but the TENSION 🫣

Content Warnings

csartain's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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