Whispers Among Thorns by Cassandra Aston
“That fire in his eyes—it wasn’t human. Not entirely. And a part of me wondered, hoped, that he wasn’t.”
A huge thank you to Haus of Fables and Cassandra Aston for gifting me this ARC!
Synopsis:
Whispers Among Thorns is the first book in ‘The Deadly Fae’ duology. It focuses on Sav, who is determined to build a new life in New York City. However, when the anti-fae leader attacks her home and threatens her community, she needs to infiltrate the enemy’s inner circle and seduce the leader’s son, Jack. Upon meeting one another, Jack feels an undeniable attraction to her despite knowing the dangers of falling in love with a fae. Caught between duty and desire, Jack faces a choice that could change everything.
My thoughts:
This was one heck of a ride, and I loved it every step of the way!
The narrative was unique and well-paced — I was hooked from the very first page and couldn’t put the book down! There’s a lot of action, tension, and conflict to keep you engaged throughout.
Since I haven’t recently read about faeries or crossovers between the real and fictional worlds, it was refreshing to reimmerse myself back into this area of fantasy. Not going to lie, although this book takes place in New York City and the Faerie realm, I’ve never been to the former before so in a way both are fictional to me! It didn’t deter me from understanding any of the references or where the landmarks since lots of the locations are pretty popular!
I really enjoyed hopping back and forth between New York City and the Faerie Realm; it’s interesting to see the resemblance of both places on the map! The idea of using portals reminds me of the gates in the Crescent City series, and it was fun popping back and forth between both places.
Speaking of back and forth, I liked interchanging between Sav and Jack’s point of view too. We get an insight into how they think and why they get frustrated with each other so easily (they’re both incredibly stubborn hence why they butt heads a lot). Their love is definitely forbidden — my heart breaks for them knowing their home allegiances will never allow them to be together.
I was intrigued by the concept of the Anti-Fae Faction (AFF)! The beginning reminded me of Divergent (especially towards the end when the Dauntless members were brainwashed and sent to eliminate Abnegation), but also season 1 of The Legend of Korra (where Amon creates a movement against benders). It was interesting to get a potential perspective of what it would be like if faeries lived among us in real life. Would we accept faeries for what they are? Or would they be discriminated against?
All in all, Whispers Among Thorns was a 5-star read for me, and I absolutely need book 2 to find out what happens next! This book is perfect for fans of ACOTAR, Crescent City, Divergent, Throne of Glass, and Quicksilver.
Need more convincing? Here are some tropes you’ll find in this book:
✨ Enemies to lovers
✨ Witty banter
✨ Forbidden romance
✨ Slow burn romance
✨ Morally grey FMC/stabby FMC
✨ Cinnamon roll MMC
✨ Secret/hidden identity
✨ He falls first
✨ Portal fantasy
✨ Nicknames
Whispers Among Thorns comes out on June 24th, and you can pre-order your copy here. You can follow Cassandra Aston @cassandra.aston.author on Instagram and check out her website here for more information and her merch!
