There is a skeleton dog!!!
Overall
4
The Songbird & the Heart of Stone Book Cover The Songbird & the Heart of Stone
Crowns of Nyaxia
Carisssa Broadbent
Vampire Romances, Dark Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy
Bramble
November 19, 2024
Hardback, Kindle, Audiobook
448

New York Times bestselling author and BookTok sensation Carissa Broadbent returns with a brand new novel in the Crowns of Nyaxia series, The Songbird & the Heart of Stone, where A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Dante’s Inferno, in an epic fantasy romance of love and treachery between mortals and gods. Features beautiful case art and a detailed map.

In the descent to the underworld, a bride of the sun must choose between the light of her redemption… or a dark love that defies the gods themselves Mische lost everything when she was forcibly Turned into a vampire – her home, her humanity, and most devastating of all, the love of the sun god to whom she had devoted her life.

Now, sentenced to death for murdering the vampire prince who Turned her, redemption feels impossible. But when Mische is saved by Asar, the bastard prince of the House of Shadow with a past as brutal as his scars, she’s forced into a mission worse than execution: a journey to the underworld to resurrect the god of death himself. Yet, Mische’s punishment may be the key to her salvation. In a secret meeting, her sun god commands her to help Asar in his mission, only to betray him… by killing the very death god she’ll help resurrect.

Mische and Asar must travel the treacherous path to the underworld, facing trials, beasts, and the vengeful ghosts of their pasts. Yet, most dangerous of all is the alluring call of the darkness – and her forbidden attraction to Asar, a burgeoning bond that risks invoking the wrath of gods. As her betrayal looms, the underworld closes in and angry gods are growing restless.

Mische will be forced to choose between the redemption of the sun or the damnation of the darkness.

The Songbird & the Heart of Stone is a journey of finding yourself and forgiving your past mistakes.

I am a huge fan of Carissa Broadbent’s writing and the world she created. To make it even better, she adds a skeleton dog, Luce!

What to expect:

  • Allies of convenience
  • Vampires
  • Gods
  • Slow burn
  • Mild spice

The story starts as one does, the main character is about to die, forgotten and ignored by her sun god, when a vicious vampire comes to save her from his awful sister before she drains her of her blood. Said vampire is much too attractive for how much she has to hate him, but his general grumpy nature makes it easy to ignore for a time.

The stakes are easy to understand, go on this quest or I let my sister kill you. However, the gods are playing a game that is a bit more complicated. The world-building as they journeyed through the underworld was unique, leaving me to reread scenes to fully envision the gray, upside-down world.

I was so glad I got to finally learn about Mische’s past along their journey. You know I love character development, so watching her see her life differently over time was what I craved but it moved too slowly for me. I happened to love Asar from the start and not just because he’s the hot vampire love interest! Ok, maybe it was, but he’s also smart, and broody and has a skeleton dog that loves him. He happens to also have a tragic past that breaks your heart and makes you hope he gets a HEA.

However, things generally moved too slowly since so much time was spent on the characters moving around. I am used to lots of action from Broadbent and this had a lot more internal dialogue.

Final thoughts, I will always read what Carissa Broadbent writes, always. I can’t wait for the next book to see what happens after that cliffhanger!