Rose Black

I was lucky to have been one of the first to read Travis Baldree’s debut novel ‘Legends and Latte’s’, long before it was picked up by a traditional publisher. I was intrigued by the description of ‘cozy fantasy’, so took a chance and found it delightful. Til Death Do Us Bard, Rose Black’s debut, shares a similar vibe and offers an enchanting blend of mystery, adventure, romance, and fantasy.

In Til Death Do Us Bard, Logan ‘the Bear’ is forced to come out of retirement when his husband Pie (aka Magpie aka Aloysius Montague) is abducted by the realm’s corrupt King Ervin. To rescue the love of his life, and save the Kingdom from an unstoppable army of undead, Logan, and his unusual band of allies, must be the first to find the Chalice of Vivax.

Set in a medieval fantasy world, the plot plays out much like a traditional Dungeons & Dragon session might, with an overarching goal requiring side quests to accomplish it. It’s an entertaining adventure which involves magic and mercenaries, unicorns and pirates. There’s drama and action with betrayal and battles. The suspense grows as the story progresses, and though the stakes are high, the inevitability of the happy ending buffers the tension somewhat.

I loved the main characters, Logan and Pie are very much opposites, with Logan a burly, gruff, monster-killer, while Pie is a slender, extroverted, wily bard. They are an adorable couple and I loved learning the history of their relationship. The allies Logan gathers on his quest are a colourful group, including a sexually aggressive necromancer, Countess Ariadne DeWinter; the ghost of Logan’s bitter ex-wife, Ophelia; and a naive unicorn herder, Gary. I really enjoyed their individual quirks, and the overall dynamic of the party. There is also a horse named Bones and a grumpy unicorn called Fredrick Onyx-Heart the Third, Freddy for short, who are a delight.

Some of the humour will perhaps be judged as inappropriate, but overall I was amused by the irreverent wit and banter. For me, Til Death Do Us Bard was an entertaining and engaging read.… (más)

Til Death Do Us Bard is a heartfelt, comedic, adventure and Rom-com, set in a world inspired by classic RPG's and Fantasy.

We start with a sweet married couple Logan 'The Bear' and Pie, as Logan lovingly calls him, who need to travel into town. However the worst happens when Logan wakes up and Pie is no where to be found. This starts our determined but a touch dense POV character Logan off on his adventure. Along the way we pick up the rest of the rag-tag bunch of misfits and heroes. The Countess steals every scene she is in and by the end of the novel also stole my heart, and maybe a few bones but you can never tell with a Necromancer. Gary and Frankie are a great team and surprised me with how much I ended up rooting for them. For the rest of the cast I won't say much beyond they all felt real, and reacted in ways that felt true to who they were in the world and the situation going on around them.

With this novel I went in expecting a lighthearted romantic comedy feel, and instead got a lovely letter to found family, the reason we love, and how love changes us even if we don't want it to. The comedy and romance was everything I was expecting, but the tenderness of commentary on found family was more then I thought I would find.

The final thing that impressed me about this novel was the variety of settings and the action of the adventure. This little adventuring party went from abandoned keeps, to cozy cottages, to overwhelming cities, to musty tombs, to magical lands, to rich forests, to the open ocean. Every new setting was intriguing and lead into a new section of the plot that had me turning pages unable to put the novel down.

I would recommend picking this novel up if you are looking for:
- Found Family
- Tender Romance
- Rom-com vibes
- Great humor
- Bone Dogs
- Unicorns
- Necromancers who do their own thing
- Adventures in RPG style worlds
- DnD

I can't wait to see what else this author writes and I hope they always keep their great sense of humor that is shown in this work.

I received an ARC of this book at no cost/for free, I am leaving this review voluntarily and all thoughts and opinions are wholly my own and unbiased.… (más)

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of violence, death, gore, body horror, and blood. There are scenes discussing a past domestic abuse relationship between a character and a partner which resulted in a death. There is also a controlling relationship between a young man and his uncle. The themes of control, trauma and abuse reoccur throughout this book. Other themes include grief, fear of abandonment, and anger issues.

Til Death Do Us Bard by Rose Black is a cosy romantasy featuring warrior Logan ‘The Bear’ Theaker and his husband Pie, a bard. A year ago Logan gave up his life on the road to settle down with Pie in their cottage with their goats and pig. He has everything he ever wanted, and he couldn’t be happier until a trip away leads to Pie’s disappearance.

Desperate to find out whether his husband is alive, he finds a necromancer to contact the spirit realm. Logan gets more than he bargains for; the necromancer is a wily old woman he has a past with, and the spirit she summons is his ex-wife who is not happy with him! The good news is that Pie is alive, but Logan has no idea where he is or what has happened to his husband.

With the necromancer, the countess, and his ex-wife, Ophelia, Logan embarks on the most important adventure of his life to bring his husband back home. What he doesn’t expect is to find out that his husband has kept secrets hidden from him, secrets that have led to Pie getting kidnapped. Someone powerful wants Pie to find an artifact, one that has the power to raise an undead army.

The entire kingdom will be at risk if such an artifact falls into the wrong hands and soon Logan’s mission to find his husband becomes a whole lot more complicated.

I enjoyedTil Death Do Us Bard, and it’s a fun read with some great comedic moments. Black excels at witty banter, and delivers some brilliant one liners. There are some serious moments alongside the lighthearted ones, with Black tackling topics of grief and trauma with care.

This is an easy and enjoyable read, however, if you’re expecting an epic fantasy adventure then you’ll be disappointed. There are noticeable overtones of tabletop role playing (TTRPG), some of which play to the strengths of the novel whereas other times it does the opposite. The overall plot of the novel is not particularly strong, and quite predictable. Til Death Do Us is definitely worth checking out, but it’s strengths are not in the main plot in my personal opinion.

They lie in the character creation and the relationships between those characters as they develop on the page. My personal favourite was the countess, who was an absolute hoot. While other characters were interesting and amusing, it was the countess that sold the show for me. Logan and Pie’s story was great, but I would have been quite happy to have a whole book about the countess instead.

I was a tad disappointed by Til Death Do Us Bard, but overall I enjoyed it and got some good laughs from it. I definitely appreciated Black’s dark humour, such as the names of Logan and Pie’s animals. Plus any books with necromancers are always a plus with me!

BLOG | REVIEWS | REVIEW SCHEDULE | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST |
… (más)

1851, Lily Bell is sold by her father to Professor Salt. Lily believes she is going to be an actress on the stage but Salt has other ideas.

I am always drawn to books set in the Victorian era, especially if the story revolves around spiritualism. I did pick this book up purely on another readers recommendation and the cover.

I did go into the book blind and found that the story wasn't quite what I expected. I was expecting a creepy story about ghosts and spirits. The story for me however was about the relationship between two very different women.

The first half of the story was very interesting and I was quite invested for a long time. The second half of the story for me seemed to drag a little in places.

I certainly did enjoy the book although it wasn't what I thought it was going to be.… (más)