Eden Onpeng

I don’t have any fictional or memoir vignettes to share with you today. Instead, I will tell you a little about what I’ve been reading.

I rejoined NetGalley to see how the platform works these days (I used to participate around 10-12 years ago or so), and the first book I’ve agreed to read and review is The Crimson Princess by Zoey Voss. It is about a princess coming of age (and acquiring her powers), who must defend her kingdom with her budding magical powers and political prowess against looming threats of invasion, werewolves, and war. However, she butts heads with her father who was the long-time hero of ages, who is convinced that only he knows the answer to defending the kingdom, and is trying to marry her off to a druid prince, who may have some sketchy agenda of his own. Meanwhile, things are getting interesting with the vampire king, who is trying to stop his power-hungry brother from making big moves.

I don’t read a lot of romantasy (maybe I’m outside of the target age demographic) but the story here has been suspenseful and I keep wanting to know more. What surprised me in a good way were the occasional cozy moments where Satima (the princess) and the vampire king try some chocolate treats together at a village to which her mother used to take her. Overall there is a good balance between the suspense (fights in the woods) and the romance. The steamy scenes I have encountered were a bit heavy on the teasing and melodramatic for my taste but maybe that’s just because I’m more used to reading terrible, anatomically incorrect erotica when it comes to sex scenes. Like, BAM! His penis flew out of his pants and whacked her on the nose! But that style would probably not work with this novel so there you go–it’s me, not the book.

I’m more than two-thirds of the way done with this story and I look forward to finding out what happens next.

Here are the links to access The Crimson Princess by Zoey Voss if you’re interested (release date: 9/24/25). As of today (August 11, 2025), the ebook is $5.99, and I’m not sure how much the paperback will be.

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Crimson-Princess-Ravengale-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B0FDL5DVT1
• Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-crimson-princess-zoey-voss/1147724967?ean=2940184378619
• Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-crimson-princess?srsltid=AfmBOopWkhir85Rd7PXamBf_v74ZtU0DUygRsv6D01coG_JnRnFqJ_nY

What have you been reading lately? I’d love to hear about your reads.