Avalon Tower: A Fantasy Romance (Fey Spy Academy Book 1)

This book is romantasy at its FINEST!!!! Trust me when I say you NEED this book in your life IMMEDIATELY!!One minute Nia is on holiday in France and the next she is thrust into a world of fae and danger... the Fae infiltrated the world 15 years ago, dividing France. Since then the world has become infinitely more dangerous and tensions run high. No one crosses the barrier between the fae world without risking the wrath of the fae king. Risking it all to fight back are the spies of Avalon Tower. Unbeknownst to her, Nia is key to this…We all (hopefully!!) know how much of a history geek I am, so to find an amazing book with Arthurian vibes is my literal dream!! I adore medieval history and CN Crawford combines the old with the new perfectly. I love that we have elements of today’s culture, with the mystique of the legends and magic of the age of Arthur and Merlin. Then add in Hunger Games vibes, forbidden love, quests AND a masked ball???? Fantasy heaven JUST HEAVEN!!!!! I have always loved CN Crawford’s writing style and this is just perfection!!I love how Nia, despite totally being on the back foot in this new world, totally forges ahead, tries to learn everything she can AND makes herself the best found family!! I loved the fact that she just completely goes for it, despite not being the strongest but she IS cunning, smart and oh so witty!!Raphael, oh my, this man… I absolutely love him so freaking much!! The ultimate grumpy mentor, who is extremely well versed in magic and the fae world but is COMPLETELY off limits???? Plus the Tension (totally needs a capital t…) is OFF THE CHARTS!! This is a fantastic forbidden romance and I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT!!!!I am rabidly awaiting book 2…

‘Pixie princess’ 🤭I recommended everybody to read this book!THIS BOOK is everything you want in fantasy romance. If you LOVE books like Fourth Wing/Iron Flame and Zodiac Academy, then this book IS FOR YOU.Like tropes? Well, this book has enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed and rules against romance. It really has it all. The chapter sizes are perfect. The author has done a great job of balancing the amount of detail needed, keeping the pace of the story brilliantly, but still feeling that you aren’t missing too much. The reason for the loss of a star on my rating is because there were some parts that I would have liked more, especially around Nia’s character development and a little more spice/slow burn, but that is my personal preference. It didn’t take away my enjoyment at all in this book and I am DESPERATE to find out what happens next.The cliffhanger!!!!!!!!!! So glad it’s a series.Other things I liked:- Set in England and France (which you don’t see in this genre a lot)- Asthma rep in the FMC- Spice! A rating of 2.5/5- Good character development, Nia is badass- Love the friendships created in the book

4.5 ⭐ rounded upFrom page 1, I could not put this down! The FMC gives no f's and her banter is class. The pacing was full on and never boring which is probably why I finished it in 3 days in the middle of a work week 🙌 I enjoyed the minor dystopian vibes with modern technology no longer working, that was neat.This is why I loved this book:💕 Found family🧚🐉 Fantasy beings🪄 Interesting magic system🧙🏻‍♂️ Arthurian history influences (Knights of the round table, Merlin, Nimue, etc)⚔️ Lots of action and adventure📖 Academia + trials🌶️ A wee bit of deliciously written angst/spice👨‍🏫 Mentor x mentee stuff 🫠🤯 Unpredictable, mega plot twists⚠️ Major cliffhanger ending! ⚠️

Loved the book great writing

So started reading this book on the back of that one. I got halfway before I realised that it’s kind of a poor imitation of that book and I gave up reading. I don’t like the idea of love triangles or wasting my time investing in one MMC only to find it changes in the next book and after reading the synopsis of the next few books and the reviews, it appears this series is following that line. It’s a pass for me.

Absolutely brilliant! It was exciting, revealing, jam packed and wonderful! I thought the twist on the last page was true and I'm excited to see how things are revealed in the next one. Sad I have to wait for the second book , I'll be waiting on tenterhooks.

This book was such a wild ride! Full of action, and a world-building that combines magic and history in a completely unique manner. The slow-burn romance added a great layer of tension too. The characters, especially the main ones, were so easy to root for. Just a heads up, it ends on a major cliffhanger that totally blindsided me! Can't wait for the sequel to see where Nia's journey goes next. If you're into magic, action, and unexpected twists, this one's a must-read!

absolutely awesome, as soon as I realised this book is all about Camelot and king Arthur and the knights I loved it. The humour and the storyline are hilarious and interesting, I love the characters especially the two main characters. The dream stalker is surprisingly interesting, and if I'm being honest, very alluring. I enjoyed the academy bits, A certain snob who's name I'm struggling to spell who I found both annoying yet funny. This is definitely a series I'm looking forward to, I can't wait for the next installment. The cliffhanger moment at the end is going to drive me crackers, my mind is already trying to figure out what is happening.

I quite enjoyed this book it's literally my guilty pleasure type of story. Enemies to Lovers, miscommunication and the girl who thought she was just average discovers she is not only magical but also powerful yep i'll eat that up every time!!!Raphael and Nia had a past, unresolved and kind of hated each other in the present because of it.Nia has her life turned upsidedown in a matter of minutes and Raphael has everything to do with it....this book ends on a cliffhanger and i'm glad i waited to pick this one up until the sequel was out, don't like waitingit was easy read, entertaining and page turner for sure it took me 2 and half days to finish it( i binge read for a full day😬)the spice level in this book was on point, not too much and not too little just right.Happy Reading!!!

"I’m desperate for you. Desperate the way a starving man craves fruit. I’ve dreamt of this for years, and I want to taste every inch of your skin."I could not put this down lolWas it a masterpiece? Absolutely not. But it was addictive. We follow Nia as she’s swept into a Fey and Demi-Fey war in a sorta occupied France and her enemies-to-lovers romance, which you all know I’m here for. There was lots of emotion and angst, terror and nightmares. All things I like in books 💀"I’m always the one who picks up the pieces. I take care of things when everyone falls apart around me. I live in the shadows, trying to make things go smoothly. And who comes to help me in the night when I’m sick and can’t breathe? When I’m calling for help, and there’s no answer?"I liked Nia as a character. I always love when characters have chronic illnesses (Nia has asthma) because I can relate to them more - Nia was always thinking about how she wouldn’t be able to keep up fighting for a long time, i.e. wear out her opponent because she simply couldn’t with her asthma. But she made adjustments and I liked that.“You don’t know the city, and you get sick if you exert yourself,” Aleina mutters. “Why did you think you’re the right person to help us?” “Well… I didn’t see… anyone else… stepping up.” My head is spinning. I’ll have to take a break soon.”Raphael was a strange character for me. I liked him as a MMC and as a partner to Nia, and I liked their rivalry. I liked his attitude, his protectiveness, and such but I am toxic as fudge and want to hear more about the prince LMAO My love of morally black characters has ruined me."At least, for the upcoming month, I will be out of danger. The only thing I have to do is master every spy skill that exists and memorize the entire Fey history."Anyway, I really liked how Nia didn’t turn into this super warrior like some do after they get a few months of training, instead of training for years. Yeah, she was super powerful, but still kinda useless and clumsy, which was refreshing lol."“Hang on, you were celebrating your birthday by yourself?” I glare at him. That’s right, I’m a giant loser on top of everything else."There were a lot of super funny parts in this book that I appreciated but also so many cringe-parts too. There was a ton of info-dumping, the world-building and plot were definitely shoved in your face in large chunks and you were kinda reeling after. I would also say it was described that well, I was still a little confused, but that could have just been from the fact that it was all dumped on us in the first few pages inorganically."Apparently, all it takes for me to forget about how much I hate him is for him to take his shirt off."This also had a lot of interactions that made me, as I said above, cringe. The school setting was kinda secondary, since we didn’t actually have much school going on, which I think should have been expanded on. Nia mostly started school and then finished with like 2 classes that we were told of. There were time gaps that we were supposed to just accept that things happened in them lmao. The mean family Pendragons were so over-the-top comic villains that I predicted everything before it happened, which wasn’t fun. It wasn’t clear about how they could keep trying to get rid of Nia when she had such coveted magic?? And why did the humans hold so much sway over the demi-fey when the demi-fey are clearly more powerful??Speaking of the Prince - what happened to him?? Is he going to be in the next book or did I just get attached to the actual bad guy?Okay, anyway, that was negative, but like I said, it was addictive and I couldn’t put it down and I’m really looking forward to reading book 2!“You look like you hate everyone around you,” he adds. “Oh, that’s because I do.”Same Nia, same.

Let me start by saying, I've read Frost and Ambrosia by C.N. Crawford. I like her ability to do fae in the modern world - a refreshing twist on romantasy. I enjoyed those two books well enough, but I did not find them extremely memorable... ✨THIS✨, on the otherhand, was!! I don't think this book was particularly deep or super original, but boy was it fun! It had maaany common romantasy/action tropes, but all of them were done very well. It definitely felt like I was watching a fun, fast-paced spy tv show with magic!!⭐Specifics⭐📌The writing for the main character was very "I'm just a silly girly. teehee" and also "my name is ryan, and my life is kinda crazy" (iykyk), but this was balanced out by everything else going on. I also didn't particularly enjoy the exposition the main character would do sometimes and I'd kinda tune it out, but again, didn't go on too long. Other than that, the main character is fairly self-aware, resilient, and kind -- generally likeable! 🙏📌 Can i say 🎆thank you🎆 to the author for doing what a lot of authors struggle to do and SHOW the main character being smart and resourcesful rather than TELLING us how smart and resourceful she is without proving it. This aspect of the main character really made this book a pageturner. It was exciting to see what clever thing she'd come up with to get out of a situation!📌The "normal girl is actually, maybe 'the chosen one'?" trope was here and pretty easy to see coming. However, I liked that the author gave the main character understandable flaws that actually affect her and balance out her immense strengths (mommy wounds & asthma rep 💨 woot woot!). On top of that, we get to see the main character WORK to improve herself and be creative to make up for what she lacks.📌The attraction between the FMC and MMC is arguably largely based on the physical (instalust trope?). However, after overcoming some initial animosity (slight enemies to lovers trope?) due to miscommunication (trope?) they communicated well once things get going (second-chance romance trope?) and do small gestures to show their care for each other -- which is sweet! 💟 The romance was not the most profound love story of all time, but I thought things seemed "realistic" enough. Additionally, I appreciated that the main characters were fairly perceptive, honest, and forgiving. Overall, fairly mature - which I expect from people in their mid to late 20s!📌There is one open-door 🌶️spicy🌶️ scene that I enjoyed (one-bed trope). 😏 It was sexy, sweet, and a little funny. Very human. The build up ⛲ to this scene made this event feel like a natural progression and the issues that needed to be resolved beforehand were not super egregious. I was also satisfied with only one spice scene, as I felt satiated with the samples leading up to this and the frequency made sense for the busy world the characters were in.📌Although he is described as extremely hot and talented, I appreciated that the MMC seemed like a guy with integrity and intelligence. I also liked that he was not written to be some super cheesy, sex god as a lot of fae love interests are. 👍📌In general, most of the secondary characters were fairly multidimensional and it made interactions/events more interesting for sure!📌The magic was cool af!💜 Easily the second best thing about this book behind the spy stuff! The powers different fae have and wield is nothing unfamiliar, however, I LOVE how the author conjures up creative ways to use it -- and that the system behind it makes sense! It feels like the possibilities in this world for magic could be vast based on a person's ability and innovativeness... I also really like how the author describes what it's like to feel and use magic. There's something about her descriptions that sound so coherent & compelling... so much so that I feel like I'm experiencing what the main character is as I read sometimes!

I need more people to talk about this book. It was a great read!

I loved the characters, world building and plot. I can't think of a single part that wasn't enjoyable. I can't wait to read the sequel.