Oaths & Vengeance Book Review

Oaths & Vengeance Book Summary From Goodreads

Darrow has so many secrets that even those closest to him don’t know them all, but she’s about to become his favorite. He is powerful, ruthless, and her sworn enemy. The wickedly good-looking elf is also cursed never to love.

Aella should stay far away from him, especially considering he could kill her from a distance with little effort. Except that someone close to her is dying, and he is the only person in the realm with the means to help. She has strong powers of her own to offer in exchange, but to her dismay, Darrow wants a secret marriage as part of the bargain. Fae marriages are forever, so she’d always be his.

With other factors pushing her toward it, she agrees to a private wedding that the king himself officiates while hiding the ceremony from her disapproving family. Aella suspects there is far more to Darrow’s motives if Zadrya’s monarch is involved. It isn’t long before she discovers that dark forces are circling, and it’s her rare magic they want to use or eradicate by any means necessary. Her new husband has drawn her into a dangerous conflict started centuries ago that could either end in the salvation or destruction of their world. If she wants to survive, she’ll need to trust Darrow with her body, but never her heart.

Note- This novel is an enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn romantasy. It contains adult content, including violence, foul language, spicy scenes, torture, and ruthless plants and creatures. Read at your own discretion.

About the Book and Where to Buy Oaths & Vengeance

Coming August 18, 2025, Oaths & Vengeance by Susan Illene is the epic first installment in the Realm of Zadrya romantasy series. Packed with fae, dragons, and ancient magic, the story follows Aella, a woman with rare and dangerous power, who enters a secret marriage with Darrow—a cursed elf and her sworn enemy—to save a dying friend. Thrust into a centuries-old conflict, the two must navigate deadly threats, unravel buried secrets, and confront a tension-filled bond neither of them expected. Perfect for fans of enemies-to-lovers romance, mythical creatures, and high-stakes fantasy adventure.

Tropes

• Secret marriage 
• Slow burn romance
• Enemies to lovers
• Political intrigue 
• Fated Mates
• Cursed MMC & FMC
• Unique magic system

You can purchase the ebook through my amazon affiliate link if you want to support this review. Ebook available August 22, 2025 and paperback available August 18th, 2025.

My Thoughts on Oaths & Vengeance

Holy crap I was totally blind sided by this 5⭐️ read. I received an ARC for Oaths & Vengeance – this was my first time reading anything by this author and this book had me up reading until 4a. I literally couldn’t put it down. 

Our FMC is a half elf half druid and lives with her uncle who is a Lord, and she is forced to use her powers to open portals to transport his troops for battles. He is forcing her to get married to one of his friends that will continue to let him use her for her powers. The MMC is a ruthless and powerful half dark elf that heads the troops for an opposing area.

Their realms are at war and in addition to that, their world is slowly being drained of its magic. Her mom was on a quest to find the Naforya Fountain that is supposedly the key to save their planet but she didn’t survive. The book takes us on a slow burn enemies to lovers quest to help save their planet, but along the way there are battles, obstacles, tests of strength and powers, growing friendships and betrayals by family.

The book ends on a cliffhanger and I’m desperately waiting for book 2! The way I devoured this book, makes me want to read her other series.

Spoilers ahead……so stop reading if you haven’t read the book yet.

This is a slowwwwwww burn. She doesn’t know that they are true mates. She hates him, a true enemies to lovers, his dad can sense true mates and tells him they are. All of the males in his family are cursed because they were protectors of the fountain and it was stolen on their watch. She starts to help him transport troops and look for the fountain- he learns that she’s the strongest ring portal in centuries and is actually the person they are looking for to help them save their realm.

That’s it for spoilers, you have to read the book to find out how book 1 ends.

Stay in Touch with the Author

Visit Susan Illene’s website