I adore this series. I originally picked up the first book, A Hint of Frost back in 2013 when it was free on Amazon. At the time the books were being published by Samhain which had put out a number of winners and had started to become my go to for must buy books. It had a cool cover, the blurb sounded interesting and it was free - it was an all round winner.Â

And then I read it. And I was very impressed. It was brilliant. The world building in incredible, the romance is adorable and the action is intense. There's an over-arcing mystery throughout the entire series which is riveting and comes to a fantastic conclusion. Each book focuses on a different couple but builds upon the mystery with characters and places slotting altogether.Â

My favourite book of the series would have to be A Feast of Souls - because I LOVE Vaughn! - but all the books are amazing. Hailey Edwards is a very talented writer who knows how to deliver great fantasy.Â

A Kiss of Venom

The third novella in the series, A Kiss of Venom, expands on the Salticidae clan's laws - their belief that sex before marriage is a sin. When one breaks the One Law or disgraces themselves in another way (murder, thieving, etc) they are expelled from the Clan. But rather than exist alone, those outcasts have banned together to form their own clan of sorts, the Maratus.

The novella opens with Nicolette and her sister (who is really her daughter) Maisy arriving in Erania where Maisy - a virtuoso - is set to compose and perform an original song in honour of Lourdes and Rhys and their bonding. Unfortunately for them, Nicolette has ulterior motives, having been hired to assassinate Pascale by the Theridiidae Maven under threat of killing Maisy. Unfortunately for Nicolette she's the fall guy.

The assassination attempt is complicated by the absence of Pascale and also Nicolette's history with the second heir to the Araneidae clan, Armand. I found Armand to be fine in the previous books but he's a complete jerk in this one. I didn't really get why Nicolette was enamoured with him to start with (back in the day), let alone why she was interested now. I get the whole soulmate thing but...he was still a jerk. I really didn't feel sympathetic to him at all. I always hate second chance romances. He abandoned her to start with sorry just isn't good enough. I also wasn't that keen on Lourdes or her parents in this one. Nicolette/Astrid is literally betrayed by everyone. I mean Lourdes turns Astrid and Armand in and not only do they put a stop to it, they kick the entire family out of the clan? That's ridiculously harsh and unfair. I really felt for Astrid. She's suffered so much.

This is easily my least favourite book in the series. I could've done without it. It's well written and that but second chance romances suck. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 because the series itself is amazing - even if I didn't like this one much plot wise. ( )

I received this novella in a BookLikes giveaway run by the author. It's book 3.5 in Edwards' Araneae Nation series, which takes place in a world divided into lands of perpetual winter and lands of perpetual summer. In those lands live various clans, each with specific characteristics that define them.

A Kiss of Venom stars Nicolette. She and Maisy, her musically-gifted young daughter, have traveled to the Araneidae clan, ostensibly so that Maisy can perform at Rhys and Lourdes' first anniversary party. In reality, Nicolette has been hired to kill Pascale, Lourdes' sister (this is directly related to events in A Hint of Frost).

Having been cast out of the Araneidae clan ten years ago because she slept with Armand, Lourdes' brother and the Araneidae heir, Nicolette has little love for the clan. She has since changed her name and appearance. She has also altered Maisy's appearance, so that no one will connect her and Armand's lavender eyes – yes, this is a Secret Baby book.

It took me a while to wrap my brain around the situation and characters. I was confused, because I didn't recall Armand being a jerk in A Hint of Frost, and yet, if Nicolette's side of the story was true, that's what he was. To be honest, I could barely recall anything about him – Henri, his herbalist brother, stood out more. Armand was simply the brother who could increase male thread production the way Lourdes could increase female thread production.

I spent much of the novella wondering what, exactly, had happened ten years ago. I think I eventually got everything sorted out in my head, but it was pretty confusing for a while. On the one hand, Nicolette blamed Armand and his family for her having been cast out of both the Araneidae clan and the Salticidae clan. On the other hand, Armand seemed to think that the girl he'd loved 10 years ago was dead. Had Nicolette spent years blaming him for a situation he hadn't even had full knowledge of?

I did decide, by the end, that Nicolette's anger was justified. I wasn't entirely happy with how Armand and his family dealt with one of the revelations about Maisy – I felt it was a step backward as far as earning back Nicolette's trust went. I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened ifMaisy hadn't conveniently turned out to qualify as Armand's heir.It annoyed me that Armand seemed to assume that he, Nicolette, and Maisy could be a happy family, as though the events of ten years ago had never happened. Thankfully, Nicolette didn't make things quite that easy for him. The story's ending was more HFN (happy for now) than HEA (happily ever after), which fit the situation better.

Although I felt this story was only so-so, I did at least like it more than A Hint of Frost. Nicolette was less naive than Lourdes, and the world-specific details were a little more focused and lightly touched upon, so I didn't spend so much time wondering how it all fit together. Unfortunately, I didn't find Armand to be any more interesting after I finished the story - maybe I'd have connected with him more if some of the story had been told from his perspective?

Additional Comments:

There is either a formatting error or continuity error near the end. In one paragraph, Nicolette has just stood and is about to go meet Giles to talk about getting a job. In the next, she's in a tub, taking a bubble bath. There is no extra space between the paragraphs to indicate a scene change. It was a little confusing. Otherwise, though, I didn't notice any errors, and I was thrilled that the default font size was larger than Samhain's usual choice [explanation: although I think this novella is self-published, most of the rest of the series is published by Samhain Publishing].

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Armand & Nicolette's story was an excellent read. Their past history had me absolutely intrigued. With each page I was eager to find out more about them. His out right flirting and her unwanted jealous was just fun. A Kiss of Venom was exactly what I needed. I was in a bit of a reading slump and it certainly refreshed me. With the Araneae Nation Ms. Edwards has created vast and dangerous world. But is also shines with love and hope. This was a sweet story, I definitely recommend this one.

While this was a fun and fast read, I don't consider it a stand alone. I would suggest reading the previous books. ( )