A cute and funny cozy fantasy! I loved the paladin series, and this one is just as great.

**Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing an ARC/DRC for review. All opinions are my own. * 

This is my second T. Kingfisher novel, and it did not disappoint. The book begins with 36-year-old Halla, a longtime widow who has spent the last decade keeping house and caring for her deceased husband's grumpy great-uncle. After his death, the will is read, and the loathsome relatives who come out of the woodwork are horrified to find she has been named as the sole inheritor. They hatch a plan to marry Halla to one of her husband's cousins, and when she refuses, they lock her in the attic and refuse to let her out until she agrees to marry him so they can get their hands on the inheritance. Despondent and disgusted at the prospect, she grabs a sword off the wall and contemplates removing herself from this mortal coil, but when she unsheathes the sword, she finds that it is inhabited (genie-style) by an immortal warrior who is sworn to protect the wielder of the sword. 

The scene is set, and the journey that follows is full of understated humor any unconventional adventure as our bumbling heroine and her scowling sword-warrior set out to escape and right the wrongs that have been wrought upon her. 

Reminiscent of The Princess Bride, the wit and banter between the two protagonists is delightful as their grumpy and sunshine attitudes clash whenever they encounter an obstacle in their path. Sarkis has loyalty in spades, but it deepens from being obligatory to respect (and more) as he wars with his conflicting feelings and hidden past.  As their growing friendship unfolds, Halla and Sarkis go from resenting each other's shortcomings to viewing them in a different light as they see beyond their first impressions. They navigate two-timers, power-tripping priests, highwaymen, moving mountains -and luckily, no dragons - unsure of who they can trust, all the while trying keep the secret of the sword close at hand. 

Kingfisher's storyline is refreshing, funny, unique and distinct. It's fantastical while avoiding worn-out settings and clichés of the genre. It doesn't waste time on world building and setting up rules for its magic. Its characters are unconventional - and Halla is relatable, her methods and strategies for dealing with nefarious adversaries anything but what one would expect from a protagonist. 

This book is fully in the fantasy-with-a-romantic-subplot genre. 

There are quite a few TWs to note in this book: attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts, confinement, kidnapping, murder, and sex. 

Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5
Violence: ⚔️⚔️⚔️

4.75 ⭐️

First and foremost, thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me and eARC to read and review Swordheart by T. K. Kingfisher! I laughed, I cried, I laugh-cried at so many parts/chapters. I really love this authors writing style/sense of humor. Halla, Sarkis, and the other minor characters were so fun to read. Halla is my spirit animal and Sarkis is the man every woman wants. This was a very comedic, quest driven book and I definitely recommend. I feel like the pacing in the last 25% was a little funky but I enjoyed regardless and I will continue to go through all this author’s backlog. 

Halla has had a rough life and when her father-in-law, whom she was taking care of and living with in his house, passes away things get even worse for the young widow. Because, despite inheriting the estate, she also has to contend with his greedy relatives. Fortunately, she stumbles upon a magical artifact in the house, a sword which has trapped inside a Warrior sworn to protect the wielder. 

This slow- burn romance had all my favorite tropes in it but the plot was too long and really rough in a lot of areas. You can tell the author is world building for a series with the set-up of important side characters and the HFN ending is your other clue there will be more books. 

Do not skip the content and trigger warnings for this book because the author has dark humor regarding a few sensitive topics, like suicide. 

This book follows Halla as she gets the inheritance of her great-uncle and then must defend it from her relatives. It starts off in a dark place, but Halla was a bright light throughout this story. I loved how she conquered situation after situation with the pure force of her personality. Not my favorite Kingfisher book but such a fun one.