The Empress

Towerfall, Book 1

By: Kristin Cast

Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb, Gabriel Spires

He's a ruthless, battle-scarred warrior with a dark past. She's stuck pretending to be his wife to save a fantasy kingdom.

The Arcana aren't just figures in a tarot deck―they're real. Terrifyingly real. That's what I learned when I found a tarot card in the snow and was yanked from my world into Towerfall. The first thing the people of this harsh, cruel realm did was try to kill me, and they probably would have succeeded if Kane hadn't taken me to his hideout in the woods and nursed me back to health.

I don't know if I can trust him. He's too hot to be good news, he's definitely hiding secrets, and I've already seen him kill two people to protect me. If I hadn't just been helplessly dumped into his world, the blood on his sword and his dark, brooding mood would have me running in the opposite direction.

But right now, convincing the Kingdom of Pentacles that Kane and I are married is my best chance of getting into the palace and back to my own world.

Because there's something wrong with Towerfall. Something deeply, deadly wrong. And if anyone finds out Kane and I aren't really husband and wife?

Well, then both of us are dead.

From New York Times bestselling author Kristin Cast comes a new tarot-inspired fantasy series. Scarlett St. Clair meets Outlander in the seductive and spellbinding world of Towerfall, starting with The Empress, a high-heat, fake marriage romantasy with a swoon-worthy, morally gray love interest. Narrated in duet style.

©2025 Kristin Cast (P)2025 Podium Audio

Great book

Great book I enjoyed reading it so much love love love this book great story

Just Spicy Enough

The voices were excellent and the way the tone was portrayed in every character was perfect.

Loved the audiobook…not the story

Loved the narrators for this audiobook. The spicy scenes were great but overall, not my favorite story.

Such a Really Fun Fantasy Romance

This Book was really Good I love Tarot cards and Fantasy so put the to together perfect 👌

Interesting world and idea

Upfront I have not finished it yet. I’m not even 50%. I do intend to come back and update this when, assuming I do, finish this. The FMC is presumptuous and ridiculous to me. She has consistently thus far been stubborn needlessly back to back to back with a bad attitude even when she had not 10 minutes in the book before been shown that her assumption or demanded plan of action will have an obvious negative outcome.

Because this is a flaw that has been pointed out in the book and even FMC has mentioned it in her inner monologue I am really hoping that it will end up being a big growth point. I just really needed to vent at so many incidents. I’m guessing rock bottom has to be hit to change a perspective. Here’s hoping it comes fast.🤞


Updated: she does get markedly better not long after I wrote that review. We also get to see her make more mistakes and I liked when she would catch herself in the cycle and make the choice to keep herself from continuing it. Normally when a book irks me with the FMC as much as Hannah did in the beginning I would be unlikely to relisten or read it again but I actually will. I enjoyed the FMC beginning to build herself a real life and realize what each piece of that looked like for her.