First Impressions: Drown the Bones

Alexandra Kennington has been on my radar since her 2025 duology starter, Blood Beneath the Snow. Later this year, she will release a new novel, Drown the Bones, through Berkley XO. I was happy to read a 12-chapter preview of it; this sneak peek certainly left me wanting more!

Merridan is the younger twin; her brother Von is destined to inherit the Rothian throne, leaving her just the spare. But their kingdom is at odds with their neighbors, Nova, and it’s rumored that a war is about to start. Then things take a turn for the worse when Von is found murdered. Rothian leadership is determined to move forward into war against Nova, but Merridan only wants to find out who killed her brother and enact her revenge. Things will get muddled, though, when she tries to reach her brother’s ghost only to raise the wrong one… the enemy Nova prince, Phoenix, apparently also murdered. His spirit may be the only one who can help her track down the murderer. Merridan and Phoenix don’t expect to find love along the way, though.

What I Liked:

• Close sibling relationship. I really liked getting to know Merridan and Von. They’re twins, but despite certain similarities between them, they have distinct personalities and goals. What happens to Von towards the end of this sneak peek broke my heart!
• Queernormative world. Von is trans; both he and Merridan are bisexual/pansexual. The world-building here is completely inclusive of queer and trans characters, and I appreciated seeing it so normalized among all characters.
• Dangers of blind belief. The two rival kingdoms follow a different religious belief. The Rothians fully believe in their Goddess and all messages delivered to them through the Diviner. But is their Goddess as true to them as they think? What about the Nova kingdom and their own god? What good and bad is religion doing to both kingdoms?
• Setting up an enemies-to-lovers romance. Merridan is ready to hate the Nova prince, Phoenix, and their one interaction here is laced with venom. They do not get along! And though we don’t see it in this sneak peek, they’re apparently going to be teamed up to track down a murderer or two. I can’t wait to see their further interactions and romance. Give me the rest of this book, please!

Special thanks to Berkley XO and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Official Summary

The spare heir must work with an enemy prince to discover who murdered her twin in this gripping slow-burn romantasy.

As the younger twin, Merridan has never minded being the “spare” to the Rothian royal throne. She knows her brother, Von, will be an excellent king, and she’d rather devote her time to the Goddess, faithfully using her magic to send deceased spirits from the holy lake to the Afterworld.

When the unthinkable happens and her brother is murdered, she is certain their rival kingdom, Nova, is to blame. After all, they worship a false deity and use their magic to toy with necromancy. But when the Goddess halts the investigation of Von’s death, Merridan takes matters into her own hands, performing a forbidden Novian ritual to attempt to speak to her brother’s ghost.

The last thing Merridan expects is to raise the wrong ghost. Now she’s bound to Phoenix Darragon, the arrogant crown prince of Nova—who was murdered the same night as Von. The prince makes Merridan a deal: if she takes his spirit to Nova to be resurrected, he will help her find her brother’s killer.

But uncovering the truth about the murderer means discovering Phoenix’s secrets, too. As the attraction between Merridan and the prince becomes undeniable and the threat of war builds, she must decide whether finding the truth is worth its cost if it means her beloved relationship with the Goddess is changed forever.

Get the Book

You can pre-order Drown the Bones here – it will be available as hardcover, ebook, and audiobook on November 3, 2026.

Drown the Bones by Alexandra Kennington
Audience	New Adult
Genre	Romantasy; Fantasy
Original Publication Date	November 3, 2026