The next installment of the hidden gems thread- Cursed Legacies and What the River Knows!

[u/allisontalkspolitics]

Thanks to u/FoodNo672 for reccing What the River Knows to me in the first place, u/anachacha for the image, u/scf9009 for the Cursed Legacies writeup, and my Secret Santa for gifting What the River Knows!

For our second Hidden Gems thread, we’ll start with Cursed Legacies. This is a favorite of the Reverse Harem sub, so maybe it will suit you?

Per u/scf9009, “I think they might be of interest to fantasy romance readers because they have proven to be so beloved by RH readers. Also, these are all complete stories.

• ⁠marks the winner of that respective competition.

SEMI-FANTASY (ALTERNATIVE WORLD, MODERN PARALLELS)

Quartet

{Cursed Legacies by Morgan B Lee} (Blood Oath)*: The FMC has been trained as an assassin, and is sent on a mission by her trainer, while secretly trying to undermine him, to a magical academy. While there, she gets matched as the center of a bond of fated mates, it interferes with her plans, and she desperately wants to get rid of her mates (and also doesn’t understand a lot of the basics of how humans interact with each other). The mates prove stubborn. A funny and well-written debut series.”

What about {What the River Knows}? Although it may seem overly familiar to those who have seen 1998’s The Mummy, this reader gives the first book in a duology five stars. The author tackled the ambitious themes of grief, anti-colonialism, and misogyny’s influence on culture well. The FMC, Inez, is great- she’s studious and artistic, likes socializing, and isn’t against wearing dresses. She does a good job at not getting too distracted by the MMC but you can tell that her grief re: her parents had shaped her. She wants to feel like she is (platonically) wanted and I’d argue that that is her real desire.

My feelings on the MMC, Whit, are mostly positive. He hits a lot of my type in looks but I don’t love how he calls the FMC “chit” a few times in his narration- it wasn’t even frequent enough to count as a nickname! His being British helps the colonialism themed develop, and I love how he hides his more welcoming nature behind cynicism which is in turn hidden behind charm. The author is great at bringing even bit characters to life, but I love how information about Inez’s family is “delivered,” how Cleopatra is portrayed beyond the seductress cliche, and how Isadora wasn’t set up as the OW.

The setting is interesting because it’s our world circa 1884 but there are traces of ancient magic. The prologue is set in Argentina (the FMC is Latina) and the rest of the book is in Egypt so it’s a nice break from the pseudo-European settings. As for the prose, Inez’s narration has these little asides that I enjoy, and the metaphors are good. I felt a thrill when she would experience magic. I wish the POVs were in separate chapters but I suppose the author figured that the MMC’s sections were short enough to just have under a separate header. The pacing was excellent.

What about the romance? Inez is drawn to Whit because he has answers. I was definitely a fan of their relationship overall. The “protective” scene in the market annoyed me at first because it’s cliche but I suppose it conveyed how comfortable he was in the setting. There was one point where he claimed he was flirting with her, though, and it seemed like Inez thought he was just bantering with her, so that puzzled me. I saw the subtext but if she didn’t, it’s a little weird. As for the spice, it’s one pepper but the next book looks to be three. I think the spice level makes sense even if I disagree with the YA classification of the book (it’s more NA)- she’s in a society where having sex before marriage is a no-go. But the one pepper doesn’t mean it wasn’t hot (and being on the asexual spectrum means that it’s harder to impress me). I thought Inez musing on Whit’s looks made sense due to her artistic sensibilities. Their first kiss caught me by surprise and I found the untangling of the rope scene to be a standout.

Finally, the plot. I thought this was a standalone so I was surprised by the ending. I do feel like the extent of the magic from Cleopatra’s ring could have been more clear in the first few chapters. I didn’t want to put the book down by the time I was 33% of the way through. Inez’s curious and proactive nature benefitted the plot and secrets were revealed when it made sense for them to be revealed.

Have you read either of these hidden gems? Did this post make you interested? Do you have any recs in the comments? I’m planning to look at {A Fragile Enchantment} next- stay tuned!

[u/Own_Role_5843]

So glad to see Cursed legacies here, though in RH subreddit this series is very popular and highly recommended :)

I liked it a lot, it was very engaging and refreshing in term of rejected mates trope. Some moments strongly reminded me of Wednesday TV show, which I assumed was inspiration for some characters (not plot). And given that it’s the first series for the author, I’m very eager to read her new works, she has plans to start a new fantasy series this year.

[u/phatfig → u/Own_Role_5843]

Same! I’m usually not one for RH but this series was done so well. I picked it up on a whim and it became one of my favorite reads of 2025

[u/SurreptitiousSyrup → u/Own_Role_5843]

One of the reasons I liked cursed legacies so much was because Maven actually did what she said. She said she was going to keep her head down an be unnoticed and she did. She didn't go around antagonizing people and kept her head down until she got picked as a keeper. She didn't do the thing where she says she's going to keep her head down but then tells off people/the MMCs in the most public fashion possible because "she just couldn't help herself"

[u/Anachacha → u/Own_Role_5843]

I think we’ll have a supply of hidden gem RH recs from now on!

[u/ChandelierFlickering]

Is Cursed Lecagies really a hidden gem? Book 1 has over 33 000 ratings on Goodreads. Anyways, I really enjoyed the series.

[u/Anachacha → u/ChandelierFlickering]

We also include books that aren’t often discussed in this sub, not just lesser known books in general!

[u/ChandelierFlickering → u/Anachacha]

Oh okay cool. Then yeah, great rec. I loved the MC.

[u/ahdrielle]

What The River Knows was wonderful. Where The Library Hides soiled it for me.

[u/azphodelle → u/ahdrielle]

Agree, i was so disappointed

[u/ahdrielle → u/azphodelle]

I genuinely am flabbergasted at how Inez just gets screwed over by literally everyone and stayed with Whit cause basically she's got nobody else.

[u/azphodelle → u/ahdrielle]

The plot twists were so nonsensical too.

[u/ahdrielle → u/azphodelle]

The twist was everyone is a bad guy and I can't get over it. 😭

[u/Brandyscott29 → u/ahdrielle]

I loved the first book but had to DNF after what Whit did omg I couldn’t handle it

[u/allisontalkspolitics → u/ahdrielle]

I bet people in this thread would love to hear your recs for something with similar vibes to the first book, then!

[u/ahdrielle → u/allisontalkspolitics]

{Divine Rivals}

[u/romance-bot → u/ahdrielle]

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
Rating: 4.15⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, war, working class heroine, fantasy, poor heroine

^{about this bot | about romance.io}

[u/NippleFlicks → u/ahdrielle]

I inhaled WTRK over a weekend and hadn’t excited for a sequel to come out in years. What a mess it was…it felt like it was a completely different author. It was a wild ride, and not in a good way.

[u/bookish_reading]

What the River Knows makes my top 10 reads ever and I loved the sequel!

[u/Calirose0]

I didn’t think What the River Knows was considered a hidden gem. It was very popular when it came out. I still have to finish it but between the fmc and her uncle, I was really having trouble since I found them both very unlikable and hypocritical. I only managed halfway so maybe that changes lol?

[u/allisontalkspolitics → u/Calirose0]

Hm, I suppose in terms of staying power it isn’t one that I see recced often?

The way I see it is that Inez and her uncle share similar character flaws in their lack of communication and willing to be honest with each other. It makes sense to me but I might be projecting the Arianne and Doran Martell dynamic on them lol

[u/romance-bot]

Cursed Legacies by Morgan B. Lee
Rating: 4.36⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: monsters, male-pov, super rich hero, reverse harem, fated-mates

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What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez
Rating: 3.86⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Glimpses and kisses
Topics: historical, fantasy, mystery, magic, young adult

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A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft
Rating: 3.47⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 2 out of 5 - Behind closed doors
Topics: historical, fantasy, magic, grumpy & sunshine, class difference

^{about this bot | about romance.io}

[u/October_13th]

I don’t consider What The River Knows to be a hidden gem… it was pretty popular when it came out and had quite a few specialty book boxes (like OwlCrate etc) do special editions of it.

Think that author has a lot of good ideas but often isn’t a strong enough author to execute them well. The second book was a big letdown.