Review: Claiming Red

Book: Claiming Red by Sephyrra

Reviewed by Your_bookish_fantasy

Rating: 4/5

๐“๐“ž ๐“ข๐“Ÿ๐“ž๐“˜๐“›๐“”๐“ก๐“ข
โšœ๏ธ๐”ป๐•–๐•ฅ๐•’๐•š๐•๐•–๐•• ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ ๐• ๐•—- Claiming Red

โšœ๏ธโ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜๐•ค-
(out of 5 stars, my rating scale is at the end)
๐Ÿ“š ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5 / 5
๐ŸŒก๏ธ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ / 5 -๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ 
Which books have I also given this same rating? (๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ฆ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘›)
5โญ๏ธ Fourth wing / Bound by inked flame / Anathama / The Lies of Lena / Of silver and Curses
4.5โญ๏ธ Bitten / The Female / Quicksilver / Bride / Lights Out / A Bargain so Bloody
4โญ๏ธ Spellcaster / One Dark Window / From Blood and Ash / Phantasma / Butcher & Blackbird
3โญ๏ธWe Who Will Die / The Wolf King / Daughter of No Worlds / The Ex Hex

โšœ๏ธ๐•‚๐•–๐•ช ๐•€๐•Ÿ๐•—๐• :
Genre- Paranormal romance
๐Ÿ“– 402 ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€
๐น๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘› SINGLE ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฉ
๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ- 23 April 2026
๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ or ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ driven? ๐’ž๐’ฝ๐’ถ๐“‡๐’ถ๐’ธ๐“‰โ„ฏ๐“‡
๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ & ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ป๐—ผ- standalone
๐—”๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ on ๐—ž๐—จ? โœ…๐’ดโ„ฏ๐“ˆ.
๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ- ๐“Œโ„ฏ๐“๐“ ๐“…๐’ถ๐’ธโ„ฏ๐’น ๐’ปโ„ด๐“‡ ๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ฏ ๐“ˆ๐“‰โ„ด๐“‡๐“Ž
๐— ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ? โœ…๐’ดโ„ฏ๐“ˆ! โ„ ๐“Œ๐’พ๐“๐“ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐“‚โ„ฏ๐“‚๐’ทโ„ฏ๐“‡ ๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ฏ ๐“‹๐’พ๐’ทโ„ฏ๐“ˆ ๐’ถ๐“ƒ๐’น ๐’ปโ„ฏโ„ฏ๐“๐’พ๐“ƒ๐‘”๐“ˆ ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ถ๐’น ๐“โ„ฏ๐’ป๐“‰ ๐“‚โ„ฏ ๐“Œ๐’พ๐“‰๐’ฝ!
๐€๐ง๐ฒ ๐‘๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง? (Disability, plus size, mental health etc...)โŒ
โ„ณโ„ดโ„ด๐’น๐“ˆ; ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž๐’š, ๐‘ฌ๐’Ž๐’๐’•๐‘–๐’๐’๐’‚๐’, ๐‘ด๐’š๐’”๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’–๐’”, ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’๐’†๐’๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ, ๐‘ฏ๐’‚๐’–๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ, ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’“๐’Œ, ๐‘ป๐’†๐’๐’”๐’†, ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“๐’†๐’ƒ๐’๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ
๐’Ÿ๐’พ๐’น ๐’พ โ„ฏ๐“ƒ๐’ฟโ„ด๐“Ž ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ?โœ…
๐’ฒ๐’พ๐“๐“ ๐’พ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ถ๐’น ๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ฏ ๐“ƒโ„ฏ๐“๐“‰ ๐’ทโ„ดโ„ด๐“€ ๐’พ๐“ƒ ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ ๐“ˆโ„ฏ๐“‡๐’พโ„ฏ๐“ˆ?โœ…
๐’ฒโ„ด๐“Š๐“๐’น ๐’พ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ถ๐’น ๐’ถ๐“ƒ๐“Ž๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ƒ๐‘” โ„ฏ๐“๐“ˆโ„ฏ ๐’ท๐“Ž ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ ๐’ถ๐“Š๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ด๐“‡?โœ…
๐–‚๐–๐–” ๐–œ๐–”๐–š๐–‘๐–‰ ๐–Ž ๐–—๐–Š๐–ˆ๐–”๐–’๐–’๐–Š๐–“๐–‰ ๐–™๐–๐–Ž๐–˜ ๐–™๐–”?

๐Ÿšจ๐Ÿ…ฒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ท๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ด๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ฒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…บ๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ†ƒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ท๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ด๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ†ƒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ††๏ธŽ!๐Ÿšจ

โšœ๏ธ๐•Šโ„™๐”ผโ„‚๐•€๐”ผ๐•Š ๐•€โ„• ๐•Š๐•‹๐•†โ„๐•:
๐Ÿง™โ€โ™€๏ธ๐”š๐”ฆ๐”ฑ๐” ๐”ฅ๐”ข๐”ฐ
๐ŸŒ•๐‘Šโ„ด๐“๐’ป ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘“๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ 

โšœ๏ธ๐•Š๐•ก๐•š๐•”๐•– ๐”ฝ๐•’๐•”๐•ฅ๐•ค:
๐Ÿ†แฆแแŽพแŽฟแŽฟแŽจแแŽถ
๐Ÿซ ๐’ฑ๐’พ๐“‡๐‘”๐’พ๐“ƒ โ„ณโ„ณ๐’ž
๐Ÿ”ฅ๐’๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง
๐Ÿ™๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก
๐Ÿ›๐Ž๐ง๐ž ๐›๐ž๐
๐Ÿ—ก ๐™€๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ข๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™‡๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ
๐Ÿ’€๐”‰๐”ฌ๐”ฏ๐”Ÿ๐”ฆ๐”ก๐”ก๐”ข๐”ซ ๐”ฏ๐”ฌ๐”ช๐”ž๐”ซ๐” ๐”ข
NO CHEATING

โšœ๏ธ๐•‹โ„๐•†โ„™๐”ผ๐•Š
๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐•Š๐•–๐•”๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ค
๐Ÿฅƒmature main characters
๐Ÿชฆ๐•ณ๐–”๐–—๐–—๐–”๐–— ๐•ฐ๐–‘๐–Š๐–’๐–Š๐–“๐–™๐–˜
๐Ÿงฌ ๐”๐ง๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ 
๐Ÿงฉ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“๐’„๐’†๐’… ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’™๐’Š๐’Ž๐’Š๐’•๐’š
โ˜ ๏ธ๐•‹๐• ๐•ฆ๐•”๐•™ ๐•™๐•–๐•ฃ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐••...
๐Ÿน๐๐š๐ ๐€๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐…๐Œ๐‚
๐Ÿคฌ Feminine Rage
๐ŸฅŠ Revenge
๐Ÿถ Underdog
โณ๐ƒ๐š๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ
๐Ÿ’ช๐’œ๐“๐“…๐’ฝ๐’ถ โ„‹โ„ฏ๐“‡โ„ด

โœจ Tแ•ผแ—ดแ—ฐแ—ดี โœจ
Little red riding hood mixed with beauty and the beast

๐ŸŒ ๐•Ž๐• ๐•ฃ๐•๐•• ๐•“๐•ฆ๐•š๐•๐••๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜, ๐•จ๐•ฃ๐•š๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•• ๐•ก๐•’๐•”๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜:
Amazing, just brilliantโ€ฆ
The haunting side of this story is so strong and genuine, retelling how men ruled and drowned or burned the women that didnโ€™t fit there mold. The witch aspects were genuine and respectful and true and perfectly told the story of intelligent, kind women being persecuted for a manโ€™s pleasures.

That leads me on to the feminine rage and revenge- (imagine long whistle sound warning of danger inserted here) just wow. The way her entire life was used to not just fuel her rage but also used as a lesson- to learn that there is NO changing some people and therefore second chances are pointlessโ€ฆ this was learned slow and hard but it sank in!

The world building was spooky, beautiful, scary and so clear I could see the glint in the menโ€™s eyes and the blood staining the snow! From the cottage to the forest everything was brilliantly laid out with detail and depth that brought the world to life!

๐Ÿงโ€โ™‚๏ธ โ„‚๐•™๐•’๐•ฃ๐•’๐•”๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ฃ๐•ค:
I had some genuine love for not only red, but many side characters too! I was pulled into the separate lives of the side characters and felt for them as much as I did for the main characters!

I thought the best friend was delicate and loving and she gave such a big sister vibe! I wanted more of her!
Then there was our customer who visit red late one evening, we got barely any words on this young lady but my god did I feel like I knew her story! I fell for her right away, I could taste the danger and fear rippling off her and just wanted to protect and hold her.
Reds family were also layered side characters, with great histories and such strong family values. I would have loved to have met Be fair, her sister tooโ€ฆ

๐Ÿ˜ฅ ๐•Ž๐•™๐•ช ๐•Ÿ๐•  ๐•—๐•š๐•ง๐•– ๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•’๐•ฃ๐•ค?
There was a few repeated lines in the story that got irritating, some descriptions were used to often and some things we went over a few too many times for me. And the biggest thing, we got no apology at the end of the book when red went to the village! That irked meโ€ฆ. I canโ€™t say more but I was kinda surprised by that.

โณ ๐•Ž๐• ๐•ฆ๐•๐•• ๐•š ๐•ฃ๐•–-๐•ฃ๐•–๐•’๐•• ๐• ๐•ฃ ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•”๐• ๐•ž๐•ž๐•–๐•Ÿ๐••?
Yes absolutely I will reread this and I will be highly recommending it!

๐Ÿชง๐”ฝ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•’๐• ๐•ฅ๐•™๐• ๐•ฆ๐•˜๐•™๐•ฅ๐•ค:
Think beauty and the beast x red riding hood, add in the witch trials, family trauma and a stalker and you get one deliciously spicy, very haunting tale of revenge and justice!

๐น๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘”๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ;

๐•‹๐•š๐•œ๐•‹๐• ๐•œ
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๐•„๐•ช โ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•Š๐•ช๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ž๐•ค:
โญ๏ธ DNF

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I managed to finish it but it was rubbish. I won't keep a physical copy and won't recommend it, but it's a shame as the plot could have made a good book in another author's hands

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
It was OK. I wish I didn't start this one as it didn't do it for me as I struggled to read it. It had an interesting premise that fell flat but I had to see what happened in the end.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I don't regret reading it, and I will read the next one, but this one did have a few flaws. [These could be repetitive writing, gaps or plot holes, better character growth or world building, areas needing more detail]
Generally, the book lacked depth and became confusing. The plot resonated with me even though it annoyed me on the whole.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to the right people, but I wanted more! Sadly, it's easily forgettable with a few issues I just couldn't overlook/get past.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Good book! I loved it, but... I needed more! I really did enjoy it, but it had a few parts that needed more detail or added history/background or lore. But that's because the story or characters were memorable, and the plot was strong with brilliant twists. I would re-read if I needed to catch up for the next book and would recommend.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
Great book! I truly wish the story had been thought about more, or the author had been given more time as this book is so close to brilliance! I will likely read again and will definitely be recommending it to all!

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
WOW! Absolutely amazing book! Well written with great characters and a plot so memorable that it will stay with me. I will definitely read this again, I will be recommending it and sharing it with the whole world! Also- I NEED A PHYSICAL COPY!

๐Ÿ”ฅโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ”ฅ
This is my God level tier. The book must be perfectly memorable. Even after reading 50+ more books, I will remember character names and emotions along with the plot. If there is a special edition, then I need to own it! If there is a conversation on books- I'm talking about this!

SPICE SCALE:
๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ segsual language and a little on-page action

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of segsual language and some on-page open door action, may be occurring a couple of times

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of explicit action and dirty talk, occurring frequently with 2/3 lurvers

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ super graphic and explicit, occurring 4 or more times, can be more grey and taboo themed.

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ Kinks and Fet!shism, explicit and super graphic. It is likely to be tushy play, toys, playrooms, and more

Read full review on ARC Library