Would Listen Again In A Heartbeat!

I absolutely adored this book. The characters were well developed and utterly entertaining. I've never read a fantasy/paranormal historical romance before, but I've definitely been made a fan. I loved the mystery, the danger, the suspense, and the fun with magic. This was exciting and engaging. I didn't want it to end!

Luckily, there are two more books in the series, and I've bought both. I seriously can't wait to listen to them! Kudos to the author, K. J. Charles on a fantastic book, and to Cornell Collins on the narration!

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captured me from the first minute

what a super great book. Terrific story, scary, thrilling, sexy, soft, harsh and I could go on - have to get the second book as soon as I can - the narration by Cornell Collins was wonderful. How he managed I have no idea. But kudos to Cornell Collins

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would recommend

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I thought the writing and story were very good, and the narrator was wonderful. I immediately got the next book in the series.

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Good and Bad

The story was entertaining and engaging as a fascinating depiction of magic and romance, but I feel it would all be much more believable and endearing if the author had dragged it out a bit more. As is, the quick succession of events take place too quickly and too much with the author saying, "Trust me, it's all great and of course these two are perfect for each other," without showing as much of their relationship aside from instant attraction to place the two in a sensible romance. The author makes this mistake a frustrating amount of times, in the relationship and in the basic dialogue, using the line, "And he told them," in replacement of actual words in the tensest of scenarios. I don't know if the author simply didn't get around to writing what was actually said rather than just telling us that something witty and cutting was said, or if they lacked the creativity to come up with something that didn't sound basic, but it came across as lazy and anti-climatic. If you brush past those flaws, it is a good story, and probably would have reached a greater audience if it didn't fill it's lack of substantial chemistry between the main characters with dramatized and brutal sex scenes. There is nothing I want more than well-written LGBT fantasy stories that entertain out of the bedroom, and I truly believe this had the potential to be more than a E rated fanfiction filtered through a publisher, but as is, it has buttonholed its audience through this narrow lens and likely will never reach beyond the niche following that usually would have read something of this nature for free on AO3. If you are of that niche, read on confident this book will entertain, but if you hoped for anything more substantial, I'd suggest you stop here.
I hate being critical of this book, and I hope you will understand that. The characters were interesting and unique and I had clear images of them in mind as I listened, and the action of the story, while not always fast-paced or intricate, painted a fantastic picture of the horrors and wonders possible in a magical world. If it were not so short, if the author had respected the delicacy of the main character's relationship before thrusting them into each others arms, if it didn't act as if it had to make up for its own lack of content with graphic sex scenes, it would have been excellent. Perhaps I don't understand the reasoning for putting the sex in. Perhaps this book was written specifically to contain them and my wishing it hadn't spotted unexplained sexual tension in every chapter like bait is me being prudish. But I can honestly say that if Day had held out a bit on Vouldrey, I would still be engaged in the story and intrigued by their budding relationship. As is, everything was thrust into this first book like it would be the last, with not even a breath for explanation or restraint.
With all the terrible things I'm saying about this book, you'd wonder why I gave it so many stars. I'm sure if I had read this on paper, I would not have gotten past the first blowjob, and I can only thank the narrator's excellent performance in keeping me entertained. While he jumbled the main characters voices at times so that it was unclear who was speaking, he read with a gravitas and emotion that put everything into a greater perspective. He did an excellent job and likely saved this book in my eyes. It is a shame the book was so short and uneventful; it is a classic tale of potential rushed out only to fall flat on its face.

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8 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Fantasy/Victorian M/M Romance

Historical magical realism, M/M romance. Highly enjoyed this fast paced novel.

Definitely getting the second book!

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great characters, just the right amount of spice

The narrator does an excellent job with the character voice for Lucien and adds a lot of life and charm to the side characters. My only point of disappointment was the character voice for Stephen; it definitely didn't feel like the narrator was comfortable portraying him with the kind of outward softness that his character demands, which is something I find happens a lot when men narrate m/m stories, and as a result it never really felt like the narrator settled into his character voice.

There was a moment during a sex scene that made me burst into laughter because it was clearly supposed to be this really intense sensual moment, and the narrator was serving like... anime combat screams. I would definitely still recommend it, though!

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