FIERCE HEART 7 Stars!! Brilliant!!

Tara Grayce is simply the best author Fantasy YA. there is. Her books are emotionally charged and have you wanting more and more. Very much enjoyed! (It for sure is going on my re-listen list "This book is worth hearing multiple times") I ADORED the hero and heroine. They were both like able characters, not your typical angst rebellious heroine or brooding, borderline-mean hero. I totally neglected editing project to do it. I laughed, I cried, it moved me, They were so well written, and I LOVED the arranged marriage plot. There are not enough books about married couples, and I loved how this one played out. The Narrated (Liz Brand) was phenomenal I will be looking out more of her books. The romance was so beautifully written, so sweet, and very clean while still being deliciously swoon worthy. I haven’t listened to a whole book so quickly in FOREVER.. No, seriously, it did. And I certainly did my fair share of swooning. It was adorable and delightful and I can hardly wait to read book two!!


I would listen to Liz Brand narrate the f****** phone book. She’s incredibly talented. Thank you. THANK YOU!!!

Just Listen to it. You won’t regret it.

Plot. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐stars
Story. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars
Narrator.: Liz Brand ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review"

9 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Enjoyable Fluff with a side of Serious

I got this book for free. My opinions are my own.

I’ve had this book on my non-audio TBR list for awhile, but had never gotten to it. I just don’t have as much time to “read” as to listen. So, when I saw it was now available on audio I snapped it up. And I am so glad I did. Please note: I am pretty sure my rating for this book is slightly elevated because I’ve already read the 2nd book (got it right away) and absolutely loved it.

At first I thought this book was going to end up in my “mental cotton candy” (i.e. candy floss) category – light, sweet, and gone in seconds. But this book manages to mix light humor with a compassionate look at the physical & emotional impacts of war.
I enjoyed spending time with Essie and Farrendel, and can relate to Essie since I’m more than a bit of a motor mouth myself (I am always struggling to remember that I have “two ears and only one mouth….”) In her circumstances, however, it actually proves to be a blessing that helps her relationship with her mostly silent husband grow. Note: this is the slowest burn romance of it's type that I've ever read (i.e. they are married, and it was willing on both sides despite the fact that they had never met).

Highlights:
-- Fav culture shock moment: "Cannonball" (when swimming, of course)
– Although Essie is learning Elvish quickly, her accent sometimes makes her difficult to understand. (As someone who got all A’s in Spanish but spent months struggling to understand the people when I actually lived in Southern Spain, I appreciate when this kind of thing is highlighted in fiction.)
– My favorite part of their relationship is that Essie presses forward to be there for Farrendel when he needs her, but never without making it clear to him that if he truly needs space she will respect that.

Content Notes, for anyone who might care: Clean (no language; kisses only) / Violence (with blood, but minimal gore) / Illegitimacy (and the behavior that leads to it) is presented as "a mistake" that causes shame and bullying in elf culture

Narration: Male voices were non-offensive. / The elves, Farrendel especially, have a slight hint of an accent (English?) to distinguish them from the humans and indicate that this is not their native language. / It was a touch slow, I listened on 1.5 rather than my usual 1.25 speed / While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it lifted the book, the narration (and sound quality) got the job done and were not a distraction.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Realistic romance with action and intrigue

This book starts out a bit slow, but soon picks up and leaves you wanting more (without a cliff hanger). It is a clean romance between a human princess and an elven prince with an arranged marriage. It explores the idea that love is a choice and comes from small daily actions. There is enough political intrigue, action, and a few swoon-worthy moments to keep things interesting.

The author gets kudos for solid world-building in an imaginative steam-punk setting, working in the differing levels of advancing technology between the human and elven societies into the political intrigue.

It was refreshing to have a YA story where both main characters have loving, imperfect families. While other stories pull on our sympathy with the main characters being without family, that has really been done a lot. The common YA themes of finding one's self-identity and a place to belong can be even more interesting and complicated when there are families involved, as shown here. Also, in my experience, most couples when they begin a marriage have to navigate changing family relationships and this story acknowledges that in a healthy way.

The cons of this book for me were 1) the overuse of the elven shampoo joke. But, I'm in my 40's. Maybe it would appeal to teens? 2) The main character spends A LOT of time asking questions in her mind in the beginning. It would have been nice for the author to mix it up a little with how she showed us the characters' insecurities.

The narrator: I was so relieved to have a young female voice read the book. (It seems like many YA books are read by older women whose voices are lower so they can do the male parts, but it is hard for me to imagine a young woman when I hear an older one.) Liz Brand did just fine with the male voices. I was never confused on who was speaking.

I did love this book and read it more than once. I've since read the next book in the series (not on audio yet), and the writing and story keep getting better. Can't wait for the 3rd installment coming out later this year!

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Sweet and enjoyable

This book is sweet. Not a racy romance but a nice, sweet story with decent world and character building and plot.
Well narrated and likeable characters.
Only complaint is that it is book one of a series and feels a little short :)

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

What cost peace?

Can one marriage save two nations? Maybe if the right ones are in it. This was an interesting study in family politics, race relations and the differences that cultures can lead to just from lack of understanding and secrets being held. The characters were deep and well thought out and you felt for them as you listened. The narration was beautiful and the story was engaging. I will be picking up the sequel.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Excellent story, excellent narration!

highly recommended story. Great characters with good story and plot. Everything I could want. Tara Grayce hits this out of the park!

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

BORROWING

THIS BOOK IS SO BORROWING. I COULD NOT FORCE MY SELF TO CONTINUE LISTING. THE NARRATOR DID THE HER BEST BUT IT WAS JUST. SO BORROWING MY KIND KEEPING WONDERING. DONT WAST YOUR TIME OR MONEY.

Boring

This book wasn’t what I expected. It was rather boring . Narrator was so so, nothing to rave about. I would not follow this if it was series. Others may like it.

Written for a 12yr old Audience

Cute story but written for a 12yr old Audience with minimal story, character and setting building. The narrators performance of Essie was god-awful. 75% of the book was Essie’s internal monologue that consisted of non-stop questions… and an extremely uncomfortable and annoying obsession with hair, hair products and touching hair. The book was ridiculous.

WOW! Finally I can get some sleep!

Definitely a favorite series. And this is only book one. I haven't stayed up all night reading while listening to a book. Nothing accomplished yesterday! Really, this was better than any Korean drama I watch where it takes 24 episodes for the kiss. LOL.

I didn't feel the book finish. Only the passing of time through windows. It really has been a while since I enjoyed a fantasy/ romance story with Elves. This was clean, while the romance was building up between Essie and Farrendel. There was action towards the end. Well, there were battles, but the reader wasn't present. Oh, did I mentioned I loved this book!?

The heroine of the story goes into this arranged marriage wanting to make the best of it, even if becomes a one sided love. After all, friendship can make both their lives better. This is a story where both, heroine and hero know what their union means for their prospective Nations, and try to get along.

The world building was... WOW! From the start,I didn't need a full, detailed description of surroundings. Yet, I could see the town, it's Steam Engines. The way the story was told, it took me there.

Ok. Time to sleep, and then on to book 2! Hope there's narration too. I had borrowed the book on KU. I really got shores to do later on. Might just get the Audible. Definitely need to add all in series to my collection. 💖✨