Finally good queer poly rep!

I find it ironic that some people are upset this book has a poly triad, because that's part of what I loved. Often books with queer and poly charchters become over sexualized or toxic pools of jealousy. I loved the affection between charchters, the way each worked through various emotions or problems, and how heavy communication was often the solution to many problems. It was refreshing and meant alot to see a healthy developing triad romance inside a story , with actually good plot, world building, and good charchters. Of course the performance added so much even if who I thought would play each character was different than expected.

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Poly… guess I should’ve known…

This was really well written and I thought it was gonna be one of my favorite recent reads, but then I realized it was a poly relationship, and more than that, no one is ever jealous even a little… it makes no sense. I was just barely getting to know the first pair and starting to love them when a third jumped in, not as a catalyst or obstacle, but another included entity and no one feels left out, ganged up on or really anything but good about it after the initial miscommunications. I felt cheated out of actual human emotion and it really disappointed me.

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What a delightfully entertaining story.

📖 Story comment: Good pace, likeable characters, interesting premise - I was looking for some light, fun fluff and got exactly what I wanted.
I enjoyed the story as a whole, the characters are charming and well written and I enjoyed watching Bel, Nico and Garon figure out how to come together as a unit (although I would have preferred Bel be older than 19). I enjoyed the concept of the overall world, and look forward to more from this series.

🎧 Narration comment: lets face it ... audiobooks are all about the narration and personally I'm not a fan of multi narrator books in the M/M genre - There are so many brilliantly talented voice actors working in M/M that (personally, I feel) the additional narrators are unnecessary.

I will admit I was concerned going into this one. 3 main characters. 3 different narrators each performing a chapter in the POV of their character has the potential disaster of 9 different voices. I'm pleased to say this one is pretty good. There must have been some good communication between all parties involved, because the "feel and personality" of each character was similar and consistent across each of the narrators, and (for me) were insignificant enough to not disrupt the flow of the story with each new chapter and POV change (I still would have preferred one narrator though!).

Nico's character brings so much fun to this story, even though he's human, the "golden retriever vibe" comes through in Nico's personality (lol!) ... "Stop the car - I need to hug you - it won't take long" - I could almost see the puppy grin and wagging tail in the narration 😂 - I have a new appreciation of Tim Page's skill as a narrator.

Greg Boudreaux narrates Bel's chapters, Tim Page voices Nico's chapters and Michael Ferraiuolo narrates Garon's chapters. These narrators are all at the top of their game - five stars for each narrator all round!

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📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 8 - really looking forward to the next one.
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough • 5 enjoyed it • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator [4⭐] • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in all formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]
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It had potential

What to say… I had not read the blurb when I purchased this book. All I latched on was Greg Boudreaux, Michael Ferraiuolo, and Tim Paige as narrators. I was sold regardless of the genre. That being said, having three of my absolute favorite narrators will only get you so far. My first qualm was because one of the MC is 19. I recognize this is fantasy, but I cannot fathom a 19 year old being mature enough to make such life altering decisions. My son is 25, and I STILL question his maturity at times. Because of the narrators, I still had no trouble finishing the book. Thing is, it sort of petered out in the last half to quarter of the book. It started out strong. I was laughing in, what I hope, were the right places. The pace was working for me, then nothing. I REALLY was not caring after 2nd or 3rd paranormal situation they found themselves in. It did not get better by the end. I assume it was filled out to make this a series? Maybe? Either way, too much filler. Not enough relationship on page. Why do they love each other? How did they get there? Hell if I know🤷🏽‍♀️.

Now. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t dislike the book. I mostly enjoyed it. There was enough to it that of there is an audio available for book 2, I’ll buy it.


Read/listen at your own risk. Your mileage may vary.

loved it!

loved it! great narration, and fun, laugh out loud, feel good story. I thought the character development was well done

Just meh for me

I’m a huge fan of Michael Ferraiuolo and Greg Boudreaux but Tim Paige is a new vocal performer to me. I liked his performance a lot. It was interesting to hear three different voices and hear how each performer was able to simulate each character’s voice. There were a couple of times the speed of speech was weird…the character spoke too fast, and it seemed forced. I’m not sure if that was a characterization or the performer's preference but it was hard to follow at times.

I liked the story overall but parts of it fell a little flat. And the instalove was A LOT. I understand the bond between Nico and Bel but adding Garen in and them all having a happily ever after two days after they met didn't work. I also thought the casual way Garen talked to Bel about his relationship with Nico was uncomfortable and made me cringe every time he said something. Nico and Bel are ‘bonded’ now and hearing about Nico’s past love life was just…awkward. I guess it was used as a way to form a bond between Bel and Garen but it was icky.

I guess there are DnD references based on the other reviews but those were totally lost on me. I did have a hard time keeping up with some of the supporting characters because there were a lot of them, and they were similar.

This is the second book I’ve read/listened to by this author, and they were both ‘meh’ for me. I think we may not go further together.

Good Read,. Great narration!!

The book was a good read, good storyline , sometimes the book dragged a bit.. the build up was so long that it just became tedious waiting for this trio to get it together. The chemistry between the characters was good and nicks energy was palpable. overall I enjoyed the book and look forward to future titles. The narration included my favourites. Job well done!!

thumbs up

Absolutely loved it. Had quite a few giggles and a few heart squeezes. Can't wait to read the next one!

Great!

This was great on audio. I loved all the narrators and felt they did a good job of staying true to the all the characters.

There’s action, UST, demons, magic, and three men finding their place in each other. I loved the characters and am glad that there will be more in this series!

Yes!

YES YES YES 100 TIME YES

this was amazing Michael and Greg are my top two favorite so this was beautiful and Tim was a great addition. Bless AJ for this.