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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
On a mission to help one of the many children she cares for in the human part of the city slums, Yasmin is caught and coerced into returning to the one place she’d never wanted to return, Shaldorn where she spent much of her life being used and abused by the Elvish elites. Paired with Ravi on his mission to Shaldorn to retrieve a new and horrible bomb and keep it out of the wrong hands. Their journey is hard and dangerous and they only had one tent to share and survive in. To learn more about the similarities of their races than the differences. This was a fast-paced and dark enemies to lovers adventure that I cannot wait to continue whenever the next book comes out!
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
First, I want to thank NetGalley, author Donna Grant, and publisher Tantor Audio for early access to this upcoming release. Keep an eye out for this romantasy adventure to be released in May!
This was such a fun read. It has an interesting world, that clearly has more yet to be discovered. As the first in the series, this book provides a glimpse of the politics, species, and conflicts that exist in this new fantasy world, but the epilogue hints that there is much more still to come.
The FMC is a strong, independent women who has survived through extremely difficult and traumatic experiences. She is partnered with a fiercely independent and distrustful elf to go on a dangerous mission. Think elf like Legolas, not elf like Dobby. 😄
I love the personality that is crafted into the two main characters. They are both wonderfully complex and work well together. The FMC has a lot of secrets, and their relationship deepens as she trust him enough to reveal more of herself. There are also several lovable side characters, who I hope will feature more prominently in future books in the series. This story is told in dual POV, and I loved how that gave a deeper look at the internal monologues of both of the main characters.
The big climax and third act breakup did feel a bit rushed, compared to the pacing and detail that is put into the beginning of the story. But it was still a really good read and I look forward to the sequel.
I listened to the audiobook, and narrator Shane East did a great job of giving the main characters distinct voices and the narration felt like a good fit for the story.
Key tropes: enemies-to-lovers, miscommunication, forced proximity, only one tent, hurt/comfort, (sort of) touch her and die.
Spice level: 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️
This was such a fun read. It has an interesting world, that clearly has more yet to be discovered. As the first in the series, this book provides a glimpse of the politics, species, and conflicts that exist in this new fantasy world, but the epilogue hints that there is much more still to come.
The FMC is a strong, independent women who has survived through extremely difficult and traumatic experiences. She is partnered with a fiercely independent and distrustful elf to go on a dangerous mission. Think elf like Legolas, not elf like Dobby. 😄
I love the personality that is crafted into the two main characters. They are both wonderfully complex and work well together. The FMC has a lot of secrets, and their relationship deepens as she trust him enough to reveal more of herself. There are also several lovable side characters, who I hope will feature more prominently in future books in the series. This story is told in dual POV, and I loved how that gave a deeper look at the internal monologues of both of the main characters.
The big climax and third act breakup did feel a bit rushed, compared to the pacing and detail that is put into the beginning of the story. But it was still a really good read and I look forward to the sequel.
I listened to the audiobook, and narrator Shane East did a great job of giving the main characters distinct voices and the narration felt like a good fit for the story.
Key tropes: enemies-to-lovers, miscommunication, forced proximity, only one tent, hurt/comfort, (sort of) touch her and die.
Spice level: 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️
If you’re a Romantasy fan, you need to add Rising Sun to your list of books to pick up. While the pacing is a little slow at the beginning, once it picks up you will not want to put it down. The plot was full of enough action, intrigue, and twists to captivate your attention. I really enjoyed how different and well developed the magic was particularly in relation to a certain characters ability to use stones. I’m a sucker for found family, and I absolutely loved how well Grant used the found family trope in Rising Sun. Additionally both the FMC, Yasmin, and MMC, Ravi, were complex, well fleshed out, and had interesting development arcs. Oddly enough, my favorite character was actually Dain and I can’t wait to see more of him. He has some truly sweet moments with children that are absolutely adorable and will melt your heart. I was also pleasantly surprised by how great a job the narrator, Shane East, did. I sometimes struggle to tell the difference in characters with male narrators but East did such a phenomenal job at distinguishing between Yasmin and Ravi. I really enjoyed his rendition of this story and would definitely listen to other narrations by East. I also recommend checking out Rising Sun as an audiobook to enhance your enjoyment.
✨
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ALC courtesy of Netgalley and Recorded Books Media
Nothing could make Yasmin return to Shaldorn, the place of nightmares. But when she’s caught stealing, she’s given an ultimatum: take Ravi over the Dangerous Peaks to the stronghold or face imprisonment. She has no choice but to agree, though she intends to escape the elf as soon as she reaches the mountains. Yet, as they battle nature itself, the two enemies find common ground—and an all-consuming passion.
Donna Grant has crafted a high fantasy in elaborate world building and slow burning action and romance. The new style of magic system is well planned and very believable. The beginning was on the slower side, working very hard to build but then steadily picked up and kept a good pace until the end. The enemies-to-lovers goes hard in Rising Sun and it will be perfect for anyone who loves a good love story with some grade-a spice.
I listened to the audio for my read through, and Shane East did a wonderful job. He has a voice that I could listen to all day. I feel like I may have enjoyed the read more in print though, as I do feel like I missed things and had trouble putting names to faces at some points during the read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Tantor Audio and Donna Grant for an advanced copy for review. Rising Sun is set for release May 14th, 2024.
Donna Grant has crafted a high fantasy in elaborate world building and slow burning action and romance. The new style of magic system is well planned and very believable. The beginning was on the slower side, working very hard to build but then steadily picked up and kept a good pace until the end. The enemies-to-lovers goes hard in Rising Sun and it will be perfect for anyone who loves a good love story with some grade-a spice.
I listened to the audio for my read through, and Shane East did a wonderful job. He has a voice that I could listen to all day. I feel like I may have enjoyed the read more in print though, as I do feel like I missed things and had trouble putting names to faces at some points during the read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Tantor Audio and Donna Grant for an advanced copy for review. Rising Sun is set for release May 14th, 2024.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Donna Grant for this e-ARC!
I quite enjoyed this book that was a mixture of a magical heist mission and romance. Grant has pretty good prose and performed some excellent world building in a short number of pages.
Ravi and Yaz were great lead characters. I enjoyed watching them both defrost and fall for each other. I quite liked that the spicy scenes came at the end of the mission when both were in the right head space for some spicy times.
Dain was probably my favorite character and if he doesn't have his own series, he totally should!
I did take off a star because both POVs featured a lot of rehashing the same thoughts over and over which was unnecessary. You don't need them to think the same things again and again in order for me to understand the importance!
However, I am looking forward to reading more from this author!
I quite enjoyed this book that was a mixture of a magical heist mission and romance. Grant has pretty good prose and performed some excellent world building in a short number of pages.
Ravi and Yaz were great lead characters. I enjoyed watching them both defrost and fall for each other. I quite liked that the spicy scenes came at the end of the mission when both were in the right head space for some spicy times.
Dain was probably my favorite character and if he doesn't have his own series, he totally should!
I did take off a star because both POVs featured a lot of rehashing the same thoughts over and over which was unnecessary. You don't need them to think the same things again and again in order for me to understand the importance!
However, I am looking forward to reading more from this author!