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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
🗡 Broken Souls and Bones by L J Andrews Book review 🗡
🐺 I got this amazing Fairyloot Edition of this book. I love the endpapers so much 🐺
You would love this book if you like:
⭐️ Viking Inspired Fantasy Romance
⭐️ Bodyguard Trope
⭐️ Blood, Bone and Soul Magic
⭐️ Dual POV
⭐️ Non speaking MMC (sign language)
My final rating is 3.5⭐️
It takes a 3🌶 rating for me (explicit scenes and teasing. A lot of desire in general)
🐺
This is one of the very few books I think really needed a glossary at the start of the book. There is too much information and new concepts in very little time that left me pretty confused. Overtime I understood most, but there were still a few things that I did not really fully grasp even at the end of the book.
Now this is technically an enemies to lovers but the enemies part is over pretty soon at least for our FMC, Lyra.
Its a little complicated to explain. But I wished the enemies part was a little longer.
Then it becomes more of a bodyguard trope that I did enjoy pretty much.
This plays a bit into the insta lust trope but it is explained at the end why. I still enjoyed the romance. And their banter was a bit fun.
While I figured out the plot twist pretty early it was still enjoyable and pretty interesting and original. It was the first time I have ever read something similar. (Still I wish it could have been explained a bit better but I guess that may happen in the next books)
Overall the book was enjoyable but I felt it was a missing a little something to make it really good for me.
🐺
🐺 I got this amazing Fairyloot Edition of this book. I love the endpapers so much 🐺
You would love this book if you like:
⭐️ Viking Inspired Fantasy Romance
⭐️ Bodyguard Trope
⭐️ Blood, Bone and Soul Magic
⭐️ Dual POV
⭐️ Non speaking MMC (sign language)
My final rating is 3.5⭐️
It takes a 3🌶 rating for me (explicit scenes and teasing. A lot of desire in general)
🐺
This is one of the very few books I think really needed a glossary at the start of the book. There is too much information and new concepts in very little time that left me pretty confused. Overtime I understood most, but there were still a few things that I did not really fully grasp even at the end of the book.
Now this is technically an enemies to lovers but the enemies part is over pretty soon at least for our FMC, Lyra.
Its a little complicated to explain. But I wished the enemies part was a little longer.
Then it becomes more of a bodyguard trope that I did enjoy pretty much.
This plays a bit into the insta lust trope but it is explained at the end why. I still enjoyed the romance. And their banter was a bit fun.
While I figured out the plot twist pretty early it was still enjoyable and pretty interesting and original. It was the first time I have ever read something similar. (Still I wish it could have been explained a bit better but I guess that may happen in the next books)
Overall the book was enjoyable but I felt it was a missing a little something to make it really good for me.
🐺
mysterious
fast-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
Roark and Lyra were nice enough as a couple, but the princely revelations at the end? The betrayal of Thane? I don’t know. It felt messy, that ending. Will I read book two? Probably. Will I hope it’ll be a step up? For sure.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ✨(4.5/5)
🌶️🌶️ (2/5)
Overall, I found this to be a very good Norse-inspired romantasy book, there is a decent amount of world-building and a lot of pivotal character development. There is a unique magic system with interesting realization in the world and in the combat scenes. I felt that the author did an amazing job with the character personalities, their development, and interpersonal relationships. The one thing that I wanted more from was the magic system, which I discuss later in this review.
Lyra (FMC) is someone who has grown to put up defences and hide her true feelings (and her nature as a melder), she is emotionally mature and strong. Her attachment to her found-family is what endears her to me, she only wants to see the people she cares about succeed and find happiness, and will try everything she can to see them achieve their happiness. Roark (MMC) is a mysterious man who has many secrets but is primarily plagued by why he feels a pull towards Lyra. These two have an undeniable chemistry and a large ball of tension that saw me cackling at their attempt to resist their feelings. As their relationship develops through the book there are moments of sincerity between them that I found drew me in and invested me in their story.
There is a large cast of side-characters who all have distinctive relationships, and I grow to love. Creating a world full of vibrant people who make up Lyra’s found family. I want them all to succeed and I look forward to seeing more of their stories in the future. One of my major loves for LJ Andrew’s style is being able to read novels from a particular character’s perspective, showing more of their struggles and conflicts as the overarching story progresses.
For the magic system, I love the premise (bone, blood and soul magic), and by the end of the book I felt I had a decent understanding of the main abilities of the 3 different magic powers, along with the melder’s abilities. But early on in the book it seemed only bone magic was really explained in great detail, with snippets of soul magic. By the end of the novel there are instances and information that helped me understand soul and blood magic better. From the ending of this book I think that the magic system will be explained in even more detail in the next book and I look forward to learning more about this interesting premise.
If you like character driven romantasy books then this is perfect read for you, the world is interesting and dark, but the relationships between characters is what I felt fleshed out the world. The end of the book saw several major twists, and I know from reading other LJ Andrews series that this story will definitely only develop in complexity as more book entries get added. All this to say I cannot wait to get my hands on the next novel in the Stonegate series and continue not only Lyra and Roark’s relationship but the other side character’s as well.
Book Themes
🦴 Hidden Identity
🦴 Morally Grey MMC
🦴 Enemies-to-Lovers
🦴 Found Family
🦴 Norse Inspired
🦴 Sign Language Representation
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Sexual harassment
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Meh.
adventurous
dark
emotional
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:
No
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This was a great first book to a series. I started listening to it on audio, but the world building was a little hard to follow for me that way. When I switched to reading, I didn’t find it so slow and hard to understand. Lyra is our FMC who has a rare magical gift. She has been kept hidden for her safety. She is ultimately found by the MMC, Roarck, who serves as the prince’s sentry and then her own bodyguard. The side charters in this are fantastic and memorable. The type of side characters that could get their own spin off series. I was expecting a twist/cliffhanger and was trying to figure out which one it would be, but it ended up to be more than one twist. Now I’m regretting picking up an unfinished series because I want to know what happens next! I think book two will be better than book one. I give this 4.5 stars because it was great read (I will reread before book two), but it didn’t always hold my attention like I expected. )Maybe it was the audio 🤷♀️) The reread I’m sure will piece together all the breadcrumbs that were left leading up to the ending.
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
The beginning hooked me right away, it throws you straight into the action with high stakes, a unique magic system, and a male main character who communicates using sign language. So much to love!
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the chemistry between Lyra and Roark as much as I’d like, and I wished some of the side characters had been more developed.
That said, the ending pulled me back in, and I’ll likely pick up book two at some point!
The first like 50 pages had to read them multiple times because I physically did not understand the concept