It is a fascinating story. I greatly enjoyed the world building of a society of winged people. While not a bird watcher, I appreciated the variety of bird wings and thus some bird characteristics. The audiobook is well done. the narrator reads at a good pace, has great distinctions between characters and makes the story easy to follow.

The story was enthralling. Right away you are transported to this world and the adventure begins. I really enjoyed the narration it gave so much life to the story.

So I requested The Raven and the Dove audiobook for a reread. Which is how I do most rereads these days. I absolutely adore this series and author. Except for getting to experience the story in a whole new way and fall in love all over again, my views haven't really changed. So I will include parts of my original review below. I also would like to add that it's a bit heavy on the worldbuilding in the beginning. And it was kind of confusing with keeping names straight. I struggled a little with getting through the first half during my first read. But I'm so glad I persisted because I inhaled THAT ending and all the books after.


(ORIGINAL REVIEW)

To be honest, I initially requested The Raven and The Dove for it's ridiculously gorgeous cover. I even preorded it so I can hold it in person at some point and stare at it longingly, similar to Ana and Rafe most of the book. All jokes aside, I love forbidden romances and star-crossed lover stories and even if there wasn't very much of it here (YET), I have high hopes for the sequel.

The world building was vague (I kept picturing those floatly block things in the early Mario Brothers Nintendo games ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) but the characters were all described beautifully and I had no trouble picturing them. I even have some fancasts in mind.

I've got to say, no offense to any author in particular, but I officially hate the word mate now.

If you love Fantasy, The Raven and The Dove feels refreshing in an overwhelmingly heavy Supernatural genre. It reminded me in some ways of one of my favorite series Falling Kingdoms but with more birds and dragons. And maybe a little bit of Gulliver's Travels.

***Thank you to Kaitlyn Davis, Netgalley, and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for providing me with an audiobook review copy.

for the review copy.***

I really enjoyed this story. It started out with a lot of heavy world building, but the story soon sucked me in. Full of drama and betrayal all the way until the very end with a gut wrenching cliffhanger. I can’t wait to read the rest of this series.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I was hopeful when starting this book based on the description of this kind of retelling. However, it was a bit difficult to follow at times and I was not a huge fan of the style this audio was done in. I ended up DNFing the audiobook but might give this a try at a later time in physical book form.

had high hopes for The Raven and the Dove as a Tristan and Isolde retelling, but there were just too many plot elements in too little time, making it feel both rushed and all over the place. The narrative just didn’t flow.

While the language itself was very eloquently written, but the worldbuilding was very lacking, which had the potential to be so much more if it was more explored.

On top of this, I didn’t really connect much to the characters, and it all just seemed too superficial.

4.75/5

Thank you NetGalley and Kaitlyn Davis for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. 

I CAN'T WAIT FOR BOOK TWO. I loved this book. I grew so attached to these characters and can't wait to see where the author takes them in the future.

I picked up this audiobook at first because I was in the mood for reading/listening to a fantasy romance novel, and when I saw this was an adaptation of Tristan & Isolde, I couldn't really help myself!

I felt this fantasy was quite unique, taking place in an avian-inspired world that was very different to me. And while there were a few different POVs, each one was different enough to keep me engaged without being too complicated.

The story begins before the courtship trials, where the princes and princesses must compete, in effect, for a partner. It was a familiar concept to me, as I was a big fan of The Selection series when I was younger, but I still feel it had a unique twist to it that I quite liked.

Overall, the book was longer than I am used to, but I really enjoyed the world, the romance and the characters. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

I had read this book when it first came out a few years ago and really enjoyed it but when I saw there was a audiobook version I knew it was time for a reread and it did not disapoint. I hope to relisten to the whole series again.

Olympic Games meets romance meets another world. Rather interesting book. There were lots of twists and turns to keep the reader focused engaged. The only somewhat downfall was not knowing it was a part of a series with the book ending in a cliffhanger. Make sure you grab the second book before you finish this one!

The Raven and the Dove is an amazing fantasy romance, full of magic, wonderful worldbuilding and incredible writing. This is not cliché at all, there are so many twists and a really unique premise/setting for this world with different houses correlating to different birds and a really interesting courtship trial. But this had such a heart-breaking ending I can't wait to get my hands on the next instalment in this series.

This is such a great book. I love how the characters are. The fact that they are so relatable is great. I also like that their was a twist at the very beginning. I also love the fact that she was able to save him right off the bat, The book is well written and the narrator was amazing. The plot of the book keeps your interest and makes you want to continue with the series. I can not wait to find out what comes next. There are several twists that I did not see coming or at least some of the reactions of the characters. This is one thing that I really enjoyed about the book the attitudes of the characters was amazing. The class separation was also very interesting and as far as it being based on birds it is something I have never seen before.

I absolutely devoured this, a fantasy, courtship trial storyline, a fake dating/forbidden romance mash up, some deceit and heartache, jam packed action, dragons and a mind-blowing setting and you have everything to make a page turning, banger of a book!

I absolutely loved the romance in this story and the twists and turns it took, at some points you knew exactly what was going to happen and could only watch it beautifully unfold in all its uncomfortable and awkwardness, and at other times you could never be too sure where it would lead.
I absolutely loved the moment of disparity, of betrayal and deceit between characters that you really feel you get to know. Arcs are explored well and you have a sense of the characters past and how it influences them in the present.

The storyline is amazing with lots of action and is face paced with twists you won't see coming but this comes with a cliffhanger warning!! It’s a series and it’s a belter of a cliff so be ready to head straight into book 2 because you honestly won't be able to wait at the end of this book.

The world building is beautiful, I love the world the author created with the divining cities above and below and all the variety of creatures and birds in these lands, it’s described beautifully to set the scene and its a world I can't wait to revisit.

Narration of this audio book was enjoyable, easy to listen to and the character voices were easy to tell apart with good expression and voice acting.

This book was so enjoyable and I’ll be recommending it to anyone and everyone, thank you for providing me with an audio to enjoy.

I reaalllllyyyy wanted to love this one! Unfortunately, it just fell flat for me. I loved the concept, but the execution just wasn't there.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kaitlyn Davis for this opportunity to listen rage and review this audiobook which will be available Aug 14,2023.

These are my personal thoughts.

First let me say that the narrator Sarah Sampino did a lovely job acting out this novel. She added the right amount of emotions and differing voice that I was entertained.

The story itself was wicked fun. I enjoyed the day it took for me to listen to this audiobook. I highly recommend.

I ultimately DNF'ed this book. I am not sure if it was the audiobook or the actual story but I was so bored trying to listen to this story.

This has all the hallmarks of a great fantasy novel and hit all the marks. Romance, magic, royalty, deception, uncertainty. I had no idea where this was going to go and the twists and turns had me. I didn’t expect half of the things to happen that did and I thought I had this book pegged.

I thought it would be predictable, running in a similar format as many a fantasy book with a chosen one prophecy but it surprised!

I loved the concept of this, with the winged houses, house of prey, house of paradise etc… and the world building was great. The addition of the courtship trials was great too and I was invested all throughout. I liked all of the characters (minus one I won’t mention to avoid spoilers!) and I’m intrigued how the series will develop. Especially after the ending?! Ah. What the hell.

This book was a frustrating one for me as I’m in the forever ‘ever hopeful everything will turn out good at the end’ camp and I hate deception and things that aren’t right. I always tear through the pages until they reach their satisfactory ending where all is sorted and everyone is happy again. So until I get to that point I will always be antsy! I guess that will be me going straight on into the next instalment to satisfy my further curiosity.

The audiobook was fab too and found myself thoroughly immersed and always awaiting the next chapter. Gathering Frost was also a book by this author I enjoyed so I look forward to seeing what else she creates.

<I>’love is giving a piece of yourself to someone else and trusting them not to break it’ </I>

A brilliant fantasy will magic, star crossed lovers and avian races: Yes!!
A Tristan and Isolde retelling: oohhhhh no 🙈

I ADORE retellings, but I do struggle with Tristan and Isolde/Romeo and Juliette retellings; the pain, the dread, that waiting for the disaster and the other shoe to drop, the betrayal and heart ache honestly just tears me open and makes me want to scream and cry and rage.
So why do I put myself through it? Honestly at this point I think I’m just a glutton for punishment 😭

I think that an absolutely brilliant world has been created here! It took me a little bit to get my head round it all, but it’s a beautiful world full of floating islands, well thought out people and lands and histories. All the characters had their strengths and flaws, things that made me route for them then want to give them a good shake, frustrated with how they’ve managed to trap themselves in their circumstances. This story followed more characters then I thought it would, but each character’s perspective brought so much to the story.

I’m not sure I have the strength to carry on with this series yet, as I’m still so…. Crushed by how this book ended.

4.5 🌟

The idea of this story was fresh and new. Not typically the type of story I read but the cover really drew me in. Plot was well thought out and loved the characters. Although I can not pick a favorite character they all had a good umph about them. As I got further into the story I fell more in love with the way the characters interacted with each other. A new favorite that I am sure to reread once I have a physical copy!

What a great YA fantasy that can be enjoyed by adults as well.

This story created a magical world you can let yourself get lost in. The way the setting and scenery is described really builds a magical angelic atmosphere which leads right into the the story and characters.
I thought the idea of people with bird influences was so unique and interesting. (I love birds and have my house decorated with lots of colorful bird paintings so this was right up my alley) Anyway there are humans with wings that belong to different groups like owl, raven, hummingbird. The writing creates a stunning picture in your mind…
Also, dragons…… 🐲🐉 what? I loved it.
This retelling of Tristan and Isolde by Kaitlyn Davis is captivating. She weaves a beautiful story and world in which you won’t want to leave.
Narration by Sarah Sampino is excellent. She’s great at emoting emotion and “telling” a story, not “reading” the story. She brought this book to life.
Overall: 5⭐️
Story: 4⭐️
Performance: 5⭐️
World Building: 5⭐️

Special thanks to the author and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange only for my honest thoughts and review!