Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. The plot and characters didn't keep me interested. I really wanted to like the book but just couldn't get into it.

This book started out well, a kick-ass spunky heroine who was witty and fierce. The initial chemistry between the two main characters Aisling and Ronan was electric but it all fizzled about halfway through. There was limited world building with a mismatch of mythical characters.

Ireland has a rich mythological history and the author took bits and pieces of different eras and jumbled them all together, unsuccessfully in my opinion. The author would have been better off picking one and developing it rather than several name drops.

I checked the author's website to see where she was from and all it stated was a European city. I have to think from her erroneous writing about Dublin that its a different city as there are numerous inaccuracies. We do not have police we have gardai, there is no western Dublin, its broken down into different numbered areas, place names are wrong, Trinity is a college, not an area and its situated right at the heart of the city centre, its Temple Bar, not temple and guns are not typically found too easily. .There was also a mention of Ronan's " sweet Gaelic lilt" what is that? Ireland is renowned for having a wide variety of accents for such a small country and no Irish person would ever refer to an accent like that. Maybe the author is Irish but it didn't come across that way I know it's nitpicking and that readers from outside Ireland would not know the difference but it bothered me and dragged down my opinion of the book.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Aisling, a Fianna, is working to obtain an ancient artifact of power. She enlists the assistance of a history chair and professor, unknowing that he has supernatural gifts also. They work together in an Indiana Jones with magical skills sort of way. I was unfamiliar with the Fianna and found myself intrigued. Both characters are independent and seem somewhat aloof but are drawn together. Their relationship has a lot of potential for further books.

2.5*
"There, in the quiet, the lake evaporated from his mind and he came out on the other side, looking through mortal eyes at a world full of energies, currents, and ties between all things. He took his time to find the green ties. Green, like growth and healing, and the hills of Ireland itself."

Fianna's Awakening is the first installment in the Warriors of Myth and Legend series. It is rich with celtic folklore and mythology and suits readers who have a basic interest in tales of the urban legend substance.

I think that this book started off a lot better than it ended. The main character Aisling is predatory and feisty, with good instincts to top off a forward personality. I found her a lot more interesting than Ronan even though he was the one leading a double life, essentially.

The prose was fiery, flirty and fantastical. It is action packed, brimming with sarcastic comments and witty dialogue, but unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of background that helped paint the picture in my mind's eye. I thought that were was a lot of agonizing introspection on behalf of Ronan and Aisling on whether they should trust each other or not, so much fussing and worrying that I stopped caring whether or not they wanted to take a chance on each other; I ended up in a bit of a take it or leave it huff.

Although, I felt that the descriptions of magic were really interesting, I thought that they were such good concepts but they struggled to make themselves clear in amongst all the drama. In the end, it felt like an account of an RPG game, where one user is using melee attacks and the other is using magic. The explanations for their use and methods became more and more bare as I continued through the novel. In the end, I felt like I was having random mythological words and ideas thrown at me and was expected to understand.

Not only that, but the romantic characteristic and flirty dialogue we're introduced to at the beginning goes completely down the drain! Now, I love a high stake romance in a fantasy novel; it completes me. But this book harbored such an under developed romance that I was tempted to print out a bunch of WANTED!: Romance I was promised posters and stick them up around town. All this built up romance fizzled out unsatisfactorily, combined with the lack of depth and detail that went towards the world building makes for an empty novel.

Sometimes, I read a really good book that is based on one average idea but clicks in ways that creates an insightful and engaging story, and other times I read an average book that has a lot of good concepts but doesn't quite link together and falls short into a disappointing lump of written words. Unfortunately, this book falls into the latter category.

Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a first for me by this author but won't be my last.

Outcast. Betrayer. Chosen.

After five years being a Fianna, Aisling O’Malley still has to prove herself every day. The sins of the father weigh heavily on her shoulders, and no matter what she does, her fellow warriors regard her as the undeserving one. It doesn’t help that one of the four mythical treasures of Ireland has turned up under her nose, leaving her none the wiser. If by any chance the touted Spear of Lugh up for auction is indeed the legendary Spear of Victory, she needs to get her hands on it before anyone else does—and be spectacular enough about it to make the rest of the Fianna forget she almost missed the artifact in the first place.

Exile. Betrayer. Forgotten.

After spending twice as long undercover as he ever lived at home, Ronan no longer knows where he belongs to or where he’s actually exiled from. He can’t return to his people, not unless he collects the four artifacts of power the Tuatha Dé lost when they were forced to leave Ireland, and three millennia after the fact, he’s pretty sure they’re going to remain lost. Except one of those ancient treasures has landed in his lap—or could land in his lap, if he brings himself to work with the spunky young woman who wants to hire him to consult on the Spear’s authenticity.

Can two broken people learn to trust one another?

And even if they can, will it be too late to save Ireland… or themselves?

I have to admit that it was the cover that drew me into this book... and whilst I found the story a little slow to start with it was really enjoyable once it got going.
To get more information about the main characters I would advise reading the pre-book as suggested in the end credits of this book.
I would recommend this to Young Adult Fantasy lovers.

I look forward to more of this authors work.

Thank-You Netgalley for my ARC.

This title was received as an ARC in exchange for an honest review from Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was immediately attracted to the cover of this book because it told me that this was going to be a story unlike any other. If I could pick four words to sum of Fianna's awakening it would be father, runaway, abandoned, destiny. Fianna's Awakening was a sci-fi romance combined and it was really entertaining to read and relate to Aisling and the struggle she goes through as a Fianna and how everyone thinks that she is undeserving of what she does and what she has earned. Then we have Ronan who is undercovered and in exiled and never really belonged anywhere without a sense of purpose. All of that has changed when Aisling and Ronan meet and find what they are truly meant to be.

This will definitely have a home in our Young Adult Fantasy collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars,