This book was a RIDE. I’m going to be totally honest and say that the first 50% of the book was a true struggle to get through. I truly think that if I did not have the audiobook I would be DNF’ing the book. It was a lot of world building and set up that just felt repetitive. I understand needing to set the scene and build up the plot but in a 17ish hour audiobook, having to spend the first 8 hours bored is not it. 



Moving into the latter 50%… I still enjoyed the book, but felt that the POV it was written in gave SO MUCH away. I felt like as the reader I knew all of the plot, secrets, and what was to happen, and was only there to watch the FMC discover the truth. Again, thats not to say that the writing wasnt good and the actual concept of the book wasnt a good idea… I just felt like a story like this would have benefitted from a first person POV in which we got to discover the secrets and feel the emotions WITH the character instead of watching her discover them. 



The sex scenes also felt a little out of place and disconnected. The book ENDS with them having sex? After Tyghan just battled demons for an entire night? AND after they had a blowout argument? it just felt a little forced and rushed, like trying to get one more good moment into the book to leave readers or listeners with a ‘positive’ punch when in reality it was tacky, forced, and felt like it discredited their entire relationship (which, if you ask me, was already a bit of rocky and had little foundation).



Overall, I did enjoy the book, and it did pick up a bit at the end and I will continue to read the next book as I want to know how the story ends of Bristol and Tyghan. I just hope that it’s not another 50% build up and a slight let down of a plot.

2.5 Stars
This was the worst ending in a book that I've come across in a long time (like I absolutely hated the way this ended and how incomplete it felt). I also was not a huge fan of Bristol (she felt very ACOTAR coded to me lol) and found some of the random POV chapters confusing and unnecessary. I feel like even though I just listened to 17 hours of this I don't love that I'm still left with so many questions (that I'll have to wait to be answered in the sequel). I will say that I did enjoy the world building and how things worked in this universe and the side characters were fun additions to the story. I listened to the audio version of this and it was narrated by Brittany Pressley, who did a great job at keeping me engaged in this story (I loved her work on The Unmaking of June Farrow so I was intrigued the moment I heard her voice in this one lol)!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC!

The Courting of Bristol Keats is an exciting new novel set in the curious world of Elfhame. Bristol Keats is barely getting by and holding it together for her sisters after the recent death of both of their parents. They are behind on their bills and even with her and her sisters combined income they can barely keep the lights on. A mysterious estranged Aunt writes to Bristol offering her priceless art, and the sisters are suspicious, their father grew up in foster care, and they have no extended family that they are aware of. Down on her luck with a day of work cancelled, Bristol gives in and meets with the Aunt, which results in her making a deal with the Fae. She will help them with what they need, if they help her find her Dad, who may not be as dead as she originally believed.

This story was so engaging and intriguing and had such a fun spin on Fae and court politics. I came for the premise and stayed for the enemies to lovers and all the twists and turns. I can't wait to see what happens in the following books in the series. The mistrust between Bristol and Tyghan that develops into trust is so well done, both pacing wise and tension wise. The audio narrator captured all of Bristol's feelings and expressions so well. You can feel the hope, longing, tension, and anger in her voice. It was so well done!!

If you love fantasy with romance, intriguing premises, and anything Fae I absolutely recommend you pick this book up. It was such a fun and enjoyable read/listen. Thank you to Macmillian Audio and Netgalley for an ALC to review

This was so good wow!

It’s full of world building and magic. The characters are dynamic and the storyline has some nice twists and turns. It gives strong Cruel Prince vibes so if you’re a fan of that series, you will most likely enjoy this.

We have a middle child having her moment, and we love to see it. Bristol is flawed and it makes her feel so real and relatable. She acts before she thinks, she argues when she probably shouldn’t but she’s fiercely loyal and devoted to her friends and family. She’s a FMC that’s learning, growing and evolving but at a realistic level, and I love her for it.

Tyghan is as lovable as he is infuriating. Stubborn but still a sweet cinnamon roll. Our MMC has been through it, but I feel like there’s more coming and I can’t wait to see it.

Overall I enjoyed this read and the narrator was very good. She did accents and inflections that helped bring the story to life.

On the con side, there were moments that lost me. It would get slow in some places but the overall storyline kept me the whole time. There was also some instalove vibes that I wasn’t a fan of. I felt like the flip between dislike to love gave me some whiplash. It wasn’t a graceful change in my opinion. But I’m rooting for them nonetheless.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an Audio Arc.

Super good, a bit confusing but I loved it. Except what is that ending?! It literally makes absolutely NO SENSE. There were so many different ways that it could have ended.

I am not a fantasy reader. Have never been interested in it either. This book is labeled Romantasy and I was blown away by how good it was. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by my favorite narrator Brittney Pressley. Had she not been the narrator I would have missed out! I will be open to more books in this genre from now on.
Life was always a mystery for Bristol. Moving around from city to city always feeling like her family was running from something. Unfortunate events leave Bristol and her siblings alone in a world they all thought they understood. Suddenly nothing is really what it seems. Bristol is thrust into another world, culture she doesn’t understand and a king she can not resist.
Her life slowly unfolds as she searches for answers.
The book ends on a HUUUGE cliffhanger. I actually yelled NOOOOO!!! I can’t wait for the next book in this captivating story. I am not sleeping on this genre ever again!!

I really liked it. It’s nothing wildly complex, but just really solid romantasy. Everything I love about Pearson’s writing and story-telling is here.

Way too many short chapters for my personal taste. It makes the book seem like it’s a lot longer than it is.

Otherwise, a super solid read. Highly recommend to fans of Rebecca Yarros.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC!

Gosh I just love a book narrated by Brittany Pressley! She's so talented and absolutely brought this book to life.

About the book: Bristol Keats lost both of their parents and is struggling to provide for her two sisters in her small town. She receives mysterious letters from her "aunt" she's never heard of promising help, so she agrees to meet and discovers that her father may still be alive in another realm. Bristol then makes a deadly bargain with the fae king, as she sets out to find her father.

My review: I have such varying thoughs on this book. The first half could've been condensed a lot and really made the book feel long overall... but that second half was great! The last 25% were action-packed and drama-filled and just what I was looking for from this book. I got similar vibes from ONE DARK WINDOW. Overall, this was a "like not love" book, and I think I'll give book two a try when it comes out!

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc and an alc!

2.5 stars, which is supremely disappointing for me, considering i absolutely adored mary e. pearson's the remnant chronicles and dance of thieves duology. i was expecting the same thrilling read from her previous works, but perhaps a little more amped up and mature due to the new adult rating.

a few issues i had:
1) way too many supporting characters to keep track of, that i inevitably, did not keep track of.
2) while i enjoyed the conflicting goals that the two mcs had, at times the world building/character development dragged so much that i forgot bristol and tyghan even HAD conflicting goals...
3) there's a scene later in the book where tyghan and bristol's father are discussing her and her relationship with tyghan in an extremely crude way... if my father and/or partner ever spoke about me in the way pearson has her two male characters speak, i would be enraged and embarrassed.
4) while the chapters were short, there were over 100 of them? and they all dragged?

overall this was just a very disappointing start to the series. maybe i'll relisten to the audiobook and give it another chance at a different, less chaotic time?

as for the narration - i just personally feel that romantasy series should have a male and female narrator, but the narrator for the alc was fine!

A lovely debut to adult fiction for Mary E. Pearson. I enjoyed the overall plot of the story and how Pearson does so well with character development. While this was a different world than her other books, the writing style had some similarities. I already want to begin book 2, however, that will probably be a 2025 read.

I really tried with this one. I even set a goal to at least get to 20% before DNFing. But I couldn't even get that far.

With The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson I couldn't bring myself to care about the characters or the mysteries that were being set up. When the story took a turn into another world, it was so unbearably dull despite what sounded like an interesting premise. I also didn't like how short the chapters were since they created the illusion that I was getting through the book faster than I saw, only for me to realize that a mere five minutes had passed.

Maybe I just wasn't the right audience for this.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun portal romantasy - it was giving The Cruel Prince vibes with spice and a much quicker slow burn (maybe slow burn turned insta love?). There were fae hijinks, found family, enemies to lovers, and hidden magic, to name a few. I am definitely a sucker for fae hijinks.

In short: Bristol agrees to enter Elphame to help find a portal for fae king Tyghan in exchange for help with finding her father, who she previously believed to be dead, but now suspects may be alive in the fae realm. Bristol and Tyghan grow close while working together, but Bristol soon discovers that pretty much everyone she loves is keeping secrets from her.

The ending felt pretty abrupt, but I will definitely be picking up the next book to find out what happens, and enjoyed myself listening to this audiobook. I really enjoyed the narrator.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

3 stars

I loved The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson so I was so excited to dive into another world. And I loved how she was branching out and diving into a brand new world! With fae and magic and characters who weren’t associated with any of her characters from her other series. I adore when authors branch out and try something new.

The premise sounded so promising and there’s no doubt about it - the world-building and the writing are wonderfully done. It was the story itself that fell a bit short for me. I found myself confused by what was happening. The random different POVs we would get were jarring and added more to my befuddlement. I think there was a lot of potential for adding even more mystery and suspense if Mary had taken away some of those other POVs. Sometimes less is more. And sometimes more is not better.

I did enjoy the banter of both Tyghan and Bristol. I loved his wry, hard personality and her spit-fire wittiness. I did find the way their connection developed a little unconvincing. I found myself going “wait what, when did this happen? When did these feelings emerge?” It felt too fast in some ways and at a point in the book where I still felt like I didn’t even know them that well, border-lining on insta love for me. Which I’m definitely not a fan of, but I know some really do jive with that.

But romance and confusing plot aside, all things considered, I think it’s a very promising start to a series and knowing how much I adored Mary’s writing in the Remnant Chronicles, I have high hopes about how the remainder of this new series will carry out.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan audio for this arc! All thoughts and opinions are completely my own.

-Bristol travels to Fairyland (👀) on her journey.

-The author jumps around with POV, especially near the end.

-Bristol takes part in a Hogwarts-esque magic school, but it’s a in brief doses.

-The family dynamic setup is great. The world building in the beginning is great. It is a little slow, but the introduction to the world and people keep you reading.

-The book drags a lot about halfway in. I was ready for something to start happening.

-The action starts to pick up at around 3/4 mark.

-The ending is not a cliffhanger, but it just ends at a very odd moment while NOTHING has been resolved. It’s almost like the author just forgot to finish the end instead of lead into the second book.

-The audio narrator is good.

-Mild on the romance scale with sporadic chemistry. Very low on the spice scale. Until I was nearing the end of the book, I would have classified it as YA romance instead of general adult.

-It’s fine. That’s all. It left no urgency to need the second book. I completely forgot about one of the quests mid-book until it picked back up at the end.

Beautiful, rich story with a breathtaking romance. Not that I'd expect anything less from Mary Pearson. Stunning narration. Recommended for fans of her previous work.

Prepare for one wild adventure where the human and fae worlds collide in a spellbinding and dangerously delightful read. I am someone who reads it all and occasionally dabbles in fantasy. Mary E. Pearson has written a beautiful novel that blends a world beyond our imagination with raw and relatable human struggles and emotions that creates a gripping and captivating story that draws the reader in and absolutely dazzles.

For some reason, I thought this was a historical fantasy/romantasy - so I was a little startled in the beginning when I realized it is definitively set in present-day.

After I got past that, I really enjoyed this one. I liked the narrator. The characters were interesting, and the portal magic in the world building really made me want to learn more. I wish there had been more learning about the world building through experiences, not just listing things off, but the world and the lore were still good! The romance is enemies-to-lovers, and Pearson really set it up to be actual enemies - these two MCs have every reason to hate each other, even if only one of them was aware of it!

By the end, though, I had a few issues that really bothered me. First, the dialogue and characters: by the end, they both just felt very annoying and immature. Especially a particular argument scene near the end…I would’ve been annoyed, too, but the whole scene just felt really juvenile.

I also really struggled with following the different POVs. We spent most of the time with the two MC’s, but occasionally jumped to random minor characters, which really confused the story for me.

And finally - and most importantly - that ending. If anyone else has read this, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I was just annoyed at the ending. Nothing felt resolved, and there was no payoff. I understand that it’s a series and the events that have been built up will come later, but if you spend this many pages with this little happening, maybe the pacing should be reconsidered, or it should be condensed into a standalone.

I really did enjoy most of this one, the ending just left a bad impression.

This was a very fun one to read; I highly recommend the audiobook version because Brittany Pressley does an amazing job, as always! I really appreciated the magic system used here because it was a fun blend of fantasy and urban fantasy without being too much of one or the other. There were fun surprises along the way and it was overall enjoyable, but didn’t particularly stand out to me as being an especially memorable read. It felt a bit long at times and, once again, the main female lead felt a bit whiny and too dependent on the male lead (a trope that is, in my opinion, very oversaturated in fantasy books).

The Courting of Bristol Keats follows Bristol’s journey from the modern world to a land of fae and demons, where she quickly discovers everything she thought she knew about her family and life has been a lie. She thought her parents were both tragically dead and that it was up to her to provide for her two sisters, but she begins to question whether her parents are alive and well in this fantasy realm after all. When she makes a deadly bargain with the King of this realm, she has no idea just what’s in store for her.

Thank you to Mary E. Pearson, Macmillan Audio, & NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

This is my first by this author, and I was sadly disappointed. This was a 500 page book where it felt like nothing happened. I was confused for about 75% of it and didn't find myself interested in any of the characters. There was no build up to the romance, it was just a switch flip, and don't get me started on that ending.

I am very thankful to have received an advanced audio copy, but this was definitely not the book for me.

Thank you Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for my ALC of this book in exchanged for an honest review.

As for the the audio production, I loved this narrator and she was phenomenal which is why it's a 2 and not lower or DNF. I do wish that the male pov has been read by a male narrator or in a male voice as I didn't realize it was a different POV at first. Otherwise, the audio production was wonderful.

As for the story itself, it was a dud. I kept listening waiting for it to get better. It did not. There was maybe a little bit during the last 15% that was decent and if I had more buy into the story and characters I would have had a mouth open gasp moment. There were times I loved Bristol's spunkiness. Other times, she was whiney and annoying. The story had so much potential but just fell flat. I didn't buy any of the romance. They went from enemies to lovers in a snap of your fingers. I actually enjoyed the Nick character and thought he made a better love interest. Could have been a second chance back to lovers troupe. The love the sisters had for each other and parents was apparent early in the book but fizzled a bit. The world building was a little lackluster.