Thank you for the opportunity to read this advance readerd copy. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Full review post to come.

I enjoyed The Courting of Bristol Keats, and I think this was great as an audiobook, but I ultimately think this was a long set up for book 2.

I thought the world was interesting. There were fun characters and I really enjoy a good fae story. This definitely gave me some Cruel Prince vibes (though I did like Cruel Prince a bit better). The setup for what is to come was wonderful. I think I will really enjoy book 2, as I think it will be the payoff for much of what was started in this book.

The narrator was wonderful. She did a fantastic job differentiating between many characters and getting across the emotions and thoughts.

Overall, the pacing of this was a little weird. It felt a little slow at times, especially in the first half, but then the second half and the end were much quicker. The end was very abrupt and it felt like the whole story used to be one book and then was just kind of arbitrarily stopped at this point to then continue in book 2. Nothing was wrapped up, even temporarily. It pretty much ended in the middle of a scene.

I didn't always feel connected to the characters. Bristol and Tygan's relationship felt a little flat. I didn't really connect with their romance. I loved the idea of it, but they just didn't quite click for me.

All of that said, I did enjoy this book. I genuinely wanted to know what happens and am looking forward to the next book. Based on book 1, I think this could maybe have worked better edited down to a single book, rather than stopping where it did. I also have a feeling that a lot more will happen more quickly in book 2 based on where we left off in book 1.

Definitely for fans of stuff like The Cruel Prince and ACOSF, and a solid little romantasy offering. I’d say this book is fine. The prose is decent, the experience of reading it isn’t unenjoyable, but it just sort of feels like a wash of ideas and tropes without a deep-seated soul or a why of their existence. It made me feel similarly to how I felt reading Fourth Wing.

I love a fae book, I love stuff rooted in Irish lore, but just…nothing new was happening. If you want to read something that will make you feel just like x or y book, this is the one for you.

Characters were fine, a little one-dimensional but definitely rooted in archetypes that are appealing to readers. You have your normal girl who hasn’t discovered her super special power yet, the dark and tortured prince who antagonizes the girl but bc he loooooves her and the greek chorus of barely fleshed out badass femmes that support our heroine.

Meh. But it’ll sell.

Bristol Keats and her sisters have spent their lives moving from town to town, always feeling like their parents were on the run from something. Shortly after settling down in the small town of Bowskeep, both her parents are killed in accidents, and the girls find themselves struggling to stay afloat. When Bristol begins to receive letters from a mysterious aunt she's never heard of, she reluctantly agrees to meet and learns that everything she thought she knew was a lie, including her father's death. Desperate to save her father, Bristol makes a bargain with a fae king, Tyghan, and journeys to the fae realm.

This story didn't feel entirely unique (though I did love Bristol's parents' backstory), but Pearson tells it in such a way that I was completely drawn in. The book did start off a little slow, but once things started to pick up I found myself eager to learn what was going to happen next.

One of my favorite parts of this book was Bristol and Tyghan's relationship. I loved that they had that real steamy slow burn, and nothing about it felt rushed or forced. They were slow to admit their feelings for another but, at the same time, they weren't afraid to explore the connection that was growing between them.

This book probably would have been a 5-star read for me if it hadn't been for the ending. I know this is the first book in a series so I 100% anticipated a cliffhanger. What Pearson left us with, though, was an abrupt end to the book that, to be honest, felt a bit unfinished.

The narrator for the audiobook was amazing - she absolutely made the different characters come to life through the use of different accents and inflections. I find audiobooks can be difficult to listen to sometimes when there's one narrator for such a large number of characters but she knocked this out of the park.

Read if you like:
Portal fantasy
Enemies to lovers
Forbidden romance
Slow burn romance
Found family
He falls first
Hidden magic

I’m feeling mostly neutral about this listening experience.

THE COURTING OF BRISTOL KEATS is set in a world of fae and trolls and magic. But it’s definitely more fantasy-adjacent. The vibe is drama and romance, with characters who happen to be magical, but also human. Sort of? There is very little world building.

I liked the characters, and the plot was interesting, though neither really surprised me in any way. It all felt a little too formulaic.

Pacing was slow. The entire story wasn't much more than a setup for the romance and whatever will happen in book 2.

There are some spicy scenes for those who enjoy them.

The writing style is engaging and enjoyable.

I listened to the audiobook. Brittany Pressley does a fantastic job narrating.

[I tandem read the audiobook with a digital arc. The first part of my review will focus on the audio narration and then I will copy over my review of the story itself.]

I liked the audiobook recording. The narrator had a soothing voice and great pacing. Her range of voices for the characters was good. I tend to prefer different narrators for different POVs and would have preferred that, but she did well enough on her own. My one critique is that it started to sound quite choppy when I tried to listen to it even at 1.25 speed. I don't know if that's something that can be smoothed out somehow, as I know quite a lot of people listen to audiobooks at higher speeds.

Copied review of the story-
For context, I read The Remnant Chronicles a long time ago and rated them well so I must have liked them, but I don't remember a lot. Based on how much I liked The Courting of Bristol Keats, I will probably go back and reread them to see how they hold up.

For Bristol, I really liked this take on Fae. The concept and backstory are complex in a compelling way. The characters and their relationships are interesting without being tropey or too closely resembling dynamics that we see over and over again in the genre. It was quite refreshing in that way.

I like how the time discrepancies between the human and fae world contribute to the story. I liked how the author connects the dots of Bristol's upbringing slowly throughout the book. I like how the information that is withheld from the characters and me as the reader made sense to be withheld and didn't feel glaringly obvious or fall into the miscommunication trope. I like the chemistry between Bristol and Tyghan.

The development between Bristol and Tyghan felt pretty well paced and organic. The only thing that ever bothered me about Tyghan was that he didn't feel very kingly but I think that's just consistent with his character. I really liked that once he made his decision to be with her, he was all in. When he says, "This is not a dalliance." Yes. Validation. Love to see it. If I'm being nit-picky, their first intimate encounter was a little cringe to me, the way it is written. The rest of it was fine though.

I thought it was interesting how the other chose to disperse other POV's throughout the book, like that of the snake and the horse. I wonder if that will have any significance moving forward, as Bristol mentions the snake looking like he ate something. I like the addition of little details like that.

My biggest complaint is that the ending felt super abrupt to me. I wasn't expecting it to end when it did. It maybe didn't have the emotional impact I was looking for, like a big reveal or revelation but I am still very much looking forward to the sequel. I'm intrigued to see where the story goes. I'll absolutely be recommending this book to my customers who love fae romance.

3.5 stars! Very entertaining listen but it was very instalove and the world building felt rushed. I felt like the story was finally going in an interesting and unique direction at the end to set up for the next book. The narration was very good but I wanted more from the story.

5 Stars

I LOVED this book! I started this on a road trip and stayed awake the entire trip to listen to this. I even stayed up late after we arrived at our location to finish it. The world building and character development was perfectly done. The narration was excellent. I cannot wait for the next book in this series!

Thank you to Macmillian audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

I recently finished listening to The Courting of Bristol Keats and while I found myself hooked from the very start, there were a couple of elements that left me wanting more.

What I loved: The narrator truly elevated this audiobook. Her ability to give distinct voices to each character made the story come to life. I was so enthralled by her performance that I found myself squeezing in listening time during every spare moment. She was captivating, and her narration alone deserves five stars!

The plot itself kept me engaged, and the pacing was perfect until the end.

What I didn't: The shifts in point of view without any clear indication of whose mind we were in became a bit confusing at times. I often had to stop and recalibrate, which took away from the immersive experience.

As for the ending, I was not prepared for how abrupt it would be. I had to take a star off for that—there was no real closure, and I was left with so many questions. I need book two now!

Lastly, the cover didn’t quite fit the book’s tone. I found myself wishing it reflected the romantic fantasy elements rather than a fantasy mystery.

Despite the abrupt ending and confusing point of view shifts, The Courting of Bristol Keats was an incredibly enjoyable audiobook experience. If you’re looking for a story to lose yourself in, I recommend giving this a try—with the hope that book two is coming soon!

***Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing a copy of the audiobook. My review contains my honest thoughts about my listening experience.***

I'm not going to spend a ton of time talking about The Courting of Bristol Keats. The book was fine. It was easy to listen to, and the story was exactly what one might expect from a romantasy about fae. The tropes and character types will be familiar to anyone who has read ACOTAR or other books like it. I was just hoping for something a bit more original and less predictable.

Did I enjoy The Courting of Bristol Keats? Absolutely. It was an entertaining read despite retreading familiar territory. The audiobook narrator did a great job of making each character distinctive and pulling me into the story. The world-building was intriguing, especially all of the political shenanigans between the faerie kingdoms. I wish we'd gotten to see even more of the faerie realm, but I liked the things that were explored. The mysteries, while pretty obvious, did keep me engaged with the story because I wanted to see how the characters would react to the answers.

I had two main gripes about The Courting of Bristol Keats other than its lack of originality. First, the book was way too bloated and had a lackluster ending. The middle of this book was so slow and quite repetitive. Then the story finally started building momentum before ending without providing a significant standoff. Some of the mysteries were solved, and important relationship threads were completed. However, none of the larger, action-oriented plot points got any type of resolution, which annoyed me. The last scene, in particular, just felt so awkward. Like, why end the book THERE?

My other main problem with The Courting of Bristol Keats was the romance. I enjoyed the combative nature of the central relationship, especially in the beginning. Then things got really serious, really fast. I liked the scenes where the characters confided in one another because it helped me as the reader get to know them, as well. However, their closeness just didn't feel earned. It didn't help that there were some major lies at the foundation of the relationship. When they came out, the resolution once again just felt way too quick. I'm not a fan of instalove, and this story really reeked of it.

Overall, The Courting of Bristol Keats was an entertaining romantasy that utilized familiar tropes, archetypes, and plot points. I do wish the pacing had been a bit steadier and the page count had been at least a hundred pages shorter. The romance had its moments, but the instalove caused me some major disappointment. Therefore, I rate The Courting of Bristol Keats 3.25 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't for me. Let me rephrase, this book isn't for me at this point in my life. A few years ago, a younger me would've eaten this story up and loved every minute. It has fae, war, magic, secrets, romance, and plenty of twists, but for some reason I couldn't connect with it. It dragged a bit and I kept putting it down and leaving it alone for longer and longer periods.

Maybe I'll come back to it when I'm feeling more high fantasy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this book early!

DNF at 62%.
I REALLY wanted to like this book. Brittany Pressley’s narration was fantastic!! There were beautifully written passages.

Unfortunately, those are the only pros I can come up with. I think the bones for a good story are there but the execution was painful. Pearson writes a lot of the “what” of the story but we get very little “why”. This applies to character & relationship development (they go from enemies to lovers how?? when??), how the parallel worlds work, and even the entire reason Bristol goes to another realm. The reason is stated at the beginning but the story is so meandering that I lost interest. Why are they training again?? Who are the side characters and why do I care about them? I hate leaving an icky review in advance of a release, but I hate being frustrated by a new book even more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


The Courting of Bristol Keats By Mary E. Pearson has Vibes that remind me of ACOTAR but with its little spin on the Romantasy genre. The narrator was wonderful and articulated the story well. Pearson knows how to write a multi-level tale that makes the reader feel like the world they weaved could happen in reality. I loved this story so much; I laughed and cried for Bristol because I felt her emotions. The way things were written made it easy for me to sympathize with what These characters were going through and at times I found myself wanting to reach through the page to either hug, yell, or strangle certain characters. The only thing I disliked was the book ended and I needed to know more so I hope Mary E Pearson writes the second book because I NEED to know what happens next.

First I’d like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. I ended up DNFing it at 50%. FirstI want to say that I really liked the narrator. She did a fantastic job at doing the many different voices and accents. But the story itself just wasn’t for me. It felt very familiar and not in a good way. Maybe if I hadn’t just read The Cruel Prince trilogy I would have thought this was a little more unique. And it’s probably not fair to compare the two, but TCP was just so much more vivid and immersive. I listened to half of this book, which was nearly 9 hours, and in that time I didn’t feel pulled into the world or connected to the characters at all. I also felt that the insta lust between the two main characters didn’t have the development that it should have to feel realistic.

I do think that this book will work for many. But this is my third attempt at reading Marry E Pearson, and I think it may be time to admit that her books just aren’t for me.

This book had such a promising start! It captured that enchanting vibe reminiscent of The Cruel Prince, and I was all in. We follow Bristol Keats as she ventures into a world of gods, fae, and monsters in search of her father, whom she and her sisters believed to be dead. Surprise! He’s alive in another realm. As Bristol embarks on her quest, she discovers far more than she bargained for.

However, I found the ending a bit disappointing. It felt dragged out, almost as if it could have been condensed into a novella or extended into a separate book. Still, I will definitely read the next installment—I need to know what happens next for Bristol, her father, her mother, and Tyghan!

I enjoyed getting to know Bri and her word of fae. I read and listened to the audiobook at the same time because I was so wrapped up in the story. Can't wait for book two.

So first of all - I mostly liked the narrator. I've heard her before in other things and I don't have a problem with her at all.

Overall I liked this. One thing that I didn't realize and it ended up sort of disappointing me was that this is going to be part of a series. In my head, for whatever reason, I thought it was going to be a standalone book so I was looking forward to a complete story. Either way, I liked it. I thought the world was interesting - some of the dynamics or characters I didn't really get or care about but overall not bad. I unfortunately couldn't keep the majority of the knights straight in my brain but such is life. I will definitely keep an eye out for the next book.

2.5 stars. This was my first read from this author and I don’t know if this is how their other books are usually, but this wasn’t it. I should stop letting sprayed edges and pretty covers pull me in.

This was so long and just not interesting. So much we are told about happening off-page instead of actually seeing it, which never works for me. This was also giving vibes of The Cruel Prince, similar set up and I just wasn’t here for that. Basically we follow Bristol as she learns fae exist, travels to the faerie realm Elfhame, makes deals with fae, learns about how tricky fae are/the dangers, trying to care for her sisters, learns about her family’s history, etc.

I received an audio ALC, all thoughts in this review are my own.

I’m obsessed. I need more right now.

This is my first read from Mary E. Pearson and I can’t wait to read more from her!

I loved the world-building and found myself unable to put the book down. I kept needing to know what happened next and this book helped me get out of a reading slump.

Unfortunately I found this story hard to follow, and I had trouble connecting with the main character Bristol.