The Poison Paradox by Hadley Field ★★★★☆

A very sweet monster-ish romance following the two main characters Prince Alaric and a mage named Eamon. Alaric enlists the help of Eamon to make a potion that will save his brothers life. Eamon has his own problems to deal with, what with being an Ogre and all, and adopting a tree nymph named Lily. The relationship that these two characters develop is definitely grumpy vs. nothing-can-get-me-down, but the character development wasn’t too deep. It wasn’t a deal breaker for me, though.

I appreciated the LGBTQIA+ representation, the cozy fantasy vibes and the magical world that is described in the book. I think if you enjoy Travis Baldree, you may enjoy this!

Thank you to NetGalley, Hadley Field and the publisher for providing the audio ARC of this book.

#netgalley #thepoisonparadox #hadleyfield #felixgreen #cozyfantasybooks # LGBTQIA+representation

4.5 stars. The definition of a cozy fantasy. I am only knocking off half a star because the resolution felt a bit rushed. Otherwise, I loved this. Our two MMCs, Eamon and Alaric, were so fun to get to know. I felt like they were sufficiently fleshed out for me to feel affection for and root for them. Add in the grumpy/sunshine, and I'm swooning. I loved all the side characters too in Eamon's village, especially his adopted daughter Lily. She was a nice buffer between Eamon and Alaric. Overall I really enjoyed this.

A note on the audiobook, I have a new favorite narrator in Thomas Busby. He can do so many voices!! He was amazing. My favorite was the wolfman with that deep gravelly voice.

**Thank you Netgalley and Victory Editing for providing this audiobook. All opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Victory Editing and NetGalley for the copy of this E-Arc. All opinions re my own.

I'm not usually one that gravitates towards cozy fantasies, but the description left me intrigued and I'm so glad to have had the chance to give it a listen! We start off with Eamon making difficult decision that will follow him throughout the rest of the story and setting up the magical world. Later on, he meets Alaric a prince on a mission whose smiles are holding secrets.

Already from the start I was hooked in. The book listens easy and keeps you engaged trying to figure out where things will go. The cozy aspect of it was soft like a marshmallow but still had wonderful relationship building and plot advancement. All of the main MCs relationships felt like they had a natural progression, and I enjoyed Eamon and Aleric's individual growths immensely. I really liked how we found out what became of Eamon's decision from the beginning, it felt natural to hear how things occurred and then got us to this point in the story. The epilogue made me laugh and I would love to see more.

The Audiobook itself was wonderful as well! I haven't listened to Mx. Busby before but found that I really enjoy listening to his narration. The voices were all very unique and I had an easy time telling apart the cast of characters. The quality was great, and I think that as an audiobook it really added to my experience hearing the cozy world come to life.

Overall I had a wonderful time, and this was a "side quest" for me as I don't normally read this genre!