Amazing

Very good story, personally I hated the way all names were pronounced because it felt like I couldn’t understand until halfway thru the book. But also I despise the portuguese accent so I am not the best person to ask about this lol

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Magic or Miracle

This was an interesting story. Yza is cursed, or so she thinks, but what if that curse is really a gift? What could a future Queen do with a gift?

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Great coming of age

This book is primarily a coming of age story for Ysabella, wherein she learns to accept herself, her magic and her desires. One of the devices used to provoke this coming of age is an evil sorceror, who in the process of the story worms his way into Ysabella's betrothed's trust, in order to kill him, and send the country into chaos. The final confrontation with this sorceror is anticlimatic if you're looking at his plot as a prime mover of the book.

There are two dubiously consensual sex scenes with Ysabella, one with her beloved, the enchanted mora Fatyan, before she's ready to accept that she's a lesbian, and one with the betrothed, King Denys. King Denys handles Ysabella's lack of consent far better, accepting that she is not in fact ready or willing to have sex with him, whereas Fatyan verbally abuses and abandons her for not responding the way Fatyan would have preferred to being honestly, pressured into sex. Fortunately when Ysabella finds a way to reach Fatyan she does admit that she was in the wrong as well.

And there's a gloriously sensual and consensual sex scene between the two of them after that, with a strong emotional resolution bringing her into the potential of a stable relationship.

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A review from someone who listened to all of it

I don't normally leave reviews but the only review I could see for this book (on the .co.uk audible) was a one star from someone who admitted in their review/rant that they didn't go beyond the forward of the book. So here's one from someone who listened to the whole thing and is reviewing out of justified pettiness.

This book is based on a Portuguese legend of a Queen who turned bread into roses in the 13th century. In the forward the author states the hold of religion and how the views of people, even to this day, affect others who do not fit into a certain box. In the 13th century women had almost no choices of their own, especially when it came to marriage in the nobility and royalty. Death from childbirth was a very real danger, there was often no love in political marriages and who's to say the people involved were even heterosexual in the first place? All this is posed before the book starts.

So this fantastical delve into the legend explores those ideas. The book itself has characters to like and loath, bearing in mind the main cast are teenagers there is a fair bit of angst, but considering the pressures of religion, royal decree and potential curses, it's understandable. Sometimes things are a bit over-explained that I'm sure the audience would get regardless but it was a smooth listen, there are some twists you don't expect and a constant tension underlying the main character - I mean, who wouldn't be tense when people might think you're a witch?

It was read well, the narrator making efforts to pronounce Portuguese words and names accurately and she defined each character with distinctive voices that fit their image.

Overall, this book is about a young woman learning who she is and accepting it fully, the magic adds a little extra spice. It is adventurous and holds people at its heart and makes you wonder what the histories didn't say.

Alright, done. Enjoy!

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1 person found this helpful

Incredibly captivating story

This is a beautifully captivating book, well written, humorous and surprisingly educational (I loved googling the references and learning more).

Have fun listening 😊

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Couldn't bare continuing

I wanted a nice story and not a bla bla about the authors life and sexuality. And then you are being told that a lot of women are secretly lesbians and scared to come out. Yeah, I am sure that is the authors fantasy only...
what started with a good narrative turns into lesbian feminism who wants the world to believe all women are actually lesbian.
therefore she has to rewrite a hystorical event by makkng the queen a lesbian I assume.
Because yeah... if the queen never had any further children she must have been lesbian. So most of the queens were actually lesbians because a lot of them had only two or three children with their king husbands. Ah yes... sure... as if live was that simple.
OK, I haven't read the book, but of it is about gay live the author lost me with her introduction of her book.
Next time just wright the story and let people get interessted intl the characters and explore the emotions of the characters on their own.

But all of this is a problem of this new generation. everything has to be about them. they can't even right a book without using it as a platform of self presentation. maybe publish on Tik Tok next time and send some pictures pf what you have been eating while you were writing each chapter... My god so annoying and a no go for me.
I skip this as I am sure I know how this story is going to evolve thanks to the annoying pro-log...

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1 person found this helpful