Review: Heart of Thorns

  • Title:
    • Heart of Thorns
  • Author:
    • Nicolette Andrews
  • Release:
    • March 10, 2022
  • Format:
    • Audiobook
  • Narrator:
    • Mia Hutchinson-Shaw
  • Series:
    • Thornwood Fae, Book 1

I’ve spent half my day trying to figure out how I want to word how I feel about this story. It’s a good story that I didn’t enjoy. The difficult part is explaining why without spoilers. I previously listened to book 0.5, it seemed like a fantasy romance to me. The protagonist married out of desperation, but her guy seemed genuinely interested in her.

It was a lot darker than I expected. I’m totally fine with dark stories, don’t get me wrong, it just felt like it took a drastic left turn from where I thought it was going. Maybe I’d have known that if I read the summary prior to listening (I still haven’t read it). The whole reason I avoid summaries is to avoid spoilers, misleading summaries, and to not have expectations.

I enjoyed the psychological aspects of it. I was wondering what was real and wasn’t as much as the protagonist. When she was in her home, I was getting some heavy Dracula’s castle vibes where nothing was as it seemed. Everybody seemed to have an agenda and you never knew who to trust. I think more than anything, I liked it as a story but not as a sequel. I found myself wishing there was another book with a different ending so I could choose the version that most suited me.

One thing to add is I’ve previously listened to and absolutely loved the prequel. I will say to anybody reading this, do yourself a service and read that first. I had context for this story. I totally forgot to listen to it and try to put myself in the shoes of somebody who hasn’t read the prequel. I can’t really say much in that regard, I don’t know how it works as a book 1 without the context.

The narration was excellent. I didn’t take any notes which for me, means the narration was great, without issues. I never had trouble telling who was speaking or anything else.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.

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