Beneath the Bloody Aurora

By: Beka Westrup

Narrated by: Rylee Forrester

Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Clio Farren is a bride in pursuit of the perfect venue for her wedding. More than that, she's searching for answers concerning her best friend's sudden death a year ago. She believes Raðljóst Manor holds the key to figuring it out. When Clio shuts herself in with the owner during an Arctic freeze, she unravels more secrets than she expected to in both Nikolai's manor and mind.

Nikolai Trousseau is an unlucky soul, bound to Earth for eternity after drinking a noxious tea millennia ago. He runs a hotel in the Arctic, where polar night liberates him three months each year. With his stash of demon blood running out and a beautiful, uniquely scented woman poking around his manor, he may discover more thrumming through her veins than he bargained for.

©2022 Beka Westrup (P)2023 Beka Westrup

Paranormal

I felt the storyline was good but it dragged a bit. It was too wordy and I was starting to lose interest until the action took over. At that point things started to make sense. The narrator kept my interest because of her outstanding performance.

It’s perfect

The description puts me there in the moment. Making it easy to have it play more like a movie than a book the characters really come to life.

It’s was decent

The book was a little hard to get into and it kept me listening because I wanted to k ow what happens to Clio but it was hard to understand

Incredible read

What a book! It sucked me in immediatly. Really dynamic and engaging! This is so much more than a typical vampire romance. I really enjoyed watching Cleo evolve and become herself past her trauma. The scenery is blindingly beautiful and I loved all the details in the descriptions. The storyline was intriguing and unique. I really lived this book. Can't wait for book 2

I loved the prequel novella…

But this book really was a let down. It needed a couple more rounds of edits. Everything from the confusing dwindling establishment of spotty world building to the unfocused climax ending with a deus ex polar bear stealing any potential catharsis, to the symbiote sprung on you, to how every time a solution or new element was provided it felt so out of the blue and irritatingly without earlier signaling, to the mystical minority trope, the dead black girl trope, the poc best friend only existing to move forward the white mc’s story along, I could keep going.
I wanted to love this so much, the author is a fantastic person, the narrator did a great job, and I loved the prequel novella, but this let me down on too many fronts to be hidden from review.

I highly encourage you guys to read the prequel novella, I will gladly stand by that as I loved it to pieces.

Thank you to Beka Westrup for the free audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

AMAZING!!!

Oh my goodness! This story was SO good! I didn't expect to like it so much! The way the author grips your attention immediately and throws you off long enough that you never quite guess where she's going made the story extremely riveting! I enjoyed this so much and the narrator was absolutely amazing. She did such a good job expressing emotions of all the characters and making you feel the suspense and anger. I cannot WAIT for the second book cause I need to know what trouble Clio has gotten herself into now.

Excuse me Ms. Westrup, where is book 2?

Devourable. The characters are loveable. I chuckled a lot. I swooned a bit. (Nik!) The tension and mystery held me captive. I really enjoyed the banter, dialogue, and relatable inner thoughts. I fell for Nikolai pretty quickly, who read as the quiet-brooding-loner, dry, intellectual type. The setting of the manor itself felt like a third main character, descriped with such detail that elicited an emotional response, much the same as Clio experiences while she explores. The story is driven pretty equally by the characters and the plot. There was both predictability and surprise as the truths were unveiled, which is my favorite kind of story. A fantastic debut book. I'm excited to read book 2 when it comes out!

I was really impressed with this narrator & I hope it's the same one for the rest of the series!