Heart of Silver Flame

Sea and Stars, Book Two

By: S D Simper

Narrated by: Lois Ridge

Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Duty before love; legacy before life.

Six months have passed, and Tallora’s nightmares are haunted by memories of Solvira and the woman she loves - Empress Dauriel Solviraes, seated on a throne a thousand miles away. But war waits on the horizon, and when rumors of her kingdom’s coalition with Moratham surface, Tallora fears her small kingdom will be destroyed between the two warring empires. With the help of new friends - a merfolk prince and a mysterious sea witch - Tallora must return to Solvira in order to stop the rising tides of war.

From the author of Fallen Gods comes a story of duty and betrayal - and a love that transcends the bounds of land and sea.

©2020 Endless Night Publications (P)2020 Endless Night Publications

I loved the entire series! You won't be disappoint

I enjoyed this series of 3 novels enough to actually post a review. Worth it!

Beautiful - You will laugh, cry, & feel...

Heart of Silver Flame is a tale of two women who should never have met and a love that should never have been. Heart of Silver Flame is a romance, fantasy, and emotional roller coaster of a book (and series) starting as unexpectantly as it concludes. Powerful characters, deep emotional subtext, an examination of culture, sexism, power dynamics, and how we genuinely define good and evil await.

The story starts a few months after the conclusion of Fate of the Stars. Tallora and Dauriel have settled into their respective lives, and all as returned to what it was, or so it seems. As the story progresses, we find that conflict and danger are building, as the powers of the world rise to destroy whatever peace had been feigned.

Can Dauriel hold together both her empire and herself? How can the silver flame keep from burning all she cares about when her nature is fire? Will Tallora find romance in a familiar friend, can the influence of Onias be of help, and can the world truly control a creature as powerful as a leviathan? Dark forces work in complex plots, which will keep the reader on the edge of their seat from the first sentence until the ending. Even as the turmoil ensues and the world shakes, a selfless mermaid fights to save it, herself, her people, and her burning fire… hopefully, that flame won't burn her too.
Issues of PTSD, mental health, and how we truly defined what is moral are dealt with as delicately and intricately as a sculptor cuts stone into a beautiful marvel. The author keeps each plot pushed just to the maximum, pausing only to add more fuel to the flame of emotions. The plot is complex, and the extensive use of foreshadowing makes the text feel alive. The characters are deep with rich emotions and vibrant personalities, making the reader really care what happens to them.

By Heart of Silver Flame, the Sea and Stars trilogy had become my favorite book series of all time, unseating another beloved series I had thought might forever carry the title of "best literature," at least in my opinion. If I were to recommend one trilogy to someone, this would be it.

Exciting and steamy lesbian fantasy romance

What not to live about a steamy lesbian mermaid trilogy. I absolutely love this story.

amazing and wonderful

I enjoyed this book from the start. I was hooked and could not leave it alone

Love it, but I feel betrayed

First of all, I love the book. Secondly, HOW DARE YOU HURT ME LIKE THIS!?!?

I've Re-Listened to this book multiple times

I love listening to audiobooks while working - especially for books I loved and miss (which is how this whole series left me) and want to go over again to catch details I missed the first (or third) time around. Even though I'm not listening cover to cover, I find myself repeating my favorite segments to keep me from going nuts throughout the day :)

Ridge's performance in this book, particularly for the newly-introduced Harbinger, is quite good. Even when I don't agree with a performance choice, I've loved how the difference reveals new levels of subtext that I didn't notice in my own reading.

This book/series has some of the most unexpected twists I've encountered while storytelling (I'm someone who can usually smell the entire plot far in advance), and left me feeling SO MANY THINGS (in all the best ways). It is not a standalone - and I highly encourage anyone who has not read the series to just go ahead an get all three books - you won't want to wait for the next one.

Finally.... this book is steamy in such amazing ways. Simper writes some of the better (never repetitive) sapphic love scenes, and this one happens to feature a mermaid. As my wife commented after overhearing my listening, "Who writes mermaid sex? And makes it so sexy???"

This book is… adequate.

The crossover no one asked for or wanted: Little Mermaid meets 50 Shades of Grey.

The world-building and story are enough to keep me listening, but the disney references were too much for my comfort. Also things got really weird there for a minute and there was a sex scene I had to skip through. As in the first book, this writer could benefit from a thesaurus. Or an editor. Either way I’m a sucker and I will be listening to the third book.

why did I do this

Even though I didn't really like the first book, it's still a pandemic and I've got laundry to fold. I've really enjoyed the two new ancillary characters, the prince is adorable I want to pinch his cheeks. But the empress is all possessive now and I hate when that's glorified. Not sexy, it's a red flag ew gross she has issues. I've stopped listening at the point that she's putting her fist into a fish's giant grabby cunny. I just can't with that visual. Maybe that floats your boat but mine is sinking fast.