To Carve a Fae Heart

Fair Isle Trilogy Series, Book 1

By: Tessonja Odette

Narrated by: Caitlin Davies

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Every young woman dreams of marrying a king. Everyone except for me. Because the king I am to wed has razor sharp fangs and a thirst for blood.

All my life I knew I'd come of age during the Hundred Year Reaping. According to the ridiculous treaty, two human girls are sent to the faelands as brides for the fearsome fae king and his devilish younger brother.

Not me. I was supposed to be safe. Two girls were chosen from my village already. But when they are executed for offending the king, my sister and I are sent in their place.

What a mess. Then again, maybe it's not so bad. The younger brother I'm paired with doesn't seem as monstrous as I'd expected. He's delightfully handsome, too. But nothing compares to the chilling, dangerous beauty of the fae king. And when my sister flees the castle and her terrifying husband-to-be, I'm left to marry him instead.

If I go through with this, I might not survive my wedding night. If I don't, no one is safe, neither human nor fae. An ancient war will return, bringing devastation we haven't seen in a thousand years. Can I sacrifice myself for the good of my people? Or will a dangerous desire be the death of me first?

If I don't lose my heart, the king will certainly lose his. I'll carve it out with an iron blade if I have to.

©2020 Tessonja Odette (P)2021 Tantor

She does it again!

Tessonja writes the BEST books, and the narrator (Caitlin Davies) kills it every single time! Such a good book.

Why does the FMC have to be so ignorant

I liked the story and narration but the fmc is annoyingly ignorant most of the time, so much so it’s almost unbelievable when she actually pieces anything together. It kept me interested though, and the ideas and secondary characters are rich.

Narrator is unbearable

The vocal cadence of the narrator nearly ruined the whole thing for me, I almost quit several times. Her goes up at the end of every sentence. EVERY SENTENCE. Her vocal inflection seemed to be a struggle.

The story itsself was 10/10, however I will read the remaining two books.

Narrator Wasn't my Favorite

I'm sorry, but the narrator probably spoiled this book for me. She sounded like Jennifer Coolidge, clenching her jaw while trying to speak through 40+ chapters. I also didn't like how she portrayed male character voices, especially for the king and at the beginning of the book. Overall, the narration really kept me from enjoying the story.

Otherwise, the fae lore was interesting, and the plot kept me engaged. I'm undecided on whether or not I'll continue the series, but it definitely won't be via audiobook.

Eh

I didn’t care enough to move on to the next book in the trilogy. Writing style seems a little immature. And I simply can’t stand Caitlin Davies as a narrator. I usually pass over any book she narrates but I really wanted to read this one and as I busy mom I don’t have time to sit down and read so I opt for audiobooks. I was quiet disappointed because this book looked promising

Terrible narration

I’ve actually read the entire series and am a fan. I got the audiobook for a reread as I cleaned and walked but I had to stop before the first chapter because the narrator is terrible. Her inflection is odd and she ends each sentence like she’s asking a question. It’s literally enraging. Her voice is grating and even turning down the volume doesn’t help. I wish I’d listened to a sample or read reviews before purchasing. The story is good and I recommend reading the series

The story is great! But the audible reader is awful!

The way she over pronounces each word and she ends her words are weird. The way she goes up and down in pitch as she reads is soooo annoying. I gave up and just read the book myself. As a busy mama listening to books are the best. So it was hard to finish this one bc I would only have time to read it at night and I would just fall asleep.

Tired of ignorant heroines

I'm tired of reading and listening to ignorant, closed minded heroines. I just hope to read about one heroine that is intelligent and open minded in the next series. The dimwitted women in these novels are starting to piss me off!

To Carve A Fae Heart Review

This was an enjoyable YA listen overall, but the plot didn’t really pick up until the end, and it wasn’t enough to make me want to continue the series. The female main character was so naive and I wasn’t super invested in the love interests being together. This could be a great read for the younger crowd maybe though!

Ok Story, Grating Narrator

The story itself is just okay. A little bit of insta-love (like one minute two characters hate each other, and then with basically no development, they’re wildly in love…eye roll). A bit steamy—I actually prefer fewer to no sex scenes, but if that is your cup of tea, I’d rate this as medium-steamy. All told, not great, but not terrible for this genre.

But the narrator. Honestly, if it weren’t for her, I’d go ahead and get the next book in the series for a rainy day, but I honestly don’t know if I can make it through another book of this narration. She does a good enough job of varying the voices between characters, but her voice has a contrived quality that is difficult to explain, but which I found incredibly grating after a few hours.

I will try to describe it: you know “indie girl voice” in music? When a singer will pronounce things in a weird way, adding random R and I sounds around their vowels, and being overall super whispery? Like it sounds like they’re singing from the back of their throat? Selena Gomez is the best example I can think of at the moment.

Now, imagine that…but in spoken narration. This narrator sounds like she’s talking in indie girl voice, like she has a throat full of cotton balls. Some people may not be bothered by this. I was not *super* annoyed by it at first. But by hour two, it was incredibly annoying. And by hour four, it was just about intolerable.

I actually hate it when singers do this. Well, as it turns out, it’s worse when one isn’t singing. And it feels completely contrived. I tried listening to samples from other books this narrator has done, just to see if I’m crazy. As it turns out, she *doesn’t* do it in every book she narrates. So why is she doing it here? It drove me absolutely crazy. To the point that I almost didn’t finish.

Look, the book itself is cheap entertainment. But give the sample a close listen. If you like indie girl voice, you may well be unbothered by this narration. But if you, like me, wonder why singers who do this don’t just have a cup of tea and enunciate, this may get as old to you as it got to me.