Gift of the Gods

Magic Blessed Academy, Book 1

De: Eva Ashwood

Narrado por: Stacey Glemboski

They call this place Magic Blessed Academy, but I sure as hell don’t feel blessed.

I never asked for these powers. I never asked to be yanked away from my perfectly good life and forced to come here.

But the gods have gifted me with magic, and now I have no choice.

If I was smart, I’d keep my head down and play it safe until I can graduate.

And I definitely wouldn’t go up against the three gorgeous, infuriating men who rule the school - Trace, Merrick, and Lachlan.

But when we’re all chosen to compete in the Gods’ challenge, a deadly competition for the honor of meeting the gods themselves, teaming up with my bullies may be my only chance at survival.

Now the only question is: Will we kill each other or screw each other first?

This is the first book in the Magic Blessed Academy series, a university-age reverse harem paranormal romance. It contains cursing and sexual situations, and is intended for listeners over 18.

©2019 Eva Ashwood (P)2019 Eva Ashwood

nice surprise

4 stars//(spoilerish) I liked this. I loved the heroine, a boxer from Boston who likes to swear, 3 dudes who are sort of bullies to start-hot Irish muscle, deep tattooed rockstar and a suit. Why choose? All in a magic academy for adults.Then go to another crazy realm for a competition.

Great start!

The story pulled me in from the start. It kinda reminds me of Hunger Games but with magic and Gods. I loved all three of the guys. I felt like there was a lot of internal dialogue from Aria at certain times, but that is just my opinion. I did like the narrator and how the story was read. Can't wait to go on to the next part.

Amazing

Such an amazing story, the mystery the twists and turns. I love the relationships too and how they grow. I love Ari she is truly a badass!

Great series

If you love strong girls who knows their own mind with no martyr complex you will love this series

What a start

What a start to this series. It is certainly fast paced with lots of twists and turns and things are really starting to get interesting. Now for book 2

Stacey has done an awesome job on the narration.

Good start to this supernatural academy RH series!

First off, the bullying from the harem members (to the MC) was lighter than other bully books I have read so if you are worried about that, don't be (I feel like it was more enemies to lovers for the first 1/3 of the book and then everything was good haha). Then on to the academy aspect of the book, I would say that it was higher in book 1 than it was in 2 or 3 (which makes sense with the storyline). I did like the academy part, it wasn't too much or wasn't stagnant like I think other academy series can get. In terms of the story I will say the concept wasn't earth-shattering/new, but I thought Eva did a good job of getting the readers invested and love the world she created. I thought the challenge sounded insane and I really enjoyed the story in book 1 was highlighted more than the relationships/romance. It definitely held my attention, I needed to know what happened next (and the scene with Lach was yummy hahah). For the relationships, I liked how the guys are different, with their own quirks and advantages they bring to the table. I think Lach was my favorite in book 1. I liked the MC, but at some points she was a little too garish/much for me. I did still enjoy this book and went on to listen to books 2 and 3 right afterward 😊


The narration I thought was done well. I wish there could have been a male narrator but Stacy did a good job with the different accents, especially Lachlan's accent. I think sometimes she was a little overdone, but that kinda went with the MC's personality I guess haha (for some reason I didnt like her inflections/accent for the MC's friend). I think there should have been more Boston accents if the MC was there for a good portion of her life, but not a lot of people could do a Boston accent that wouldn't get on someone's nerves after awhile haha. Overall, I would listen to Stacey again, that's for sure!

A kickass female boxer ends up in school no way that can go bad right?

Great start to a new series. A kick ass lead with Ari whose a female boxer with twist and turns, intrigue, mystery and suspense

Gift of a Good Story

An enjoyable audiobook is always enhanced by a good narrator. This audiobook had both and did not disappoint in either area. This does end on a cliffhanger, however, I am intrigued enough to continue on to the next book.
Mystery, romance, hot times.. all my favorite stuff. 5 paws up from me and the cat. 🐾🐾🐾🐱

Gift of the Gods

Interesting start to this series. Aria was strong but also very closed off to everyone else. The guys were very high school acting. The Games allowed to see more character development and a switch in demeanor.

🎧 audio obsession

2.5

This is a true 2.5, in the sense that I would have given the first half a 2-star (and felt generous about it), but the second half improves enough to deserve a 3-star. I wavered about which way to round on this one, but decided to round up because the narrator did a good job.

The first half was a struggle for me. I seriously almost DNFed the book. The characters are very shallow and the men, that the reader knows are going to form the reverse harem, are only shown as sexist a-holes. We are not given a single redeeming moment with any of them. Honestly, we're not given much of them at all. The reader knows they are the to-be harem because they are the only named men at all, not because Ashwood spends any time developing them. Despite all that, the reader is also told how Aria finds them hot and I was simply indignant on her behalf, to think she would lower herself to be with men who treat her that way. (And it doesn't even rise to enough development for me to call it a bully-romance.)

However, in the second half the personalities change drastically. (We're just going to skip over the 'why would she trust the men who have spent a month demeaning her to team in the first place.') We're given the group working as a team and get to know them A LITTLE better. The shift from platonic to poly is very fast, but it's still satisfying in it's own way.

All in all, if I found the sequel as a freebie I'd probably read it (based on the second half of this book). But I wouldn't pay for it—if that tells you anything.

Note: I received a free code for this book. I chose to listen and review it.