In Fair Verona

De: Meghan Maslow

Narrado por: Darcy Stark

Mystery short, prequel to Must Love Demons, no romance.

Incubus Nicodemos Azertiran is one lucky demon. He has a best friend. A tiny but livable apartment. And a job at the infamous Marden’s Magic Emporium, a magic shop that only appears in the same place once, and only when a creature is in dire need.

Nico knows all about dire need.

He’s been booted from his legion because his magic runs to happily-ever-afters instead of one-night stands. Not good for lust demon business. Now at Marden’s, Nico is learning to go it on his own.

When Sir Galfridus, First Knight of the Wardens, shows up on Marden’s doorstep, Nico just knows he can help the handsome knight find the perfect item to save the day.

Only one problem. The next day Sir Galfridus turns up dead. Marden’s patrons never die. That’s the whole point. They get the item and save the day. So, what went wrong?

Nico’s about to find out.

In Fair Verona is the inspiration for The Magic Emporium, a multi-author series where each audiobook stands alone, but each one features an appearance by Marden’s Magic Emporium.

©2020 Meghan Maslow (P)2023 Meghan Maslow

Say hello to Nico & amazing narrator Darcy Stark!

Finally, Nico's start story, although Kem & Tuli's book is where we are introduced to our dearest loveable incubus, Nico gets on centerstage here, and some supporting cast also get cameo who will get better character development in his main book "Must love demons." Anyway, this book opens in Marden's Magic shop where Nico is working as a newbie watching the front desk, hearing bad poetry from Dotreek and Sezual, the Dwarf couple, who are just too enamored with each other thanks to Nico's love magic. Then there is Nico's bestie Pri, who keeps asking Nico to give up on his pursuit of becoming a cherub, but Nico is convinced that his magic suits cherubs the most.

But, where Nico is trouble follows as well, as I have gathered from his prequel and sequel books. This time in the form of someone trying to kill loving couples by breaking them into fights. In all of this chaos, we also meet the ever so charming but "rot-brained" Sir Galferidus, first knight of the warden and bain plus the pain of every warden of the order. Nico gets a taste of the warden only to be disappointed that he is all looks and no brains. Then, someone attacks Galferidus and almost kills him, and Nico finds himself amid this ludicrous chaos. Sadly, it's Ralf who we meet as an investigator not, Illume/Flame, although he did get mentioned in snippets. How Nico finds the culprit and also ends up with Cherubs is where the rest of the story goes.

Narration-wise, Darcy Stark was again magnificent, with all the apt and on-point interpreted voices. I just can't get enough of his voice as Nico >.< and then he also gave a very delicious, flirtatious voice to Galferidus, which is the exact impression you of the first knight warden. I just wanted this book to go on a bit more, but knew this was just an introduction to what comes next. Happy Listening!

Nico's introduction

I'm a huge fan of Meghan Maslow and was excited to see this book become an audiobook. Hopefully this is the start of the series being put into audiobooks. It's an entertaining short story that is very well read by the narrator.

I have not had a book read by Darcy Stark before but I will have to find more of his books, he did an excellent job, Fleshing out each character and making even the dwarven poetry it's own unique thing. I hope that he will be back for when Nico's book is made into an audiobook.

Good prequel

I liked this prequel. Having listen to this one before book one it gave me a good background story.

A new beginning

I loved this introduction into how Nico ended up working for the Cupids and we even had a brief mention of the Warden he winds up working with. I love the whole idea of an incubus whose powers are not like the othe incubi. Great story and I love the narrator Darcy Stark.

enjoyed it

Would I listen to it again: yes ✔
Did the story keep me engaged: yes ✔
Was I invested in the characters: yes ✔

📖 Story comment: It's difficult to do much with such a short story, but In Fair Verona gave me enough of a story that I'm interested in Nico's adventures and picked up Book 1. The world building is creative, the characters interesting and likeable and the story had a good pace.

🎧 Narrator comment: Darcy Stark did a good job on the narration, he has a good range of characters so its easy to distinguish them from each other. Has good cadence, inflections and intonations, I enjoyed his performance and think he bought the characters and story to life.

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📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 7
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough • 5 enjoyed it • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list • 8 kept me up past bed-time • 9 recommended to family/friends • 10 own it in multiple formats • 11 keep a copy with me at all times
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Another Meghan Maslow series? Oh yeah, I'm there

It takes a special kind of imagination to develop a romance-loving incubus whose 'special energy' is love, not lust! I was already in love with Meghan Maslow's Starfig Investigation series, so I was well prepared to dive into anything and everything else she writes. This winter, she spearheaded the Magic Emporium series and is making her contribution into a series that will be continuing indefinitely. Starting with this prequel mystery 'In Fair Verona', readers are able to find out how Nico the Incubus manages to get his position as a cupid. At the beginning of the short, we find Nico being sexually harassed by the much-admired knight Sir Galfridus as he works at Marden's Magic Emporium. The shop appears only when a creature is in dire need and Nico's task is to find an object that the knight should have to keep him safe and alive. When the knight is killed, Nico is compelled to investigate the matter and he manages to solve the mystery. Masterfully narrated by Darcy Stark, 'In Fair Verona' is an awesome start to what promises to be an absolutely fantastic series.

A sweet prequel!!

This is a Prequel to Must Love Demons.

This was a sweet introduction and a fairly quick listen.

The world building was engaging, descriptive and enthralling.

Darcy Stark's narration was enjoyable, engaging and entertaining.

After listening to this one, I immediately dived into the next book in this series.

An Enjoyable Prequel!

This book was an entertaining short story. It was nice seeing Nico working at the emporium and solving his case. I enjoyed the interaction between Nico and the dwarves too.

Nico is cute. From my understanding, this is a prequel to the series. I’m looking forward to more in the series! This narrator was fun. The author and narrator duo were great!

Great short story

An incubus who, instead of inciting lust in others, spreads love. Fascinating. This novella is like a magical mystery, a whodunnit of mythical origins. Although there are many happily in love couples, it is not necessarily a ‘romance’ novel. A fantastic setup to the next book which IS a romance featuring the same characters. Darcy Stark gives an A+ performance! You’ve got to hear his rendition of Dwarvish poetry! And his different character voices are absolutely phenomenal!

Recommend!

I loved this look into Nico's life before the Cherubs. It was a great little mystery and really showed Nico's personality and life in Verona. As with most of Meghan Maslow's books, I never want to stop reading about her worlds. I loved how there were a few Easter eggs tying it to the Starfig books. It's very short but complete.

I really liked the narration and thought he brought the characters to life.