The Winter Charlatan

The Storyteller's Series

De: Victoria McCombs

Narrado por: Nichole James

A queen raised in the shadows, and a fraud prince who needs her help.

The sole heir to the kingdom is destined to sleep for a hundred years. To hide this liability, the queen left her cursed daughter in the care of a trusted lord, while taking his son as her own. Rowan grew up hating the boy who had her crown and vowed to one day reclaim her place as queen.

But when a neighboring king threatens a war they won’t survive, Rowan must work with the fraud prince to save Elenvérs. She pledges herself as his spy in the enemy court and lives in the heart of danger. If she can’t save her kingdom before the curse hits, there may be nothing left to wake up to.

Book three in the Storyteller's Series. Each book is set in the same world with a few overlaying characters, but is a unique plot.

©2021 Victoria McCombs (P)2022 Victoria McCombs

Coming of Age

I enjoyed listening to this story brought to life by Nichole James. This historical coming of age story with Sleeping Beauty theme has a secret princess struggling to end her curse of falling asleep for one hundred years upon her nineteenth birthday. It was well written, with good flow and interesting developed characters.

Who was Sleeping Beauty before?

Note: this review applies to the audiobook edition. I was given a free promo code in exchange for my honest review.

Solid 4.5 fantasy for me. I dithered between a 4 and 5, only because the beginning was a tad slow for me. But I'm glad I stuck with it!

This lovely fairytale answers the question-- who was Sleeping Beauty before she became Sleeping Beauty? Even better, how will it work out for her and the prince who awakens her?

The winter palace and icy kingdom were dreamy. The characters were well fleshed out, and had many different sides. The plot had plenty of twists and turns. The MC showed lots of growth, which I loved.

I'm particularly intrigued by the seeds of a blossoming romance, especially since it wasn't who I suspected Rowan would wind up with.

I'm very interested to read/ listen to Book Two!

The narrator has a smooth, beautiful voice and did an excellent job bringing the story to life.

Highly recommended for fans of ya fantasy, clean fantasy, romantic fantasy, fairytale retellings, and fairytale fantasy.

Kept me guessing!!

Kept me guessing - and I was usually wrong!

Fairytale re-tellings are one of my favorite genres! I absolutely loved Victoria's sleeping beauty inspired retelling.

This a great listen, the narrator delivered a solid performance.

Here were some things I loved:

1. The sister relationship between Rowan and Elis.
2. Rowans recognition of her flaws and her struggle to overcome them - also her love for Elenvers.
3. The guys! Cassian and Tarion! So different. I went back and forth with the roles I thought they'd play and was usually wrong.
4. The twists and turns
5. The way magical things like cave mages and wind messages needed no back story to understand.
6. The individual character journeys!
7. All of it! I read it in a day. Highly Recommend!

Not Your Sleeping Beauty

This young girl is tormented, cursed, hidden away....but she refuses to sleep. She will find a way, amid back-stabbing "family", looming war, spy games, and ever dwindling time. I had so much fun and so many feelings throughout this book: laughing, crying, mourning, crushing, raging, and those are always the absolutely best books. ❤

Fantastic

I liked everything about this audio book. The story and the narration were both fantastic. The way the narrator brings this story to life is absolutely wonderful.