A Forest of Stars

Court of Starlight and Darkness, Book 1

By: Linsey Hall

Narrated by: Laurel Schroeder

Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

My idea of a good time used to be a rom-com and pint of ice cream. But when a lethally sexy fae king kidnaps me, that changes. I’m forced to compete in a deadly competition to become his queen.

Now, my idea of a good time is surviving the day. The Court of Starlight and Darkness is a gorgeous place, but I can’t stay. The Ice King's eyes burn with heat each time he looks at me, and I burn right back. The problem? He's cruel and dangerous.

The king has no idea I’m human, and if he finds out, I’m dead. My only choice is to compete until I find a way to escape—I just need to survive until then.

A Forest of Stars is the first in a new trilogy by Linsey Hall.

©2022 Bonnie Doon Press Inc. (P)2022 Bonnie Doon Press Inc.

meh

narration is stilted and very had to get through almost as if there multiple periods in the writing, like the author doesn't know the use of commons and semicolons. the story was a great idea but the execution of the story was seriously lacking details in a real way, it makes it really hard to care about any of the characters because except the Lore, and that's just barely. it's worth the listen if you can get past that but don't expect anymore more than a shallow story with elements of love that the parties don't want to admit to. there were also moments when the main female character could have shown more compassion and expressed words to help heal hurt others expressed to her thus creating a deeper connection between the readers and characters but the author completely failed by overlooking that aspect. the character building and story building completely falls flat and the world building is non existent.

Took a bit to get into it, but will continue with the series.

I like the story, the character development and the slow building chemistry between leads.

However the narration was painful. She put really weird… emphasis??… on weird words or in the middle of words. Stopped and started twice because of it, and then it took me over half the book to learn to ignore it.

really cool

I'm excited for the next book. the relationships have much more growing, as well as the characters.

Plain and Cheesy

It wasn't very engaging but I made it to chapter 17 until I could no longer take it and skipped to the last chapter. The audible voice over was so cringy when she would voice the male leads POV. She'd deepen her voice and it completely took me out of the book.

The story itself was a typical fae tale about women competing for the crown. The inner thoughts of the main female lead were boring and simple. The main male lead seemed dull and 2-dimentional. What really did it for me was when Cinderella was made into an actual character in this realm. In all, it was way too cheesy for an adult book to me.

Yikes

I will say at the top I DNF. The narration was like being in a manual with a new driver. The flow of the sorry was just not there. There was a bad flow or no flow that it felt like I was being read a grocery list. I love Linsey Hall books generally so maybe I just have to read it myself. I’m sad. I wanted this to be good.

Not for your ears

Sorry! I hate even thinking about writing this review. I am not finishing this audiobook. The narration sounds like Alexa on a good day. The story is mildly interesting so I’ll keep reading it without the audio. I’m on chapter 8 and am one of those readers that needs to keep going…. We’ll see how far I get. But no more audio. Needs a do-over with a little more heart and vocal range.