An Archer's Awakening

Of Crowns & Quills, Book 1

By: Casey Morales

Narrated by: Kenn Peterson, Carmen Rose

A 2024 Global Book Awards Gold Medal Winner

A new love awakens. Dark forces stir. The world stands on the brink of war.

In a world where everyone wields magic, I'm the odd one out—ungifted and unsure. My lack of magic gnaws at my confidence, but amid this struggle, I find unexpected solace in Ayden, a fellow Ranger cadet. Our budding romance becomes the one bright spot in my life.

Then everything changes.

A shadowy threat emerges, and an ancient cult aims to resurrect a long-forgotten queen, plunging our world into chaos. Kidnappings and whispers of disaster force Ayden and me into a dangerous journey, one where trust is scarce, and betrayal lurks around every corner.

As Keelan investigates, Ayden and I must navigate this treacherous path together, uncovering secrets of the past and within ourselves.

Through it all, I will learn that true courage isn't only found on the battlefield but also lives in the quiet moments shared between two souls.

An Archer's Awakening promises a heartwarming, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers tale for fans of contemporary and fantasy mm romance alike. There is beautiful world-building, a sexual awakening, brothers fighting to save those they love, and so much more. Join this grand adventure today.

©2025 Casey Morales (P)2025 Podium Audio

points of view

I love that you get then entire stroy from all sides from each characters POV so you get to see the entire build up like seeing the domino's set up and start falling

Too many stories with little focus on any one

The book follows 3 main stories. each entertaining, but the gaps between are so long you lose interest in the first as you move to the third, just to move back to the 1st. The story described in the book description is the most interesting but only takes up 1/3 of the total book split up by many chapters that are related but not until the end. Honestly the writing is engaging but the book is poorly lain out without focusing on any one aspect of the story. The shift in focus between 3 rotating stories and 9 different narrators within the 3 stories, gets confusing and makes it difficult to maintain interest.

Get past the bad performance, and it’s a great slrory

The male narrator is fantastic. The female uses a repetitive speech pattern that’s unbearable. I sped it way up to get through her chapters. When she reads dialogue she’s great, so the pattern is deliberate. What a shame. Whoever directed/produced this should have stopped it.
I love the story. Very entertaining. Felt close to the characters.
I’m glad I kept listening. I was going to return it after hearing the woman read.

Emotional and well written!

I found myself laughing, tearing up and wondering what's next. I can't wait for what happens next! Also, the performance of the voice actors was great!

Not What I Expected

The writing is technically competent and even occasionally good. But 6 hours into this audio book, and there are already 8 different first person perspectives, 3 major plotlines, and 4 different significant relationships. Only 1 of those plotlines and 1 of those relationships involve the titular Archer. Three of the relationships are standard M/F relationships, and the M/M relationship and plotline featuring the Archer are the least and most poorly developed so far. Perhaps because of the rather extreme fragmentation of perspective and plot, the characters in this book are all incredibly underdeveloped. Their motivations, behaviors, and actions are irrational and unexplained.
I purchased this book expecting a first person close perspective M/M romantasy, and that is not what this book is.