House of Ash and Shadow

Gilded City, Book 1

By: Leia Stone

Narrated by: Vanessa Moyen

Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

“And what if I go dark?” I whimpered.

His face sobered. “Then I will jump into the shadows and pull you back to the Light.”

Seventeen-year-old Fallon Bane was born with a curse: A single touch from another person will always cause her excruciating pain. Thus, she has accepted that she will die without ever being kissed, without even hugging her own father.

But when her beloved father falls ill, she breaks into the magical Gilded City to find a healer fae who can save him. When handsome healer Ariyon Madden agrees to help, everything she knows about herself and her curse changes. Because during her father’s healing, Ariyon reaches out and touches her bare skin. She waits for the agony...but it never comes.

For the first time in her life, she imagines a new future for herself. However, that fantasy is short-lived, because not only does Ariyon flee from her in disgust when he learns of her curse, he also reveals her existence to powerful fae who want to hurt her.

Fallon is then swept away to a magical academy, where she learns the terrifying truth about her family history and her dark magic. Her life and the future of fae everywhere hang in the balance, and all the while Fallon is dreaming of being touched by Ariyon Madden one more time before she dies....

©2023 Leia Stone (P)2023 Leia Stone

original

Unique plot. there were a couple small plot holes, but as a whole the story was very enjoyable. The narrator was adept at conveying emotion and tone, but occasionally was difficult to determine which character she spoke as. I enjoyed the humor and that there was not the unnecessary dramatics of situations that have audiences screaming "that could have been resolved with one mature conversation."
As a whole, this is a very good "read" and I look forward to book two.

Great start to a new series!

I can't wait for the next 2 audiobooks! Her latest series keeps getting better and better!

OMG!

Oh I was so worried I wouldn’t like this book of it would be boring, but oh how I love to be wrong! It was so good! Fallon is the type of character who you just want to grab her in a hug and tell her all be ok, as long as it doesn’t cause her extreme pain. She is just so good, despite coming from evil. I can’t wait to see what happens next and hope she can fix things in the next book. I love this narrator and think she did a great job!

Just Wow

I wish I’d started this book sooner. What a great storyline, wonderful characters, and great narration.

Amazing story

I loved it all. There is nothing I disliked of the book. I love the characters and story. I can’t wait to read book 2.

Great characters and story

Loved the story and narration! Can’t wait to listen to the next story in the series!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Fallon Bane was born with a devastating curse: a single touch from another person will cause her excruciating pain. Thus, she has accepted that she will die without ever being kissed, without even hugging her own father, though it breaks her heart every day.

But when her beloved father falls ill, she breaks into the magical Gilded City to find a healer fae that can save him. When handsome healer Ariyon Madden agrees to help, everything she knows about herself and her curse changes. Because during her father's healing, Ariyon reaches out and touches her bare skin. She waits for the agony… but it never comes. For the first time in her life, she imagines a new future for herself. However, that fantasy is quickly destroyed, because not only does Ariyon flee from her in disgust when he learns of her curse; he also reveals her existence to powerful fae who want to hurt her.

Fallon is then swept away to a magical academy, where she learns the terrifying truth about her family history and her dark magic. Her life and the future of fae everywhere hang in the balance, and all the while Fallon can't help but wonder if she will get to touch Ariyon Madden one more time before she dies…”

Leia Stone has done it again 🙌🏻

HOUSE OF ASH AND SHADOW & HOUSE OF WAR AND BONE were absolutely awesome!

Such a push & pull of emotions so wonderfully written 💜

Vanessa Moyen was awesome as always, especially as Yanric 😂🐦‍⬛

I’m counting down the days until I can listen to HOUSE OF LIGHT AND ETHER 🙌🏻

Holy crap!

With every new series that Leia writes, I think there’s no way it could be better than the last, and each new series becomes my new favorite. You have such away of bringing the characters to life and falling in love with them or hating them and Vanessa Moyen, you are the best narrator ever, and I’ve listened to a lot of books, you bring these characters to life in a way not many people can do!! good job ladies!❤️

Great new series!

4.5 Stars 🌟

This was an unexpected surprise for me. I really enjoyed this first book as it set up this new world and introduced a new and intriguing female MC with a very original "curse". We then began to learn about the magic system in place and are learning about everything at the same time as the MC - who had absolutely NO idea about the existence of magic and the abilities that lay dormant in her.

It's odd that this week I read 2 different books revolving around an academy type magic system and they were as different as night and day. Both really great books, but COMPLETELY different = one Urban Fantasy and the other High Fantasy. It never ceases to amaze me how you can take the same basic premise and yet have 2 completely different worlds, emoti9ons and reactions. I am eagerly awaiting book 2 from both of these series. fun, fun, fun......

Need next book now

Loved it. Hate that I have to wait til December for next audiobook. The story line is great and damn the cliffhanger is killer.