Nudging Fate

Enchanted Occasions, Book 1

By: E.J. Russell

Narrated by: Kirt Graves

Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

With his heart’s desire at stake, can he resist giving Fate a little nudge?

Half-norn event planner Anders Skuldsson is under strict orders from Asgard not to meddle with Fate. But with Enchanted Occasions’ latest booking - the competition for the hand of Faerie’s one true prince - crashing around his ears, it’s really, really, really difficult to toe that particular line. So...if Andy just happens to pose as a contender for the prince? It’s an emergency, damn it. Besides, it’s only temporary, so Odin can hardly blame him. Right?

If Conall of Odstone hadn’t sworn a blood oath to protect his half-brother, Prince Reyner, he’d murder the idiot himself. Rey was supposed to be here, choosing a mate before being crowned and wed. Instead, he’s disappeared, leaving Con to impersonate him. Again.

But when Con meets Andy, his anger turns to desire...and despair. Even if Andy forgives him for pretending to be someone he’s not, how could a man as appealing and accomplished as Andy - a man who’s eligible for a prince’s hand, for pity’s sake - settle for the court outcast?

As for Andy, his burgeoning feelings for the prince are both unfortunate and hopeless because hello? Half-norn? Faerie prince? Not exactly a match made in Valhalla.

When the Faerie Queen herself hands down an ultimatum, the double deception isn’t their only obstacle. Unless Andy makes the right decision, both their fates could be sealed by...well.... Fate.

Nudging Fate is a 54,000-word paranormal rom-com featuring mistaken identity, royalty in disguise, interfering coworkers, an iron knight with a soft heart, a temperamental goblin chef, and a guaranteed HEA.

©2018 E.J. Russell (P)2021 E.J. Russell

Absolutely brilliant!

This was such a wholesome adorable romance.

Andy and Con were so sweet together and I loved the dynamics of their relationship.

The setting of the story was interesting and the world building was descriptive, rich and engaging.

Kirt Graves performed an amazing audio delivery and narration.

Definitely recommend this Gem!

Con/Andy for the Win

This was such a great story! I fell in love with Con & Andy big time and the world they love in, I wish I could live there too. Big prop’s to Graves for the narration, awesome job as always.

another great paranormal series!

That was an AMAZING start of a new paranormal series!
I loved every second spent with Andy and/or Con. They are both LOVELY.

The story is fast paced, dramatic, complicated and VERY entertaining. There is a lot of characters and they all have their special role in Enchanted Occasions. I got sucked into the story right from the moment I learnt Con was pretending to be Rey, the real fae prince. All in all, I don't have to be from Asgard or other paranormal realm to know it can only lead to some serious problems.

It is a low heat story, but I think it is safe to say that it is a love at (almost) first sight type of romance since everything happens FAST and it doesn't take long for both MCs to declare their love. At the same time, the situation is difficult and nothing is as it seems which makes the the love story and the prince's coronation even more intriguing. The whole book feels like a old fashioned fairy tale with a sweet HEA, bad queen and love winning against all odds. I really can't wait to read / listen more books from Enchanted Occasions series.

The audiobook version was FABULOUS. Kirt Graves was a perfect choice for this book and it was a pleasure to listen to him. All characters were voiced perfectly and I loved this audiobook!

Great tale

I love Kirt graves and the story made me giggle and cheer at timrs. I didn't feel much empathy for some of the bratty crude or rude folks but I loved the crew of the staff. not going to let out any tidbits it's best read or in my case listened to !

DNF 50% not funny at all

ridiculous characters and the "comedy" was not funny at all. just irritating all around.

Enjoyable listen

Andy is an event planner and his crew is preparing for the prince of Fae to come and choose his consort from the lot his mother sent for him to pick from. Problem, the man saying he’s the prince isnt actually the prince, he’s the brother, Con, in disguise. There’s some under handed things happening to sabotage the proceedings and a few misunderstandings but Con and Andy work it out.

easy listening

great story and narration. really enjoyed it
second book in series not on audible so kinda disappointing.

So much fun!

I loved this audiobook! The story was a lot of fun and really cute. Andy and Con were such a great couple with some really cute moments together. They fit together so well and complimented each other once they got together. It was a lot of fun to see them develop their relationship. The world building made the story even better. This author and narrator combo was perfect for this story and I can’t wait to get to find out more about this world and get to know even more of the characters.

Such a cute listen!

This book was a really fun listen! The world EJ Russell has built is rich and varied, and sets this up to be a really fun series. As always with this author the story is fast paced and really comical, it’s hard to listen to this without a smile on your face. Andy and Con were really loveable characters and I enjoyed watching their story evolve.

As always Kirt Graves did a fantastic job at narrating this story.

I received an arc of this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving an honest and unbiased review

Narrator Kirt Graves read this beautifully! Wow!

Yet ANOTHER winner from writer E. J. Russell and this one in audio format narrated by the simply incredible Kirt Graves. The author gives us a double deception romance with a fantasy version of The Bachelor! Half-norm Anders Skuldsson is a planner who is managing a special event. The booking involves a competition for the hand of Faerie Prince Reyner and he takes his job seriously, wrangling the male and female contenders while ensuring that everything is picture-perfect for the occasion.
Catastrophe strikes in the form of the Prince who decides to get his half-brother Conall of Odestone to stand in for him during the preliminaries of dinners and dates with the competitors. Though Anders is unaware of the first catastrophe, he is a party to the second one when a competitor decides to poison the others leaving them too sick to meet with Prince Reyner. The magical iron knight makes sure the miscreant suffers the same fate, leaving no contender available to make a bid as the prince's consort. A coworker comes up with the best possible idea given the circumstance, she puts Anders forward as a contender! Claiming that he had suffered a rough trip where luggage was lost or stolen, Anders takes his turn at meeting with the prince only to discover a considerate, charming, as well as handsome man! Too bad he's the prince, or so he thinks.
Standing in for Prince Reyner as he has done so very many times before, Conall is delighted by Anders who is handsome, charming, and considerate! Too bad he is charged with selecting his half-brother's consort when he'd like to have Anders all to himself. But Andy is there to marry the prince and not a half-brother imposter. And Andy is not really a contender at all, just a half-norn event planner trying to hold the competition together. When it's all said and done, the actual prince has made his own selection while living it up in Los Vegas and come back in time to claim his crown. But fate (and NOT Anders's doing) has plans of its own.
Author EJ Russell engages in some of the BEST writing legerdemain imaginable in keeping readers from going crazy with the double deception that occurs between Conall and Anders! After establishing how perfect they would be together, she turns the readers' focus on all the other truly delightful events in the book, leaving them to enjoy other aspects of the story. Just before readers throw their arms up in despair, the deception is revealed and the actual prince is back in the picture only to take the readers off on another development in the narrative. The story ends with an OMG moment that many would not expect! With incredible world-building, wonderful characters, a beautiful premise uniquely executed, Nudging Fate is ABSOLUTELY brilliant!

Fun romp

If you've wanted that Alexandre Dumas spirit of people pretending to be someone other than who they are and then having to deal with all the unexpected consequences, this is the romance for you. Andy and Con fall for each other but when they do, both are pretending to be someone they are not. Watching them figure out how to come clean and not lose the love of,their life is both amusing and angsty at times. Russell never loses her way in the plot and Kirt Graves is the perfect performer for this. He can perfectly capture all the lightness and froth while also digging into the deeper emotions and making these characters fully three dimensional so we care deeply about what happens to them.

Fun

I really enjoyed this book, it was really entertaining, I enjoyed all aspects of it and look forward to the next book in the series.

Great start to a new series.

We meet Anders, a well-developed character with enough personality to make the book sing.

The book is full of great characters, not just the two main ones, but countless sides, some of whom will get their own stories, I'm sure.

The main world-building is excellent, set between earth and the faerie realm. Seriously you can imagine walking amongst these creatures and not batting an eyelid.

Great imagination and is exceptionally well written. Highly recommend.

The narration was on point, and Kirt Graves does enough voices that you always know which character is talking. I did slightly increase the speed, which is typical for me.

Nudging Fate
Enchanted Occasions, Book 1
By: E.J. Russell
Narrated by: Kirt Graves
Series: Enchanted Occasions, Book 1
Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins

❤❤❤❤❤ Overall
🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 Narration
📚📚📚📚📚 Story
Read at 1.15 speed on Audible

Love this new series

I adore E.J. Russell books. I’ve been on a kick for a bit, plowing through all her recently released audiobooks. I’m truly enjoying myself, and this new book is no exception.

Enchanted Occasions is the premier party planner for the Fae. Andy runs the company, often employing those who cannot pass in the outer world. He’s lucky, he can. Comes in handy when he takes the prince to Portland. Or the man he believes is the prince.

Conall has spent a good portion of his life pretending to be someone else – literally. His half brother is the prince and he’s a slacker. So Con transforms and attends boring meetings and events where the prince’s presence is required. Normally he just goes along with the ruse, but when he meets Andy, everything changes. Suddenly he wants the half-norn for himself, and he’s happy to leave his brother to sort out the whole betrothed thing. If Prince Reyner would actually show up!

Anyway, everything gets chaotic – as it often does in a rom-com – and then everything gets sorted out. I certainly enjoyed the ride and might have caught myself laughing out loud numerous times.

To top off my enjoyment, Kirt Graves narrated the book. I adore him and his narration was perfect. Another great book.

There's No Arguing With Fate.

MM, Paranormal romance, with action, drama (lots of drama!), humour, emotion and twists and turns. Fantastic story that I truly enjoyed listening to, never a dull moment! A great introduction to the series, I can't wait to listen to book two. Kirt Graves as always performed brilliantly doing the narration and gave this great story life.

Con and Andy 🤴🤴

Con has to step in for his brother, the royal prince. He has done this with magic lots of time, but this time the Faerie Queen is looking to marry the prince off. Andy, the event planner for this charade where there are consorts from ever realm, had to step in when everyone got sick. It’s a magical romance where good trumps evil and true color are shown. Andy and Con survive all, and get their happily ever after. I hadn’t read about some types of magical beings so it was fun reading that. The narration is very good. Pretty enjoyable PNR listen.

Reality show style dating meets royal romance

Fun read, interesting world, likable characters. I enjoyed this one and am interested in more enchanted occasions events. Wonderful romance and a satisfying ending all around. Great narration.

The Power of Fate and Love

Nudging Fate is the first book in the Enchanted Occasions series, an urban paranormal series with romance and incredible world building. I’m a huge fan of E.J. Russell’s fictional worldbuilding. She does her research when it comes to legends, myths, and fairytales which she then weaves together into a fascinating “modern” world. The setting for the Enchanted Occasions series is rich with a lot of layers and depth which makes me excited to see how the world evolves.

Andy and Con were interesting characters. I especially liked Andy’s power of fate, something I’ve never seen in another book before. The romance between Andy and Con was sweet, and there were many humorous moments with mistaken identities, fussy and snobby guests, and all the shenanigans that come with a bachelor-esque style competition with magical beings. My only complaint was that the book felt too short and wished it had been a bit longer so we could enjoy more of the courting competition. However, there are more books in this universe, and I’m so excited to see what else happens.

The audiobook was well done. Kirt Graves narrated the book, and he’s just a fantastic narrator who is a master at his craft. The characters were all voiced perfectly and I loved the audio performance. I listened to this entire book in one day because it was so much fun.

Andy and Con

Andy is an Event planner for Enchanted Occasions. He is to see that Prince Reyner chooses a Consort, but Conall his half brother is in his place pretending to be the Prince. With mishaps, Andy is thrown in as a contender. Neither knows the other isn't who they are meant to be, they fall in love, before finding out the truth. E.J Russell's world building is fantastic. Kirk hits it out of the ball park, brilliant way to start a new series

Fun, sweet, enjoyable fantasy

I really enjoyed this sweet, funny, entertaining fantasy love story. I loved the different characters, and the mixing of Fae, Norsemen, Norns, demons, berserkers, and other mythological peoples/creatures. I adored Andy as the only male Norn, especially as he tried to resist the urges to tweak fate. There are comments made that make it seem like there should be a prologue-type book that covers the creation of the Enchanted Occasions group and describes the prior (disastrous) event alluded to here. I am not sure if that event occurred in a related series or something, but I wanted to know what happened. I would love to see a story with the POV of some of the other characters, and hope that will come in future books. This is a unique, creative story, with a fun plot and a real villain in the Queen. I especially loved the surprise twist near the end. I suspected a lot of how things would end, though I didn't know how they would get there, but I didn't see that twist coming. I can't wait for more in this series.

Kirt Graves did a great job on the narration, distinguishing all the individual characters and infusing them with personality.

I received an free copy of this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.