Power of Five: Reverse Harem Fantasy

By: Alex Lidell

Narrated by: Victoria Mei

Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

Four elite fae warriors. One mortal female. A magical bond they can't allow - or resist.  

Orphaned and sold to a harsh master, Lera's life is about mucking stalls, avoiding her master's advances, and steering clear of the mystical forest separating the mortal and fae worlds. Only fools venture into the immortal realms, and only dark rumors come out... Until four powerful fae warriors appear at Lera's barn. 

River, Coal, Tye, and Shade have waited a decade for their new fifth to be chosen, the wounds from their quint brother's loss still raw. But the magic has played a cruel trick, bonding the four immortal warriors to... a female. A mortal female. 

Distractingly beautiful and dangerously frail, Lera can only be one thing - a mistake. Yet as the males bring Lera back to the fae lands to sever the bond, they discover that she holds more power over their souls than is safe for anyone... especially for Lera herself.  

Power of Five is a full-length reverse-harem fantasy novel.

©2018 Alex Lidell (P)2018 Alex Lidell

More PNR fantasy than sexy-times fantasy

Although this book is subtitled "Reverse Harem Fantasy" I found the sensual content significantly less than expected. This is primarily a paranormal romance with four heroes instead of one.

Great world building and characters. Each of the fae warriors (River, Cole, Tye and Shade) are appealing in their own way, but the real protagonist is Lera. She goes from indentured servant for a sleazy master to a fae chosen one, the fifth of a bonded group of fae warriors even though she is a mortal. The five journey to the magical realm to resolve what seems to be a mistake - a mortal cannot be joined with fae.

This book is very enjoyable in that the author does not rush the characters' story. She immerses the reader in her make-believe world so that the reader, like Lera, falls in love with River, Cole, Tye and Shade. I liked the strong detailing and mythology of this world. The sensual content was tasteful but not strongly provocative.

The narration was polished in its delivery, but I found some of the "styles" for different male character distracting. This story includes a huge cast of characters which is a challenge for the narrator and Victoria Mei strove to create distinct voices for each character in the story. The pacing was good and the clarity/enunciation was excellent.

Highly recommended for fans of PNR romance.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

15 of 15 people found this review helpful

No! It can’t end!

Wow did I love this story! This was my first Alex Lidell book, I will definitely be reading more. I love her writing style and the depth of the characters. Lera is one lucky human to find her self magically bound to four handsome Elite Fae warriors. I won’t bother with a recap, Alex Lidell has done a great job with that in the book blurb. I will say that this is a fast paced well written story. I could barely concentrate on anything else I was so engrossed in the story even when I wasn’t listening. I loved Shade’s endearment calling Lera pup! The narrator did a great job moving through the character and I loved her Scottish accent. Definitely recommend this book

14 of 14 people found this review helpful

Semi Clean read

Lera was orphaned young and sold as a slave to a ruthless master. She live's on little food, avoiding her master's advances and taking care of horse. One day 4 fae warriors appear at the barn where Lera is working.

The 4 Immortals have been waiting for the God's to give them their 5th. Their original 5th had died a decade ago. To their chagrin what they get is a Mortal female.

They take Lera to the Fae realm to sever the bond. But along the way they realize even though Lera is mortal and weak, she just may be what they all need.

All though this is a Reverse Harem book their was not near as much sex involved in the book as in most other Reverse Harem's I have read. There was no strong language. I really enjoyed this book. Alex Lidell does a great job with this story. It is full of action, adventure, feelings, and even some fun.

Victoria Mei does an excellent job with all the voices in the book. She kept my attention and did not bore me. I loved her accent in some of the voices, she sounded like a true speaker of the accent as well.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Interesting and entertaining.

This is a well crafted story with many interesting characters.It is a Romance without a great
deal of unnecessary sex scenes.

A great performance by the Narrator captures the many characters in this Audio Book.




This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Fantastic book, need more soon

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was a surprisingly good book. I have found that I can enjoy paranormal/fantasy romance stories as long as they don't just focus on the sexual relations aspects of the story. This book did a great job of balancing that, in my opinion. The narration was well done and the story was well thought out. The author does a good job of world/character building. All in all, a great start to a new series. One I will definitely look for more in.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Gotta Get This One!

I absolutely loved this story. The narration was superb. This author gives you great detail with her character builds and the plot thickens with new twists at every turn. You have 1 mortal female who has been chosen to replace a fallen member of an elite group of highly skilled Fae warriors who have been charged with protecting the Fae and human population from Moors. Throughout the journey more information is revealed about them and their fallen member. There's treachery and manipulation unravelling in the plot. I have really come to enjoy fantasy romance novels and this one does not disappoint. A job well done! This is my first book by this author but definitely will not be my last! I can't wait for more books to be released in this series. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Amazing Story!

This was my first Alex Lidell's book and I love her writing. This RH fantasy novel is very interesting and entertaining. The storyline is fast-paced and captivating from the first page to the end. I love all the main characters: Leralynn (Lera), River, Shade, Coal and Tye. Their chemistry is strong and I appreciated their slow burn story. I can't wait for the next book in the Series. I absolutely love Victoria Mei's narration. She does an amazing job with all the characters. Her narration is great and easy to listen. In fact, I wonder how one person can personify perfectly so much characters. I absolutely love this team author/narrator and I'm looking forward for more books written by Alex Lidell and narrated by Victoria Mei. I received this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review. I have read/listened this story

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Wow

Loved this story well written and can wait for the next book. This is going up there with my top reads of this year.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

A MUST READ

I am in awe of this book. When I first started it I didn’t think I would give it a five star rating to be totally honest. I thought it would be a three star from me. Alex Lidell takes you on a ride in this story. This world and magic system is other worldly. I have not read a reviser harm novel before this one. I own a lot of them but never actually sat down to read one of them. This whole genre really intrigues me. I have to say that I am living for it.

This story is about five people and the bond that they share.

Each one of these characters will get under your skin and you want to jump through the pages of the story and fight along side them or fight with them depending on where you are in the book.

Everything about there group works. I don’t want to give to much away because it’s such a short audiobook at 5 1/2 hours. The end for me though is what really solidified my rating for this book. I can’t wait to pick up the next book.

Victoria Mei is our voice actress for this book. This is the first book that I have heard Victoria narrate. I wanted to see what else she has done and I found on Audible she has done 12 other projects which I will check out most of them. Victoria’s performance was amazing. She had a lot of voices for all of the characters and most of her accents were amazing. I must admit that when she broke out into an English accent it was different and I found it was not my favorite of her accents. She does a Scottish one and it was perfect. By the end of the story though I really liked the British accent.

The sound quality was good and clear without any distractions. There was at points some inconsistent sounds levels in the book. This only added to the story. There was some white noise in the overall sound of the audio which added the feel and the intensity of the story.

I would recommend the audiobook. This is my stances on any book. I have always like audiobooks better than physical books. To me when I’m listening to someone read me the book it takes me to another place and adds another level to the whole reading experience.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Narration made me fall in love the variation . . .

This was the first book outside of YA that I have had the pleasure of getting lost in from Alex Lidell. I found that I was being pulled in by each new layer of the lore and the pull of the magic that guides the quints. Lera was strong and determined and also sweet, innocent, and outside of her world. She was smart and willing to learn. She gave a feel that she would be easily swayed. She stood her ground and made things happen.

River had a veil of stern mystery around him. Then that became apparent when he would discuss some things. Tye I love upon meeting him in the barn. Coal was stern, harsh, coal, strong, determined, and so much more. Shade had me with those golden eyes and the softness only he could provide.

This was a semi-cliff hanger but not in the true sense of cliffhangers. This part of the tale was over and there was more to the future of the quint.

Narrator Victoria Mei did a fabulous job. She gave depth, emotion, confusion, distinction. Each character was rich and full. They each had strength in their voice, diction was clear, accents rich and even with speed changes this all held true. I loved the narration of this story and I do hope that she will be the one providing voice for the next installment. Victoria gave you the clear concise depth of character the some others miss when there is a full cast of character that are interacting so closely as they do here.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Hit and Miss. (more due to my personal taste)

Naturally for a reverse harem this book was steamy, but it had more going for it than that. The characters are well developed and the narration for each is clear and definable.

I really did enjoy the story but while I felt the characters were well rounded and well developed I did feel that the story required something (I cannot put my finger in what was missing for me, I think it just needed tweaking)

I do think that this is still worth a listen, it just didn’t quiet fully work for me.

Initially I admit, I was not a fan of the narration however I feel this is more down to personal taste, it did grow on me a bit, but I did not love it. I cannot fault the narration, there was nothing wrong with it. I just didn’t like some of the characters voices (though as I said, they were clear and definable.) I do wonder if I would enjoy the story more with different narration as I always feel that for an audiobook to completely be enjoyable the listener has to appreciate both the voice acting and the writing.



I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Alex Lidell. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Great book to listen too

This audio is still captivating even though you are listening to someone else telling the story. The book is outstanding and awesome characters, I would recommend this audio

Cute, has some tease to it, lacks world building

This is a fun, light romantic fantasy. Leralynn is at the center of everything but the guys each bring something to the table too. Tye is a constant flirt but could also be a best friend. Coal is that assassin we all wished we had on our side. Shade has more personality in his wolf shape but I can see him developing with the series. River strikes me as a good leader of the team sometimes, but sometimes he reads more like a dominant alpha.

The characters were the strongest part of this book even with their flaws. The men were all perfectly formed, which can be both breath taking (initially) and a little boring (with time). We have a damaged hero in waiting, another could be an alpha ass if things swing too far that way, another a silly goof, and the last takes us into Furry territory. Lera was OK. I wanted a bit more from her. I can see how she can develop into a solid character later in the series, but right now she can be any woman and therefore, is a kind of Mary Sue for any reader who wants to be the center of attention for these 4 guys.

The world building and magic system both lacked in details. There is a little chipping into the magic system as the story unfolds, especially once we meet the second female character in the story (Autumn’s trying to figure out the details of what binds quints). Then there’s Clarissa who adds a bit of danger to the situation. The world is painted with a broad brush, so if you’re worried you’d get lost in lots of made up Fantasy names and don’t want to consult a map, then you’d probably like this aspect. Me, I like unique place names and maps. The magic still leaves me feeling like it’s a plot device and not a fully integrated part of the story.

I wanted a quest. Yep. I know. Quests are for grim dark shady characters or teenage D&D players. Yet, I really wanted one here. I think it’s because the world building and magic system were so weak. The initial idea of getting somewhere vague to have this quint bond release Lera lacked urgency and definitely had a back seat to the lusts floating around our merry little band. Basically, I needed something just as strong as the budding romance (insta-lust) to balance things out.

I really liked Lidell’s Air and Ash but this is a different creature. It’s cute. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Victoria Mei did a pretty good job. She had distinct character voices for everyone and her male voices were usually believable. Her pacing was good too. She did sometimes put this odd significance to a word here or there that didn’t make sense. I felt like each character in turn was giving out attitude in a valley girl kind of way at some random moment. I did love her accent for Tye. There were no technical issues with this recording. 4.5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Alex Lidell. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

A Great Start to an Exciting and Magical Series!

The first in a new series about magical group of fae warriors who are appalled to discover there fifth member they have waited for, is in fact female and a human.
We start the story with Lera who was orphaned as a child and sold into a life mucking out stalls and avoiding her master’s attentions which are mostly violent. When suddenly four Fae Warriors River, Coal, Tye, and Shade rescue her from her latest beating. Her whole world start changing for the better, as Lera begins to understand the world she finds herself in. 
As the magic has chosen a human to join their magical quint. So Prince River decides it must to be a mistake. We follow them on their journey to the Council. What no one realises how the magic effects all the members, and how alive and complete they all feel.
This is a wonderful start to an entertaining and magical Series. This is told mostly from Lera’s Pov, but at times we listen in on the all five of the quint. We start to get to know the boys through thoughts and action. I can’t wait to listen to book two and find out whats going to happen.
The Narrator pulls you into story, and I listened to it in one go, as I was so immersed in the story.

Stories of Fae

This story makes me wonder if all Fae stories should be written this way... the words, the story, the world had quite an affect on me... such that I had troubles after certain chapters...

The characters, and their struggles come across very real and want me to join them in their triumphs and losses

Fantastic

I borrowed this title on my kindle unlimited subscription

Wow what an exciting read, it captured me from the first page and kept me glued to the page throughout!

With great characters that I fell in love with straight away and a fantastic storyline I was pulled into the story completely and I am eagerly awaiting book two

I decided I needed this on audio too and I was not disappointed. The narrator had a nice tone of voice, was clear and I enjoyed the cadence of her voice, the quality of the recording was clear and I highly recommend this book

loved it!

I really loved this audio, love the story everything about it!!! cant wait for the next one