Resting Witch Face

Stay a Spell, Book 5

By: Juliette Cross

Narrated by: Johanna Fairview, Aiden Snow

Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Twelve years ago, Jules Savoie ended her relationship with the vampire overlord of New Orleans, Ruben Dubois, and for good reasons.

A woman in power must often make sacrifices to protect others. She knows the truth of it down to her aching heart.

When Ruben watches his best friend Devraj get married, a stinging realization hits him hard: he’s done waiting.

They say time heals all wounds. In this case, it merely sharpened the pain and made one fact crystal clear. Jules Savoie is his soulmate, and nothing would keep her from him. Not anymore.

Forced to work side by side to fight for the werewolf cause, they campaign together at covens from New Orleans to London. The reignited spark burns hotter than ever before. But when a power-hungry vampire sets his predatory sights on Jules, will their love be strong enough against black magic? Or will he lose her again? And this time, maybe…for good.

©2022 Juliette Cross, LLC (P)2023 Podium Audio

Great series!

Loving this series and the weaving of the storylines of the characters! On to the next book!

It’s about damn time! (SPOILERS)

I’ve been team Ruben + Jules (Juliana) since the first Book of Spells. These two characters are what true love is really about, and not just lusty desire for one another. I’m glad we traveled back in time to see how their relationship ended. The way both characters recognized that they needed to end things years ago in order to mature, makes this my favorite Book of Spells story…so far.
Jules is my most relatable Savoie sister. Always putting others first for the greater good; is so me. Clara’s story is up next, to finish out the series. I can’t wait, she’s my favorite Savoie sister.
The subplot wasn’t the best. There was definitely room for growth there.
Narrators…did a very good job with the British dialects. I love the way they switched Ruben’s dialect back to British, even though it was inconsistent. That’s just the way of the world. Everyone I know slips back into their childhood dialect whenever they’re home.

*I’m not sure why there are so many complaints about this story. This book, like whole series are Fantasy Erotica; which means SEX! Someone wrote too many sex scenes…uh HELLO, read another book.

Great addition to the series

4.5 stars. My second favorite in the series so far. I can see why many of the factors in this book might not work for people. All of this tension has been building up over the series between Ruben and Jules but, towards the beginning of Resting, both characters do some self-reflection and realize it wasn't the right time to be together before but it is now. They've grown and changed and are ready for a relationship. Many may find it anticlimactic. But I loved it. I love when two characters act like the mature adults they should be.

Ruben was such a devoted hero. The yearning! And the patient "hunting" of Jules so that she would fall in love with him. And his territorial vampire nature when around other vampires. And how much he wanted to take care of her because she is always taking care of others. All of it was delightful.

While I missed the rest of the Savoie clan, I enjoyed that this book broke out from New Orleans and we got to see how other areas in the US and abroad rule their paranormal creatures. This was the right amount of fantasy politics for me - introduction to plenty of interesting characters with ulterior motives, but nothing so in depth it became boring. Mostly the politics were there to further the plot and hold gatherings with powerful people in one place. I liked that we learned more about vampire society in this book, which paired well with the much darker plot at the end.

The pacing in this book was an issue for me though. I was addicted to this book for about the first 50% but then it started to slow down once Ruben and Juliana were solidly together. The plot became much more focused on the external factors, and I wanted to see the growth of the relationship weaved more into the later section.

The narration was amazing - I love Johanna Fairview and Aiden Snow in this series.

So good!

I couldn’t wait to finally hear Jules’s story and it did not disappoint! It was so good and another great addition for the Savoie sisters!

A swoony second chance romance with a side of danger

I loved, loved the unfurling of Jules and Ruben’s second chance HEA. The story is filled with all the emotions, the connections and the love. This delicious story evoked all the feels for me. Expect to laugh, cry, gasp, cheer, grind your teeth, bite your knuckles, and swoon while reading. The story included witty dialogue, three dimensional characters who grow, and an engaging storyline. Jules is a witch and the enforcer for the New Orleans’ territory. Ruben is an old and powerful vampire who is also head of the New Orleans vampire guild. They had a relationship twelve years ago but that information is not common knowledge even by their families. The reason for their breakup is also unknown at the start of the book. Ruben now wants their “break” to end and he has let Jules know his intentions. They are traveling together to visit parts of North America and Europe to champion the cause of allowing werewolves to participate in supernatural society as equals rather than being treated as dirty animals and second class citizens. On their way to their HEA, there is a small bit of angst and the conflict in the story is a combination of external and internal as they work through their issues, champion their cause, navigate supernatural politics, and deal with an unexpected dangerous foe. The book has the same main characters from the other books in the series with many new characters added into the mix as they travel together. The story includes what you’d expect from this genre - fighting, dangerous situations, paranormal creatures, loyal friends and family, tragic back stories, mystical coincidences, evil actors, snark, uber protective men, strong women, love, and laughs. This is the fifth book in the Stay a Spell series. It is a standalone but do yourself a favor and read them all. You’ll be so glad you did. I am excited to read the final book in this series.

Johanna Fairview and Aiden Snow did a phenomenal job narrating and breathing life into the story and the characters with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite convincingly.

Spectacular

Another Amazing Book! Love this series and can't wait for the next book to be available on Audible!

Awesome!

Love this series. Quirky, steamy and exciting! Great narration and story! Highly recommend the entire series!

The Story is the Best in the Series but...

So I read the story on my kindle since I couldn't wait the months for the audio version and I absolutely adored it and was still ridiculously excited for the audiobook, but the narrators sort of killed it for me. The narrators are the same through the series and they usually do an awesome job throughout unless they have to use an accent, and sadly half of this story takes place in England and not NOLA. I thought the Indian accents they used for Devraj were bad, until I heard these. Their various British accents go from bad to atrocious.

It was really disappointing since the story itself is soo good and I wish they would have done something to try and address the accent issue or just read it without accents.

Ruben and Jules

Loved reading about Ruben and Jules. The narrators did a great job. Love this series.

So Much Angst

I was looking forward to this one, despite the rest of the series not having hit for me, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed this. Of course, you already have that build of tension from seeing Ruben and Jules interact in the previous 4 books and that really helps to set the scene. There is just so much angst and pining in this and when it breaks, and they get officially together it's all that more satisfying. This is exactly what I was expecting for this second chance romance.

Overall, this is my favorite of the series so far with only one more book to go!