Thief

The Scarred Mage of Roseward, Book One

By: Sylvia Mercedes

Narrated by: Heather Costa

A clever thief. A disgraced mage. A kiss of poison....

Don't miss this romantic Beauty and the Beast trilogy!

Peronelle Beck longs for nothing more than to leave behind her thieving ways and pursue a life of honest work. But when her father lands himself neck-deep in debt, Nelle must take on a dangerous job if she hopes to save his life...a job that brings her to the shores of Roseward Isle.

For 15 years, Soran Silveri has fought to suppress the nightmarish monster stalking Roseward. His weapons are few and running low, and the curse placed upon him cripples his once unmatched power. Isolation has driven him to the brink of madness, and he knows he won’t be able to hold on much longer.

When a sharp-tongued, uncouth, and undeniably beautiful young woman shows up on his shore, Soran resolves to drive her away. He won’t be responsible for another death!

But Nelle is equally determined not to be frightened off by the hideously scarred mage. Not until she gets what she came for....

Can two outcasts thrown together in a tangle of lies discover they are each other’s only hope? Or will the haunted darkness of Roseward tear them apart?

For fans of Emma Hamm, Miranda Honfleur, Audrey Grey, and Grace Draven.

©2020 Sylvia Mercedes (P)2020 Sylvia Mercedes

Feels like a prequel

This book built up a pretty interesting world- I love the spooky atmosphere, and the little tidbits we're learning about the magic system, and the Big Evil is well illustrated over a few scenes. My main issue is that the whole book just establishes those stakes. It doesn't really feel like anything happens in this book, besides getting the protagonist to where the action is going to happen. She sort of has a goal at the beginning of the book, but because of the information we learn immediately about her target, it's pretty easy to tell she's not going to get around to doing anything about it.
I'm still interested in hearing the rest of the series, mostly because this book didn't have any payoff of it's own, and I feel a little resentful of that.
The only other thing holding me back from jumping on the next one of these is how disappointed I was by the narrator. It's easy to hear that the main character is written to have an accent- probably something like a cockney accent or even Irish- which helps set her class apart from her well-educated love interest. It's really weird that the narration doesn't keep up with that, considering that the main character uses slang that sounds really weird in a flat American accent. It made much of the book's content sound awkward, when it should have been flavorful and fun.

The Narrator Killed This

It would probably have been better if I read the book myself. The narrator really stunk, especially at voicing Nelle's folksy lines. I wanted to scream every time she said "ain't" or "bullspit". I don't usually complain about the narrator, but this particular one ruined the dialog. The story was pretty good until the last 35-ish minutes. The main mystery of what is happening on the island borrows too much from the author's other books while at the same time muddling the principals of noswraiths from those books. I was disappointed with the ending.

Classically Intriguing

An interesting twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast fairytale retelling. Add in mystery, magical creatures, and twists in this spellbound book.

Great narration

Slow but gets better

The story is good. Not great, but good enough I want to know what happens. The narrator could use some work. You know in Princess Bride, where the Man in Black/ Westley is in Prince Humperdinck’s Pit of Despair, and he’s just waking up and speaks to the Albino? And the Albino has this raspy, sort of whispery voice and then he clears his throat of phlegm and whatever else is caught in it? Well that’s how the narrator’s voice was. I just wanted her to clear her throat so that her voice projected better. And when she did each of the characters’ voices it just seemed as if her voice was dubbed so it sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks were the voice of the characters. Thankfully, the plot of the book was intriguing enough I was able to overlook the irritating voice of the narrator. Hoping the next book is better.

Loved this whole series

I loved all three of the books in this series. Romance, curses, magic, faeries, fearless heroine and troubled hero. Perfect escapist fiction. I was only lukewarm on the narrator. But the story was good enough I didn’t mind the narration.