If only the author didn't push an ideological view...

Ok so I am torn. I didn't like a previous book I tried from this author(book not tied to this series), but I like the narrators so I figured maybe they can work their magic on my ears.

Performance 5/5: Shane East delivered and how he brings the books' mmc to life made this book so enjoyable. I also liked how he uses distinct accents to depict the various male characters in chapters or sections when Dev is interacting with the other male secondary characters. Samantha Brentmore is a hit or miss depending on the book, but this time I really liked how she brought all the quirks of the fmc out. The only mini downside that I have noticed with her narrative style is that she doesn't do voice differentiation for the female secondary characters unless there is a noticeable age difference.

Story 3/5: This book is not like Ms. Pipers' other book that I read which tend to run more magic/action focused. This is not necessarily a negative unless you were looking for that aspect specifically. If you want low angst, low drama, small-town romcom, this book might be for you. Just ignore the paranormal traits in the book because they don't really impact the story.

****The following is my personal opinion, but it's why I gave the story an average score regardless of how well the narrators did.

My biggest pet-peeve was the man hating in the book. Keep in mind this is a M/F romance, and the MMC plays a belated, but active role in saving the indecisive, self-doubting FMC (btw, him helping her is a requirement to free them both from the bonds from the spell she drunk-casted...) Anyways, examples, baddies are simply referred to as "men", rich/frat-brother cohorts, town founders backstory showcasing inequality (2 guys given credit immediately, but the female witch whos life sacrifice wasn'tacknowledged until much later even though her sacrifice allows for the town to be a sanctuary for human and nonhumans). I don't want to expand, but every forced instance made me cringe. I feel like if Devlins' character wasn't needed for the m/f aspect to classify this book as a romance, he wouldn't exist in his role. He could've easily been re-casted as the leader of the baddies based on gender alone. As a strong, straight woman, I love strong men in my romances, please don't ruin fiction books with current social trending hastags and so on.

This author is another who's joined the long list of "give it a miss" for me regardless of their writing skill because I am kind of tired of the woke nonsense ruining books for me. If it wasn't for this, I could have been inspired to give Ms. Pipers' books another try.

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