Book: Bride of Ashes by Alaya Wells
Reviewed by Your_bookish_fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
๐๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ข
โ๏ธ๐ป๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐๐จ ๐ ๐- Bride of Ashes audio book & book
๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ NetGalley
๐ค๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง ๐LC ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ, ๐ข๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง๐ค ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฌ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค.
โ๏ธโ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ค-
๐ฃ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ Reese grey โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ and Rowan Heyes โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ (out of 5 stars, my rating scale is at the end)
๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5 / 5
๐ก๏ธ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ซ / 5 -๐โ๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐ฆ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ โ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐
Which books have I also given this same rating? (๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐ก๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ค๐)
5โญ๏ธ Fourth wing / Bound by inked flame / Anathama / The Lies of Lena / Of silver and Curses
4.5โญ๏ธ Bitten / The Female / Quicksilver / Bride / Lights Out / A Bargain so Bloody
4โญ๏ธ Spellcaster / One Dark Window / From Blood and Ash / Phantasma / Butcher & Blackbird
3โญ๏ธWe Who Will Die / The Wolf King / Daughter of No Worlds / The Ex Hex
โ๏ธ๐๐๐ช ๐๐๐๐ :
๐ง 15 ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ 30 ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ (I ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ 1.45 ๐๐๐๐๐)
๐ 584 ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐
๐น๐๐๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ multi ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฉ / # ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ- 01 March 2025
๐ฃ๐น๐ผ๐ or ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ driven? ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐โฏ๐
๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ & ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐ป๐ผ- Kingdom of Shadow and Ruin Book 1
๐๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ on ๐๐จ? โ ๐ดโฏ๐.
๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ- ๐โฏ๐น๐พ๐๐
๐ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ? โ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐๐, ๐โด, ๐โด๐ ๐๐๐พ๐๐โฏ โฏ๐โด๐๐๐ฝ, ๐พ๐๐ ๐โฏ๐๐ ๐๐๐พ๐๐โฏ๐ ๐ท๐๐ ๐น๐พ๐น๐๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐๐น โด๐๐ โฏ๐โด๐๐๐ฝ ๐ปโด๐ ๐โฏ ๐โด ๐โฏ๐ธ๐ถ๐๐ ๐พ๐ ๐๐ถ๐ 6 ๐โด๐๐๐ฝ๐ ๐๐พ๐โฏ.
๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง? (Disability, plus size, mental health etc...)โ
โณโดโด๐น๐; ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐พ๐๐๐๐, ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ป๐๐๐๐,๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐
๐๐พ๐น ๐พ โฏ๐๐ฟโด๐ ๐๐ฝ๐พ๐?โ
๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ ๐พ ๐โฏ๐ถ๐น ๐๐ฝโฏ ๐โฏ๐๐ ๐ทโดโด๐ ๐พ๐ ๐๐ฝ๐พ๐ ๐โฏ๐๐พโฏ๐?โ
๐ฒโด๐๐๐น ๐พ ๐โฏ๐ถ๐น ๐ถ๐๐๐๐ฝ๐พ๐๐ โฏ๐๐โฏ ๐ท๐ ๐๐ฝ๐พ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐ฝโด๐?โ
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐?
โ๏ธ๐โ๐ผโ๐๐ผ๐ ๐โ ๐๐๐โ๐:
๐งโโ๏ธ๐ฝ๐๐
โจ๐๐ฏ๐๐ค๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฐ
โ๏ธ๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค:
๐ฅ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง
๐ฅต๐๐พ๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐๐
๐IแีTแฉ แชOแฏแด แชแแT
๐๐ป๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ก
๐แดสสแดษดษขแดแด
แดแดสสษชแดษขแด
๐ฉโโค๏ธโ๐จ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐
๐
๐ฝ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฎ๐
๐พ๐ธโฏ ๐พ๐๐ธ๐โฏ๐ถ๐โฏ๐ ๐๐พ๐๐ฝ โฏ๐ถ๐ธ๐ฝ ๐ทโดโด๐
๐ก๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐, ๐ธ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ, ๐๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐
๐บ ๐ฟ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
โ๏ธ๐โ๐โ๐ผ๐
๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐ค & ๐น๐๐ฅ๐ฃ๐๐ช๐๐๐ค
๐ฎ๐๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฐ ๐๐ซ๐ก ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฐ
๐๐ก๐ธ๐๐ช๐ต ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฝ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐พ๐ฎ
๐งฌ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐
๐ฏ๏ธCursed Kingdom
๐คฉEpic Side Characters
๐ฆโโฌAnimal Sidekick
๐ แทแฉแTแดแ
โ ๏ธ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐...
๐Shadow Daddy
๐บ๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐๐ ๐น๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ ๐๐, ๐ณ๐ฐ๐บ๐ป๐ฌ๐ต ๐๐ ๐๐?
(๐โ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก- ๐ต๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ด๐ข๐๐๐?)
READ IT! the audiobook was awful.
๐ธ๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐น๐ ๐ ๐ โ๐๐ง๐๐๐จ:
The female narrator in herself was ok, but this particular performance utterly awful. Truly BAD! First of all the recording volume was all over the place, extremely loud one second, then fading back, then far away and really quiet. Itโs like she was on a rocking chair swinging closer and then far away from the microphone. Her characters were impossible to tell apart, they all sounded the same so I got lost so many times with who was supposed to be speaking! Her enthusiasm was also lacking, there was SOME vocal inflection toward the last 20% but not enough. Then there is the quality of the sound, very tin-ey, high pitched with awful sounds around the tsss xsss ppsss characters. This is especially obvious immediately after one of the male chapters as his voice is so deep and dark and low.
So, speaking of the male narrator, he was good, there wasnโt too much difference between characters though, his tonal changes and attitude toward the script was good, he offered easy listening and believable words that you could follow along with. There were no breathy moments or true emotion in his voice but there was some effort there. Iโd listen to him again anyway. But definitely not the female.
๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐๐:
Fort of all that ending was brilliant! I really wish the author had a better team around her because the skeleton of the story and the characters are brilliant! But the execution needed a little polishing.
There is a lot of repetitive moments in this story, even 80% in were still getting an internal monologue of her dead lover and her guiltโฆ I get it, I do, but this guilt is described the same was each time. Shut up and get on with itโฆ very annoying!
There was also repeats with the world building and class system. This author writes in a juvenile way, it was easy to follow along with but annoyingโฆ mainly because the premise was actually really good, with another round of edits and a decent beta team this could have been so much better, so many silly mistakes and simple to correct errors.
The pacing repeatedly got slowed down by the stuttering of the worldly descriptions. Instead of giving us nice details, we got a whole info dump on everything, I sat her thinking- just get on with it already! Iโm a huge fantasy reader, I can handle multiple characters and large world building clumps, but what this author did was unnecessary, padding out every little thing.
The ending was something I should have seen coming, I feel dumb having missed it actually, but none the less itโs still brilliant! I got this as n advanced listener copy audiobook and I nearly DNF twice because of the female narrator but Iโm glad I didnโt and Iโm literally off to by the next book as soon as Iโve finished writing this!
๐งโโ๏ธ โ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ค:
The characters were my favourite part of the story, there were plenty to meet and it was easy to get to know them. Especially the little animal sidekick ! And there was some great flirting in the start, it soon stopped dead which was strange, I mean it met with the story but it was strange how strongly it was brought on to just drop out.
I loved both men in the love triangle, Iโm a sucker for a good jealousy trope and so this was right up my street! And Iโm a huge fan of fate mates so double whammy- add in the rejection and Iโm hooked! I just there was more!
๐ฅ ๐๐๐ช ๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ค?
It was the repeats mainly. And the stuttering descriptions that slowed the pacing right down.
โณ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฃ๐-๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฃ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐?
Yes I would do both but thereโs nothing that could get me to re-listen to the audio!
๐ชง๐ฝ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค:
Perfect for fans of. Love triangle, rejected fated mates, commoner x royalty and independent, sassy FMCโs! The plot had great bones and got its hooks deep into me- it had nothing to do with the animal sidekick. Nope. Nothing at all!
๐น๐๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ;
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐
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IแีTแฉ
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*
๐๐ช โ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐ช๐ค๐ฅ๐๐๐ค:
โญ๏ธ DNF
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I managed to finish it but it was rubbish. I won't keep a physical copy and won't recommend it, but it's a shame as the plot could have made a good book in another author's hands
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
It was OK. I wish I didn't start this one as it didn't do it for me as I struggled to read it. It had an interesting premise that fell flat but I had to see what happened in the end.
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I don't regret reading it, and I will read the next one, but this one did have a few flaws. [These could be repetitive writing, gaps or plot holes, better character growth or world building, areas needing more detail]
Generally, the book lacked depth and became confusing. The plot resonated with me even though it annoyed me on the whole.
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to the right people, but I wanted more! Sadly, it's easily forgettable with a few issues I just couldn't overlook/get past.
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Good book! I loved it, but... I needed more! I really did enjoy it, but it had a few parts that needed more detail or added history/background or lore. But that's because the story or characters were memorable, and the plot was strong with brilliant twists. I would re-read if I needed to catch up for the next book and would recommend.
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
Great book! I truly wish the story had been thought about more, or the author had been given more time as this book is so close to brilliance! I will likely read again and will definitely be recommending it to all!
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
WOW! Absolutely amazing book! Well written with great characters and a plot so memorable that it will stay with me. I will definitely read this again, I will be recommending it and sharing it with the whole world! Also- I NEED A PHYSICAL COPY!
๐ฅโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ๐ฅ
This is my God level tier. The book must be perfectly memorable. Even after reading 50+ more books, I will remember character names and emotions along with the plot. If there is a special edition, then I need to own it! If there is a conversation on books- I'm talking about this!
SPICE SCALE:
๐ถ๏ธโ segsual language and a little on-page action
๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธโ a lot of segsual language and some on-page open door action, may be occurring a couple of times
๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธโ a lot of explicit action and dirty talk, occurring frequently with 2/3 lurvers
๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ โ super graphic and explicit, occurring 4 or more times, can be more grey and taboo themed.
๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ โ Kinks and Fet!shism, explicit and super graphic. It is likely to be tushy play, toys, playrooms, and more dark / taboo fantasies and realities