A romance you’ll root for!

Really interesting world full of charming characters. It was fun getting to experience the two main characters fall in love!

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Great story with strong characters

I love T Kingfisher's work and her strong female lead characters. This was no different! A great mix of fantasy, mystery and romance.

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This book IS the gingerbread that is so often mentioned in the story. <3

I feel cozy just thinking about this book.

I said it's gingerbread because the MMC smells like it, and he is cozy AF.
More on the spice at the end of review.**

I LOVED that all of the main characters are adults. FMC & MMC are 32 & 37 and have had lives. It's SO REFRESHING to read a love story about REAL people - while still in a semi fantastical setting (talking.. badger-type creatures make an appearance in the later part of the story).

The story is most heavy on the characters with a minor mystery as the premise, and the characters are downright loveable.

What was also refreshing was that, despite the MMC and his cohorts being crazy, god-blessed fighting machines, there was no war or fighting. No elaborate world building, no deep history of warring lands and cruel kings... And the paladins are the cutest besties ever.

This book was the break I needed from the romantasies of magical, immortal faes and the like and their drama.

I heard the next books in this series aren't as good, but I am having a hard time believing that because I love these characters so much, I could read a book about them hanging out on a rainy day and still enjoy it.

**So re: spice if that's what you're looking for. Gingerbread has a bit of spice and so does this book. It's not shocking when it happens, especially when what I started to consider a relatively innocent book suddenly threw out the word cock a few times and referenced self pleasure. I was like oh ok, you little naughties ;)

But the spice was like a freshly baked gingerbread man. Toasty and cute AF.

If you're looking for wet your pants spice, you will not find it in this book.
(Hence me comparing the spice to gingerbread spice.)

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Fantastic story

I love that the characters are full adults. The maturity of the characters is wonderful and guided them so much more depth. Their story is fun and engaging, all the characters are heartwarming, and the word building is interesting.
I really enjoyed the narrator. He has a calming tone that perfectly matched the male character but he also did a great job of the the more nervous and academic tone of the FMC.
100% recommend this book

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Great story, fantastic storytelling

I love this series. Clever writing, characters that that are endearing and play against the usual tropes. Joel does a great job with the narration.

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Beyond what I was expecting!

I wasn’t expecting to be entertained this much! It has everything I didn’t know I needed in a book. 5 Stars for sure

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good story, sleepy narrator

I enjoyed the story, but the narrator spoke in such a sleepy voice that I almost gave up in the first 5 minutes.
After getting used to it, I was able to enjoy the story.

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I guess I’m not a fan of fantasy romance books

Repeatedly coming back to all the swooning and sexual tension. I found it annoying, just get on with it already

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slow low fantasy

Comparing this to some of the other fantasy novels I have read, I found it a little lazy, not really any plot to speak of, more of a romance drama fantasy. just didn't pique my interest to read any of the other books in the series.

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