I listened to Flicker and Flame by Willow Hayes, as my 13th read of the year, the first book in the Magic Bound series. This was a nice easy listen on the Audible included library, it was advertised as a ‘slow burn reverse harem’ (why choose romance) book.

A summary attempt

Kenna is just a normal human trying to do her best as a social worker for humans, shifters and fae kids alike, when she bumps into four, very hot, fae males in a club and besides the instant attraction she feels for them, Kenna suddenly finds a strange power awoken within her. She wakes up the morning after with the mark of the crown on her back and soon finds out that the same mark appeared on the four fae males, something that only occurs to members of fae royalty. At first, Kenna resists what this revelation might mean but as people start to threaten the few close friends she trusts, she chooses to go into hiding with these four males, where she can learn how to master her powers and the strange connection she has to them.

What did I think?

Look, this was meant to be a nice, fluffy listen to pass the time at work, but there ended up being a whole lot more plot than I signed up for. This slow burn romance, was verryyyyyyyyyy slow burn but I can’t fault the book for doing exactly what it said on the tin, I was just disappointed with how little burn we got in the end! The world building and the story was actually really interesting. My only complaint is that some of the depth added to the main character’s backstory and her journey arc didn’t feel super genuine in some places. It was a nice listen and it kept me going through a very dull work day, I’ll probably pick up the other books in there series if they are in the included library on Audible too.

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