Monday, September 22, 2014

The Beautiful Ashes ~ Jeaniene Frost audio review [@BlackstoneAudio @HarlequinBooks @Jeaniene_Frost @taviagilbert]

The Beautiful Ashes (Broken Destiny #1)
Harlequin
August 26, 2014
304 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

Blackstone Audio
Tavia Gilbert, narrator
8 hrs 21 mins, Unabridged
add to Goodreads/buy from Audible

In a world of shadows, anything is possible. Except escaping your fate.

Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse—her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who's bound by an ancient legacy to betray her.

Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn't mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn't: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…

The Beautiful Ashes is the beginning of Jeaniene Frost's new NA Broken Destiny series. Not a spin-off to her Night Huntress series, this is a whole new series with new characters, new supernaturals and new stories.

Ivy has spent her whole life seeing things that no one else seemed to see. After her sister goes missing, though, Ivy finds out the truth: what she sees aren't hallucinations at all. They're real.

To save her sister, Ivy will risk anything and anyone.

There is quite a bit of background given in The Beautiful Ashes but with it being the start to a series (a paranormal series) I, actually, liked getting the information.  The world Jeaniene Frost has imagined is very creative and well thought out. It's nice to receive some of Ivy's history, to understand what makes her character different. I liked discovering the parts of her past and what brought her to the beginning of the book. It makes her inclusion in this previously unknown side of the world more logical and helps her actions to fit.

What we find out about Adrian's character and those 'parallel realms'  add to the story, as well. It is through Ivy's curiosity that much of the information is unveiled and that seemed a great way for readers (and the character) to find things out.

While the 'journey' of the novel was about Ivy finding and rescuing her sister, the ultimate resolution of the book was a bit underwhelming. While the path to that point made the story possible and the ending is just fine, it isn't what I'll remember about the book.

Both The Beautiful Ashes characters and the world created are intriguing enough and had (more than) enough questions presented regarding their past and their personalities, that I am looking forward to the next book.

Tavia Gilbert does a really nice job narrating. Ivy's character is twenty years old and Gilbert does a good job sounding that age. The different emotions of the character come across very well and both her pacing and diction work nicely and aren't distracting. I have not listened to other Jeaniene Frost audiobooks, but Tavia Gilbert also narrates (nearly all of) those. If you have listened to any, including the Night Huntress series, at least know its the same narrator.






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