A Night of Wings and Starlight

The Eternal Night Series, Book 1

By: Alexis L. Menard

Narrated by: Caroline Grogan

Breaking the curse will risk her heart, her life, and the future she never thought possible.

Before Arya was Chosen, she knew nothing of what lay waiting in the eternal night—certainly not alluring yet arrogant winged Watchers, a cursed queen, nor the possibility that she could be more than a runner, carrying messages through the vampyre-infested wastelands of Valdihr.

But the biggest surprise waiting in the dark is the brazen Watcher who sparks her heart and calls her a Huntress.

A hundred years shrouded in darkness and Arya is the only one who can finally bring back the dawn. With a blessing that marks her for death and an infuriatingly tantalizing man at her side, Arya must embrace her calling and her courage in order to face the danger lurking in the shadows. Because the night holds more than just secrets, and the monsters are closer than she realizes.

©2022 Alexis L. Menard (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

What a disappointment

Well that was a waste of money and time. If authors are targeting books as TEENAGERS, please label the book as such. Don’t try to switch a few words up to up-age it. Unless that’s how you make your money, which I’m learning to believe.

It took me not even 5 minutes to roll my eyes with irritation and giving up. Chapter one starts in the head of the FMC stating how she has a knife and KNOWS how to use it. She really wanted you to believe that, so she repeated a variation of “I know how to take care of myself”. Duh! She is an A-D-U-L-T! And the CHOSEN one! Who said it takes a skilled swordsman to handle a sharp stick! You just point and push and BAM dead!

In the middle of her inner dialog, in walks the MMC and, after being so blindsided by his hotness and “blushing” a few times, the “I know how to use this knife, STAY BACK HEATHEN!” Teen, I mean “adult”, immediately gets overtake in a nano second, because, SHOCKER, she does NOT know how to take care of herself. Who would’ve guessed! Give a teen a sword and they think they are a bad ass assassin. At least in this fantasy world I guess.

You cannot, and this needs repeating CAN NOT, write a blurb about a bad ass protagonist then not give your fantasy women the wherewithal to hold a damn sword, and then prove in the OPENING SCENE to have absolutely NONE of that badassery you spoke of. This is YOUR character! You can literally write her any damn way and stay truthful to those characteristic! Is it too hard to ask for authors to market your book for what it is. If you want a shy virgin, then market the book as that! There are people all over who would buy it! And there are others like me who do not enjoy that type of genre!

So, to recap, in this story we get a princess who doesn’t know how to adult, gets thrown into adultish situations, and falls in love with the first boy she meets. Obviously she has to be a virgin that has (god forbid) never dated ever despite her age, because women are not supposed to be experienced of course, and the guy is oh so hot and you get those butterflies and you can’t help but *blush*, but he is also so very good at smex because he had soooooo many women throwing themselves at him because he’s hot and that’s what is expected in this fantasy world for men!

I haven’t got that far in the story (again I stoped a few chapters in) but I’m willing to bet there will be a very jealous “other girl” who sleeps with anyone and is that “16 year old mean girls” type and can’t get over being turned away by our lead because women are always always so cutthroat and must get the man at whatever cost. But alas the female lead is Not Like Other Girls and has her hooks in your man and OF COURSE he would go for the virgin girl because he will be the FIRST to put his ding dong in that sheath, and that’s what men truly value right? Doesn’t matter that she’s too stupid to live and has the personality of rusty toenail. Nope! Let’s make sure to really pound that trope into your (young) readers brains so you can make $$$$ on that cliffhanger that nobody (i.e. literally everyone) saw within the first chapter.