Aerie

Broken Wings Duet, Book 1

By: S.E. Wendel

Narrated by: Taylor Alexa

A knight in disgrace….

Banished to the cold northern reaches for doing what was right, Lady Maddalena is a knight in exile. Now the reluctant warden of an isolated, snowy castle prison, Lena is determined to keep her head down and serve her two-year sentence. No surprises, no mistakes, and maybe she can salvage the tatters of her life.

A prince of no one….

Broken in body and spirit, Bel lost everything in a single night—his crown, his freedom, his brother. Kept captive in a mountain castle for ten years, Bel has played the human king’s game and bided his time. His chance for escape is coming, but he never planned on this new warden with a kind heart and sense of honor. All the humans have ever shown him is cruelty, but in Lena he finds something much more dangerous—a noble heart that calls to his own.

Their paths were never meant to cross….

As winter settles over their lonely mountain, the war between their people seems further away, and the boundaries between enemies begins to blur. A human knight and avian prince should have nothing between them but hate—yet neither can resist the attraction that grows in the dark of winter.

Their bond is fragile, forbidden, and doomed in the light of day. But for two broken souls, it may just be worth fighting for. If they are willing to pay the price…

Part 1 of the Broken Wings Duet. Part 2 coming December 2022.

Fans of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Grace Draven, Beauty and the Beast, and Jane Eyre will love this atmospheric fantasy romance with strong lady knights, noble lost princes, and enemies to lovers.

This title contains strong language and intimate scenes and therefore is meant for listeners 18+. Minor cliffhanger warning.

©2020 Sarah Wendel (P)2023 Taylor Alexa Frank

Really Good!

I really like this book. I thought the story was very well written and the MC & FMC are perfect. I love the enemies to lovers vibes and the world building was very descriptive!! I also really love Pol!!! I really liked the narrator. I like that the narration in the beginning was more somber matching both characters moods. But as you got in to the middle the pace picks up. it was very interesting. I thought the accents were good as well.

Beautiful Story of a little boring sometimes

The story itself was lovely. Not perfect, but once the ball started rolling after a slow start, I really got engaged.

My one complaint with the story was that sometimes the author described things and explained thoughts way too much: like it took minutes to continue flipping over a thought and reiterating it in every way imaginable.

My only other complaint was with the narrator. Her voice is lovely and smooth, but her delivery was deadpan and she mispronounced a lot of words. With that said, I understand that accessibility is more important with audiobooks, so while it was an interruption for me, I do appreciate the work and am glad it exists for those that need it.

Very slow, but worth it

Firstly, terrible wooden narration. The story is very very slow but it makes the ending sweeter. Probably not for everyone.

Some issues but I couldn't stop listening

This appears to be an early work of S.E. Wendel and it unfortunately does show a bit. The pacing is a bit slow at the beginning, though I don't think that it's too big of a deal or even necessarily a criticism. The romance is a bit of a slower burn as well, but that's my preference so not a complaint. The real issues I saw were with the purple prose. I've definitely come across worse, but I noticed her habit to go on a little too long describing something. She'd also rely on specific phrases a bit too much, to the point where I started figuring out when they would come up. All of this could be distracting, but it didn't kill immersion for me, at least, so I didn't take any stars off.

The narration was fine, if a little flat. When things start getting more emotional, I found she improved quite a bit, so some of it may be because both main characters are pretty melancholy at the beginning of the story and the choice just might not have worked all the time. I easily got used to it, in any case. There were some issues with the editing of the narration, especially later on. I noticed some of her outtakes were included instead of cut out, having her repeat a phrase a couple times to get it right. No idea whose job it was to check, but they unfortunately didn't do great. (Spoiler for next book's review, but this issue is worse there.)

Still, in the end, nothing can change that I listened to it straight through with little breaks. That alone earns 5 stars in my opinion. Wendel seems to have a real knack for world building and I found myself sucked in so easily. The character relationships (not just the romance) were so wonderful, as well. I adored Alex and especially her relationship with Lena to the point where I cried during an especially emotional part with them. The romance was also incredibly sweet and I gushed once it started to ramp up. Point being, I definitely recommend this story to anyone who thinks this might be up their alley.

Content Warnings (with minor spoilers) for those that need them:
Fantasy racism/genocide
Ableism - fantasy and real life disabilities
Classism - especially towards Alex who grew up on the streets
SA - mentioned but never depicted and it's a plot point. There is also some minor victim blaming
Minor animal abuse - no deaths or major issues
Torture - a major plot point for the story and while not gory, it's depicted, especially in flashbacks
Corpse mutilation - not depicted but talked about

These things are all condemned in story

Cute.

I enjoyed the first book but I wasn’t crazy about the narrator. She doesn’t have distinct voices for the different male characters so I can’t tell who is talking at certain times. But I did enjoy it a lot.

great story, narration, not so much.

Breathy narration that all ends in an upwards inflection. really enjoyed the narration of Halfling, was hoping same quality performance.

The good, the not so good, and the indifferent.

The good:
- I think the premise is there

The not so good:
- something about the execution is flat
- There are a lot of repeating dialogue lines and a reinforcement of 'ideas', I recognize that the reiteration is to make sure the readers 'get it', but for me the pattern is jarringly robotic
- Performance: The narration isn't engaging. The VA has talent with creating different voices, but I just can't get into it. I don't know why but her delivery of the characters is extraordinarily flat. Does this mean the characters are flawed? The writing? Or the performance? I don't know. I am going to try to read the book on KU to see if the book is OK alone.

The indifferent:
- Full disclosure, I listen to audiobooks while doing tedious things. Need to work on an excel for 20 hours at work? Audiobook. Need to clean or organize for two hours? Audiobook. Sick of listening to music while doing a low intensity workout? 100% audiobook. So I really tried to power through this book. I made it to chapter 6 or 7? I never drop books, but if the written form (my preferred medium) continues to somehow nose dive into the land of flat, I will need to drop it. Unfortunately, I need to drop this audiobook.

Can't immerse

I first looked at a Kindle sample to make sure I wanted this Audible book, and the story looks like something I might like. However, the narration does not work for me. It sounds too modern, unfitting, and bratty. I can't take the story seriously because the characters all sound annoying and unlikable. My rating of the story itself is just a guess since I couldn't focus on it at all. I will not continue listening to the Audible, but I think I may purchase the book elsewhere so I might actually enjoy the story. Perhaps later than I'd like to in order to clear my mind of this voice. Sorry to whoever narrated it.