Amethysts & Alchemy

By: Rachel Rener

Narrated by: Lia Langola

I used to eat rocks as a child.

The family doctor diagnosed me with pica, dooming me to years of intensive therapy and extensive dentistry work. It wouldn’t be until much later that I would understand the all-consuming, insatiable craving that spurred me to eat a variety of rocks and minerals wasn’t a mental disorder, but an innate gift that allows me to extract the magic contained inside them: tourmaline for speed, celestite for strength, augite for a powerful laxative effect (that I had to discover the hard way).

Twenty years later, I’ve hidden my abilities beneath a white lab coat, working as a small-town pharmacist who creates proprietary “naturopathic” tonics that treat everything from memory loss to erectile dysfunction. Those tonics, in turn, fund my expensive lifestyle of solo flying around the world to search for more rocks. What more could an airplane-loving, mineral-munching, magical alchemist want?

Unfortunately, my arch nemesis, Heath Spencer, has recently taken it upon himself to single-handedly ruin my life. No longer content with annoying me from afar with his overpriced, tacky rock shop, Heath has decided to further antagonize me by dangling the opportunity of a lifetime right in front of my face: traveling to an ancient copper mine in China, which is home to some of the rarest and most stunning minerals on Earth.

It’s not until after I’m trapped halfway across the world with my least favorite person on the planet that I’m forced to come face-to-face with three terrible realizations: everything I thought I knew about Heath Spencer is wrong, some minerals were never meant to be ingested, and – worst of all – I’m not the only one who’s been keeping secrets...

©2024 Lightning Conjurer Books LLC (P)2024 Lightning Conjurer Books LLC

I was enjoying the the story.

Characters are entertaining & interesting. I cheched it out but the language smacked me in the face around chapter 3 or 4. Now I have to try to get a refund.

Absolutely brilliant

I love it when a narrator captures exactly how a main character should sound. And this narrator ABSOLUTELY NAILS the voice and heart and soul of Delaney.

Loved how 'real' this story felt

It's a new and unique magic system.
And the author sounded very knowledgeable about a wide range of topics.
I found the main character very interesting to read.

A fresh change on how magic happens

I normally don’t read or listen to a new series when there’s only 1 book out. But I’m glad I decided to this time and I can’t wait for the next! I really enjoy how the MC’s neuro-spicy mind works, I feel like I can relate in many ways. I also love the different take on how side acquires her ‘magic’ which she doesn’t believe could be magic of course. Eating rocks lol lol the author could’ve come up with so many different ways but I LOVE the connection of absorbing ‘rocks’ or minerals and gems to manifest powers.

My only complaint with the narrator is about the sections when she’s telling the narrative and not doing dialog. She is so monotone and speaks at like 2.5x speed. I find myself gasping for breath when she finally finishes what she’s saying. It’s like she challenges herself to not breathe and talk as fast as possible to get through a paragraph. I could understand the dialogue sections when Delaney is speaking in monotone to protect herself from feelings that she doesn’t understand. Maybe that’s just how this narrator speaks, I will have to remind myself to not hold my breath when she’s fast-talking through paragraphs and just breathe normally.

Other than that, you’ve got hunky hunky Heath and an adorable piggy named Topaz. What else could you possibly need?

LOVED IT!

I loved having a neurodivergent female lead character! I thought this novel was well planned, fun, and interesting. I also enjoyed the narration, which I listened to at 1.75 the regular speed.

enjoyed such a different main character

It's great to read a book with an original idea. A neuro-spicy heroine is a refreshing change and the book was enjoyable to listen to. A few times the details got to me and what sometimes seemed like pushing the characters differences but with it being a first in a series there has to be a lot of world building. I'll definitely pick up future books.

Solid read

Some light spoilers:

I like that the main character is autistic, and I liked her perspective on things. The pig was pretty cute but a little too anthropomorphised for my tastes - him "shrugging" and "smiling" and things like that is too much for me, because I just can't picture a pig shrugging. Same with him like somehow opening vials and pouring them down an unconscious person's throat? Felt a little strange.

I enjoyed the magic system, though I wish she'd gone into more detail about it, as I found it fascinating. I haven't read anything quite like that, it was unique and cool.

I LOVE that neither of the main characters turned out to secretly be a godd***ed prince, princess, king or queen. Like thank GOD. I am so over reading books about royalty, so this had a lot going for it that these were, for the most part, regular people. I could've done without the hero somehow having a million connections and tons of money, but I guess that's a thing that a lot of people want from romances.

Unfortunately her smut scenes aren't really for me. She does a great job building anticipation, but I don't love the sex scenes she writes. I'm not sure why. They're not bad, they're just not very exciting for me. There's a lot of tongue kissing description that I found to be over-the-top, not enough description when you want it and too much when you don't, too much talking but not in a fun dirty talk kinda way. Not enough focus on how the character was feeling or what the hero was doing to her. I found myself wanting to get back to the plot - which is fine, I liked the plot, and personally prefer plot to smut if I had to choose.

Overall I enjoyed it! Fair warning that this is a Fantasy Romance, NOT a Romantic Fantasy (I. E. This book focuses on the romantic plotline as the main plot, with the rest of the plotlines being subplots, not the other way around.). I notice people, including audible, mix those two up very frequently. Fantasy Romance is not my preference of the two genres, but this book is a solid read for the Fantasy Romance genre.

Fun! Sweet! And completely cozy!

OMG! I thought that reading an ecopy of Amethyst & Alchemy was absolutely fantastic! And now having experienced the audio version I have been completely floored once more. The narrator—Lia Langola—is the epitome of what I imagined Delaney Stone sounded like. Her execution of Delaney’s quarks and mannerisms where completely perfect! And she really did a phenomenal job bringing Delaney to life.

Delaney is such a unique, brilliant, and interesting character that I wholeheartedly fell in love with. Add in Heath, Li, and Topie and this book was completely captivating and wonderful. The story was completely cozy with enough tension and angst to keep you needing to know more, and the rivals to lovers romance was completely unique and fresh in its execution.

All in all, this is a completely wonderful story, filled with unique and fantastic characters, extremely interesting and intriguing magic, enough swoon and spice to set you on fire, and the cutest little piggy sidekick you could imagine!

amount of research

I liked the narrator she brought the characters to life. It was also nice to learn about minerals and some Chinese culture. Was intrigued by the concept of minerals having magical properties when ingested. Since this is is a review of the audio version forgive possible misspelling. Topie the emotional support pig was a great character. Also liked the faguts which I had never heard of before. Delaney's sense of humor works for me. While the romance wasn't fade to black it also wasn't super risque either at least not for me.

Really enjoyed

This is my first adult audiobook. I honestly did think I would enjoy listening instead of reading but I loved it. The main character is blunt and coarse. At times she almost seems to be too much but the banter is wonderful and hilarious. Her emotional support pig made me want to get one. The premise is fascinating, the MFC has pica, she eats rocks, crystals, gems, etc and gains powers. She is also able to understand and extract to make healing potions. There definitely seems like more stories are coming and I look forward to it! You never really find out why or how the MFC has these powers. There is a slow burn romance with a sweet and patient MMC who you want to see win.