Burning Bright

Extraordinaries Series, Book 1

By: Melissa McShane

Narrated by: Cat Gould

Elinor is an Extraordinary and the only one in England capable of wielding fire in over 100 years. As an Extraordinary she is respected and feared, but to her father she represents power and prestige for himself. Mr. Pembroke, having spent his life studying magic, is determined to control Elinor and her talent by forcing her to marry whom he chooses, a marriage that will produce even more powerful offspring. Trapped between the choices of a loveless marriage and living penniless and dependent on her parents, Elinor takes a third path: She defies tradition and society to join the Royal Navy.

Assigned to serve under Captain Miles Ramsay aboard the frigate Athena, she turns her fiery talent on England's enemies, French privateers, and vicious pirates preying on English ships in the Caribbean. At first feared by her shipmates, a growing number of victories make her truly part of Athena's crew and bring her joy in her fire. But as her power grows and changes in unexpected ways, Elinor's ability to control it is challenged. She may have the power to destroy her enemies utterly - but could it be at the cost of her own life?

©2016 Melissa McShane (P)2016 Tantor

Pleasantly surprised.

I bought this audio book on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. This book is not deep but it is entertaining. It falls squarely in my "guilty pleasure/beach read" category, though it leans more on the romance than I typically like. Either way, it was an enjoyable and entertaining listen. I found the main character naive at times but overall likeable and relatable. The narrator was great. I liked the world/alternate universe the author builds, and the setting was great. The story was predictable but that's fine for the type of book I wanted to listen to. Definitely worth the listen!

Fantasy & Historical Romance

Very enjoyable and unique read. This is my first book by Ms. McShane and it will definitely lead me on to seek out more of her works. The romance was a gradually built one blossoming out of friendship and common ground into a sweet and charming relationship. I enjoyed the many diverse characters, some who were rough around the edges but grew on me for sure. Then there were the truly nasty villains! It was fun that this was a fantasy that took place during actual historic times of the Napoleonic wars -- although the enemy in this one were pirates.

I listened to some of the book on Audible and really enjoyed the narrator as well. So, ultimately I am giving this 4 stars and a recommendation to any readers who enjoy historical romances mixed with a good bit of fantasy, unique characters, and a clean, slow burning romance.

not bad

I was expecting a story of romance and evil exploits and a woman at finding her own strength and getting by in the world being a bad ass fire bender. And mostly I got that but I was most unhappy with the pacing and the narrator and the other tropey bits that made me frustrated. ultimately I liked it.

Story of the Royal Navy, pirates, and a lady

The unique aspect of this book is that it smashed together a regency naval story with a regency romance. I'd say the naval story was more dominant - probably about 70% of the book - and the romance is probably about 30% of the book. I LOVED that most of the book was about what would happened if a lady served in the Royal Navy. I enjoyed the action and the magic (referred to in the book as "talents" or "extraordinary gifts"). The fights and strategic planning was all more enjoyable because it was told from a woman's perspective.

All those positives being acknowledged, I will point out that the most innovative aspect of this book is simply that a lady is serving in the Royal Navy. If you take out the fact that the main character is a woman, this wouldn't be an innovative naval story. Likewise, if you took out the adventure and Navy aspects, this would be just another regency romance. The magic is a fun thing to throw in, but that's also not necessarily innovative on its own. Deftly mixing together the three - naval story, regency romance story, and magic - is what made this book so entertaining to me.

I would certainly recommend! It's a fairly light-hearted adventure-filled read and the romance is sweet. Some reviewers seem to dislike when there's a lot of sex scenes, and this book is definitely safe for those people to read.

Unique, entertaining

I became fully engaged with the imagination of this author. The story of a female joining the Navy in the 1700’s was intriguing. The addition of special talents added to the fun of reading this romance. The romantic portion only appeared in the last chapter, and it was in accordance with the morals of the times.

Just Okay

This book started off really great but it lost its appeal towards the end of the book. The main character became annoying.

Interesting Idea, lost in translation

On the surface this book appealed to me. I love *good* regency/historical fiction, well written sci fi/fantasy is always a win with me and Cat Gould narrations are always on point.

Premise- 5 stars, the idea that there are "gifted" people that were involved in historical British navel battles? I'm on board. (pun not intended)

Writing Quality- 4 stars, simplistic, easy to read style. Overall well written. Good grammar, prose etc.

Historical Accuracy - 3.5? I'm not an expert but there was no offensive/unrealistic history in this story, she just added the fictional premise.

Story Content - 3 stars. This is where it started crumbling for me. Pretty bland, basic story of NAVEL BATTLES. How does that happen? I blame it on no mid-story development and the poor 'blending' of the fictional sci fi elements with the historical timeline.

Character Development - 2 stars. My biggest pet peeve. A good idea with a weak plot can still be a win for me if the characters are well developed. The heroine had typical emotions but I never connected with her. I don't need a play by play but I need the author to make me believe in what she feels. The side characters had even less development. To the point that I actually didn't realize who her best friends were until the middle of the book. The romantic line? One great meet-cute at the beginning, a couple minor, unassuming moments in the middle and suddenly they are extremely in love at the end.. (insert eye roll here).

Narration- 4 stars. Cat is one of my go-to readers, however I feel that the lack of low & high story points & the limited character development crippled her performance a bit.

Overall, if you are looking for a clean regency/scifi/fantasy novel to play while you are working for 13 hours it will make you happy. I'm returning it because, while it was good enough for me to finish, I won't listen to it again.

Perfection

I loved this story so much! The narration was a little to formal even though the language suggested it. I wish it sounded a little younger. Regardless, this was a wonderful story, and I wish there was more!

Good story but boring and hard to get through at times

I liked the story idea but the love interest could have been a bigger part of the story and the FML wasn’t the best. The story was quick and clean and overall a good one, but definitely could have been better.

Loved it!!!

Would you listen to Burning Bright again? Why?

This was a captivating read with a strong female protagonist and wonderful story telling. At first I wasn't sure of the narrator, but within a chapter or so I really liked her. Too many new/younger adult type books have syrupy sweet young voices that are so irritating - this narrator was more mature and more fitting with the character. I am definitely looking forward to more audiobooks from this author.