The Moonlit Woods

The Shifting Fae, Book 1

By: Eliza Tilton

Narrated by: Matyas Job Gombos

A human elemental desperate to save her home. A dark fae guardian devoted to his lord. A deadly bridal competition that will test both their loyalty.

Rosalie is sold to the magistrate of Farrow's Gate to compete in a marriage competition. If she wins, her home is saved. If she loses, she'll be forced to work off her family's debt in an undisclosed location.

But the magistrate won't just marry any human. He wants a mate whose magic rivals his own, and Rosalie can't ever reveal just how powerful she is. In the world of Saol, magic is regulated, and if the Magi Council discover what she is, it won't just be her life at risk.

Her only chance of escape is with the magistrate's bodyguard, Baine: a dark, too-handsome fae, and one who has no interest in helping a human girl.

Until one night in the moonlit woods when everything changes, and suddenly Rosalie is torn between what she wants and what is right.

Losing the competition means death, winning means the death of others, and Rosalie is out of time. If she doesn't choose soon, someone will do it for her.

The Moonlit Woods is a stand-alone fantasy romance within the Shifting Fae world perfect for listeners looking for epic fantasy, a slow-burn romance, fast-paced action, and a happily ever after.

©2022 Eliza Tilton (P)2022 Eliza Tilton

Clean High Fantasy Story!!

An entertaining fantasy story with interesting characters!
Rosalie is a slightly desperate character. She needs money to pay for a healer for her sick firehawks, so she makes the incredibly wise decision to sell herself into slavery for a few months to some Fae lord to pay for the treatment. Unfortunately, the troll who she was bargaining with was a bit shady and actually sold her into a bridal competition. She's a strong character who has a slight naïveté that fits with her characterization of being from a small rural farming town, so while I had some moments of "why did you think this was a good idea?", it still fit with how Rosalie was written. She was a refreshing character who stayed true to herself throughout the competition and maybe got to catch the eye of a certain grumpy fae who could help her escape.
Bain is the classic brooding, grumpy lead. I liked his scenes with Rosalie because she gave as good as she got with him. He's a complex character who follows his master because of a life debt, but just might alter his allegiance for the right human.

I liked the story and was delighted when I found out it was dual POV! It has really good world building with difference classes, and types of magic (including the forbidden kind!), and different creatures introduced throughout the story.

This is a mostly clean story. There are some suggestive comments and implications made, but overall pretty tame. There is some violence, not particularly gory. The language is also pretty mild, I can't remember anything too strong used, but I could have missed them.

The narrator was interesting! I hadn't heard him narrate before and he does a good job with all of the voices and voicing each character's perspective distinctly. For the female character's POV, he was able to do a different voice for narrating than for the male character's POV, and I thought that was wonderful and made it a lot easier to tell who was narrating the chapter. Though, I will add, that his voice for Bain really made me picture Bain as Snape which kind made the story a little bit silly for me. I listened at 1.2x speed.

I loved this story

An evil man with evil intentions holds a contest of sorts to pick a wife. As the women demonstrate their powers with the hope they will be chosen, the man plans their fates. Rosalie ended up in this contes with the hopes of having her debt paid off & saving her firehawks. As the so called competition progressed she realized she didnt want to win because she developed feelings for another. A wonderful read filled with monsters, magic and hope.

Scintillating Dark Fantasy

I enjoyed this audiobook a lot. Once I started listening, I had to listen until the very end. The story had paranormal beings, shapeshifters, fantastic creatures, magic, and romance all twisted together to produce a very clever and fascinating tale. Matyas Job Gombos' narration was fine and kept my attention. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

Good story

Story was good i especially liked how the story started caught my attention right away. I will read the the next book, but it was hard for me to switch between MMC and the FMC in the story due to narrator telling the story. I love audible but this narrator didn’t do it for me I was gifted this audible from the author for an honest review.

INTRIGUING & THRILLING STAR CROSSED LOVER STORY

STORY IS GREAT, WELL WRITTEN AND EASY TO FOLLOW

ACCEPTABLE FOR TEENS AND UP.

NARRATOR WAS GREAT AND EASY TO FOLLOW.

Wonderful audio book

The narrator is amazing. Love when a single narrator has distinctive voices for each character that makes it easy to know who is talking. This one is a dual pov and when listening to Rosalie's chapters vs Baine's chapters I had to keep reminding myself that it was one person doing all of this. absolutely wonderful job.

definitely recommend this audio book it only adds to the book and helps bring you into the story and get lost in the book

The Bodyguard Meets Fae But Surprisingly Clean

I do love the Fae and shape shifter stories.... However, most tend to be very unnecessarily sexualized. This one is surprisingly clean, although I would still say there's enough to warrant a slight caution (see the below content warnings). I really enjoyed the storyline with this one, it has an element of mystery mixed in with the Fae shape shifter, magic and Magic Council, and a competition between magical potential brides. Our main character is trying to save her home and was sold unwillingly into this competition... She soon starts to fall for the (you guessed it... the King's bodyguard and shape shifter fae). Was it predictable? A bit, but it was still a ton of fun to listen. My only complaint is that I felt it ended a bit abruptly. Definitely recommend if you're looking for a cleaner Fae read.

Parents: PG13- older teens(+15) and up
Language: PG- honestly don't remember any language but there is a lot of boob talk
Violence: PG13- normal to genre- Fae and magical creature fighting, strangling and abusive controlling relationship scenes
Sexual content: PG13- It starts with a lot of boob talk and dressing to display the goods... There is a possibly triggering sexual assault attempt that is interrupted as well as another scene of interrupted sex scene and mentions of other encounters with the other contestants. Kissing and some making out but no actual detailed bedroom romping.

Narrator (4⭐) Did a great job of voice differentiation and was easy to listen to. I preferred listening at 1.3x speed.

—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Quick Read

Though this book didn't follow the normal fantasy style of details and character depth, I thought it was entertaining.
I plan to continue the series and look forward to discovering more about the characters.

Did not enjoy the male narrator. I feel it would have been better with dual narration.

The Moonlit Woods

I've had a hard time getting into books lately but not this one. I was engaged by the first chapter and it didn't take long to get invested. I like how it starts off in mystery and ends the same way. I'm hooked and need to get the second in the series.

Fantastic Fantasy suitable for teens and adults !

This is now the 3rd book I've listened to by Eliza Tilton and I'm simply hooked!

I'm not usually a fan of clean romance though I can't help but love this book. It's a well written slow burn clean fantasy and I'm looking forward to listening to the next book! I think this book is perfect for teens and adults who enjoy romantic fantasy!


Narration done by Matyos Job Gombos who is insanely talented. His ability to voice all the characters in this fantasy is precisely why I love listening to anything he narrates.

This is book one in the Shifting Fae series. In this book there's a shifting Fae, a powerful elemental and a dark magic magistrate as well as a Magi Council of not so well meaning members trying to keep Farrow's Gare safe from the Dark Things destroying the rest of Seoul.

Rosalie befriends other magical women who have been summoned to the magistrate's palace to compete in a marriage competition.

Baine, a wolf shifting Fae, who is the magistrate's top bodyguard, falls for Rosalie.