It’s not a bad book and I may return to it one day, but I’m just not loving it and I’m pretty far in to not be enjoying it more.
I don’t like how much telling instead of showing there is and the way the characters went from enemies to just cool with each other so quickly bothered me a bit. It was not believable.

i would like to thank the author for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

when i saw this email pop in my inbox i was beyond intrigued and interested in the premise of this world, a queer normative world following fae and animal shifters. wracked with (elemental) magic, political intrigue, and an even unique religious entity that brings the characters’ known worlds to a slamming halt.

this indie debut shows promise for such an beautiful and successful future for this author. the book follows three main perspectives, one of our main girl and her two companions who have importance to the plots events in their own rights. i think anya places one-off perspectives very well into this story, giving us small insights into the minds of minor characters surrounding aria, our true main girl. they’re people who have importance to her world view and to her actions, and it gives us little tidbits and insights into their motivations without overwhelming us by having 5+ point of views. i think the way the perspectives moved between our characters was done so well that i was equally invested in each storyline. and whenever we switched perspectives as much as i wanted to know more from the character we were following, i was still very happy to be seeing more from another’s events.

while it was a bit slow going in the beginning, once we started having more interaction between the characters the pace truly started to pick up and i became more and more invested in the over-arching story. of these characters trying to go past their differences to fight a greater evil. i still have so many questions for why their battle even started (according to their shared god), of some lore that was introduced but never completely answered, and of the end scene between aria and luka. i think it was implied well enough that there’s a chance of a sequel for these characters. and i hope to see it, to get some answers and learn more of this world’s history!

in some parts while it was obvious that this was a debut since some storylines were a bit simplified, i think it shows such strong foundations for this author. i can’t wait to see her work grow, to see what she has in store. and i will be highly anticipating what’s next!

Love that there’s content warnings at the start of the book!

It’s a spicy romantasy but I love that she gives the option that if you don’t want the spice scenes, she tells you exactly which chapters to skip that won’t affect the overall plot.

Unfortunately though this was a DNF. A bit too much telling over showing for my taste, and the dialogue felt unnatural at time. Nearly 100 pages in and I still didn’t care much about the characters or what was happening, I never felt fully engaged so just not for me.

Thanks to the author for the ARC

Tropes: fae, shifters, enemies to lovers, found family, why choose

Rep: bi MC, non-binary side character 

Thank you so much to the author for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much! I was drawn in right from the start and every time I had to put it down I couldn’t wait to be back with these characters.

Aria was such a brilliant main character. She was fierce and determined but also kind and considerate. Such a perfect balance.

Luka and Evelyn were both such alluring love interests. While I was a bit more invested in Evelyn, I will admit to being grateful for another love triangle turned throuple (of sorts). The three of them were just fantastic together, absolutely oozing with chemistry in every interaction.

The found family vibe between our core characters has my whole heart in all honesty. I loved that Aria found her people and that she got to keep them.

I LOVED the complicated politics at play here, and each new reveal just added another layer to these peoples history. I really appreciated the attention to detail and the complex emotions that drove certain decisions.

If you’re looking for your next rich romantasy read, I can’t recommend this enough. I NEED a sequel stat!

The Sound of Storms is a solid debut novel. The story is original and well executed. The representation in this book is unmatched in my reading experience. The world is queer-normative, sex positive, body positive and the disability representation avoids tokenism. The story is well paced and sucks you in from very early on. The world building and politics are complex and fun to read. The romance is fun and spicy as hell! My only complaint is that apart from the sex scenes this book reads as very YA. The dialogue is fairly immature and the stakes felt pretty high, but the wrap up was a little too clean and easy. Overall I would definitely recommend this book to fantasy readers who love fae and shifters. The spice is written well and very hot. I'm excited to see what Anya Keeler comes up with next!