Beyond the Filigree Wall

Rivenwilde, Book 1

By: Melissa Wright

Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells

A dark curse. A deadly secret. The ill-fated girl at the heart of both.

Antonetta Ostwind is about to get everything she’s ever wanted. If all goes to plan, she’ll end the fae, steal back what was stolen, and win the post she’s always dreamed of in time to dress for supper.

There’s just one problem. His name is Gideon Alexander.

Gideon holds the key to her coveted post. He’s fantastic with a sword, looks amazing in uniform, and commands even the adoration of his great, beastly dog. He’s living the life Etta needs.

Gideon doesn’t believe Etta should have any of it. In fact, he’s planning to make sure she never does. And that’s a real problem, because if Etta can’t take her post as marshal, how can she have her vengeance and save the kingdom from the prince of the fae?

Slip into clean, slow-burn romance with a properly stabby heroine and the low commitment of a standalone series in this light regency fantasy romp for fans of Enchantment of Ravens and Little Thieves.

©2022 Melissa Wright (P)2023 Melissa Wright

The narrator did amazing it was so fun to listen to!

It was so good but felt a little unfinished and like stuff was left out.

Fine & Interesting

This story was interesting enough, though slow to start. Although I got used to it and saw the fit later in the story with nice expressions and such, initially I felt the narrator sounded older than the character with more of a regency accent. There is kind of a gaslamp feel to this story, and surprisingly the fae are negative characters. The developing romance doesn't happen until past half way through the book, but there is an overall mystery and problems to solve throughout that keep you wondering. I'm sure more of the world/overall issues get explored in future stories of this series as well.

Not For Me

I listened to the audio of this and enjoyed the narrator, Mary Jane Wells. The different character voices she did flowed together seamlessly and were easy to differentiate from each other.
The story itself wasn't as enjoyable for me. I was never able to connect to the characters and as a result I never cared about the story. It seemed to get better toward the end, but with the story nearly over, there didn't feel like much of a point in investing in it.
But for others this story may be for, this is a fae story that has an enemies to lovers romance. The female lead has returned home after years training to take up a specific post in her government. Before she can be granted the position, she meets with resistance from another government official who believes she is unfit and before she can disprove the accusations, she is cursed by the fae.
I do appreciate that this story seems to have gender equality. As someone who reads a lot of fantasy, I do get tired of institutionalized sexism being the norm in those stories. So it was refreshing to see that the female lead's fitness wasn't being questioned due to her gender (other women held offices as well), but due to her behavior which a man was being judged for as well.

Enjoyable clean romance

This was a fun story, humorously narrated. I was a little apprehensive about the narrator after I’d listened to another book she narrated which was so peppered with needless *gasps* that it became grating, but that did not happen with this book. This was a nice, occasionally funny, clean fairy tale romance.