Quick Summary: A magical short

My Review: Cradled by Christina Bauer is book 5 in the Beholder series. It is a short fantasy fic novella.

Beholder Series
Where a medieval farm girl discovers necromancy and true love
1. Cursed
2. Concealed
3. Cherished
4. Crowned
5. Cradled

My Final Say: I would suggest readers start at book 1 versus book 5. Because I was so excited by the concept, I failed to properly prep, and as a result, I started at the back. While I can't give anything away, I can say that readers will like the imagery, the characters, and the tale.

Rating: 3/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: T/OYA
Series: Yes

Thank you to the author, to the publisher, and to NetGalley for granting access to this book.

#Goodreadsrecommendation

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This has been on my TBR pile for so long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I really enjoyed the storyline and seeing the characters change throughout the story was a great character development. The plot was great and kept my attention. I'm glad I got the chance to read this and will be on the lookout for more in the future!

Full disclosure, I read this book as the first book in the series. Whilst it can be read as a standalone, I would recommend reading the book in order to avoid spoilers. I found the characters Elea and Rowan to be a sweet couple who are finally getting to enjoying their hard fought life together. Yet it is disrupted by a clockwork type alien from another world.

I enjoyed the simplicity of this story. The tale flowed smoothly and quickly from mysterious interloper to showing up to the new world, run on clockwork. The surprise characters appearing to support Elea and Rowan make for a heart warming reconciliation and allowing Elea to be able to move forward with Rowan in their future together as a couple. I did find Rowan's younger brother to be a bit annoying and I'm glad he suffered. In my old age, children who think they know it all are annoying. I liked how Ms. Bauer showed how actions have consequences... severe consequence.

From an editing standpoint, this book needed it a bit more. Or perhaps the copy I received was a rough draft mode. There were several grammar errors which was distracting, especially as I tend not to notice these as much. Overall, this is a quick read and a lovely after the "happily ever after" story. Recommended for fantasy readers who want a quick and enjoyable story.

This is a reasonable short novella.
I have to say though unless you have read the previous books in the series it can leave you struggling to keep up.
Hence only 2 stars.

I am trying to clear out my NetGalley shelves; have not read yet but am planning on doing so in the future. I have had a good experience with other titles by this author :)

This is book 5 in the Beholder series and is rather short. You can read this as a stand alone but you'll understand all the characters better by reading the series in order. I think this is the last book for Elea and Rowan. Both are full of magic and are ruling the kingdom with the insight of her young brother. The book ties up loose ends for both families and wraps up many questions from previous books. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Cradled is the last novella in the Beholder series. We already know the majority of the characters, but it's always good to reunite with them! Rowan and Elea are more than happy together, just with minor problems caused by their families. However, trouble comes there way in the shape of Kronos, who is the ruler of the planet Elea's parents were exiled to. They need the help of the Lightning Goddess and her Consort to save Jicho, and bring back the peaceful times to their rule.

Although this is only a novella, there is still plenty of action. The Lightning Goddess and her Consort are crossover characters from another series, but you don't need to know as that it doesn't really impact this story. I loved their attitudes however, and I loved how Elea and Rowan were with them.

With no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt my reading flow, this felt like the perfect ending to Rowan and Elea's story. With all characters playing a part, it felt like the ending. I finished this book feeling completely satisfied, with a happy smile on my face.

If you like this series, then you definitely need to read this one! It's just not complete without it!

There can be something said for an author who listens to their readers. We asked and Bauer delivered. Cradled is a fill-in story that follow's up after the Beholder's original ending. It was rushed and we wanted more, and now here it is. Cradled ties things up nicely and it's a feel good. Does it HAVE to be read? No, but it's a nice addition to the series and any fan of Alea and her HEA will enjoy it.

Elea and Rowan are attending a family festival when some mechanical men from another planet show up wanting Elea to return with them to their planet. The mechanical men are claiming that Elea’s parents have stolen all of their magic and their planet is dying. They want Elea to go back with them to try and convince her parents to return their magic. Elea of course refuses as when she exiled her parents with the intention of never seeing them again. But the mechanical men don’t give her choice when they kidnap Rowan’s little brother Jicho and take him back to their planet.

In the meantime Elea has a little surprise that she is carrying around inside of her, a surprise that she is worried about telling Rowan as she is concerned about how he is going to take to the news considering their past conversations. Every time she tries to tell him she freezes up and the words won’t come out. Besides every time she gets up the courage to speak to him about someone always interrupts them with something that just happens to be a little more important at the time.

There is a big surprise with a couple of characters crossing over from one of Christina’s other series. This is very welcome surprise one in which I would really love to see more of in the future.

I love the worlds that Christina creates for her books. Of all the books that I have read by Christina so far I have fallen in love from the beginning and can’t seem to get enough. The more I read the more I want. If I had to choose a favorite I don’t think I could.

Cradled is filled with action and love from the first page. I loved the cross over and that ending, the last chapter was so warm and sweet and downright amazing.

I would recommend Cradled to all fans of the Beholder series or any fan of Christina’s books.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Monster House Books, LLC for this partnership.

Elea and Rowan live a good life. Except that Rowan spends most of his time repairing the broken pots of his childhood. His mother being a real nightmare, it's a hell of a mess his life is. That's why he doesn't want any children conceived by him.

A book read in one go, I immediately became hooked on the story and the characters. This author has a beautiful pen, I recommend her books.

I need to stop requesting novella from series that I haven't read. Although this book definitely got me interested in reading the official series, it's still a little bit difficult for me to grab the concepts because I know absolutely nothing about anything in the book.

So this is definitely not the book's problem, it's my own.

But if you enjoyed the series, even from someone who never read the series, I can still literally feel how much you would enjoy this book. Go get this book now! It definitely would help the book-hang0ver suffering of an ended series.

I really enjoyed this novella. If you haven't read the previous books in this series, you really need to so you understand what is going on in this story. Elea and Rowan are together and theoretically everything should be smooth. Except, this is a Christina Bauer book and that doesn't happen!

It wasn't what I was expecting and I was happy about that. This book has all my favorite characters in it and I loved how the author mixed in some surprises. I liked that it wasn't smooth and easy for everyone but that they had to work. For not being a long book, the author put a lot in there and did it quite wonderfully.

It was a 5/5 for me. Love this author and her books!



Thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this book. I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.

This novella was quite good, having not read the previous book I had no attachement to other characters and was able to totally fall in love with these characters. I loved understanding Rowan's way of thinking and loved how much Rowan loves Elea.
I couldn't help but fangirl at every romantic and cute interactions while also seeing more of his protectiveness. Jericho became a character that I wanted to know more about. This novella though, as expected, had a lot of spoilers linked to the previous books in the series, but overall really only contributed to helping me when I was filling the blanks for things I didn't know since I hadn't read the other books in the series. I really liked how it was packed with adventure and wasn't made in a way that felt like it was rushed. Though some part where a little bit slow and could've easily been arranged, but that might have been because I didn't have the knowledge that most people had going into it it was a 3.5/5 stars to me !
Would totally recommend you pick it up !
-Bookarina

**Review is scheduled on blog for my date on the blog tour - 8/09**

Cradled was the perfect follow up to see what all of our favorite characters were up to! It was tons of fun, filled with adventure, we got to spend lots of time with all the characters we loved and we even got a visit from another couple from the author's Angelbound Origin Series. Although there were some huge spoilers where they were concerned, so be careful if you haven't read that series yet. But regardless, the epilogue junkie in me absolutely loved this book!

“No matter what happens,” said Rowan. “Know this. I love you with all that I am.” I met his gaze again. Nothing but true respect and love shone in Rowan’s green eyes. “Everything else, we’ll work it out. Together.”

My favorite thing about this book was catching up with all of those that I loved. Yes I adored where the story went, but seeing my favorites?! Priceless! I loved that Rowan was sexy and protective as ever. Little Jericho was still absolutely adorable. And I have no clue if this is a possibility, but I would love to see him in the future, grown up, with his own series. Jericho was that charismatic, I could easily read more about him. And Elea warmed my heart and I loved watching her work through her HEA. So when I reached the end of the book, I loved that there was an epilogue that jumped a year in advance! So if you're a fan of the Beholder Series, you should definitely pick up this book!

It’s been awhile since I visited the world of Elea and Rowan, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d be in their world again. Surprise! I was so glad to see this latest. We got a more finished wrap up of their world with visitors from other books in this novella epilogue. We get to see Elea and Rowan fight side-by-side one last time to save a loved one and get a visit from people I didn’t think we see again. And, there was even an unexpected surprise which I can’t talk about as I don’t want to give it away. If you are a fan of the Beholder series, you will love this novella. Highly recommend! I was provided the e-book which I voluntarily reviewed.

Hello happy readers. I hope you are having a good Monday. My weekend was not as productive as I would have hoped but the new season of Orange is the New Black dropped Friday so could I have done anything other than marathon it? I think not. That said I am happy to have a quick review of an epilogue novella. Yes the Beholder series by Christina Bauer that I have enjoyed comes out with a quick novella, Cradled (Beholder #4.5). It comes out tomorrow and I am excited to have gotten a chance to read it early before my pre-order as I was provided an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I reviewed the previous Beholder books here: Cursed, Concealed, Cherished, and Crowned.

Rating: 5 Stars

Elea and Rowan have been through a lot and still have lots more to do in complete unity between their peoples. But given the family drama on both sides children were something they were going to forgo…..But sometimes fate has other options.

So I went in not knowing much. I hadn't even read the summary just that it was more Elea and Rowan and that was good enough for me. The title kind of gave me some hint but yeah that was it. I thought it'd be a quick little tale dealing with pregnancy or something but what I got was so much more. There is an attack, kidnapping, crossovers, battle, redemption, and so much jam packed into this novella! Seriously there is so much happening I loved it. There was even a cross over with some other characters I just adore so having them all in one spot kind of made my day!

There is a little of everything and again all of her books fly by for me but this was a novella that easily felt like a full on book with such an interesting story. I highly recommend it to fans of the series it's a sweet treat!

Until next time…

I love this author. This is the first book I've read in this series and it doesn't disappoint. Elea and Rowan are great characters and I look forward to reading more about them.

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley for my honest review. - this is a great author who has yet to disappoint.

Amazing ending to a series with an unexpected crossover from two great characters from another of Christina Bauer's series.