Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook copy!

Going into this title, I was excited as I like the narrator and the plot seemed promising. As time went on, I just found myself losing interest. It is a fast-paced read in the first half but once you get to the middle it just kind of dragged and it did not motivate me to continue. If you like fantasy Chinese dramas, this might be up your alley as it has a similar vibe. I could see myself checking out this author again but maybe if they write adult novels.

This book reminded me why I love historical fiction so much! I do not think this is a book I can recommend to all but I could recommend it to anyone who loves manga and is really looking for a book that gives that same kind of vibe!

3/5

Very exciting and interesting story. However it did not grip me straight away and I had to push through the beginning.
I still enjoyed it a lot

I love a good time-rewind revenge plot. I was really excited to pick this up after spending month devouring isekai and time-rewind light novels and manhwa. The story had potential, but fell a little flat. I think it could have done with another pass or two with the editor to cut down on the "telling" and add more of the "showing". The narrator was really good and helped gloss over some parts that could have been better executed. Otherwise I enjoyed the story for what it was, a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, Dreamscape Lore, Union Square & Co., Kate Chenli, and Natalie Naudus (audio narrator) for the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook of A Bright Heart in exchange for an honest review.

A Bright Heart is inspired by some traditional Chinese tropes (dead but not dead, travelling back in time, two brothers fall for the same girl, Emporor is evil) making for an epic stand-alone Asian fantasy drama.

This novel follows Mingshin, who ends up with Ren, the man who becomes king. After a dreadful and unforseen betrayal, Mingshin wishes to the gods for a second chance to fix what she had done in her assistance in Ren's rise to power. Granted her wish by being taken back in time, Mingshin now has a chance to stop Ren.

Not only does she want revenge for the future, but she vows never to fall in love again. Love is only good to get someone killed, after all. But Jieh, one of the princes in line for the throne, has a whimsical air about him. As much as Mingshin aims to avoid falling in love, fate is against her. It doesn't matter that she may not be noble; Jieh looks beyond the reality plane of existence and views Mingshin for her clever and cunning when it comes to dire situations.

With Ren on a power-hungry streak and the women of court who admire Jieh having it out for her, Mingshin has the world against her. It is a matter of survival to prevent her previous future from becoming reality once more, and going against her vows for the sake of the future she, and her country, deserves.

The audiobook is an interesting listen, narrated by Natalie Naudus. She does a great job bringing Mingshin to life and adding character to the rest of the novel's cast. The fantasy element and the tropes make for an intersting young adult novel sure to enthrall any reader.

While I love anything narrated by Natalie Nadus....this book felt so flat and average for me. The main character felt very juvenile and the plot wasn't exciting for me at all....so this was an DNF @50%

Natalie Naudus is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. I came to this book simply because I always enjoy her performances of characters. In this YA fantasy set in a country reminscent of ancient China, 16-year-old Mingshin gets a do-over after her naïveté sets a series of tragic and traumatic events in motion. This time, she's not going to let a handsome prince fool her into believing he's in love with her. She's going to use her smarts and keep her family safe at all costs. But the timeline's different this time, as are the challenges she will face. Not to mention, a different prince seems to fancy her, and maybe she had him all wrong the first time around. This ends nicely, but it also sets a course for further adventure. I look forward to the next book in the series.

[Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced audio copy in exchange for my opinion.]

I enjoyed this read. Seeing the main character get a second chance to turn the tide for the better was satisfying. But a second chance is never as straight forward or easy as one would think and I liked that Chenli showed that. With new characters and threats introduced this go around, more than just knowing your previous life and its outcome is needed.

I liked the evolution of the romance and the subsequent friendships that arose as a result. Loyalty was a main theme here and I always enjoy reading how authors will approach its use and importance.

This is political intrigue done right!

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I think they did a really great job with the audio and it was also just a really fun book. Some books that are filled with political drama like this can get a bit boring, but this wasn't at all. I was really rooting for all of Mingshin's plans.

I think the thing that I most liked was Mingshin's character. She was smart. Like really smart. Right from the start she was working to outmanoeuvre her enemies even when she was lying in the snow about to be killed by her betrothed.

If there was one thing I'd change about this book though, I would have made the time travel a bigger thing in the plot. I felt it was really underutilised. By going back in time Mingshin should have had more prior knowledge of events but while there was a tiny bit of that at the start, I felt the author had her early actions changing too much stuff so that she couldn't predict it a lot of the time.

I really did love this book and this narrator though. I'll be interested in reading more in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced audio book copy of this book.

4/5 ✨

This book is not heavy on romance but does have it more towards the end. It is a politically revenge story. I quite enjoyed it. The magic is spars throughout the story and our main character doesn’t use magic- so don’t expect magical fights throughout. I don’t typically go for police stories but I really enjoyed this one. Maybe because of the revenge plot, live a good get back story.

I also liked the romance that took place over the course of the story. It didn’t feel forced and I loved how they fell for each other.

Now this book does leave it open to a 2nd book. While the main story ends in this first installment the over arching baddie seems to need another book. I’m curious to see if it will get a duo logy.

I recommend this book already to a friend and will recommend it to anyone else who loves Asian inspired fiction. A must read for next year!

What would you do if you had the chance to go back in time and right a wrong? Would you take it? Mingshin helps Ren ascend to the thrown only to be betrayed by him on the day of his coronation. He murders her but just before she passes she prays to the gods to save her. She awakes 2 years earlier to relive her life. She vows to do things differently. She will make sure Ren does not ascend to the thrown and she will never love another man again. Let’s see how that works out.

This is a debut novel by the author. It’s a YA novel but does not seem juvenile at all. The action, intrigue and suspense are very enjoyable. I listen to the audiobook and now I want a physical copy for my shelves. I loved this book and I highly recommend it.

I want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for a copy of this audiobook. I was not required to give a review but I do so voluntarily.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review! I'll start by saying I think I found my favorite niche genre, court intrigue coupled with someone using a second chance to change things; A Bright Heart did those two things very well. This book is very similar to Strike the Zither and part of the reason I originally picked it up(I think this may win out just slightly right now). Though, I will say I wish that both the romance and magic system were a little more fleshed out than they were, but it wasn't necessarily bad. The pacing was really well in the book and I was never bored while listening. The excitement of the ending was exactly what you need to finish a book strongly. I will say the magic that happened at the end again, did need to be explained better but overall really enjoyable. All of the side characters had reasonable motivations and I do hope that certain people end up getting the crown over others, cough Youmna(I listened to the audiobook so I hope I'm spelling that right) cough. If you like a character driven story about weaving through the traps of a court combined with chinese mythology this is right up your alley!

I'm a huge lover of time regression and isekai pieces and even more so for historical fantasy. This book satisfied all of the little book cravings I'd been having. The narrator for this books was perfect, excellent pacing and good voice changes and just pleasing to the ear. Mingshin is a character that you want to root for. After hearing how she was betrayed all I wanted was for her to get everything she was owed. Strong yet relatable female lead. I enjoyed listening her use her wits and knowledge of her former life as she pushed forward in this timeline of her life. Kate Chenli's story telling is masterful and vivid with the imagery it conjured up. The right balance of action, fantasy, & touches of romance. I'm sure this book will do well. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to review this gem of a book.

A Bright Heart was an interesting book with a fun time travel aspect and revenge trope. This was the story of Mingshin - a girl who fell in love with a prince, was betrayed, and was then given her wish for a "do-over."

I enjoyed that this book really jumped right in and then essentially started over right away. I liked that I was able to see what Mingshin's life was like the first time and then see how everything changed during the bulk of the book. I found the characters to be interesting, if a little superficial at times. I also enjoyed watching Mingshin grow and learn with Jieh as she fought against her life before it was rewound. I also thought Mingshin played well off of the other female characters, showcasing all of their strength very nicely.

I enjoyed the audiobook version of this. I thought the narrator did a fantastic job with the character voices and the pacing. It felt like it really added something to the story and took it to an extra level.

This book started super fast and had some pacing issues for me with wow were right in to slow into rapid fire and a gentle ending. There were a couple points where modern language also stood out quite abruptly compared to the rest of the narrative however overall I really enjoyed this book.

One trope that does irritate me a little is the oh I'm so plain heroine and this did have that and frankly it wasn't needed at all and the story could have flowed absolutely fine without any mention of her internalised plainess. I do get that this for the oh I am beautiful revelation to occur but it is my own personal opinion pet hate. That being said a lot of books I absolute love have this and I do overlook it when the story is good.

I hate a time loop so I was so happy we only went back the once and when it was made clear it won't be happening again I rejoiced a bit. I really liked the aspect of her seeing people's actions in a different light. Hindsight afterall is a wonderful thing.

It clearly is setting up for book 2 and I would definitely listen to the second installment.

Have you ever started a book when you're getting ready for bed, thinking to yourself that you will just start it and next thing you know, two hours have passed? A Bright Heart was that book for me yesterday. I love a "go back in time" trope. Whether it's reliving the same day or hour over and over again, or a character who gets sent back in time to redo a past mistake. When I read the synopsis for this book, I knew it had found the right audience in me.

Our main character, Mingshin, gets a chance to do over the last two years of her life when the boy she loves kills her after she helps him get the throne. I love seeing a character look back and make up for their mistakes with what they learned. And Kate Chenli delivers on that. After being tortured, betrayed, and killed Mingshin is no longer a naive girl. She is out for vengeance. The betrayal of her cousin and her uncle's family means she doesn't know who to trust and she will do anything to keep her mother alive this time. Along the way, she makes real friendships and captures the heart of one of the other princes. But can she trust him with her heart? And when she changed the timeline, what else did she change?

This early audiobook copy was provided to me by Netgalley and Dreamscape Media in return for an honest review. And I can honestly say, thank you! The audiobook was read by Natalie Naudus, who did a fantastic job. She also narrated my favorites, the Starling House, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, and Realm Breaker. All books I didn't know if I would enjoy but her narration made the words resonate.

A Bright Heart was a little too fast paced for me. The story moves from one thing to next and even big moments go by so quick. I found it hard to keep track of characters as well. The main character is well fleshed out but there are so many side characters and names being thrown about that no one else really stood out to me.

There is an incredibly cheesy true love can even beat magic storyline and because of that the ending wasn’t particularly satisfying to me. And again. The very end still has a lot going on and maybe needed to be slowed down. This story felt like it would suit a 2 hour film with the way it wraps up so fast! It also doesn’t resolve everything so I’m assuming it will be part of a series but I haven’t looked into what the author and publisher have planned.

tldr: I think there was a lot about this story that was good but it just didn’t come together for me personally. It’s full of action and intrigue and the revenge plot is the up-front focus so if that’s appealing to you, give it a go!

Thanks to Netgalley, Kate Chenli and the publisher for an audio copy to review! As always, Natalie Naudus delivers a wonderful performance!

A Bright Heart is the story of Mingshin, who gets a second chance at life when she begs the gods for it as she's dying. When she next wakes up, she's been transported back to the past, two years before, and she now has a chance to make certain the evil man who killed her, Ren, never becomes king,

It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did, I liked it. I didn't really care so much for the love subplot because the revenge was just way more interesting. Mingshin is a great character, a strong female who doesn't fit into any mold. It was mostly because of her that I liked this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Natalie Naudus was a great narrator and extra special thanks to her for the Chinese pronunciations.

The premise of this story immediately drew me in, as I do love a good revenge story. The plot was pretty fast paced, especially at the beginning. The court politics were easy enough to understand, and the plot progressed nicely. Natalie Naudus did a great job narrating, and made this audiobook a joy to listen to. The only thing I disliked is that the book would tell the reader what was going on a lot, rather than show them. It would have been nice if more was shown to the reader, and I think it would have made the story more engaging.

Thank you NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for providing this audiobook!