Thanks to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the eARC! This is my honest review.

Molly Ringle guides the reader through a world of magic, fae folk, and danger in her novel Ballad for Jasmine Town. This is, technically, the second book in Ringle’s Eidolonia Series, but functions as a standalone novel. I have not read Lava Red Feather Blue, the first book in the series, and did not at all feel out of my depth or confused. I have, however, added it to my TBR based on how much I enjoyed Ballad for Jasmine Town!

This novel is set on the enchanted island Eidolonia, which is inhabited by both humans and fae, in the border town of Miryoku. Seated right on what is called “the Verge” - the border which separates the human and fae territories. In Miryoki - also affectionately called “Jasmine Town” by its inhabitants - the half-fae musician Rafi struggles to reconcile his unconventional childhood and youth in the fae realm with his friends, connections, and emotional ties to the human town, feeling like he doesn’t truly belong in either. Similarly, human witch Roxanna works to secure a fulfilling life for both herself, and her daughter Esther. Roxana and Rafi fall for each other and strive to build something they can hold onto in the midst of human/fae tension, a changing world, and a political climate that feels, at times, uncomfortably familiar.

Ringle handles themes of trauma, grief, friendship, and forgiveness deftly, while crafting a world that balances on enchanting and dangerous. It’s a world that I want to spend more time in, hence my adding Lava Red Feather Blue to my TBR.

My chief…I don’t know if I’d even call it a ‘complaint’ per se, but I suppose the one aspect that didn’t quite work for me was that the last portion of the book didn’t quite work for me. Once Rafi and Roxana and Miryoku’s story is largely wrapped up, we, the audience, get a crash course through major events (or, at least a handful of major events) of Lava Red Feather Blue so that we can know the fate of The Big Bad and the general safety of Eidolonia. Frankly, I can’t think of how else Ringle could have handled it, and it might have only felt like a bunch of rushed, new information to me since I wasn’t familiar with the first book, but either way, the vibes didn’t quite match the rest of the novel.

I would absolutely not let this keep me from recommending Ballad for Jasmine Town to anyone else, though. I still loved the novel. I found its exploration of childhood trauma and falling in love as an adult to be insightful. I, once again, loved the world that Ringle has built in Eidolonia. The diversity and representation that Ringle writes into her world also feels very natural and comfortable, and, overall, I’m very excited to read Ringle’s first Eidolonia novel, and to keep my eye out for any new stories set in this world in the future.

Rafi is half fae/half human but counted as human due to his mortal nature. He’s lived his life flitting in and out of the fae world into the mortal world never quite feeling at home in either.

When his beloved human grandmother is killed by his paternal family of fae, he leaves the fae world for an extended period.

In the village of Miryoku, he makes friend, joins a band and begins a relationship with Roxana, a materials witch.

But Roxana is leaving town to further her education, their island is upheaval as a hate filled president takes charge, and a long asleep violent fae awakens to wreak havoc.

I loved the concept of found family, the magical realism and how the mortal and fae world existed side by side. The world building too a bit of time to make sense to me, but once it did I was all in.

I can see how someone would write this book with five stars. To put it simply, this is a very well written book about two people healing from personal traumas with support from family and friends. The world is very well built and charming. I enjoyed both the fae and human parts of the world. I felt like both parts and the conflict between people was carefully presented. The author did well to show both sides of the conflict and how different actions are perceived. The depiction of fae was definitely less human than some other books. The characters are also very well written and diverse. The main characters’ relationship was cute and healthy (or if not, they worked through it). Personally, the book just didn’t click with me. It had a slower pace and was romance forward than I usually enjoy. I was waiting for the hinted at disaster but it didn’t come until much later. The style of writing was also not to my taste. I can’t point what I didn’t like, but it was just difficult for me to get into. Good book but not for me. Would recommend to someone looking for a cozy-ish romance read about healing and angst.

Spicy level: kissing and several vague sex scenes which last a few pages. All kisses and sex scenes are between adults.

Tw: mentioned of depression, mentioned of rape/forced pregnancy, described child abuse, mentioned murder of family member, scenes with verbal abuse, scenes with physical abuse, etc (this is a book about healing but there is gonna be a lot along the way)

For the record , the author says that you can read this book without reading the previous book of this series but I would not recommend. The last two chapters have major spoilers from the first book, including about the ending of the first. Again, this is an arc so it might be taken out. But I felt it was fair to warn people because if I had really enjoyed this book and wanted to read the first one, I would be disappointed.

I didn’t read book 1, but book two was very easy to pick up on. It was very inclusive and a nice read for pride month.

I absolutely loved this book! The author does a fantastic job of making sure that the reader understands the story without needing to read book one. I have not read the first book, but I really want to now that I've read this book. I love the world building and just how thoughtfully the author has approached creating a world that the reader can immerse themselves in. I love how complex she makes her characters and really creates characters that the reader can connect with, especially Roxanna and Rafi.

Any story about faeries are immediate must reads for me. I had not read the previous book in this same world 'Lava Red Feather Blue' but the author did a great job of making it easy for readers to read them separately and to jump in without prior knowledge. I absolutely loved the world building with this island where fae and humans mingle in this urban fantasy setting. Especially given the magical element of once you leave the island any memory of it fades from you. I fully appreciate that the author leaned into the element of fae that are tricksters that don't carry the same morals as humans as I just find it so much more interesting when they are so clearly inhuman.
The pace of the story itself was very slow which while not a bad thing I also unfortunately didn't grow as attached to the characters as I had hoped which made it more difficult to enjoy the more slow character driven moments.
Overall it was a fun read just more slowly paced.

📚Ballad for Jasmine Town
🖋️Author: Molly Ringle
📆Publication date: June 4
🖌️Publilsher: Central Avenue
🗂️Genre: Magical Romance

•ARC REVIEW•

4,5/⭐️

📌Summary:
“Ballad for Jasmine Town” by Molly Ringle is the second installment in the series “Eidolonia” and follows the story of Rafi, a human born to a fae mother, a mortal denizen of the fae realm, a form-shifter who aches to join the human world, but prejudices and legal tangles stand in his way. After the death of his beloved human grandmother at the careless hands of fae, his only connection to humans is the cover band he plays with—until he meets Roxana. The second protagonist is Roxana who is a dutiful single parent and a metalworking witch specializing in healing charms. When she meets Rafi one summer night and repairs an instrument string for him, they strike up a friendship that soon kindles into love. But she’s moving away from Miryoku at summer’s end, and Rafi must stay, determined to stop the fae who keep hurting townsfolk. Together, Roxana and Rafi formulate an idea that might tame the most dangerous offenders—or might only accelerate the doom of their hometown.

📌Review:
I read the book without having read the first one in the series and I was not disappointed. The author explained all the details in the book so I wasn’t lost. I loved the setting of the world and the characters. One main thing is you do not get bored with the world building as it may happen to a lot of books.

📌Thoughts:
I am thinking about reading the first book in the series to get the complete view.

Thank you NetGalley and @centavebooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I found this book a little slower paced - which is in no way a bad thing! The writing was wonderfully descriptive and I enjoyed the world building. The characters were enjoyable and at times, relatable, as well.

This is a cute book! I love the idea of taking an epic fantasy, (Lava Red and Feather Blue), and finding the cozy fantasy elements of the everyday people. Ringle has created fascinating characters with Rafi and Roxanna, as well as a sweet romance. I enjoyed the read! Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy to review.

Ballad for Jasmine Town is the second book in Ringle’s Eidolonia series. I didn’t read the first one but this book wasn’t very hard to fallow and I never got lost.
I found the romance in this very sweet & the story some what familiar? I liked that they had to work through challenges in order to build something together.

This book was really good and had a good LGBT story too it!
But it wasn’t the book for me, maybe it was because I didn’t start with the first book maybe but it fell a little flat just over half the way through.

Ballad for Jasmine Town is the second in Ringle's Eidolonia series, I haven't read the first one but I wasn't lost while reading this one. Ringle does a good job of setting up the story and giving you all the details you need. It also appears to be mostly tangentially connected to Lava Red Feather Blue as opposed to a direct sequel.
There was a lot of this that I really liked. I found the building political tensions of the world interesting (and familiar) and I found the romance between Rafi and Roxana to be really sweet. I liked that neither of them were willing to immediately give up their lives in an insta-love sort of way and they had to work their way through challenges in order to build something together.
The thing that fell flat for me that influenced how i felt about the book as a whole was Rafi being trans and how that was written. I was so excited to see how Ringle approached this with a witch who could change their body at will. Unfortunately she just sort of didn't. There's brief passing comments about it once or twice so that you know Rafi is trans, but it isn't fleshed out or real in any way. I feel like it should have been an intrinsic part of who Rafi was and how he moved through the world but it sort of ended up feeling like it was a throw away characteristic for the sake of having a trans character to say exists. With so much time spent in Rafi's internal life in the book I felt like we should have seen more of it. I'd love to hear from trans readers about their experience reading this.
I'll be recommending this to people, but with a big asterisk about trans representation

As a lover of all things fae, I just knew I was going to enjoy this book! Ballad for Jasmine Town is a wonderful and creative fantasy, the second installment of the Eidolonia series, with Lava Red Feather Blue being the first. I did not get a chance to read the first book yet, however I wasn't completely clueless as to what was going on in this second book. The author added enough backstory and detail to fill the reader in, which I appreciated. The story just seemed to just flow, making this fantasy easy to read. I also love the creativity in this book. Not only is the magical land appreciated, but the characters are all unique in their own way, with unique abilities. Although this is a fantasy, the author did include very realistic issues and conflict, which gave the story a very relatable feel. I loved it!
Thank you NetGalley, Central Avenue Publishing, and Molly Ringle for this read!

I honestly couldn't get into it, it started kind of strange, not sure if it's just me, I'll try to give it another chance but I'll wait a bit until I do that again

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of "Ballad for Jasmine Town". I had a lot of fun with that one! I liked the characters and their relationships. The story itself was also very entertaining.

Ballad of Jasmine Town by @writermollyringle

Thoughts (What’s above and extended) :
I actually LOVED this book. I really like the take on normal people’s life during a fantasy novel. Being able to see Roxanna and Rafi’s lives and them getting through the events of the book while not being the ‘protagonist’ in a sense was refreshing and I’d like to see more books with this take. I found the writing enjoyable and the book really plucks up in the later half, so I’m glad I stuck it out. I also love Kepelo’s character growth! This was a good comfy read in my opinion and I definitely recommend the book! I look forward to reading Merrick and Larkin’s story in Lava Red Feather Blue which is part of this story universe!!!

Quotes Extended :
“I will grieve with you, I will rage with you, I will stay quietly with you, I will do whatever you need. I will be with you.”

I commit to you, if you’re in.” He pulled her close until their foreheads touched. “I grant you this deal.”

“Well, if you think I should be forgiven because I didn’t mean to do what I did, then shouldn’t you be forgiven too?”

“You two glow around each other. Like, literally, in his case.”

“You know, you’re about five thousand times better a father than mine ever was.” “If you need a surrogate, I’m here.” Timo sniffled.

“Gods know I am not fond of how it turned out, my attempt to become a parent.” Kepelo slipped her wing around Rafi. “I agree the encounter between us was disappointing, but I will gladly take all the treasure that issued from it, if you aren’t wise enough to see its value.”

‘You told me once to remember all the things you love that you can’t lose. It really helped me when you said that. I know the town’s gone and we lost people, but there’s still going to be music and festivals and cool things humans make, and we want you there enjoying it.’ I was gathering the strength to answer, which took me a while. Then I heard the liuqin.”

#balladforjasminetown #eidolonia #transprotagonist #biprotagonist #queerfantasy #bookstagram #urbanfantasy #fae #witches

This was a great contemporary fantasy. I found the first half of the story very cozy because of the idyllic setting of Miryoku with its ocean views, leafy parks, and twining jasmine vines. The town felt like its own character wrapping the main characters in its warmth while they found each other and felt their way through the landscape of new love. I enjoyed that magic supported each character in becoming the most authentic versions of themselves including changing ones outward appearance. All of it wasn’t done in a beautifully normalized way that was really refreshing. It was lovely to see indigenous rights represented as well.

Plot 8/10
Characters 5/10
Enjoyment 8/10
Overall Flow 9/10
Diction 7/10

What a fun read about a new fae territory for me! I didn’t have any issues jumping into this book 2 without reading the first. The points were easy to follow and concepts were easy to grasp, which I find crucial in a fantasy book.

The characters didn’t jive with me, and I feel this could have been a higher rating read if I could have connected a bit more on that front. I didn’t feel the chemistry between Rafi and Roxana, given THEY were so unsure of their relationship themselves. I also felt the fae were super naive technology and socially for living in the 21st century.

Overall it was a fun read, and a nice take on modern fantasy. I loved that I could imagine this island occurring real time with my time table. The LGBTQ was tastefully represented. I look forward to seeing the author extend this series further - I think they have a wonderful world built up. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

This was fantastic. The world building….the tension. The struggle…the emotions! Everything about this story was perfect!!

I've been on the edge of my seat waiting for this book since I finished Lava Red, Feather Blue, and it did not disappoint.
It was impossible to put this book down, I started reading and next thing I knew I was 300+ pages in!
I really loved that we got more of the magic in this companion novel, both from a sciency explanation and from mystical and personal interpretations of it. Some of it was hard, not from a writing standpoint, just from the allegories and the real life similarities that we all went through this past couple of years, *but* that made it even more of an emotional payoff to work through those scenes and then finishing the book,
Rafi and Roxana were amazing together once they *finally* let themselves be together (stubborn, self depreciating, adorable, FOOLS, I love them). I really loved seeing a transmasc character being romanced. If I could I would absolutely live in this world, with these wonderful, weird, and strange people and their equally amazing fae counterparts,.

A metalworking witch and a form-shifting half-fae musician embark on a secret romance, but soon become caught in escalating tensions between fae and humans that threaten their hometown. This town has ocean views, a thriving art scene and shares a border with fae territory. The human realm sits beside one of enchantment and danger.

A human born to a fae mother, aches to join the human world but prejudices stand in his way. His connection to the human world withers away with the death of his beloved grandmother at the carless hands of fae. A metal working witch specialising in healing charms meets the half-fae musician when she repairs an instrument string for him. They strike up a friendship that soon kindles in to love.

These two embark on a journey of love and attempt to formulate a plan to tame the most dangerous of the fae, which may accelerate the doom of their hometown. His beloved grandmother was not the first, or the last, to fall pray to fae hands. Perhaps a chance meeting may change the fate of their hometown or may be the spark that causes it all to burn. A story about finding friendship in the loneliest of places, nurturing a connection that transcends boundaries and a love that will conquer all.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘑𝘢𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘙𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦