2.5*, rounded up to 3*
I read an ARC of this book through NetGalley, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this.

This is a book about a young human woman (named Carra) who finds herself in the quarry, a place where humans are not supposed to be. The punishment for a person being here unlawfully is death. The first chapter throws us into the action, with the woman having lost her memories and fleeing from a guard. A fae man (named Straid) finds himself in the quarry at the same moment and rescues Carra by saying they are to be married the next day. After this they get legally married and begin to grow closer together. She wants to regain her memories and remembers she's a prostitute (which isnt really a spoiler as it happens quite quickly in the book) + they realize people are going missing which brings a mystery element into the book. This is the first book in a series (I assume as it ended in a cliff hanger).

What i liked:
I liked the little fae lore that was sprinkled in, like the house being tied to Straid's magic, the asteroid and the contract thats made when you say 'please' and 'thank you'
I thought the characters had potential, as i did get more invested in them as the book went on (although more on this later)
I liked the mystery element and the ending
The dual POV was a nice touch, as this also sets it apart more from ACOTAR

That being said there were also many things that could be improved for a better reading experience. For example, I thought the pacing throughout the book wasn't always the best. It's a rather short book (on goodreads its 290 pages but my ebook said only 210 pages) for everything it wants to do. I think the book should have more scenes building up the relationship between Straid and Carra. I also think there maybe should have been more time between her arriving and remembering that she's a prostitute, and definitely more time before she actively starts that job again. Personally, I don't love that she goes back to being a prostitute while we're also supposed to want Carra and Straid to be together, but if the author wants to put some prostitution representation in her book that's definitely valid. I just think that her going into prostitution again felt a bit rushed, as she just had a very traumatic experience and still doesn't remember much at that point.

The pacing also shows a bigger problem with the book, which is that it really needs to be edited and proofread. There are many mistakes in this book (like accidentally using a different name or the wrong pronoun) which can be confusing or just take you out of the story. I know this is an ARC, so I won't be too hard on the book for this, but it was definitely quite noticeable.

Another thing that could be fixed with an editor is the fact that some of the dialogue is a bit awkward. I know that Straid is supposed to talk formal, but even with that in mind I think there are definitely parts of the dialogue that could be improved. Reading the dialogue out loud could also be a way to improve this.

Lastly, I mentioned that I liked the faerie lore that was sprinkled in. I think if the book focused a bit more on worldbuilding and description this could definitely enhance the reading experience, as now I was left feeling a bit wanting. If you choose to set your book in a completely different world, especially a faerie world, I think many people also want to delve more deeply into that world. This is another way in which you could make the first half of the book feel less rushed. Again, my ebook was only 210 pages, so you could easily add another 100 pages to this book and it would still be a very good length. I think the story definitely has a lot of potential and I could see that while reading, but it just has to be flushed out a lot and edited. I look forward to what this author could do with some more writing experience.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⚠️ Check trigger warnings

I thoroughly enjoyed following Carra and Straid. I loved how we got to find out more about our FMC through her recovering memories just as she did. As her memories are coming back, the twists and turns that take place had me playing detective. I fell in love with the MMC Straid 😍 he's so cute, and I feel like he was done wrong (you'll have to read to see). I never knew much about faes and their abilities, but after reading this, I would enjoy being one lol

The premise of this book was extremely promising! However, the execution of it did not hit the mark for me.

The first thing that I noticed was the lack of world building. The reader is thrown into the action within the first few pages of the novel which at times is good, but to not offer any world building or background after the fact was something that stuck out to me.

In addition, I really didn’t connect with any of the characters. The FMC has forgotten her memories and at times the author would flip between the name she wanted to be called, and her actual name, which to me was very confusing. I found some of her decisions questionable, specifically wanting to immediately jump back into her old job as soon as she remembered what she used to do.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This book..was a let down. Based on the description, it was an easy click for me and I was excited to read it. However, I felt the world building was confusing. If I had been reading a physical copy, I think I would have been doing a lot of flipping back and forth. I also didn’t feel like there was any real romance or connection between the main characters, which made the spicy scenes confusing and out of nowhere- all lost to be able to have scenes that ‘readers want.’

3.5 stars! A great start to a new fantasy series. Loved the dynamic despite not being a big fan of amnesia/memory loss tropes. Personally would've liked heavier world-building but I think this will be so appealing to readers who don't want hundreds of pages of politics. Hoping the grammar and editing mistakes throughout that took me out of the story will be polished up for release!

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, Romance and Fantasy novels are my usual go to when reading.

I really struggled to understand the world building in this book, I still do not understand where the Quarters are, where mortals aren't allowed to go, starting the whole story line of the book. Which made it difficult to understand why Anna couldn't be there and why she suddenly had lost all her memories.

The Spice in this book was a lot, and wasn't necessary to the story line which made it a bit uncomfortable when reading it. There is little to no romantic interest between the two main characters which would be fine but then they suddenly romantically love each other out of nowhere.

There was a few times when the wrong name for a character had been used in the book. The MMC doesn't find out FMC real name for the first few chapters however they use it in conversation before she tells him what her name is.

Overall this book just wan't for me and I couldn't really look past the mistakes and rushed plot.

I think this book was fantastic! Especially since it appears to be the authors first.

It had all the fae bookish lovers tropes; Stubborn/Traumatised FMC, Amnesia.So many very interesting elements that I almost didn't know where to look; it was super busy.

Yes, there were some plot holes and it was a high fantasy; but it definetly had me smiling and guessing what was next.

I look forward to seeing what F.A. Eden does next :)

Thank you netgalley for giving me ARC access!

This book had a very interesting premise, but it was not able to deliver a satisfying story. I think it can be kind of a squick for me to have one of the main love interests repeatedly have sexual interactions with other characters if it isn't an explicitly nonmonogomous communicative arrangement. I DNFed at 66% because I really liked the mystery but I couldn't make myself care about any of the characters enough to follow through.

There were parts that were well written but others were very choppy with characters names getting mixed up, people randomly being angry for dark and mysterious reasons that are never really explained, and the absolutely paper thin worldbuilding not making any sense or even trying to offer in world justifications for anything that's happening. I read some other reviews while deciding if I wanted to try powering through the last third and saw how many mentioned the lack of story resolution and how many plot threads get completely dropped and decided to save myself the time.

I think this could be a fun romance novella if it stopped trying to be a grand mystery and lost 2/3 of the word count. I wouldn't recommend it currently.

A mortal woman missing her memory. A fae lord held captive by his.

Carra is a mortal and has lost her memory. She's running around in fae territory where if humans are caught they are sentenced to death. Then she's caught by a guard.

Straid is a powerful fae who was once engaged to a mortal but she died. Now, he has spent the last 50 grief filled years as recluse. He finds Carra and immediately wants to help the human girl, by telling the guard they are engaged.

Idk, this seemed like it could be an interesting story. The writing is ok, but there are a some typos and some glaring mixups with character names that can't be overlooked. Carra marries Straid, is forced to stay in fae territory for a year due to *rules.* Her biggest concern is regaining her memories and the only thing she discovers is that she was a prostitute. And a "damn good" one lol. I still couldn't get over how she was adamant that she return to work immediately and Straid was just gonna have to deal with it. Because she loved her job!! The job that she had because her family was poor and she gave them all her money to support them.

Then, Straid was just a pushover because he basically said yes, do whatever you want because I only want to take care of you and make sure you are safe.

People are going missing. He's falling in love with her every day. Of course she's attracted to him and Straid to her, but the slow burn never culminates into anything.

Needless to say, the spice comes in during Carra's meetings with her clients. Idk it just wasn't that fulfilling because they are just past clients.

There isn't a lot of world building and the magic system is a little underwhelming. It took me some time to grasp the "threads" magic.

I mostly understood the reason for the kidnappings but the "epilogue ?" chapter did not make sense to me. I didn't care for the ending and there will obvi be another book but I probably won't read it.

I wanted to like this book based on the description. I just didn't.

I didn't care for the characters and the plot moved slowly.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

This book was advertised as a slow burn story, but I find it was anything but. The world building wasn't there, I found it very repetitive and had to dnf at 56%. There was no pull for continuing to read, lack of background given, constant mentions of vague details from their pasts without adding any kind of detail to want to know what they are.

This book, after she gets some of her memory back, is basically just straight sex with little to no world building or real content. Maybe it gets better, if straight smut is your kind of thing.

Memory lost, husband gained - or is it? Entering the world of fae politics, manipulations, and betrayals while trying to find out who she is, trailing the breadcrumbs along the way. Little different premise (which didn't work for me, but might for you) with some mysteries intertwined and alluded to. Good for fans of fae paranormal, but no real romance, or spice, and sort of predictable and slow moving. But good for the weekend or vacation.

I try really hard not to judge too hard but there shouldn’t be spelling issues in the first chapter.

The premise of the story is what pulled me into the story to begin with. However, Carra is inflicted with amnesia to begin with, but she does eventually remember that she was working as a human prostitute and wants to go back to it. To me it just didn’t make sense, don’t ask why that stuck with me it just did. If you don’t have all of your memories why would you want to go back so fast?

I need more world building, bring me into the story more. Make me want to be in this world.

One thing I did like is that the male main character was very respectful. He pretty much let her choose and didn’t make the choices for her.

I found the premise of this book interesting, but I felt that the development of the plot was lacking. I was often left puzzled at the decisions made. For example, Carra is inflicted with amnesia, but after remembering paltry details, is suddenly eager to get back to her work as a human prostitute. I find it hard to believe that she would want to go back to her work so quickly when she's in such a vulnerable state.

There are a bunch of inconsistencies littered around the book too. For example, before Carra discovers that her name is, well, Carra, Straid calls by her it in one of his POV chapters. There are a few spelling mistakes, and dialogues that didn't flow properly, or got confusing because it wasn't specified who was saying what.

The worldbuilding, too, was minimal, and I wanted to know more. I feel like the majority of the world was left undescribed, and it left me unable to actually be "in" the story.

Overall, I feel like this book had a lot of potential, but the execution fell through.

This was a very good read. The plot, the characters were so very well developed. I enjoyed reading this one! Can’t wait to read more from the author

First of all: Thank you so much NetGalley for the ARC copy.

Tropes:
- Marriage of Convenience
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
-Amnesia

Trigger Warnings:
-Prostitution
-Sleeping with people NOT your spouse (but also status of marriage is complicated)
- On Page Spice with people OTHER THAN spouse
- Death of a love (off page)
- Death of a child (Referenced)

It begins with a human fleeing something. She doesn't remember who she is or anything really (though she chooses to go by the name Anna). When she is saved from the guard arresting her for being in the Quarter without a fae escort by a fae male using magic to threaten (aka choke) the guard, I really appreciated that she was paying attention to how her savior worded his assurance that he wouldn't harm her. I have to say, she did better than me. I don’t know if I could have not interrupted when he said I was going to marry him. Straid is offering marriage on paper only, and maybe one day friendship. Why? He’s got a savior-complex and is traumatized by a wedding that never happened, sent all the servants away, and hides away in a house. Two rooms are off limits, his study and his bedroom. (There were multiple times I got Beauty and the Beast vibes if Belle was a prostitute...)

Straid feels awkward but in a “I am way older than you” kind of way. At one point I had the thought “he’s giving Tamlin without Lucian to help him communicate”. (Full disclosure I don’t hate Tamlin so that did not feel super negative, just his way of speaking to Anna/Carra reminded me of him). He was giving the immortal who doesn’t know how to interact with mortals vibes., which I liked. If more time had passed in the book I would have liked to have seen the way he talks to het shift as he got feelings for more though. I now want to know what deep dark sleep tastes like. I also want to know why Straid knows what stones taste like. Anyway, they get married and after two days Anna wants to get out of the house but Straid doesn’t want her to go alone. Multiple fae, and a few mortals, have gone missing in the Quarter.

She does go out searching for her lost memories with Straid in tow. He is such a gentleman waiting OUTSIDE the lingerie store… She figures out her name is Carra and she has another memory. 2 out of 4 memories have been men she slept with (maybe 3 out of 4 not sure about the woman yet…). The fae comes and talks to her. This is where I started to get annoyed with the MFC. She alludes to wanting to see him as a client again and to continue being a “consummate professional” even though her husband values privacy and has enough status to call the fae lord his name without a title. While yes, this is her life to live as she wishes she has bound her soul to this fae male, who did say she could have a lover, to see if the getting paid portion would be an issue. Because he did save her life and even the fae lord seemed hesitant to agree to that. I felt like she was jumping head first into something she doesn't even remember much less considering that her situation has changed from what it was even a few days ago. Especially since she shared her job info with him but not her real name. He does agree to let her continue with her job as long as she has an escort. One thing I wish I had seen was more character development in Carra over the story.

There was also a weird moment where Straid knew her as Carra but she never told him her name that I remembered… (Going back I didn't find it at least). The next chapter he was back to calling her Anna. So it may have just been an inconsistency. It did feel kind of weird she trusted him with one thing and not the other. Also, she sent him to get info in town and he was still calling her Anna.. There was another time that I thought Straid had said she had to visit every month but then it became once a year, which was confusing.

Also, in the background there is a mystery of fae that are going missing. Most of the characters seem to have a gag order about details. Which is completely necessary when the only person able to lie is Carra because she is mortal, which felt like it was commented on a lot. I do think the story picked up and got better, though I was far more interested in the murder mystery than whatever was happening between Straid and Carra.
The ending felt rushed. Chapter 38 (or epilogue? Both were labeled as the last chapter in the ARC) seemed like a huge jump without getting from point a to b. I did like the twist though at the end and how it ended, I just wanted a little more connection. There was great potential, and I did enjoy parts of it.

I’m so, so torn on this book. On the one hand, I’m totally invested in the story. I need the mystery to be solved, especially after the epilogue. I’m a little creeped out by the ending, tbh, but I need to know what happens next. On the other hand, I basically hated Carra for most of the book. She grew on me a little at the end, though. Carra is a prostitute and continues her profession after her marriage. Even though the marriage was not a live marriage, I’m just not ok with that. Unless it’s a RH situation, or a couple’s specific kink, I’m not ok with extramarital carnal relationships. I guess I didn’t even realize that until this book, though I always avoid books with MC cheating. I think readers deserve to know going in to this book that it’s not a “safe” read. The author gave a content warning about a side character having a problem with prostitution, but not about the continuation of said prostitution, which I think is outrageous. I also didn’t think Carra’s profession was necessary to the plot. I get that it added spice where there wouldn’t have been any, and afforded Carra the opportunity to glean information from her clients, but both of those things could’ve been accomplished otherwise. It really felt like it added zero value to the book.

Other than my general dislike of Carra and the seemingly unnecessary prostitution, I thought the book needed to be tightened up a bit. One of my biggest pet peeves in a book is poor editing, even at the ARC phase, assuming the author has undergone beta reads. Things like incorrect names, glaring typos, and plot inconsistencies should be corrected before getting to the ARC stage. For example, because of an incorrect name placement, I knew the FMC’s name was Carra, not Anna (plot only, I know it’s in the blurb). It kind of ruins the flow of reading when you pause and go, wait, who’s Carra? Things like that take away from my enjoyment of a book.

I received an ARC of Mortal Memories from NetGalley. This review is my own and I am leaving it voluntarily.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC ahead of this book’s August 10, 2024 release date.


A quick TLDR for those of you who would prefer a spoiler free review:

What I liked:

- Male main character respects the female main character’s decisions about her mind, her body, and her profession.
- Natural flow of dialogue.
- Good pacing (With a caveat that the book just sort of ended. There was no conclusion to any plot lines, so pacing is just a guess.)



What I did not like:

- All major story reveals happen off page with the reader being caught up afterward.
- The author left many plotlines without conclusion, while I understand that this is part of a trilogy, so much is left unanswered that rather than a cliffhanger, it feels like a mistake.
- Minimal world building
- Plot inconsistency
- Unclear character motivations



Full Review

**SPOILERS**

The story begins with a human woman, Carra, running from guards with no memory of who she is. Saved from execution for trespassing in the Fae Quarters by Straid, Carra finds herself agreeing to a marriage of convenience keeping her in the Quarters for a year. We quickly discover that there is also a string of disappearances that may be related to Carra’s memory loss, adding another layer to the story. Straid, our male main character is mourning the loss of his fiancée for half a century, and suddenly having a wife leaves him unsettled and eventually intrigued.

Ok, let’s get into it. This story wastes no time getting to the meat, which I quite like, but still got off to a rocky start due to plot inconsistencies.

Fortunately for Carra, she does begin to recover memories almost immediately. Unfortunately, they are only surrounding her profession as a sex worker, which leaves large gaps in her understanding of herself. Once Carra has this portion of her memory back, finding out more about who she is or who her family and friends are, seems to fall off her radar. We have Straid out looking for them once, but no one seems overly concerned about it.

I love that Carra is proud of what she does and wants to continue to work. What I question is the motivation to begin working without all her memories. The nature of her work makes this a somewhat unsafe decision by an otherwise reasonable amnesiac. It also introduces more characters, some of which feel like we’re supposed to know who they are on first introduction. Along with new people, come new plot issues. Her clients deposit her payment into an account. Account where? How is she accessing it? The woman only knows her first name. Why has Straid set her up to work in a room meant for the Lord and Lady of the house? The room means something to him, he’s hiding away half burnt candles. We’re shown during Carra’s exploration of the house that there are scores of other rooms available.

The middle of the book is a bit of a lull, we have Carra visiting with clients, and renovating a room with Straid. It’s great that during this time we get a bit more insight into what Straid is thinking and his past, but we’re halfway through the book here and the only thing that defines Carra is amnesia & prostitution. She asks no questions about the world she’s in, so the reader also gets no insight. She asks very little about other characters, so we know very little about them as well. We rarely see her interacting with characters, so we don’t even really get a feel for her personality. Sadly, her character is very one dimensional. While we’re meant to have Carra as our primary character, this very much feels like Straid’s story with Carra as a device to move the plot forward.

As the book nears the end, we discover that Straid is no mere lord in the Quarters, but a prince. This really calls the marriage choice into question. He could have told the guard anything, he’s only outranked by other royals (Not to mention that he used magic to force the guard to agree, what did it matter the reason?), why choose marriage?

At some point, though when isn’t entirely clear, Straid realizes that he is in love with Carra, and plans to tell her after a ball they are attending. Carra is kidnapped from the ball while Straid is enthralled by a comet (a unique take on magic that I quite appreciated), giving us some insight to the disappearances that take place over the course of the story.

This introduces new plot lines in the very last chapters of the book and is the only place the pacing is noticeably rushed. It also brings Carra’s original attack and amnesia being related to the disappearances into question. The reason that she is taken from the ball is because the kidnapper believed she had the love of a powerful fae due to her marriage to Straid. Carra had never met Straid at the time of her attack.

The addition of the epilogue makes this story even more frustrating. We began this story with a female main character with no memories of who she is, a male main character with secrets & grief, and a string of disappearances. Due to the nature of Carra’s return at the end of this book, we’re left with nearly the same. Only the reader has any idea of what is really happening now that Carra has a different form of amnesia (believing she is someone else).

I read this book not knowing it was the first in a trilogy, it took reading through other reviews and seeing comments from the author to find even a hint that this story will be continuing. Had I known that this was a series, I still would have been put off by the ending. This book came to no natural conclusion, and due to the way it was plotted, it brought very little of the story forward. We ended where we began.

I’d love to check out this story once it is complete and has been through both creative and line editing.

There are errors that make this difficult to read. Along with that it started out strong but ended out confusing. I also felt that I was not invested in most of the characters or even the world. This needs a few things to be successful. You're close but not quite there.

My first net galley read!

So from the description of this book, I thought it would be right up my alley. I did enjoy parts of the book but in some parts I felt it was rushed, there wasn't a lot of world building which I really believed it lacked. The story line I think it could of been a brilliant plot, I just wanted more. If your looking for spice you'll find it with this one.