I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I just finished listening to the audio of “The Phoenix Keeper” by S.A. MacLean, and I absolutely loved it! The narrator did an incredible job bringing the rich world and vibrant characters to life, making the story even more immersive. The blend of fantasy and adventure kept me hooked from start to finish. The plot twists and emotional depth really stood out, and I found myself completely invested in the protagonist’s journey. I could totally see this as a movie—imagine the stunning visuals and dynamic characters on screen! Overall, this audiobook was a fantastic experience that left me wanting more. If you’re a fan of engaging fantasy tales, I highly recommend giving it a listen!

The Phoenix Keeper was a joy to read! I cannot think of a better cozy fantasy to pick up if you are an animal lover! A magical zoo and a determined zookeeper! Alia is to be very relatable as the main character. She is anxious, introverted, and prefers to hangout with her birds than people. I appreciated the anxiety representation and thought it was done in a respectful way! Alia and Tanya’s friendship took the spotlight and the relationship was on the back burner which worked for me! I think this book made a wonderful audiobook and the narrator did a great job! If you are looking for a cozy lighthearted read with anxiety representation, a bit of romance, and a zoo which includes magical creatures this book is for you!

I loved so many things about The Phoenix keeper. The worldbuilding is beautifully done. The romance was absolutely lovely. Excellent narration. One of my top books this year and I can’t wait to see more from this author.

DNF

I think this would be great for readers looking for their next cozy fantasy but it just wasn’t engaging enough for me. I think I would come back to this when I need a fun pallet cleanser book but it’s just not for me right now

***3.5 Stars***

Overall,
A Delightful almost cozy read about a very anxious zoo keeper and her dream of keeping an endangered species alive and thriving. I enjoyed the premise of this book, the characters were pretty fleshed out. I love the idea of magical animals. I would have liked a little more world building and there was pretty much nothing surprising about the ending, I saw it coming from the very start. The narrator did a good job, the book is all from a single point of view, so there were not very many voices that needed to be done. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a light fantasy with exotic fantastical animals, some decent comedy, disability rep, and lgbtqia representation. This book is not rated YA, but it could easily be read by a 14 and older person.

I'm still trying to figure out why I continued to read the entire book. I think it may be the "perfect for fans of House in the Cerulean Sea & Legends & Lattes". ...which this book was neither. Alia was annoying and naive to the point that I kept thinking she was a teen instead of a supposed adult. Everything tied up very neatly at the end and was very happily ever after. Bleh.

“Aila MacBhairan’s favorite time at the San Tamculo Zoo was early morning: cool, quiet, and –best of all– not a person in sight.”

I kept The Phoenix Keeper selfishly close to my heart for weeks. I took my time to listen to the ALC (and read the ebook, all at once), because I needed it to last, and then needed to let Aila, Lucianna and all the others settle for a bit. Not that it changed anything. They now live rent free in my head, taking the space left vacant by others.
This is my new comfort book. I started to have eyes on it at the moment of the cover reveal, and grew impatient as months passed. As a former vet -and trained behaviorist- but also an autistic and queer person, this book had anything I needed to please me on paper. A main character who has trouble with her peers, works with animals, some “science” intertwined… It had –has– everything. The world building is absolutely amazing. It ignites some sparkles of magic in a world so relatable. Which book has an opening scene with some enrichment (and such an opening line)? Some true-false science papers? Some relatable magical abilities?
But it's –of course– more than that. The story is addictive, the characters adorable and very fleshed. The love triangle has the perfect balance to make the story move perfectly, as we follow Aiyla's relationships evolve as much as her Phoenixes’ preservation program.
If you want some queer joy (esp some bisexual panic), magic anchored in the ordinary, fantastic and magical creatures, a mischievous pilferer bird, an anxious MC, an entire cast of multilayered characters and a bit of mystery and action, the whole packed into true Natural-Science vibes .. well pick this one. I'm sorry I don’t make it justice with my review.But –just believe me– it's worth the ride.
I won’t lie and say I'm a bit sad SA MacLean's next book won’t be set in the same universe (I loved it so much!), but I can’t wait to read it anyway, as beyond all the story points, I loved the neat writing style, allowing emotions and feelings to spread their wings all along the story. I laughed, cried, got angry at the characters every minute, thanks to the writing but also to the great narrator in the audiobook, who enhanced everything.
I can’t wait to read it again, to listen to it again. I'm grateful to have this positive story in my life.
(and YES, it’s a more than 5* for me, and in my ex-aequo top3 for this year)

Thank you Hachette Audio, Orbit, S.A. MacLean and NetGalley for the ALC. My opinions are my own.

I love cozy fantasy and books with magical creatures. The Phoenix Keeper delivers on both.

Aila struggles socially, which I definitely relate to. I also don't have a huge circle of friends but really lean on my few close ones, so I really loved her friendship with Tanya. And I appreciated Aila's personal growth in this story - she came into her own at work, saw how she could be a better friend to Tanya, and also found more understanding for some of the other people at the zoo. The romance is not as prominent as I was expecting but I loved the focus on Aila and the zoo.

The climax was pretty heart pumping and high stakes though, so just FYI. The overall vibe of the book was still cozy to me though.

Read if you like:
-books revolving around animals
-second chances
-heartwarming, cozy vibes
-queer rep (bisexual MC)

Thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Phoenix keeper is a hard book to review. I have very mixed feelings but I will try to be aa clear as I can.

The first 70% of the book is insufferable to read because if the mcs attitude. She hates on everything and everyone and it feels more like a moody teen than a 28 year old woman. At one point she thinks a child asking questions at the zoo is annoying and to me that just shows she isn’t right for the job.

This does change in the last part of the book and im happy for that but by the time she stops being such a hater its too late. If it wasn’t for my audio arc I would have dropped it.

I did like the bi rep and romance. Not too many notes there

I really liked Luciana as a character. I do have one big issue with how she is portrayed and that is the book saying her skin is brown while the authors own art shows her very pale. I think that’s incredibly odd and either she’s lying in the book or she’s white washing her own character. Both options are bad in my opinion and it made me feel very turned off from the book.

The animals were fun but not enough to save the book.

It's a cozy fantasy with a girl who loves her job at the zoo filled with amazing beautiful magical animals. I loved the audiobook. A lot of times I got angry at the main lead Aila because she thinks everything just revolves around her without giving thought to the fact that other people also have problems of their own. Also, I loved the scenes of Aila and her Archie bird (I apologize if I am spelling it wrong because It was the audiobook). Anyway, a good read I would say. It was a 3-star read for me but because of the magical creatures it's a 4 stars.

4.5 stars // Wowowow. I used to really struggle with second hand embarrassment in media, but I fell in LOVE with Ayla (unsure on spelling because audiobook) and her nerves and fumbling. She shone when it came to caring for her animals, and I loved it. This was cozy, comforting, and just a hint mysterious; in short, it was perfect. I'd die for Tanya, and the workplace rivals to lovers was done exquisitely.

rep: bisexual MC of color, side characters of color, queer side characters

spice: none

tw: kidnapping attempt, death of an animal, threat of violence, forced imprisonment

The Phoenix Keeper is set in a delightful, vibrant world! I was enchanted by the worldbuilding from start to finish--the magical creatures, the origins of a kracken-fishing town, the various creature-inspired names for plants and food... I want to read a hundred books set there! I was happy to see queer characters in a cozy fantasy that gave just as much room to their growth as people as room to the establishing of relationships. I absolutely adored Aila's best friend, Tanya, and would love to read more stories set at the zoo!

The Phoenix Keeper by S.A MacLean

Who doesn’t love a magical menagerie!! Alia works for the zoo that houses magical creatures her department houses a phoenix, a beautiful firebird and when another zoo has a theft taking the female and her babies, the male has to go somewhere but can Alia make her department worthy of a breeding program while keeping the birds safe?

It was really cute. Alia is a solitary person with one close friend and often sets people on edge with her ways but she really comes into herself when she sets her mind to becoming more than she ever dreamed she could be.

I loved all the beautiful descriptions of the magical animals. It was a really great listen! The narrator was great and the storyline was wonderful.

4 stars
.

First, thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC!

This was a cozy fantasy set in a zoo filled with what we would call mythical creatures, but were completely normal in this world (griffons, phoenixes, kelpies, etc.). It follows phoenix keeper Aila, who I really didn't care for. I'm not sure if she was intended to be a somewhat unlikable MC or if she's supposed to be someone on the autism spectrum, but it was hard to read through her nonsense in the first half-ish of the book, and it really brought down a fun plot with some amazing creatures and supporting characters.

Pros:
- The magical creatures!
- The diverse cast! This wasn't just a sapphic romance, but had other LGBTQIA+ representation.
- Tanya, Aila's best friend and fellow keeper. Probably the most well-adjusted in the book.
- How the zoo was represented, and how it tried to showcase how important species conservation and protection is.

Cons:
- Aila. Such an immature and petty main character. On top of that, her introversion and anxiety were extremely overblown in my personal opinion.
- The romance was barely there, which is misleading when you read the blurb along with the tagline (Falling in love never burned so bright).
- Not much mystery as to who the villain ended up being.

Cutting out a lot of the nonsense from the beginning of the book would've helped a lot, and I feel like this should've been listed under YA romantasy. Overall still not a bad read, especially if you love mythical creatures!

The cutest, coziest little queer romantasy of the year! I loved the setting of this book -- a zoo of mythical animals -- and my imagination ran wild with the author's lush, vibrant descriptions of the flora and fauna. Our main character Aila is instantly loveable and refreshingly relatable -- not "fairytale ordinary" but actual, real-person ordinary. Any lover of fantasy who also dreamed of being a zookeeper as a kid will gobble this story up.

This book was very slow to get to the action part of the book and when it did it didn’t last that long. And sadly it was very predictable. I was hoping more from this book. There is very little to the romance part of this book.

Alia and Tanya work hard to prepare for a new phoenix to help save the breed but the dragon keeper tried to get with Alia just to find out information so he can make money.

The romance part hits a little on Luciana and Alia being enemies and then when Alia sees behind Lucian’s mask of toughness she starts to fall for her.

Stephanie Bentley was an incredible narrator. I loved her voice and the way she brought the story to life, and I would definitely listen to more books by this narrator. The Phoenix Keeper was an cute, cozy fantasy set in a zoo for magical creatures. Our FMC is a zookeeper there whose trying to save the firebirds from going extinct by setting up a breeding program. I really love a conservationist type plot, as I'm a huge animal lover, so this story was great for me. Our FMC was intentionally awkward, which was a bit much at times, but hey don't most of us readers have social anxiety? The mystery was also a bit predictable, but overall this was a fun read with a great narrator.

This was a cute cozy fantasy set in a zoo for magical creatures. Aila, the FMC, was annoying most of the time with her immaturity. The plot was predictable, but I still enjoyed it because it was different from what I usually read. I think the magical animals kept it interesting for me since they were more unpredictable. The audiobook narrator was great.

THE PHOENIX KEEPER is a cozy fantasy that takes place in a magical zoo. Aila is the head phoenix keeper who is intent on conserving the endangered firebirds by reinstating the zoo's breeding program. She's forced to enlist help from her college arch-rival, Luciana, who tends to be an insufferable know-it-all. THE PHOENIX keeper is a cute story with romance and lots of magical creatures, conservation themes, and character growth. Stephanie Bently did a great job narrating!