Unfortunately, after being awarded this audio ARC, I realized that this was the second book in the series. Anyone who has read any of my reviews knows that I have an issue with starting ANY series in the middle of the series. So, I debated whether or not to continue. Because of that, when I decided to go ahead and continue, I tried to keep the fact that I was missing the first book in mind with my rating.

You never know what goes into the feelings that you feel when you finish a book. Sometimes the writing is so good that it takes you to a different world and time flies. Other times, it could be that you are in the wrong mood, or there are things going on in your own life that impact the overall feelings from what you just read.

Regardless, I just couldn't get into this book and finishing it became a huge chore. Again, I do not know if it is because I came into the second book, or if it was just me. I honestly do not know.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to and review this audio ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone. This book will be out for publication on September 17, 2024.

Such a great read! I was not a fan of the first book in this series(the main characters were such a toxic couple!), so I was worried I wouldn't like this one either. Claire Legrand really stepped up for this book! The main couple in this enemies-to-lovers fantasy book, Farrin & Ryder, still had some communication issues, but they worked to overcome them as the book progressed. They way they constantly tried to understand each other and work through their own traumas and issues was amazing.

The plot was also excellent. I feel like it moved much faster and developed more than it did in the first book. There were a lot of seemingly random events that wrapped up neatly in the end, without being predictable. I also enjoyed the various powers that he characters had and how they used them to their advantage. Farrin in particular has the gift of influencing people with her music. It was interesting to see how she developed this ability to help her and her team.

I am definitely excited to read the last book in the series, when it comes out. I'd love to see how it all ends!

I feel like this story has the potential to be so much more but it was a bit all over the place plot wise and very long. I was excited to see how the series would continue on, but for me this book fell a little flat. I did enjoy the narrator and I loved the singing aspect (I was a choir kid), I think it adds something super unique to the story that I have never heard of in another audiobook.

I’m honestly not sure how to rate this book because I just haven’t been able to get into it. After trying the audiobook four times, I keep zoning out at different parts and haven’t been able to get past chapter 4. I don’t think the narrator is the issue, but the pacing feels a bit slow, and it hasn’t held my attention.

Thinking I might be missing something, I went back and tried book #1 in the series. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past chapter 7 of that one either before my interest faded. Typically, if I’m into a book or its plot, I’ll finish it within a day or two, but I’ve spent a week trying to get through both of these and just couldn’t stick with them.

For me, the writing feels overly detailed, and I find myself losing interest because of it. The story seems slow to unfold, which makes it hard to stay engaged.

I’m going to take a break and read something else for now. I might come back to this series later and see if my opinion changes, but at this point, I just haven’t been able to push through to finish the book.

I’m sorry I couldn’t give a more complete review, but this one just hasn’t worked for me so far.

I’m not going to talk about plot or anything since this is the 2nd book in the series. I went into this pretty blind and didn’t even read the blurb, the stunning covers are what drew me in. They say never judge a book by its cover, but I’ve found some pretty great ones that way.

A Song of Ash and Moonlight is the second book in the Middlemist Trilogy, each one following a different sister in the Ashbourne family. This book is about Farrin (the older sister) and Ryder (the son of a rival family) and it picks up right where A Crown of Ivy and Glass left off. For the romance we get slow burn, enemies to lovers, tension, and he falls first. The world building is absolutely amazing but not to an overwhelming point like some high stakes fantasies can be. I enjoyed the magic of this world and Farrins power so much. I can’t wait to see what happens in book 3 and how everything wraps up in the end.

If you’re looking for a new fantasy series, add this to your TBR! The Middlemist Trilogy is Claire Legrand’s first adult fantasy series and I think she’s done a fabulous job. The first book of the series, “ACrown of Ivy & Glass”, seems to have many mixed reviews, but don’t give up on the series if the first book wasn’t your cup of tea. Personally I enjoyed them both for different reasons.

The audiobooks to the series are perfection! I love the narrators accent, the inflictions in her voice, the passion and feeling…it’s soooo good and such a delight to listen to. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with an ALC of this book.

This is the second book is the Middlemist Trilogy and it does not disappoint. This picks up right where the first book leaves off with the Ashbourne family looking to put aside their difference with their once sworn enemies the Bask family. Farrin struggles more than some this because her whole world has been turned upside down clinging to the familiar hatred despite her growing friendship with Ryder Bask.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The main character despite being harsh and lashing out was someone that I felt was really relatable and someone you really root for. To me her attitude makes sense because her whole world has just been turned upside down and she no longer knows her place in it. And I am a sucker for a storyline like that, especially when it involves training with someone who on paper is her opposite but ultimately someone who really understands her. This book is more than just a romance because a majority of the inner dialog we hear for Farrin is her learning to love herself again which I really loved.

I think this book did a goos job setting up the next book being about Mara which I think they did a great job os introducing the love interest and the sisters in book one for this book so I am interested to see if what I think will happen in the third book will happen. Haha I love a book that builds the next book up. Now I can't wait and I definitely will be reading the next book in the series.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a strong fantasy series to dive into and forget the rest of the world. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story.

A Song of Ash and Moonlight is the second book in the Middlemist Trilogy. Every book in the series will follow one of the Ashbourne sisters. This book follows Farrin while still progressing the plot and giving glimpses into the other sister's stories. I found the first book a little disjointed. I attribute that to the need for world building, history, and understanding the magic system. By the time you've finished that you are well setup for the second book. The second book significantly progresses the story and has an enemies to lovers romance with Farrin and long time family enemy Ryder Bask. Their story is far sweeter than you might expect. Both characters have more depth than we saw in the first book and beautifully grow together. There were a few big surprises. I look forward to seeing where the series heads next!
Thank you, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this audio ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the Advance Listener Copy of A Song of Ash and Moonlight!

The first book in this series was one of my favorite reads last year and this one picks up right where it left off, only instead of Gemma being the main character, it is now her oldest sister Ferrin. Ferrin has been holding onto a lot of anger and resentment from being shouldered with all of the responsibilities of running the estate after her mother's disappearance and her father's fixation on feuding with the Bask family. But now, after joining forces with the Basks in the first book to set Killwraith back, their ragtag group must face a bigger task of aiding their ailing queen to figure out what is going wrong with the Middlemist. Ferrin has always felt that her magical power over music has not been as helpful as her father and sister's power of strength. But as Ferrin soon learns from an Olden creature, Ferrin's power is not only what it appears to be. As Ferrin's confidence in her power and herself grows, the forces she opposes grow as well. Will her and her allies be able to stop the evil growing in Middlemist.

I loved this book! Legrand's world building is just so incredible. There are many different threads weaving through the story and they are all so well developed. I do feel that the setting is more developed than some of the characters, especially the MMC Ryder. He was very surface level and to be honest, I could have done without the romance plot of this book at all. The female characters and the magical system are so strong and well developed, the fact the Ferrin didn't have confidence in herself until it was given to her by a man was disappointing. I love how well the sisters are depicted, both their character strengths and their weaknesses. They feel like real people.

I cannot wait for book three!!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Claire Legrand for a copy of this for an honest review!

Rating: 4/5 Stars

The narrator did a great job! Clear voice, and had me interested the whole time. I had a great time with this story!

I loved this and the narration was great! The storyline flowed so well that I was engrossed the entire time.

This book had a good plot, but while this was a good book, it was very long. In my opinion, things did not need to be that long and I found myself zoning out when things just kept getting dragged on. I kept finding myself not really caring about what happened in the story or to the characters. And maybe it was just me, but the magical singing had me rolling my eyes.

this series is so darn good, absolutely mesmerizing with a unique and intricate magic system, romance that is so beautifully written and developed and characters that I am frankly obsessed with.
I love when an audiobook makes it impossible to take my headphones off, and this one did just that for me.

𝙰 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝙰𝚜𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝
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My Ratings:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️
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I COULD NOT WOULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!!!! It was action packed, full of great romance, enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, training trope, “I would do anything for this man/woman energy”, BIG reveals/surprises that I didn’t see coming!!!! I laughed out loud, I teared up, I felt all the feelings related to the main character’s struggles. We have a grumpy x angry FMC and a grumpy x sad/broody MMC and their energy is everything!
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Plus the plot movement was way more focused in this installment versus Book 1 (A Crown of Ivy and Glass)! Each book so far has been in the POV of a different sister out of 3. One can only assume the final book will center around the 3rd sis!!! 🤞🏻
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Anyway, this has been SUCH A GREAT read and I HIGHLY recommend!!!!
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Thank you to @clairelegrandbooks and #netgalley for the audio ARC!! It was a fantastic experience!!

Damn, Legrand writes the most complex FMCs, and Farrin is no exception! I kept getting frustrated with our sharp-tongued Ashbourne sister, her thorniness a high wall to scale to reach her. But damn, I do love how this character was developed and that Legrand continues to give unlikeable women (aka: not a perfect, simpering, traditionally feminine character) a love story worth swooning over. Because omg Ryder Bask!! The man that you are!!

While I found the first entry in this trilogy a bit middling and lost in identity, A Song of Ash and Moonlight focuses more on the magical world, political plot, and moves with purpose. All while led by a sumptuous enemies-to-lovers duo that is crackling with tension.

I would like to thank the publisher for giving me an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.

This was book two in the series so I'll try and not spoil anything.

We have a new couple! This time we see Farrin and Ryder as they go from enemies to lovers and it was done in such a beautiful way.

Farrin is the sister who entrances people with her music and we see her perspective of what happened that fateful night all those years ago, and the shining boy who saved her. Now, she finds herself tasked with finding out why the Middlemist is weakening, why the Queen is seeing visions, and why people are being stolen. With the aid of Ryder, her sisters, and a few others, she has to figure out what is going on before it's too late.

This book not only picks up a little after book 1, but also sets us up for what seems to be an epic finale in the next one. I loved the plot, the characters, the relationship between Farrin and Ryder, and all the crazy plot twists that I did NOT see coming. Loved this book just as much as the first.

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

Very interesting fantasy with a lot of heavy imagery used, the magical system is unique and Ferrins power specifically is interesting. Ryder and Ferrin are great together when they actually let themselves be together, though Ferrin does fight it quite a bit. The ending was honestly kind of unexpected, I knew SOMETHING was going to be going on with the queen but I didn't see THAT coming at all! And the mystery evil twin??? And then the will giving Farrin access to all of the information she could ever want and need? Excited to see how things progress with Mara and (hopefully) Gareth in book 3!

I wasn’t sure that I could like this book quite as much as the first but gosh was I freaking wrong! I absolutely fell in love with this book right from the very beginning.

Claire Legrand has such a way with characters. Even if you don’t like a character you’re still going to grow to love them, you just can’t help it. That’s how I felt about Ryder. A Crown of Ivy and Glass did a fantastic job setting you up to dislike Ryder and wow did my feelings change in this one. You get to learn a lot more about him, why he is the way that he is, what he truly wants, and who he truly wants. It was really refreshing getting to see the softer and more vulnerable side of him. Ryder, they could never make me hate you.

The same really goes for Farrin. She’s set up in the previous book as the unapproachable and cold older sister. A Song of Ash and Moonlight really gives you a look behind the curtain into how harsh her life actually has been and why she built those walls around herself. It’s kind of heartbreaking but absolutely wonderful watching her grow in this book and finally getting the things she really does deserve.

This book was magical. The world is unlike any other and it’s really a must read. It’s a LONG book but I really struggled putting it down once I started it.

The narrator for this did a fantastic job. She really brought the characters to life and made you FEEL exactly what they were feeling. It was so easy to get lost in the story and I would absolutely listen to more books narrated by her.


A huge thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape media for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Hello! Unfortunately as this was only approved two days ago I have been unable to listen to the whole 22 hour book before the due date. I have provided my honest opinion based on the 7 hours I've listened to.

The narrator was very engaging and I found the melodic voice to be easy to follow and a good fit for the character. I absolutely loved the start of this story and it was a lot better paced than the first in the series, which I found a bit slow and honestly consulted at times. This story seems to have a lot more consistency with the language used, making it a lot easier to immerse yourself in the story. I'm excited to read the full story when it is released in a few days. I definitely feel following a new character and focusing the story was really important for this to he a hit, and Gemma was pretty annoying.

Please in the future, if the time frame of when the book will be archived is within 5-7 days can you please email me to confirm if I can review this in time?

Thank you for providing this copy.

3.25/5

I had high hopes for this book. Perhaps too high. When I read the previous book, A Crown of Ivy and Glass, I had hoped that the first was just a jumping off point and that the following two books in the series could have the potential to be great. This series has continued to be marketed as Bridgerton meets A Court of Thorns and Roses, and yet it simply misses the mark on why those two series have become phenomenas and beloved by so many. Both series have their faults, but the reader can feel the heart of the author. Whereas in the Middlemist Trilogy, I feel nothing but confusion as to what the writer is trying to tell me and frustration because this series had so much potential.

The issue continues to be the characters and character development. Here we have the perfect opportunity for an enemies to lovers storyline and yet again, it burns too quickly. Farrin acts so childishly blowing hot and cold like someone ten years her junior and Ryder is so clearly already infatuated, it’s not even fun. What does the author have against building tension for more than one chapter? This is supposed to be a romance. Right? This is supposed to be an adult book—right? Why are these characters acting like children? Be a grown-up, and stand up for yourself against your parents. I feel like I’m reading a coming-of-age young adult story (nothing wrong with it, but not what I signed up for when I started this book). A 500-page book has no reason to be that long if you’re not going to build relationships and not hand-feed me plot points and motivations.

What I keep asking myself through all of this is, who is this for?

The only thing I can truly recommend in this book is the narrator, Evelyn Rose. Evelyn did a fantastic job with what she was given. I particularly liked the singing. I typically don’t like singing in audiobooks and this was one of the few exceptions.

I will not be continuing with the third book.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for this early copy of A Song of Ash and Moonlight in exchange for a honest review.

I listened to this audiobook narrated by Evelyn Rose.

"A Song of Ash and Moonlight" by Claire Legrand is an enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance that should have checked all the boxes for fans of epic, slow-burn love stories. The pitchperfect for fans of "Bridgerton" and *A Court of Thorns and Roses" didn't hold up it's promise for me. It features a richly built world with cursed families, mysterious ancient powers, and gods awakening from their slumber. Despite these compelling elements, I struggled to fully immerse myself in the story, I almost DNF it, even though the narration by Evelyn Rose was a highlight.

The story follows Farrin Ashbourne, the eldest daughter of the Ashbourne family, who bears the weight of responsibility for her entire household. She is a fierce, determined character with a deeply buried vulnerability, struggling to maintain control of her dangerous musical powers. Enter Ryder Bask, the brooding, arrogant heir of the Ashbourne family’s longtime rivals. The tension between Farrin and Ryder forms the backbone of the romance, as they are forced to work together to save loved ones, confront an ancient curse, and face the awakening of gods.

Legrand does an excellent job of weaving together the themes of loss, duty, and the price of power. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic between Farrin and Ryder is tantalizing, with sparks flying from the very beginning. Yet, despite this promising setup, I found myself emotionally distanced from the characters and their romance. The stakes felt high on the surface, but the pacing dragged at points, and I found it hard to truly connect with Farrin and Ryder's relationship.

One aspect that stood out as truly remarkable was the audiobook narration by Evelyn Rose. Rose's singing, which is integral to Farrin's magical abilities, was particularly impressive, adding an immersive layer to the story. Her performance elevated the material, especially during the slower sections, and kept me engaged when the plot faltered.

While "A Song of Ash and Moonlight" offers a lush and complex world with intriguing magical elements, I ultimately didn’t fall in love with the story. The characters, while well-drawn, didn’t resonate as deeply as I hoped, and the pacing felt uneven at times. That said, Claire Legrand's fans, or those who love dramatic, slow-burn fantasy romances, may find this book more satisfying than I did—especially with Evelyn Rose's outstanding narration to bring the story to life.