A Fool's Journey

An Urban Paranormal Romantasy (Legacies of Light & Dark, Book 1)

By: Danielle M. Orsino

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Before he could love her, he had to betray her.

Before he could save her, he had to hunt her.

Not every love story starts with romance—some start in a government file, where danger comes first and love follows.

Agent Graham, the CIA’s infamous Collector of Succubi, never misses his mark.

When Westchester nurse Morgan Monroe triggers the CIA’s Preternatural Surveillance Division alert, she’s flagged as a Gamma-level succubus—rare, unstable, and dangerous. His mission: go undercover, infiltrate her life, and extract her quietly.

But Morgan isn’t just any supernatural. She's the key to a five-hundred-year-old prophecy—one that speaks of a child born of Light and Dark, destined to either unite or destroy the Fae Courts… and maybe humanity itself.

Neither she nor Graham understands the true stakes. Every player—handlers, allies, enemies—is hiding something. Grudges older than Stonehenge and deals struck in corners of the Veil are converging. And Graham has no idea he’s already entangled in them.

A Fool’s Journey is the first step in the Legacies of Light & Dark trilogy. This is a slow-burn romantasy—Book one sets the stage for a love story that ignites across three books, where covert warfare collides with ancient magic, and love becomes the most dangerous risk of all.

The spark begins here. The fire comes in book two.

Join the legacy.

©2025 Fae and Logic Publishing, Danielle M. Orsino (P)2025 Fae and Logic Publishing, Danielle M. Orsino

Great world building, very unique

This was such an unexpectedly compelling read. It's unique in that it reads like a setup for the main story, but it is so fascinating in its world-building and early character work, that I didn't mind at all. It blends urban fantasy with the CIA/espionage in a way that feels kind of... possible. Secret supernatural societies, shadowy government agencies, and magic all layered on top of modern life. The idea of a covert CIA division monitoring and manipulating paranormals is genuinely fascinating, especially because it doesn’t shy away from how ethically ugly that would be. I liked how morally grey everything felt. The worldbuilding does a lot of heavy lifting here, and I appreciated how much effort went into explaining how this hidden world operates, both politically and scientifically.

I enjoy that Morgan was powerful (though not to her knowledge) without being aggressive, dangerous without being cruel. There’s something quietly heartbreaking about how much she doesn’t understand her own significance, and how gently she moves through a world that’s actively hunting her. Graham, on the other hand, is morally complicated in a way that actually works. He’s deeply embedded in a system that dehumanizes supernatural beings, and the book doesn’t pretend that’s okay. You see flickers of his morality, but he keeps following orders. I can't wait to see how things shake out.

Again, this is very much a “stage-setting” book, and you can feel that. The romance is extremely limited and restrained; they don't even meet until towards the end. I'm not even SOLD on the relationship because it's so early, and honestly, he's a bit cringe. The big conflicts are still forming, and a lot of the focus is on context: who these people are, what they’re part of, and why it matters. Normally, I can be impatient with that, but here it mostly worked for me because the foundation is genuinely intriguing. There’s a lot of history baked into this world, and I enjoyed how myths, science, and politics intersect over a framework of our world.

Overall, this felt like a strong opening. It’s thoughtful, layered, and clearly building toward something bigger. If you enjoy slow-burn urban fantasy with fascinating worldbuilding, this is a really solid start. I’m definitely curious to see where the story and the romance go next.

Thanks so much to the author and R&R Booktours for the complimentary ALC. This review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.

Amazing!

I loved everything about this. I couldn’t stop listening to this audiobook. I’m excited for book two.