Divine Blood

Guardians of the Maiden Series, Book 1

By: Beck Michaels

Narrated by: Melissa Moran, Aaron Shedlock

A map to a place they each desire. A destiny they didn't expect.

The Shadow demon nearly took everything from Dynalya Astron, and it would soon return for more. When she discovers a way to fight back, she must go on a perilous journey and risk it all for those she holds dear. Along the way, she meets Cassiel, a Celestial Prince with magic blood and wings as black as his heart. He wants nothing to do with Dyna until he learns she could lead him to a place he has been searching for all his life.

But reaching their destination is not as easy as they thought, nor are they the only ones searching for it. With danger at every turn and harrowing secrets between them, the quest will require much more than determination. They must fight for what they desire - or die trying.

©2020 Beck Michaels (P)2021 Tantor

Characters Are Too Y/A

With 2 hrs left I stopped listening. At that point, it was clear that the story does not conclude at the end of the first book and I'm not interested enough to buy any more. There is nothing wrong with the story or the voice performers. I love a good epic adventure. There are lots of characters with their own motivations and backstories. Honestly, I think I only got the tip of the iceberg as far as characters and storylines go. An interesting set of twins were introduced right before I stopped listening. If the adventure/quest part had been the main focus I think I would have enjoyed the book. Maybe... maybe not. The female MC was not that interesting to me. She is the ultimate good, naive, helpless, maiden. She was less of a character and more of a focal point for all the men to rally around and defend. She was the purity that inspired them to be better. She was boring. She kept wandering off and needing to be saved. Then she started talking about her feelings and I couldn't go on. "Does he care? Doesn't he care? I don't know. I should avoid eye contact. Let me wander off..."

loved the world

Great read. The characters are well written, and the story flows nicely. I'm always excited when paranormal creatures are mixed, and this story drew me in.

great narration.

Storytelling

This story is so unique and I love the characters! The romance is subtle but heart warming. The world building and character development is amazing as well!

Great story

My only real complaint was the audio was too low and I had to put it louder to hear it properly. Louder than I normally would. This was a reread for me and still holds up!

Fated Mates, One Female Character, Potential

This is a high 3 stars, but not quite a 4.

I mostly liked it, but I just didn't love it. I really liked Zev, I'm primed to like the green guy (I've already forgotten his name), and I didn't dislike Dyna or Cas, but I did spend the whole book practically begging for another important female character. Looks like the sequels will have that, but only a few moments in this one. Plot was interesting enough. World-building had some interesting moments.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the author is mixed race, and I just felt like the conversations surrounding mixed race individuals in the book (and these conversations are pretty abundant, this is a major theme of the book) would have been handled with more care and nuance from a mixed race author. They Felt like they were written by a white person, and that put me off.

Plus, I deeply dislike fated mates, and this has that.

But I'm definitely curious enough to read book 2. If that one doesn't grab me better, I definitely won't read the 30hr 3rd book.