The Last Storm

Rogue X Ara, Book 1

By: JD Linton

Narrated by: Nikki Grey, Gabriel Spires

Ara Starrin's entire life has been a lie.

Hidden in the shadow of her controlling father, General Evander of Auryna, Ara has never tasted true freedom. For most of her life, she's been locked away in his estate as he is determined to protect her from the bloodthirsty Fae across the border.

As her twenty-sixth birthday comes and goes, he decides it's time for her to marry, against her wishes and completely unbeknownst to her.

Ara's fate is sealed the moment he announces her engagement.

Rogue Draki's entire life has been a painful truth.

Raised at the hands of his father, the merciless king of Ravaryn, Rogue has never tasted an ounce of kindness. Now that his father is dead, the crown has been thrust upon him, and it is his responsibility to save his people from the wrath of Auryna.

It is for that reason he crosses the border into Auryna to spy on the court in the Capitol—for secrets, leverage, anything.

Rogue's fate is sealed the moment he lays eyes on Ara Starrin.

©2022 J.D. Linton (P)2023 Podium Audio

I highly recommend!

When ACOTAR got me back into reading I have been binging every fantasy romance I can find, After reading dozens, this is one of my new favorite stories. I love romance, but honestly the spicy scenes don't do much for me, yet the characters and their relationships are entertaining, charming, and intriguing. I enjoy a lot of the typical romance tropes and this definitely satisfies many of them.

There were some points where it felt rushed and the characters were kind of "piecing the puzzle together" all at once out of nowhere and leading up to a huge battle that I thought was going to be filled with epic fighting and dramatic displays of skill, which sort of fell flat, aside from Ara's abilities. I suppose it was understandable given the circumstances but it still left me a little disappointed. With that being said, there were scenes from this story that were very impactful to me that I won't be forgetting anytime soon. I am obsessed with Rogue and Ara, and I can't wait to see the next step of their journey.

The narrator performance was decent. I love the female narrators voice, but the male narrator did not match the voice I would imagine for Rogue at all. It did pull me out of the story at times, but it obviously doesn't retract from how good the story was.

Lacking a “flow”

Starting with the positive - I really enjoyed the overall plot of the story. Ara & Rogue are both interesting main characters & the story itself felt fresh in the current wave of fantasy fanatics. All of the character names and personalities were selected beautifully and the world building was overall good. Spicy scenes flowed well and felt like they were added in at the right times.

The downside - overall it lacked a flow. It felt very scattered & some of the situations/conversations ended very abruptly & awkwardly. The writing was cringe worthy in some scenes, and feels a bit juvenile at times. Instead of heartfelt statements or moments coming across as moving and tugging my heartstrings, they reminded me of the awkward fanfic that you read in middle school. The female voice actress made this book even more awkward I’m afraid. Her tone changes, and random breathiness and speed changes made me want to DNF very early on. The male voice actress was nice, not what I pictured rogue as but it worked.

Overall, it was an okay read. Probably wouldn’t reread it in the future - but did move on to read the next installment and am interested to see this author continue to grow as she publishes the rogue x ara series!

The end!!!

So so good! The narrators, the story, I loved it all. I can’t wait to read the next one

AMAZING

This book was amazing. The voice actors and the story line were amazing. I did not realize the author was a smaller creator until I saw tik tok. She writes likes she been famous for years! Very comparable to SJM. Already pre-saved book 2

Review: The Last Storm by J.D. Linton

⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (3.5/5)
This book has everything—kidnapping, forbidden love, hidden identities, humans vs. Fae at war, fated mates, and spice. Ara, the general’s daughter, is forced into an arranged marriage but ends up kidnapped by Rogue, the Fae king. What follows is a journey of secrets, betrayal, and an intense, fated connection.
I listened to the audiobook and while the narrators weren’t bad, I think I might have enjoyed it more reading the physical copy. I can’t quite explain it, but something was missing for me.