Forgotten Storm by A.R. Vagnetti

3 Stars

This novel was written and edited cleanly, with no typos that I found in the ARC version of the manuscript. The writing was a little more flowery than I am used to, but I am sure other readers would enjoy that stylistic choice. The world building was great, with the paranormal races and kingdoms coming to vivid life. The characterization was also really good for the heroine especially. Unfortunately, the development of the romantic relationship between these protagonists was not awesome. The hero and heroine did not spend any time on page together until about 40% of the way into this novel, and the hero was away from the heroine's vicinity for large chunks of the novel after that. *Spoiler Ahead* The hero also has sex with another woman while he and the heroine are in a relationship, so mileage may vary. *End Spoiler* That was a contributing factor, I think, why large portions of this novel felt slow and I was kind of slogging through them. I feel like this novel's plot could have been shorter by at least a hundred pages and the pacing would have been much better. I am not sure if that is an accurate impression, but that is what it felt like to me. There was a fairly high level of angst in this novel, which may be one reason I did not enjoy it as much as I usually enjoy paranormal romances with a lot of adventure elements. There were very high stakes in this novel, which I typically enjoy. This novel used the Fated Mates trope and the Chosen One trope common to fantasy novels. It also used the Partner in Trouble trope. The characterization was three stars. The development of the romantic relationship was two stars, because the hero and heroine spent so much of the novel apart. The plot and world building was four stars. The pacing was three stars. The combined score of this paranormal romance was therefore three stars. This novel ends on a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, so that is a big plus to this novel. I recommend this novel to readers who are reading this as more urban fantasy instead of paranormal romance. I do not plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel, and I am not interested in reading any other books in this series.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Book Link