Audio Book Review-Entreat Me by Grace Draven

About The Book

Afflicted by a centuries-old curse, a warlord slowly surrenders his humanity and descends toward madness. Ballard of Ketach Tor holds no hope of escaping his fate until his son returns home one day, accompanied by a woman of incomparable beauty. His family believes her arrival may herald Ballard’s salvation.

…until they confront her elder sister.

Determined to rescue her sibling from ruin, Louvaen Duenda pursues her to a decrepit castle and discovers a household imprisoned in time. Dark magic, threatening sorcerers, and a malevolent climbing rose with a thirst for blood won’t deter her, but a proud man disfigured by an undying hatred might. Louvaen must decide if loving him will ultimately save him or destroy him.

A tale of vengeance and devotion. 

My Review

First Impressions

Entreat Me was a story that I was so highly looking forward to and I had such high hopes for and I won’t lie to you all, I struggled with this book, it even came close to becoming a DNF. I do think much of this was because of the narration. I just don’t think it worked well for me, but also I just wasn’t that invested in this romance, and I really had to push myself to finish it, I mean it took over a week to read this one. But I wanted to see what all the hype was about, and while I ended up really enjoying it at the end there so part of me is happy that I had decided to stick with it in the end, It definitely wasn’t the type of tale that I liked. Also, it has a fling trope and yeah that REALLY doesn’t work for me, but most especially in one of my favorite retelling themes. I am such a sucker for the beauty and beast trope but I felt like the “fling” aspect really ruined it for me. I do think this story will work for some readers, I just wasn’t one fo them.

What strange madness gripped this place that no one—not even her sister who’d been known to weep over a crushed spider—seemed bothered by the horrendous sounds emanating from the castle depths?

What I Loved

There are some aspects to this story that I did really enjoy though. I really liked the close connection to the actual French “Beauty and the Beast” tale. So I did respect how the author handled some of those aspects. I was intrigued by the curse that is tormenting the hero and his son and was so curious about how it would all play out in the end. But also I was really curious about how the curse would be broken. The hero was such a solid character. I adored him in every way. His devotion to his son was remarkable and made him, even more, sexier in my honest opinion. I just love a good father figure in a hero, and what he is willing to do for his son only made him even more remarkable of a character. I adore the father of the two daughters, he really stands his ground when it’s important. There are some great feels in this story so it definitely has its redeemable moments. I do think the later half of the story is what makes it worth sticking with it for. I will say the villain in the story makes for a superb one and really enjoyed how Draven implemented his role into the story.

“I can’t accept this, my lord. Its too fine a gift, and I am no queen.”

Ballard gently pushed it back to her. “You are, Louvaen. You’re simply uncrowned.”

What I Struggled With

I will be honest, I really struggled with a few aspects of this story. I really didn’t care for the heroine. I am not a huge fan of the more prickly heroines and I just got turned off by her personality. I was also confused on how the curse was broken to be honest, I was hoping for something a bit more satisfying, but it was just a weird implement into the story and just didn’t make sense to me. I was hoping for something more epic feeling to culminate the story more fully.

The Narration

I really struggled with the narrator here, and was a big part of the reason why I struggled so much with this story and I am wishing that I had read this physically instead of through the audio format. I really think it was the voices she implemented and I was turned off by her voice a bit, but especially the way she handled the male voices was a struggle for me.

Overall View

While this story had its detractions for me personally, Entreat Me is an epic story of sacrifice and love amidst the struggle of fighting a magical curse that portrays the original tale so beautifully that will attract its readers in a pivotal way.

Book Details

Title: Entreat Me

Author: Grace Draven

Genre: Epic Fantasy Romance

Format: Audiobook

Source: Hoopla Digital

Length: 14 Hours and 10 Minutes

About the Narrators

Stacey Holmes is an award-winning narrator, actor, and voice artist who has recorded over 500 hours of audio. She has worked at Shakespeare’s Globe, one of the most iconic theaters in the world.

Book Links

Amazon| Barnes & Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| Storygraph| Literal Club| Audible| Anyplay

About The Author

I’m an author and Louisiana native living in Texas with my husband, three smalls and a big doofus dog. I have lived in Spain, hiked the Teton Mountains, honeymooned in Scotland, ridden in competition rodeo and am the great great granddaughter of a Nicaraguan president. I also hate doing laundry and refuse to iron anything.

I’ve loved storytelling since forever. I published my first short story with Amber Quill Press and have since written several other tales. A love of the bad boy in fiction always inspires me.