I felt like I really took a risk when I picked up "Serpent's Touch" by Marina Simcoe. While the cover was beautiful, I was so afraid this was going to turn into some kind of cringy monster erotica.
I have never been so glad to be proved wrong!
4.5/5 stars
This is honestly one of the sweetest romances I have read in a long time. There is definitely some spice in books one and two, but the real prize is the slowly built romance between human girl, Amira, and the captured Gorgonian, Kyllen. This is a reluctant allies/friends to lovers romance that has all the feels. 5 stars for the romance alone!
The story starts with Amira, a 24/25 year old woman who works for a magical menagerie featuring magical beings from another realm. She was found by a member of the menagerie when she as a child and all of her family had all been killed. They took her in and gave her food and a pile of rags to sleep on in exchange for her working at the menagerie taking care of the animals, taking tickets for shows, and catering to Madam, the owner and leader of the menagerie. Despite the wonder and people around her, it is a sad and lonely life for Amira.
Then, Amira discovers a large wooden crate with Madam's new, reluctant, star exhibit. But Amira discovers the "exhibit" inside sounds like an intelligent, compassionate person, not a magical beast like so many other beings in the menagerie. She begins speaking to the man in the crate, a medusa like male named Kyllen who claims to be a Gorgonian. They begin sharing stories about their lives and about their worlds, and a tentative friendship forms. Amira feels like for the first time she has found a friend, and Kyllen believes Amira is his only hope of escaping his crate and returning to his own world.
When Kyllen finally asks Amria for her help, she has to decide if she has the courage to defy the Madame and help free Kyllen, or if she will stay in her safe, if lonely, life with the menagerie.
Obviously, we all know what she picks or it wouldn't be much of a story. 😉
The characters were wonderful, imaginative, and very likable. As much as I love the enemies to lovers trope, this was a refreshing change. The romance in the story started out soft and sweet and then morphed into something deeper and infinitely more precious. I loved how protective Kyllen was of Amira, and Amira's selfless and kind nature made her an enjoyable narrator.
The only reason I gave this review a 4.5/5 stars is because I expected a bit more action in the climax of the story. Instead of a showdown with high stakes to claim their freedom, it was more a bump in the road on their way to freedom. I can't say more without getting into spoilers. 😇
I will definitely be reading more books by Marnia Simcoe and definitely more books set in this world.
The audiobook was AMAZING. My only complaint is that I had to increase the speed when the male narrator was reading the chapters as he spoke significantly slower that the female narrator. This was a bit inconvenient when I was listening in my car and I had to change the narration speed back and forth between the narrators. Other than that, it was wonderful. 💗
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