I absolutely loved Victoria. She is plucky and a problem solver, and the kind of princess that would rescue the prince instead of the other way round. I liked the plot and the settings, and even the steampunk-ish bits - and I've never been a fan of steampunk! This was a very enjoyable read with a non-traditional romantic element which appealed to me.
I like the new title much better than the old one.

Victoria, an inventor, has agreed to an arranged marriage to, Istvan, the crown prince of Taliskia, a mysterious Kingdom in the Carpathians. Her wedding ends in tragedy when a bomb explodes, killing her father and the king of Taliskia, as well as badly injuring her. During her months of recovery, Victoria has only one thing on her mind, finding the person behind that attack and bringing them to justice. So she goes undercover to Taliskia. While there she learns more about the man she married as well as the superstitions that run rampant through the woods of this country. Superstitions that as a person of logic she scoffs at, but will she learn that sometimes logic can't explain everything? Will she discover who killed her family? And will she find something she never expected, love?
Interesting story, a little short, could have used more action.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the author for an honest review, which I voluntarily leave.

*I received an ARC for free via NetGalley and am reviewing voluntarily.*

When an inventor's heiress finds her wedding to a mysterious foreign husband laid waste by a bomb attack, she's determined to figure out the truth.

What worked:
- The main character, Victoria, is quite interesting. She's intelligent (a couple of obvious plot points notwithstanding) and has a real interest in machines. She's not conventionally pretty for reasons both before and after her accident, so wit is her weapon.
- Steampunk vibes!! Could have seen a bit more of Victoria's inventiveness throughout rather than just the beginning, but I enjoyed the aspects we did see.
- This is a shorter length book, less than a four hour read so it made a nice break from my other reading.

What didn't work:
- The other characters. Basically all of them were one-dimensional and for the most part not very well developed.
- The ending. I don't want to get into spoilers but soooo much happens in the last 15% and very little of it felt like it had built up properly over the course of the book. For example, there's a pretty significant 'confrontation' towards the end between FMC and another female character, but they'd only had maybe one conversation the whole book.
- The ARC copy would have really benefitted from another round of edits. My impression from the author's goodreads is that they may not be a native English speaker and that was also the vibe I got while reading. Understandable, but the publisher should have picked up on this I think.

For me, this was worth reading and was enjoyable enough, but on the whole I can't see myself picking up the next one.

3.5 stars! 3 stars felt too low because I really liked the story but it's not quite 4 stars for a few reasons but I rounded it up for this review.

I loved the plot - ploticial intrigue within a fairytale land is such a great setting. Despite its flaws, the story was engaging enough and had a decent flow that had me speeding through the pages to find out what exactly happened in the beginning! Victoria was a really likeable FMC, I loved her nonchalance and intelligence (that didn't fade away after the beginning!). Unfortunately all the other characters were rather flat. Descriptions on their appearance or personality were slim so they were hard to picture, particularly Victoria's father and aunt. While they weren't part of the story for long it would have been nice for a little background about them and Victoria's relationship with them. Istvan was better developed but lacked much depth and I think that was due to the hurried dialogue and lack of emotional exploration, which then left his and Victoria's blossoming relationship feel rushed.
Very rarely was someone's facial expression noted or reaction to something written during (sometimes awkward) conversation. The first few chapters felt especially rushed, where one scene quickly jumped to the next. The rest of the book had better pacing and some really beautiful writing during descriptive paragraphs but then an abrupt ending (a good ending nonetheless but could have been extended). I loved Taliskia and the beauty of its nature with all the lore surrounding it! The entire plot and the villains were brilliant. My favourite section of the story is from when Victoria travels for the first time up until going to the forest for the first time. The only thing that jarred me was the use of "his" instead of "her" multiple times. This book could easily contain double the amount of pages if fully fleshed out, more exploration on each plot point and more focus put on the world building and the characters' thoughts/feelings on their situations and relationships.
Overall a really enjoyable read!

Victoria, an American heiress and skilled engineer, finds herself betrothed to Prince István of the enigmatic Taliskia, nestled in the Carpathian Mountains. This alliance promises Victoria the resources she needs for her inventions, while saving István's family from financial ruin. However, their carefully laid plans shatter on the wedding day when a catastrophic explosion claims Victoria's father and leaves her injured. Driven by grief and suspicion, Victoria is determined to infiltrate Taliskia in pursuit of her father's killer, whom she believes to be István himself.

As she delves into the heart of Taliskia, Victoria uncovers a realm steeped in myth and secrets, far removed from her rational and scientific upbringing. It's a world where truth and reality blur, and things are not as they initially appear.

“Narrow Mountain” by Alex Evans was absolutely amazing. I loved the steampunk Victorian feel to America being foiled with the legends and old-world mythology of István’s country. I was shocked so much by the ending and now I cannot get enough. I will definitely be reading the other works by Alex Evans. It’s an undeniable 5 out of 5 stars.

A Carpathian legend. Victoria travels to Taliskia to not only discover herself, but the killer of her father and learn the true nature of her husband. Interesting time travel with a shape shifter thrown in. I received an ARC from NetGalley, and the opinions expressed are my own.

Narrow Mountain is a shorter novel about a political marriage gone wrong and our main character Victoria's plan to figure out what went wrong and get revenge.

This is an entertaining story that keeps you interested in what will happen next. There is almost a fairytale atmosphere created as we learn more lore about this world.

Unfortunately, I thought there were a lot of things holding this novel back. It definitely needs another round of edits, both developmental and by line, as there were many technical errors. The pacing seems off in many places, and the writing feels a little choppy in some places. While I liked our main character, she did seem like a "not like other girls" girl and was inconsistent in her motivations and actions at times. The romance was a little forced at times, and I don't think the ending was fleshed out as well as it could have been, but there were some really sweet moments between them.

Overall, I think this was an interesting idea but lacking in execution.

Narrow Mountain is a good easy read. It was enjoyable and quite short, but I think that lends itself well to the book.

For the most part I enjoyed Victoria/Emma as the MC, she was a bit weird at times but it added to her character. I think the characters and story could use a bit more refinery, some things seemed abrupt while others dragged on, and some character traits and actions seemed to contradict the characters themselves.

I really enjoyed the steampunk industrial world, and the FMC being an intelligent engineer. Very interesting! It had a few touches of romance and also fantasy to give it a magical edge which was enjoyable. Overall I think it was good, if not a bit choppy.

I do think this could benefit from another edit round, I saw a bunch of instances where it said ‘he or him’ instead of ‘she or her’ when talking about Victoria, as well as a few other grammar mistakes.

If there is going to be a second one, I would read it to see what happens next, however I assume the ending was the end. It was a bit abrupt too, I had 15 minutes left and felt like everything quickly wrapped up all at once - the drama of the ending could have stretched out in more detail a bit.

I can't finish this one in it's current state. This feels like an early first draft of what could be a really great story. The premise is interesting and there is some potential character development happening, but I'm way too distracted by the lack of editing to appreciate any of it. The short, choppy sentences and odd word choices struck me at first like the author was trying to make things seem old fashioned, but it actually feels more like something that has been translated into English from another language. When I got to page 24 and there was a whole paragraph repeated, I knew I wouldn't be able to continue. I'd give this another shot after some pretty serious editing has been done.

A short story that started off with promise but was seriously let down from about 60% of the way through where it was as if the author suddenly realised they had all these grand plans yet needed to wrap it up quickly - Why was the author trying to fit everything in in less than 150 pages? Not sure why this was the case? Perhaps if more effort was spent building the world & developing the characters, especially the MC's relationship it would’ve been an ok story & ideas would not have seemed so out of place or forced (i.e. Insert werewolf scene here at the end because its meant to be a werewolf story & I forgot to do much about building this element of the story earlier)
The whole romance factor was so badly written, there was very little believable chemistry or build up, then suddenly (rather out of context) he was taking her virginity outdoors in a forest with the lamest sex ever described, it was so bad it was hilarious & I actually laughed out loud at the dumbness of it all! The writing in general felt a bit naïve & characters voices sounded very twee as well having too many repetitions of the same words. Please use a thesaurus! 1 Star

This particular ARC version of Narrow Mountain has fantastic bones but is a bit all over the place. (It has since gone through some heavy editing). Set in a steampunk world it traverses the realms of espionage, fantasy, and mythical legends. There were aspects that felt a little too convenient while others made me wonder what role they were really playing in the story.
Characters had some intriguing aspects to their personalities but lacked the polishing to make them really shine. Victoria is incredibly smart but certain actions seem contradictory to her overall story. Ivstan comes across shallow but ends slightly more redeemable then he started out.
It reads quite quick and Id like to get my hands on a final version to see how drastic of a change it has gone through. This has quite a bit of promise to be a fantastic quick stand alone fantasy the genre desperately needs.

Rating: 4/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

I really liked this book and I need more of this author soon. I loved that it was written so well and still had a little fantasy that kept the book mysterious. I thought Evans’ writing style was well done and the author knew how to keep the readers wanting more and more. I know that I want to know what happens next, more like I need to know.

I thought the character Victoria was well done. I loved that she is a hardheaded, stubborn young woman who knew what she wanted in life and was not scared to find out the answers to questions. I also thought having her be a plus sized character was well done, I know that we are seeing more and more characters like that in books but its still nice to see it more and more done. I thought the whole amputee part of a character I won’t say who it was, but I love that you get to see the invention of the arm and how this character handles this part of their life now.

I am still curious about the Istvan character, and I want to learn more about him. From what I learned in this book I am already liking it but I want more and that ending is like OMG!

I loved the steampunk vibes, the romance, and the mystery in this book. As well as the legends in the book.

I want to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to review this book

Thank you to Alex Evans and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Narrow Mountain" by Alex Evans is a captivating blend of romance, mystery, and folklore set in a steampunk-inspired world. The story follows Victoria, a brilliant inventor who embarks on an arranged marriage with István, the crown prince of Taliskia. When a bomb kills Victoria's father on their wedding day, she sets out on a quest to find the murderer, uncovering a dark underworld of secrets and legends in the process. The book is filled with intriguing characters and unexpected twists that keep you hooked until the very end. It is great to see the book has now undergone rigorous editing, and the author's imagination shines through, creating a unique and engaging story. Victoria's determination and independence make her a relatable and admirable protagonist, and her evolving relationship with István adds a layer of romance to the narrative. Overall, "Narrow Mountain" is a captivating read that seamlessly combines elements of steampunk, romance, and mystery, making it a worthwhile choice for fans of these genres.

Clear your day, this book grabs you fast and takes you on a ride you wish will never end. This is one of those books where discovery is the best part; the twists and turns, emotions invoked and the intriguing characters. Enjoy it!