A Story Spun in Scarlet is a love letter to storytellers and readers. It's rich world building and epic plot pulls readers and in, while the characters you meet make you want to stay. I adored Audra and Jaik. Their slow-burn romance added to the plot of the adventure without taking away from the tension of the plot. I cannot wait to see more of Mithra-Sha, and I look forward to the next book!

Thank you for this ARC.

The book cover and the summary pulled me in.
I overall enjoyed this read.
I did find it a long read, especially in the beginning, very wordy and not a lot of other character interaction until Jaik comes in, but I get it needs to build it up and world build.

Audra trying to find her place and Jaik who's content with his place in life until misfortune has the both of them on the run. Hiding from soldiers, learning the truth and saving their home.

I enjoyed the MCs and side characters.
The slow burn, friends to lovers, one bed.

I really liked this book a lot. I found the concept, stories, and characters to be interesting and captivating throughout the whole novel. The world-building was great and also easy to follow along with. I can't wait to see more from this author

This book felt like nothing I had every read before. I liked the world-building and like the magic system. It probably took me about 15% to be invested in the story and the characters, but after that point, they story was hard to put down.
Usually anything related to memory loss/amnesia bugs me but I enjoyed how the story went about explaining it. I do wish we maybe got more glimpses of it because when the story introduced all the new characters about 85% of the way in, I felt no connection to them or really cared about them.
Overall, the characters felt reasonable to me for the fact that they were likely in their mid to late 20’s. I liked Addie’s struggle and her inner turmoil. And her relationship with Jaik - ate it up. I liked their chemistry and thought it was realistic.
The book did feel a bit long but then also choppy as it would quickly describe like a month of adventuring in a paragraph - I feel like some great character development was missed out on.
The ending really fit the story and the more I think about it, the more I like it.

"All my life, I'd never felt anything like that. I don't have a single story to tell, but whatever's in me, whatever I'm made of...it knows you, too. And I'm some kind of luckless coward, because all I wanted to do was run from it. I had to get away as fast as I could, because, right then, I knew my life wasn't going to be the same. Even if I'd dodged you, you would've stayed with me. I would've gone back to the Tankard and looked for you every night, even if you never knew I was there."

A Story Spun in Scarlett follows Audra on a journey to find purpose in her world where the magic within Storycrafting has been lost but she finds so much more than she ever bargained for. Audra's story is achingly beautiful and equally harrowing. I finished this book and immediately want to start it over from the beginning, wrapping it around myself like my coziest blankets.

Things I loved:
- CHARACTERS!! I fell in love with both of our main characters so quickly and they alone propelled this story for me
- plot on plot on plot! There were so many things I didn't see coming until they were right in front of me. I feel like I am rarely surprised when reading Fantasy (probably because I read too much of it) and this one had a few surprises for me
- Renee Dugan's writing. This story was laid out in one of the most beautiful ways I have seen in a long time. I will absolutely be pursuing Renee's backlog immediately.
- MAGIC SYSTEM - magic being derived from stories speaks to my reader heart in a way I did not anticipate nor can I accurately describe using words

What I didn't love:
- There were some lulls in the pacing for me at the beginning and again at the midpoint of this book. Sometimes I felt like there may have been a more direct way to get from point A to point B, but in the end it was 100000% worth it.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

DNF @ 5%

I don't think there is anything wrong with this book per say, I just think I picked it up at the wrong time and couldn't get into it. I think I'll give it another try later in the year and hopefully be able to finish it as I really liked the premise and the blurb intrigued me!

Although the premise was really interesting, the execution missed the mark for me in some ways. The begging was hard for me to get into and some of the world-building, especially in setting up the story. But once I got into the story it really picked up and it had fun tropes with one bed, friends to lovers, star crossed lovers.

From the blurb I expected to be blown away by this book. I had exceptionally high expectations and on the whole the book met these. The storyline was such an interesting one, with the world created having exceptional detail.

I was not as invested in the love story as I had hoped, but it did still hold my attention.

Like others have said, it was perhaps a little long and verbose - but based on the premise of this book it was to be expected.

It was a bit of a challenge to get into, but I was glad I persevered.

Interesting story, I liked the idea. The first 10% of the book was very dry and so descriptive, it kind of loses you. Audra is a storyteller who can no longer finish stories until she meets Jaik.
The magic and the storytelling aspect was very unique, but the book was very long and dry. The walking scenes were unnecessary - just jump ahead because they didn’t add anything. Overall good as a one and done book.

This was surprisingly fun and I am kind of obsessed. It had a fun and unique story idea and I really like Jaiki and Addie. They were super cute and I loved that their meet-cute was more aggressive and violent than usual. I also really liked their friend group the supporting characters and world were well-rounded and fun! I have to say I was really into Addie’s stories, her stories were some of my favorite parts, especially the first story about the Mirror Prince, I also really like the new Sha and wish we saw more of the friends and got a more in-depth look at their past and backstory the story was at times slow but then a lot of the major conflicts were solved quickly. I also wish we spent more time with the Storymaker he needs his book. I was pleasantly surprised by this and will definitely be buying myself a physical copy to reread and if the story continues I will definitely follow along.

In a world where powerful magic is formed by the conclusions of well-crafted stories, we see the paths of storycrafter Audra and farmhand Jaik collide, and follow them in their epic journey together to discover why the magical stories have lost their endings.

I found this book nothing short of incredible; with complex lead characters and detailed world building, this was a refreshing, adventurous and unique read, at times leaving me full of emotion (that epilogue, hello?). The only complaint I have with this book is that I now have to wait for the next one.

Im not usually one to read books without Spice, but I really liked this one! The writing was impeccable! I love that Audra was a story teller. It’s a very different take then most fantasy books I’ve read! The world building, story telling & characters were perfect! Quick, easy read as the story engulfed you and made you want to keep reading!

First off, this book was much too long, and unnecessarily so. It was extremely repetitive and so it felt like I was just reading the same chapters over and over again. The prose was lovely, and the plot interesting, but I didn't really feel anything for any of the characters. There was supposed to be this sweeping romance but it just felt milquetoast. It also contained a lot of my pet peeves, such as introducing a bunch of characters after the halfway point by name only for none of them to really matter. It just felt like the author found a bunch of names they liked and decided to stick them in. And there's the use of a nickname I really hated. And the ending, while charming, simply dragged on for far too long. The entire epilogue could have been a couple pages.

By the Maker’s Tales! What a rollercoaster of emotion. Mystery, magic, heroism, love, adventure, humor, heartbreak, crazed villains, a world in need of saving… Dugan leaves nothing out. Like a Russian nesting doll of stories, Dugan creates layer upon layer of captivating realms for you to tumble through, all of them individual strings weaving the web that is Audra and Jaik’s somewhat messy lives. Every chapter is full to the brim with vivid and detailed imagery, taking page after page to thoroughly paint a picture and take you into her world. There is no doubt that Dugan is a true believer in the power of the written word, holds a beautiful reverence for the telling of tales and capturing how powerful our stories can truly be. This is at its heart a story of true redemption, and self-sacrifice for the greater good- “All of Mithra-Sha, suffering. Suspended. Begging. Praying. And perhaps I heard no answer to my prayers because my impossible choice was the answer to theirs. And that was my penance for all I’d set in motion with my choices years ago.” There are shocks and surprises, both incredibly exciting and then equally heartbreaking. Expect to be thoroughly gutted and so beautifully put back together, then utterly destroyed and once again lovingly pieced back together, time and time again. Dugan keeps you guessing, never knowing which side Luck’s coin will land on in the very end.

This was ok. The world building was amazing but felt at times it was a little too lyrical and descriptive and hard to get into at the start. The romance was good too but very slow burn. The last 20% however I really did enjoy! Also it was marketed as adult but felt more YA.

Tropes:
One bed
Slow burn
Friends to lovers

The concept of this book is incredible and I think the story is really strong but I think the book suffers from favouring world-building and descriptions of setting over developing strong and engaging relationships between characters. One of the main plot points of this book relies on the chemistry between the two leads but I think the author rushed the development of their relationship and the implied tension building between them wasn't earned. The book is over 500 pages long which should have been enough time to get me to root for their relationship but I think the author spent so much time on world-building that this was lost.

The author's prose was beautiful but at times became too cliche for me, personally.

I DNF'd at 20%, not due to the content, but the way it was written in an almost lymeric was challenging for me to follow. I am Dyslexic and I just could not read this and retain any of the information.
If you are someone who loves books that flow like poetry I would check out some other reviews to see if this book is a good fit for you.

Unfortunately this book is just not for me. I did not enjoy any aspect of this story and I cannot recommend it.

I had a hard time appreciating the premise of the book, it felt like there was not any justification for why or how this plot would happen, which pulled me out of the story. I expected some strong explanation or justification but it never got there. It felt very fanciful and YA, with lots of magic and vague confusing metaphors but very little substance to back it up.

The MCs were not well defined and did not feel believable as people. Similar to the plot it just felt flat and nothing felt justified or plausible.

Finally, this is billed as an adult romance book but it was IMO way too clean for that description. Overall this book felt like something that would be better suited to the 8th grade - 12th grade demographic, not adult.

4.25 stars (ish)

this is a book about stories. so if you like books about books, or books about stories, i highly recommend this. i also recommend it if you like:
- one-bed troupe
- star-crossed lovers
- strangers (🤭) to friends to lovers
- he has nicknames for her

the whole development of this story was really well done. this story is extremely character-driven, and i did feel that all the characters were well fleshed out and developed. each of the main characters had flaws and some past trauma, but the way the two characters were always there for each other and comforted one another was so sweet.

the romance was everything. it's a good slow-burn romance, and ugh it hit me in the feels. the side characters were soooo nice i loved them so much ahhh. all the characters in this book were really fun to read about.

the last like 70% of the book was what did it for me, making me like this book much more than i thought i would. my mind exploded; the mystery, revelations, and descisions made me lose my mind i loved it. and that epilogue OMGGGG i want them to be happy so bad, and that ending gave a sense of hope. it also gives excitement for future books.

the only problem i had was that there were a lot of descriptions. like a LOT. especially at the beginning, and that almost made me dnf it because for the first i think 10 chapters there were only descriptions and so few dialogues.

overall, definitely give this book a try!

I wanted to be blown away by this book; the plot sounded so unique and interesting that it had all the makings of a book I would love but it just fell a bit short for me. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, I had a good time reading it but I didn't love it in quite the way I was expecting.

Let's start with the positives - this story is unique, I absolutely love the idea of storytelling as a magic form and the idea of the endings going missing was just a brilliant one. It's whimsical and interesting and I thought a great basis for the book.

The world building is good, the magic system is interesting, I liked the characters. There is an appropriate level of romance for this book albeit it is definitely on the YA end of romance but that's fine.

The characters are well developed and I enjoyed reading about them.

The challenge I found overall, which made me like rather than love the book, was the writing style. This is a big book (possibly too big for a YA) so it's a bit daunting to take on and then the writing is dense and very descriptive which I found difficult. I would find that I lost my focus part way through paragraphs because so much was being described that I almost switched off a bit. The writing is beautiful and I so wish it was for me but I just found it too much. I don't think the book needed to be as long as it was and that kind of took away from the story for me.

I sound like a bit of a negative Nelly on this one which is not my intention at all; like I say it is beautifully whimsical, unique and great characters. I know plenty of readers will absolutely love the writing style and wonder what on earth I'm going on about. Overall for me, this was a good read but a bit of a long and intense one.