[A quick note: This review was written first for Goodreads using HTML formatting to hide Spoilers. Since that is not possible on NetGalley, some spoiler content has been rewritten or, where not possible, has been redacted and indicated as such]

"That's how I'll survive this next year, isn't it? Careful, clever words that don't speak to the whole truth? I'll be surrounded by slippery words; I might as well use a few of my own."

=====

2.5 rounded up to 3, I think.

Thank you, Netgalley, for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

***Story & Characters***
While I found the first almost half of the book slow to settle into, by halfway, I found my groove with the story and that I was having an easier time committing to multiple chapters at a time.

Mortal Memories boasts a surprisingly complex mystery with the promise of some familial, royal and perhaps political intrigue that I did not expect. The two main characters were both likable and believable enough to buy in to their story, despite the fact that the opening scene of the book demands a high buy in price. The FMC in particular brings in some refreshing representation that overall made me feel more invested.

Carra, our FMC, is fiery and quick-witted. She is occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. In one particular scene, [spoiler removed by reviewer]. This surprisingly fresh scene helped to highlight her wittiness and take-no-nonsense nature.

Straid is aloof, formal (an old soul), and stoic. He felt a little less believable to me. A fae lord of some particular standing who marries a woman in need for her safety, who [spoiler removed by reviewer]. At the end of the book, Straid demonstrates some firm little nuggets of moral grayness, and I would have liked to see this more consistently.

I did observe some out-of-character moments for each of them, Carra's in the form of her surprising verbal aggressions that baffle and Straid's threat of power paired with a diminutive nickname ("little one"?) towards his new wife.

One of the things that took me out of the story the most was Carra's line of work.

Carra is a prostitute (her word), and she takes every opportunity she can to remind you that she is very good at what she does. My issue here is not with the line of work. My issue is that its treatment felt heavy-handed, like the author would not sleep well if her position on SW was not crystal clear.

While the line of work served Carra well by giving her access to high profile clients, which helped her to find information pertaining to the mystery, I found that we also get a lot of redundant or superfluous information about the nature of her clients, such as when she educates other people about her clients' preferences, despite the fact that the reader has already learned these things, sometimes more than once. There are some other pieces here that are too spoilery, so I have omitted them.

Again, truly, not an issue with the line of work or even the message. I felt that it was improperly balanced within the story.

Lastly, the ending had some surprising reveals that I enjoyed. I did not realize going into this book that this is meant to be, I assume, a series, so the ending didn't satisfy me in the way I expected. Instead, I got a pretty interesting cliffhanger. I would probably read the next book just to figure out what on earth that epilogue set us up for.

========
***Grammar/writing/editing***

Overall, the story is the victor of this book. You will find some rather stylistically and grammatical simple language throughout. This book also needs a very heavy edit. There were multiple instances of missing words, wrong words, sentences that were repeated, and the wrong names being used in dialogue. We also see a couple of instances of the character's real name being used before it has been revealed.

Carra took the dress Niana offered and decided... (loc 543)

"Carra." He sounded pained. "You cannot leave the Quarters for the first year of our marriage." (loc 847)

In the beginning of the book, the bargain was established as one day a month after the first year, but at the end of the book, it's referred to as one day a year.

I did not factor these much into my rating, since this is not officially published. Hopefully the team will have a chance to do a thorough edit before it gets released.

========

Overall, a surprisingly interesting but stylistically simple mystery fae romance with some likable but occasionally unreliable characters, some heavy-handed commentary about sex work, a nice, steady slow burn and a sequel that I had no idea to expect.

And now... for some random highlights that I enjoyed <3

~ His next breath fortified him. It tasted of honey and orange, of stone and silver and the deep dark of sleep.

~ "You are the best husband I've ever had," she said, rising from her chair.
"As far as you are aware," he countered.

"Can I guess what it was?"
"No."
"My question was rhetorical."
"My answer was not."

I enjoyed this book and wished it was longer. It makes me want to know more the world and the fae. The spicy scenes were done well too. I look forward to reading what happens next.

Thankyou so much to Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this early ♡

I absolutely fell head over heels inlove with the premise of this story! It sounded incredibly unique and it dove straight into the action! I did feel a bit confused in parts due to the memory loss of the main character and was hoping we might be filled in a bit but I was able to overlook most things because the story itself was so captivating! It would have been nice to see a bit more of a slow burn romance or just straight up friends, I understand the marriage happened quickly out of necessity but I had a bit of difficulty really falling for this couple as the story went on. I was very surprised by Carras want to go back to her job as a prostitute as soon as she remembered that aspect but I'm hoping book 2 fills us in more regarding her lack of memories and gives us more world building to really help build these images up in our mind!

I'd definitely be interested in reading book 2 to find out more about Carras journey ♡

I enjoyed this book, the storyline was interesting. We follow Carra, a human sex worker, found in the Fae Quarters alone, without any memory of who she is. Humans are not allowed in the quarters without a fae with them, and when a guard finds her, she is to be punished or even sent to death. Along comes Straid, a fae stranger, who quickly tells the guard she is to be his wife at dawn the next morning, persuading the guard to let her over to him, and ultimately saving her life.
They quickly marry, and then go on a mission to unravel who Carra truly is (one sex client at a time), while a romance blooms between the two. A good start to a fantasy romance series.

l was blown away by the story. The character development was awesome! The author paid great attention to details and did such a wonderful job of setting up scenes. This is FAR from the type of books I generally read. I prefer suspense, mystery, murder and thrillers. I purchased this book to give something new a try. I was NOT disappointed!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Where to start, where to start, where to start. This book reads more like a mystery than a romance, and it's a good thing I like mysteries. Carra is such a strong, spicy character. Straid comes off as - dare I say it - stodgy. 😩 I love that he steps in and saves Carra and marries her to keep her from being executed. This book really starts with a bang and leaves you hoping things will get ✨️extra✨️ but honestly, it left me with high hopes, some meh feelings in the middle, then picked me back up towards the end.

I'm a bit disappointed with the development of Straid and Carra's relationship. Straid tries to keep his distance and allow Carra to continue with her business after she recovers some of her memories, but truly, there was more romance between Carra and her clients than between Carra and Straid. They have a slow build to feelings for one another, but there is zero chemistry with them in their on page interaction.

The mystery aspect is what really kept me going in this book. I wanted to know who was taking the fae and humans alike and why. The world building was interesting. We stay almost exclusively in the Fae Quarters, so I'm interested to see where else we get to go in the future.

There's a wildly interesting twist at the end of the book that I didn't see coming. But the cliffhanger was brutal.

I give it .5⭐️ for romance and 4⭐️ for mystery, but a 4⭐️ read in total with everything. I'm interested in reading the next book just because I really want to see how it shakes out with the plot twist.

I have a lot of thoughts about this book. I was actually pretty interested in the story itself, but there were a lot of issues that were hard to look past. While grammatical errors can be overlooked in ARCs, there were things such as characters being referred to by the wrong name which just made things confusing.

I enjoyed the slow burn between Carra and Straid and I appreciate that the author is taking the time to develop the relationship. We find out early on that Carra was a prostitute prior to losing her memories - while it was nice that Straid was so respectful of her profession, I found it a little strange that getting back to work was her top priority despite almost being kidnapped and/or murdered, having to marry a fae stranger for her safety, and having no idea who she even is.

I was also interested in the mystery of what happened to Carra and the other missing people, and I am still interested in seeing how it unfolds further. However it seems like the ending was supposed to be shocking, but it left me more confused than anything. I feel like this is the sort of series that you don’t necessarily love but keep reading to find out what happens anyway.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial for the ARC!

3 stars

Mortal Memories by F.A Eden follows Carra, a sex-worker with amnesia who is found in the fae Quarter alone and nearly put to death, but luck is on her side as a fae male named Straid claims her as his fiancé and saves her life. The two are quickly married and little by little Carra’s memory returns…one sexual encounter at a time. Straid is a fae still in mourning after his mortal fiancé died half a century earlier - he believes that saving the mortal Carra is an act that honors his past love.

This is definitely a case where the story is a bit rough and I’m hopeful that there will be many edits done before this hits the shelves in October. The premise of this story is exciting - if you’re a fan of A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor I think that this story will intrigue you. The story is a bit confusing, but I think that it does a good job setting us up for the next book in the series — as soon as this one ended I immediately wanted to have the sequel in my hands. I am invested in this mystery! I am hopeful that the second book will help us better understand the world & we’ll get satisfaction from the romance presented to us.

Thank you so much to BooksGoSocial & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to reading more from F.A Eden.

2.5*, rounded up to 3*
I read an ARC of this book through NetGalley, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this.

This is a book about a young human woman (named Carra) who finds herself in the quarry, a place where humans are not supposed to be. The punishment for a person being here unlawfully is death. The first chapter throws us into the action, with the woman having lost her memories and fleeing from a guard. A fae man (named Straid) finds himself in the quarry at the same moment and rescues Carra by saying they are to be married the next day. After this they get legally married and begin to grow closer together. She wants to regain her memories and remembers she's a prostitute (which isnt really a spoiler as it happens quite quickly in the book) + they realize people are going missing which brings a mystery element into the book. This is the first book in a series (I assume as it ended in a cliff hanger).

What i liked:
I liked the little fae lore that was sprinkled in, like the house being tied to Straid's magic, the asteroid and the contract thats made when you say 'please' and 'thank you'
I thought the characters had potential, as i did get more invested in them as the book went on (although more on this later)
I liked the mystery element and the ending
The dual POV was a nice touch, as this also sets it apart more from ACOTAR

That being said there were also many things that could be improved for a better reading experience. For example, I thought the pacing throughout the book wasn't always the best. It's a rather short book (on goodreads its 290 pages but my ebook said only 210 pages) for everything it wants to do. I think the book should have more scenes building up the relationship between Straid and Carra. I also think there maybe should have been more time between her arriving and remembering that she's a prostitute, and definitely more time before she actively starts that job again. Personally, I don't love that she goes back to being a prostitute while we're also supposed to want Carra and Straid to be together, but if the author wants to put some prostitution representation in her book that's definitely valid. I just think that her going into prostitution again felt a bit rushed, as she just had a very traumatic experience and still doesn't remember much at that point.

The pacing also shows a bigger problem with the book, which is that it really needs to be edited and proofread. There are many mistakes in this book (like accidentally using a different name or the wrong pronoun) which can be confusing or just take you out of the story. I know this is an ARC, so I won't be too hard on the book for this, but it was definitely quite noticeable.

Another thing that could be fixed with an editor is the fact that some of the dialogue is a bit awkward. I know that Straid is supposed to talk formal, but even with that in mind I think there are definitely parts of the dialogue that could be improved. Reading the dialogue out loud could also be a way to improve this.

Lastly, I mentioned that I liked the faerie lore that was sprinkled in. I think if the book focused a bit more on worldbuilding and description this could definitely enhance the reading experience, as now I was left feeling a bit wanting. If you choose to set your book in a completely different world, especially a faerie world, I think many people also want to delve more deeply into that world. This is another way in which you could make the first half of the book feel less rushed. Again, my ebook was only 210 pages, so you could easily add another 100 pages to this book and it would still be a very good length. I think the story definitely has a lot of potential and I could see that while reading, but it just has to be flushed out a lot and edited. I look forward to what this author could do with some more writing experience.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⚠️ Check trigger warnings

I thoroughly enjoyed following Carra and Straid. I loved how we got to find out more about our FMC through her recovering memories just as she did. As her memories are coming back, the twists and turns that take place had me playing detective. I fell in love with the MMC Straid 😍 he's so cute, and I feel like he was done wrong (you'll have to read to see). I never knew much about faes and their abilities, but after reading this, I would enjoy being one lol

The premise of this book was extremely promising! However, the execution of it did not hit the mark for me.

The first thing that I noticed was the lack of world building. The reader is thrown into the action within the first few pages of the novel which at times is good, but to not offer any world building or background after the fact was something that stuck out to me.

In addition, I really didn’t connect with any of the characters. The FMC has forgotten her memories and at times the author would flip between the name she wanted to be called, and her actual name, which to me was very confusing. I found some of her decisions questionable, specifically wanting to immediately jump back into her old job as soon as she remembered what she used to do.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This book..was a let down. Based on the description, it was an easy click for me and I was excited to read it. However, I felt the world building was confusing. If I had been reading a physical copy, I think I would have been doing a lot of flipping back and forth. I also didn’t feel like there was any real romance or connection between the main characters, which made the spicy scenes confusing and out of nowhere- all lost to be able to have scenes that ‘readers want.’

3.5 stars! A great start to a new fantasy series. Loved the dynamic despite not being a big fan of amnesia/memory loss tropes. Personally would've liked heavier world-building but I think this will be so appealing to readers who don't want hundreds of pages of politics. Hoping the grammar and editing mistakes throughout that took me out of the story will be polished up for release!

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, Romance and Fantasy novels are my usual go to when reading.

I really struggled to understand the world building in this book, I still do not understand where the Quarters are, where mortals aren't allowed to go, starting the whole story line of the book. Which made it difficult to understand why Anna couldn't be there and why she suddenly had lost all her memories.

The Spice in this book was a lot, and wasn't necessary to the story line which made it a bit uncomfortable when reading it. There is little to no romantic interest between the two main characters which would be fine but then they suddenly romantically love each other out of nowhere.

There was a few times when the wrong name for a character had been used in the book. The MMC doesn't find out FMC real name for the first few chapters however they use it in conversation before she tells him what her name is.

Overall this book just wan't for me and I couldn't really look past the mistakes and rushed plot.

I think this book was fantastic! Especially since it appears to be the authors first.

It had all the fae bookish lovers tropes; Stubborn/Traumatised FMC, Amnesia.So many very interesting elements that I almost didn't know where to look; it was super busy.

Yes, there were some plot holes and it was a high fantasy; but it definetly had me smiling and guessing what was next.

I look forward to seeing what F.A. Eden does next :)

Thank you netgalley for giving me ARC access!

This book had a very interesting premise, but it was not able to deliver a satisfying story. I think it can be kind of a squick for me to have one of the main love interests repeatedly have sexual interactions with other characters if it isn't an explicitly nonmonogomous communicative arrangement. I DNFed at 66% because I really liked the mystery but I couldn't make myself care about any of the characters enough to follow through.

There were parts that were well written but others were very choppy with characters names getting mixed up, people randomly being angry for dark and mysterious reasons that are never really explained, and the absolutely paper thin worldbuilding not making any sense or even trying to offer in world justifications for anything that's happening. I read some other reviews while deciding if I wanted to try powering through the last third and saw how many mentioned the lack of story resolution and how many plot threads get completely dropped and decided to save myself the time.

I think this could be a fun romance novella if it stopped trying to be a grand mystery and lost 2/3 of the word count. I wouldn't recommend it currently.

A mortal woman missing her memory. A fae lord held captive by his.

Carra is a mortal and has lost her memory. She's running around in fae territory where if humans are caught they are sentenced to death. Then she's caught by a guard.

Straid is a powerful fae who was once engaged to a mortal but she died. Now, he has spent the last 50 grief filled years as recluse. He finds Carra and immediately wants to help the human girl, by telling the guard they are engaged.

Idk, this seemed like it could be an interesting story. The writing is ok, but there are a some typos and some glaring mixups with character names that can't be overlooked. Carra marries Straid, is forced to stay in fae territory for a year due to *rules.* Her biggest concern is regaining her memories and the only thing she discovers is that she was a prostitute. And a "damn good" one lol. I still couldn't get over how she was adamant that she return to work immediately and Straid was just gonna have to deal with it. Because she loved her job!! The job that she had because her family was poor and she gave them all her money to support them.

Then, Straid was just a pushover because he basically said yes, do whatever you want because I only want to take care of you and make sure you are safe.

People are going missing. He's falling in love with her every day. Of course she's attracted to him and Straid to her, but the slow burn never culminates into anything.

Needless to say, the spice comes in during Carra's meetings with her clients. Idk it just wasn't that fulfilling because they are just past clients.

There isn't a lot of world building and the magic system is a little underwhelming. It took me some time to grasp the "threads" magic.

I mostly understood the reason for the kidnappings but the "epilogue ?" chapter did not make sense to me. I didn't care for the ending and there will obvi be another book but I probably won't read it.

I wanted to like this book based on the description. I just didn't.

I didn't care for the characters and the plot moved slowly.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

This book was advertised as a slow burn story, but I find it was anything but. The world building wasn't there, I found it very repetitive and had to dnf at 56%. There was no pull for continuing to read, lack of background given, constant mentions of vague details from their pasts without adding any kind of detail to want to know what they are.

This book, after she gets some of her memory back, is basically just straight sex with little to no world building or real content. Maybe it gets better, if straight smut is your kind of thing.

Memory lost, husband gained - or is it? Entering the world of fae politics, manipulations, and betrayals while trying to find out who she is, trailing the breadcrumbs along the way. Little different premise (which didn't work for me, but might for you) with some mysteries intertwined and alluded to. Good for fans of fae paranormal, but no real romance, or spice, and sort of predictable and slow moving. But good for the weekend or vacation.