I try really hard not to judge too hard but there shouldn’t be spelling issues in the first chapter.

The premise of the story is what pulled me into the story to begin with. However, Carra is inflicted with amnesia to begin with, but she does eventually remember that she was working as a human prostitute and wants to go back to it. To me it just didn’t make sense, don’t ask why that stuck with me it just did. If you don’t have all of your memories why would you want to go back so fast?

I need more world building, bring me into the story more. Make me want to be in this world.

One thing I did like is that the male main character was very respectful. He pretty much let her choose and didn’t make the choices for her.

I found the premise of this book interesting, but I felt that the development of the plot was lacking. I was often left puzzled at the decisions made. For example, Carra is inflicted with amnesia, but after remembering paltry details, is suddenly eager to get back to her work as a human prostitute. I find it hard to believe that she would want to go back to her work so quickly when she's in such a vulnerable state.

There are a bunch of inconsistencies littered around the book too. For example, before Carra discovers that her name is, well, Carra, Straid calls by her it in one of his POV chapters. There are a few spelling mistakes, and dialogues that didn't flow properly, or got confusing because it wasn't specified who was saying what.

The worldbuilding, too, was minimal, and I wanted to know more. I feel like the majority of the world was left undescribed, and it left me unable to actually be "in" the story.

Overall, I feel like this book had a lot of potential, but the execution fell through.

This was a very good read. The plot, the characters were so very well developed. I enjoyed reading this one! Can’t wait to read more from the author

First of all: Thank you so much NetGalley for the ARC copy.

Tropes:
- Marriage of Convenience
- Forced Proximity
- Slow Burn
-Amnesia

Trigger Warnings:
-Prostitution
-Sleeping with people NOT your spouse (but also status of marriage is complicated)
- On Page Spice with people OTHER THAN spouse
- Death of a love (off page)
- Death of a child (Referenced)

It begins with a human fleeing something. She doesn't remember who she is or anything really (though she chooses to go by the name Anna). When she is saved from the guard arresting her for being in the Quarter without a fae escort by a fae male using magic to threaten (aka choke) the guard, I really appreciated that she was paying attention to how her savior worded his assurance that he wouldn't harm her. I have to say, she did better than me. I don’t know if I could have not interrupted when he said I was going to marry him. Straid is offering marriage on paper only, and maybe one day friendship. Why? He’s got a savior-complex and is traumatized by a wedding that never happened, sent all the servants away, and hides away in a house. Two rooms are off limits, his study and his bedroom. (There were multiple times I got Beauty and the Beast vibes if Belle was a prostitute...)

Straid feels awkward but in a “I am way older than you” kind of way. At one point I had the thought “he’s giving Tamlin without Lucian to help him communicate”. (Full disclosure I don’t hate Tamlin so that did not feel super negative, just his way of speaking to Anna/Carra reminded me of him). He was giving the immortal who doesn’t know how to interact with mortals vibes., which I liked. If more time had passed in the book I would have liked to have seen the way he talks to het shift as he got feelings for more though. I now want to know what deep dark sleep tastes like. I also want to know why Straid knows what stones taste like. Anyway, they get married and after two days Anna wants to get out of the house but Straid doesn’t want her to go alone. Multiple fae, and a few mortals, have gone missing in the Quarter.

She does go out searching for her lost memories with Straid in tow. He is such a gentleman waiting OUTSIDE the lingerie store… She figures out her name is Carra and she has another memory. 2 out of 4 memories have been men she slept with (maybe 3 out of 4 not sure about the woman yet…). The fae comes and talks to her. This is where I started to get annoyed with the MFC. She alludes to wanting to see him as a client again and to continue being a “consummate professional” even though her husband values privacy and has enough status to call the fae lord his name without a title. While yes, this is her life to live as she wishes she has bound her soul to this fae male, who did say she could have a lover, to see if the getting paid portion would be an issue. Because he did save her life and even the fae lord seemed hesitant to agree to that. I felt like she was jumping head first into something she doesn't even remember much less considering that her situation has changed from what it was even a few days ago. Especially since she shared her job info with him but not her real name. He does agree to let her continue with her job as long as she has an escort. One thing I wish I had seen was more character development in Carra over the story.

There was also a weird moment where Straid knew her as Carra but she never told him her name that I remembered… (Going back I didn't find it at least). The next chapter he was back to calling her Anna. So it may have just been an inconsistency. It did feel kind of weird she trusted him with one thing and not the other. Also, she sent him to get info in town and he was still calling her Anna.. There was another time that I thought Straid had said she had to visit every month but then it became once a year, which was confusing.

Also, in the background there is a mystery of fae that are going missing. Most of the characters seem to have a gag order about details. Which is completely necessary when the only person able to lie is Carra because she is mortal, which felt like it was commented on a lot. I do think the story picked up and got better, though I was far more interested in the murder mystery than whatever was happening between Straid and Carra.
The ending felt rushed. Chapter 38 (or epilogue? Both were labeled as the last chapter in the ARC) seemed like a huge jump without getting from point a to b. I did like the twist though at the end and how it ended, I just wanted a little more connection. There was great potential, and I did enjoy parts of it.

I’m so, so torn on this book. On the one hand, I’m totally invested in the story. I need the mystery to be solved, especially after the epilogue. I’m a little creeped out by the ending, tbh, but I need to know what happens next. On the other hand, I basically hated Carra for most of the book. She grew on me a little at the end, though. Carra is a prostitute and continues her profession after her marriage. Even though the marriage was not a live marriage, I’m just not ok with that. Unless it’s a RH situation, or a couple’s specific kink, I’m not ok with extramarital carnal relationships. I guess I didn’t even realize that until this book, though I always avoid books with MC cheating. I think readers deserve to know going in to this book that it’s not a “safe” read. The author gave a content warning about a side character having a problem with prostitution, but not about the continuation of said prostitution, which I think is outrageous. I also didn’t think Carra’s profession was necessary to the plot. I get that it added spice where there wouldn’t have been any, and afforded Carra the opportunity to glean information from her clients, but both of those things could’ve been accomplished otherwise. It really felt like it added zero value to the book.

Other than my general dislike of Carra and the seemingly unnecessary prostitution, I thought the book needed to be tightened up a bit. One of my biggest pet peeves in a book is poor editing, even at the ARC phase, assuming the author has undergone beta reads. Things like incorrect names, glaring typos, and plot inconsistencies should be corrected before getting to the ARC stage. For example, because of an incorrect name placement, I knew the FMC’s name was Carra, not Anna (plot only, I know it’s in the blurb). It kind of ruins the flow of reading when you pause and go, wait, who’s Carra? Things like that take away from my enjoyment of a book.

I received an ARC of Mortal Memories from NetGalley. This review is my own and I am leaving it voluntarily.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC ahead of this book’s August 10, 2024 release date.


A quick TLDR for those of you who would prefer a spoiler free review:

What I liked:

- Male main character respects the female main character’s decisions about her mind, her body, and her profession.
- Natural flow of dialogue.
- Good pacing (With a caveat that the book just sort of ended. There was no conclusion to any plot lines, so pacing is just a guess.)



What I did not like:

- All major story reveals happen off page with the reader being caught up afterward.
- The author left many plotlines without conclusion, while I understand that this is part of a trilogy, so much is left unanswered that rather than a cliffhanger, it feels like a mistake.
- Minimal world building
- Plot inconsistency
- Unclear character motivations



Full Review

**SPOILERS**

The story begins with a human woman, Carra, running from guards with no memory of who she is. Saved from execution for trespassing in the Fae Quarters by Straid, Carra finds herself agreeing to a marriage of convenience keeping her in the Quarters for a year. We quickly discover that there is also a string of disappearances that may be related to Carra’s memory loss, adding another layer to the story. Straid, our male main character is mourning the loss of his fiancée for half a century, and suddenly having a wife leaves him unsettled and eventually intrigued.

Ok, let’s get into it. This story wastes no time getting to the meat, which I quite like, but still got off to a rocky start due to plot inconsistencies.

Fortunately for Carra, she does begin to recover memories almost immediately. Unfortunately, they are only surrounding her profession as a sex worker, which leaves large gaps in her understanding of herself. Once Carra has this portion of her memory back, finding out more about who she is or who her family and friends are, seems to fall off her radar. We have Straid out looking for them once, but no one seems overly concerned about it.

I love that Carra is proud of what she does and wants to continue to work. What I question is the motivation to begin working without all her memories. The nature of her work makes this a somewhat unsafe decision by an otherwise reasonable amnesiac. It also introduces more characters, some of which feel like we’re supposed to know who they are on first introduction. Along with new people, come new plot issues. Her clients deposit her payment into an account. Account where? How is she accessing it? The woman only knows her first name. Why has Straid set her up to work in a room meant for the Lord and Lady of the house? The room means something to him, he’s hiding away half burnt candles. We’re shown during Carra’s exploration of the house that there are scores of other rooms available.

The middle of the book is a bit of a lull, we have Carra visiting with clients, and renovating a room with Straid. It’s great that during this time we get a bit more insight into what Straid is thinking and his past, but we’re halfway through the book here and the only thing that defines Carra is amnesia & prostitution. She asks no questions about the world she’s in, so the reader also gets no insight. She asks very little about other characters, so we know very little about them as well. We rarely see her interacting with characters, so we don’t even really get a feel for her personality. Sadly, her character is very one dimensional. While we’re meant to have Carra as our primary character, this very much feels like Straid’s story with Carra as a device to move the plot forward.

As the book nears the end, we discover that Straid is no mere lord in the Quarters, but a prince. This really calls the marriage choice into question. He could have told the guard anything, he’s only outranked by other royals (Not to mention that he used magic to force the guard to agree, what did it matter the reason?), why choose marriage?

At some point, though when isn’t entirely clear, Straid realizes that he is in love with Carra, and plans to tell her after a ball they are attending. Carra is kidnapped from the ball while Straid is enthralled by a comet (a unique take on magic that I quite appreciated), giving us some insight to the disappearances that take place over the course of the story.

This introduces new plot lines in the very last chapters of the book and is the only place the pacing is noticeably rushed. It also brings Carra’s original attack and amnesia being related to the disappearances into question. The reason that she is taken from the ball is because the kidnapper believed she had the love of a powerful fae due to her marriage to Straid. Carra had never met Straid at the time of her attack.

The addition of the epilogue makes this story even more frustrating. We began this story with a female main character with no memories of who she is, a male main character with secrets & grief, and a string of disappearances. Due to the nature of Carra’s return at the end of this book, we’re left with nearly the same. Only the reader has any idea of what is really happening now that Carra has a different form of amnesia (believing she is someone else).

I read this book not knowing it was the first in a trilogy, it took reading through other reviews and seeing comments from the author to find even a hint that this story will be continuing. Had I known that this was a series, I still would have been put off by the ending. This book came to no natural conclusion, and due to the way it was plotted, it brought very little of the story forward. We ended where we began.

I’d love to check out this story once it is complete and has been through both creative and line editing.

There are errors that make this difficult to read. Along with that it started out strong but ended out confusing. I also felt that I was not invested in most of the characters or even the world. This needs a few things to be successful. You're close but not quite there.

My first net galley read!

So from the description of this book, I thought it would be right up my alley. I did enjoy parts of the book but in some parts I felt it was rushed, there wasn't a lot of world building which I really believed it lacked. The story line I think it could of been a brilliant plot, I just wanted more. If your looking for spice you'll find it with this one.

I am so irritated. This book has such incredible potential, but it has a long way to go. I was struggling to read it when I first started because of how many errors there are throughout the book. The grammar was a huge problem for me, and occasionally the author swapped characters names (which is hard to follow considering the protagonist doesn’t know her own name). I also thought this book was missing so much plot. I’m glad they fall in love and take that time, but the mystery within the story fell short. This book has a long way to go if it wants to be good

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc!

Honestly I loved the premise of the book, I was hooked from the beginning and was excited to see where the story went. I’m looking forward to future books by F. A Eden!

I liked this story, but there were definitely ways this could have been better. There wasn't much of a smooth transition between our FMC gaining her memories back and her picking up from where she left off with her job. Granted, the author did have her mention one time in the beginning that doing so might help her memory, but still. I can't blame her though, sounds like a couple of her clients were tempting.

Then she barely put effort into tracking down her family once she remembered she had one, but definitely didn't pause taking on her clients. You'd think she would have taken off at some point to find them if she really loved them, found some way to run off from Straid. Sure he offered to do it for her safety...in which he went out one time and that's the last you hear about it.

With that said, the premise of the story was good and there were lots of plot twists, especially that one at the end. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens in the next book!

As with other reviewers, the premise of this book is what drew me in - I am an unashamed marriage of convenience fan, and combining that with fantasy had me intrigued. I had high hopes, and I will admit they weren't met.

From the beginning, the pacing feels rushed. While this works well on the level of conveying the sense of panic and immediacy from the get-go with the marriage to keep Anna/Carra protected, it does leave you feeling like things are undeveloped and rushed for the rest of the book. Combined with the *many* grammatical errors and mistakes in character names (like when Carra is used interchangeably with Anna before any sort of explanation is given), this book needs a solid edit before publication. The premise is fantastic and the idea and world is there, it just needs some real fine-tuning to bring it up to the level it could be on. As much as I wanted to like this book, the lack of editing and the consistency issues made it a difficult one to get through.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

The premise of this book sounded interesting and the story wastes no time diving right in. Anna is injured while fleeing - from who or what we don’t know because she has amnesia. Straid is in the right place at the right time and helps Anna. This leads to them having an abrupt marriage in order to further protect her. All of this happens pretty quickly in the beginning, but I didn’t mind because I was interested in Anna uncovering who she is and what lead to her memory loss.

When she remembered her profession as a prostitute, I was surprised that she wanted to start working again so quickly. It seems like a very vulnerable and potentially dangerous situation to put herself in, considering she doesn’t remember herself or if whoever she was running from was a client or not. A lot of the spicy scenes were with her clients and I just didn’t feel invested in those characters with her.

There is a lack of world building that is hard to ignore. While Anna’s missing memories could be a justification for this at the beginning of the story, I would expect her to learn more from Straid or from books in his possession (so we as readers could learn as well). There are the fae Quarters, the mortal world, and a town surrounded by iron - that’s the extent of the world building. There’s no explanation of the fae magic system either. I don’t expect the same detail as high fantasy books, but there needed to be more to pull me into this story.

Errors happen, and there were a couple that stuck out for me. Anna’s real name (Carra) is written before she remembers it. Straid also calls her Carra before she shares the name with him.

Near the end of the book, we learn a little about the mysterious disappearances and how they relate to Carra. Straid’s formerly deceased fiancee, Lyenna, is responsible for these abductions. She needs sacrifices that fit certain requirements (ex. someone loved by a powerful fae, which is Carra). How Lyenna came back to life, why she didn’t let Straid know she was alive, and why she needs these sacrifices, is not addressed at all. The involvement of Umbra (Straid’s brother) is also unclear. The last chapter cuts to Carra fleeing, Umbra catching up to her, and bringing her home to Straid. She remembers Straid, and he recognizes her as Carra, but it seems like she thinks she’s Lyenna? Does she have her memories while being in Carra’s body? I know this is a cliffhanger, but I have never been so confused at the end of a book before.

The premise of this one was really good, but the execution wasn't quite there.

I never felt like the character motivations explained their behavior. Offering to marry a stranger because they're in danger of a decision they made on their own seems...really extreme. It would make more sense if she looked like Lyenna, it was Lyenna's birthday/anniversary of her death, etc. Something more than Carra just being human.

Also, I assume this is part of a series? If not, there's some massive plot holes that haven't been resolved. Umber, Lyenna, etc.

It also made no sense to me that Carra couldn't remember anything about her past, but wanted to go back to work immediately? Personally, I'd be more concerned with wanting to know who I am. And if randomly stumbled upon a rich husband that was gonna let me live with him for a year, all expenses paid, I sure AF wouldn't be in a hurry to go back to work, regardless of what my job is.

There were also some moments where the story felt disconnected and disjointed, as though in the editing process scenes were removed that shouldn't have been in order to not leave the reader confused. For example, the first time Jax is mentioned it's clear they both know who he is but the reader doesn't. It felt like an earlier scene introducing him had been cut, so his first mention was really jarring. I stopped reading and searched to see if I had somehow forgotten him, but I hadn't.

In Chapter 34, it says that she would have to leave when the year ended, but I thought she only had to STAY for a year, meaning she could choose to stay longer? It also says she would only be coming back once a year, whereas at the beginning it said once a month. Honestly, this makes no sense. Why would a married couple be forcibly separated? Especially when that marriage is a soul bond and not just a piece of paper. Also - not once is a soul bond explained? What's the point of even mentioning it if only as a reason why they can be married when she doesn't know her own name?

Towards the end, the she explains to the chef who she is and that they "hired her to work in their kitchen the day before she disappeared." Another inconsistency since she'd been there longer than one day.

Similarly, initially she didn't want to Travel (a word which I don't think is used again after the first time??), then suddenly in Chapter 25 we learn that she's been "transported" by Jesson and Straid multiple times? Again, this was pretty jarring for me as a reader since the last time this is mentioned, she didn't want to and wanted to walk instead. Also, it's inconsistent. "On the few times she had walked home" - in every scene we've had she's walked home. It makes me think that there's a LOT that, as the reader, I haven't been privy to. What else am I missing? Why should I continue reading? I almost didn't.

There also seemed to be random details dropped that were never resolved and I don't think are integral to plot? Maybe they'll come into play in later books, but I'm not even sure if this is a series. For example - it's mentioned that none of Straid's siblings' fathers are known except Ash's. Why? Who is he? Where was he while Straid was growing up?
Additionally - once again, the character motivations just aren't clear. How could he NOT wonder who his father is? That's literally half his DNA. His reasoning for this is entirely unbelievable - he wouldn't have even noticed "one more person" because he was surrounded by so many staff members??

Lastly, there were a LOT of errors in this book:
-In chapter five, it clearly says Carra, but we haven't learned her real name yet.
-Ch 6: I believe it should be unharmed vs unarmed
-Ch 7 - She winced, I believe it should be he winced
-Ch 8 - He calls her Carra, but he's not supposed to know her name yet
-Ch 8 - should be lose, not lost
-Ch 10 - Tailor, not tailored
-Ch 15 - cup him in the WAY he liked (way is missing)
-Ch 15 - release -> releasing
-Ch 21 - say -> sat
-Ch 28 - beenpride -> been pride
-Ch 32 - interest -> interests
-Ch 33 - has -> had

There's probably more I didn't catch

Overall, there were far too many inconsistencies and plot holes and far too little world building and exploration of character motivations that could make sense of their behavior for me to enjoy this book.

3.5 ⭐️
Okay, I actually kind of liked this one.
A true slow-burn with a focus on slow. I liked that we got to see our main characters get to know each other and form a bond before they ended up in bed together.

I really liked the premise of the book, and that ending!!! Omg, now I have to read the sequel.

I was thoroughly entertained, but I'm hoping for more insight into the magic and worldbuilding in the next book. That's something I missed a bit.

I couldn’t stop reading from the first page. I loved the characters and the dynamics. I really want to read the next one as it leaves you wanting more

*******SPOILERS AHEAD PLEASE BE WARNED*******



So much potential with this book but it definitely needs another round of edits before publishing. There are a lot of spelling and general grammatical errors where the pronouns are flipped in a way that makes the sentence difficult to follow. The mystery behind Anna/Carra's amnesia is compelling and keeps the reader interested. The slow burn between FMC and MMC is definitely there. I was on board until chapter 38/epilogue, its a good ending to get the reader ready and hooked for book 2 but was a little confusing. It should have that ahah moment where you realize Lyenna achieved the impossible but I had to go back and keep rereading it to understand that they didn't actually go back in time to the moment that Anna/Carra had appeared that first instance in the quarter but that this was a new event and meant to be her running from her captor or escaping, somewhere along those lines. This would be a good chapter 38 and then maybe an epilogue also to be included to engage the reader on the contents of book 2.

Biggest edits I noticed
◦ Chapter 5 Anna’s name was switched to Carra, but the reader isn't meant to know her real name yet
◦ Chapter 8 Straid calls her by her true name but at that point he should still only know her by Anna
◦ Chapter 37 Straid says “Her, and Kexxia, and Brey…" but it was Elesina that was taken not Brey
◦ Intermittently Straid is called Staid. It had me thinking at one point that his name was actually Staid

A splendid and well written romantast that enraptured me from start to finish. I really loved the characters and the tropes were absolutely superb. Mortal Memories was a fantastic story that reignited my fervor for storied about the Fae and their relationships with humans and the magical realms. Wonderful book! Would absolutely recommend!

Ahhh my first ever NetGalley Arc 🤭 Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for an early access for this book!

This book had a very interesting premise and I was looking forward to reading about an FMC who suffered post trauma amnesia.

This book read somewhat very easily and you’re thrown into the action right at the start. However - I did feel there weren’t any world building at all and the plots needed a little more working on (there were a few plot holes).

As for the characters - I did find that Carra was difficult with Straid… considering he saved her life and all. I would expect a little more respect and mercy 😅. When she remembered she was a prostitute - I was surprised at how fast she wanted to get back to it. She didn’t remember who she was but she wanted to get back to her job right away… that didn’t really make sense to me?

The reveal at the end was a little predictable but I’m left with more unanswered questions.

••• review •••
This book had potential. I was intrigued by the blurb and there were some great pieces to the story…I'll begin with those.

I enjoyed the character of Straid. He is fae, but is overall kind and unlike other fae. His friend and sister were two other characters I enjoyed and wish they would have had more spotlight time.

The main plot was intriguing and unique. It was mysterious and kept me engaged enough to finish the book (however, I skimmed most of the second half due to the issues I had with the book). The ending was absolutely not what I expected in a mostly positive way…what a cliffhanger! Oh and the idea of tying in comets to magic was very interesting!

Now the hard part…I truly wanted to enjoy this book, but I just could not get past many aspects.

On the small scale, there were quite a few plot holes/errors (her real name was written before she remembered it, the time frame of some events didn't line up - yesterday was used when it was actually that morning -, and the wrong servant's name was used).

On the larger scale, there was no world building. I cannot visualize any locations beyond vague images. The magic was also lacking…I don't understand it?

I had so many questions throughout the book…maybe they will be explained in sequels?
The romance came out of nowhere. I sort of followed the build, but it just seemed to lack something.
The MFM’s job was also confusing. Other than to add numerous spicy scenes, why? I get it's a job, and I did appreciate the stance that she was proud of it and everything was consensual, but I didn't feel it was necessary… it was all cringy to me.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC!

⭐ ⭐
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🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️