Review: Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens

Otherworldly
by F.T. Lukens
narrated by Em Grosland, Kevin R. Free and Natalie Naudus

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Fantasy Romance/ Cosy Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Type of romance: nb/m

Blurb:
A skeptic and a supernatural being make a crossroads deal to achieve their own ends only to get more than they bargained for in this lively young adult romantic adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of Spell Bound and So This Is Ever After.

Seventeen-year-old Ellery is a non-believer in a region where people swear the supernatural is real. Sure, they’ve been stuck in a five-year winter, but there’s got to be a scientific explanation. If goddesses were real, they wouldn’t abandon their charges like this, leaving farmers like Ellery’s family to scrape by.

Knox is a familiar from the Other World, a magical assistant sent to help humans who have made crossroads bargains. But it’s been years since he heard from his queen, and Knox is getting nervous about what he might find once he returns home. When the crossroads demons come to collect Knox, he panics and runs. A chance encounter down an alley finds Ellery coming to Knox’s rescue, successfully fending off his would-be abductors.

Ellery can’t quite believe what they’ve seen. And they definitely don’t believe the nonsense this unnervingly attractive guy spews about his paranormal origins. But Knox needs to make a deal with a human who can tether him to this realm, and Ellery needs to figure out how to stop this winter to help their family. Once their bargain is struck, there’s no backing out, and the growing connection between the two might just change everything.

My Review

I got curious about this book after seeing it on some book blogs, the cover looked pretty and the blurb sounded good. I eventually grabbed a copy and decided to go with the audio. After I finished Chef’s Kiss which was narrated by Em Grosland, I was looking for more books they had narrated and then saw they narrated this one as well, so I picked it up.

Otherworldly is a sweet romantic story set in a world that’s similar to our world, but with magical creatures, gods and goddesses. The focus is on the romance between Ellery and Nox, Ellery is a human and Nox is a familiar from the Other World. The book description actually gives a very good feel for what this book is about and sums up the set up pretty well.

This was the first book I read by this author, but I got into this one relatively quickly and enjoyed reading it. The start is a bit on the slow side, but I still enjoyed it and didn’t mind the slower pace. Once Ellery and Nox make a bargain the book gets even better. I had some speculations of where the plot would go, but the book surprised me a few times with going in another direction. I had fun reading this one and looking forward to see what would happen next.

I liked the cosy vibe this book had as well as the found family theme. I liked seeing Nox experience human experiences that he never got to chance to experience before and seeing him and Ellery grow closer. I liked reading about both Ellery and Nox. I felt like I got a feel for both characters. And they were just so sweet together. Toward the end both of them do something that really shows how much they care about the other and I liked seeing those moments. I also liked Charlie and Zeda, they really added to the story and I liked seeing their found family unit and how much the four of them all cared about each other. There are some interesting paranormal side characters as well that pop up later in the story that have an important role.

The narrators for this book were all great. This is the first time I listened to an audiobook with 3 narrators, I was worried I might not like them all, but I did. Natalie Naudus only does the prologue and after that it’s Em Grosland doing the chapters from Ellery’s point of view and Kevin R. Free doing the chapters from Nox’ point of view. I already was familiar with Em Grosland and liked how they narrated Ellery’s chapters. Keven R. Free was a new to me narrator and I liked how he narrated Nox’ chapters and I plan to listen to more books he has narrated in the future. I also want to check out more books by F.T. Lukens as this was my first book I read by them.

To summarize: I enjoyed my time spend listening to Otherworldly. It’s a fun sweet romantic story with paranormal elements. I liked both Ellery and Nox and I liked how I really got a feel for their personalities. I liked their romance and seeing them grow closer, they were very cute and sweet together. They both do something toward the end that really shows the depth of their feelings and I liked how the book ended. The narrators were all great and I liked listening to this book. I liked the cosy and cute vibe this book had as well as the found family theme. There are some really great moments during the story and I plan to read more books by this author in the future.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– Audible
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.