Review: Ashes of the Phoenix by Jess Haines

Ashes of the Phoenix

Author: Jess Haines

Release Date: May 12, 2017

Publisher: Self-Published

Phoenix Rising Book #1

ISBN:   0988972824

ISBN13: 9780988972827

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

Legend says a phoenix will rise again—but all that remains of the immortal bird are ashes and whispered fairy tales...

Lyra Adams enjoys her job as a rare books dealer, but when an angry wizard barges into her store and demands she fork over a unique tome from the antiquities section, she's not about to let him get away with grand larceny without a fight.

Except it's suddenly very difficult to defend her wares, seeing as the wizard turned her into some kind of weird red bird by flinging a handful of ashes in her face.

Her only hope of returning to her normal, human self lies in the hands of the one man she never wanted to see again: her lying, stealing, sorcerous scumbag ex, James Pierce. The same light-fingered thief who tried to steal that very same tome from her a few days before.

She knows she can’t trust James with her heart or her inventory. Can she trust him to turn her back?

This is a really hard review to write because I usually LOVE anything Jess Haines puts out into the world, but ASHES OF THE PHOENIX just didn't do it for me.

Although ASHES OF THE PHOENIX is full of action, I couldn't get into the characters or storyline enough to enjoy it. With the length of this novella, there wasn't enough time to really introduce and develop the characters of the story. I think I would have liked it more if it was longer and a little more in-depth. The storyline was interesting, but I just needed more out of it to get me excited.

The romance aspect of ASHES OF THE PHOENIX also fell flat for me. I mean, Lyra was a phoenix for most of the book, so it's not like any romance could happen anyways, but the love interest was the ex-boyfriend that tried to steal from her. He does do some redeeming things, so maybe I'm being too hard on him.

ASHES OF THE PHOENIX just needed more. More character development, more world building, more explanations and a little less action maybe to fit it all in.

I gave it 2/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.