Ballads and Battleaxes

The Starlight Sanctum #3

by Vera Winters

A savvy businessman, a reckless mercenary, and a flame that never faded.

Tiberon, a sharp orc with a knack for business deals, is pulled into a risky treasure hunt for a questionable client. Worse still, he finds himself stuck with Dredge, the human mercenary who once broke Tiberon’s heart. Now, they must return to Tiberon's ancestral homeland in search of the artifact, stirring long-dormant embers of a romance that once was. As the past and present entangle, both men embark on an adventure that threatens to unearth magic, secrets, and the hidden depths of a flame that time failed to extinguish.

A new standalone M/M cozy fantasy romance from Vera Winters, coming March 1, 2024.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Monster Romance, Queer, LGBT

334 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2024

About the author

Classe 1989, autrice self, nata e cresciuta tra le verdi colline della Brianza, sono diplomata come corrispondente in lingue estere, ma il mio sogno è vivere di quello che scrivo.
Musica dipendente, fangirl fino al midollo, amo Stephen King, Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman e i gatti. Più di tutto i gatti
Tra le mie pubblicazioni trovate alcuni racconti editi con case editrice e distribuiti in diverse antologie, un romance dal titolo "E alla fine di ho incontrato", e la mia quadrilogia di punta #OpheliaHargreavesChronicles
Tutto è disponibile anche per Kindle Unlimited ovviamente.
Vi aspetto su IG poichè è il social che utilizzo di più, mi trovate sempre come Vera Winters, e se seguite l'hashtag di Ophelia è ancora più facile.

Much Love
V

Reviews

[Remyfox · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book and cover are AI generated.

[Teddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s so devastating to me that this was created by AI, both the story and the art. I was so excited to start reading it because the plot seemed quite interesting and the art was very pretty - and then I checked the writing through an AI checker, and it’s 100% written by AI. And as I was going through it, I realized it is obviously written by AI - the paragraphs are often worded strangely, and they start off and end in a similar manner. I got this book as a blind book date, and I immensely regret it - if I could give zero stars, I would, because the use of AI to create a story and make art is abysmal and disgusting.

[Morae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was either written with AI assist or fully AI written. The first in the series had such cozy potential, but this one was honestly just bad. Story, charecter, world building , and plot potential were all there, if just a human had been involved to flush true ideas and creativity out, and a human had edited the darn thing.

AI's idea of human smut is really bad too, just terrible 😕

I read the first book for the cozy legends and lattes vibes, and while not great writing and more smut that I like in my cozy fantasy, it was fine.

The second book wasn't as food, way more smut, but tolerable writing.

This one was just dreadful!

It lacked character motivation, continuity, and growth.

The ending was disappointing and felt disjointed from the book. Very much "then they all lived happily ever after."

There was a lack of continuity from chapter to chapter. It felt like read an unfinished rough draft, with potential, but unfinished. Like someone is spitting out ideas with no polish and just randomly sticking sex scenes in everywhere for page count rather than providing plot.

I borrowed it for free but was shocked to see it listed for $17. It's definitely not worth that! If you have time to kill and enjoy bad AI smut, have at it. But don't waste your money buying this one!

Support a real human author instead.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 70%

I cannot continue this anymore. I wanted to keep going but Tiberon has repeated the exact same phrase three times on the same page and it’s just… it’s bad.

The story was fineish, but this seriously needs more editing. I feel like this has more repeated phrases than the second one did, and it’s annoying me enough to be unable to finish it. It’s sad, but it is what it is.

[Liz Shorter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to like this author. I really do. She's so close to having a good idea and what could be an interesting world if it wasn't for poor editing, the same imagery and phrasing used over and over, one dimensional characters that only shallowly touch on what are real issues in their relationships, and story telling that doesn't go anywhere.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

needs editing

This is a good story, but there are whole pages repeated. Sometimes the sentence is different but whole paragraphs are repeated. It’s also difficult to tell present from past without some denotation when the chapter shifts.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Generated by AI.

[Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNFd. There’s no way in hell this wasn’t written by ai. Repetitive, even borderline redundant. Why the hell do you need to use the EXACT same phrase FOUR TIMES in the same PAGE? Stop.