Grayflame

by Justin Chasteen

In Grayflame, capital to the country of Pestal, Marilla Haste is the royal hook — a bounty hunter bound to King Raymond Haste. While born and raised at Castle Haustfall, it is not coincidence Marilla was groomed to be the royal hook. The King is her grandfather… partially.

Marilla is a bastard. In fact, Marilla is a bastard of a bastard, and has a daughter of her own out of wedlock. While she will never see the throne herself because of her long family history of breaking tradition, she is highly valued by her king.

As the royal hook, assigned jobs relating directly to crimes against the crown…

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook

130 pages, ebook

Published July 7, 2020

About the author

Justin Chasteen's best-selling short story, 'The Old Man Next Door,’ published by Write Out Publishing, tells the story of every parent’s greatest fear and how often we find support in unseen places.

Along with ‘The Old Man Next Door,’ Justin has many more published short stories, such as ‘The Shattered Galaxy,’ (The River & South Review), 'The Huntress of Bur,' via the Dead of Winter Anthology (Mighty Quill), and ‘A Woman Named Life,' (Silver Blade Magazine).

More recently, the Ohio-based author published two novellas, ‘House Cintius’ and ‘Grayflame,’ via online and audiobook (Bryant Street/Scribd).

Justin is currently working on a fantasy novel.

Reviews

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars for Grayflame: An Epic Romance (audiobook) by Justin Chasteen read by Artemis Jones. Bryant Street Shorts.
This was a great story. It’s a nice change listing to a short fantasy. I was able to keep track of everything that was going on. I’m looking forward to listening more stories by Justin Chasteen.

[Booklass Garrahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This turned out to be a really interesting, short, fairytale like story. I heard the audio of it, with Artemis Jones as the reader, and she was great. The story itself had much more depth thanI was afraid it would, and it has a great heroine. She is able to bring in a bounty AND sew a dress for her daughter, so no one dimensional stereotypes here. I really liked this.

[a · Rating 3 out of 5]

A refreshing and entertaining short story. I loved Marilla (hate the name) and her sweet daughter. I really enjoyed following along with her as she pursues the thief with her band of men. Finn felt rather one-note and he had a sudden change of character at the end that felt like it came from left field. I loved Gor and Marilla’s relationship. It felt real and I was heartbroken as they discovered their love for one another only to realize they can’t be together. The world building was flimsy to non-existent and the magic system was nothing to speak of, but the real stand out part of the story were the characters. All of whom, no matter how small, felt realistic and real.

Justin nailed the voice of a female protagonist. I was so surprised when I realized this was written by a man. She felt like a single mother I might meet on the street one day, barring all the fantastical elements of course. The romance felt natural and nuanced and the sex scenes were well done as well.

I listened to the audiobook and Artemis Jones did a phenomenal job narrating. Her performance was nuanced and engaging. I never wanted to hit the pause button. I’ll be looking into other books she had narrated.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. My first short story. Only 130 pages but I enjoyed the plot and the characters. A little bit smutty too which we love.

[Anthea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Not a bad little read at all. The story was nice, the characters were endearing and I’m always a mug for a kick arse female lead. The ending was great too. Nice happy story.

[Daryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it! I'm just sad it was so short, I didn't want to leave these characters when it was over. I tend to prefer female authors smut over men who write it. The same goes for female characters, I don't generally care for FMCs written by men. That being said, I felt like Marilla was written so well. She was strong and vulnerable when necessary, she felt real. Often, FMCs are written one way and they are always that one thing, no growth, no depth. Despite this being short. I thought Marilla was a great character. And the smut was written very well. A solid, albeit too short read.

[Night Runner · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars for me!

This is definitely a fun story with a lot of heat and a strong h. The romance is definitely told from a man's perspective. This could potentially be a series.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, fun, easy, unmemorable.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

“People can better themselves and they can worsen.”

Great little read. It was one of those feel good stories.