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Cold as Iron #1
This Broken Memory
He isn't who he says he is, but more importantly, she isn't who she thought she was.
Evelyn has spent two years hunted by the fae and her only hope to escape the Unseelie Court is to enter into a dangerous bargain with rival fae queens. In order to regain her lost memories and finally earn her freedom, she must ally with Gideon, a mysterious stranger, to find and deliver a missing Seelie warrior.
When they stoke the rage of the Unseelie Queen, she begins a countdown to their demise and their attempts to undermine her lead them to a sacrificial town and a shocking truth.
For fans of Sarah J. Maas, From Blood and Ash (Armentrout), and The Cruel Prince (Black). This Broken Memory features enemies to lovers, lovers to enemies, fated mates, forced proximity, and the quintessential only one bed trope.
Evelyn has spent two years hunted by the fae and her only hope to escape the Unseelie Court is to enter into a dangerous bargain with rival fae queens. In order to regain her lost memories and finally earn her freedom, she must ally with Gideon, a mysterious stranger, to find and deliver a missing Seelie warrior.
When they stoke the rage of the Unseelie Queen, she begins a countdown to their demise and their attempts to undermine her lead them to a sacrificial town and a shocking truth.
For fans of Sarah J. Maas, From Blood and Ash (Armentrout), and The Cruel Prince (Black). This Broken Memory features enemies to lovers, lovers to enemies, fated mates, forced proximity, and the quintessential only one bed trope.
- GenresFantasy
412 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 2022
23 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 26, 2022
Creative, mysterious and magical, with enough spice to keep you wanting more. Evelyn is a great protagonist, and she’s definitely not perfect. Can’t wait to see where this story goes next (and see more Emrys 👀) 5/5
March 26, 2024
This Broken Memory is my first foray into Faerie content, and it was a great introduction!
Evelyn is a fun character to follow, who goes through a lot of changes throughout this first book of three. There are many layers to her, as well as Gideon, who shares the spotlight as one of the main characters.
I was surprised with this book, I hadn't expected it to be more urban fantasy than hard fantasy, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much the Canadian landscape was woven into the writing. It's always pleasant to read about places I'm familiar with!
I'm excited to move forward with the series, especially with the introduction of a new character right near the end who totally captured my interest.
Evelyn is a fun character to follow, who goes through a lot of changes throughout this first book of three. There are many layers to her, as well as Gideon, who shares the spotlight as one of the main characters.
I was surprised with this book, I hadn't expected it to be more urban fantasy than hard fantasy, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much the Canadian landscape was woven into the writing. It's always pleasant to read about places I'm familiar with!
I'm excited to move forward with the series, especially with the introduction of a new character right near the end who totally captured my interest.
August 16, 2023
Disclaimer: the author is a good friend of mine, but my review remains genuine.
I immediately knew I would love This Broken Memory because it combines two of my favourite things: fantasy and the northern Canadian wilderness. I grew up reading faerie stories set in the UK, so it was super cool to read a story that transplants those eerie, beautiful, mystical creatures into a setting I know and love (and definitely with a more grown-up spin! Mature content warning!)
Our tough-as-nails heroine Evelyn begins the book trapped in the wintery Yukon with no recollection of her past. The story gets wonderfully twisty and turny from there, with plot twists I never saw coming, and it kept me gasping right up until the last chapter – and crying and texting the author to vent my feelings :’)
I also totally ship Evelyn with Gideon, but there are more books to come, so I’m keeping an open mind about her other love interests!
I immediately knew I would love This Broken Memory because it combines two of my favourite things: fantasy and the northern Canadian wilderness. I grew up reading faerie stories set in the UK, so it was super cool to read a story that transplants those eerie, beautiful, mystical creatures into a setting I know and love (and definitely with a more grown-up spin! Mature content warning!)
Our tough-as-nails heroine Evelyn begins the book trapped in the wintery Yukon with no recollection of her past. The story gets wonderfully twisty and turny from there, with plot twists I never saw coming, and it kept me gasping right up until the last chapter – and crying and texting the author to vent my feelings :’)
I also totally ship Evelyn with Gideon, but there are more books to come, so I’m keeping an open mind about her other love interests!
July 31, 2023
Finished this in one setting!
I had to read this and start the second right away. I stayed up all night and fell asleep reading, haha. There's so many twists and turns. I haven't been surprised in a long time while reading a book. I read a lot and fast. Totally unpredictable in the best of ways! Read this!! Get the second book too!!
I had to read this and start the second right away. I stayed up all night and fell asleep reading, haha. There's so many twists and turns. I haven't been surprised in a long time while reading a book. I read a lot and fast. Totally unpredictable in the best of ways! Read this!! Get the second book too!!
June 2, 2023
Plot twists galore, and I love it. Only reason I gave it 4 starts was at times it seemed a bit too descriptive and that made it a little hard to get into. I will definitely be getting book 2 to see how this story continues.
June 12, 2023
3.5 -⭐⭐⭐💫
"There's a reason why no one gets out of here.
It's that they can't"
This Broken Memory is the debut novel for a NA Fantasy Romance series, called Cold as Iron, that follows Evelyn.
Evelyn has spent the last two years surviving in the baron lands of Northern Canada, trapped after a plane crash without any way of escape...or any memories of how she ended up there. What is even worse is that lurking in the shadows of the trees are monsters...faeries bent on blood and death. When Evelyn begins find bodies of these beings left out in the open her concern that something big is looming arises and to make matters more interested a stranger shows up after years of isolation; a man with knowledge of what is going on and who may be able to help her complete a bargain she makes with the nefarious Unseelie Queens...a bargain to regain her memories; memories that may be her freedom or her prison.
Evelyn is a truly unique and intriguing character that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Watching her start this journey as a resilient, albeit a little lost, to growing into a stronger assured character was fascinating. I felt she had a fierceness to her that was easy to get into and she could sure kick butt and adapt so well. Gideon, her stranger, started out a littler weaker as a this info dumping character but as the story progressed we started getting more nuance to him and I started to really like him. He challenged Evelyn when she needed it...but his secret keeping did create more problems then necessary XD
There are additional characters that I found really interesting that started showing up towards the second half that I felt really helped open up with world like Wisteria, Emyrs, and Callahan. The Unseelie Queen was absolutely cruel and I felt it helped upped the tension.
In terms of spice, this book does contain I would say about 1.5 spicy peppers out of 5 spicy peppers. It is a slow burn with tension building up and quite a few scenes that get so close and then SURPRISE. I will say the romance did take some time to grow on me - once the pace of the plot picks up I felt Gideon and Evelyn started to have better chemistry (the banter!) and I ended up liking them a lot...but EVELYN YOU NEED TO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER ASAP. All the love. Jill.
"I wish I could tell you who I am, not just because i would give me something to tell you, but I want you to know me. No one has every known me, and I wasn't sure I wanted anyone to. Until you..."
For the world building I got a pretty decent introduction that leaves me understanding the story but still with questions as we go forward. There was a bit of info dumping at the onset; as the characters begin their journey we got to see more world and I felt this helped balance things out.
The story itself is filled with twists and turns. I appreciated that tension was placed on characters truly struggling. I found the pacing initially slow but it definitely ramped up. There was also a small point after a particular twist where I felt things were disjointed but it resolved quite quickly once I was able to read further into other characters and their reacting (YES! Call Evelyn out of her bullcrap XD). Overall, I felt this was an easy book to devour. I read this in a single sitting and I enjoyed it. It's lighter on romance but it has so much promise there and the larger looming plot does offer a lot for the future.
I would say if you love fantasy adventures with fierce characters, secrets, bargains, and side romance that tempts you this is a book to check out. I am definitely eager to pick up book 2 when it releases!
Thank you to the author for sending this copy for review!
"There's a reason why no one gets out of here.
It's that they can't"
This Broken Memory is the debut novel for a NA Fantasy Romance series, called Cold as Iron, that follows Evelyn.
Evelyn has spent the last two years surviving in the baron lands of Northern Canada, trapped after a plane crash without any way of escape...or any memories of how she ended up there. What is even worse is that lurking in the shadows of the trees are monsters...faeries bent on blood and death. When Evelyn begins find bodies of these beings left out in the open her concern that something big is looming arises and to make matters more interested a stranger shows up after years of isolation; a man with knowledge of what is going on and who may be able to help her complete a bargain she makes with the nefarious Unseelie Queens...a bargain to regain her memories; memories that may be her freedom or her prison.
Evelyn is a truly unique and intriguing character that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Watching her start this journey as a resilient, albeit a little lost, to growing into a stronger assured character was fascinating. I felt she had a fierceness to her that was easy to get into and she could sure kick butt and adapt so well. Gideon, her stranger, started out a littler weaker as a this info dumping character but as the story progressed we started getting more nuance to him and I started to really like him. He challenged Evelyn when she needed it...but his secret keeping did create more problems then necessary XD
There are additional characters that I found really interesting that started showing up towards the second half that I felt really helped open up with world like Wisteria, Emyrs, and Callahan. The Unseelie Queen was absolutely cruel and I felt it helped upped the tension.
In terms of spice, this book does contain I would say about 1.5 spicy peppers out of 5 spicy peppers. It is a slow burn with tension building up and quite a few scenes that get so close and then SURPRISE. I will say the romance did take some time to grow on me - once the pace of the plot picks up I felt Gideon and Evelyn started to have better chemistry (the banter!) and I ended up liking them a lot...but EVELYN YOU NEED TO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER ASAP. All the love. Jill.
"I wish I could tell you who I am, not just because i would give me something to tell you, but I want you to know me. No one has every known me, and I wasn't sure I wanted anyone to. Until you..."
For the world building I got a pretty decent introduction that leaves me understanding the story but still with questions as we go forward. There was a bit of info dumping at the onset; as the characters begin their journey we got to see more world and I felt this helped balance things out.
The story itself is filled with twists and turns. I appreciated that tension was placed on characters truly struggling. I found the pacing initially slow but it definitely ramped up. There was also a small point after a particular twist where I felt things were disjointed but it resolved quite quickly once I was able to read further into other characters and their reacting (YES! Call Evelyn out of her bullcrap XD). Overall, I felt this was an easy book to devour. I read this in a single sitting and I enjoyed it. It's lighter on romance but it has so much promise there and the larger looming plot does offer a lot for the future.
I would say if you love fantasy adventures with fierce characters, secrets, bargains, and side romance that tempts you this is a book to check out. I am definitely eager to pick up book 2 when it releases!
Thank you to the author for sending this copy for review!
August 2, 2023
This book didn't just bewitch me. It consumed me! Holy fuck!
The descriptions! The mysteries! The action! The twists!!! THE UNSEELIE FAE QUEEN!!!!!! I have never loved and feared a villain more!
(Also, there is some spice in here as well.)
I seriously would pay so much money to see this as a movie or a show. (A show would do it more justice in my opinion.) But there is specifically one scene involving the Unseelie Queen that I NEED to see on screen somewhere. She is terrifying and mesmerizing and I am in awe!
This book is everything I wanted and didn't get from ACOTAR.
There was one moment when I was reading this book while I was at work and this book had me in such awe and shock and devastation that I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to message Kayla (THE AUTHOR) to freak out because I had no one else to freak out with. Then I promptly texted a friend and demanded that she read it ASAP because I needed someone to freak out about it with. (She then read it in 1 day and then proceeded to read book 2 immediately after it and read it just as obsessively quick.)
Before I even finished this book, I had the 2nd in my cart and hit purchase, and now that I've finished it, I need to read it as soon as possible. I also have people at work requesting to borrow this book to read it.
The descriptions! The mysteries! The action! The twists!!! THE UNSEELIE FAE QUEEN!!!!!! I have never loved and feared a villain more!
(Also, there is some spice in here as well.)
I seriously would pay so much money to see this as a movie or a show. (A show would do it more justice in my opinion.) But there is specifically one scene involving the Unseelie Queen that I NEED to see on screen somewhere. She is terrifying and mesmerizing and I am in awe!
This book is everything I wanted and didn't get from ACOTAR.
There was one moment when I was reading this book while I was at work and this book had me in such awe and shock and devastation that I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to message Kayla (THE AUTHOR) to freak out because I had no one else to freak out with. Then I promptly texted a friend and demanded that she read it ASAP because I needed someone to freak out about it with. (She then read it in 1 day and then proceeded to read book 2 immediately after it and read it just as obsessively quick.)
Before I even finished this book, I had the 2nd in my cart and hit purchase, and now that I've finished it, I need to read it as soon as possible. I also have people at work requesting to borrow this book to read it.
March 22, 2024
This broken Memory - Kayla McGrath
4.5/5 stars
🌶️🌶️🌶️
I won’t lie I devoured this book, it kept me so interested and entertained at all points of the book. There wasn’t a single moment where I wasn’t thinking about what could happen next. I got to page 268 & immediately ordered the next 2 in the series. I fell in love with the characters and in love with the story. The spice was written beautifully and you truly feel like you are in this world when reading!
If you are a fan of Acotar you need to Read the cold as iron trilogy 🥰
4.5/5 stars
🌶️🌶️🌶️
I won’t lie I devoured this book, it kept me so interested and entertained at all points of the book. There wasn’t a single moment where I wasn’t thinking about what could happen next. I got to page 268 & immediately ordered the next 2 in the series. I fell in love with the characters and in love with the story. The spice was written beautifully and you truly feel like you are in this world when reading!
If you are a fan of Acotar you need to Read the cold as iron trilogy 🥰
February 15, 2024
This book was full of twists and turns and I loved it! I really enjoyed this whole book, but towards the end, the world and characters expanded a lot and I'm really excited to explore it even more in the next book!
February 17, 2024
The way the world is build and all the turns of events are really interesting.
Now my mind and my heart are in 2 different directions and I have no idea how to react to the ending of this book. I think I will finish the second book in one sitting
Now my mind and my heart are in 2 different directions and I have no idea how to react to the ending of this book. I think I will finish the second book in one sitting
July 22, 2023
So good anyone who is interested in the fae it's a must read
January 3, 2024
Finished this in one day it was so good and then had to read the second!
Read
May 22, 2024DNF
might come back to it.
might come back to it.
April 24, 2023
Recommended by a coworker who knows the author, i wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much. Plot twist after plot twist, no one is really who you expect them to be or do what you expect them to do. I was pleasantly surprised to read something mature and assumed. No silly teen drama. I am looking forward to read the next one!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews