Review: Asiri and the Amaru by Natalia Hernandez
From the publisher:
Asiri has a gift - she has the ability to speak to animals. However, when she begins to feel that her talents are being abused in her home, she escapes to a delightful coastal village where she plans to hide her gift and finally live a "normal" life.
This proves difficult as her path keeps crossing with Dario, the village's charming and handsome animal healer - and the person most likely to guess her secret.
Through a twist of fate, Asiri and Dario stumble across an injured Amaru, a creature who had, up until then, been thought only to be myth.
Now, Asiri has a mission.
Convince Dario to help the creature. Protect it from the superstitious town people. Keep her gift a secret.
And absolutely, most definitely, NOT fall in love while doing so.
Review:
Thank you so much to Natalia for including the ARC of this adorable story in her newsletter!
Asiri has the ability to talk to animals and travel between the spirit realms. When the story opens, she's using her power to learn that an earthquake is coming and wants to alert the nearby villages, but her father, the shaman, has other ideas. Sick of being used, she leaves her home and travels to a faraway oceanside village where she tries to hide her abilities until she meets the handsome and charming (and neurodivergent) veterinarian, Dario. She has to decide whether or not she can fight her feelings towards him or trust him with her secret.
The story was fairly short, absolutely adorable and very much cozy. We didn't really learn that much about the supporting cast of characters, but I have a feeling we'll get more about them as the series continues. I was also surprised by the spice as I was not expecting it and it was very well done in the fact that it felt natural to the storyline and the characters didn't forget everything important in order to stay in bed for half the book.
If you're looking for a cozy, spicy, short read with a murderous guinea pig, this is definitely one to pick up!
4/5 stars
The book does have footnotes, which are invaluable for the explanations and translations they give, but can be annoying on an e-reader.