In The Courting of Bristol Keats, we meet the titular Bristol, as she works to repair her and her sisters' lives in the small town of Bowskeep after their mother disappeared and their father suddenly died after being hit by a car. Bristol has been receiving letters from someone claiming to be her aunt, although neither of her parents had siblings, and curiosity and poverty get the better of her once the most recent letter promises a rare painting in return for her presence. As you might imagine, the meeting with Bristol's aunt is not as simple as it seemed and she finds herself making a bargain with the Fae to try and help save their world and maybe even find her father. 

I had a good time throughout this book, although the beats of the story will feel pretty familiar to anyone who has been in the fantasy/romance genre for even a little while. I did find myself rather overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters throughout the book. I listened to this as an audiobook and wished I'd had a cast of characters to be able to keep everyone straight. 

We have a host of recruits, who are all folks from the mortal realm who have been recruited into Danu, the area of Elfame where Bristol finds herself. These include Avery, Julia, Hollis, Sashka, and Rose. We have Tyghun, the current king of Danu and eventual love interest of Bristol, and his band of knights including his sister Melisand, her girlfriend and merperson Costa, Cully, Glynniss, Quin and others I know I haven't forgotten. We have the Tyghun's advisors including Eris and Madame Chastain. Tyghun's brother, Cale, has been taken by Cormik, our big bad of the story and leader of an undead army. Additionally, we have the council of Danu including Sorba, a lord who keeps wanting to kill of Bristol, Lady Berrington, Lord Alistair, and Sloan. Not to mention some others that pop up here and there like Fritz, a mysterious ferret shape shifter, King Roderick of one of the other Fae lands, Georgina, his daughter who also happens to be the mayor of Bowskeep, and Lord Fentley, who is Julia's brief love interest. 

The sprawling cast of characters made it tough to understand where the story was going and felt like there were several loose ends that got abandoned throughout - like what's going on with the Council these days? Where are the other kings that weren't Roderick? 

The audiobook narrator does a fantastic job though with a giant cast of characters being able to give a unique voice to each one and I really appreciated her stewardship throughout the book. 

I'll likely check out the next one in this series - unlike some of the other folks, I was actually pleased with how it ended and thought it was a nice change of pace from some of the other books out there that leave you with massive cliffhangers. 

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of the book.