The Phoenix Keeper

Quit at 6%.

It lost a star because the main character was insecure and kept being annoying about it through the first half of the book. Also I guessed the 2 main plot twists really early on. Nevertheless, I enjoyed so much this excursion into this fantastical zoo with it's multitude of interesting magical creatures and I kept picturing every scene that was set at the zoo in my head. Sidenote: this would make an amazing movie(maybe what should have been Fantastic Beasts...).
For the story, it would have been a 3 stars for me, but it gained a star because the setting and the creatures were so well thought out and put me in such a awe.

The book is nice as a relatively quick cozy read, but it does have some issues that stopped me from really loving it.

The worldbuilding was fine, pretty basic, but it worked well for the story. I liked all the magical creatures, they all had their own personalities and were quite cute. I also liked the side characters, Tanya is such a good (very forgiving) friend and I'm glad she had her partner who seemed very supportive of her (especially since Aila sometimes seemed to forget Tanya had her own stuff going on) and Luciana was great, I'd love to know those two irl. I also really like how supportive Aila's parents were, I kinda wish they were featured a bit more. I would have loved to see a scene where they meet Luciana, both before and after they know about her crush.

My main issue is with the main character. I didn't like how she treated other people. In the beginning I could deal with it, expecting some character development, but after a while, with little to no improvement, it started to really grate on me. I don't think her social anxiety was always an excuse for how she interacted with other people, for example she was quite rude to the unicorn keeper, purely because of some superiority feeling over thinking unicorns are boring. And while I don't think it was an unrealistic portrayal of what social anxiety can look like, it did not make for a relaxing read (I have social anxiety myself, I don't like being in my own head when it's bad, so I don't find reading about social anxiety this bad, without improvement, particularly cozy). I think it would have worked better for me if Aila's improvement started a bit earlier in the book.

I would have like seeing Aila work on herself more (the therapist was shown once, with useful tricks even, and never again) and have some revelations a bit earlier in the book, so we could spend more time on her working through them and her repairing the relationships she'd unknowingly kind of neglected. Including how she saw the zoo guests. While I completely understand the hatred towards the general public in a job like that, some small positive interactions earlier on would have been nice. Maybe a guest asks a really interesting question and actually listens to her explanation, or maybe she sees some people gently interacting with one of the animals that shows they must care about them and she realizes not all people are bad (although the bad interactions were also funny, like that dumb couple with the engagement ring, I'm just saying have both!). Since the crowds were such a big part of her anxiety and one she works on in the story, it would have been nice to see some more of that.

Since it was kinda obvious how everything was going to play out, it was a bit frustrating at some point that they kept Conner around so much even after he was clearly a dick (and a poacher...), instead of clearing the air with Luciana (I get why Aila felt the way she did about Luciana, but it was clearly a misunderstanding, especially since Tanya didn't even seem to mind her even though she's so supportive of Aila). I get that she was anxious to break up with him, but it got a bit frustrating when she went of a bunch more lunchdates even after she basically ghosted him and was ready to ditch him for what seemed like months? (time passing wasn't always clear). I'd rather have seen some more interactions with Luciana, some slow bonding and flirting, and see her make more friends.

The Phoenix Keeper by S.A MacLean

Who doesn't love a magical menagerie!! Alia works for the zoo that houses magical creatures her department houses a phoenix, a beautiful firebird and when another zoo has a theft taking the female and her babies, the male has to go somewhere but can Alia make her department worthy of a breeding program while keeping the birds safe?

It was really cute. Alia is a solitary person with one close friend and often sets people on edge with her ways but she really comes into herself when she sets her mind to becoming more than she ever dreamed she could be.

I loved all the beautiful descriptions of the magical animals. It was a really great listen! The narrator was great and the storyline was wonderful.

4 stars

This ended up being exactly what I wanted and needed this story to be! As someone with zoo experience and current studies focused on the illegal wildlife trade, I can say this is such an accurate portrayal of all things zoo, conservation, and wildlife related. It's cozy yet has a good plot with tons of emotion and great character moments. A keeper struggling to conquer the public speaking demon is so real too. No one gets into such a low-paying job because they love talking to people - it's definitely the animals!

I had no clue I wanted to read a zookeeper romance, but it was exactly what I wanted. There is so much information about the animals, plus their personalities. It is easy to fall in love with the animals, but especially the birds. Aila has so much social anxiety to overcome, but in the process she finds people she can count on as well as those that challenge her. I was pretty sure of the bad guy early on and it made sense that Aila didn't see it coming. I loved the way she was able to use her skills to keep all the animals safe. Overall it was wonderful to spend time at this special zoo.

Thank you NetGalley & Orbit for the advanced listener copy.

I liked this book a lot but there were some things that I found frustrating mostly having to do with Aila's love life, I wish less time had been spent on that overall. The best parts for me were all of the mundane things about working with animals and all the worldbuilding about how the magical creatures affect everyday life. I want to live in this world!

Aila is a main character that could easily frustrate readers, she has a lot of times where her anxiety overwhelms her and she'll start catastrophizing. and she also doesn't seem that great at a lot of aspects of her job, she is book smart but not real world smart. She takes things too personally and holds grudges easily. But all of these things were done in a way that felt very real and believable to me. She felt human and I loved seeing her passion for the phoenixes. I had a lot of fun following her work within the zoo and watching her try to work on her people skills.

I also really loved the relationship between Aila and her best friend, Tanya was always willing to call Aila out on her bullshit. The romance was the weakest part of the book for me because we don't spend nearly enough time with the love interest but exploring Tanya & Aila's friendship made up for that. Honestly, I feel like Connor (another zoo keeper that Aila has a crush on) could've been cut from the story completely and that would give more time to spend with the animals and with Luciana & Tanya.

The best part of this book by far is the animals, I love love loved all of the animals.