Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: The Foxling Soldati
SERIES: Soldati Hearts, Book 2
AUTHOR: Charlie Cochet
NARRATOR: Gary Furlong
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 3 hours and 47 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2023
BLURB:
Foxling Toka has served the Soldati king for centuries, and now he attends to the kingdom’s cherished Soldati prince. It’s a position of honor, and as Toka helps the once-human prince adapt to their magical realm, he finds joy in their friendship. He also grows bolder in his encounters with Rayner, Soldati warrior and the king’s second. But the laws are clear: servants and Soldati are not permitted to mate. It doesn’t matter that Toka lost his heart to the dashing cad long ago.
Rayner never imagined he would fall in love with a servant, but the clever and beautiful foxling has ensnared him, and he resents the regulations keeping them apart. When an arrogant and spiteful king visits from a neighboring realm, Rayner is in danger of losing everything. But Soldati warriors don’t surrender, and he intends to fight all the harder to keep Toka where he belongs—in Rayner’s arms.
REVIEW:
The Foxling Soldati continues Charlie Cochet’s Soldati Hearts series with a class-difference romance between Rayner, the king’s childhood BFF and now trusted second in command, and Toka, a foxling servant to the king. Rayner and Toka are in love, but they know nothing can ever come off it despite their feelings because a Soldati warrior can never mate with a servant. Running in the background of this series is a “love is love” subtext – the heart wants what it wants and one should be allowed to be with – mate with – their other half, regardless of whether they are royalty, military, Soldati, human (like the king’s mate Riley) or a servant like Toka.
Cochet’s humor and wit shows through most with Riley, who displays shades of Dex from the THIRDS series. But there’s not a whole lot about this story that’s funny, to be honest. The societal construct is frustratingly unfair, and the plot that develops around a vicious, megalomaniacal king of a neighboring realm is dark, violent and disturbing. Granted, Cochet blurs the edges and blunts the impact of the heinous events that occur, and that helps keep us removed from the events playing out on the page. This may be a mature fantasy romance with a YA-like sheen, but it’s disturbing enough that the lack of trigger warnings is notable and surprising.
Cochet’s strength lies in her characters. Some are easy to love, like Riley. Others are endearing yet also flawed, like Khalon, who I find I want to embrace and smack upside the head in equal measure. Cochet develops a nice found family dynamic between this group of childhood friends, now serving as king and his court, and their mates. Although the world-building in this book is better than the first, I didn’t love the storyline, the one-dimensionality of the evil Orso King, or the lack of depth in the plot that develops around him.
Gary Furlong’s narration goes a long way towards filling in the texture, depth, and emotional content of The Foxling Soldati that is lacking on text alone. He is such a good storyteller that I was pulled right in, listened straight through, and despite my criticisms of the story itself, found the listening experience to be very enjoyable.
RATING: 
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