Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Sight Unseen by Alexis Marie Narrator: Soneela Nankani, Anand Nagraj
Published by Brilliance Audio on March 1, 2026
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 15 hours, 26 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
A devastating curse. A trail of enchanted spider lilies. A love that could cost them everything. ⏳❤️🔥
Veda Thorne is living on borrowed time. After exhausting every magical cure for the fatal curse trapped inside her, she's accepted her fate. But Veda's self-imposed isolation begins to crack when she's asked to tutor Antaris, a child whose pain calls to her own.
Hiram Ellis left his wealthy, prejudiced family years ago. Now unexpectedly thrust into single fatherhood, he returns to his hometown, determined to build a life far from the cold privilege that stifled his own childhood. The last thing he expects is to be drawn to the fiercely protective, sharp-tongued woman helping his son.
When a trail of enchanted spider lilies leads Hiram and Veda to discover their deadly tie to a prolific serial killer, they're forced to set aside their differences to unearth long-buried secrets. But the truth is as deadly as Veda's curse, and both come at a devastating cost. As victims mount and motives emerge, their greatest challenge is choosing to trust and love each other.
Cursed and living on borrowed time, Veda lived a quiet life, teaching at a school for seer children. She has isolated herself from most people to diminish the impact of her death and for the most part had come to terms with it. That is until a little boy who lost his mother and the father who is trying to put him back together, come into her life.
Sight Unseen is a standalone magical mystery with a slow burn romance that explores loss, grief, found family and hope. The story unfolds with alternating PoVs between Veda and Hiram Ellis, a man from a wealthy family known for their prejudices against Seers. While not an enemies to lovers story per say, Veda and Hiram do not get along in the beginning as Veda has some very critical preconceived notions of Hiram based off his family. However, actions speak louder than words and as Veda sees the man Hiram truly is through his actions as they work together against the serial killer she is tied to through her curse, she comes to lose some of the sharp edge she shows to him.
The slow romance is why many will pick up this book. For me Hiram’s son, Antaris, a child who lost his mother in a brutal murder by a serial killer is the reason to read the book. Hiram didn’t know he had a child until after his former partner Grace was killed. He didn’t hesitate, he raced to get everything settled to take over custody of his son and now he is doing the best he can with an eight year old child who has not talked since the death of his mother. The journey with both Hiram and Veda to help the mute child suffering from grief, loss, nightmares and so much more was really the heart of this story. I loved how Antaris was able to help bring Hiram and Veda together in a common cause and how much both cared for the child.
The serial killer mystery is good and a little heart breaking as members of the Seer community and a select few in the Mage community are put in the crosshairs of this magical killer. While I did guess a few things that seemed glaringly obvious the motivations of the killer and the ties between her victims I didn’t guess until it was laid out. The tension built really well as the details were drawn out and the danger to Veda both from the serial killer and her curse increased.
There are some explorations of prejudices against the Seer community from the fallout of an event termed The Vanishing, where Mages just vanished one day. Now the Seers need to submit to registration and tracking to any magic they perform. Not my favorite part of the story but probably a necessary feature for the world building.
Overall, I found the story entertaining and engaging. I liked the characters, the community and the layout. I loved the slow relationship build between Hiram and Veda that solidified into something really wonderful. I also believe the author did a good job at the wrap up to the story. She tied up the threads I cared about and made sure the reader knew the direction these characters were going to take in the future.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★
Sound Effects: None
I appreciate using multiple narrators for the Dual PoV of the story. Soneela Nankini is a narrator with a prolific catalog of audios under her belt. She has a smooth and pleasant voice that performed the story well. I was able to tell the characters apart and she brought tenderness, vulnerability and emotion to Veda’s character. Anand Nagraj is new to me and it looks like new to narrating audiobooks. This appears to be his first title and while I did like his voice selection for Hiram, there were a few times when narrating conversations where I couldn’t tell who was talking as the character separation was a little off. That said, it wasn’t so distracting that I lost the plot of the story. I listened to the audio at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Soneela Nankani
Soneela Nankani is a classically trained Brooklyn-based actress. She has performed at many prestigious theaters and is an ensemble member of the award-winning Sojourn Theatre. In addition, Soneela has worked in film and television and has narrated over 60 audiobooks. Soneela holds an MFA in Acting from Columbia University.
Award-winning Audiobook Narrator with 250+ titles / Consultant in Arts + Social Justice / Ensemble Member. In June 2021, Soneela Nankani was inducted as a Golden Voice, AudioFile’s lifetime achievement honor for audiobook narrators.
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Very cool cover on this one! Not sure if it is my type of read, but sounds like you enjoyed it. Great review!
Yes…good read for me. That cover is pretty much the reason I picked it up. I’m a sucker for a pretty cover.
Mmmmmmmmmmm this sounds like it would be a good book club book. I’ll put it in on my tbr. I am curious.
O,o…yes I could see this being pretty fun as a book club read if you had people to discuss some of the social aspects and the family dynamics with.