Author: Jessica S. Olson
Series: n/a
Series #: n/a
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: no

Myra Whitlock has a gift. One many would kill for.

She’s an artist whose portraits alter people’s real-life bodies, a talent she must hide from those who would kidnap, blackmail, and worse in order to control it. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone.

But one frigid night, the governor’s wife discovers the truth and threatens to expose Myra if she does not complete a special portrait that would resurrect the governor’s dead son. Desperate, Myra ventures to his legendary stone mansion.

Once she arrives, however, it becomes clear the boy’s death was no accident. Someone dangerous lurks within these glittering halls. Someone harboring a disturbing obsession with portrait magic.

Myra cannot do the painting until she knows what really happened, so she turns to the governor’s older son, a captivating redheaded poet. Together, they delve into the family’s most shadowed affairs, racing to uncover the truth before the secret Myra spent her life concealing makes her the killer’s next victim.

Review

When I guessed what Owlcrate’s March pick would be, I was excited. I was very much looking forward to this book. Let me preface this by saying I think the book was good, but it wasn’t blow me away good. This is a book that was a solid three stars; neither bad nor super good. If I’d read this before buying it, it wouldn’t have been a book I bought. Checked out from the library, for sure! So…where did this book go wrong? 

The inspiration for this book was clearly Dorian Gray. I mean magic portraits that fix people? But I did love the interpretation of that into magic for this book. What I would have liked more of is worldbuilding. My mind bounced between this being a real world with magic, or a fantasy world. I would have liked a better setting to set the tone and to understand the world a bit better. 

I liked Lucy and Myra’s relationship throughout the book, I thought it was one of the more powerful components of the book. I also felt August’s anxiety intensely, and when they were talking about Lucy’s chronic illness, I understood that too. So there was some excellent representation in this book. (I really kind of want to know what Lucy’s illness actually was – it sounds a lot like my Crohn’s Disease). 

What I didn’t love was the romance in this book. It felt underdeveloped to me compared to the sisterly and family relationships. I could have lived without it, as I didn’t feel that August and Myra had any chemistry whatsoever. And that weird love triangle? Messy! And definitely did not enjoy that part of the book. 

Maybe it’s because I’m an adult, I had pretty much figured out what was going on from the start. Which isn’t always a bad thing; however in this case there wasn’t enough depth to the other parts of the book to make me think that it was a great book. 

Finally, I found the writing clunky. It did not flow smoothly to me, and I felt that we were ricocheted around. The writing was stilted to me. Overall, I just felt that the writing didn’t work. 

This book was not a bad book, but it also isn’t one I’d be desperate to read again. This book will be enjoyed by people who are fond of gothic mysteries, as well as fantasy.  

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Author: Alice Oseman
Series: n/a
Series #: n/a
Genre: romance, LGBTQ+
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: no

This is the funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of Georgia, who doesn’t understand why she can’t crush and kiss and make out like her friends do. She’s surrounded by the narrative that dating + sex = love. It’s not until she gets to college that she discovers the A range of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum — coming to understand herself as asexual/aromantic. Disrupting the narrative that she’s been told since birth isn’t easy — there are many mistakes along the way to inviting people into a newly found articulation of an always-known part of your identity. But Georgia’s determined to get her life right, with the help of (and despite the major drama of) her friends. 

Review

First off, this is the first novel by Alice Oseman I’ve read. I’ve been reading her Heartstopper for years now. This book called to me because it had ace rep, and I’ve yet to find a book that does ace rep right. Or the learning about themselves right. Especially since so many of them are set in high school, and I didn’t find that relatable at all. This one did.

I’m ace – and I used to say biromantic. But after this book it has me questioning my own identity – am I actually aro too? 

Georgia was a relatable character for me. Like her, I was into the idea of romance/love/sex – but not necessarily featuring me. It was interesting that that was incorporated into the book because I felt that in my bones. I was like yes, this is me. Then the aspects of “friends” or family questioning if just because you haven’t experienced something yet, how do you know if you don’t want it? Georgia says she feels it, which I do too. For me, her realization that there was a sexuality beyond LGBT was important. I didn’t discover ace until college. It wasn’t even on my radar. But once I learned about it and researched it, like Georgia, I couldn’t believe it was true…that I could be this. Wasn’t there something wrong with me? I loved that Sunil was there to support Georgia; I loved that he helped her and wasn’t condescending. 

This book also brings up the important topic of denying ace and aro people space in queer spaces. Sunil’s passion about it was important to me. The thought of never belonging is terrifying. 

I also appreciated how Oseman worked in friendship. Because friendships are so important, and I loved that Georgia realized her friendships could be just as satisfying as romance. For anyone that should be important. 

I enjoyed Oseman’s relatable writing and the book flowed well for me. The chapters were short and self-contained which made the pace of the book go by quickly. 

I loved all the characters in this book. I wanted to cuddle them all and tell them I loved them. I wish more books depicted being ace like this. 

And as I mentioned in the beginning of the review, it’s made me rethink who I am now…and how variable being ace/aro is. 

Loveless was a wonderful book and I would absolutely recommend it to everyone. 

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Author: Lexi Ryan
Series: These Hollow Vows
Series #: 1
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: young adult/new adult
ARC?: yes

Brie hates the Fae and refuses to have anything to do with them, even if that means starving on the street. But when her sister is sold to the sadistic king of the Unseelie court to pay a debt, she’ll do whatever it takes to get her back—including making a deal with the king himself to steal three magical relics from the Seelie court.

Gaining unfettered access to the Seelie court is easier said than done. Brie’s only choice is to pose as a potential bride for Prince Ronan, and she soon finds herself falling for him. Unwilling to let her heart distract her, she accepts help from a band of Unseelie misfits with their own secret agenda. As Brie spends time with their mysterious leader, Finn, she struggles to resist his seductive charm.

Caught between two dangerous courts, Brie must decide who to trust with her loyalty. And with her heart.

Review

How does one rate this book? Honestly, I am struggling with it. This book was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Between the gorgeous cover and the description I thought it was going to be a shoo in for a top five book of the year. I should know better though – and I’m going to write this review a bit differently because I feel that I can’t divide it up into the sections I normally do. Instead I’m going to divide it up by beginning, middle and end for this review. And I had opinions on all three parts. To sum it up: each part had a different rating for me.

The beginning, or I should say, the part I had the issue with.

Yeah, so in short. The beginning. I feel like parts of the beginning were totally unnecessary to the story overall. I don’t mind a slow start, and it wasn’t even that slow. We find Brie in the middle of a heist. All well and good, but then something else happens and I feel the pace got thrown off. I know the beginning is setting up the rest of the book for what happens next, but I felt it should have been much more concise. Her sister, Jas, being stolen. I know Ryan was trying to set up the sister’s relationship and their friendship with Sebastian, but I felt those parts were drawn out. Honestly, the beginning was an unfortunate two stars for me. I almost gave up, but I decided to push through to the middle. I told myself if I didn’t like the middle then I would DNF and just be disappointed. Honestly, I have almost nothing to say about the beginning because it felt…irrelevant to the whole story. So, moving on to the middle part.

the middle part in which it does get better…sort of.

So, yes, it did get better in the middle. We find out who the two love interests are. And me, I always go for the bad boy. So Finn it is. Or…is it Bash? Honestly, I don’t know who the truly bad boy is here. Both? Neither? Well, we get the Seelie and Unseelie courts and how Brie must find three lost artifacts to free her sister from the clutches of the evil Unseelie king. Yep – find the three artifacts and overcome the challenge of learning her new magic. Like I said, my interest and the pace picked up in this part. In a way, parts of the plot were “eh” to me. Again, I felt bored at times. Like, Bash’s parts…I wasn’t interested! I found him boring. Which I know I’m not supposed to, but all I wanted to do were skip those parts.

Also the whole marriage thing…interesting. And the bond…interesting. I kept wondering where that was going.

Suffice to say, it held my interest enough that I wanted to continue the book and find out what happened. A solid three star middle. It redeemed itself!

part, the end of the book

Or, in other words, the last fifty pages is where it got really good. I’m a sucker for Finn. I’m Team Finn. Bash can jump off a cliff.

ANYWAYS, like the end was where I was like OH I see why it was said to be like The Cruel Prince. I get it, I get it. Those last pages were what made me LOVE the book. It was a stunning turn of events and had me with my mouth open. (I will admit, I had sort of guessed it, but still…the run up and reveal of secrets was great).

Thus, the last part got four or five stars. I can’t math, so I just said I’m giving it four stars. Close to 3.5, but four because the ending knocked it out of the park.

In case you were wondering as well, I didn’t realize it was a fairytale retelling, but it had moments of what I felt like were a combination of Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast woven in.

All in all, I am excited for the sequel.

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Author: Roshani Chokshi
Series: The Gilded Wolves
Series #: 3
Genre: historical, fantasy
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: no

In love they breathed. In destiny they believed. In the end, will divinity be their demise?

After Séverin’s seeming betrayal, the crew is fractured. Armed with only a handful of hints, Enrique, Laila, Hypnos and Zofia must find their way through the snarled, haunted waterways of Venice, Italy to locate Séverin.

Meanwhile, Séverin must balance the deranged whims of the Patriarch of the Fallen House and discover the location of a temple beneath a plague island where the Divine Lyre can be played and all that he desires will come to pass.

With only ten days until Laila expires, the crew will face plague pits and deadly masquerades, unearthly songs and the shining steps of a temple whose powers might offer divinity itself… but at a price they may not be willing to pay.

Review

No one is more devastated than me – because I gave the first two books five stars. I LOVED this series. I’m a little upset that I am only giving this book 3.5 stars. If you want to know why, please read on! 

I want to cover what I enjoyed about the book first. Because there were aspects of the book that were enjoyable. Chokshi is a talented writer. I’ve loved everything that she has written, and the writing in this is no exception. I thought it was fabulous. Chokshi has a way with words and they melt into your brain as you are reading. 

Another aspect I liked is that this is historical fantasy, and I found it well done. Much like the first two books there were lots of puzzles and action in this book. 

The characters are another facet that Chokshi is a master at. She is able to craft characters that are so wonderful and feel as if they can step off the page. I did enjoy the overall character arcs in this book for the most part. 

The major thing that brought this book down was I felt that this was just a repeat of events in a slightly different way from the first two books. It felt rather repetitive. And while I do think the characters had depth, I didn’t feel that they were as well done as in the previous books. I also would have liked more from Hypnos character. He was a side character, but he also was a main character? Honestly, that was a little confusing. 

To be honest I was going, plot, what plot? Throughout this entire book. I felt that this book drifted around a lot, with no true purpose. It didn’t feel as if it was for character development either. I’m not sure what happened here, but it was not nearly as good as the first book was. The pacing was awkward for me too, and I felt that I was bored – and I was SO SAD because I wasn’t bored in the previous two books. I’m really not sure what happened with this book. It just didn’t work as well. 

I did however, love the ending. I was pretty happy with it. I knew it was going to be bittersweet, and it was in multiple ways. But I loved where all the characters ended up, especially my faves, Zofia, Enrique and Hypnos. 

Overall, the book was good, it just wasn’t as good as the first two books. I am excited to read whatever Chokshi writes next!

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Author: Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber
Series: Twin Crowns
Series #: 1
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: YA
ARC?: Yes

A high-stakes fantasy rom-com about twin princesses separated at birth—one raised as the crown princess, and the other taken as an infant and raised to kidnap her sister, steal the crown, and avenge the parents’ murders.

Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents’ murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn’t quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn’t have a habit of causing trouble…

Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely impertinent (and handsome) kidnapper get in the way of her royal duty. But life outside the palace walls is wilder and more beautiful than she ever imagined, and the witches she has long feared might turn out to be the family she never knew she was missing.

Two sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other’s lives a whole lot better. But as coronation day looms closer and they each strive to claim their birthright, the sinister Kingsbreath, Willem Rathborne, becomes increasingly determined that neither will succeed. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?

Review

What can I say but WOW? Because this book was *chef’s kiss* amazing. At first I was a bit nervous on how this plot was going to go, but I LOVED it. I loved every inch of this book. And THAT ENDING. I need book two in my hands ASAP. I’m not going to survive until I know what happens next. 

This book is full of action, suspense and drama. The POV alternates between Wren and Rose, two sisters who are separated at birth. I have several characters in this book I really loved. Actually, most of them I liked. (Except the villains. I don’t like them.) 

One thing that this book did well was it had layered plots. Sometimes the different plots can make a book difficult or hard to read; but in this case, the book did it very well. We have Rose’s plot, Wren’s plot and then the two romance subplots along with two larger plots. Juggling all those plots was no doubt difficult. Then, we get a third subplot at the very end. I am CONVINCED that this is not going to go my way. 

Anyways, this book has witches and it is GREAT. I love witch-y reads and this one is high fantasy. In some ways I think it is similar to Serpent & Dove. Not to say it’s exactly like it, but that’s the feeling I get from it. 

The romance subplots were so fun. Tor is my favorite of them all. I love Wren and Rose equally, and I love how they have such different personalities. It made reading the book a joy. I also love Shen and his humor because it made me laugh out loud. 

This book was so full of action and suspenseful that I literally could not put it down. I had to know what was going to happen to these characters next. And the DRAMA.

That cliffhanger was so brutal, especially for me. I was all NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Anyways, I can’t say too much without spoiling all of the book. It’s best read with as little knowledge as possible so you get to enjoy all aspects of the book. 

I am eagerly awaiting book two, and I can’t wait to get myself a copy of this book! 

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Author: Laura Sebastian
Series: Castles in Their Bones
Series #: 1
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult
ARC?: Yes

Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes.
Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria.
The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers.
Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other?

Review

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved everything that Laura Sebastian has written. Ash Princess was an amazing YA trilogy, and Half Sick of Shadows was an amazing standalone adult book. Therefore, I was BEYOND excited when I got an e-ARC of this book. I was literally drooling with happiness. You have no idea how much I was dancing around. I went into this series expecting to be four or five starring it. And then I started reading the book. And I was disappointed. I felt my stomach drop and my heart sink. I was imagining it right? I was hoping that I was imagining it. Because this couldn’t be one of my most anticipated reads letting me down, could it?

Sadly, it did. I struggled over what I was going to rate this book in the end, because the concept was fabulous. It seemed like something that I would adore – written by a favorite author!! How dare it let me down? And yet, there were aspects of this book that I struggled with overall.

First, the writing didn’t feel up to par as with Ash Princess. It just didn’t read the same – and something about it bothered me, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.

Then you have the three POVs, and sisters, all of which were very different, and had different personalities. I thought it was nice that you could see that they were distinct. However, the downside is that I was more interested in Daphne’s story than anyone else’s. I felt that she was more fleshed out of the three sisters.

Another aspect I struggled with was that I felt the pacing and the balance of intrigue and action just wasn’t working for me the way that I wanted it to.

I was absolutely desperate to love this book, and I just feel overall for me, the book wasn’t as good as I had hoped. There was something missing for me…and I don’t know what that spark is. No one is more disappointed that I that I’m not giving this a four or five star rating.

I am giving it 3.5 stars, because I did enjoy the book. But I’m still sad that I didn’t love it. That ending though…that ending was something and gives me hope for the sequels!

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Author: Morgan Rhodes
Series:
Series #: 1
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: yes

Josslyn Drake knows only three things about magic: it’s rare, illegal, and always deadly. So when she’s caught up in a robbery gone wrong at the Queen’s Gala and infected by a dangerous piece of magic—one that allows her to step into the memories of an infamously evil warlock—she finds herself living her worst nightmare. Joss needs the magic removed before it corrupts her soul and kills her. But in Ironport, the cost of doing magic is death, and seeking help might mean scheduling her own execution. There’s nobody she can trust.
Nobody, that is, except wanted criminal Jericho Nox, who offers her a deal: his help extracting the magic in exchange for the magic itself. And though she’s not thrilled to be working with a thief, especially one as infuriating (and infuriatingly handsome) as Jericho, Joss is desperate enough to accept.
But Jericho is nothing like Joss expects. The closer she grows with Jericho and the more she sees of the world outside her pampered life in the city, the more Joss begins to question the beliefs she’s always taken for granted—beliefs about right and wrong, about power and magic, and even about herself.
In an empire built on lies, the truth may be her greatest weapon.

Review

Thank you to the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Rhodes’s Falling Kingdoms series. When I got the chance to get an e-ARC of this book I was extremely excited. I was expecting something similar to the Falling Kingdoms series. I was surprised though to see photography and cars in this book! I was not expecting that, so I was a little bit nervous, because I hadn’t expected that, and so I was a bit thrown off at first that this wasn’t more like high fantasy and is instead “urban” fantasy. Nevertheless, once I started reading, I had a hard time putting the book down once I got into it.

I enjoyed Rhodes’ writing in this book, but not as much as Falling Kingdoms. The tone had a more modern feeling – and that gave it a bit more oomph for me to be believable. I think that Rhodes’ is a great writer and her works are accessible, because she writes in a way that is easy to read. It’s often a nice change from writing that is so convoluted you want to throw the book out of a window. I very much enjoyed that about this book.

What also worked for me was the pacing of the book. It was a dance of precision, of keeping the mystery going as well as the action at the same time. You have moments of “peace” and then you slip into an action heavy segment. This works for the book as the writing gives it momentum to keep going – and I had to keep turning pages!

The plot of this book is so intriguing. It is a bit of a mystery, so I loved to see how it was slowly unfolding and how Joss began to see what she thought was true, might not be as true as she thought it was. This ties in with the amazing romance plot. I am a huge sucker for enemies to lovers and that was what this book was. It was also filled with interesting relationships between the other characters.

Joss and Jericho were such great characters, and I loved following them on their adventure! I loved their banter with each other as well. It was amusing to say the least. And the romance was spot on for me.

AND THAT ENDING. That ending was amazing! I mean I was blown away by the ending. This book had been a firm four star read for me, and the last 10% upped it into the five star category for me. It was a stunning book and I am SO EXCITED to find out what happens next.

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Author: Casey McQuiston
Series: n/a
Series #: n/a
Genre: LGBTQ+, romance, myster
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: yes

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.


But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.


On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.


Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.

Review

Thank you to the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.


First off; I still love RW&RB more than anything McQuiston’s written since. Saying that, as their first foray into YA, this book read way more to the adult end. There isn’t anything in here resembling adult content, but it has the feel of an adult book written about teenagers and there is nothing wrong with that.

In fact, I love McQuiston’s writing. It’s fabulous. They truly have a gift for writing, and reading each page was a general pleasure. Even during some of the parts that I struggled with. And that’s just because I don’t enjoy YA contemporary that much anymore, but McQuiston’s name was on it, therefore I had to read it.

Overall, I think the book was good. It had themes that are going to resonate with each other, and as with all their books there was a bunch of diversity and pretty much the entire cast of characters were queer. I think this is really going to appeal to teens who seek to see themselves represented in places where it seems the most unlikely.

This shows how it feels to grow up in a very religious area who do not like anything different and still have racism embedded in the everyday life. But it also shows that there are people who are different from that; and that not everybody who lives there is terrible, and I think that is so important for teens who feel isolated or that they’re the only ones who feel like that.

I think this was a powerful book and is going to be very popular and become well loved. It was well written and touches on important topics in a way that meshes well with the story.

I think my only major complaints are that sometimes I felt the characters were a little flat, and that the pacing/plot of the story was a little awkward. But it was an enjoyable read.

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Author: Stephanie Garber
Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart
Series #: 1
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: no

Evangeline Fox was raised in her beloved father’s curiosity shop, where she grew up on legends about immortals, like the tragic Prince of Hearts. She knows his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well.
But when Evangeline learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate enough to offer the Prince of Hearts whatever he wants in exchange for his help to stop the wedding. The prince only asks for three kisses. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’s pledged. And he has plans for Evangeline that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…

Review

Once Upon a Broken Heart takes place in the same world as Caraval. I enjoyed the series, but I was unsure if I was going to actively pick up OUABH. Thankfully for me, Fairyloot was including it in a subscription box and therefore I didn’t have to fuss with whether I wanted the book or not. (I’m glad I got it, because I did enjoy it immensely!)

This book can be read without having read Caraval. Characters that appear in Caraval do appear in this one, and events are mentioned, but honestly, it stands on its own well. This is nice because in some ways I liked this book more than the Caraval series. Why? Well, there are several reasons I liked this book more. I found the characters more fascinating, and there was a bunch of intrigue going on, which I always love when that is included in a book to do with royalty. I also found the characters more dynamic overall.

And nothing is ever as it seems with this book. I adore our main character, Evangeline. I love her personality and I love that she tries to see the best in everyone, and just…there was something magical about her. I adored her.

And oh, Jacks, you infuriated me in the best of ways. I wanted to strangle and slap you in equal measures. Like I said, I have many feels about Jacks. Jacks is one of those characters that is morally grey, so if you like that type of thing, you will LOVE him for that.

Plus, there’s the prince as well – and you can’t forget the stepsister either! (And a few Fates tossed in for fun as well) I mean…what could go wrong? (Everything.) One thing Garber always does really well is sibling relationships. I loved it just as much in this one as I loved it in the Caraval series.

My head was whirling through this entire book because the CAST WAS AMAZING. We have so many characters and not many answers. It was a guessing game, and I guessed wrong every time. (I’m apparently a terrible guesser)

Anyways, I did enjoy the book, and I can’t believe how long I have to wait for the next book to come out. I do not want to have to wait!

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Author: Allison Saft
Series: n/a
Series #: n/a
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: yes

When Margaret Welty spots the legendary hala, the last living mythical creature, she knows the Halfmoon Hunt will soon follow. Whoever is able to kill the hala will earn fame and riches, and unlock an ancient magical secret. If Margaret wins the hunt, it may finally bring her mother home. While Margaret is the best sharpshooter in town, only teams of two can register, and she needs an alchemist.

Weston Winters isn’t an alchemist–yet. Fired from every apprenticeship he’s landed, his last chance hinges on Master Welty taking him in. But when Wes arrives at Welty Manor, he finds only Margaret and her bloodhound Trouble. Margaret begrudgingly allows him to stay, but on one condition: he must join the hunt with her.

Although they make an unlikely team, Wes is in awe of the girl who has endured alone on the outskirts of a town that doesn’t want her, in this creaking house of ghosts and sorrow. And even though Wes disrupts every aspect of her life, Margaret is drawn to him. He, too, knows what it’s like to be an outsider. As the hunt looms closer and tensions rise, Margaret and Wes uncover dark magic that could be the key to winning the hunt – if they survive that long.

Review

3.5/4 stars

I adored Down Comes the Night when I got an ARC of it back last fall. It was stupendous and everything – so I was so pleased when I was sent an eARC of Saft’s next novel, A Far Wilder Magic. I was humming with excitement! A Far Wilder Magic combines magic and a quest together in a way that works. Much like Saft’s debut novel there is much to love about this new one. I was delighted by it. I can see the inspiration Saft got from Fullmetal Alchemist in terms of characters, especially if you like the ship Roy/Riza. Plotwise it isn’t at all similar.

First, Saft’s writing is stupendous. It is stellar. I cannot exclaim enough about how much I love it. It is sumptuous. Ugh I can’t even explain just how much I love it. But her writing does so much, it crafts feelings and atmospheres. I live for this type of writing and Saft just excels at it. You will just want to drown yourself in this writing and bathe and live in it forever. Yes, I am ridiculous.

“Alchemy is neither progress nor salvation. It’s the stench of sulfur she can’t scrub out of her hair. It’s packed suitcases and locked doors. It’s blood and ink on the floorboards.”

I loved Margaret in this book, I found her to be a strong character. I loved her perspective and her strength. I also loved Wes! Wes was a great character as well. He was sweet and delightful. I loved getting to see these two characters fall in love (despite not liking the Roy/Riza FMA ship they seem to be based off of) because it was done SO WELL. Saft always does an amazing job with romances, and this was no exception. It was truly well done. I wanted to cuddle Margaret and Wes.

I think the pacing in this book is also good, you get time to become invested in the characters and what happens to them, but it also isn’t boring which can happen sometimes. Thankfully it doesn’t happen here! This is a slow-paced plot, and it isn’t really about the hunt, but more about relationships, so there isn’t a huge amount of action/adventure.

It’s a personal issue – but my ONE big issue – with the book is that because I am so familiar with FMA I kept comparing all the characters/relationships to it, and so sometimes I fell out of the book. And that’s a me thing – not a book thing! This is all on me. If you’ve never heard or seen FMA, this isn’t going to be a problem for you. I will also say a line, “all is one, one is all” is ripped directly from FMA which is “one is all, all is one”. That really bugged me because that was specific to the series. I love the homage to this series but sometimes I felt like I was reading a very well written AU fanfic. (I love fanfic, so this isn’t necessarily bad, I just wasn’t really expecting it.)

Overall, this is a lovely book!  

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