Tag: fantasy

Book Reviews

Mageborn // Jessica Thorne

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4/5 stars. WOWIE! This book took me on a wild ride. Thank you to the author and publishing company for giving me the opportunity to review this book as an ARC!

I’ll be honest, I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I would say this gave me definite Serpent & Dove vibes; if you enjoyed that, read this! I managed this in 2 days.

Mageborn is a fantasy surrounding magic and mystery, like all the best ones are! It has the perfect smattering of enemies to romance, smut and powerful protagonist portrayal you could hope for! The book follows a simialr thread to a lot of others within this genre, mystical kingdom is under threat by [X], powerful heroine needs to help save the kingdom from [X], along the way she either meets a dashing hero or has to SAVE said hero from [X]. This is the writing cocktail I adore, and so it was completely for me. Think Sarah J. Maas-esque creation. Superb.

I would say there are two main protagonists within this read, and their perspectives are split chapter-to-chapter. This, for me, enabled the build-up of the relationship that forms between the two to become all the more hard-hitting, as you get the chance to really see how one is feeling about the other. Likewise, the writing style really helped the world to come alive for me, and I was truly engrossed from start to finish. The overall storyline delivered enough adventure and action to keep me on my toes but allowed a real exploration into the developing burdens and implications faced by the characters.

Not to be missed – well worth the read!

Annabelle xo

Book Reviews

The Night Circus // Erin Morgenstern

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3/5 stars. It was great! But not fantastic. Do I understand the hype? Honestly? I’m not sure.

I’m not really sure what to say about this book. It was VERY slow at the start… and I mean very. I struggled to keep with it.
I made a mental note of when it picked up: 53% (kindle).

I think that’s when Marco and Celia had their first confrontation and their romance really began, which I think is what I was searching for the whole time. The second-half of the book was definitely my favourite; and the twist at the end did have me surprised. Although the finale did leave me feeling a little bit deflated. A bit like, is that it?

Something which I admired about the book and it delivered extremely well: the world building. I loved the whole facade and adventure of The Night Circus. The tents and ‘worlds’ invented within them were incredible. The descriptive writing; beautiful. I also really enjoyed the turbulent romance between Marco and Celia. I was happy with their ending though, and found myself really feeling like they deserved to be together. Saying that, Marco was a bit pining, wasn’t he? Let Celia be the independent powerhouse that she is(!)

Something which I think the book could have done better: I enjoyed the different perspectives offered through the time-hopping, however it was a bit confusing. At times I was struggling to follow who I was reading about and where they were, and in what time. And I may have been missing the point entirely but Bailey… I found his story-line the most dull?! Anyone else or am I just being very pessimistic?

My favourite quote of the entire book: “I would have written you, myself, if I could put down in words everything I want to say to you. A sea of ink would not be enough.” The sentiment behind this is stunning and totally soppy and just what every romantic wants to read/hear/experience.

I wanted to love this but I struggled to. I would give it a solid 3/5 stars. It was good, borderline great, but the only reason I persisted with it was because of the following it has gained in recent years and its popularity with other readers. If it was a lesser known novel, I think I would have struggled to finish it.

What I will say is this – I would try it again. I have not completely given up on it, I feel like maybe it deserves a bit more of my time and possibly a different reading environment? I did try to squeeze a lot of this in on my 30mins lunch breaks with my tuna mayo sandwich!