Music, magic, and secrets.This story is set in a world where magic and music are two separate things and there are only a few musicians (five) who are licensed t compose and perform original songs. In this kingdom, there is endless winter and magic is accessible to all except there is one rule that forbids magic from being part of music. Sofi’s father is one of the five muscians in the country who is a Musik, and she has trained all her life, given up everything, suffered, just to be the next Musik. Except all that goes down the drawn when during the audition a stranger appears suddenly, a beautiful girl named Lara who doesn’t even know how to plate a lute or what she is doing suddenly performs for the audition and enchants everyone. Sofi senses something is off, there is zero possibility Lara did it without magic. Lara has stolen everything from Sofi, and that very night her father dies leaving Sofi a single letter apologizing but never telling her for what. The next day Lara shows up at Sofi’s door to be her father’s apprentice but Sofi strikes up a deal since Lara has no clue what she is doing and she can’t even compose a song. In order to secure her position Lara has to go on a tour and compose and sing her own original music, Sofi offers to write her the songs and let her take the credit in exchange Lara will make her her own apprentice and let Sofi become a music all the while Sofi will be watching Lara to discover if she is a witch and what magic she did. But the more time they spend on the journey the more Sofi begins to question her own family and the way her father raised her, the way he stripped her of being and forced her to normalize suffering for her art. Sofi and Lara begin to see each other for who they truly are and what music means to both of them. But the more Sofi uncovers about her father’s secrets, who her mother truly was, and what Sofi is, and what potential she has and the power locked away in her she will begin to question everything she has ever been taught and what her future means to her. This was part sapphic romance, part music journey, part magic and dark family secrets. While I wasn’t as invested in the romance between Sofi and Lara, I just couldn’t believe the chemistry or believe that they would actually work as a couple, I did enjoy seeing Sofi grow as a person. I particularly enjoyed Sofi seeing the abuse her father put her through for what it was, it wasn’t training to make her a better musician, it wasn’t out of love, it was out of fear, it was out of cowardice, and what he did to her as a child, and continued to do to her and force her to normalize was unacceptable and I am proud of her for being able to see it and understanding that there is more , that there is something else for her and a different way to live. Its a story about someone who loves music and the sacrifices she is willing to make, and about survival and strength and reclaiming something for yourself.

*Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Margaret K. McElderry Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*