Actual rating: 2. 5 stars


This will not be the most positive review… I get more and more confused about this book every time I reread the synopsis honestly!!

So, let’s get the one good thing (which was the only reason I kept reading this book) out of the road first. That is that the book is very fast paced & quick to read. Yep, thats my positive thing.

Now, onto the less positive things. Firstly, and the main thing that I simply do not understand is the synopsis of this book! I received this book through NetGalley and had never heard of it before hand, so the synopsis was what I read and what I thought sounded interesting. HOWEVER, I have now discovered that the book & the synopsis are BARELY similar… First off, the events that are mentioned in the synopsis do not even play out until 35% through the book. Which was weird to start with as why didn’t the synopsis tell us about the start of the book & the basic idea of the world instead of details about events that happen around the middle of the book?? Confused. Then there is the fact that the synopsis is inaccurate.

So, let’s break some of the synopsis down.

The world is about to end. There is only one way to save it. But the price could be her life

As far as I saw the world was not ending… There was a terrorist attack in Jerusalem which was also happening in some other areas. There was mention that there could be a full on War but that still isn’t the world ending.. I’m not sure what this ‘one way to save it’ was exactly because it was never mentioned.

The MCs blow up an old building or something to stop the bomb blowing up most of the city instead (which was a split second decision nearly) but that wasn’t exactly the only option. They could of disabled the bomb or literally anything else..

And lastly besides trying to avoid being killed by terrorists there wasn’t any big events that could of been succeed by costing them her life..

The paths of three teenagers cross at the heart of a large-scale terror attack in which their parents are injured.

No they didn’t… 2 of them literally knew each other since birth (not to mention they all knew each other anyway before being reincarnated at this time – which is not even mentioned in the synopsis, except one tiny hint. Yes the entire book is based on reincarnation and religion)… The other one did cross their path but not all 3.

Time is running out and the only way to save themselves and the city is to find the Celestial Gate.

I don’t recall the characters actually mentioning that they thought finding The Celestial Gate would save the city. The female just wanted to find it to get to God so she could tell him that the system of reincarnation they are stuck is wasn’t working…

To accomplish this, they will have to overcome their differences and find the meaning of the secret bond that connects between the three of them, rooted in a previous life and in ancient history.

‘find the meaning’?? They literally get to a certain location and each of them remembers everything about the reincarnation and everything else… It wasn’t exactly something they were looking for or discovered. Their memory just came back.

Will they manage to find the secret gate and save the city from death and destruction?

Finding the gate did basically nothing in saving the city. They did that all on their own after they were sent back from Heaven.. Unless I missed something finding the gate really didn’t achieve anything except understanding a couple things.

So overall the synopsis was just all over the place. It does not mention religion once when that is literally the main focus of the book. It very very briefly hints to reincarnation which again is the major part of the world… Then other parts just simply aren’t accurate to the book I read. I just do not get it at all..

Enough about the synopsis and now onto the parts about the actual book I didn’t enjoy.

Firstly the 3 major characters felt very 2 dimensional.. The parents whose lives we briefly follow before the main plot felt more fleshed out than Mor, Anise & Yam. Due to them being so flat I just didn’t really care what was happening to them.

The plot itself was kind of interesting at times but also kinda bland even more often. I found myself getting bored a lot and also dosing off and having to reread the same sentence 5 times before I actually took it in. It was also very predictable which didn’t exactly help to make the book more exciting.

Lastly I didn’t enjoy how the POV was written. It swaps between the parents and the 3 major characters. However only 1/4 of the time did the paragraphs start with the characters name so you knew who you were following. I did however read an ARC of the book, so this could have been rectified in the final copy, I can’t be sure, but it made it very hard to follow in the ARC. I also found a couple times where the POV would change from one character to another half way through a paragraph without warning. Which means I was going back and reading sections trying to figure out who was doing what and what the heck was going on.

Overall I don’t recommend this book, even without the obvious synopsis issues. It was bland and not overly well written.
Majorly though, I went in expected an action packed adventure/quest book following 3 young adults and instead got a heavy religious based reincarnation story with a little bit of action but an overall quest to find God.. Not what I signed up for at all. I also wish that the heavy religious base of this book was mentioned in the synopsis so readers could have the choice on whether to read about the topic or not. It is not something I would have picked up if I had know and that should be something people have a choice on. Just being thrown into that expecting something completely different is not on and it’s not fair to the reader…

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Review to come!

Actual rating 3.5 stars!

You can also find this review on Dusk Angel Reads

So let’s start with the main things I disliked. Which was the romance. I totally understand the point of the romance being a main part of the plot but I’m just personally not a huge fan of books with romance as the actual plot. I don’t mind it being on the side with the main focus something else but in this case it definitely took over the book. That is simply a personal preference though. The romance was done well but it just wasn’t my fave part.

The second thing I slightly disliked was that the middle of the book was fairly slow for me. The middle was where the romance was really a focus and because I wasn’t the hugest fan of the romance it just felt slow. I wanted more action and more going on but that just didn’t happen.

Now onto the things I liked. Firstly I did like the characters and also the side characters. I think they were all very detailed and fleshed out. They also grew and developed throughout the book. You saw a lot of struggle with right and wrong for the characters in this book and I think it was all done really well.

I did really enjoy the beginning and the end. At first I was super hooked and then it got slow and then towards the end I was super hooked again. So it was a bit of a rollercoaster of good & boring but overall I did like it and I did engage me for the most part.

Lastly I did enjoy the magic system and I liked the world and setting. However we could of done with a little more detail on the world but hopefully we get that in book 2!

Overall, I did enjoy the book but there were a couple things that I think could have been done better. I will be picking up book 2, Blood & Honey, and I have already pre-ordered it actually. However it was not my favourite. I’m hoping for a bit more from book 2, so fingers crossed.

You can also find this review on Dusk Angel Reads

Nocturna was super engaging from the very beginning! I did not want to put this one down and enjoyed every moment. It also flowed very well which made for an easy and quick read.

I absolutely loved the characters in Nocturna. They were all very fleshed out and developed amazingly throughout the book. I loved reading the struggles Alfie faced throughout the book which made him feel even more real. Both Alfie & Finn had well written POVs but I loved reading from Finn the most as she is sarcastic and fun to read from. I also enjoyed her backstory which added to the love of reading from her POV.

I loved the world building and detail given to the magic system in this book. The unique magic system was probably my favourite aspect of the book. I love that everyone with a propio magic had such a unique ability. They were all very interesting to learn about and I especially like Finn’s ability to steal faces & Alfie’s ability to adapt his magic to other peoples. Both were interesting and unique abilities.

Overall I loved the magic system and really enjoyed Finn as a main character. Alfie was also amazing but I just loved Finn! Nocturna is very unique and engaging. I loved reading this one and I highly recommend it. I can’t wait to get my hands on book 2, Oculta.

You can also find this review on Dusk Angel Reads

I absolutely loved House of Dragons! This book is incredibly written and was extremely gripping! I simply didn’t want to put this book down.

Firstly, I love the diverse range of characters we see in the book! Every character, even the side characters were very well written and fleshed out amazingly. The book follows 5 points of view and every single POV had it’s on personality and feel to it. They also all developed and grew really well throughout the book. I loved reading every POV even if I was rooting for some characters more than others!

I really liked how detailed the world building was and how much description went into the magic system. Of course there is still some mystery but I liked how much detail we got and it made sense for the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed House of Dragons & I can’t wait for book 2! I love how House of Dragons ended but it also ended on a bit of cliffhanger, so I’m super keen to see what comes next.

You can also find my review on Dusk Angel Reads

I enjoyed Aurora Burning even more than I did Aurora Rising!
You can find my Spoiler Free Review HERE!

The characters are amazingly written! They were fleshed out and felt completely real. I loved learning more about them and seeing them develop throughout the story.

The writing is also incredible. It always is from these authors really. I enjoyed reading from every POV and all of the POV were written very well. You could read their personalities in each POV which is hard to do right at the best of times let alone for six very different characters! The plot was very fast paced so it left very little room for calm moments which means I was just gripped by this story the entire time!

I ended up completely engrossed in this story & couldn’t wait to see what would happen next for these characters. The plot was completely unpredictable and I was left shocked a few times. Also this ended on a massive cliff hanger that literally left me staring at the book for about 2 minutes trying to process that ending.

Overall I loved this book and I CANNOT WAIT for book 3 to come out! The cliffhanger!!! I need to know. I highly recommend this to any Sci-Fi lover! Maybe wait for all of them to be out though because waiting the near year for book 3 is torturous.

You can also find this review and more at Dusk Angel Reads

I absolutely loved this book and just flew through it! I read Romanov on audiobook a little while back and enjoyed it but Fawkes is even better!

Firstly the world building in Fawkes is incredible! Everything is so detailed and very well explained. I felt so immersed in this world from the very beginning which I loved! Nadine Brandes has a way of writing that just grips me and makes me want to not put the book down. The magic system of this world is also super interesting and unique. It was explained really well too which means there was very little confusion as to what was going on.

The characters were awesome! All the side character were very fleshed out and I loved learning about them and their backgrounds and seeing their journey throughout. Emma was a badass and I loved her attitude and personality! It was awesome learning about her throughout the book. Thomas was very well written and I really enjoyed seeing his struggle with right & wrong and battling with what to believe from others.

The plot was very unpredictable and super gripping. I had no idea what to expect with this book & I honestly think that is the best way to go into it! It was so amazing and such a rollercoaster of a journey.

I also just want to mention that I really enjoyed the discussion and topic of Racism in this book. I love that it was both questioned and discussed as well as being historically accurate to the time period. I think this was really well done!

Overall this is well worth the read and I highly recommend it to any fantasy or historical fantasy fan! I am very curious to check out her other books & keen to see what she comes out with next!