Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this in 2018. I was a terrible reviewer then but I have decided to read and give this book a proper review.

I read this recently and it definitely is not for today's readers. In te book there is an adventure and journey to find Layla's half-sister. The sister bonds are strong and commendable. I do think if I had read this book in 2018 when I was suppose to, I would have enjoyed it more but it wasn't bad, just not fantastic.

I wasn't really invested in the story or it's characters but I did like the concept.

2.5 stars

Note to the publisher: I’m sorry, but this is not the review that you were expecting. My old phone broke, and all the titles that I had saved to it went too. Since NetGalley has archived the books, I am no longer able to access them. My sincerest apologies.

Prior to actually sitting down and reading Magic Harvest, I thought that the premise was intriguing. I’m also always down for a YA Fantasy Mystery, so that’s another point of why I was interested in Magic Harvest.

And on that point of Magic Harvest being a YA Fantasy, Layla is a character who in this first book is 19 years of age. So while Magic Harvest could definitely be in the New Adult age category, the story as an innocent character who discovers not only more of herself, but…the outside world as well.

Layla goes through such a character growth. At the beginning of this story we see how Layla’s PTSD has changed her life and how she’s lived with it. And then by the end of the novel we see Layla conquer her fears.

As much as I wanted to predict anything, I couldn’t—-so that’s a plus! AT first I didn’t know what to predict–and then I couldn’t predict anything. The synopsis for Magic Harvest doesn’t really give anything away. Frankly, I hoped that the ending to Magic Harvest would be a happy one. And what I could predict didn’t happen at all, heh. While I was reading this story it was difficult for me to pinpoint where the story would go.

There were few things that I didn’t like. For the most part, I for sure thought that a certain someone was going to be Layla’s father, so when I read that that character started to have feelings for Layla I was grossed out. But then it turned out that said character is too young to be Layla’s father.

I actually for sure thought that we’d find out who Layla’s father is, but I guess we’re to find out in book two (2)!

What I liked about Magic Harvest was that the plot got underway pretty quickly! I actually really liked how the story was first in the magical world, and then turned into our world.

I’m being vague about this next part that I liked, but I’ve got to be vague if you don’t want spoilers! So, when the plot gets underway in the second chapter I know right, so quick!, there’s a scene that plays out which gives the reader a quick insight as to how the rest of the story could play out.

What surprised me the most about Magic Harvest was the second point of view we read from! Throughout Magic Harvest we still read from Layla’s point of view for the most part. So I enjoyed the brief moments we read from this second point of view. I genuinely thought that Magic Harvest would have been a book I marked as Did Not Finish, had this second POV not come into play.

Another thing that I liked about this story was the mad dash that the characters go on. Speaking of which, the action moments within Magic Harvest were a delight to read!

I could see why someone would think that parts of this story felt forced, but for me, the story was an enjoyable read. If you want to sit back and not predict anything while you’re reading a story, then I definitely recommend Magic Harvest to you!

I was not able to read this book due to the formatting issues. The problems with it sucked out the enjoyment of reading it. But I love the cover and what I did read seamed interesting.

This was a unique read. Karlik has a voice that fits well with this adventure about faeries. Her writing is quite good and it was well polished; however, it didn’t pull me in. Honestly, it bordered on boring. I think this mostly had to do with the descriptions, they simply weren’t colourful and unfortunately, this affected the world building as well. The plot was a little hard to follow since it felt like there wasn’t much movement. It seemed a little stagnant.
I really liked Layla. She was independent, protective, and brave. Yet, she wasn’t perfect, she struggled immensely with being an outcast. A major thing that bugged me, though, was that I never quite figured out what she looked like. There was a vague description, but I never formed a solid picture in my mind. The detective team Layla worked with were so cute. I loved their camaraderie. One thing, though: it would have been nice to get to know them a little better. It felt like we were just scraping the surface.
Overall, this was a decent book and if you are really into YA about faeries you might enjoy it!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Magic Harvest follows Layla, a half-fairy who escapes the fairyland to chase after a cloaked figure who has kidnapped her sister. It’ fun because Layla is half human and half-fairy, ostracized from the fairy realm because of her lack of magic. Bullied and teased, Layla endures it, right at the beginning, she struggles to find the strength inside her to challenge the bullies, to challenge the word Layla has always known, knowing that her treatment is not right. It is a wonderful example of trying to e find inner strength that is incredibly relatable because it is not easy, standing up for oneself, while necessary, is a heart-racing endeavor because so much can happen and so much can go wrong, but those fears should not deter one’s self. It makes the gravity of the situation so well done.

There is also this idea of “difference.” Layla’s differences have always been used to make her feel weaker and broken when in fact these differences, her inability to use magic and human physic, are what make her stronger. That is so powerful because being different shouldn’t be looked down at because those differences are what make people stronger where they need to be. For Layla, that is so true. Her lack of magic forced her to learn different ways to defend herself, helping her rely on her physical strength, something the fairies never thought to appreciate, relying heavily on their magic use. This makes her a great heroine because she grows through this. Layla learns to love herself, to appreciate everything that makes her different because it is those differences that make her capable of fighting and saving the people she loves. She only has to learn to learn to love herself first on the adventure.

Admittedly it drags. The story, at 286 pages feels much longer than that because the story gives the reader lots of exposition to absorb. The narrative and character growth make up for most of that, but the other characters in the novel, they are not as exciting as Layla is, so all that exposition leaves the reader a little bored. It is interesting to see how Layla learns to behave in the human world, but most of it can be summarized or condensed because at times the pace speeds up and then slow down to a crawl, leaving the reader a tad exhausted. Much of it felt unnecessary, and it distracted the reader from Layla and her growth.

Nevertheless, Magic Harvest is a fun adventure with fantastic character development.

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Layla assumed she didn't have the same magic her sister has because she is a half blood...not a full blood fairy. When fairies start disappearing including her sister, she must dig deep inside herself to find her own kind of magic and save hundreds of fairies. Falling in love with a human man complicates things and makes it difficult to decide what to do next...save her people or save the human. What will she do?

Interesting story! The Magic fairies and the human world collide as a “Harvester” takes the fairies away from the their Magic world and into the human world. One fairy and a team of Scotland’s best from the crime division have to help each other to get the fairies back.

I can’t wait for the 2nd book in this series!

I received this ebook copy from the publisher and NetGalley for an honest review.

*ARC received from NetGalley in return for an honest review*

I am really sad to be so disappointed in this book. The synopsis seemed full of so much potential and yet I couldn't get past 17 percent. From the start, everything seemed a little too forced. The reader is thrown into a world with very little understanding of it. What confused me the most was the fact that the main character has some creature living inside of her and yet that is totally fine? I would be worried out of my mind if I had an evil little demon that fed off of my dark thoughts living inside of me.

What finally put me off was that the human male character said the word wee. After laughing my head off that this hard policeman would say the word wee to describe anything I set the book aside. This might be for someone that likes their fantasy words to be simply built. For me, I am going to move on to other books where the world is actually fully fleshed out.

Magic Harvest is definitely being added to the list of books that I will strongly suggest my daughter read. There is virtually no cursing, just a hint of romance (and it's very minimal), wonderful fantasy aspects, but most importantly...an amazing heroine. Layla is selfless, courageous, forgiving, and stays determined even when things look bleak. She's not perfect and does briefly lament when she encounters a set-back, but she is very quick to bounce back with more determination and faith that she will find her sister. She takes the weight of the world on her shoulders in the form of saving all of these fairies that have been kidnapped. She starts the story with being meek and very passive about how her community and family views her (she's a half human/half fairy and has no magic) but as she searches for her sister, she finds strength and worth. I really loved her.

Ian and his team were great. I was sort of surprised by how quickly they accepted that fairies were real, but at the same time, it was kind of refreshing. There was no need for Layla to prove herself and there was very little ignorant prejudice from the team. My favorite team members were Theo and Buzzard. Buzzard is this gruff brute of a guy who has a good heart at his core. I loved reading his gentle scolding and encouraging of Layla. Theo is a wealth of knowledge of technology and aspects of the magical world. He can read tea leaves and knows where to find even the most obscure ingredients for the concoctions that Layla creates. The relationship between Layla and Ian is special. They start out as reluctant allies and end the story being very close friends. They have a special kinship and the synopsis for book 2 strongly hints at a possible romance between them. Yes, please!!

Mary Karlik is a new-to-me author who I will definitely be following. I've already marked my calendar to count down until the release of book 2, Magical Heist.

Layla is a fairy but unlike other fairies, doesn't possess magic. When her younger sister heads off to the great fete despite Layla's warnings, Layla has no choice but to follow her. A sudden attack from an unknown creature leaves Layla's sister and other fairies captured and hauled off into the human world. Determined to save them, Layla follows.

The world building in the beginning chapters was well done. It's easy to picture the fairies and their natural surroundings through lovely details which open up an almost magical world. The author wastes no time in diving right into the story and makes the issues between Layla, her sister and the other fairies clear. And the story with the dragon definitely draws sympathy and pulls into the tale.

Despite all of these good things, this story didn't completely grab me. Layla is an amazing character with a wonderful personality, but the others fall a little flat. While the beginning chapters grab attention and submerse the reader into an intriguing world, it moves a bit slow at times. The movement into the human world was a bit sudden and lacked the descriptions which made the scenes so vivid before. While there are unexpected twists and turns, it wasn't enough to hook into the pages. But it wasn't bad either. The plot moves along and offers moments of excitement at times, insuring that this is a great book for the reader. But this reader wasn't me.

I received a complimentary copy through Netgalley and found in interesting enough to want to leave my honest thoughts.

Rating 3.5/5

- Characters -
I loved Layla - she had everything I want in a female lead: poise, strength, bravery and defiance just to name a few. Unfortunately, the other characters fell through. They had little to no excitement for me and that's disappointing - I mean this is a fantasy novel in the faerie world so there was sooo many unique characters that could have been created!

- Plot -
It was interesting for the author to incorporate "trafficking" into a YA novel, but the plot was very slow and very repetitive. It was hard to keep interested enough to continue reading. The setting occurs mostly in one place throughout the entire novel which was another disappointing factor because again - FAERIE WORLD - so it should have had magical places in which you were transported to.

- Writing -
Fairly well written. There were times it was so good at description, pacing and thrill that I wanted more but more often than not it was slow and unexciting.

Fairies! Dragons! An elf! And... humans???

Magic Harvest is a story about the outcast of the fairy world; magicless and broken inside. But when her sister is kidnapped, this “outcast” will stop at nothing to get her beloved sister back.

One thing that made this book so great was Layla’s personality. She was fierce, loyal, and brave. She let nothing stop her from saving her sister. Not even the voices inside her could deter her from the mission ahead.

Another thing that made this book appealing were the human characters such as Ian, Buzzard, Theo, and Jack(I believe that’s all of them). Together they made a funny team full of bravery and good looks.

My actual Rating is a 3.5 because I felt that some parts of the book could drag. The main character was all ready for action, and they wouldn’t get anywhere because her team of humans was exhausted from the battles they’d already faced. At those times it could get a little boring. Other than that, the author did a great job! I plan on reading more from her someday!

All-in-all, I’d recommend this book to those looking for an adventure and a strong heroine.

Layla is a half-caste fairy, half human and half fey and above all, a complete outsider amongst her people. And while she has an immunity to iron (unlike her other fairy friends), which gives her the ability to fight, she doesn't have any magic, which makes her a target for mockery and bullying. One day however, her sister and her friend get kidnapped by a mysterious entity and taken into the human world, and Layla must venture out into this unknown world in order to save them.


Writing:
Overall, the writing of the book was alright. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't overwhelming spectacular either. The only thing that I noticed was that certain parts of the writing were a bit choppy. There were certain scenes (especially during some of the fights) where I had to go back and reread certain passages because a lot happened in one sentence, which made it hard to follow. What I also think is that the writing style declined when the Layla left the fairy realm and went into the "real world". The descriptions were a lot more detailed and full of life when Layla was still in the forest but when the plot focused on the human world, I unfortunately found the descriptions and the writing to be a bit boring.


World building:
What I absolutely loved about this book was the mythology behind it. The fairy world and their magic was by far the most interesting aspect of this book. I would have loved to have spent many more chapters exploring the hidden fairy forest, but unfortunately most of this book plays out in the "real world". While I'm personally not an export in this field, it's obvious that Celtic mythology and folklore definitely play a big part in the foundation of this book and its plot. For example, we are introduced to the cràdh, a spirit which has taken refuge inside Layla and saddens and burdens her soul. Overall, I would say that the world building - the fairy world and its rich history in general - definitely stands out as the best part of this book. I would have definitely loved to have seen more of the world-building and fairy world explored in the book.


Characters:
I loved Layla as a character! She was headstrong, defiant, fierce, bad ass and everything else you could want from a strong female lead. While you can definitely tell that she greatly suffers from being an outcast and also from her cràdh, she fights against her demons and ultimately grows and becomes a stronger fairy.

Unfortunately, the other characters just didn't interest me as much. Ian, Jack and Buzzard were all interesting in their own way, but they lacked that special unique spark of personality that I know and love so much from other fantasy books. I would have really liked it if the author would have explored more aspects of their detective operation and gotten into some more background in their lives, especially the history between Ian and Miranda. Their personas just lacked that special something, which is really a shame because a good chunk of this book focuses on their interactions.


Plot:
The plot itself was fine, although I would have preferred it to have explored some more environments than just that one underground cave where the Harvester was and the church. Most of our characters stay in one area for most of the book which (at least in my opinion) made the plot end up feeling a bit dragged and boring at some parts. The plot also sort of felt a bit repetitive, since most of the scenes either consisted of fighting off something with magic, worrying about the fairies, or discovering the underground cave. However, the saving of the fairies and finding out what was actually being done to them was definitely super exciting and was packed with a lot of action, which I really appreciated.

The twist at the end, where Ian gets turned into a dragon was probably the most shocking part of the book as I did not expect that to happen. Like, what even?! I'm really intrigued to see how that will develop in the following books and it definitely added a whole layer of excitement to the plot.


Closing thoughts:
I did enjoy reading this book, although it definitely could have done better in certain areas. Mostly, what really made this book stand out to me was the world-building (the mythology, the fairy history, Celtic roots, etc.) and Layla herself. The plot was alright but fell short in some ways. I would be interested in picking up the next book when it comes out though, since the ending of this book definitely sets up an interesting story for the sequel.

This was a phenomenal start to what I hope is a great series and I will be recommending this book for my libraries catalog.