I received an ARC of TWIN DAGGERS thanks to the publisher through NetGalley.

TWIN DAGGERS is a techy, magic-filled Romeo and Juliet.

Aissa and Zandria, her twin, are special even in an already special world. They can use magic on unnatural objects, like metal, something Magi are not supposed to be able to do. Embracing any type of unnatural things is believed to taint them all because of the wars that occurred between the Magi and Technocrats that nearly eliminated the magic-users completely. The non-magical technos were cursed by the Magi at the end of the last war, causing children to start being born without hearts. Thanks to their advanced technology, technos were able to save the children through implanting a mechanic heart that is powered with poison. Over a year that poison corrodes the heart and seeps into the Heartless forcing them to undergo another surgery to get a new heart. With all of these surgeries and complications that come with the poison the Heartless have immensely shortened lifespans. Not that the twins care. Technos are the reason their people are in hiding and forced to work as spies. Only the death of the Technos (especially the King, Queen, and secret heir) can save the Magi, so who cares about a few Heartless children? But then Aissa sees the effects of the poison and realizes how important it is to find a new power source for the heart. Thankfully, Aro comes along to help her with that.

TWIN DAGGERS shattered my heart in a few places and then healed it in others. There are such warm moments followed by murder and murder followed by some of the most smile worthy developments. This book had the perfect mixture of action, fantasy, and drama/romance?. You grow to love the characters so quickly and the family bonds are powerful. I am desperately hoping for a sequel because I am currently broken.

I really liked the concept of this story, the magi vs the technocrats, which have more in common than they realize. I wish there was a bit more description for the machines that the technocrats use, I think cars are mentioned but other than the parade animals I feel like theres not enough of the bigger picture of how the machines are used in the world. Same with the magic, we only get a small sample of spells that are used over and over.

The romance was pretty predictable but I still enjoyed it and there were still some things I didnt guess right away.

I wish we could have seen some other POVs, Zandrias especially.

The ending is definitely a cliffhanger, and I look forward to reading a part 2!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an e-ARC for an honest review. Sadly, I do not have many positive things to communicate about this particular title.

The plot synopsis of Twin Daggers sounded intriguing, but the resultant work failed to deliver on the shiny, abbreviated promise. It moved at a glacial pace, lacked necessary backstory, and was peopled by prosaic, one-dimensional characters. I doggedly read the first 20% but commenced skimming until the precipitous cliffhanger was revealed on the last page. The plots twists were predictable, and the story was too deficient to properly engage my reading senses. I will not continue with this series.

I really, really wanted to love Twin Daggers. There was so much potential with this book: magic, conspiracy, enmity between the Magi and the Technocrats, a twin bond between Aissa and Zandria, romance, the Heartless (an especially intriguing aspect). Unfortunately, none of these aspects fully developed in a way I hoped. This book was very slow-moving for me, and when it finally seemed like the story would pick up, it fizzled out again.

Furthermore, the world-building as well as character building was lacking for me. I didn't care for Aissa all that much, Zandria and Remy almost felt like superfluous characters, and Aro seemed especially underdeveloped for me. Maybe I would've felt differently if we could have gotten his perspective; I find it more and more difficult to enjoy books with a single point of view.

Even though Aissa is a Magi and Aro is a Technocrat, I don't really see why Twin Daggers is marketed as a Romeo and Juliet retelling. If I hadn't read that, I doubt I would have made the connection. Also, this does not compare to Marissa Meyer at all. I'm specifically thinking of the Lunar Chronicles....just no.

To finish it off, this book ends with a cliffhanger. I'm not sure where the storyline is going or how it will sustain itself, and I'm not sure I care.

***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley.***

This was thoroughly. enjoyable, with original world-building, engaging characters, and a believable romance. It promises to be the first of a series. - at least I hope there's a continuation of the story - and I'll look forward to any sequels.

I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and were not affected by the free copy.

Aissa and Zandria are Magi, a supposedly extinct group of magic users, in a world where technology rules. During the day, they are Technocrats, excited for their future; but at night, they are spies plotting the downfall of the Technocrats and get their revenge.

I was very excited for this book. First, look at that cover-absolutely stunning. Second, magic vs. technology? Exactly what I imagine would happen. Aissa and Zandria really are twin daggers. Where one is weak, the other is strong. Aissa struggles hiding her contempt for Technos, Zandria thrives on the manipulation. Zandria is too enthusiastic, Aissa is able to reign her back.

The Romeo and Juliet vibe is not very strong, which I really enjoyed. The romance grew over time, no insta-love drove me insane in R&J. For the most part, I liked Aissa's character. She was strong and dedicated to her family and the cause. However, she was not close-minded, so she was able to grow. She was also naive, completely oblivious to the happenings around her. Zandria was a little annoying, because I'm the serious, quiet type. That much enthusiasm in one person is too much for me. The plot was a bit obvious, I was never surprised by what was happening. Didn't stop me from reading though. I look forward to the sequel, that was quite the cliff hanger.

What a great read! The world and magic system in this world is refreshing and unique. If you are a gamer, you might understand when I say that this book gave me Horizon Zero Dawn vibes with the relationship between organic matter and technology. However, I really have not read a story quite like this one.

The first half of the book sets up the world and explains the motivations for the main characters. We learn that Aissa's people, the Magi, have been killed to nearly extinction and they have been growing for the last 100 years to take their revenge on the evil Technocrats. About halfway through the book, Zandria is captured and while Aissa spends her time trying to find and save her, she quickly learns more about the history of her people and the ancient war only to find out that not all is as it is told in both the Technocrat AND Magi history books.

Aissa is the narrator of the story and I enjoyed her character. She is smart and tough however not so close-minded that she doesn't grow throughout the story. Since this is marketed as a Romeo and Juliet fantasy retelling of sorts, you can guess that since Aissa is a Magi, she falls in love with a boy who is a Technocrat. It is not very subtle and the twist is pretty obvious however I didn't feel that it took away from the story for me. The world and discoveries were more than enough to keep me interested!

I feel bad, because I wanted to like this. There was magic, a twin sister bond, and romance, but it just didn't play out like I hoped. The plot was really slow and I had a difficult time staying engaged. The twists were fairly predictable and I got frustrated with Aissa for not seeing who was betraying her.

I did like Aissa and Zandria's relationship, especially with them being twins and very close. Zandria could be irritating, they're spies but she finds a cute guy and tells him everything then gets taken. Hmm, who could have seen that coming? The romance with Aro had some cute moments and I did like him, even though he's a Technocrat. There's a lot of prejudice between the two groups, so I get that he had his own ideas about the Magi. He was kind and really liked Aissa, I felt bad that she was lying to him. I do get where the Romeo and Juliet retelling comes from, with them caring for each other, but I wouldn't necessarily market it as such.

I understand what the author was trying to do, but other than Aissa and Aro, I didn't care much about the characters and the plot seemed too predictable. Mostly my issue was pacing, if it had moved quicker than I might not have minded the other things as much. The ending was very open and had almost no resolution, so I would think there will be a sequel.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It took me forever and a day to get through this. No I'm not being completely dramatic but damn did this book drag on and on.

Twin Daggers started off on a pretty good start. Then about halfway through I was finally getting hints about this being a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Not much but a hint is something, I guess. I continuously hoped and prayed that things would pick up for me but unfortunately I was completely bored throughout the book.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how I made it through this book. Or how other people rated it so highly.. maybe we read a different version? I will say it had it's ups and downs but once we got to something somewhat exciting or intriguing it just suddenly became boring. I felt like I was dragged throughout this entire book by the slowest sloth ever known to man.

In the end, it had so much potential to be amazing. Or maybe even likable. Yet, I was bored and disappointed throughout the entire book.

This book wasn’t really my thing personally, but I can see it really appealing to some of my students.

Forbidden love, spies, high stakes. For the right reader, this will be just their cup of tea. That right reader is sadly not me. The characters just weren’t fleshed out enough for me to really care what happened to any of them.

Hopefully there will be a sequel though, because that right reader will be very annoyed at the cliffhanger ending if there isn’t.

Aissa and Zandria are twin sisters with a secret--they are Magi, a people with magical abilities who almost got wiped out due to the technological advances of the Technocrats. However, they have another secret that is much more dangerous--their magic can be used on the very technology that killed their people. The girls are spies in the capitol Technocrat city along with their parents. For the sake of their people, the girls take on a mission while pursuing their own goals at the same time. Aissa usually has no problem following orders, but a certain Technocrat is making it harder for her to follow through. What is the most important to her: family, orders, or love?

This book was a pretty interesting take on a Romeo and Juliet type of story. I had a hard time getting into the story at first due to all the information about the Magi vs. Technocrats that I had to read through. Once I got past that, I thoroughly enjoyed the story! Aissa is such a strong, level-headed character. I really liked watching her wrestle with her duty and her heart. I don't want to spoil anything so I can't discuss my favorite character, but the side characters in this story are also very likable! The whole concept of the Magi was fascinating and I hope to see the characters learn more in the next book. Ultimately, this was a great fantasy romance and I'm looking forward to the next book!

Author MarcyKate Connolly started with a wonderful concept; a spin on Romeo and Juliet which puts magic users against the seemingly futuristic Technocrats. Twin sisters with magic talent and deception skills, and two handsome, age-appropriate guys; one on each side (one Magi, one Technocrat) and the setup is enough to draw in most readers of YA, Fantasy, re-tellings, and futuristic sci-fi.

I found this book to be an easy read that kept me interested throughout. The plot was decent, and the mc’s were likable. A little predictable at parts but it’s a fantasy novel and that’s to be expected.

Overall I recommend.

The very first line of Twin Daggers drew me in. I was immediately captivated by the story of two girls on the search for something important to their people, the Magi. Unfortunately, that interest dimmed a little the more I read.

Aissa and Zandria are both interesting characters, but to me, Aissa was a little boring. There was just something about her that I couldn’t really connect with. The overall tone of the book, however, was interesting and the writing very good. I could see elements of Romeo and Juliet in the book, and I did like how the whole romance thing didn’t really start right away.

The plot was very well written. I found it to be intriguing and I wanted to know what would happen next. I just didn’t connect with the book the way I thought I would. It was good, but not enough for me to be excited to read a sequel.

Despite my feelings, I would definitely recommend Twin Daggers more to lovers of steampunk than lovers of fantasy, though both could read it and still enjoy the story. I would also recommend the book to lovers of Marissa Meyer and anyone who loves retellings and the tale of Romeo and Juliet.

An excellent YA fantasy. The cover art is fantastic and preludes the exciting content inside perfectly. I look forward to more content from this author and within this world!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Magi? Spies? Daggers? Magic? A wonderful world? OMG....this novel had everything for me! The idea of a technocrat? Want to know what one is? Well, pick up a copy of TWIN DAGGERS!!!!!!!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Wow, this book was really enjoyable. I wasn't expecting to like this so much, but the magic and story line had me hooked until the very end. I liked how it was a quick read and the writing style was easy to comprehend. I like a quick story once in a while.

I will definitely read a sequel if there is one planned! I need more Aissa and Aro.

Myscical and fantastic. Twin Daggers is a book I hadn't heard much about but requested because of the beautiful cover. I didn't expect to be so taken with the book but honestly it was sweeeping and fantastical.

I really enjoyed this, however, there were a few reasons why I'm giving it four stars rather than five.

The writing style was good. I don't like first-person perspective because it's rarely ever written in such a way that it's not constantly there reminding you, repeating 'I this, I that, I the other', which I find to grate. However, I didn't have that problem with this book at all, which was a refreshing change. I think the writing was really quite well, the style fit the story, and the present tense, which I prefer, keeps the pace going nicely along. There were a few things about the writing that did get a little redundant after a while, though, and that's repetition throughout pertaining to constant reminders of the plot whenever something new happens. I understand that if something takes place in the first chapter and it gets to the half-way point a gentle reminder might be in order, subtly woven in there, but certain things were repeated over and over at least once a chapter. Reminders of the Techno-Magi war, for example, how dangerous this is or how secret that is, or that there's a missing library and how hateful the Techno people are, etc.. It wasn't so over-done that I gave up on the whole thing, but it did get a little irritating after a while, it was like reading and re-reading the same thing over and over throughout the whole thing. Info dumps aren't good at the best of times, but repeatedly does hinder the story a little, however small the info dumps are. Other than that, though, the writing itself wasn't an issue for me, though on the copy of the book that I received a lot of paragraphs were mashed together making it difficult to follow who was saying what at times - I can only assume this won't be an issue come the official publishing.

Considering what the story is about and how integral the twins are to it, I did expect to see more of Zandria despite it being from Aissa's point of view, especially seeing as the two of them are told to us to be really close as identical twins - it would have been nice to have seen a bit more of it before everything goes down. There were times when it was quite easy to forget Zandria even existed, she seemed to insignificant in places, and I understand there were times she obviously couldn't be around, but the rest of the time she could have made more appearances.

One thing that really niggled me about this story, as it tends to with a lot of others I've read, is that this is a story based in a fantasy / steampunk / AU-dystopian world, and yet sexism is still quite pronounced. Early into the book we're told that the father is the fighter, the one who knows weapons and fighting techniques, and the mother is the herb gatherer and healer; the cook. It might be nice to have those roles reversed every once in a while. This is a world that doesn't reflect our own, after all. And there's also the issue of Leon and how he treats Aissa when she gets her apprenticeship with him, the comment about how he's been sent a girl this time around, and how he undermines her at every turn, making her pretty much beg for approval of her good work and falling short even when he does compliment her. In a completely other world outside of our own, I would one day love to read a book where everyone is treated equal unless there's a plot-purpose to a certain group of people not being so.

But the plot itself? I was hooked from the beginning and gripped by it the whole way through. Somehow I missed the fact that it was a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet, but I worked it out pretty early on at a guess, anyway, and I'm glad for it - if I'd read that beforehand, I might not have been as bothered by it, but it was a unique take on it and however much there was a romance connection here or there, and however much it might have woven into and around the main plot, it never really took over from it - it built on it and upped the stakes, making the overall plot more exciting. I was really pleased with that, as I'm not big into purely romance books, and I hate when a good plot starts, but is then overtaken by an instant romance and the plot falls by the wayside, so that was a nice surprise.

I liked Aissa, even if she did start out a bit too much of a worrier to the point where it made her constantly cautious and wise, etc., she came into her own as the plot thickened and the danger grew, and although we were mostly told Zandria was the opposite, we didn't see it much, and once she was rescued at the end she was like a completely different person, which is understandable to a point. Again, she didn't get much page time even then. I hated Remy from the get-go, but he was the kind of character you enjoy hating and not one that was just hated because they were that awful, which is never a bad thing - he can never be trusted in my eyes, and I'm glad Aissa pretty much stuck with that - I guessed the Romeo and Juliet elements through him, guessing him to be the Paris character of the story (or, I guess, co-Paris role since Darian kind of fits as well). Aro was intriguing from the start, and although I did guess who he might be before the big reveal came, making it somewhat predictable (the re-telling aspect obviously giving it away as well, anyway), it was written so well that guessing beforehand didn't take away from the enjoyment of the story or how it all played out. The King didn't seem to be an actual character, and what we saw of the Queen was a character to hate, so it might be nice to see more of them in the sequel, especially knowing what we do now, and same with other Magi characters.

I loved the bits of the plot where we got to see what the Techno's technology was about, learning bits and pieces through Aissa's work, and the Heartless, but it would, again, have been nice to see more from their point of view, especially since we were told they were all sickly children who didn't live long while Aro never seemed ill at all. I think between the plot and the romance, there wasn't much room for seeing other characters and aspects outside of the main character, and so we were only told and not shown what development was going on - this is understandable to a point when it's first-person, but it seemed like there were plenty of chances to squeeze things in and around it. The parents weren't in much, either, and especially not the dad, and the fact there were so many more secrets than we were first lead to believe in the family and how there are so many questions left around that - I do hope the sequel sheds light on all of these unanswered questions and threads that were left hanging.

I haven't read anything quite like this in a while, so it made reading this refreshing, the plot was gripping, the characters, however few we saw, were interesting and more or less stood by themselves, the romance was tied heavily to the plot, though not overshadowing it, and the plot kept up a nice pace and left enough excitement to keep things interesting. It was a good story, and when I finished, I did wonder if there would be more from this little world, so I was glad to read there would be a sequel at some point in the future. I would most definitely love to read that when it's available, and this is a book I will probably re-read at one point or another.

An enjoyable read about two sisters who are powerful Magi, living undercover in a world run by the Technocrats. Told from the point of view of Aissa, we see the love she has for her sister and parents, her loyalty for the cause, but also her compassion. Zandria is the more daring of them, but they are stronger together have have to keep their true abilities a secret from all. Assia meets a Technocrat, Aro, who is more than he appears. However, deception is a common theme in this novel and many are keeping secrets along with ulterior motives. Assia goes undercover and tries to get information for the Magi Council, but never expected all she would discover. When Zandria is discovered, Assia will go above and beyond to save her, regardless of her current assignment orders. Assia finds out more about the Magi and the past as well as the truth to finding the cure for the Heartless. Her loyalties will be tested and she will have to become something more.
I received this novel from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.