I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this book! My opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise sounds great; a girl finding out she is a witch and travels to Ireland to find out about herself and the mysteries surrounding her birth. It reminded me a little of the Sweep series I used to love when I was younger.
However, while reading I quickly realised this book was not for me. I may not be the target audience - It irritated me that the main character made such rash decisions without any regard for her parents, other people or common sense, really. I know she is a teenager, but deciding to travel to Ireland overnight? Taking with you a friend you only talked to for a few hours that night?! By getting on a ship without a passport, even getting help from strangers who aren't even asking questions about smuggling minors across the ocean?!?
That's just... Not believable.
The main character is supposed to be 17, but acts like a 10 year old with temper tantrums. Not my kind of book, unfortunately.

I love fun paranormal witchy books and this one does not disappoint. McKenna finds out the truth on her 17th birthday, about herself and her mum, and sets on an adventure with her best friend. A fun and gripping book.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

An amazing witchy read, reminiscent of books such as "The Cruel Prince", that will plunge readers into magical lands and beautiful adventures! Celtic folklore is back thanks to Anglehart's story. I loved how the book went back and forth between McKenna's life in our own modern world's Massachusetts, where she's an awkward teenager trying to survive school, and her quest in 1991 Ireland. McKenna herself was quite an easy-to-love MC, who had the right amount of angst to pass as a teenager; and the right amount of relatability to connect with the reader.

Something that really stands out is the extensive research that the author must've carried out. The Irish terms and phrases sprinkled here and there were easy enough to understand and learn, and the historical details and folkloric elements were very well blended into the book's plot. The author was careful not to overload the story with the results of her research process, and delivered a whimsical, ethereal tale populated by lovely characters such as McKenna herself; her caring parents; her kickass best friend, Nissa; or the mysterious Cyllian.

This was another DNF title for me.

The premise sounded really promising and the beginning of the title was gripping but I felt like some of the elements in the story made this read less believable and harder to relate to. I enjoyed the first half, but after a certain point I just lost interest.

McKenna is thrust into a world she believed to be fantasy when her latent magical abilities begin to manifest on her seventeenth birthday. She learns that theres much more to the story of her origins than she was originally led to believe. She returns to her roots in Ireland to search for the truth and learn about herself along the way.

Your typical coming of age fantasy novel, with just a bit too much teenage angst for my tastes. But and interesting story.

The Wise One is a sweet, adventure-filled story about McKenna, who comes to find out some very shocking information about her birth mother on her 17th birthday. With a friend by her side, she travels to Ireland to face her fate. This was a fun read, and great for anyone interested in Celtic folklore. I would love to travel to Ireland even though I don't have any witchy family members! Anglehart's writing kept me intrigued from the first chapter -- and the book wasn't too long, which is always a nice change. Thoroughly enjoyed!

This story was an interesting take on a familiar trope. It’s the familiarity that lends to the lower rating. The direction the story is going is very clear very early on. The two dads is a taste of something new, but the plot twists are very visible. A fun story for someone just entering into the genre or looking for the comfort of the familiar.

Unfortunately, the protagonist was too unlikable for my taste. It also seemed that the whole story was just author's "My Tour of Ireland" journal in disguise of fantasy fiction. I guess less infodumping, more character action would have been nice.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and review. I have loved stories about Scotland. There is just something magical that draws me to the lore and mythology of that country. This book touches on that and that is what drew me in. Mckenna and her friend go on a trip to Scotland to find her mother after she gets some information that came from a nightmare that awakened something deep down inside of her. She wants answers and the only way she can get this is to find her birth mother. This is only the first book in the series I wonder what is going to happen next. I want to see what is in store for McKenna, Cillian, Abigail and the rest of the cast.

I really wanted to love this one, but there were quite a few places where the dialogue's punctuation and spacing were non-standard, leaving me confused as to who was talking. Other than that, the main character's "voice" slipped in places to alternate between far too grown-up and whiny preteen.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A very action packed and suspense filled story that would be good for any fans of fantasy and witchcraft. The story does become wild and outlandish at times, making it less credible.
An OK read.

The story is gripping as it continues but I personally struggled a lot to get into the story as I feel a disconnection from McKenna. Despite being able to sense emotions and view incidences, I feel her human empathy falls short in many places and continues as such through the story.

To me, the story was amazing but the character fell short in fulfilling the vast destiny and title assigned to it.

This Wise One was a pretty cute and quick book to dive into. It was a pleasant read and I really liked the concept of the story, especially the line about growing up and finding yourself. I had a bit of trouble with the pace of the book, some parts were slow and stretched out with no clear reason whilst there were some plot twists that were sprung on us so quickly that I couldn't understand how they had happened. Despite this I did enjoy the book and I found the magic really enjoyable. It was layered in with enough finesse that it felt like an authentic part of the story without feeling overbearing or forced.

The book did feel a little predictable and underwhelming at times. Nothing really happened for most of the book, apart from the journey to all the places, and so I found the cliff hanger ending to be rather abrupt and kind of rushed. I really hope that the characters grow in the next book and that there is more development because overall the story has potential.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The cover is simple but beautiful. The colors blend well together.

This book was well-written. The author definitely has a talent. I found the storyline easy to follow and unique in that it's not something I've read before.
The characters are deep and relatable in some way. I found myself rooting for McKenna in many ways.
Overall, I'd definitely read more books by this author.

I, a sucker for Celtic folklore/myths, thoroughly enjoyed this book! I loved all the nods to Irish culture, I've been a huge fan of the place ever since I visited and this book literally took me straight back!

I thought the pacing and story was great, with some plot-lines you'll either love or hate. I for one loved it and was pulled in from the start!

I felt there could've been a bit more development with the characters and relationships, but overall I am very impressed with the authors writing and will look forward to more of their work!

All opinions are my own, thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy.

I would rather count this book as a deeper look into Irish culture and folklores because I don't think I have ever picked up a book that could take me through some of interesting folklores and cultural sneak peaks as brilliantly done by this book. Of course then there is the story too that is filled with so many intriguing events.

To me the best part of the book was the small treasure of Irish culture and folklores. Then the book even goes on to give a tiny virtual tour of Ireland too and all this while taking forward the story that in itself throws so many surprises.

The book has a good pace and keeps the events rolling and perfectly sharp that you feel for the characters and events that is taking place. the narration is clear and levelled to match the story pace. Although there were certain aspects in the book that I felt was very conveniently falling into line to make it easier for the story flow. Then again I didn't care about it because I loved the story arc and how it had so many unexpected twists to make the book absolutely worth the time.

<img src="https://media0.giphy.com/media/10Fqq02NlCVeDu/giphy.gif"/>

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

I had high expectations when I first read this book. The beginning snagged me like no other, the concept was fascinating, and the world building seemed infinite.

Then I read the rest of the book and sighed in disappointment.

This book had so much potential, but it let me down.

I really connected with McKenna and Nissa. Their friendship is pretty solid, but throughout the book that fell apart. Also I really wanted to cheer for McKenna, but again, something fell apart as the story went on.

Some of her decisions didn't make sense, especially with trusting strangers. She trusted one complete stranger, but others she didn't. Yes, we are aware she has a certain magic, but it still didn't make sense. Especially with Nissa so naïve and trusting everybody. There was even a point in the story where McKenna practically tells us why she has trust issues, but then she still trusted other strangers?

I don't get it.

I also don't understand why the plot happened the way it did. It just didn't make much sense. There was even a point where both of the main characters state that things just happened so easily for them.

I mean, really, that speaks for itself.

There were multiple times where stuff just happened easily for them, especially when getting from place to place. They are teenagers in a foreign land and things just happen to line up just right to help them get to where they need to go?

I'm sorry, but no.

There was one plot convenience where it totally made sense. But when it keeps happening like three to four times, that's where it crossed a line.

I will fully admit that the author tried to explain why things just kept happening to them, but gave us two very wildly different explanations. One where Nissa basically said, if you have good vibes then things just happen for you.

I wanted to scream since that is just not true. I don't really want to go to this place, but I know if I think it, then others might think it too. Now the main two characters are white American females. Yet I'm an African American female and think of the countless times that is just not true for me and countless others. Let's just say I've had many good and bad experiences overseas and just because I had good vibes, that didn't make a ton of difference. I'm still African American overall.

I know the author didn't intend to make this statement sound kinda privileged, but it came across that way. Intentions matter, but that whole thought just rubbed me the wrong way. Especially since Nissa isn't like that, but her statement came across as a privileged American brat.

Another reason the author gave us, sounded good on paper. Again, I cannot tell you otherwise I would spoil it, but let's just say it's a typical fantasy reason. I just didn't buy it, but I get the direction that the author was going.

Again, great ideas, but just not executed very well.

Another qualm I had with this book was the love interest. There wasn't any chemistry between McKenna and her love interest. Yes, they sat very close. And yes, Nissa screamed about how hot he really was.

But McKenna didn't trust him and held back information from him so . . . I'm suppose to believe that somehow, despite the underlying mistrust between these two characters, that they have feelings for each other?

That's a nope from me, chief.

Another problem that arised is the side quest, or the subplot. Now this subplot about the fathers, Abby and McKenna could have been interesting. At first, I was curious about the relationship between the two fathers and McKenna's mother, but after a while, I just didn't care.

I can't put my finger on why.

The author is constantly shifting point of views between three characters. One of which is Sean, McKenna's dad. There were times I was curious to see what was going on as the parent of McKenna, then there were other times where I sighed and got annoyed that his story interrupted McKenna's story. Especially near the end.

I get that he is an important character, but I feel like the side quest with Sean could have slowly faded away.

I will fully admit I am not keen on pov shifts anyway. I like to stick to one character and their story. I have seen it done pretty well with Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (and in the Sin Eater's Daughter trilogy) and it really helped that the two characters were so tonally different from one another.

However, for this book it was completely different. I just felt like Sean's story interfered too much with the main plot (and it caused major plot pacing issues). I didn't mind the High Priestess point of view though. I found that interesting. Maybe it was too many pov shifts? Again, I wish I could figure out why but I digress.

The last important thing to note is the setting. I thought this book was taking place in 2020. It was published recently, the synopsis didn't mention that it took place in a different time.

However, I found out quickly that this is taking place in multiple time spans. Sometimes it takes place in the 1970's, but most of this plot is taking place in the 90's.

Now normally this wouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't even notice, but the author made effort to tell us about when people were born, but failed to mention that we are not in the current time. In fact, I was constantly questioning myself like Why is McKenna using an Encyclopedia? Hasn't this girl heard of Google? Why are they writing notes and not using their cellphones? Why are they looking at old newspapers? Couldn't they just use the digital archives or digital copy of the newspapers? Where is the internet and etc.

It really threw me off and I just wish the author would have stated in the beginning that this is taking place in a different time. Since, believe it or not, the 90's was thirty years ago. I think addressing the elephant in the room would have helped me see this world a little clearer and definitely would have helped clear up the confusion.

The author did drop a hint that maybe the next book will take place in 2010, but again, why not mention it in the beginning that hey people, this book takes place in the 90's? I don't get it.

Anyway, I wish I would have loved this book, but I didn't. I was really debating how I would rate this book from 1 to five stars. If I could, I would probably rate this at a 2.5 since it has potential, but alas Goodreads begs to differ. Overall, I cannot recommend this book to others. I would suggest another book for people who love a good young adult fantasy book.

I tried really hard to like this enough to read the whole thing, but to be honest I read the beginning like 6 different time over the course of a few months and just could not get myself to read it. By the time I actually did get father than that, I stuck it out until about chapter 6 before I gave up again. There’s just something about it, the writing, the characters, or maybe the dialogue that just doesn’t click for me. I’m not sure how old the author is but it feels like it was written by a teenager, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but might be for a younger audience than me. I might’ve liked this book more if I had read less YA Fantasy novels or if I was in middle school. I don’t know. I don’t want to say it was bad because it didn’t read the whole thing, but I probably won’t ever go back to finish it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Listen y'all, combine Ireland and any mention of fate or adventure and you have my complete and undivided attention. I was psyched to get approved for this one on Netgalley (many thanks to the publisher!) and absolutely devoured it.
If you have any interest at all in Ireland or Celtic folklore (which is just my bread and butter), and you're looking for your next YA fantasy ready, I highly recommend this one! McKenna is a normal girl with a very complex ancestry that is slowly pulling her into an entirely different world. The author expertly twists these two realities together throughout the story, creating a story where the reader's attention is captured constantly. I will say it did move a bit slow at some points, and there were some points where the author strayed a bit out of the realm of reality, but this is YA and that happens frequently.
All in all, I definitely recommend this one, especially for my fellow Irish/Celtic story lovers out there.