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

I am obsessed with this book! The characters mesmerized me. Mae is unsure of herself, servile, and pining for a different life. I love that she isn't in the mold of so many YA protagonists. The Prosper family brought the magic from the island to the world beyond and are wealthy, privileged, and carefree - except for when they're brooding, obsessing, and manipulating others. For as much as the other Prosper members enjoy extravagance, Ivo is an outsider within his own family. No one understands him as he lurks around the island.

Mae's lonely life revolves around the few times her best friend Coco returns to visit the island and her love of Miles, the brooding, bastard grandson of Lord Prosper. When Mae is cornered into a deal meant to help the Prosper family, her life changes. Will she get the magic she's always wanted? What about love?

I recommend this book! It's the best I've read this year! I would call it literary fantasy.

I will add a content warning of some alcohol and drug abuse mentioned, suicide mentioned, and people mistreating others. I don't want to be more specific and give spoilers.

Bright Ruined Things is a brilliant retelling of The Tempest. Its artistry is impeccable. At its core is a wonderful and incredibly rich fantasy novel, so well built and fast paced that I wasn't able to put it down till I reached the end. I was absolutely captivated by the atmosphere, and the characters.

This novel submerges the reader in a landscape so imaginative and detailed that the information of the world building/plot never feels forced, and is never difficult to understand or picture in one's mind. I had an enjoyable time reading this and it held my attention the entire way through that I finished it within the day! I enjoyed every page and thought that the plot/story was very unique. Would recommend to anyone!

This was a fun retelling of the Taming of the Shrew - or so I have been told (not having read it). All I know is that it was a dark yet really enjoyable book.

The author did an amazing job of world building. I could see this island and the people on it. I could feel the tension build and build. I kept turning the pages to see what would happen next.

Funny enough, although I thought the author kept describing Ivo in a negative way, I had a soft spot for him. So she did an excellent job making him odd by likeable. As for Mae, the main character - I loved her. At first I thought she was a doormat, then I thought she was a conniving witch, then I thought she was spelled and couldn't help it - I really had a hard time grasping her true nature, which made this more fun.

Thank you to the author #SamanthaCohoe the publisher, and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review in any way (you should see some of my reviews).

Forbidden magic, a family secret, and a night to reveal it all...

This book was spectacular! I loved this fantastical place Cohoe created! I could see everything clearly in my mind as I read, and the plot was written so well. I could connect to the characters, and the book had me wanting to read faster and faster. I loved all the magic woven into this story. Ivo and Mae were my favorite characters. A great read!

This book reimagines the ambition and destruction of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

The Prosper family has all the glitz and glamour and magic that Mae, the steward's daughter, desperately desires. But their wealth comes from the labor of spirits. Spirits produce the fuel from the wells, maintain the properties and even provide music that's constantly on the air.

Best friends with one Prosper, Coco, and in love with another, Miles, Mae worries that she doesn't mean as much to them as they mean to her, and she despairs of having a permanent home on the magical island. Miles and Mae make some discoveries that lead them to believe that the magic that runs the island may not be as innocent as they're led to believe. But then Mae's offered an unexpected chance to marry the wrong Prosper and has some hard choices to make.

The author creates a fascinating magical world on the island. The spoiled, selfish, troubled Prospers and desperate Mae create an explosive combination in this fast-paced drama.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book.

This is definitely something that I can see my students enjoying! It kept my interest and was a cool retelling!

This retelling was interesting and very atmospheric. The main character was frustrating at times, but overall the story kept me interested.

Bright Ruined Things is a 1920's take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It's such a fun and unique story that I was completely immersed in. I normally struggle with fantasy books but I loved this one. The author has the ability to completely sweep you away with her storytelling. The story isn't hard to follow and the magic is just sprinkled in throughout which just made for a dazzling tale. Bright Ruined Things is the best book I've read this year!

So I'm not the person to compare this 1920s retelling to the original The Tempest. It was not one of the Shakespeare stories that I had to read in high school, so I'm not sure what was taken from the original story. The bulk of this novel takes place on a mysterious magical island run by the wealthy Prosper family with outcast orphan Mae as the main character. Mae has never left the island and has been surrounded by her adoptive family's magic since her father's death as a young child. She has been desperate to be truly included in the Prosper family instead of being treated between a servant/charity case. Mae finds her place in the world as she is forced to confront her shifting reality and unravels the sinister secrets of the Prosper family's power and wealth. She reveals the dark side to this paradise island while coming into her own person separate from the Prosper family's influence. This YA story was a lot of fun and completely immersive, I just did not want to leave the island and its characters. It also made me curious to check out the original The Tempest next.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for my copy.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the story and its setting. As I was reading I felt like I was on the island with Cohoe's characters. The character's were great too. There were some disagreeable characters but it worked the story.
The only thing I disliked was the wordage. It felt like the novel was going between modern language and language that was used earlier (maybe during the time the Tempest was written). Even though the book was mostly written in today's wordage, those sporadic moments where it was not would through me off.
Overall I enjoyed reading the book, and I believe this book would make a good addition to my classroom library next year.

I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like this book after I started since I didn’t like Mae too much, but I liked her character development growth and came to really like and cheer her on. The side characters were all rather interesting, albeit a bit annoying at times. I just wished we had gotten some more scenes with Ivo and Sebastian since they seemed to be the most interesting side characters and not as selfish and frustrating as the others.

One thing that really didn’t sit well with me was the age difference between Mae and Ivo, especially since it was hinted that he had liked her for awhile.. but she was 18 and him 24, which meant that he as a grown man had been into someone underage. As for the story I really did find it interesting and wanted to keep reading in order to find out what was happening and what were all the secrets that were being kept. This was a pretty solid read and while my overall rating would likely be a 3.5 stars I’m rounding it up to 4 stars for the review process.

It took me a while to become invested in the story and I had a hard time piecing everything together in the beginning as it felt like I was missing something. I thought that Mae was a boring doormat of a character and Miles was just...meh. Actually, pretty much all the Prospers were terrible and it was hard to drum up any sympathy for them. Ivo was the one character with the most promise but hw didn't get enough play in the story. I also wanted more references to the 1920's other than the reference to the bob hairstyle and the novelty of Coco's plane flying. Overall I liked the novel but I feel like more could have been done with it.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

William Shakespeare is one of my favorite playwrights . His ability to draw you into a world full of so many different topics is inspiring. He inspires me-his ability to connect with all of his readers.

Bright Ruined Things had The Tempest vibes going and once I found out it was based on that play I knew I was going to love it. It is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays other than Much Ado about Nothing. What’s better than a play about pirates, shipwrecks and magic? A book about all those things and more haha. This book was full of finding balance between magic and knowing when to use and when to not.

This was a brilliant retelling, it had been some time since I’ve last read or seen the play but as soon as I started reading this book, it all came rushing back to me.

I loved Mae-seeing her become more confident and sure of herself throughout this entire book.

I really loved this book! The characters were very interesting and relatable. I really enjoyed where the author took the story. Great book!

Imagine yourself at the era of 20s, trapped in an island where the magic controls the entire area and poor spirits who serve for the best benefits of their master are in danger as the notorious family members scheming against each other and keeping so many deadly secrets.

Tempest is one of the last and underrated, unknown plays of Shakespeare play centered on an island and a deadly power and revenge game of sorcerer Prospero lives with his daughter Miranda( like our MC Mae: but she’s not the daughter of the master, she’s just an orphan who wants to learn magic and be part of the family she strongly connected with, having long time crush in Miles: family’s bastard son) and two servants Ariel ( as like Aeris in this book) and Caliban.

At the beginning of play shipwrecked crew find themselves confused and strangled at the strange island in the midst of the storm and at second act we learn Prospero conjured the storm for his great scheme avenge King of Maples Alanso, and his brother Antonio.

After reading the entire plot line: only similarities with the play seem like events centered on island, the servants are reluctant spirits with name similarities. But that’s all. Rest of it reminds you of juicy soap opera about inglorious self centered, power thirsty family members including Lord Prosper and his son and Ivo are powerful magicians.

Mae was born on this island and her deceased father was loyal servant of the family. Now she’s about to become 18, living in the charity of the family, never left the island and she yearns to become a member of family because of her intense feelings to Miles and she also forms a unique friendship with Coco.

The eldest son Ivo was once upon a time her close friend but when she’s caught as she was secretly stealing one of his sorcerer books, they had a big fight and their friendship were over. Now she’s intimidated by him and the worst part is the family pushes her to marry with him unless she wants to find another place to stay and leave the island urgently.

Things I enjoyed about my reading : Shakespearean intriguing web of lies around the family: everybody has secret agenda, acting behind back of each other.

Action packed last third and the rational conclusions about each character’s stories are well wrapped up.

World building,the chaotic mechanism of Magic’s working were interesting and well developed.

But...
I hate nearly all of the characters including Mae. At the second half I started to tolerate her because finally she stopped acting like spineless doormat and started taking action, standing for herself but she still tried to make a deal with wrong partner which proved how naive, impulsive she was but it was normal because she never left the island, broadening her horizons and she was still 18.

Ivo was so far my favorite character and his emphasis on the entire storyline was so strong but I wish I could read more about him instead of army of spoiled brats, narcissistic douchebag, one dimensional characters! I hated the entire Prosper clan.

I also enjoyed the presence of Sebastian and I wished he would be part of the story at the beginning.

I never supported team Maeles ( Mae-Miles): Mae was so in love with her at the risk of losing her dignity and Miles was using him to replace Ivo’s place from the beginning.

Poor Ivo was the only mature one who carries the burden of big secret but there’s a possibility he must be a wanker (it’s implied he has a long time crush for Mae. He is 7 years older than her which is normal but Mae just recently became 18! WTH dude, you were the only one I supported as the most layered character of the book)

Overall: the conclusion of the book and the world building was great but I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I wished all of them death instead of Ivo so you may guess my wishes didn’t come true!

I’m still rounding up 3.5 stars to 4 because of the strong potential, gothic atmosphere, the creative construction of spirits!

Normally I gave three stars when I read a book with worst kind of characters but the conclusion was truly satisfying and I have to admit this book was better than the debut book of the author.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

A beautiful cover, an interesting premise and a lackluster plot.

“Bright Ruined Things” follows Mae as she eagerly awaits for the return of her friends Coco and Miles to the island she calls home only to she stumble into an engagement with the wrong Prosper grandson. With her attention focused on climbing the social ladder she quickly finds that things are not as they appear and the magic she so desperately craves may cast a shadow over a much darker secret.

Let’s start with what I enjoyed.

Mae was an interesting character and not one I feel I’ve had a chance to read a lot on ya fiction in that she has almost like what would appear as a villain origin story but it’s really just her standing up for herself and making moves no one expects her to do which was a lot of fun to read. Seeing her go from childlike and naive about the world as a whole to someone not afraid to speak her truth was the highlight of the novel.

That being said everything else fell kind of flat? The accompanying characters were rather basic and two dimensional which was a great disappointment when it came to Ivo who I kept waiting to have his moment but he remains off screen so to speak for a majority of the book and it felt like a waste of what could have been a great character. The magic system was weak and I’m not quite sure how it all worked outside of the climax but that too pairs with the cover which is selling this 20s like fantasy novel only there’s no real tie to any time period which was a shame.

There appears to be an attempt to have a conversation about larger issues some of which I don’t think in the correct reviewer to speak on but I would love to pick the brain of other reviewers who have had a chance to read this so there’s no risk of spoilers either.

Not sure about this one I think with a few more drafts it could have really been a hit but instead I’m left disagreeing with the official synopsis in that I expect to have forgotten this novel by tomorrow morning.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Bright and Ruined Things is a retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” that is set in the 1920s. You’ve got enchanted galas, you’ve magic islands, you’ve got rich families with secrets, and most importantly you’ve got a heroine who clawing her way up from the servants quarters. The world building was done beautifully. Something I particularly liked about this book was the pacing.

I found Mae frustrating at first when reading this book simply due to how she let people walk all over her. However I loved her development and arc as she became less naive and more outspoken.

In terms of the main relationship, if you could even call it that... I wish I could say I liked Mae and Miles but with me it just fell flat. I honestly didn’t really find myself rooting for them and it felt as though he was using her a lot of the time. I was fine with the result of their relationship because honestly it made the most sense and it was best for Mae.

In terms of Ivo, to me, he felt like the most compelling character in the book. However, something that felt weird to me was the fact that it was hinted that he had romantic feelings for Mae, when he’s 7 years older than her and she was just turning 18. Personally this reminded me a lot of Thomas and June from Legend by Marie Lu.

I’m kind of conflicted on how to rate this book because while the plot and world building was great, the characters were really disappointing and I didn’t feel as though I connected with any of them.

Book Review for Bright Ruined Things
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

After enjoying Cohoe's debut last year, I was eagerly anticipating this book, even though I haven't seen The Tempest in years and remembered only the bare bones of the story. However, I didn't expect to fall so head over heels in love with this book!

The world building is gripping and the storyline so well crafted I was kept guessing the whole was through. The writing style had me completely enthralled, and I was never completely sure which characters I liked and which I didn't!

There was nothing predictable about this book, and that's a big part of why I loved it and felt so drawn in. I wholeheartedly recommend picking it up!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me a complimentary advanced copy of Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe in exchange for my honest review.

**4.5/5 stars to be exact

Bright Ruined Things is a 1920s style re-imagining of the The Tempest, that definitely serves Gatsby vibes at time. A thrilling ride from start to finish I read this one in less that 12 hours. All Mae has ever known is the island and the magical family that inhabits. Mae strives to feel like she has a place among the Prospers, but perhaps what she wants more than belonging, more than love, is magic and the power that comes with it. A dark, yet glittering YA fantasy/mystery tale Bright Ruined Things explores themes of home, love, family and power.

Cohoe does an amazing job creating a truly atmospheric journey for the reader and the way information is revealed allows the reader to grow alongside the troubled heroine. Though I had not read The Tempest since high school and did not remember it, that did not damper my reading experience by any means. I love books in which each character has a flaw, and the characters here were so complex and vibrant. A complex mystery also kept me racing through this book until the very end. I had very few problems with this book but I will note them. I wish that the romantic intentions had been a little clearer. I get the ambiguous romance Cohoe was going for but the ever shifting intentions did make it hard to truly root for either romance at the end. Lord Prosper could definitely benefit from a little more development to make him a more formidable villain. I also really hope this book gets a sequel because while the ending was somewhat satisfying it was still just ambiguous enough to make me want more