To be transparent, I’ve never read The Tempest, William Shakespeare’s play that Bright Ruined Things retells, so I can’t speak to the novel’s ability to repurpose elements from the original material. However, I can say that while this novel started off slow, the ending thrilled me, as did the characters’ developmental arcs.

Throughout the novel, I couldn’t decipher many of the characters’ emotions or motivations because lies and secrets surround every family member. At first, this frustrated me, but I came to enjoy their peculiarities—Mae’s naivety due to her insular upbringing on the island, Coco’s off-beat ways of dressing and showing her friendship, Apollonia’s coldness around everyone except Sebastien (their relationship actually reminded me of Mermista and Sea Hawk from She-ra and the Princesses of Power).

Mae’s character growth was especially rewarding. As an introvert, I easily related to her timidness and self-consciousness, even if there were times when I still wanted to yell at her for being such a pushover. Her infatuation with the Prospers irked me, though I understand that her confinement gave her no choice but to latch onto the only consistent company she had.

For this reason, I didn’t like the romantic subplot. I also struggled with the setting. Although the novel is clearly set on the island, which brims with magic and spirits that fascinate the mainland, the island feels under-described and not obviously set in the 1920s. I wanted to know a lot more about its beauty, particularly the spirits that, although ever-present, don’t feel urgent until the final climax.

The climax, then, was amazing. The pacing was perfect, and even characters that I disliked at the moment (cough cough Coco and Apollonia) experienced growth in the right direction. The most satisfying part, honestly, was watching Mae finally shrug off her timidness. She managed to shock me as well as all of the Prospers with her boldness. Even Ivo and Miles seemed unaware of her capacity for confidence, which is why I’m glad Cohoe let Mae be romantically independent in the epilogue.

Despite some initial misgivings, Bright Ruined Things was a strange but solid read filled with magic, family intrigue, and finding freedom from confinement. It might even convince me to read The Tempest!

I hate rating books 1 star. I really do. I would much rather DNF and move on with my life. But I liked the initial mystery surrounding the island, and I wanted to see how it all played out. I knew I wasn't going to be blown away, but I certainly didn't expect how the conclusion was handled. I see a lot of people are enjoying this book, so if you're interested in it, I suggest checking it out for yourself to formulate your own opinions. But I can't get over how the LGBTQ+ rep was presented nor can I ignore the use of slavery in the plot. It was just ick.

As an English major with a focus in literature, you can about imagine I've read a LOT of Shakespeare. So any chance I get to check out a re-telling of one of his plays, I am instantly down. With that being said, "The Tempest" (which this story is based on) is not one of the plays I know best. That didn't stop me from enjoying this book though. Even if I didn't know it was a retelling, I would have enjoyed it. There's romance-ish, magic, and insane characters-- what else do you really need?

Bright Ruined Things is a retelling of The Tempest, and it's set in a 1920s-esque world much like our own, except for the magic. One thing I liked about this book was that all of the characters are extremely flawed: the main character, Mae, is a people-pleaser to the point that she annoys those around her, even her 'best friends.' You don't often see main characters with such obvious character flaws, and I think hers in particular were depicted very realistically. However, that also meant that I didn't like Mae. Her thought process was annoying to read at times and I spent a lot of the book wishing that she would just leave the island and stop worrying about the rich people who clearly saw her as more of a pet than a person. 3/5.

Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe is a Shakespearean-inspired tale for the modern YA reader. Told by Mae, a ward of the Prosper family patriarch, this tale is full of magic, spirits, greed, unrequited love, and tragedy. I enjoyed the setting inspired by The Tempest and all the other aspects that are very in keeping with the intent of Shakespeare's plays which was to entertain the masses and allow them to see traits reflected exaggeratedly. The only character I felt sympathy for is Ivo, one of the many Prosper grandchildren. Even though Mae did not want to admit it, he is truly a tragic hero. He was caught up in a world that he disapproved of but felt powerless to change until the stakes became too high, and he could no longer look the other way. The other characters tend to be vain and selfish and the perfect foil to make Ivo's actions stand out for his heroism . The first-person narration pulls you into this atmospheric tale and keeps the tension high and the story very personal, but I wish I could more easily tell that it is set in the 1920s. There is very little in the story that reflects the period. If you are looking for a different kind of YA Fantasy, Bright Ruined Things is just the book you are looking forward to as your next read.

Fast-paced and overall enjoyable! Btw when I say fast-paced I mean it... the entirety of the book (apart from the short epilogue) took place within a single day. That being said any character development felt very abrupt and a little unbelievable.
But hey, creepy magic!

{3.5 stars}

I feel like I walked into the middle of a story with this one. Mae is an orphan living on an island in the orbit of the wealthy Prosper family. A family that controls all of the magic, magic others want... including Mae. As the First Night celebration approaches, Mae finds an opportunity to gain a foothold within the family. But she also begins to discover just what is fueling the magic everyone is so desperate for. She is faced with some tough choices as the truth is revealed.

The story is based on the classic The Tempest and a lot of the themes around family, magic and revenge are core to this story. The main characters are in their teens and it certainly has the intense emotions you'd expect from characters of that age. Everyone has feelings about everyone and they are the good, bad and the ugly. Mae is a bit naive but she is not the only one in the dark about what's really going on and it was fun to unravel the mystery and just who to trust along with her.

I felt like the magic could have been a little more fleshed out but other than that the story had pretty good world building. It does start off a little slow as we get to know all of the key players but the last quarter is non-stop action. I also really enjoyed the ending.

Thanks to Netgalley for access to an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions above are my own.

This was not a bad book but it was a boring book. It had some pretty good ideas but when put together, I was just bored. Even during the final "action" scenes, I didn't care at all and found myself stopping mid-chapter to get a glass of water. It did not hold my attention at all. It's billed as a fantasy but the magic in here is really not important to the story except for being the reason for the mystery.

The cover and description seem to promise a 1920/30s backdrop but it really isn't discussed at all. There's a mention of jazz music and no real technology so I think that is the setting but there is so little description in this one that it could be set in any time period and the impact would be negligible. This was true of the overall setting as well. They're on an island and there's a house, some shacks, and wells. But as to what any of this looks like or how big the island is, I have absolutely no idea, the author never cared to divulge that information. A lot of the information on the plot was also given to the main character second hand. There was just way too much telling and not enough showing in all aspects.

The characters were pretty mediocre. I didn't hate them but couldn't really get invested in them either. Ivo was definitely the most interesting but every time it seems like Mae, the main character, was going to get to know him, it took a turn and we were back with the rest of the mediocre bunch. Mae herself was pretty boring and while I liked some of her revelations about herself, she made stupid choices and was really naïve, not at all what I want in a main character, especially for a book marketed as YA fantasy.

Overall, this was pretty forgettable and just wasn't for me. It had the feel more of a historical fiction book (yet without clearly defining the point in history) and kind of felt like it was trying to mimic the pacing of a classic so if those are more to your taste and you're good with a touch of magic, then this one might work better for you.

*I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

**Apparently this is a retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest which I didn't know until after reading it. I don't think that changes any of my opinions. I don't really know that story so I judged this purely on my enjoyment of this book.

Full disclosure, I haven't the foggiest idea what the premise of The Tempest is, so I could not tell you in what ways or how this compares to it. Regardless, I enjoyed the story! At first, I was a little put off by the characters, especially Mae. Mae lives with this hoity-toity family who is kind of... extra, they're all really extra. And Mae is of course enamored with them all, in a very eye-rolling way. But here's the thing I realized fairly quickly: you can't really blame Mae for that. It's all she knows. And it's kind of saying a lot that she isn't even more messed up, living with these people her whole life, never leaving this weird island full of magic and secrets and elitist bullshit.

So, the crux of the story kind of becomes wondering who, if anyone, can break free from the bonds of this island, and the only life they have ever known, to become their own person. The atmosphere of said island is very on point, too. You know it hides all kinds of secrets and magic and madness, and I loved that part of it, too. Most of the book takes place in a very short time span, while all the cousins and family friends have gathered for a party. Obviously, we know there will be some stuff happening at this party!

The book moves pretty quickly, and was easy to read. I liked that Mae underwent a lot of development in a short amount of time, and the pacing of the story was great.

Bottom Line: Overall, a fast, entertaining story featuring magic and mayhem, and a lot of learning about oneself.

Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe is a standalone young adult historical fantasy novel. The story in Bright Ruined Things is a retelling of Shakespeare’s classic play of The Tempest set in a magical world.

Mae has grown up an orphan living on the isolated private island of the wealthy Prosper family. Surrounded by magic Mae doesn’t have any of her own and is worried of her future when she turns eighteen.

Mae doesn’t want to leave the island when she’s of age being the only place she knows and where her best friend and her long time crush live too. When spirits start dying on the island Mae finds herself caught up in the mystery of what is happening around her.

First, I’ll note that I am not familiar with The Tempest and cannot say how close to the original Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe actually turned out to be. I picked this one up having read the author before and enjoying her book, A Golden Fury. While I did enjoy this one I felt I found myself wishing for a faster pace as I often do in fantasies. I did enjoy the character and the magical island so this one was just alright for me in the end but others seem to enjoy it more so I’d say give it a try for yourself if it sounds interesting to you.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

The author, in my opinion, did a good job crafting the world. It was a very fascinating island with peeks into how the rest of the world operates. I found the main character a little too wish washy for my tastes, but I really liked Apollonia and Coco. Apollonia has one of my favorite personality types. She’s smart, cunning, and willing to do whatever to get what she wants all while being very feminine. I love the hyper-feminine, cutthroat, get-out-of-my-way kinda gals. Coco is such a free-spirit type, which is always fun.
I think teens will like the drama of the story and the draw of will Mae won’t Mae decide to do something bad. I don’t want to give much away in terms of plot because, even though the book is a little lengthy, it is a very fast read. Once you make it further in and the pace picks up, it’s a super fast and fun read.
Overall, I would give this a 3.5 since it didn’t fit my tastes exactly but I think it was a solid story.

This story, loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, is not a happy book. It is filled with not-happy people. Powerful. Wealthy. Beautiful. But not happy. In fact, for all but Mae, that wealth and power are directly related to their unhappiness. Some of them stay unhappy throughout; others are able to see the destructive spiral they are in and escape it.

The story takes place in the “Roaring ‘20s”, though it’s not explicitly stated. We are left to infer it through comments on fashion, personalities of the day, etc.

Mae is naïve, and rightly so. She has never left the island. She has been on the periphery of the Prosper children’s lives, an addendum, but never truly part of it. Everything she knows, she’s learned from the books she borrows. She has friendships of sorts with some of them, but not a true place. She yearns to be allowed to learn the magic that is the source of their wealth and power so she will always have a place on the island that is the only home she has known. She is also deeply in love with Miles, the son with an unhinged mother and no father.

But the family has other plans. They decide Mae should marry Ivo, the heir to the family’s magic, on whom they all depend for the future of their wealth and power. He’s a bit wild and scary, but it is made clear to Mae that this is the only way she will be able to stay on the island.

Mae does a lot of jumping to conclusions. She’s certain from the first dead spirit she finds that Ivo is responsible, and she sets out to prove it. When we have already decided what’s true, of course, we will look for things to prove that conclusion. (Inductive vs. deductive reasoning.) I understand that she has a good reason to want him to be guilty, but that desire colors her actions.

Of course, things are not what they seem. A series of discoveries, and sometimes bad decisions, brings Mae to the point where she is about to have everything she thought she wanted—and she has to decide if those are really what she wants.

I won’t say more about the plot, because there are some definite surprises there.

The entire story, apart from the epilogue, takes place in a single day. It is a lot to pack into a day. Descriptions are vivid, allowing us to visualize the setting and characters. Dialogue is natural.

And that ending! I’d maybe like to have two more sentences, just so I would know for sure, but I’m going to assume the best possible ending for Mae. (And, on a side note, it’s very similar to the ending of that book I’ve been working on for 20ish years. Maybe someday…)

Possible Objectionable Material:
Magic. One intense kissing scene where some clothes come off, but nothing else happens. References to sex, drinking, and drug use. A gun. A murder. Blackmail of various types. One character is lesbian.

Who Would Like This Book:
Those who like retellings (however loose) of Shakespeare. I think if you like The Great Gatsby and its commentary on wealth, you’d like this. I don’t know if the moral about the destructive nature of wealth and power is intended, but it is certainly there. There’s a little bit of romance.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2022/02/power-wealth-and-magic.html

i had this book in my netgalley for almost a year now, and i finally found the will to pick it up. when i heard this was a retelling of the tempest, it peaked my interest. but after a few times of trying to read this book, i had a lot of trouble at understanding the beginning of the story, but i think this was due to my lack of understanding of the tempest. the copy that i read was an unedited one though, so i'm hoping that the final version is much more digestable and i will be looking forward to rereading it.

THAT ENDING THOUGH.

Bright Ruined Things is a magical twist on Shakespeare's The Tempest and brings it. I'll be honest in saying that I've never read The Tempest or seen a retelling, but this is so powerful and beautiful. I loved Mae and seeing her journey from beginning to end. I'll admit I felt it dragged on at points but BRT was action packed and gave me a bit of Gatsby vibes. The writing style is impeccable and the storyline will have you falling in love.

Thank you to NetGalley, Samantha Cohoe and St. Martin's Press for the chance to review an ARC copy.

This is the first book I'm reading by Samantha Cohoe (A Golden Fury is angrily staring at me from my TBR shelf right now lol) and I really enjoyed it! Got off to a bit of a slow start, but then, kind of like a snowball rolling down a hill, it picked up speed right until the end. At first I wasn't sure if I loved how the book ended, given that it's a standalone but honestly, the more I think about it, the more I think the ending was absolutely perfect for the story.

So our main female lead is Mae, who is living on an island that has magic controlled by the Prosper family. Her father helped the Prospers gain control of the magic and take over the island, which is why Mae is allowed to live there until she comes of age. Mae has some pretty good character growth in this book - she starts out pretty meek and subservient but develops into a more confident, driven individual. I liked the person she became by the end. Miles was ok... kind of annoying at times but overall a nice addition to the story. I wasn't sure how I felt about Ivo at first, but I ended up loving him by the end - honestly I wish he had been more present in the book lol, I would have liked to read about him more than Miles or Coco! But it was all pretty well done;.

Given that I am a HUGE romance fan, I was a little but disappointed at the lack of an epic love story but I am also aware that it wasn't meant to be that kind of story. It worked well the way it was written and I ended up being satisfied! I also really enjoyed the writing style! Overall, this book surprised me with how much I ended up enjoying it. I will be moving A Golden Fury up on my TBR pile and keeping an eye out for this author's next projects!

The Tempest is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays so this retelling had a lot to live up to, but Cohoe takes it into wholly original territory that makes it entirely her own and a completely standalone piece that pulled me in and didn't let go even after I turned the last page.
Mae is a total doormat at the beginning, letting the Prosper family push her around and decide things for her, but it's easily understandable when you realize that all she's known is to be completely dependent on their largesse for survival. And the Prospers are awful, even the ones that are supposed to be good have very unpleasant character traits, which works in their favor because it makes them more human and empathetic. And Mae does come into her own as the plot moves things into a madcap rush of events that change everyone's lives forever.
The slow beginning might make one think that it's going to be a slow book, but I'd compare it to the first climb of a roller coaster, the calm before the wild ride full of twists and turns. Give it a chance to get some speed and you won't be able to put it down.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the great early read!

Samantha Cohoe’s latest novel takes readers to a magical island, where the Prosper family has subdued the spirits and used their power to produce a fuel source that has granted them unimaginable wealth and influence. Mae, the orphan daughter of a loyal servant, longs to be taught magic, and to find a place within the family she has learned to love and envy from afar. As First Night approaches, however, the night when the Prospers flaunt their riches to the world through an extravagant party, Mae begins to question the facts her life has been based on. The Prospers, it turns out, have secrets–and some of them could be deadly. This imaginative, high-stakes thriller takes inspiration from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest to present a historical fantasy that feels wholly and wonderfully original.

Bright Ruined Things is an engrossing mystery about the lies people will tell and the lives they will ruin in order to climb to the top. Its strongest points where its plot, world building, and character development! Thank you so much for a copy of this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling and the world building but I found the characters a bit underdeveloped and this made the novel less entertaining and gripping.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

BRIGHT RUINED THINGS had such a good mix of mystery and romance! This is the 1920s cozy mystery/fantasy blend you've been looking for. It's like Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries with magic!

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mae has lived on the Prosper family’s island all her life and has never seen the world beyond it. But with her 18th birthday approaching, her future is uncertain and all she wants is to stay, and above all, have some magic of her own, magic which has been closely guarded and controlled by the Prospers for generations, making them extremely wealthy. Most of the family lives away from the island, returning only for First Night, when they host an extravagant party, and Mae looks forward to seeing her best friend Coco and her longtime crush Miles each year. This year is different however, when the spirits, who are key to the island’s magic, start dying mysteriously. Mae sets out to unravel the mystery with her friends, but the island holds more secrets than any of them suspect, and this First Night will bring to light the dark truth about the Prosper’s magic.

I really enjoyed this author’s previous book, A Golden Fury, last year, so I was really curious to check out this book. This is technically supposed to be a retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but you don’t need to have read it to understand this story. The setting of the island, the spirits, the magic and the overall eerie feel it lent the narrative was my favourite part about this book. The magic system was an interesting one, if a little vague at times. The plot was intriguing and did not lack for twists, making this an engaging read, and with each reveal, I was more and more curious to see how it would all tie together.

This is probably the first time I’m ever saying this about a book, but it was the characters that ruined this book for me. They started out okay and Mae turning out to be an unreliable narrator was a good twist, but as the story went on and everyone’s motivations started to make sense, they all turned out to be either very unlikeable or extremely frustrating. None of them were as fleshed out as they could have been and it was really hard for me to connect to any of the characters, and the romance too, felt rather forced. Despite this, Mae’s growth from the sheltered girl terrified at the prospect of having to leave the only home she has ever known to being more independent and motivated as the story progresses was a great arc and a well written one.

I think much of this can be attributed to two things: a very short timeline and uneven pacing. This entire book takes place over the course of a day, which in an of itself is not bad – I’ve seen some amazing stories set over a short timespan – but for a story like this, it would have been great if it had taken place over more time, setting the scene better and building up the characters. The story felt too slow in the beginning and then too fast, with what I felt was a rather chaotic ending. This erratic pacing meant that I didn’t really get caught up in the story and felt like I was just watching from the outside, waiting for things to finally start moving.

I liked the concept behind this book and it definitely had potential, but the execution could have been handled better. I’m not entirely sure what to think of the ending, but it did have the shock factor. The epilogue was a nice touch as it showed how far Mae has come and how much she has learned. Overall, it turned out to be a decent reading experience, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this author writes next.