I went into this book very optimistic and it did not disappoint! The story built up at a good pace and I found it so exciting to read. Learning about the Theban Group was interesting. The idea of the Scryers was a good plot. I liked how the story focused around Cassie coming to understand this absolute she has, as well as, wanting to find a way to save Colin. I also liked how the plot turned into something bigger right near the end.

I found Cassie to be a very realistic character that you can relate to. I loved that about these characters. They felt very real and like people I would meet in real life. I don’t have OCD, so I can’t speak on the accuracy of the representation in the book, but it didn’t feel romanticized at any point. I could feel the struggle Cassie was going through come off the pages.

The Coil is such an interesting place that completely is out of this world. Reading that part of the book I was on the edge of my seat. I really liked the idea of it.

The ending I did not see coming! I definitely will be continuing on with this series!

I couldn't get enough of Foretold - the main character is beautifully written, and the world that violet writes is so immersive and gorgeously described. I loved this book, and I'm looking forward to reading it a second or third time for the little bits and pieces I miss the first time around.

Thank you so much to Uproar Books for providing me with an ARC for an exchange of an honest review.

This was an interesting read. I thought the concept from the book’s description sounded pretty cool, which is why I was drawn to it in the first place, but I wish the concept had been executed better. There were many points in which I was confused by the magic system because of the info dumps that occurred mainly in the first half of the book. I think the story could definitely have used more action in the first half--the action did pick up a bit towards the end.

I also wish I was able to connect with Cassandra more. She seemed to be lacking depth as a character and I wish there were more qualities about her that stood out to me, but there really weren’t. The insta-love between Cassandra and the love interest in this book also made the characters feel underdeveloped. There is a love triangle in this book and I did feel like it was pretty predictable.

This is the first time I’ve read a book in which a main character has OCD and although I can’t specifically speak to the OCD representation in this book, many other reviewers have shared their satisfaction with the way Cassandra’s OCD was portrayed. Thus, I think that readers who are seeking OCD representation should definitely check out this book!

I started this right after finishing a 5 star read and was struggling to get into Foretold but, once we started getting into Theban Group I couldn't put it down!

Our main character Cass is a scryer who also struggles with OCD. I don't have OCD so I can't speak to how accurately it was portrayed however, it didn't at any point feel romanticized and I felt it was handled sensitively and realistically.

Greif played a large role in this book, I haven't lost a parent but reading Cass grieve her mother had me bawling my eyes out right along with her.

It did take some time for the story to really get going but, as this is the first in the series it does need to lay the foundation for the rest of the series. It wasn't quite info-dumping as I felt I was learning as Cass was.

I loved the characters in this book - a supportive and loving dad, a ride-or-die best friend in Regan, and a sweetheart in Colin as well as all the other supporting characters. I'm also really interested to see more of Sebastian and learn more about his role in the story - I feel a love triangle being created but I hope that isn't the case.

The plot itself took some time to get going but once it hit its stride we got a few twists and turns and some nail-biting moments! I also liked the underlying messaging of even if you know the future, sometimes it's better to let things play out how they are meant to instead of interfering - as all actions have consequences

I'm very interested to see where this story is going in the next book - what is Aunt Bree planning? who really was Cass's mum? What is Sebastian's dad up to? and how will these characters continue to grow

This is a fantasy story somewhat akin to HP. We follow Cassandra Morai as she works on living with her anxiety, OCD, and unique ability to see the future. She finds out that she is gifted with this ability, and that it’s more than just a vision type manifestation of her anxiety. Turns out, she's not the only person with this gift: there’s a whole society of people like her. But, when she has a vision about a death, it sets her on a path of discovery in an attempt to save this person's life which leads her to a greater knowledge of self, and into deeper connection with others.

I am not a person who has any diagnosed mental illness, but I liked the way our MCs mental health was reframed as something that could be a hindrance in her tasks but also a benefit. There is so much grey in the world - things are not always black and white - and I liked that her OCD and anxiety were spared from that simplistic binary.

There were a few points in the book where I felt like information was missing, and when that occurred it really took me out of the story. This happened more in the first 2/3rds of the book. Overall, I would say it was solid, but not life-changing.

I received a free e-arc copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for providing an ARC in response for an honest review!

I’m not necessarily sure where to start with reviewing this book, on the one hand it felt like I was inside my own head with the OCD descriptions which were so delicately handled and described in a way I haven’t seen before. But on the other hand, the story was slightly bland but still has so more potential for the sequel.

The world building in this book is extensive and can be overwhelming at times, but I feel like this adds to the atmosphere of the protagonists head so it doesn’t bother me so much.

I would still highly recommend this book if just for the way OCD is represented. Having intrusive thoughts put into words that aren’t demonised or used to villainise the protagonist genuinely made me cry the first time I read the pages.

Although the story can be overwhelming and it seems like too much is happening too fast, the pacing is pretty amazing so it can be bearable at times. However, I despised Regan. She was so irritating and hard to stand that I would skim read chapters that she featured heavily in (sorry!)

I didn’t really care much for the romantic aspects of the book despite it being the primary focus but overall I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book.

I was pretty excited when first reading the premise of this book. As someone with OCD tendencies, I was excited to see it written into a story where the protagonist suffers from this mental health illness. Her level of description on OCD was fantastic, and Cassandra's inner monolog was spot on I felt as she struggled.

There were a lot of info dumps that I feel could have been written a little better. There were times where there were a lot thrown at you, that you almost forgot most of it and I had to go back to certain parts just to remember, but overall I enjoyed the series, and I do look forward to the sequel.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Foretold in exchange for an honest review.

I'm absolutely in love with the concept of this, but in execution it fell short. I think a lot of that comes down to how similar every single character speaks which normally isn't a huge issue, but Cass legitimately has a unique protagonist voice and interests so it was extra jarring seeing that reflected back on her by every other "good guy" character in this book. I'm even torn there though because my favourite bits of this were also moments of dialogue. When it comes down to it, I think Lumani had an amazing idea here and is pretty good at writing quirky yet witty dialogue, but she laid too heavily into it the entire story and as a result, everything felt off. No one talks like that 24/7 so it served as a constant reminder that these were characters, not people.

Firstly thank you NetGalley and the author for this ARC ❤️
I had so many high hopes starting this book. The synopsis sold the book to me and the cover art is just stunning. I was so disappointed I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.

The book focuses on the main character, Cassandra, who suffers with OCD and anxiety, and as a result she always imagines the worst case scenario happening. She sees people in their worst moments, their deaths.
However it turns out she's not just imagining these scenarios they're actually glimpses of the future. She joins a secret organisation that helps her train her abilities to hopefully change the fate of her next door neighbour.

Okay let's get into it.. I struggled to read this book, there's so many pockets of "info dump" where you're just bombarded with alot of information all at once, it kind of made it hard to really get into and focus. I found I struggled more in the beginning of the book, the first couple of chapters were at times boring. As the book progresses it gets more enjoyable and faster paced and I actually quite enjoyed the ending.

I loved how Cass's OCD was handled throughout the whole book, it was beautifully done and wasn't used as just a "character quirk."

Overall review - 3.5 ⭐

Review also posted to Goodreads (link included)

I’m a little frustrated with this book. I love the idea of combining mental health rep with YA fantasy, and Foretold has a decent premise: Cassandra finds out some of her visions of doom and gloom are not intrusive thoughts brought on by her OCD but actually visions of the future because she’s a seer. When she sees the boy she loves die, she decides to find a way to change his fate. She goes to train in a corporate, American version of Hogwarts (I don’t know if it’s ever explicitly stated it’s in New York, but there are bodegas so I’m going to say it’s New York,) and learns the biggest lesson of all: everything comes with a cost.

I came for the own voices OCD rep, and I was not disappointed. Lumani gives us a glimpse into the life and mind of someone with OCD. The rep feels genuine and real, and Foretold provides an honest look at some of the challenges and misconceptions that come with it. I appreciate the way Lumani raises awareness about OCD without letting it define Cassandra or take over the narrative.

Unfortunately, the rest of the story is less than impressive. The world-building is mostly done through info dumping and still feels a bit incomplete. We’re basically taken through variations of Professor Trelawney’s class, but if you were to ask me to explain how the magical system works, I'm still at a loss. Cassandra isn't a particularly compelling protagonist and while there are some interesting side characters, they aren't really developed. Despite the slow start, the story's pacing was actually fairly decent, but there are some major plot holes that need to be addressed. I can suspend disbelief and accept the existence of a secret society of insurance-selling fortune tellers, but I can't suspend common sense when things that should logically happen don't happen??

I’m no seer, but I’m not a fan of where the double love triangles are headed. (That’s right, we get not one, but two love triangles! And if you call now, you can get some insta-love absolutely free!) I don’t need to go join a secret organization of soothsayers to read the writing on the wall—or the very obvious foreshadowing—to figure out which love interests are gonna end up winning the fair maidens’ hearts which wouldn’t bother me so much if Lumani weren’t completely messing with characters for the sake of an unnecessary love triangle. We can save the debate about the necessity of the primary love triangle for another day (I get it, the symbolism, okay?) but why start another love triangle if you’re going to kill it off so easily?? It hasn’t died yet, but like I said, writing’s on the wall and Lumani used the big font. Pro tip: if a loaf of bread has a longer shelf life than a fictional relationship, maybe you don’t need it in your story. I honestly would consider continuing the series for more OCD rep and to see how the rest of the story unfolds, but I really don't know if I'll be able to knowing the trajectory certain characters' lives and relationships are going to have to take in order to reach the resolution to the love triangles Lumani's set up.

This book is the start of a great series, for sure.
Cassie has an OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. Plus, she can see how the people die, their future. It's disturbing and frustrating, so her aunt Bree introduce her to The Theban group - the organization for scryers, to help her to learn how control her powers. Cassie enters to the new and fantastic world of divination and magic, but things don't go easily for her: she must save her friend Colin from death and survive the tests at her new 'school'.
I loved a lot this book. It reminds me of the magic world of Harry Potter. I loved the idea of scryers and how they develop their powers for divination. But, I have mixed feelings about the story.
Things I loved:
- The story hooks from the first page. It never gets boring.
-The main idea of scrying is pretty cool.
- The characters are awesome.
- The story is pretty interesting.

Things I didn't like:
- I need more description of the school for scryers. I can't make the whole picture about the place and it's a bit frustrating, because I know it would be very interesting to see it.
- Sometimes the information is missing between the chapters. It's like, I don't know how the main character get from one place to appear in another one.
-There are moments I would love more information and to see how the characters develop.
- I would love to read more about the teachers and how the lessons go on.

I think, this could be a great book, but there are a lot of missing information. But, I will read the second book and I want to know what will happen in its sequel.

I just completed Foretold by Violet Lumani. This was an ARC provided to by NetGalley for an honest review. This story was very good. There will be a sequel and I will be interested in reading this. The main protagonist is a teenage girl with extreme OCD. While dealing with OCD episodes she also has visions of future events. She meets a sweet guy and foresees something going to happen to him. She finds out she is a scryer and has a lot to learn. But she also finds out that she can possibly change future events - at a cost. What are those costs? Read the book because there are some worthwhile twists to this one. Further notes - the main character is quite likable and she touched my heart when she talked about her mom. I liked the majority of her friends and there is a guy that I am interested to see her decide to possibly let become more than a friend. The storyline was good and flowed well. I liked this enough to rate it 4 stars.

Cassie stares across the street in horror as a boy dies from being hit by a car. Except it didn't really happen. She initially brushes it off as a manifestation of her OCD until she learns that she has the gift of scrying, seeing events that will happen in the future. Cassie then decides to spend the summer training to become a scryer as part of her effort to save the boy from the accident. Along the way, she makes her first friends since the death of her mother and gets pulled into political conspiracies while trying to cope with her OCD and grief.

The depiction of OCD in this book was spectacular. The author did an excellent job of providing a vivid picture of what it is like inside the head of someone with this disorder. As a therapist, I also enjoyed seeing the character use some of the most common therapeutic techniques often taught to clients with this disorder. Additionally, I just loved the premise of turning something that many people see as a liability into a superpower of sorts. This book did that very well. It did a great job of showing the potential impacts of grief on a family and friend system, as well. Seeing how Cassie began to open up despite her grief was one of my favorite things about the book. Overall, I was really impressed with the tackling of mental health topics in this book.

The idea of the 'coil' was a really interesting one. It provided the story with a perfect test for the main character. It made use of interesting imagery and mystery while requiring the characters to overcome their fears in an inventive way. It also provided a great obstacle to someone with OCD since completing the task successfully required control over one's mind.

While a lot of the plot was predictable, there were some surprises at the end that I did not see coming, which makes me interested to see where the story goes. There were also surprises about some of the characters that I enjoyed, and I was happy to see some assumptions about particular characters turned on their head throughout the story. It helped to keep the story engaging.

Large parts of this book were nothing but an info dump. After Cassie started her training, there were countless descriptions of her learning stuff in class. It felt like I was sitting in the classroom with her, which is what I assume the author was going for. However, I wish the world-building would have been more organic and allowed me to learn about the world from the things happening to the character rather than being taught the information. And despite all the info dumps, I don't feel like I know this world all that well. I still don't understand the coil or the society of scryers much better than before starting the book.

The writing of the romance in this book made me cringe. The language used and the insta-love were annoying. And for the love of God, why did there have to be a love triangle. It was completely unnecessary and added nothing to this story.

This book was an enjoyable read that boldly tackled tough mental health topics in an imaginative and unique way. Despite the clunkiness of the world-building in numerous info dumps and the cringy romance, there was a lot to like. Therefore, I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars and recommend it for individuals interested in mental health, fantasy, or love triangles.

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Please take in mind it’s my opinion, and everyone is allowed to have one.

This book was truly interesting, I liked it.. BUT there was a moment or two where there was so many information at once, where I even forgot things or what or why it’s happening.

I liked Cassandra, she was such a great character naive at sometimes but still amazing. Cassandra really developed and grew as a person.

The book overall was great, the ending was what I expected but also not what I expected. So I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in book 2.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a honest review. Okay, so let's start.
There are things I really liked in this book and there are other things that are not my cup of tea.
First, to what I did like: The protagonist has OCD and it was written in a very real and honest way. I felt her struggles, her fears, how her OCD reflected in her day to day life. Seriously, there are so few books about mental health, so I really loved how it was portrayed and, also, in such a good way.
The cover for this book is beautiful and it was what called me in first, so, a bonus to that.
In regarding the characters, I liked Reagan, Griffin and Colin the best. I do like how Griffin was growing on me page by page (it remind me a lot of some of my friends at school when I was younger, how they started out annoying, but slowly grew on me and are currently on my life until this day). To what I did not like: The plot was predictable. I don't know if it is because I grow up reading fantasy, but everything was really obvious to me. Also, I'm not a fan of insta-love (despite liking Colin's character I thought it was kinda off how Cassie was willing to risk everything to save a boy she met what? A few weeks ago), so it did felt boring to me. The writing pace is good, but, somewhere in the middle it became really slow to me and I suffered to finish.
Overall, it was a good read. Don't know if I'll continue with the series (probably no), but I still recommend it, because we all have different tastes and styles, so, what didn't work for me, may as well work for another!

Foretold by Violet Lumani is such a unique concept and I loved the writing. I rooted for Cassandra the whole time I was reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book.

Exciting premise, lacking execution.

I was immediately intrigued by both the unique premise of this story and the promise of better OCD representation in literature.

I think Cassandra’s OCD is represented in refreshingly vulnerable way, delivering on the promise of accurate representation. Her internal monologue and frustration with herself is the most compelling writing in the novel.

Unfortunately, the story lacks fundamental story-telling mechanisms, which made it difficult to fully immerse myself in Cassandra’s world. For instance, the stakes aren’t high enough, so time passes a little too casually throughout the novel. It lacks a sense of urgency. There are certainly “odd” things that Cassandra sees/encounters, but it takes too long for anything actually happen.

A second major issue I had with this book was a lack of description when the reader needed it most. Obviously, some things happen that can’t be explained, and sometimes you have feelings you can’t explain (that’s part of the mystery). But your reader is relying on you in those moments to know what they should be feeling. I felt like those descriptions were often missing.

Ultimately, I had high hopes for this novel, but the execution fell short. I did enjoy the story, but it wasn’t told in a way that resonates deeply with me.

1.5/5.0

Foretold 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.

~Thank you NetGalley and Uproar Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!~

*This is a spoiler-free review, so you can read it even if you haven’t read the book yet!*

My Rating: 3 stars

The synopsis and cover were both so well done that I was sure I would l love this! And though I did enjoy some parts, there were also things that I didn’t like as much which is why I gave this three stars.

Characters: Cassie was an okay main character, but I couldn’t fully connect to her. She was just so bland to me and I felt like I was barely even rooting for her. I liked some of the secondary characters like Reagan and Colin better Reagan was a great friend for her, and I loved how enthusiastic and supportive she was of Cassie from the moment they met to their time at the academy.

I’m not usually a fan of insta-love but I liked Colin’s character(sadly more than the MC) and I found myself hoping that he would make it through to the end, more for his sake than Cassie’s. I do wish we got to see more of him though, since the whole time she’s in the “camp” he isn’t really there, and we don’t get much of him.

Things I liked

-Dialogue + Writing Style

-Mental Health Representation: Cassie’s OCD was treated perfectly because it showed what is was really like for her and what she was dealing with, while also being sensitive about it. I think it’s really important for books to have an accurate and realistic representation of mental health and this book did a great job of that.

What I didn’t like

-Some parts where really predictable
I won’t spoil what exactly was predictable, but there was love triangle in there and it was super obvious and not at all unexpected.

-The Plot was messy
The pacing was really slow in the middle and I often found myself skimming because of it. There were just so many scenes of her in her classes, and the entire 60 percent of the novel is her getting used to her new life and realizing how it will be very difficult and dangerous to save Colin’s life. It’s clear that it will be dangerous and will require a sacrifice, so I don’t fully understand why that’s repeated so many times in so many different ways. It takes more than half of the novel until she actually starts to try to save him.

But finally, at about 70 percent of the book, things finally start speeding up a little, and then the ending was wow. I was soo surprised and yet I felt like I should have seen it coming. But I’m not going to say anything else about it because if you want to know then you have to read it :)

Overall, this wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t nearly as good as I expected either. If anyone does plan to read it, I hope you enjoy it more than I did! :)

✨ You can find this review and others on my blog! ✨

2.5 stars

First of cover is stunning and I like concept of this but in execution it felt short. Pacing was all over the place while I found romance flat because insta-love. One thing I liked was OCD representation and I would read sequel.