One of the elements that most drew me to Foretold, was Cass living with a mental health issue. I haven’t found a ton of fantasy stories that center on main characters with mental health issues or even disabilities, so when I see fantasy stories that do center those characters I like to check them out.

Cass’s intrusive thoughts about harm coming to those she loved and the rituals she followed to keep her thoughts at bay were interesting to see, and it was interesting to see how Cass’s OCD effected her once she starts attending the school that teaches her how to control her visions.

Unfortunately, as interested as I was to read a fantasy story that centered on a main character living with OCD, the book just didn’t live up to the summary and there were several things that bugged me while I was reading.

Throughout the book, Cass is described as having fallen in love, or at least deep infatuation, with Colin and that is why she is so focused on finding a way to save him. However, I found it unconvincing that Cass is in love with Colin, and I wish she would have just focused on trying to save him as a platonic friend. I think that would have been more believable and maybe more valuable to the story.

I had trouble believing Colin could be a real love interest because Cass only spends about a week with him before she leaves for the school that will teach her more about her visions, and she spends a weekend with him in the middle of the summer. As the reader, I did not get to spend enough time with Colin to feel like he was worth saving because Cass was in love with him. There is nothing wrong with Cass wanting to save Colin, but I do believe her intentions were misplaced.

I also felt like the stakes throughout the majority of the story and the stakes at the end of the story were disproportional to each other. Most of the story was more slow paced and while there was some talk of a test at the end, the test never seemed like that big of a deal. Then at the end the test was incredibly intense, but it felt too intense compared to the rest of the story for me.

Unfortunately, Foretold didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but I’m sure plenty of people will love the book. While there were some elements of the book I didn’t care for, I really love the representation of a main character with OCD in a fantasy setting.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had a lot of fun reading this book! I'm always on the lookout for more books with mental health rep, and OCD rep in particular, and so I was so excited to come across Foretold. From the very start of the book I empathised with Cassie and her struggles with OCD.

The pacing felt a little off at times, with a lot of different plotlines going on and not quite enough time to do them all justice, and I would've liked to explore the different types of scrying some more. I'm hopeful we'll get to learn more about this in the rest of the series, though, and overall, this was a pretty fun read!

Foretold is a story about 17 year old Cassie, whose mother's death has left her struggling with anxiety issues and OCD that manifest often in the form of visions and horrible thoughts of death and devestation occuring in the world around her.

When a vision involves the death of a new neighbor, she worries that it will come true and wants to try to save him. What follows is an amazing journey into a world of mythology and divination. The relationships amongst the teenagers in this book are inspiring, and are one of my favorite things about the story.

The author does an amazing job of portraying the mental health issues of Cassie in a very real way as opposed to the television stereotypes that they are often presented (OCD isn't always about being a super cleaner).

This is the first book in a series, and the ending of the book will have you desperate to get your hands on the next one!

Thank you to Violet Lumani, Uproar Books, and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A story to answer the question if you knew the future should you change it? Cassie has always felt a bit different, she can see things that haven't happened yet and combined with OCD she nevervrealoy feels normal. Enter Aunt Bree who introduces Cassie to a whole new world where scrying the future is taught and she alongside her new friends Regan, Griffin, Noah and Sebastian starts to learn more about this shadow world. Ultimately Cassie aims to change the future she has seen, but if she does will she be ready for the sacrifice. A very in depth novel that transports you to another world and really makes you care about the characters and their journeys.

I had extremely high hopes and enjoyed reading this before it appeared that the plot was meandering and inconsistent. Out character suffers from OCD and while the portrayal was interesting to see, I could not find the romance element believable. I know just like anyone that teenagers are naive and possibly even reckless but everything moved too quickly and it fell flat for me. I lost interest subsequently but I would urge others to give the book a try - I personally don't see myself reading it.

Cassandra sees death and devastation all around her. In vivid detail.

It’s the price of living with her OCD and extreme anxiety. In every situation, Cass imagines the worst possible fate for everyone in her life. Her dad in a pool of blood after a break-in. Her beloved older neighbor, homeless. A splinter in her finger turned to gangrene.

But this time, it’s not her imagination. The boy next door, Colin, is destined to die. Cass has foretold a real death before; she knows this is a true vision.

Desperate to save Colin's life, Cass immerses herself in a secret organization of soothsayers that promises to teach her how to change the future she foresees. But as she descends into their hidden world of divinatory magic and predictive technology, she discovers there's always a price to pay for unraveling fate's strands. And cheating death will cost her everything.

FORETOLD is the first book of The Scryers trilogy by Violet Lumani, whose personal struggle with OCD helped inspire and guide this story.

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The blurbs and the cover are perfect. They immediately caught my attention and I just requested it right away! I'm thrilled after finding that my request is approved! but when I started reading this book, I realized that this book is not for me and it's a big no for me. It feel flat for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

The beginning felt like a struggle, I kept putting it down and doing other things. However after a few chapters I started to fall in love, maybe it was the Greek myth references that really caught my attention.
The ending left me breathless; definitely didn’t see that coming.

Now the main reason why I think this book stands out. I love the way Violet wrote about OCD, and mental illness. This wasn’t a throw away line used to add depth to the protagonist. But rather something that she struggled with every step of the way. All of this was beautifully written and really made you feel like you gained a new understanding for people struggling with mental health.

This book made me cry. From how badly written it was. The MC is super annoying and not lovable, the Romantic Interest is just there to be the Most Perfect Boyfriend Ever and it was obvious that the Arrogant Upper Classmen would fall victim of the heroine's (non-existent) charm the second we laid eyes on him. And the gang (of tropes) is all there - Love Triangle, Special Snowflake, Perky Friendette, InstaLove, Antagonistic Relative, The Mother is Dead, The CEO is The Villain. Name it - it's there. And the world-building is so, so bad and inconsistent! Wouldn't recommend it to anyone, not going to read the sequel.

There is so much going on and so much to be said about Foretold. It’s a smorgasbord of genres confined between the beginning and end, so it will be easy to go off on tangential points or go tumbling down a rabbit hole. Instead of trying to explain the romance and world building and mystery and magic system, I will focus on my favorite aspect of all, the unlikely heroine. Cass is a hero who is battling Death itself and the inner villains of her compulsion. To some, this may be a bit of sick lit, where we get to attribute small victories to a disadvantaged protagonist, but that’s not what Foretold is doing. Cass has premonitions, a super power, but it’s not the only way she sees the world differently. The irony of the gift and curse of her mind does not make her quirky. It is a profundity. How she approaches life and it’s end is ultimately what the story explores, so whodunnit was not on my radar. Fortunately, this novel is so many things at once, each reader can walk away with a different ending.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Uproar Books for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

TW/CW: Grief, Loss of Parent, OCD, Anxiety, Skin Picking, Blood, Loneliness, toxic family, mentions of sex (implicit)

The cover and the premise were what originally drew me into this book. The cover art is absolutely stunning. This paired together with the promise of OCD and anxiety rep won me over.

This story follows Cassandra Morai, a teenager who suffers from severe OCD and anxiety. Every now and then, particularly in times of stress, she is struck by scary and gruesome visions, and sometimes they come true. She foresees the death of her new next door neighbour, Colin, and will do everything in her power to save him.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the overall plot. I liked the Scrying school. I liked the range of classes and the idea of the character ensemble that had been created. There were tensions and mysterious pasts to be unraveled. Cassie was dealing with the grief of recently losing her mother, which further added to the emotional stakes of the book. I likes the way that Cassie's anxiety and OCD were portrayed in her thoughts, showing the reader what it is like to live with these conditions. As someone who lives with a medium, yet fluxuating level of anxiety, I found this true to some of my own experiences. I also enjoyed the ending, the plot twists, and the direction it was headed for book 2.

Where this book lost me was the worldbuilding and transitioning. It jumped around a lot and I never felt like I completely understood the magic system or where the plot was headed. There were some points where we were thrown into a different setting for what felt like convenience. The characters, although well-placed for a vast range of plot points and experiences, were quite dull. I didn't really know anything concrete about them and they therefore came off fairly bland. There also wasn't much diversity beyond the OCD and anxiety rep, which was disappointing given there were so many chances to include these details. I think that would have made a world of difference for me. What really got to me emotionally was that at about 50% of the way through, Cassie really wanted to be "normal". I understand these sentiments as what she deals with is really challenging, but even though another character told her that it was ok to be herself and her condition doesn't control her life, this was never really resolved and it felt like an emotional downer on the rest of the book. (It's not a happy book by any means, but when there's rep for these conditions a little hope is what I was wanting. They/We already know it is hard as hell). That being said, this may be the perfect rep for someone else, so this is a highly personal experience and opinion.

If I'd picked this up a few years ago when I read with a less critical eye for detail and plot then I would have really enjoyed it. It may be better suited to a younger audience (think upper high school? Capable of handling the upsetting and emotional aspect of this book but perhaps introducing themselves to these magical worlds?).

I once again thank the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately it wasn't for me, but I can see that others would really enjoy it!

This story is not the type that I generally read for pleasure. I found that I did enjoy the story. I found that the author continually surprised me with unexpected outcomes. There are elements of Greek mythology, magic, and foresight. The story is about a young woman, Cassandra, and her struggles to fit in while processing the grief of losing her mother to cancer. I found the elements of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder fascinating. I had a friend in high school who struggled with OCD and she would wash her hands raw trying to get "clean". While on her journey, Cassandra finds a boyfriends and friends that truly accept her. She must also find a way to safe someone that she loves. This is a coming of age story that mixes fantasy with a real world mental health issues. I'd love to read the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Uproar Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows Cassandra as she tries to cope with extreme anxiety and OCD after her mother's death. This leads to her getting visions of death and destruction where some of them end up coming to fruition.

I struggled with this book. I felt that this book was made for a younger demographic. It was rather slow and frankly, I didn't feel like it lived up to the expectations I made from reading the synopsis. That's completely on me.

I couldn't connect with the characters or the magic system and there seems to be an overload of information that I couldn't keep it straight in my head.

It sounded like such a great book but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

The premise was so interesting, but unfortunately the execution fell short for me because the writing just wasn't my style and the characters didn't feel very developed.

Cassandra has visions about the future and she's scared because she sees the boy next door die. Her vision was proven right once before. Now she has an opportunity to train and enhance her abilities as a Scryer, a secret organization of soothsayers.

This story transports you into the magical world of soothsayers where people have an opportunity to embrace and control not only their powers but also their lives. The same power for which they were in history prosecuted for.
The story took some time to pick up and portray the direction it wanted, but it showed a part of Cass which later shows progress. Cassandra is a strong girl who despite dealing with OCD embraces her role in the world. Cassandra's friends had personalities and her classes were unique. In a fantasy world, I found myself quite invested.

A very cool story and such an interesting premise! I really like what the author created here and look forward to checking out more of their books in the future.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Foretold is a YA fantasy novel that follows the teenage girl Cassandra who lost her mother at few years back and lives with her father - a history professor. The trauma of losing her mother left Cass with diagnosed OCD and anxiety disorder which I think is very interesting since I see very rarely characters in fantasy that have well represented mental illnesses.
Obviously I have no idea if it was a good representation or not but to me it felt as if the author did her research and knew what she was writing about.

Cassandra discovers very early in the book that she has scrying powers and can predict the future to a degree. She then gets indroduced into a special school for Scryers and learns how to direct her abilities, so there's also a magic school setting.

What I liked about this:
- Cassandra has to pick apart wether the things she sees are coming from her scrying ability or if it's her mental illness playing tricks on her
- it got surprisingly emotional and even got me to tear up at one part
- felt very well researched

What wasn't for me:
- it's clearly YA so it has a younger tone to it (not a bad thing! just not my favorite)
- the interactions between the MC and the love interests were a bit on the cheesy side sometimes

If unusual magic, magic school setting and a MC warring with her own mind sounds good to you, give this one a shot!

Nice fantasy book, but it adds nothing new. Still a good quick read if you like the genre.
On a positive note I loved how representative it was.

I didn't have the time to finish the novel before it was archived (life got in the way) but i really enjoyed what i did read!
I was quite invested in what was going to happen to Colin, he was the perfect guy <3 I'll be seeking the novel out to continue reading

I'm really looking forward to see what else Violet comes out with!

OH MY GOD WHAT A FANTASTIC BOOK!!!!! I have just turned the last page and i immediately came here to review it, WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!

Firstly, i love the cover.i was drawn to the cover, it looks so intriguing, magical, and like there is a big secret.

I loved the plot. Cassandra sees death all the time., but one day when she sees the death of a boy she likes, she knows she needs to do something. It's so fast paced.so much happened, so quick!! At first, i didn't like the idea of a secret organisation, but as the plot went on, it fit so well with everything that was happening.

Another thing i loved was the focus on OCD and intrusive thoughts. I relate to that, it was not just thrown in but actually fundamental to the plot!!

All the character's were great, i loved Colin and not sure how i feel about Sebastian! AND THE ENDING OMGGGGG i can't even talk about it.

Part of me loves this book so much because it reminds of the books I read when I was younger. And another part of me is no longer a fan of books written like this. And I would say this could be because it’s for a younger side of YA readers like I would say middle schoolers can read this. But I overall did enjoy the story it was fun but I never felt like I needed to know what happens next. The pacing was well throughout and nice writing. The characters I felt like the main character was the only one really well developed. While the side characters like Colin don’t have as much depth but are written in a way that you can connect with them on a surface level. Overall, I enjoyed this book for its similarity to the books I read when I was younger.