I fell in love with this book. I reviewed the audiobook and was having a lot of problems with the app restarting chapters and skipping. But the story was so good I needed to know what happened next. I can't wait to get my hands on the actual audiobook, I have already preordered it.

This is the story of Jack and Wilhelm, they are both assistants to magicians. As the rivalry grows between the Enchantress and Laszlo, Jack and Wilhelm get closer. The magic is great. The character building is amazing. I am completely vested in what happens to every character. It is well written and I could not put it down.

This was my first Shaun David Hutchinson book, and I can say that I enjoyed it. However, as much as I tried, I think the synthetic voice hindered my experience a bit.

"Before We Disappear" is a queer ahistorical light fantasy novel set in early 1900s Seattle during the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition. It follows Wilhem and Jack, who are both the assistants of two ambitious, rival magicians, who are showcasing their talents in the exhibition. While doing their jobs, Wil and Jack find themselves growing closer to each other and falling in love despite the rivalry between their employers.

Truly, the strength of this novel is Hutchinson's character work. The book features a diverse cast of characters, who are interesting and loveable in their own rights. Wil and Jack were rather well developed, and I loved how sweet and nice Wil was. However, at times, Teddy, Wil's "employer," seemed a bit too cartoonishly evil. I wish this copy would have been narrated by two different people in order to keep better track of the characters and connect with them even more. It's my understanding that it will be released that way.

The plot of the book was interesting. My only experience reading about magicians beforehand has been in comic book format with Zatanna. The illusions were also interesting and the hint of real magic included was nice. While this is light fantasy, it's closer to magical realism, so it would appeal to readers who do not want to become invested in a long high fantasy novel.

However, given the length of the book, I would have liked the novel to play more with or incorporate more of its historical setting. Sometimes, it was difficult to remember that this was supposed to be set in the 1900s.

I did enjoy the discussions on freedom since it was a theme present throughout the book and explored with different characters as well as the meaning we give to family.

CW: kidnapping, abuse

Expected publication: September 28, 2021

Have you ever started a book and known almost instantly that it would be five stars? That’s how I felt when I first started listening to this book. Even though this was a synthetic-voice audio, I could tell I wanted to know more about the main characters and what would happen to them immediately. The premise is intriguing, and the magic is exciting. Couple that with a setting full to the brim with spectacle, and you’ve got the makings of a great book!

A note about the synthetic audio:
This is not the voice actor(s) that will be narrating the book. Because of that, it did sound very robotic sometimes, and there was no distinction between which characters were speaking. That made it hard to follow sometimes, so I highly recommend reading a physical copy, at least until the narrated audio is available.

Even though this book was read with an synthetic voice, I couldn't put it down. It had a catching and fast pace story that had me wanting more all the way to the end.

3.5/5
I first want to note that this advanced audiobook was read by a computer simulated voice and thus that affected my perception of this book. I think that with an actual person reading the audiobook I would have enjoyed it far more and would have been able to keep my focus better.

That being said I did still enjoy the general plot and the characters do this book. There is really great representation for lgbt and poc in here where the author too liberties with the time period.

I don’t know if the setting got lost in the simulated voice but I couldn’t picture the allocations very well, I didn’t notice much description of landscapes or clothes too much when that should be a given to establish the time period. Despite this I think the characters very much drive the plot which after about 40% became interesting enough to push through the awkwardness of the simulated voice to finish this.

The end is satisfying without being too easy or predictable however I do question the intelligence of some characters and why they didn’t realize things in the past… oh well.

I really enjoyed this, but it was a pretty slow start for me. The characters were great and the romance didn't overwhelm the plot. Hutchison is definitely a favorite of mine and this a great addition to his work. I just wish the pacing had picked up a bit sooner.

"What if home isn't a place? What if it's a person?"

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the audio of Before We Disappear. It was my choice to read it and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

Oh my god!

Despite the Siri, monotoned voice reading to me, I absolutely fell in love with this book. If you like "In Deeper Waters" by F. T. Lukens, you'll love this one.

Let me start by saying: this is not an enemies to lovers story. This is not a rivals to lovers. Before We Disappear is a story of hope. Yes it's about magicians and it's very whimsical, but it's mostly a story about hope and what a little bit of hope can inspire in people. It's about the family you create and learning to trust people again. Jack and Wilhelm meet under unusual circumstances and yet, somehow create one of the most heartfelt connections I've come across.

What I love:

- The characters! I absolutely loved the two leads and their friends. I absolutely hated the villains, so much so that I physically needed to roll my eyes every time a certain someone came up. The side characters were lovable and lively. I didn't feel as if anyone lacked personality or distinctive characteristics.

- A historical gay romance without blatant homophobia and the entire plot being "we can't be together because of the time"? Sign. Me. Up.

- The writing was stunning. Especially with Wilhelm. I truly felt I was with him in every situation, and although I didn't always agree with every decision he made, I understood why he had to make them. Shaun David Hutchinson knows how to write characters we root for. (And characters we hate.) Writing chemistry is difficult, and I think this is a good example of writing characters who make sense together. You don't need characters to be desperately in love to make their love feel real to the reader.

What I didn't love:

- The writing could get repetitive. As much as I did enjoy what I was listening to, some of the descriptive words got a little too much. So many as if's, and comparisons and poetic imagery- it dragged the novel just a bit.

- I did find it interesting that although there wasn't any homophobia, racism and sexism still existed in this somewhat real world. I definitely feel like there could have been other ways to give characters hardships or show how evil a character is without using that. I don't feel like you should be able to pick and choose what type of discrimination should be in your book when it's grounded in the real world.

Overall, I absolutely adored this book. I loved the characters, the plot was emotional and adventurous, and inspiring. I cannot wait for September to get my own physical copy. I think anyone who wants a light fantasy or it's their first time delving into anything other than contemporary will devour this. I don't know what it'll be about but if Hutchinson wants to write a sequel (Particular about a certain side couple) I will be there first in line.

Rating: 5/5

Thank you to Harper Teen for an advanced Listening Copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

MAgical ahistoryical novel set in the 1909 Seattle World Fair, Before We Disappear is told in dual 1st person POv of 2 magician assistants: thief Jack, assistant to the Enchantress, and Wilhelm, sickly assistant to Lazlo. The Enchantress has always been top of her game, but when Lazlo appears to do real magic, Jack is suspicious. That's when he meets Wilhelm.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. I'm in Seattle, so it was interesing to see a historical (or ahistorical) set here. I will say I would have liked more of the historical aspect? For this being a historical novel, there really wasn't much description or setting that made it feel that way, really just the dates and a few very minor things.

I also felt like despite this being told in dual 1st person POV, we don't actually get in Jack or Wilhelm's heads very often. It was more action and dalogue based, so when the romance happened, it felt really out of the blue. I thought threy felt more like friends and companions, and that the romance was a bit forced. If we had seen more into their heads, it may have made sense.

Overall, more of a 3.75?

Thank you HarperTeen and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Jack Nevin is a magician's assistant. He spends his time traveling the world - or running from the law - with the Enchantress, a magician who plucked him from the streets to help her do her dirty work. Wilhelm is also a magician's assistant, but he's been kidnapped and locked away by the scheming criminal Lazlo because of the amazing ability he was born with. Wilhelm can appear and disappear at will, and this is how Lazlo has lived his life of crime before he decides to take on the 1909 Seattle Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The Enchantress is also performing, and when Jack and Wilhelm meet, they form a quick bond that seems doomed from the very start. Together, they'll have to figure out how Wilhelm can be freed and if they can find a way to live.

The characters of Jack and Wilhelm are likable. The romance is sweet and I appreciate how this takes place in a real-world setting at a time when there's no way they or the F/F couple also included would've been allowed to exist peacefully, and just wiped out the homophobia. SDH acknowledges this in the author's notes, and I think it was a good move. It's part of the fantasy for sure, but it allowed these boys to allow a romance to bloom without the extra threat of being persecuted for it.

The story was fine. I fell a little flat for me and somewhere in the middle, I struggled to stay engaged with it. The concept of the book is very interesting and the setting is great for this type of story. But unfortunately, I just wasn't really invested in the characters like I think I should have been. Wilhelm is the very sensitive, sweet boy who cries a lot and Jack is the boisterous and confident scamp. This is all good and fine but I wasn't worried about them. I didn't get enough from the side characters to really feel anything for them.

The beginning was great and the ending was good, but the middle needed some extra attention.

Cute, sweet, and magical this book follows two boys who fall in love in a time period where being gay isn't okay, but that not the focus of this book the focus is the magic one of the boys has. I picked this book up through NetGalley for two reasons the description and the cover intrigued me, and I wasn't let down once so ever.. Even though the beginning was a little slow to me I was soon wrapped up in the story of these two boys and thee friends. Fully of magic, love, and finding one self this book was amazing.

Content Warning: racism, abuse, kidnapping

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and well fleshed out and the writing was awesome. I wasn’t a big fan of the audio as it was so robotic it was distracting but the story was so intriguing I was able to ignore the presentation and focus on the story itself. I was hooked after only a few chapters and listened to it in about a day. It was such a great story that I will be getting once it is released. It was a phenomenal story that I would recommend others check out.

Got this from NetGalley in order to review it. I really wanted to like this book. But I could only get through 43% before I began to dread continuing.
Apart from a little unique world building the whole thing felt like one huge cliche. Instalove, basically identical main characters, essentially identical villains, mysterious medicine that’s causing the sickness, abusive relationship salvation, awful awful motivation and reasoning. No matter how hard they tried to explain why Wil “couldn’t” escape, nothing held up to scrutiny. Boy, you can teleport. Take the freaking other employees with you if you must but there is literally NO conflict if you’re just staying a prisoner because you have no common sense. The “romance” was two boys pretty much becoming boyfriends the moment they meet. The magic angle was promising then got old fast.
And if a character is nice one day and mean the next it doesn’t make them 3-dimensional, it makes them a flat, bipolar character.
Such a disappointment.
(This review was shared on Goodreads.)

Be warned that this is going to be a more rambling review than usual because there are several aspects of this story that I need to address. Anyone who's read any of my 'non-reviews' will know that I have little respect for book descriptions which are trite, uninventive, and always playing to the lowest common denominator. More on this anon. In short though, they're written for idiots, frequently by someone who evidently has never even read the novel they're 'describing'. The blurbs are often dishonest and as I point out regularly, they have certain key words and phrases that ought to warn you away from the book that's being described.

So I have only myself to blame for the fact that I ignored my own advice with this book and I consequently paid the price of wasting my time on a novel that I should have turned my back on the instant that I read the description. The thing is that I was intrigued by what seemed like it might be a good LGBTQIA story - and set at the turn of last century, no less. It sounded too good to be true and it was.

I need to preface this by detouring slightly into talking about audiobooks and how you can have your phone read you an ebook as though it's an audiobook. I can't speak for Android phones, but for iPhones there's a technology called 'voice over' which is an assisted-use system that reads your screen to you, indicating buttons and other stuff on the screen. In order to make this work, you need to open your ebook to the place you want to begin reading, and ask Siri to turn on Voice Over. For those who don't already know, I'd like to share with you that Siri is ADHD, so it may take more than one request to get her to start it, and more than two requests to get her to stop, but once voice over is in play, simply tap on the first sentence you want to be read, then slide two fingers lightly down the screen from there to the bottom of the screen, and Voice Over will read your ebook to you!

Note that this is far from perfect. The voice is unnatural which is why I call it Robot Reader, and it's subject to disruption if the text contains images or has gaps in it (as Kindle frequently does, which is yet one more reason to avoid all things Amazon like the plague. But overall, it works pretty good, and I get through a lot of books this way. It's also amusing listening Robot Reader's quirky pronunciations, so there is some entertainment value from that, too.

I honestly do not understand why the big ebook publishers do not employ this. Google has similar technology. They could adapt it easily to read your ebooks to you - or to your kids. Apple has it. Kobo books could quite readily get their hands on it, as could Barnes and Noble. B&N has had their ass kicked to the curb by the despicable Amazon, so why they aren't fighting tooth and nail to get every edge they can, I do not know. I guess their management is simply incompetent.

All this to explain why I was impressed by Net Galley's audiobook technology employed on this novel. While far from perfect, this was the best yet, and it really has great potential. It was a synthesized voice, but it sounded real - not at all like my adorable Robot Reader. There were flaws. The voice sounded quite flat; it was lacking inflection and 'life' for want of a better term, but it read quite competently and sounded reasonably normal.

My issues with it were that the voice was completely wrong for the novel, which was supposedly being told in first person by not one, but two people who were in their teens. The Net Galley synthesized voice didn't remotely sound like a teenage boy. Obviously if they can synthesize the voice, they can synthesize a sixteen-year-old voice. Why they didn't I don't know. This made the novel rather tedious to listen to at times, but that's not all on the synthesizing. I'd love to get my crazed, inventive hands on this technology, rest assured!

As usual, the biggest problem was the novel itself. It was not at all well-written, and it was slow-moving and uninspiring. Plus, listening to it as an audiobook while driving is not the best way to take in this book. When I'm driving, my attention is of course on the driving, where it should be. This is especially true if it's a problematic drive, so the book loses my attention even if it's an interesting one. This book wasn't.

I pay more attention to a story in the early morning when the roads are largely empty, than when I'm driving home during rush hour, so I missed portions of this, which isn't typically a problem, but in this case it lead to serious confusion because I didn't realize to begin with, that this was dual-first-person voice (DFPV). It is. And the switch between characters went undetected.

The thing is that when you do a DFPV, you have to identify at the start of the chapter who is speaking. The problem was exacerbated in this novel because the author pretentiously put the location and the date at the start of the chapter like it was some big important announcement. My eyes (or in this case, my ears) skate right over that crap because typically it's just annoying, irrelevant, and so self-importantly pretentious in an already overly self-important first person story that it leaves me cold.

Normally, 1PoV is quite irritating enough, and it's exponentially worse when it's squared. DFPV is merely the author's cute way of admitting that they made a serious mistake in choosing first person voice to begin with. Typically, it's a grave mistake because it limits your story and your options; it makes the main character insufferably self-centered, and the voice is unnatural. No one but an imbecile narrates their own life as it's happening. No one but an eidetic can recall conversations and actions verbatim, and eidetics have their own raft of issues to deal with.

1PoV constantly tosses me right out of suspension of disbelief because it's so inauthentic and annoying: hey lookit me! This is what I'm doing now! Pay attention to meeee! Barf! It's worse when the author admits they screwed-up by having to add a second 1PoV or resort to third person for portions of the novel. It's laughable and I avoid these stories whenever I can. In this case I had no warning that it was first person or I would never have even started reading it. Such books should carry a warning like cigarette packs do. I actually did that on a parody novel I wrote!

So, let's look at the novel itself. The first warning ought to have been the title, which is a bit pretentious but not godawful. The next indication that this was to be fled from was the use of the words 'star-crossed' in the description. That's like a bio-hazard warning to me, and in this case, it's bullshit, but like an idiot, I ignored it. The second warning was that one of the main characters is called 'Jack' - the most tediously over-used go-to name in literary history for an action character. It shows a complete and utter lack of imagination on the part of the author, but like a dimwit, I ignored that because this wasn't an action adventure novel. More fool me!

The story is of two rival illusionists, one whom goes by the name of 'The Enchantress' for whom Jack Nevin works. He's a skilled thief, and he steals the secrets of other magicians and illusionists, which The Enchantress then incorporates into her own act. It's how she's stayed on top for so long. Her rival is Laszlo, who also has an assistant for whom Jack falls. That's the LGBTQIA part of the novel, but it played such a non-existent part in the story to the point where I could stand to hear no more of this (25% in) that the book may as well have been a cis novel.

Naturally you can't publish a novel in the USA unless it takes place in the US or at least has one important American in it. It's against the constitution, you know? Who cares about the rest of the world? As Donald Trump says, it's entirely unimportant. The US is the only nation worth considering or writing about. So despite starting out in Paris, the City of Love, novel quickly comes running home to mamma. Barf.

I honestly wish US authors had far more courage than they do. And were more inventive and original; especially YA authors. I would have loved for it to stay in Paris, but it ain't gonna happen. Not from an American author. At least not often. You can argue: well, they're only writing what people will buy, but is that really the truth? And is that really what should motivate us? Do authors have to bow down to the LCD that I mentioned earlier, tugging forelocks and kowtowing, or ought they instead to be leading their readership to greener, fresher pastures? If the readers are really such sheep, why not?!

So when things go south, The Enchantress and her crew head to Seattle. Why there, I have no idea, except that was an exposition going on, I guess so they thought they could score big there. Or is it just that this is where the author lives?! Anyway, that's when they run into Laszlo and his crew, and when Jack first gets to meet his love, who sadly isn't named Jill - or any masculine variant thereof! Jilhelm?

The thing about Lazslo is that his assistant, Wilhelm, really can do magic and Jack is at a loss to explain how it's done, thinking it's just another illusion. Wilhelm is a sort of BDSM slave to Lazslo, and not in any decent or fun way. He's outright abused. Frankly this part of the story turned me right off, and that, along with the tedium of the plodding pace, I lost all interest. I simply could not stand to listen to any more, so I DNF'd it. Life is far too short to spend it on stories that don't do it for ya. I can't commend this based on the portion I listened to, and for the reasons I've detailed above.

Jack Nevin was the Enchantress's assistant as well as a thief, and his "family" had to flee to Seattle’s Alaska–Yukon–Pacific World’s Fair Exposition. She was soon overshadowed by Laszlo's dazzling butterfly trick. Jack had to find the secret of the trick, and found Wilhelm—a boy with real magic. Jack and Wilhelm grew closer, and soon had to choose between the woman that essentially raised him and the boy he was falling in love with.

This is a beautiful love story set against a backdrop of magic and an Exposition that did take place in 1909. Jack started off from a place where he didn't trust in others, and essentially felt that the Enchantress was his mother and Lucia was like a sister. Their life of grift and petty thievery as well as magic and small time fame sustained him, and he was willing to keep to that life indefinitely. Wilhelm, on the other hand, kidnapped as a young boy and held captive to fulfil Laszlo's dreams of infamy, was resigned to the scraps of freedom he had, with no hope or dreams of a future. They have an instant connection when they meet, and it's soon apparent that Jack has more heart than he thinks, and Wilhelm has more bravery.

It's not just our two main POV characters that are wonderful to learn about, but the side characters as well. Ruth and Jessamine have their own romance, Lucia needs a cane and prefers to wear men's clothing, and the Enchantress isn't as heartless as she tries to appear. They all have their own dreams and motivations, weaving in and out of Jack's and Wilhelm's lives. While I knew there had to be a happy ending for all of them, I was kept at the edge of my seat listening to this the entire time, wholly invested in their journey.

The computer voice takes a bit getting used to, as its accent falls oddly on some words, but you'll get used to it quickly. I'm sure a human voice reading it will give more nuance to the story, and more emotional weight. (Rating based on story only, not the reading)

“The universe rarely gives us what we want. Sometimes we must content ourselves with what we are given.”

Before We Disappear was easily one of my most anticipated books of the year. The premise of a historical fiction rivals-to-lovers between magicians was too good to pass up, so I was ecstatic to be approved for an audiobook arc! While my expectations definitely weren’t met, I still had a fun time following Jack and Wilhem through their shenanigans.

~★~ What is this book about? ~★~

Set during the 1909 Seattle Alaska-Yukon-Exposition, Before We Disappear follows two rival magicians’ assistants as they fight to become the greatest show around. When Jack’s parents died, the Enchantress took him in to be a part of her show. Wilhelm, however, was kidnapped at a young age due to his secret ability to teleport—making him a very useful asset to the magician Laszlo. Jack and Wil cross paths during the Exposition, stumbling into a secret romance that further complicates Wil’s chance at escaping his captor.

~★~

I have a hard time pinpointing how I felt about this book. It was more than just okay, but less than great. Most of it was good enough to keep me reading, despite not much sticking out as particularly memorable. I do think I would have enjoyed this a little more if I read it psychically, because the audiobook was in a synthetic voice with the same tone for each character, making it hard to differentiate them at times.

The representation was great, with a main gay and lesbian relationship plus very prominent poc characters. I liked that Shaun David Hutchinson decided to eliminate homophobia in this version of the 1900’s, but I was left wondering why racism and sexism still existed. It just felt strange to create a half-utopia when he could’ve went all the way there (though I liked his commentary on how wrongfully women and poc were treated back then).

Jack and Wilhelm had great chemistry, which was in my opinion the highlight of the story. Wil’s sweetness paired with Jack’s tendency to be reckless was amazing; their interactions definitely made up for the lack-luster plot. The power dynamics demonstrated through Laszlo an the Enchantress were great (I hated them both, which is a sign of a well executed villain). Overall, this was a decently enjoyable read, with characters who make up for the repetitive storyline.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for providing an audio galley of this book. All opinions are my own*

After reading and loving Hutchinson's book "A Complicated Love Story Set in Space" I wanted to try some of his other books, so I requested this after seeing it marketed as similar to "The Prestige" and "What If Its Us."

I have to say, one of my favorite things about Hutchinson's writing are the plots, which are often just very fun and encompassing, and the characters, who are super relatable. I did think some of the plot events/twists were a little predictable, but I was so invested in the story that I didn't mind.

One complaint I do have is that a lot of the political references (often to a modern political climate) didn't seem well integrated into the story. The messages were good and I agreed with a them, but it felt more like the author was trying to add in a cringe-worthy advertisement in the middle of a historical fantasy (if that's what you would classify this as?). Basically I just thought that they could have been better written into the story.

Speaking of the genre, that's another thing I loved about the story. It takes fantasy, and mystery, and historical fiction elements and wraps them all up into one beautiful storyline. I've noticed that before in Hutchinson's writing, and I am obsessed with it.

The romance is sweet and the two mc's have a lot of chemistry. They also balance each other very well, and I enjoyed all their scenes. I think the side characters are also really well written and dynamic.

Content Warnings: kidnapping, racism, bleeding (as medical treatment), drugging, manipulation

*thank you NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an audiobook arc of this book*

this was such a cute read!! While the the robotic voice made it hard to focus at some points, I was still able to follow the story! Before We Disappear is a lgbtqia+ mlm historical fiction, I would also say it has the rivals to lovers trope! I really enjoyed the multiple pov aspect of this book, it personally made it easier to follow along. If you enjoy a mixture of romance and magic, this is the book for you! I will definitely be picking a physical copy as well a finish audiobook version to see what the final narration!

4.5 stars

I listened to a computer-generated audio version of this book for review for NetGalley, but I'm going to do my best to review just the book and not the narration since I know the official audiobook will be narrated alternatively by two different narrators so it should be much better. That said, in spite of some passages whose meaning was a little bit confusing because of the lack of proper intonation, I was still able to follow the story very well, and surprisingly, I started forming connections between the two main characters, Jack and Will. Jack and Will are the magician's assistants to two rival magicians whose scruples are not exactly clean, although Will's magician seems to be a particular brand of evil. The story takes place in Seattle at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific World's Fair Exposition where Jack and his boss, The Enchantress have been making a name for themselves. Laszlo/Theodore comes in with Will to try to dethrone her while accomplishing other secret activities. When Jack and Will meet, there seems to be an instant connection and soon after, Jack works to free Will from Laszlo's control. With a great supporting cast of characters, this story had me listening pretty solidly so I could see how they were going to defeat the bad guys. Although the gay relationships in this story were anachronistic, I totally enjoyed the story and did not feel a disconnect with the time period. In fact, I liked imagining gay couples being able to enjoy the wonders of the World Fair together. Also, I haven't read many books set during this time, so that was an added bonus for me. Overall, I really loved the story and I know I would have enjoyed it more if I had listened to the real audio or read the digital book, but I'm willing to overlook that since this was an advanced review copy. I am now looking forward to diving into the author's book, We Are the Ants.

TW: Kidnapping, grief

I loved the representation in 'Before we Disappear' and especially the historical fiction aspect, for starters. The main characters the story follows, Jack and Wilhelm, are an absolute joy to read about. I loved the somewhat Romeo and Juliet vibes I got while reading this because the story revolves around two magician assistants falling in love amidst a competition that's supposed to tear them apart. Finally, I loved the relationship between Jack and Wilhelm because it's always refreshing to see gay representation.

My main negative comment about 'Before We Disappear' is there wasn't enough plot, and the whole concept was "blah". The story could have been minimized, and the story's plot could've still been accomplished without all the extra information. I just found myself overlooking extra details because it had nothing to do with the story's overall plot. The audiobook I received was more of a robotic synthesized voice, which always deters me from enjoying the narrator - So I will definitely be revisiting this story when it's published. I hope my review changes with actual words before me verse listening to the audiobook with a bland robotic narrator.

If you love historical fiction, magic, and a cute gay romance - Please pick this up! You may enjoy it more than I did. I will definitely be re-reading this once it releases to revisit my comments and correct them.

Thank you as always to NetGalley and HarperTeen for the ARC.

I was super excited for this book… I love historical fiction movies about Magicians, like The Prestige, as well as heist movies, like Now You See Me, and to top it all off, it’s Queer. But something fell flat for me.

The MC’s Jack and Wilhelm are star-crossed lovers, which… YEEEEEEEES!! Love me some Romeo & Juliet vibes. And Hutchinson’s character work is so good! I loved them both, BUT… and it’s a big but. They weren’t enough to carry a plot that wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped.

Jack was adopted by The Enchantress. He was an orphan living on the streets and she gave him a new home (really a traveling one at that), as well as family and a purpose. He was my favorite.

Wil had magical powers. He could transport (jump, if you will) himself or objects from place to place. He had been kidnapped from his bed at the age of 4 by Laszlo. Kept chained to a bed at night so that he couldn’t escape. 🙄 If he tried, Laszlo (aka Teddy) would threaten those he loved. But until the story began, with the exception of 2 people he had gotten rid of off page earlier on, Wil had no loved ones. So it was only the threat to return and hurt the family he had never known.

Laszlo and The Enchantress are both con-artists who steal and cheat to get ahead. So there was a correlation in opposing stories there that I found ironically funny at times.

Other than Jack, there were a few side characters I appreciated. Ruth is a Black Lesbian Dancer who is being stalked by George (who thinks she belongs to him… and btw was a useless character). Lucia is another orphan that The Enchantress takes in, who dreams of being a Magician herself. Lucia creates all of her acts, but is unappreciated.

I think the story could have been cut back quite a bit and still made sense. I also got the audio book, which I found the actor’s voice quite robotic at times. 🤷🏻‍♂️