Ah, I really don't know how to feel about this book. I honestly loved the beginning of the book so much, I really thought "wow, I'm SO gonna love this" and then... I didn't really. I mean coven, witches, gods occult? Yes, sign me in! The magic system was also interesting and I couldn't wait to learn more about it. I was really expecting to follow Elle during her apprenticeship, see how she learn more about her magic, and see her struggles. But then, I totally lost interest the second that the love interest entered the story. I then gradually found more flaws and ended up finishing the book just because I wanted to see what was going to happen, not that I even cared... A very good start with a disappointing end I would say.
I find that the world itself is lacking, the gods which are introduced are supposed to be ancient and I would guess mysterious and honestly, I couldn't see it. But the biggest problem for me what the chemistry between the main characters. I felt it was rushed, I could see that there was physical tension but then, their relationship wasn't really developed properly for me. It started well with this typical enemies-to-lovers trope (which I enjoy) but then, it really was just hot air. There was a lot of back and forth in the story development, the plot itself was losing interest and their romance couldn't keep me interested either.

In general, I think it was a decent standalone for people who enjoy enemies-to-lovers, gods and witches, and the found family trope. I'm happy I read it (just because I really enjoyed the beginning) but I wouldn't read it again.

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Big Thanks to Netgalley, Rebecca Garcia and Victory Editing for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Elle is a witch. A human born witch. Rather than the stake, she is sent to live in another kingdom to learn and control her magic, away from the humans, including her sister. Orphaned and left without parents, they are torn from each other when Elle's magic is discovered.

Growing up in a coven, Elle finds her own family. One who accept her, mostly. A human born witch is still looked down upon. Elle now has the option to become a keeper, a higher ranking member of her coven. This title gives Elle the freedom to bring her sister back, so they can be together again. But being apart for so long has changed Elle, and what if it's changed Mona too?
Before Elle can decide to take the Keeper test, Vicktor comes along. He's handsome, and smart, and a human born witch, just like Elle. He challenges the same tests Elle has been debating taking. The one that will allow her to get her sister and Elle is worried he might just beat her.

I liked Elle's character... mostly. She was a bit whiney and indecisive, rather than the proud female protagonist that I usually love. Her character development was a bit more YA than new adult than I was expecting, at least considering the steamy parts that SHOULD have this title in the NA category.

Although it wasn't really 'insta love' it still felt like there was only one direction their relationship was going from the moment Vicktor stepped onto the page. GIVE ME ALL THE TENSION, please!

I really liked that the covens were split. There wasn't a lot of information or storyline that included the other covens but they could absolutely be a spin off. Or another that they needed to work together!

Overall, I'm giving this one 4 stars.

I loved the Fate of Crowns series so I was really excited to read this book and to say that I devoured it is a total understatement. Spellbound in my opinion is perfect because it is dark, twisted, gut wrenching and filled with magic. There were so many twists which made the story unpredictable and enjoyable. I can’t wait to find out which couple comes next.

I liked this a lot, but felt like it could’ve been a little longer for the storyline to develop a bit. The beginning was a slower start for me but once it picked up, I was into it.
Thank you to Netgalley for this arc ebook, all opinions are my own.

This gothic, magical fantasy is about witches and gods and an epic battle.

The world building is clear and easy to understand, and I really enjoyed the magic system. However, the highlight must be the romance - I was gripped with wanting to know how the relationship would progress!

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

Spellbound is a standalone adult fantasy novel set in a world divided between humans and witches. Our main character, Eleanor, is a human born witch that is forced from the human land to live in the witch/magic land. The first part of the book is really interesting and we get world building, a breakdown of the magic system, and the covens that each magic type falls into. I loved learning about Eleanor, her coven, and what their purpose was. A new character is introduced that becomes a rival to Eleanor and her plans to advance within her coven. It was intriguing and the angst between the two was interesting!

The second and third part of the book was a little too rushed for my liking. We go from witches and humans to gods and demons. We go from angsty enemies to full blown sex scene lovers in like one page. I really had to stop and go back and re-read the page because I was like.....how?. The language is very much adult and the sex scenes are very descriptive.

The plot for the second and third part of the books was so rushed. The story went way to fast and it could have been fleshed out way better. It just seemed like there could have been so much more in terms of world building, the history of the gods, and how the book eventually plays out. It would have been an amazing story for a duology or trilogy.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an E arc of this book.

The beginning of the book was really promising. I loved discovering the magic system, the different roles of the covens and learning more about their magic. Ella has a very interesting backstory and her struggles with studying, with mastering her powers and her status has me hooked from the start.
The turning point for me was the introduction of the main male character and love interest. From that point on, the story became extremely cliché and tropey. It was very underwhelming after the promising beginning.
It was clear he had an agenda, there was nothing subtle about it; Elle even realized that, but no one else, which made it not very credible. She still spent time with him and even though her envy was well-developed, the rest of her feelings didn’t feel believable at all.
I didn’t like the fact that he came onto her from the very first second they met, that was incredibly pushy. I’m also terribly tired of men punching walls when they’re angry because they can’t cope with feelings.
Elle’s reaction are overall very childish. Then, her best friend starts reacting like a pre-teenager as well and I seriously wondered how these characters could be twenty years old.
I lost interest and considered not finishing the book; all the plot twist very predictable and everything and the number of clichés kept going up. The problem was that I felt I had read that book many times already.
What made it up a little bit was the fact that it was a nice slow-burn romance for a standalone, and that’s a pacing that not every writer manages to achieve.

Spellbound is a standalone fantasy novel. A lot of thought has gone into the magical world building and I liked the concepts of the different covens and the Gods. The MC was feisty yet struggled to see her own worth. She's joined by a cast of likeable and well devised characters.

Although I enjoyed the book, there were times where I found there to be a lack of chemistry between the main characters. The plot had lots of twists and turns and this book would be great for those who enjoyed the kingdom of the wicked.

From what I've seen there are two more books in the series, although they can all be read separately

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an E arc of this book. .

When I started this one I didn't realize that this was a collection of short stories. I thought it was all just one story. Sad to say I didn't get far though the first story at all. It started out so amazing and I was very invested but sadly as the story progressed the story turned to more mundane things in the main characters life vs. the story at large. It slowed way down and became stagnate. So unfortunately this one just wasn't for me.



Go Into This One Knowing: Collection of short stories

I was very into this book, and I think it's a really clever way to do a series as a series of standalones in the same world. I thought the book would be a bit angstier to be honest, but I was really glad it wasn't - it offered a bit of a break! I really liked the story itself, the characters were well written and interesting, and the writing was really strong (which was expected given Garcia's other books).

I read this really quickly in the best possible way - and this is a must read for the fall. Grab a copy!

ARC given from NetGalley from the publisher.

I was initially attracted to this book due to its witchy nature, but I found that I struggled to get through this book. I thought the synopsis with witches vs gods would be interesting, but the lack of establishing a setting in the beginning and the quick pace of the story left me pretty unsatisfied.

The story centers around a witch in training to become her coven's keeper (of the keys? I'm not sure how this helps her rescue her sister. I don't think this was fully fleshed out as rescuing her sister becomes a minor plot rather than her motivation for the story). We meet the love interest Viktor early on, who becomes her competition. His only personality is smirking and calls her 'doll' too many times to not be creepy. Their relationship felt very rushed and forced so I had a hard time rooting for this couple as they went from enemies to suddenly sexual situation at 40% of the book. But! She still hates him. While these characters clearly had a motivator driving them through the story, even after finishing the book I have no idea what their personalities are.

My biggest struggle through the book was the lack of world-building. Starting the book, I thought it would be contemporary due to the way the characters spoke and the objects around them (umbrella, mascara, automobiles and motors). However, the setting appears to be a historically inspired kingdom with no technology. If the intent was to be a transitional period, I think this could have worked if the author spent time actually fleshing this out.

Although the story is about Elle's coven, once the god storyline was revealed it became focused around the gods and the coven is sidelined for a large portion of the story. I can't recall any witchcraft happening other than their form of communication through 'magic quill' (which seems redundant imo. You're witches, why call it MAGIC quill? Like ATM Machine).

I wish the author focused more on fleshing out the storyline. The plot was far too fast-paced which didn't leave time for any emotional impact when anything happened. As a result, Elle and Viktor felt more like stereotypes than well-rounded characters and I didn't care for their struggles and drivers. I think the witches and gods storyline could have been very interesting, as it was revealed that Elle's coven worshipped Freya and her past, but in general the story was more Viktor's revenge and out of place sexual situations. I won't mention how out of place it felt when the coven began teasing Elle about her sleeping with Viktor and the whole house could hear (incredibly cringey, not cute).

I gave this book 3 stars overall as I didn't hate this book and the plot did move quickly. It would have benefited if there was more time given to expanding everything: the world, the magic system, and characterizations.

I DNF'd this at 70%.

For the first half I was entertained. I liked the idea and the premise. But this book felt like it should have ended after the half way point. I have no interest to keep reading, I'm mostly just frowning at the book at this point.

The world building is lacking a bit. I don't understand, is the coven really strict or not? Do they have freedom or are they forced to work with the coven? So, Elle wants to find her sister but to do that she needs to become a keeper in her coven. Why? Because keepers job includes travel and that way she can travel to the country she was born in and where her sister lives. So she can't leave the coven? Yet, one of the other keepers says he does it for the money? So he chooses to be there? So Elle could just take off and go find her sister? Why doesn't she do that then? Is this situation like becoming a flight attendant so you can travel and see the world??? I've got no fucking clue. Elle should've just left, forget the coven.
OR if these witches and their covens are so nice then why wouldn't they take in both sisters? The non-witch sister could still have helped around and they wouldn't have been separated.

Also, these gods. They don't seem like they're ancient. They seem like petty teenagers. And of course the MC has to fall in love with one of them. Yet another book to the add to the list of ships with hundreds of years of age difference. Also, Victor is so annoying when he comes in to the picture. To the reader is so stupidly clear that he's not trustworthy and he's lying about something. But nooo, everyone just loves him because he's pretty and really good at magic. Like stupid good.

And then of course the love interest turns into a brooding mess and the MC wants to help him. I think ancient gods can help themselves. At this point in the book I was ready to push him off a cliff. I couldn't care less about this piece-of-shit god that only stirs trouble. All the gods should be pushed off a cliff so everyone else could just live their lives.

In the middle of the book there's build up to a scene that makes you think it's probably the end of the book. But it's not. And I don't really know where the book is suppose to go from there. Maybe I'd know if I'd kept reading but I honestly can't care less about these characters.

Something about this book feels really rushed. There's not much character development. I also get weirded out when high fantasy books have modern tech like phones or cars. Or really, just electricity. The description for this book sounds way more interesting than what this really is.

So yeah, I'm giving it two stars and I won't be coming back for a sequel.

Hard to put down dark fantasy with a little romance and steam. Elle is a human born witch that was separated from her sister when she showed her magic. She is now living in a coven and apprenticing in hope of becoming a Keeper and gaining access to keys that will allow her to reunite with her sister. However. She is reluctant to try for the final exam when a new apprentice, "Viktor" threatens to beat her to the punch. She senses that something is a little strange with the new recruit. However, everyone is preoccupied with a mysterious serial killer and dismiss her concerns. As she practices with "Viktor" she becomes more embroiled in his world and uncovers some of his secrets.
I loved the world building and the tension between the two protagonists who fall hard and fast against their better judgment. There are wonderful side characters who flesh out the coven, and villains who are also well thought out with interesting motivations. I think the moral of the main characters gets murkier and murkier as we go further along, with some actions or choices which I found questionable. But as a reader you barely stop to consider and become carried away with the suspense and the action. All in all, the story got me hooked and have read the latter part of the story with bated breath.

Thank you Netgalley and Victory Editing for allowing me to read and review this title in exchange for an honest review.

This is a difficult book to review without giving away spoilers. It’s such an interesting story, a world of witches and humans, divided by a magical barrier to keep them separated. The witches are differentiated by their covens, which are based on the types of magic they are gifted with. And seemingly in the background of all of this, are tales of the gods, whispers of the terrible things they’ve done and stories of deception and betrayal. Elle is a rare human born witch, taken from the orphanage she lived in with her sister when she was eleven years old when her magic surfaced. She’s a curse keeper. Someone who can handle dark magic and curses with minimal to no injury. It’s the smallest of the witch covens, and her human born heritage seems to have her set as a bit of an outcast. When word of another human born witch comes, he is brought to the witches to determine his coven. Viktor is handsome and mysterious, and Elle is immediately on edge. There have been murders taking place, and the curse keepers will be key to determining who the perpetrators are, but Viktor’s appearance throws things into a bit of a whirlwind for everyone. That’s about all I can say without spoiling. The enemies to lovers story gave me a bit of a From Blood and Ash feel, the back and forth between Elle and Viktor is quite entertaining. The magic world is interesting - but we don’t get a big deep dive, learnings the most about the curse keepers, since that is Elle’s coven. I imagine we’ll learn more about the other covens in later books since these are essentially stand alone stories within the same world. But we get a good amount of information on the strained relationship between humans and witches, as well as the origins of the gods, and their part in the world. The three parts of the book tell their distinct part of the story so well, and the overall book is very intriguing, kept me guessing and interested through to the end. As this is essentially a standalone, there is a good resolution to the book, and we are left with enough to look forward to more stories in this world. I, for one am intrigued to learn more.

Copy received from The Next Step PR. Voluntarily reviewing and all opinions are objective and my own.

Unfortunately, a DNF for me at 30%. I stopped around the 15% percent mark and got into another book series because I was struggling to get into this book. When I came back, it was the same. I enjoyed the author’s other series SO much so I was really trying with this one but I can’t no longer.

Typically my DNFs are rated 1 star because if it’s not something I can finish, it’s odd to rate it higher but this 3 star rating is because the author’s writing is so on point and beautiful. And I KNOW this is a great book, just not for me.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but ultimately I just could not get into it.
I think my biggest issue with this book is how basic it was, the ideas were there but none of them were fleshed out. Maybe if this book had been longer or if it had been a part of a duo-logy, it would have gripped me more.

This book was amazing! I would never complain if a spin off novel appeared in the future!

The world building was done so well. Everything was written so naturally. Nothing felt forced or overdone.

I love Elle. She was such an interesting main character (her outfit choices? Yes please, sign me up!)

I firmly believe everyone needs a sassy friend like Maddox. All of the characters were really well developed. (Gotta love the enemies to lover trope!) It was so easy to go to know them and become attached to them.

I highly recommend this book!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Spellbound 🪄

Out now!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Stars
Steam: 🌶🌶/5 (some descriptive steamy scenes)

Thanks to Netgalley and Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

No spoiler review 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

This is a stand alone new adult fantasy romance novel with witches!

This was a very enjoyable read and perfect for spooky season! Witches, covens, gods and demons!

This was a really cool read. I loved learning about the different covens of witches as well as the different kingdoms! Our main character Elle is a witch who is part of a coven that protects and disables dark magical objects. The magical elements were so interesting! This book also has an element of mystery as someone is killing witches so they are trying to solve who is doing that.

Elle is a strong female lead and a badass witch. I very much enjoyed reading from her perspective. I also loved that this book had enemies to lovers as a trope as I am a sucker for that!! It was well done and I loved the character of Viktor. I mean I’m a sucker for a morally grey character who’s EXTREMELY sassy.

I also loved the other characters in Elles coven as they were all well written and had great dialogue too. It for sure had a found family trope and I loved their little coven.

So much action and twists in this book that I loved! It’s perfect for this spooky reading season. This book feels like fall. Witches, dark mansions, woods, magic and all the dark academia vibes.

Overall this was such an enjoyable read! With a perfect amount of steamy scenes too 😉. I’ll for sure be reading more from this author!

3.5 Stars. This was a fun NA Romance Fantasy, with some unique world building and cool takes on witches and Gods both. However, this was a tough one for me to review because as I read through the first 1/3 of it I couldn't put it down and was definitely feeling 4/5 star vibes all the way, but then so much happened (many major events) in comparison in the latter half that it felt rushed and fell to a 3 star. This is one of those cases where I really wished the author had expanded it into a trilogy, and kept up the same kind of pacing, character development and slow build from the first part into the latter part. **Thank you so much to NetGalley for my eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!**

Because I LOVED the ideas and concepts and characters of this world, just not the execution in the latter part. I loved the set up of the different covens and the breakdowns of types of magic, along with the intro of the mysterious stranger that ends up in competition with our protagonist for the lone coveted Keeper position available in her coven. The banter between the main two characters was on point. And I think I steaminess will really appeal to both NA and Adult readers (there's not a ton of it, but when there is it's pretty hot).

But the second and third parts of this felt rushed at crucial points, almost like parts 2 and 3 should have been additional books instead to even out the pacing and awesome development from the first part. I really loved the characters in the first part, but then so many major events just happened too fast in parts 2 & 3 which left the characters falling a bit flat for me (especially in "Viktor's" case, he was so GREAT in the first part). If anything I usually feel that trilogies should be condensed to a shorter duology or something but in this case I really felt this book had a ton (of good things) going on and could have benefited from being expanded into a trilogy.

So I know this probably sounds overall like I didn't like this too much, but the thing is I had to actually like it quite a lot to feel disappointed by the latter half. I wanted more! There was so much potential here and it just didn't get to where it could have gone. I really enjoyed her writing style and ideas though, and I will definitely try her trilogy as I think that format might suit her obviously expansive world building and plots better.

Side Note: and possibly unpopular opinion: One of my pet peeves is when authors try to blend urban and historical fantasy, it always feels confusing and instead of supporting a unified feel of world building these details begin to feel like discrepancies and draw unnecessary attention to themselves. Details like these should be supporting the world building not pulling me out of the story. I realize this doesn't bother a lot of people, but such small details can really distract me when they don't fit the feel of the story.

Fantasy is still a relatively new genre to me and one that I’m really enjoying and whilst overall I did enjoy this one, I think I possibly just read what borders on Fantasy porn lol. I could be wrong but there were definitely quite a few references to cocks and wetness so you be the judge which all kind of came out of nowhere.
  
Now given that I am a Fantasy novice, my exposure being limited to the ACOTAR series, Serpent & Dove and most recently Fable all of which I loved, this one didn’t quite compare. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely liked it, I just didn’t love it.

It was a fun cheeky romance read in the world of Fantasy complete with Gods, dark magic, portals to other realms, witches, blood, death (lots of death) but it was just a little one-dimensional, the writing a little too simplistic and not enough character development and the romance definitely felt forced and stilted.

As a child Elle realises she is a witch, born into the mortal world and is ripped from her beloved sister and sent to a magical realm with hopes she will become a keeper for her coven of witches.

When a gruesome murder takes place nearby things soon take a turn for the dark and twisted and with the arrival of the mysterious Viktor it soon sets the scene for a steamy showdown.

If you’re up for a fun dive into the world of Fantasy Romance complete with…….well……….use your imagination, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one, and even though it won’t be a remembered favourite of mine, it’s definitely received some stellar reviews so be sure to check it out for yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ebook.