Based on the cover of this book, I thought it was going to be a period piece about the roaring 20’s with some magic thrown in…which isn’t usually my vibe but I wanted to give it a try regardless. I’m glad I did because while this book was technically set in the 1900s, Cohoe creates her own magical alternate reality on Prosper island that sucked me in a world of spirits all of its own.

It’s crazy the amount of action and turmoil that occurred in ONE day throughout this whole book. I ended up with a different opinion of most every character than I had when I first met them. The MC herself was not the strong heroine I thought she would be when I first went into the book but what I did enjoy about her is that she was such a great example of human flaws. Sometimes I was frustrated with her values and actions but I could appreciate them based on her circumstances and who she was. She made choices that a sheltered 18 year old girl would if essentially raised as a servant.

I really enjoyed the magic system in this book. Only a few characters can perform magic and there’s a lot of mystery around how exactly they can, something that the MC desperately wants to discover. What’s known is the magic exists thanks to the spirits that roam the island and serve the Prosper family. But secrets surround the Prospers, and they are all at risk of coming out at their main event, First Night. I truly recommend joining Mae on this ride to uncover all of their all the fun hidden within this island.

Read if you enjoy:
🏝Magical islands
🏝Poor orphans among a rich family
🏝Spirits
🏝Love triangles
🏝Family secrets
🏝Lots of eavesdropping
🏝Deceiving looks

I can’t say if I would have enjoyed Bright Ruined Things more or less with familiarity with the source material - Shakespeare’s The Tempest. What I can say is this YA fantasy immediately created an atmosphere that was both unsettling and enchanting with its isolated, craggy island inhabited by spirits that are bound to a wealthy family that profits from their magic in mysterious ways. We get to see this story from the perspective not of one of the members of this family, but a ward who has lived on the island her entire life named Mae. It was a setup I was immediately intrigued by, but unfortunately my interest in the first few chapters only dwindled as the story itself progressed.

Mae is incredibly naïve as a function of her isolated upbringing on the island. She has been relegated to watching the Prosper family come and go as they please, observing as they use the family’s exorbitant wealth for whatever frivolous means they desire. Instead of this leaving her bitter or jealous however, Mae is determined to learn magic like the family’s heir apparent and her future fiancé - Ivo. It’s a perfectly fine way to establish a character you expect to experience rapid growth as she finds her place outside of this toxic, manipulative family as her own person. You want to root for her to realize she is not the side character in this glamorous world of these wealthy magicians she feels to be.

Except, that doesn’t quite happen. One could argue that by the end of the book, Mae has learned to live independently removed from the Prospers and has found it in herself to forgive their patronizing treatment of her that shadowed her entire life. But really we don’t get to see that from her other than in an incredibly brief epilogue. Instead, we watch as she is constantly being gaslighted by almost every character around her for the entire novel. Which was both frustrating and didn’t give her much actual agency in the events of the plot itself.

Overall, maybe this would have worked much better for someone who had read The Tempest prior and could pick up on the small details in the play that connected some of the disjointedness of the narrative and minimal character development that detracted from my enjoyment. I can absolutely say the setting and atmosphere was the most remarkable aspect of the story. And for anyone looking more for “vibes” than a focus on the characters this could give you exactly that - if those vibes are eerie, isolated island inhabited by ghostly magical spirits vibes.

Thank you to the publisher Macmillan Audio for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

This was a completely original and gripping story of an elite magical family and the secrets that give them their power.

So many of these characters were absolutely horrible people. Very few have redeemable qualities but they also weren’t completely two dimensional. There was no character that was all good or all bad. Some
Were Better than others for sure (in fact I cheered once our main character Mae, finally found her spine) but no one was without fault which I feel like gave this story an interesting dimension. T

The story itself was captivating and I was fully invested. The narrator did an amazing job giving the characters personality.

The magical world and history o the island and the prosper family was interesting. The mysteries and tied-up relationship kept me engaged.

This was a story about the dark, menacing reality under the bright glittering facade.

I’ve been struggling for a couple days to review this one. It was a well written book, with a compelled protagonist & an interesting magic system.. all good things! But I strongly disliked all of the side characters- and as a reader I prefer a supporting cast I can enjoy. I do think this was purposeful, and the ending was very satisfying, so overall I would recommend this for anyone who loved The Great Gatsby, but has wished that green light had been magical.

Thank you so much netgalley, Macmillan audio Wednesday books & St. Martin’s press for the e & audio Arcs! The audio narration was excellent 🖤

Sometimes the right book finds you at the right time and that’s how I feel about Bright Ruined Things. I was in a slump and not enjoying anything I read, and when this released I decided to give the audiobook a try and what do you know, I was hooked from the beginning!

This is a standalone historical fiction/fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest,’ – but don’t worry, I don’t know The Tempest at all and I still enjoyed this one immensely. I’m definitely feeling standalones these days – less commitment. And this entire story is told over the course of one day – there’s something about that fast pace that entices me.

Mae is the daughter of a steward on the island owned by the wealthy Prosper family. They control the magic of the island and the spirits who inhabit it. Her father had died and Mae recently turned eighteen, meaning she would have to be married off soon and leave the island, once anyone remembered she was eighteen, that is. This takes place on First Night, when all the members of the Prosper family return home and bring their aristocratic friends to show off their wealth and distribute aether – a magical fuel source that can only be produced on the island. But that morning Mae has noticed the spirits have started dying – they should never die or become sick, so she knows something is wrong.

This book is incredible fast paced, it has to be since its less than 24 hours of time in the world. We start with Mae’s morning and end with the fireworks at night celebrating First Night.

We get introduced to all the Prosper family members and it felt like a lot of people at first, but it was easy enough to keep track since Mae is really only friends with the grandchildren; her best friend Coco, her crush Miles, and the mysterious Ivo, the only one of the grandchildren who wanted to learn magic from his grandfather.

If you like intense world building and super deep character development, this isn’t for you, but I pictured it all as Great Gastby-esque – that was the world in my mind and it worked for me. Only the basics of the magic system are touched upon, but it was also enough for me. I enjoyed learning about the different spirits on the island and what they did and how they helped the island thrive.

Mae knew she was on the island on borrowed time, so she always did whatever the Prosper family asked of her, but she didn’t always like it and she formulates a plan to fight back and reject what they’re expecting of her. She’s a little morally gray towards the middle and end of the story and I really liked that about her. Mae isn’t so “mousey” as everyone always called her.

There was some small romance in this book, but I wouldn’t really call this a romance book – if you’re here looking for love, don’t bother. It’s more arranged marriage and some infatuation than actual love and its passed over rather quickly.

Overall, this book was a pleasant surprise of the month for me and I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of historical fiction and magic!

This book wasn't BAD by any means, but it was kind of... Dull. There wasn't really anything special about it. Our main character is exactly as boring as everyone thinks she is and a lot of things we set up for her in the beginning (namely: her record-breaking running times?) turned out not to be even remotely relevant to the plot, her relationships with other characters, or even her own character development.

I honestly just kept reading out of inertia (I was already so far, I might as well finish) and not because I was curious or interested. All of the characters felt very surface level, like archetypes rather than actual people. I think Coco could have been a very interesting character if she had more opportunity. Instead she was just there to make our main character feel bad (and not even like "villainess wants revenge" bad but just... "nobody loves me as much as I love them" bad).

Also the fact that she's on the island all year vs everyone else coming and going in short stints didn't give our MC any real advantages. She's a ghost in her own story, just drifting from plot point to plot point... I know it made her feel like a real person, but not like the kind of heroine I'd want to read about.

What a great listen! The story follows Mae, a regular human living on an island that is home to a family who has been gifted with magic. What Mae doesn't know is that magic comes at a terrible price.

I honestly didn't expect to love this as much as I did. I have been in a rut with fantasy for awhile and this brought the magic back to me. It is a fun, interesting storyline, with loveable characters who go on a roller coaster ride, living with and around magic. The narrator tells the story in such a way that I was instantly hooked.

The book takes place over one day, one very busy super complicated day. Mae has been a ward of the wealthy and magical Prosper family since her father's death, but with her 18th birthday fast approaching she is afraid that she will be cast away from the family and the magic she so desires. Using the fanfare and distraction of the First Night party when everyone comes to the island, Mae is hoping to get one of her dreams to come true- one way or another.

Mae basically had no personality, she was what everyone wanted her to be in each situation, very biddable and meek. She started the book out wanting to catch the eye of her long time crush and then next thing you know she is engaged, confused (and confusing) and then power hungry, and then manipulative and scheming and then a wannabe hero? What? Her character growth (if you can call it that) was all over the place and I had a hard time rooting for her, understanding her or even really caring what happened to her by the time the book ended.

The magic and spirits really made no sense, it was more a vague concept that is not really described or understood by most people (including me), yet it is the center point of the whole plot/book. The book was very flat and I could not get into this story or really care about any of the characters at all. At times the author tried to make the secondary characters more developed or interesting, but it seemed like a random afterthought that could have just as easily been left out and not changed the story at all. This is the second book I have read by this author and I just think that maybe her writing style and I just don't mesh. I am sure other people could possibly enjoy this read, but it was not for me.

On the plus side, the audio was well done and the narrator was solid, I am not sure if I would have been able to get completely through the story if I had not stopped reading the book and started listening instead. The audio kept me engaged enough in a pretty flat story so I could finish the book. Keep in mind that I always speed my audiobooks up to 1.75x or 2x when listening to a story so this was pretty good at 1.75 for me.

I was granted eARC access to Bright Ruined Things via NetGalley last year, but I guess publication got delayed? My eBook copy has a different cover and my records say it was meant to be published in October 2021. Either way, it wasn't, and then it fell to the backburner. Then I saw the audiobook offered on NetGalley, decided to take a chance, and here we are! Thank you to the publisher's employees who approved me. My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Intended to be a reimagining of Shakespeare's The Temptest (one of the only major Shakespeare plays my Honours English teachers didn't have us study in high school,) Bright Ruined Things is set on an island removed from the mundane world where magic exists, spirits can be seen, and the world is never silent. Now the spirits are dying and it's becoming more and more clear that all is not as it seems. Can she solve the mysteries the island holds before she loses everything?

I devoured this book in a single sitting! I loved the 1920s flair to this otherwise otherworldly low fantasy with a strong element of mystery. The plot is very dramatic in a classic soap opera sort of way and just about every common romance trope makes its way into the plot, yet this isn't a romance novel. The magic system is fascinating, the interwoven web of deception and hidden truths is very compelling, and I really enjoyed our protagonist Mae.

With that said, no other character really stood out to me, and I couldn't even keep the men Mae was involved with separate in my mind. Which one was each young lady supposed to marry? Which one did each actually love? Which one loved each lady? Not sure!

The audiobook narration is excellent! The pacing is perfect, there was no distractingly overdone vocal pitching or put-on voices for different characters, and the sound quality was great. Although as mentioned above, I couldn't keep the men straight, that was certainly not a failing of the narrative performance.

Bright and Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

•••Spoiler free review below•••

From the start, we are thrown into this historical fantasy that grips you from beginning to end. This story was inspired by Shakespeare’s 'The Tempest', but I can confirm you do not have to have read it in order to appreciate the beautiful writing and the interesting aspects of this magical world.

We follow Mae — an eighteen year old orphan trapped on an island surrounded by magic while she remains painfully human. Her goal is to become apart of the Prosper family and learn magic herself. Her plan is thrown out the window when she becomes accidentally engaged to the cousin of the boy she hoped to marry and realizes a sinister scheme is playing out on her island home.

Like 'The Tempest’, this story takes place over twenty-four hours. We follow Mae as she races against time to find out what is happening with the magic on the island and figure out where she belongs within the Prosper family and within her world.

The last third of this book was fast paced and WOW that ending!!

I do tend to enjoy most things Shakespeare even reimagined/inspired by stories....so when Bright Ruined Things was pitched as a YA historical fiction fantasy inspired by the Tempest I was sold. As it's original source material, Bright Ruined Things is told over the span of 24 hours on the day of the First Night; a party thrown by Lord Propser to celebrate his harnessing of the island's magic and ability to turn it into a fuel source.

The story follows Mae, an orphan that has grown up on the island with the family. In order to solidify her place on the island, she reluctantly accepts a proposal from Ivo, the oldest grandson, despite preferring the other grandson, Miles. Only Ivo and his grandfather are bestowed with the power to wield magic, much to the disappointment of other family members. Mae decides to team up with another character in order to learn the secrets behind the magic during First Night and things don't go as planned.

The story felt Shakespearean in nature. There were a ton of characters, eavesdropping, misunderstandings, part comedy/part tragedy, magical elements, a bit of romance and plenty of family drama to go around. The magic was subtle and I wish it had been more prevalent. I tend to enjoy stories set in the 1920s (I love big jazz bands, prohibition, Gatsby, the fashion, art deco, etc...) but there isn't much to remind you of the time period within this book. The cover sold me on this one....it's so pretty.

The narration by Imani Jade Powers was well done and I loved her accent usage. If you were wanting to check out Bright Ruined Things I'd happily recommend the audiobook version. Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced listener's copy for review purposes. All opinions are my own. True rating: 3.5 stars

Listening to this audiobook ARC was just a delight. I was nervous after reading mixed reviews on this one, but for me, the narrator in this book did a fantastic job bringing Cohoe's story to life and really held my attention well, which is high praise from me.
BRIGHT RUINED THINGS is a story about wealth, privilege and magic. I've never read The Tempest, but I am always here for a story that has Shakespearean vibes and BRT has it in droves. While I was expecting more of a flapper 1920s feel based on the cover, I will say that Cohoe did a fabulous job with her world-building and bringing an atmosphere full of mystery on the Island where the Prosper family resides that is plagued by ghosts and spirits. This book has a super fun ghosty feel that I also adored. I came around to really enjoying Mae as a MC with her ambition of being able to harness magic, and I loved seeing her character develop as she comes to terms with how the Prosper family and their wealth has impacted her life and the darker temptations she faced as a result. Seeing that really sealed the deal with how much I liked her. I also adored Ivo's character and thought that his and Mae's chemistry was off the charts. I also liked Coco and Mae's friendships and how it gets more complicated as the novel goes on. Unfortunately, I wasn't buying Mae with Miles who seems to be the main ship of this novel. I just didn't like how he treated her in the beginning and though I warmed up to him I was not a fan of that particular romance. And that ending. I am not sure how to feel about that, but overall I did enjoy BRIGHT RUINED THINGS quite a bit.

The Tempest meets the 1920's in this historical YA fantasy. Bright Ruined Things draws on elements of the Shakespearean play, but sets it in a magical version of the 20's on a private island. Our main character is the orphaned Mae who has grown up on the island alongside the wealthy and powerful Prosper family. All she wants is to learn the magic that is forbidden to her, to be seen by her crush, and to stop feeling inferior to everyone including her best friend Coco. Tonight is First Night, a big party where people come to the island to celebrate magic and it seems the perfect opportunity to take back her life, but things are darker and more complicated than they seem...

I ended up really enjoying this. Mae can be a frustrating character because she's so meek and fearful in how she interacts with people, even if inside she wants to be different. That said, she does develop a backbone by the end of the book and we see that journey. I don't want to spoil the plot, but this is an interesting spin on The Tempest that feels like a mystery/thriller in some ways. Many of the characters are privileged and narcissistic, though some of them are eventually able to find more of their humanity.

The book takes place almost entirely in a single day (with the exception of the epilogue) and Cohoe did an excellent job of making the stakes feel high as we build toward the First Night party, while slowly introducing the reader to the world, the characters, and the layers of history. It is a bit of a slow burn, but I didn't end up going quite where I expected. Definitely worth a look. The audio narration is great and adds to the sense of atmosphere. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Bright Ruined Things sells itself as a retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, but as a reader who doesn't particularly like reading plays this was a fresh story for me. The setting was incredible, an island where magic is essentially mined from it's one source on earth. Spirits and Fae who inhabit the Island flutter about doing the bidding of the powerful family who own the island. While pieces of this concept have made it's way into modern tales, none have captured my attention and felt real enough to take place in a world where I myself exist. The characters were fun to watch as their secrets unravelled, and a whodunnit type mystery involving the spirits was a great touch for readers who like more than just fantasy aspects. I sit here trying to think of a gripe and the only one I can come up with is that there wasn't enough of the roaring twenties in this book, even though it is set in this decade. I wish there had been more nods to the era, but in comparison to the brightness of the story telling it seems a bit trite.

Five BRIGHT stars from this reader, I will definitely be looking for more from this author. I recommend this novel for ages 12+ who enjoy fantasy and plot twists.


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an AudioARC in exchange for an honest review.

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

I really enjoyed this book. With how trendy dual timelines are these days, I really appreciate books like this one that can explain the history while staying in the present. The whole story was pretty much packed into a day without ever feeling rushed or dragging with the mundane. The pacing was just excellent.

I’m really not familiar with The Tempest (which this is supposed to be a retelling of) but I loved the story of the family who “discovered” magic and the spirits who lived on their magic island with them. Everyone’s relationships were fascinating, and I was pretty interested in Lord Prosper’s children since this was pretty much only about his grandchildren. I also appreciated the epilogue and felt it was pretty realistic with how everyone struggled to support each other as they dealt with their own pain. Overall this was a win for me.

I absolutely loved this magical, more contemporary take on the Tempest. Cohoe did an amazing job of slowly revealing the depth of each character and how they viewed themselves. Additionally, the narration of this audiobook only added to the fantasy of this story. The narrator did an amazing job with each characters voice and truly pulled me into this story. I could see myself re-listening to this story over and over.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Macmillan Young Listeners in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the synopsis for BRIGHT RUINED THINGS sounded really interesting, unfortunately, I don't feel like the novel fully lived up to expectations. The time period did not come through, which was one aspect I was looking forward to. Where was the essence of the 1920s?! The first half of the novel was a slow set up, once the action got started the pace picked up and things were interesting. But so much happened in such a short span that the novel feels unbalanced.

The audiobook performance by Imani Jade Powers felt flat. There was little distinction between the voices of each character so I think this might be a book better read than listened to.

Mae is a decent protagonist, but I wish Cohoe had given us more of Ivo's storyline. Overall I did appreciate the discourse of colonizer behavior and slavery that was woven into the narrative of the native spirits of the island. This was a good read, just not exactly what I was hoping it would be.

I have mixed feelings about BRIGHT RUINED THINGS by Samantha Cohoe. The storyline was interesting, but the characters felt undeveloped. The book did not offer much information on them. The story felt superficial and shaky. I think this book could have been written as a duology or trilogy and offered more details on the origins of the island and the spirits who live on it. It would also allow for better character development. Please don’t let this stop you from picking up a copy. If you like YA fantasy novels, this one has its merits and can be enjoyed by anyone and at any age.

The narration was good and appropriate for the book.