The storyline for this book was a four to the five-star idea. With that being said, I struggled to get through the first 25% of this book and thought about quitting several times. The writing, in the beginning, is thoroughly confusing. The story switched from two different first-person pov and then to the third person in one paragraph. I will say the 45%-75% mark of the book was four-star quality and engaging. There was little switching of points of view, and the characters gained some depth. However, after the 75% mark, the book seemed dragged out, and the plot disappeared. The book ended abruptly, but that is to be expected from a series, and I hope the next book sticks to a plot and leaves out the unnecessary and random points of view of side characters.

Thank you, NetGalley and Cranthorpe Millner Publishers, for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

When I tell you I *savored* this book. I initially thought I was getting into another YA fantasy when I first requested it, but this is definitely more adult than I first anticipated. You've got your "villain" who really isn't a villain at all, a baddass main character who will do anything to survive, and a cast of supporting characters that make this book so rich and utterly beautiful.

I usually read pretty quickly, but with this book I found myself slowing down and taking my time, really exploring the descriptions of the scenery and the world Isabella finds herself in. I was so torn when the story came to a close, and I kept hoping for just a few more chapters. The landscape is lush and expansive, and the different species she encounters are fascinating to get to know more about.

I will be following this author closely for whatever books come next, and I can't wait to see what worlds and wonders come after this series comes to a close.

To be honest, I really didn’t like this book. Was very hard to read and move on with the pages.
The main character is boring. And honestly if someone sent you to another world you should be pretty mad, but MC seems to accept everything too easy. Could have been written better.

3/5

Anahera by Vianne Max revolves around Isabella, an independent New Zealand girl who has content to spend her days alone in her little town. When she and her entire village are suddenly transported to another world, Isabella is swept into a world of marauders, murder, and magic. Will she be able to survive her journey? But more importantly, will she be able to face the outcome if she does?

Let’s start with Isabella. What a boring lady she is. She has no dreams, no redeeming qualities and no interests. Her whole character is just her adapting and being okay with literally anything. She’s friendly I guess, but like that’s not hard.

Bryant I did like, on the other hand. Finally some real depth in a character. I liked him especially because he made Isabella actually interesting.

The writing style was kind of hard to wrap my head around at first. It felt like I was being whisked from character to character without a moments notice. I became more used to it towards the end, but it’s not really my cup of tea.
Also the amount of information that was being spewed out was alarming. I gave up trying to understand most of the places and lore since there were mostly no explanation of most things.

The action moments and plot-driving moments were great. I liked their fast-paced-ness. But the other 75% of this book was kind of lagging. Especially that ending. What was that! The book just… ceased to keep going. Out of nowhere.

I reeeeaaally hope the sequel keeps all the things I loved and has less of the boring stuff. It seems like the plot is just about to really get going, so I am looking forward to finish this series, if only to be rewarded for my patience.

Lastly, the playlist recommendations. Just. Why. I tried listening to some of them while reading to give Max the benefit of the doubt, but to me they didn’t really match the feel of the world. Again, not my cup of tea but I guess someone else might like the addition of an accompanying playlist while they read.

Thank you to Netgalley as well as the publisher for this ARC in exchange of an honest review!

I have to say, this book was a very unexpected and enjoyable surprise for me. It took me some time to get into the book, some time was needed to understand the world as well as the various point of views.

Loosely, the story follows Isabella and a group of humans who one evening at a party find themselves transported in an alternate dimension, where they are made prisoners who to choose between marrying members from the aristocracy or become slaves to the highest bidder. I found the overall plot and writing of this book to be quite interesting and unique. Despite the various point of views written, the author managed to switch between the povs effortlessly without making the read any harder, each pov had their own unique voice so the flow of the story did not suffer from the change in voices, it was pretty smooth.

However, I have to point out the fact that I found Isabella lacking depth as a character as well as her reaction to being kidnapped to be quite problematic, in fact her relationship with her kidnapper was too friendly too quickly which made me quite irritated. As for the ending, it fell flat for me, very lacklustre. I am hoping the sequel to be more action packed.

Let me start this by saying there is some serious Outlander vibes within this book, if you don't know what that is you've been living under a rock (sorry not sorry). So I'd describe this as Outlander but in the future not the past and with more magic.
I'll be honest I struggled with the first few chapters, it was a bit sluggish and the terminology didn't always agree with me (some words just didn't taste right) but once I got into it, it was more enjoyable.
It has set up for a sequel to be written so it will be interesting to see where this story goes next.

I received a copy of Anahera from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise sounded interesting--a woman transported to a magical world--and I thought the cover was pretty. However, from page two I already didn't like the voice. I stuck it out until 22% and I DNFed. There were a bunch of things I just couldn't get past:

-Most importantly, the main character Isabella has no desires or motivations at all, and very little personality. When she's introduced, I have no idea what she wants. She doesn't seem to have any goals in our world. And when she's transported to another world, I would have thought she'd have some kind of opinion, either desperation to get back home or insatiable curiosity about the magical world she's in. Instead... nothing.

-Isabella goes from not-caring about much of anything, taking everything in stride, to freaking out over the most minor things--back to being perfectly calm.

-The head-hopping is unbearable. With every paragraph, I had to figure out anew whose mind I was in. The narration even switches between characters within the same paragraph!

-There were missing words throughout, which didn't necessarily affect my ability to understand the story, but showed that the book needed more editing. There was also a lot of repetition of words, phrases, and descriptions, which is a stylistic choice that really bothers me.

-New [fantasy/magic] words are sprinkled throughout with no context at all. Coupled with the head-hopping, it was impossible to guess what significance they had.

-Isabella and the (handsome, amazing-smelling) man who captured her begin to form a bond though they haven't had any conversations or meaningful moments together... and he is LITERALLY selling her as a slave.

-The narration is all telling rather than showing, creating distance between me and the characters. As a result, I didn't care about any of them.

I really wanted to like this book, but it had too many negatives for me to overcome.

I actually think the writing is fantastic!! The characters are amazing and the way they all come together is *chefs kiss* the ending was iffy but I just think that will make the sequel even better! Thank you to netgally and the publisher for allowing me early access to this book!

I want to thank Vianne Max,Cranthorpe Millner Publishers and Netgalley for this ARC.
This book was a real surprise to me. The beginning was difficult, the time to understand the world we discover, as well as the different points of view that follow in the third person.
I was afraid at the beginning of the book that it would be an outlander remake, but apart from the principle of going through a portal, the similarities stop. We follow the story of Isabella and a group of humans who one evening at a party find themselves transported in a parallel dimension, where they are waiting by soldiers, who will transport them to a large city where they will be made "prisoners".(all this doesn’t happen exactly like this but I’ll let you read the story ) They give the choice between choosing a husband from the aristocracy of the city(95% of them being awful people) or being sold as a slave to the highest bidder.
Isabella is going to be an interesting choice, and we’re going to follow the consequences of her choices.
Isabella’s reaction to the kidnapping is a bit complex to understand at first, but I strongly advise you to continue the story even if the beginning may seem long and complex. You will then meet Bryant and fall in love with him! I loved discovering this tortured but sensitive male character, with an alpha side as we like.
If you are looking for a book with intrigues, action, a well-developed world, complete characters, different and a sloooow burn romance, read this book and above all give it a chance, it’s worth it!
I can' wait for the book two

This book was a fairly original read, I got it as an ARC. I was pulled in right away because it just had a really different fantasy feel to it, just a really original start. I was REALLY confused for a lot of it because of the third person story telling. I would say it is a good read for fans of more lore based fantasy.

I received this ARC through Netgalley, and this does not influence my review. This was a good read, I loved the medium-paced plot. The story was understandable and the plot flowed at a good pace. The only thing I did not like was the 3rd person POV, it got kind of confusing as to exactly which character's thoughts we were listening to.

The tense of this book was really hard to read. It felt like a narration of events rather than telling a story. I felt that events happened very quickly and the MC was too easy to accept her surroundings. We didn’t get enough background or character depth for the plot to really have any meaning. Personally I think this could have been a fun story if additional information was provided and written in a perspective.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

While the overall premise of the book was interesting, I had a really hard time getting into it. I gave it several chapters, but just found that Isabella was too trustworthy and not a worthy MC after she failed to put up a fight or show reluctance after being transported to an entirely new world.

Thank you Vianne Max, Cranthorpe Millner Publishers and Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for a review.

The way the story is told is good, yet it seems unusual how easily Isabella accepts [going through a gate to another land, and aliens. Most people would be going a little crazy. It's also strange that when she wakes up on the ship, she's no longer upset that she has been kidnapped, and is friendly with her captors. She even jokes with Emmeline, calling her mom. Most people would ask what they were planning to do with her, and why people from her world are important in this one.

Another problem here is the overused trope of [a protagonist falling for her captor (hide spoiler)]. When will fiction writers stop being so predictable? Plus, it gives the impression that it's ok to develop those feelings for ones captor. A reinforcing of Stockholm Syndrome. Bad optics.

There was a cute moment with the white fox,

All of that just took me out of the story and I can't finish it.

I can honestly see this book being liked by YA. I personally couldn’t get to grips with it. However if I was younger, I could probably enjoy the story a bit more.
The writing was good enough to enjoy for the first read.