**ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for honest review- all opinions are my own**

This was good and enjoyable to read- not the most amazingly written book I've read but I still found it fun and a light-easy read. The characters were likeable enough and the setting was interesting to read about. As a YA novel the romance element was a sub-plot and not overwhelming but still cute enough to have me shipping characters. The premise of this book is what initially drew me in- secret society of underground magical people!! The execution could have been a little better but I'm still intrigued to see where the plot will develop into and how the characters will grow. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you Netgalley

****CONTAINS SPOILERS****

This is an incredible start to a series!!

Once I picked it up I was immediately hooked and haven’t been able to set it down over the last 48 hours. I loved the magic concepts however feel as though Blake just suddenly deep dived into it. I think more of a learning curve should have been implemented having gone from rare visions to constant ones laced with meaning. She also could just suddenly will them to happen with no real knowledge or teaching to have enabled this.

Admittedly I found the Marcus confession really bad. It felt like an easy out to a problem that was initially created with no solution in mind. He also just openly admitted why he had killed everyone the very first time they asked?? It just didn’t flow and felt very unrealistic.

Overall thought this was an amazing book and I’m definitely looking forward to the next! Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with this arc!

A special thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this book in exchange for a feedback review. All statements and opinions stated in this piece are my own.

This is a origin book, a new one in the huge stable of books about people with super powers, extraordinary abilities, or to put it plainly magic. I loved the cover of this one and also the short description where the ability of the protagonist talks about premonitions and a power to see incidents before they happen, very Final Destination except here she has the power to see the future incidents.
What is good in this book is the way the powers, the nine are described so we have a big bouquet of different powers and various individuals who are able to control them at various degrees depending upon their level of strength; like in the X-men. The nine powers are well thought out.
The interest in the book would be to see how people use those powers and the book gives some very good situations for the various abilities.
The story is very easy going and one feels the inclination to continue reading the book not a compulsion but it seems to grow on you. I had a great love for fantasy books even before the Potter series and loved reading the books on SF and SFF with exotic storylines, locations and power centers.
Although this book is not exactly in the zone for me but it still has kindled some of my interest and I would be looking into further books in the series.
What did not work for me in this book is principally the characters, things seem to be happening very seamlessly like clockwork. Stories especially magical ones fraught with telling backgrounds and compelling characters should not be doing that. The protagonist has been keeping her power under wraps except sharing with her friend who knows all but when accosted by this representative of a new world of powers seems to cave in very quickly and has no mental blocks or doubts about the entire situation. The lady is supposed to be in college not a pre-teen like Harry when he was accosted by owls.
Our protagonist comes across as being unbelievably naïve and she bonds instantly with anyone who is willing too sweet-talk her. The book doesn't have characters interacting and bonding, they are not properly fleshed out and feel too 2-D. These are some things that could be worked into in the future books. I don't know maybe college goer's today are bonding without any depth almost like one does over social media.
The story line about two powers vying for supremacy within the magical community is also a tried tested formula, as is the knowledge that you are not alone in your predicament of being different, mutant, super-powered or a nine; subsequent books will show us how different this series is from the many others already in bookdom.
The story has enough bite for the YA audience it seems to be targeting and needs to be a little less obvious to reach a more mature audience. There is potential in this one.
I reserve my judgement here at 3 stars.

The Nine: Origins was perfectly readable fluff. Slick and superficial, it felt like watching a show on The CW. Nothing too deep to find objectionable, but also not a terrible way to fill some time. There was nothing very original about this world of gifted individuals, their inner politics, and the tension of blending in with the "normal" world. Blake plays a typical kind of "chosen one" growing into her powers, with everyone fighting over her (including her insta-love would-be patron and some hunky southern bad boy). It's all a little cheesy, and I'm not likely to continue the series, but if you're looking for a glossy, low-stakes fantasy YA read, The Nine: Origins is a decent choice.

Thanks to NetGalley and Owl Hollow Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed reading 'The Nine: Origins'. The characters are likable, the plot line is enjoyable and the writing style flowed well. Overall it was a nice book.
I would have liked to have seen more complexity in the storyline, developing the characters more and delving deeper into the magic. The plotline felt a bit like an overdramatised Netflix series; very predictable. That's not always a bad thing and I'm sure that there are plenty of people that will love this series. I just personally prefer twists and turns that leave me reeling. Gasping to find out what is going to happen next.

I feel that the premise of this series has a lot of unexplored potential. Thankfully there are going to be more books in the series! With a bit of work, I think that the next book could go from being a nice read to being a great read.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Blake wilder has always hidden her ability to see others past and future, until one of these visions saves a classmates live and she can no longer escape The Nine.

I really enjoyed The Nine:origins and and I hope that we get more tales from this world. From the start of the book you are invested in Blake and their journey, as she navigates the new environment she find her self in.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an ARC

2.25 stars.

"The Nine: Origins" has a fascinating premise and a beautiful cover, both of which sparked my interest and compelled me to read this book. I liked the concept of the nine gifts and wanted to learn more about what they looked like in practice, who would be able to use them, and what they meant in terms of the overarching story.

As I read the book, there were quite a few issues that I encountered along the way. Many chapters featured odd pacing and transitions and needed to be fleshed out. It improved in later chapters but was an issue for at least 1/3 of the book. Some descriptive terminology ranged from off-putting to awkward. For example, "anemic" was used as a descriptor for a peach tree (jarring to use this in YA, although a tree can exhibit iron deficiency, assuming that is the intent here). The description of Cindy and her boyfriend in Chapter 7 was judgemental at best. These are only two examples. The more frequently I encountered this type of language, the harder it was for me to continue reading the book and root for Blake.

Many of the characters lacked depth and reflected stereotypes. Because this book is a YA novel, I would expect it to be able to contend with other books within that category. Unfortunately, it isn't up to par with what we can find on the market.

The most favourable features of this book are the overall story and the magic system. I will not continue this series, but I am thankful for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

More please!!

Now this book is by no means perfect but it is a wonderful introduction to a series. The magic system built in throughout is well thought out and really fun. The insta love and love triangle tropes are alive and well and honestly if I didn’t know this was YA I’d have assumed it was leading to a high spicy rating!

I’m interested to see where this goes, who should I trust, who should Blake trust, and just how many powers does this girl have anyway??

At times the writing wandered away from itself and became a tad more descriptive than I’d gotten used to but that’s just a tone issue that can be solved in later books.

I’m excited for book 2

Blake Wilder is a first year college student who also happens to see into the past and future of people’s lives. When she learns about a group of people with power called the nine, her life takes a turn of 180 degrees, and of course, complications arise.

Oops, so this book wasn’t for me, and buckle up, because I have a LOT to say. I’ll try to be as coherent as I can. Some spoilers ahead, I guess.


(sorry in advance for the rant)

I’ll start with what I liked about this book. The first thing that draw my attention was the cover, which, in my opinion, is super pretty! The plot also sounded super interesting, and I’ve been wanting to get into more fantasy novels, so this was the perfect opportunity. Another thing is that, even if I didn’t really like many aspects of this novel, the author managed to keep my attention, and I really wanted to know what happened next. I am even considering continuing the series.

Now the negative. In my opinion, this novel was too ambitious for 277 pages. I liked the core idea, but not the execution. I feel like the author wanted to include so many things that she could not develop all of them properly (like the sister who is mentioned barely 3 times but maybe should’ve been more relevant throughout the whole novel or the world building in general). I think the novel could do with some heavy editing. For instance, the jump between chapters was very weird most of the time.

I kind of hated the writing of this novel, and the author tells us a lot of things rather than showing. The main character had specially absurd lines, but she was not the only one. See here:
• “My mouth dropped open. She was the human version of Prozac”.
• “It felt like a YouTube channel without end”.
• “I used to have six fulltime spirits”
• “Of course, at first I thought I was crazier than a dog in a cat factory”

Turns out I discovered a new hatred for the trope ‘historical characters were supernatural beings’: “Your George Washington was telekinetic, you know” And also, did you really had to involve Hitler in this?

The characters were plain and walking cliches. We have:
1) a super powerful teenage girl, who is very special (I cannot emphasize this enough), and who everyone loves and wants to protect after meeting for.. uhm 3 minutes? Okay. She’s pretty but doesn’t know it. Also, she’s not like other girls!! Did you know that she reads the paper?
2) two super-hot older boys who would drop everything for this cute girl that they just met.
3) the sidekick best friend who really didn’t add anything to the plot, but who is always there to support the MC on her boy dramas and being too powerful. She was the best character tho.

The novel was also cliché after cliché, and I would have eaten this up when I was 14-15, but my main problem was the writing, and I’m kind of picky with the writing nowadays.

The Nine: Origins is a promising new series with a new and extensive magic system.
The main character, Blake Wilder, is a voyant - a person capable of seeing the future or past of other people. Her gift is quite unusual and rare, and because of that, she raises the attention of two powerful sides. One traditional and one innovative. Blake knows nothing about a society of other gifted people and becomes a puppet of their sweet talks. And yeah, there are murders too.
But this you can read in an annotation of the book, so I am going to start talking about my opinion.
The narrator in the first person can be really untrustworthy. Blake Wilder is a great example of that. She fell in love with the very first person she met and introduced her to the society of the Nine. But we do not know if he is the right person. We do not know if anyone is the right person because Blake is so naive. Every relationship she makes is instant. But we have to keep in mind that this is not a stand-alone story, naivety of Blake can be used in a prequel. So I am not going to call it a mistake.
What I think is a little bit more important is that I lacked normal relationships between characters. They were friends, they were lovers but I have not seen how that happened. The relationship between Blake and Nicholas was weird. Too fast. And I think that every boy has not to be handsome and in his twenties. The main character is not supposed to be the most beautiful girl in the room.
On the other hand, the magic system and political intrigues are interesting. Worldbuilding is not bad but could be more solid. Everything depends on the sequel. This time I am giving it 3 stars, it is not bad but it has its holes, if they are going to be removed, this series can be great.
Thank you Owl Hollow Press for this opportunity and eARC.

In the first installment of a new fantasy series we see Blake, who has had a rough adolescence. Who wouldn’t have some issues if you had the ability to see promentions of those around you without any ability to control the visions? She finally hopes to start fresh when she moves to Santa Carla for college with her best friend, Scarlett. However, starting over isn’t what happens, instead she finds herself nose deep into a brand new world of The Nine, others who have special abilities.

On the surface, this book’s goal is to establish Blake’s place in this secret society, while learning some of the century old traditions that are becoming the crux of the internal tug of war for power. However we have a little murder mystery thrown in for fun.

The characters were ok. I’m hoping that as the series continues, the characters will continue to develop more. There is definite potential with them, but I felt that they were a little restrained. The dialogue was a little formulaic and at times slightly melodramatic, especially towards the end. However, the story was easy to read and flowed quickly from page to page.

The ending set the stage for book 2. There are some unanswered questions, some unclear events taking place, and new complications. It’s effective while not being an unbearable cliffhanger.

With it being a quick and easy read, it didn’t really leave me thinking and pondering anything when I was finished. The world has been successfully established, but there is clearly so much more to come. There is no real clear knowledge of what’s to come except for the little hints we received along the way, so I’m looking forward to the development of the characters and a more complex plot. I would definitely recommend this one if you enjoy YA fantasy and are in the mood for a little X-Men action.

Thank you NetGalley and Owl Hollow Press for an advanced copy of teh book in exchange for an honest review.

I had fairly high expectations from this book from reading the initial summary and it was even better than I thought it would be. I love that the protagonist is relatable and very likable. I got major Harley Merlin vibes with her being an adult and finding out she isn’t the only one with special abilities and finding a new place in the world. I thought the storyline was captivating and didn’t want to put it down. I’m very much looking forward to future books in this series and more from this author!

This is an incredibly magical story with lush prose and incredible characters, both main and supporting. The author is so incredibly transportive to this magical world..

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a honest review.

Unfortunately, I feel like this is case of the book just wasn’t for me.

Overall the book was okay, I just wish it had more depth and didn’t read like a younger YA book. It was a little off putting; I actually assumed the characters were freshmen in high school till the book explained they were freshmen in college.

I do want to give the author kudos for having a clear magic system. A confusing book will get DNF pretty quickly from me, but the writing was clear and straightforward.

I may continue this series in the future, I enjoyed the ending more than the beginning and am interested in where the story will go next.

"The Nine: Origins" is destined to be a new gateway for fans of the paranormal. Nine unique paranormal abilities are introduced in the premier of this mystical and mysterious adventure. Blake Wilder's talent, which she has kept hidden from most people, comes fully alive when she moves away from home for college. The twists and turns in this first book have me waiting anxiously for the next book in the series.

If you've even a little interested in paranormal talents, this book is a whole lot of intrigue and an introduction to all of those talents you may have wondered about, plus some college romances. Clairvoyance, telekinesis, and even more talents level up this story and will leave you wanting more.

I have a premonition that once you start this book you won't be able to put it down.

A fast-paced contemporary paranormal intrigue that is as much about confidence and self-worth as it is about falling in love. Likable but flawed young adults struggle with their supernatural powers at the political level of centuries-old paranormal society. Emotionally charged prose with historical references that add context to the epic story that is sure to come in this nine book series. “The Nine: Origins” is more than urban fantasy for young adults but the young at heart. Kes Trester is my new automatic download.

Summary:
Blake has spent most of her life learning to deal with her gift - she can see emotionally charged memories from people's pasts as well as premonitions of their futures. When she is approached at college by a man named Nicholas, she learns she is not alone. Magically powered people contain Nine different types of giftings, and Blake finds herself trapped in a political war between factions wanting to use her, as she is more powerful than she realized.

This book was a super quick (one day), fun read. Overall, I felt like the cool aspects of the magic outweighed the parts I didn't like as much because I wanted to keep reading.

What I enjoyed:

🪄 The magic!! I loved the creativity of the nine different types of powers. My favorites were the materialists and telepaths, although Blake's powers were also fascinating. I felt the author did a great job creating interesting moments and showing lots of dynamics surrounding the powers.

🪄 The plot moved easily and the writing flowed nicely. It was very easy to keep turning (virtual) pages! I liked seeing Blake making attempts to have autonomy throughout her journey.

What I didn't enjoy as much

✨ I wish that Blake's character was developed more. The beginning jumped right into an inciting incident which is sometimes exciting, but I would have liked to get to know Blake better. She didn't have much of a personality beyond her powers and relationships.

✨ The romance and love triangle didn't work super well for me. Many of the side characters just again, weren't as developed or interesting as I would have liked.

I probably will read book two because I LOVED the ending. Knew it was coming but still very excited to see the new direction!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! I am posting my review here and will post a review on my Bookstagram as the release date gets closer.

This book had me interested from the beginning! I felt like I was able to follow along with the magic without getting lost as I do with some sci-fi books, and stayed engaged throughout. I would definitely recommend this book for young adult readers, and can't wait for the next book!

"The power of the one is the power of the many"

This book had me hooked from the first page. It had everything I love about a book and more. I really loved the magic used in the book and the relationships between the Characters.
It had action, magic, romance and a great female MC who I really connected with.
The writing style was easy to read and there was no part of the book I disliked!
That cliff hanger ending killed me though....
When do we get book two please 👀

It's a good book but it's just not my cup of tea.

The book had an interesting way of portraying the powers. This was one of the things I liked about the writing. However, the whole book was a bit of a lacklustre because it feels like the description slightly oversold the book but this is because in my opinion too much of the plot eventually just became the love triangle/romance of the MCs. This became overly focused so the main plot was lost. There was also a missed opportunity for better world building, which I think is important in a good fantasy book as it helps you become more immersed in both the book and the setting.

I'm not sure if I will read the rest of the books in this series when they come out as I had to force myself to finish this book despite it being relatively small.

Thank you to Owl Hollow Press, the author and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.