I was initially drawn to this book's magical cover, and then when I saw the description of the jester, I knew I had to try it. While I expected to enjoy this book, I had no idea how much I would love it! The story was compelling, and I really liked the friendships and romance that developed throughout the book.

The initial setting of "The Wizard's Masquerade" is the Wizarding Guild, which is essentially a magical school somewhat reminiscent of a grown-up Hogwarts. Soon, however, everything is fast-forwarded to when Leyna, the MC, graduates from school--despite receiving a nasty injury she spends days recovering from--and happily accepts her position as a Huskarl with the Royal Guard--something she's been working toward almost her entire life. She takes up residence in her old room in the king's castle, along with her friend Grace, who is also a Huskarl. Although things begin pleasantly enough despite Leyna's injury, a deadly attack on the king and his court soon upends everything and causes Leyna to question everyone she thought she trusted.

Some of the highlights of this book were Leyna and Grace's friendship; Floofy, an incredibly cute, fluffy animal who makes adorable noises; and, of course, the jester. I originally thought I would be invested in this book primarily for the romance, but all the other aspects of the story really drew me in as well. The only real drawback for me was that sometimes Leyna could be quite annoying with her staunch adherence to rules; however, overall I liked her character portrayal. I had to remind myself that she is only 22, and that she is facing an incredible number of dangers and obstacles, so I really can't judge. She is also a dynamic character, and we see a great deal of growth from her, especially toward the end.

All in all, I cannot wait for the sequel! I also think it would be exceptionally cool if the author were to write a prequel at some point, so we can learn more about Leyna's time at the Wizarding Guild.

Thanks so much to Jay Pellegrin, BooksGoSocial, and NetGalley for this Advanced Reader Copy!

I want to start by thanking Netgalley and the author for giving me an ARC of this book, in exchange of my honest review.

At the preface the author states that this is an almost complete version of the book and that is been proofread several times and some minor errors could have been missed. Let me tell you there’s nothing minor about the errors displayed throughout the entire book.

Characters or things change names, lots of missing or overly used words, continuity errors and plot holes. It´s like this book has never gone through an editor. That been said.:

The plot is amazing I really enjoyed the world the author is creating, both the Guild and the Castle as the background of this adventure where magnificent.

What I did like.
The world is great and with a little more building up is going to be magnificent
The action at the very first chapter was captivating, I was glued to the book.
The plot is very intriguing and the reason I finished the book despite all the errors I found
The Idea of Magic and demons being connected has me thinking in all the possibilities should this book become a series.
I loved the Jester´s antics and how he mocked the MC.

What I didn´t like:
Lots of telling not a lot of showing
Character development: Nonexistent, actually de MC is quite annoying and self-centered and never gets better.
The revelations were way too obvious from the start.
Not a lot of backstory to the characters.
This book has great potential and I believe that after a round or two with a good editor, it could become an amazing book and series.

Picked this up without really reading anything about it as the cover alone ingruiged me and I'm so glad I did.

Surprisingly no spice really but that tension.... Oof.

The love interest being a jester was so quirky and different and sets it apart from the normal far romance books were used to.
Very much a fantasy romance with ballgowns and whimsicle magic.

Thank you for giving me the chance to review this ARC.
This book comes out 30th Sept!

Okay Okay wow.

I just finished reading Wizard’s Masquerade and I am in Awe and have a new book boyfriend. I loved everything about this book, the Aesthetics I pictured, the plot, the characters and the romance. This book was extremely well written and read like I was watching a TV series, perfectly detailed and tastefully executed and ends on a cliff hanger that doesn’t leave you wanting to launch the book into a fire, but leaves you hopeful and looking forward to the next adventure.

The synopsis without spoilers:
leyna is a young woman who has dreamed and achieved her dream of being a Huskarl, a guard of the kingdom of Rosaria. After she receives her appointment as a Huskarl, the king and queen and their entourage are brutally assassinated. Leyna is determined to find out who or what was after the massacre and through this she will discover secrets, face betrayals and navigate matters of the heart.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to escape the real world and delve into a world of Royalty and magic.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to review this arc. The cover is absolutely beautiful, and the synopsis had me eager to read this book.

The book starts off promising. We are thrust into a wizarding world where the heroine of the book is trying to defeat other wizards and make it out off the maze. I was immediately pulled into the story, and I was beyond hopeful this would be a higher star rating for me.

Unfortunately, after the first chapter, I felt as though things went down hill.

-The romance between the Jester and the heroine was lackluster.
-There’s a plot twist the reader can see from a mile away.
-Things happen in the book that are unexplained.

At one point the jester and the heroine question each other for a good four pages of the book with NO RESOLUTION. There are many pointless plot situations, and unexplained events. Why is this happening you may ask? Don’t worry. It will never be answered. It will be glossed over, and the next chapter will begin.

I love the author’s imagination to write such a unique romance novel. One of the things that drew me to this book, is that I have never read a Jester/Heroine love match.

There isn’t much spice in this book, if you were wondering.

Overall, I loved the idea of this book, but it didn’t deliver for me.

i say this as kindly as possible, but this fell short of my expectations in about every regard.

to preface this: these are my own opinions! despite them, i know that there are some people who are going to love this book, and i wish the author the best of luck in their future endeavors!

as for my review:

(-) the FL is my main source of consternation. she is petulant and judgmental; she acts rude towards people and then wonders why they aren't kind to her; she passed out twice in the first four chapters (okay, i'm just being nitpicky, but seriously?); she constantly looks down on others for breaches in decorum, but when SHE ignores courtly manners, she finds some way to rationalize it so that it's okay. overall, she's annoying, embarrassing, and immature. this does improve slightly as the book goes on, but i don't know if it was character development or if i just became so used to it that i stopped noticing.

the worst part of it is that i WANTED to like her so bad. i liked that she was ambitious—i love FLs with lofty goals, especially ones that achieve them. and i could even get behind the whole stuck-up, noble girl thing if she hadn't been so hypocritical about it.

this FL was not ONLY hypocritical, but she also had no redeeming qualities. allegedly she was smart and talented, but we don't get to see that. we only get to see her failing, and then moping about failing until someone else fixes it for her. for me, beyond the first chapter, there was not one moment during the book where i actually liked this FL.

the FL also asked incredibly bad questions throughout the book? it's like she's intentionally asking the most ridiculous or pointless questions she could possibly be asking at that moment. i truly can't explain what i mean by this, so you'll have to either read the book or trust me on this one.

(-) despite this complete lack of talent or capability on the FL's half, she is constantly "promoted" and placed into roles that she's not at all suited for.

she was hired on as a palace guard immediately after graduation—this, i suppose, could be explained away by the fact that wizards are few and far between, so they need what they can get (even if being a guard is a highly coveted role). but why wasn't she at all trained? she freezes up almost every time she's in a combat situation, so shouldn't she undergo SOME sort of training for this position? how could they trust her to protect the prince when she can't protect herself? i don't understand the lack of rigor or structure in her schedule. it feels like she spends half the book just running amok.

the king also appointed her as a magic tutor for the prince. obviously, this is a great idea, since she just recently graduated and there are certainly not numerous ACTUAL PROFESSORS that could be at the king's disposal if he so chose.

there are some other questionable moments, but since i think they're more spoiler-heavy, i'll leave them out. just know that the only thing keeping this FL employed is the fact that she's the main character.

(-) i won't harp on this, but the other characters aren't any better. most of them are boring and one-dimensional—looking at that one antagonist who is constantly fluttering her eyelashes and who calls the FL "sweetie."

the ML has his moments of being fun and likable, but even he didn't have much of a personality. i found him boring, which sucks because he is a JESTER and i didn't think it was possible to make such a character boring.

(-) the writing itself wasn't awful, but it was repetitive and sometimes weird.

for instance: "Short, sharp bursts of pain were emanating from her left leg. While not painful, it bothered her." the pain isn't painful? what?

a lot of the info dumps also felt very repetitive, to the point that i kept thinking i had lost my place and was re-reading a page or something.

also, the fact that this is some sort of medieval-ish setting and the FL ended up naming her pet FLOOFY? yeah, no.

(-) the emotions were not at all convincing. at a certain point, the FL thought that someone was dead, and then they WEREN'T dead, and she was just like "oh, they're not dead?" without any sort of real shock.

(-) the pacing was AWFUL. like, genuinely. 25% of the book was over the course of THREE DAYS. and it was the most boring three days of writing i've ever read in my life. it got a little better after that, but for most of the book things just weren't happening. plot points would come into existence, but the FL never really followed through with anything. it felt like there were too many things happening at once and none of them were ever seen through to the end, which makes for tedious reading.

(-) the worldbuilding was 99% info dumps and it STILL felt like it wasn't fully explained.

(-) the romance... no words, but also i could literally complain about it for hours. for the sake of brevity, just know that there was no development. she had a VIVID sex dream about him after knowing him for three days, which is weird to me but is probably someone else's jam. he was 30 and she was 22, which is again weird to me but is probably someone else's jam.

that said, my main issue was the fact that there was no real development. i couldn't understand why they even liked each other, and while technically they didn't get together until the latter half of the book, there was no slow building of emotions between them. the only reason this is slow-burn is because the book is so boring that by the time you reach the 50% mark, you'll feel as if you spent years reading this.

overall, while the idea was great and the cover is wonderful, i just didn't love this.

I picked this up purely based on the cover art, which I found so beautiful and intriguing that I simply had to know what this book was about. I tried not to get my hopes up - I’ve been pulled in by too many beautiful covers before only to be disappointed. I am happy to report, however, that Wizard’s Masquerade is a wonderful romantic fantasy that far exceeded my expectations!

The Plot:

“After surviving a horrendous injury, Leyna knows her chances of becoming a wizard are dashed—so no one is more surprised than her when the Wizarding Guild allows her to graduate and she receives her offer to join the Royal Guard.

But when tragic news arrives of a monstrous attack on the king and his court, Leyna devotes herself to hunting down the traitors responsible and restoring the kingdom’s peace and way of life.

As Leyna is drawn deeper into a web of secrets and lies, she soon becomes entangled with the jester in a treacherous game of trust and betrayal.”

I loved our heroine Leyna - she’s ambitious, strong-willed, and a bit stubborn. This makes her slow burn romance with the Jester who just can’t seem to stop teasing her absolutely delicious. Their dynamic is one of my favorites, and I miss them already. And speaking of the Jester - never did I expect that a man wearing bells could make me blush!

This book is also simply a pleasure to read - the prose is elegant and the story flows along at the perfect pace. The settings and spaces are described so well that I could perfectly envision them, and I found myself wishing I could occupy a cozy little corner of the castle myself. I adored the side characters, who all got the chance to shine. I cannot wait for the next installment!

If you love slow burn romances, ballrooms, gowns, political intrigue, courtly manners, spies, steamy encounters in secret, and of course, magic, Wizard’s Masquerade is the book for you!

5 Stars ⭐

Wizard’s Masquerade will be released on September 30, 2022.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the ARC!

I immersed myself into this book so quickly, and found myself easily falling in love with it. I actually oddly enough read about the first two lines of the description and immediately was sold after seeing a jester was stealing the heart of the MC. With that being said I actually went into this book rather blind having not finished the description of the book and I am SO glad that I went in blind. I feel that it really left a refreshing new story for me thats so unique from all of the “fae rave” the fantasy world seems to be in. This book kept me on my toes with a wonderful plot and feel good friends vibe. I will say I did expect there to be wayyyyyy more spice in the book but I actually am surprised that I loved it so much without all the hot and heavy scenes….thats how great this book was for me. Not to mention I LOVE a thick book and whew this one is, but that didn't stop me from reading it in a little over 24 hours. I believe anyone who is a avid fantasy lover will absolutely love this book.

*Thank you for the ARC. All opinions are my own.**

3.5-4 stars. Magical, whimsical, and delightful. (no spoilers)

THE ROMANCE: THIS sets the bar for what I wish most fantasy romances were - a sensational mixture of memorable characters, chemistry, and slow-burn. This book literally had me squealing and walking away from my Kindle to take quick laps around the house. There was JUUUUST the right amount of teasing and tension building up between two compatible characters. I really enjoyed the love interest being a jester, which is a unique concept - as opposed to those dime a dozen "dark elf princes" (no shade though, I'm still reaching for those too...).

THE SETTING: The setting is a light fantasy with a simple magical system. Others have stated that it feels like Hogwarts - which I'd disagree with. Rather, it's more of a growing into adulthood and realizing that the real world is definitely different from academia.

THE CONS: I had a few issues with this book. That said, I think the romance by and large OVERSHADOWS these issues.
-First, our main character wasn't that well developed. Actually, she never really showed any growth at all - she was stiff and stuck up. I would have liked to see her grow to reflect on her privilege more, rather than just brushing over the fact that she was used to a certain amount of prestige.
-Second, I wished the morally grey areas were more explored. This premise would have been *chefs kiss* with more morally grey dilemmas - especially our the main character.
-Third, the ending felt randomly rushed. A lot happens in the last few pages that I think could have been expounded upon more.
-Fourth, there were grammar and spelling errors, especially near the end of the book.
-Fifth (no spoilers), the last sentence could have been wayyyy more impactful. I mean, the last sentence of a book is like the last bite of a meal. Don't you want your readers to walk away mulling over that last sentence?

But I digress. The romance is clearly the winner here.

TLDR; Recommend this light fantasy for its slow-burn, charismatic romance!

I really had no clue what exactly to expect when I first picked up this book, but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of political intrigue and detail in it. I also really liked the love interest, he was charming and charismatic. However, all of the plot twists were either a bit underwhelming or predictable so that was a disappointment. Most of the time I was just frustrated by the main character's naiveté and uptightness. Overall, it was a fun read and I will be watching for the next book, assuming there is one.

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

This book surprised me with how good it was!

This book is like a Harry Potter universe, with royalty and romance, and balls (which means gorgeous aesthetics).

This story starts off strong, and doesn't let up. After being injured Leyna has no hope of becoming a wizard, and yet still she is accepted into the Wizarding Guild. The king leaves, and Leyna is left to protect the young prince. With the company of the court jester. Left in a castle full of secrets, twists, turns, and an ever irritating jester that knows how to push her button. Leyna isn't perfect and the growth that she exhibits is rewarding!

The part of this book that gave me all of the happy feels, and made me absolutely adore it, was the romance and banter. I could base my whole review on this alone. Jester is freaking adorable! And has quickly been added to my list of fictional boyfriends.

This book does have some tragic moments, that really pulled at me. But they weren't overwhelming.

The REVEAL in this book was so well done. The back and for the between Leyna and the Jester had me reading passages multiple times.

I cannot wait for book 2!

Well done for writing an entire book!

Fantasy, last for weeks at a 7 year magic school before starting first job. The magic system was familiar with a new spin which made it feel different and I throughly enjoyed the MMC and how that unfolded.
Nice character development although more could be done with FMC.

There is too many clues specifically 43% into the book, the reader can guess the ‘who did it’ and I was sad to be correct as the journey was fun. Book is NA with a tiny bit of spice 1.5/5

I loved this book! The romance is DELIGHTFUL. I am so so eager for the next book.

I have a short list of criticisms:

My biggest problem was Leyna. I did not like her as a protagonist. I found her annoying and narcissistic, but she also just blindly follows orders. She gives Trump supporter energy.

Miscommunication/Jealousy trope usage--no. Just no. Stop with this trope. These are adults working full-time jobs. Just let them speak to each other.

Backstory -- I think Leyna lacks a lot of backstory. I never felt very connected to her ambitions. Adjacently, I would like to see more of the Academy. Not necessarily in this book or the next, I just love wizarding schools!

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

*thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive an arc in Exchange for my honest review*


This romantasy- (romance/fantasy) has your typical enemies to lovers, plot twists, etc.
i do believe most of my questions and world building will be present in book two, and I look forward to reading it.



Tbh I liked the side characters a ton, and I hope we see a spin off with them in the future, especially Grace.

Holy crap, I couldn’t put this book down! Aside from the creative and interesting story, the characters are all well-written (especially the main character, who has many flaws, which makes her relatable) and the romance dabbled throughout is intriguing! The only bad thing is that I have to wait for a sequel - and we know there is going to be one, right?

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for access to this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Wizard’s Masquerade is a brilliantly crafted start to a new duology by Jay Pellegrin. I was initially drawn in by the absolutely incredible cover, but ended up loving the fusion of its medieval setting, enjoyable magical system, and sprinkling of romantic elements. This story is told only through the POV our protagonist, Leyna. So, I’m hoping the second book will potentially explore another character POV (if you know who I mean👀).

We follow Leyna on her journey through magic school, her inauguration to the Royal Guard, and see her deal with the fallout of the attack on the travelling royal party. Personally, I felt like the synopsis does give maybe a little bit too much away, especially for the first 45%, but there were also other minor things happening at the same time as well.

Leyna has both charm and flaws, which is really good to see because not every decision she makes is the right one; I did find myself wanting to knock some sense into her sometimes tho. By the end of this book, I do feel like she has grown more trusting and has a better understanding of who she is and what she truly wants to do with her life moving forward.

The romantic elements were really sweet and there were some moments that made my heart swoon + witty flirtatious banter that couldn’t stop me smiling. In regards to predictability, I think the Jester’s true identity was quite easy to predict, but I actually found this the only identity I guessed correctly. There is, however, other unexpected reveals that I would love to do a reread to see whether I missed out on any dropped hints.

I am 100% going to try and get my hands on a physical copy of this book. I found myself lost in its pages and while it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, it does provide a good starting point for the second book. A super read that took me completely by surprise!!

>I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review<

Absolutely Superb Writing!
Thank you Jay Pellegrin for bring such a good Fantasy Romance to life!

The story of Lenya starts off with a thrilling moment that keeps your eyes glued and from there on you can't put it down.

There was so many great moments in this book, I can't name just one.

Action packed, great word builing, magic, rimance and much more is loaded in this book

I love fantasy books, added romance and I'm sold. This book had both and it didn't disappoint.

The main plot of the book is to find out who had intitiated the attack on the king and his court after they temporarily leave the kingdom and travel Rosaria. There are a number of unexpected turns that explain the previous actions of particular characters. Leyna, amidst this mess, deems her loyalty to the king and wishes to find out the cause of the attack, wanting peace in Rosaria and for it to be a safe place to everyone.

The plot itself was somewhat predictable in places and you can quite easily guess what may happen at scenes. But it is still worth a read as it is still interesting and the book itself is extremely charming.

One of my very few complaints about the book is that the dialouge was quite stiff and didn't hold much depth and neither did Leyna as a character. There was much space for more development in her but unfortunately this wasn't done to its full potential. Hopefully this takes place in the second book.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to its sequel.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial, the author and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of the book.

Despite some intriguing mystery elements and a delightfully infuriating jester turned suitor, the simplistic magic system and stilted dialogue keep the story from truly succeeding. Recommend to light fantasy fans looking for a courtly drama with an enemies-to-lovers plot.

This is everything a fantasy/romance reader could ever want.
Personally, I feel as if there’s not enough of this content in the adult genre. If you want fantasy/romance, you’re mostly going to end up reading YA books with juvenile characters. Not all the time, but a lot of the time.
When I say I’m a fantasy/romance reader, this is the ideal story. It’s got depth to it, you have plenty of time to get to know the characters, and the characters are adults.
I get tired of reading about the 17 year old heroine who defeated the impossible odds.
As a whole, I absolutely loved this story. The characters have believable flaws, they make mistakes, they face real consequences for their actions, and that’s real life.
I stayed awake too late to finish it because that’s just how good it is. It’s very original, it keeps you guessing, and I love the magic system! I’ll definitely be buying this on release day.