3.5 stars rounded up.

I found this to be an interesting story with an intriguing magic system.

The writing was a bit iffy when I started reading, and I honestly didn't have very high expectations right out of the gate. I know I'm picky, but the first sentence starts with "Amelie swiped sweat out of her eyes with the back of one hand." Why do we need to specify it was one hand? We don't get to know what she's doing with the other hand, so there's really no need to specify the quantity of hands doing the wiping.

Anyways, you're kind of thrust right into the middle of things and have to figure out the vagaries, but eventually it comes together. The romance fell kind of flat, but the friendships were heartwarming, and I wouldn't mind reading the next one.