DNF at 20%. I have ZERO idea what is going on in this book. The magic system is barely explained, and there's a lot of characters introduced right away, but they aren't developed enough to differentiate between them.

Have you ever read a new book and felt like you've read it before? Like I know I haven't actually read this one but the story and the characters seem so familiar. I just can't put my finger on it.
Besides that, I thought this was well written and intriguing. My only complaint is the maturity levels of both MCs. Sometimes they seemed very mature and then some of their dialogue was extremely immature.

Synopsis:
Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms.
Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about-appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control-without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.

In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.

✨Review✨

I absolutely fell in love with this book! From the very start I knew this would be a new favorite!

The writing was delightful and really drew me into this story. It has heart, humor, and suspense! I loved the magic and the way the romance was done. It’s not the main focus but we get enough of it to make you want to keep coming back for more.

The Cinderella retelling aspect was done really well. I don’t always like retellings but this was done in such a way that it both honored the original fairytale but made it original at the same time.

This really did feel like a Cinder meets Sailor Moon. I cannot wait for the next book! This book utterly charmed me

This was such a fun book!

I absolutely love Asian-inspired fantasy, and when I saw this cover combined with it being Sailor Moon inspired? I was absolutely sold. This was such a fun read. The humor was cute and funny, the pacing was well balanced (if a SMIDGE fast at times, but I’ll get back to that), and the world felt full and ready to be explored. I loved learning about the guardians, and I’m always a big fan of a secret rebellion organization.

I had the privilege of accessing both an audio and an ebook version of this, and I will admit that I greatly preferred the audio. I think some of the humor could have felt flat, but the delivery from the voice actor was wonderful. They did a great job at switching between characters, and always keeping my attention! I think when I continue this series it’ll be strictly audio.

My qualms are small: the pacing was nice for character and relationship development, letting us have action interspersed with slow moments between our characters, but it wasn’t quite right for world building. It felt like when we learned about Zhara’s magic, there is never a clear explanation for how she uses it, only that it is unlike how other magicians do. I felt like I wanted more from the historical conflict as well, which did unfold well when it came to the demons and guardians, but not exactly how the different kingdoms came into play before the purge of magicians.

Ultimately, though, I thought that this was a fun YA fantasy. It lands on the younger side of YA, in terms of the complexity of the world and the quality of the humor, but this was still something I was able to enjoy and felt very much intended for that audience. I will absolutely come back to this, and am excited to see what happens next!

Thank you to Macmillan & NetGalley for this eArc!

The story very much has a Cinderella undertone as the base. Stepdaughter made to live with her family like a maid, Evil/Mean stepmother, (surprisingly) nice little sister, rather good looking prince (that actually has some braincells and can think for himself), but that’s where the comparison ends.

Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

But who doesn’t like a little chaos?

OMG I loved this book! It had me laughing in the car on the way to work. Now, if that isn’t a great sign I don’t know what is. I’m so happy I got the chance to read this or should I say listen to it as the narrator brought such life to these characters, that when I found out that there is going to be 3 more books in this series, I lost it. I can’t wait for more!

I've been looking forward to reading Zhara for YEARS, ever since I heard about the hook of Sailor Moon being a comp and just being one of the most anticipated books for a long time. I dove into the audiobook as soon as I could. While I enjoyed the story with well developed characters, an interesting magic system and an enjoyable story, there were some pacing issues. I also feel this was partly due to sky high expectations due to the extended wait as S. Jae-Jones had to deal with personal issues, but I'm glad they dealt with it and it's finally out (it was first scheduled for release in 2019).

A note that I would have never found out if I didn't listen to the audiobook: Zhara's name is pronounced closer to "Jara", so that's a thing. Also, there is a short note about language in the book, which was appreciated. Also, the narrator, Katherine Chin, was easy to listen to and able to pronounce the names very well. Plus, the prose felt authentic, there wasn't any jarring modern day phrases that took me out of the story.

Another thing that caught me off guard was the comps weren't quite matching with what I actually listened to. For years, I was expecting this "Cinder meets Sailor Moon" narrative, and didn't feel it. After reading, Zhara felt more like "Tales of Zestiria meets Cinderella with the vibe of Avatar: The Last Airbender" as ToZ deals with the protagonist being the only one being able to purify human turned monsters with elemental powers and demons. Either way, it's fine with me.

Onto the story. Magic is banned in the Morning Realms as magicians are blamed for turning people into monsters, thus most of them were killed off. There's two POVs we follow throughout: Zhara and Han. Jin Zhara lives with her sister, Suzhan (who I loved her connection with) and step mother (neglectful/abusive), trying to get by and read her romance stories while hiding her magic. Prince Han and his companion, Xu (pronounced "Shu"), sneak out in ways to help Han's younger magician brother. Soon after Han and Zhara meet, they get wrapped up in a monster attack and entangled in The Guardians of Dawn, a mutual aid organization fighting against the current rule and to bring safety to magicians.

Zhara was easy to relate to. She's trying to stay alive and not get caught, but finds herself having to grow from an obedient good girl to someone able to stand up for what she believes in. However, throughout, she doesn't lose her core kindness and compassion. I loved her relationship with her sister and I felt for them as they had to deal with their abusive mother. Several moments with them toward the end tore my heart out. Han was also great, being a cinnamon roll, doing what he can to save his brother, but was hoping for a little more development from him besides love interest.

I really liked Han and Xu together, the prince and the supervisor, all throughout the story, and Xu just being annoyed with their prince at times.

I also liked Zhara and Han together as they became friends and dealt with their issues. I did like that Han kept calling Zhara "Mistress Brandy". Don't worry, there's no spice, just kissing, and it's more like a cute teen crush than high romantic drama, which I appreciate.

Overall, the characters weren't the deepest or most well developed I've seen, but they were interesting and somewhat fleshed out enough for the story.

The world building and magic was thought out and was fairly immersive and my favorite part. It felt lived in and I loved how there was trashy romance novels in this pre-industrial Asian inspired world. Though I did get lost at some points where Zhara was at certain points and I'm assuming the final version will have a map and wish the audiobook will have a map download handy. The magic was unique and had great depth. I was interested to hear more about how the guardians of each element worked, and I had ideas of why Zhara might have struggled learning magic, though it wasn't explicitly said. Though I do feel some aspects of the magic system wasn't explained well enough as I struggled to connect and had to re-listen, but I feel some of this was intentional to connect to Zhara's lack of understanding of magic.

This feels very YA in a good way. The protagonists all felt like teens, struggling with growing up and with authentic voices, and I feel is relatable to teens. There was plenty of levity and humor sprinkled throughout to keep things from getting too dark the whole way through. I know fans that see Upper YA as the "true YA" will probably not be as happy with this, and is something S. Jae-Jones has addressed in their newsletter. To me, it felt like a fun adventurous romp I would recommend for ages 12 and over (maybe even a little younger).

The biggest issue in my eyes was the pacing, mostly in the middle of the book, where the story dragged in sections. It felt like plot points were basically forgotten about for extended periods of time and was wondering when something was going to get brought up. Then it rushed toward the last few chapters with awkward info dumping and I still struggled to grasp what was going on. One of the plot twists almost went over my head. Also, some information repeated, which made me think I got sent back in my audiobook at times. However, I did understand the surface comprehension, which is fine for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the book despite its flaws and did enjoy the sequel hook and look forward to where it leads.

*I received an ARC of the audiobook from Netgalley and Macmillan Audio. All opinions are my own.*

First I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

This one was advertise as a Sailor Moon meets Cinder. Although that I have not read TLC yet I loved Sailor Moon so reading this one was an easy choice. To be honest I am not. a fan of the cinnamon roll MMC but the way Han was written and his relationship with Zhara kept me from disliking him. I liked Zhara and I felt so bad for her and the way she thinks about herself. Brainwashing is extremely powerful and although a lot of the choices she made bothered me I can understand her reasoning.

I enjoyed the world building and magic system as well as the secondary characters *cough* *cough* certain bestie that I wish had more in-page appearance.

For a second there it seemed that it was going to be a standalone and I'm glad that is not. I'm happy with the ending and I cannot wait to go on that adventure to find the other Guardians of Dawn

I wanted this to be good.....and it was so, so, so unbelievably not.

This is not age appropriate for any group of people. The characters act like ten year olds and are EXTREMELY juvenile and immature, and yet they're also making sex jokes constantly and talking about porn. It is both very middle grade and very adult and YA readers are not going to jive with it, even though they're technically in the middle. Who wants to read about kids with the maturity of ten year olds making porn jokes? Certainly not me. And "joke" is a strong word. Nothing in this was funny.

The plot wasn't the worst, but it also was not original. It didn't even start until like 30% in, and by then I was so irritated it was hard to get into it. The world could have been good, but it wasn't explored much because we just had to constantly hear about Zhara having the "good-looking giggles" every. single. time. she saw someone she found attractive. A lot that happened was repetitive and I've absolutely read in plenty of other books, the characters were obnoxious, the hints at the plot twists were blatantly obvious, and it was all just very poorly executed. Could've been decent even though it was unoriginal, but the writing was so bland and repetitive that i just ended up hating every moment.

Also why is BTS randomly in this?? There's a boy band that shows up super far into the story and is very obviously BTS and it just doesn't fit at all with anything that has happened. It felt kinda weird and off.

The last thing, and one that I really struggled with: for a book that's supposed to have good representation, it does NOT. Yes, there are LGBTQ+ characters and nonbinary pronouns and that was all good. We love a queernorm world. However, there is a disabled character that was represented in a way that made me really uncomfortable. I do not have this disability so my opinion may be skewed, but she was made out to be completely useless by most of the characters for the ENTIRE book, solely because of her disability. She is defined by that alone. I couldn't tell you anything else about her besides her disability, and that's just depressing to write in this review. Don't distill someone's entire essence down to a disability!

Furthermore, the MMC is constantly put down and made fun of for being stupid and vapid. Constantly. I can't even count the number of times they told him, to his face and behind his back, that he was thick (dumb) and too obsessed with working out/his appearance and that some people liked to be around him because he was too stupid to notice anything or be a problem. WTF??? Mocking intelligence is not cute and it's not funny and is NOT something we should be encouraging in a joking manner in a YA book (he's also made fun of for not understanding porn; no idea why that was in there at all and it made me feel super weird and icky).

Obviously I am heated. This book was bad on so many levels and I honestly cannot think of anybody to recommend it to, since the characters act like actual children while also making very inappropriate "jokes" for children. And with the way some characters are treated, i just....cannot recommend this.

The good? The cover is colorful. I liked that. And i liked the concept. The execution was just not there.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. I feel bad I disliked it as much as I did but such is life sometimes.

2/5 stars

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

This was okay, but nothing about the concept was original. From the first page, she’s poor, has to work super hard to put food on the table and has a stepmother who is obviously bad but the MC insists is good.

The characters are okay, but I didn’t like immature they were. Zhara gets “Good-Looking Giggles,” which made me cringe every time she said it, and she doesn’t really do anything noteworthy throughout the book. Han is supposed to be quirky, I think, but ignorance is not cute, especially when you’re a prince. It’s also just not a thing to only have good physique for aesthetic reasons. If you have nice arms, you’re strong. He hides his identity from Zhara but Xu continuously almost refers to his title but switches halfway through, which was stupid - the reader already knows Han is a prince, and no one seemed to notice his missteps. Jiyi came out of nowhere and was haughty about her knowledge even though she wasn’t a real magician. Yulana was cool. Go her.

My main issue with this book was that everything the characters figured out, I knew ten steps in advance. A good chunk of this book was Zhara being like “oh the Guardians of Dawn… the fairytale… they don’t exist…” and it’s like, the series name is Guardians of Dawn. There’s no point in pretending they don’t exist.

Overall, this was a disappointing read, which is unfortunate because I wanted to like it. And the cover’s gorgeous.

The first installment of "The Guardians of Dawn" left in me in limbo. While listening to it, I went through three main phases. From "Wow this is awesome" through "All right" to the half of the book where I went into the "now I get it" phase. Especially with the magic system, the lore, and where the story goes. The story of Zhara, who possesses magical abilities that are forbidden in the kingdom, and an undercover prince, who would do anything to learn more about forbidden arts to help his baby brother, made sense to me. One day they meet in the romance section of the bookstore. She, a kind and gentle orphan whose story is much of a Cinderella (there is a shoe!). He, who is a bit thick tho has his heart in the right place. There is a coziness in this story. They have promised us here Sailor Moon. I didn't catch it at all. That on its shows the humor to some degree. I found it in small exchanges and situations. There is a vibe, but doesn't deliver the same level of emotions. Yet, I can see it being some kind of animation, especially with dialogues so characteristic of anime. Let's be clear. This is a young adult novel that will probably win the tropes bingo, but it also has some new elements like a slow romance build (which would make sense) and major stakes that are outside their love. Additionally, we are presented with a whole scope of unique characters that are quite memorable and a plot that's solved rather quickly with the promise of bigger stakes later in the series. I would say that overall, the book is well thought and if one is a fan of "Daughter of the Moon Goddess", likes Ghibli Studio animations, and is there for some fun without high literary expectations, this is a perfect read. I loved it as an audio because the narrator's soft voice brought an additional layer of comfy to me.

*The review was added manually to Goodreads and Storygraph and will be posted on my social media sites on the day of premiere.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was such a fun YA Fantasy and I’m stoked to continue the series!

The writing was solid, the world building and lore expansive, and the magic and conflict interesting. I really enjoyed both POVs, Zhara and Han, and look forward to seeing their character development. Though, my favorite character was Shu for sure.

The foundation set here is great - the characters are interesting and the ending has me wanting to know what’s next without torturing with a cliffhanger. I have no doubt this will be an excellent series with the number of options and paths she’s created.

My main complaints were the juvenile habits of Zhara and Han, and how often they were referenced. Han’s naïveté (especially surrounding sex) and obsession with his physique was repetitive and didn’t fit with the maturity and wisdom he showed elsewhere. Zhara’s “good looking laugh” was over used and felt unnecessary. The characters were either very wise and brave or very juvenile with little in between or consistency - it’s somewhat understandable given their age (16-17), but it was a bit jarring and frustrating at times, sometimes feeling like things were simply for plot without fully fitting.

But, overall this was a really fun, easy, engaging read. I think it caters to younger readers more than adults that read YA, but even as an adult I enjoyed it. Definitely a recommendation!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.
Guardians of Dawn: Zara started strong, however, it ended up being quite a let down for me. I was initially hooked and interested in the world and the characters. The pace of the world building and the descriptions were fantastic. At about a quarter into the story, I found that I was losing interest and struggled to continue picking up the book. The pacing slogged for the next 30% and the writing seemed very juvenile, even for a young adult book. The characters’ dialogue and actions and the writing seemed more appropriate for a middle grade to me.
Around the 50-60% mark the action and inciting events started to move the plot along more quickly. Characters that previously had little to no interaction started to intertwine, which improved my interest in finishing the story. The rest of the novel had more tension and I liked the relationship development between the main characters.
Some factors I appreciated and found compelling were the aspects of mutual-aid and existence as inherently political. “Demons are simply what we call the dark side of human nature when we don’t want to hold ourselves accountable.”
One thing that I was very put off by was the repeated mentions of pornography. I don’t know if this was culturally relevant somehow, and I’m not opposed to the thoughtful use of realistic sexuality in young adult novels, but it always seemed very random and not relevant to the plot. There was no further discussion either beside one or two sentences in each instance in the book. As before, I believe this story and writing is better suited to middle grade and that made the abrupt mentions of pornography even more jarring.
I do not plan to continue in this series, and I would not purchase this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Young Listeners, S. Jae-Jones, and Katherine Chin (audio narrator) for the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook of Guardians of Dawn: Zhara in exchange for an honest review.

What a lovely cover! A mix of the cover and the Sailor Moon aspect are what drew me to this novel. This is the first in the Guardians of Dawn series, and I am assuming the other books down the line will be titled with prospective character names as well, whoever is being featured. In this case, it is Zhara, the host of the fire elemental spirit (hence the red aesthetic to the cover).

In the Morning Realms, magic is forbidden. Those who have magic are referred to as abominations and are said to be responsible for a plague of monsters over the last twenty years. Zhara knows she has magical abilities, and she wants to train and attune to the power, but in the world as it is, she must hide that part about herself to protect her blind younger sister and appease her cruel stepmother (sound like a somewhat familiar fairy tale?).

By happenstance, Zhara meets Han, someone who might be a bit of an important aspect to the Morning Realms. In a royal way. Through Han, Zhara learns about a magical liberation organization called the Guardians of the Dawn that seeks to not only save the targeted, hated magicians, but to find the truth in the legend of the spirits of the five elements, the true Guardians, as it were. While seeking a demon that might be responsible for turning the magicians of the area into monsters, Zhara finds she has a special ability that might just save the magicians. There is more to her magic than meets the eye, and she must take on a role she never expected.

While the Sailor Moon vibe was a draw, I didn't really feel that as much as I thought I would in this novel. I feel like it's almost more like Avatar: The Last Airbender, but with generic magicians and then five special elementals. I appreciate the author's note regarding gender, in which the gender is not revealed until a character identifies themself in some way, which relates to how many cultures treat gender outside of the U. S. The world is very vibrant and has a lot of promise. A great novel for fantasy lovers.

Throughout her life, Jin Zhara has had to hide her magic. Magic is forbidden where she lives in the Morning Realms, but as the remaining magicians come under attack and dark forces seem to be at work, Zhara’s magic may be what is needed to save the land.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Cinderella retelling. We get the little cinder girl who sleeps by the hearth, the evil stepmother, and the prince, but there is much more at stake than falling in love with him (although that happens, too). I liked the girl power—how the females in the book are repeatedly shown to be the strong, clever, intelligent ones. I relished in Han’s endearing bumbling and his cluelessness. I loved watching Zhara’s confidence grow. I appreciated the queer representation. And Zhara’s giggles that she can’t control around those she finds good-looking are just adorable.

I look forward to the next installment in the series. (Is book 2 a Beauty and the Beast retelling? I hope it is.)

I listened to this one on audio, and Katharine Chin captures the emotion and vulnerability of the characters with her narration. I enjoyed sitting back and listening to her narrate Zhara and Han’s tale.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

I really wanted to love this story, and overall it wasn't too bad! But if a story is marketed to me as a combination of Sailor Moon and Cinder, it has high expectations for me. And this sadly just didn't meet the mark.

Zhara herself was a wonderful character! I absolutely adored her and think she was the perfect representation of a teenage girl who has magical powers in a world where magicians are outlawed. She's funny, kind, compassionate, and loyal to a fault. She is everything!!

Where the story starts to fall flat for me is the prince's character. This book has a very juvenile sense of humor because of him; even though this is a YA novel, I don't think it should read like a middle school book. The prince is 17 years old and yet every time he sees or reads something suggestive he doesn't get it at first? Not plausible. I also said that I loved Zhara, and I did, but I absolutely HATED "the good-looking giggles" she got. It was so cringey to me.

I've seen some complaints of ableism as well for Zhara's sister, who is blind and sort of treated as a character who can't take care of herself. I definitely understand where those reviews are coming from, so I say look to them if you want proper blind character recs. I can only give my own two cents as someone who is legally blind without corrective lenses in that I didn't really find issue with her, because I know part of it is because of her character backstory of being so reliant on her mother and sister. But it is definitely something to know before getting into this story.

Overall, not terrible, but I don't think I will continue this series.

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc of Zhara in exchange of my honest opinion.

Our FMC, Zhara, is an orphan that is left with her very obviously evil stepmother and her blind step-sister. She possesses magic in a world that hunts magicians like her. Things change when she meets Han, the prince of the realm that is “disguised” as a common boy. He introduces her to this group that wants to normalize and bring magic to the light again. Meanwhile, he is also in search of a solution for his brother’s problem. The second prince is afflicted with terrible nightmares that Han sort of concluded that there is a possibility of him becoming possessed by magic and end up becoming a monster.

First of all, I would like to say that this book is label as a YA, but it reads really young. Zhara behaves like a 12 year old that literally giggles anytime she is in the presence of the pretty prince Han, and honestly at first it sound cute.. by the 100th time it just gets boring. In addition, I thought all characters lack depth and even the dramatic parts missed some yearning, guilt, and other deep emotions that a more adult book would have explored more deeply.
Moreover, Zhara is marketed as a sailor moon meets Cinder and honestly I think it’s a good comparison. There were points in the book that I could perfectly see as a scene in an 90s anime (which I used to love when I was 12-14 years old as well).
On the other hand, this book has a good mix of action, investigation, plot twists, interesting LGBTQ characters and romance. I would totally recommend it for a younger audience.

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

Jin Zhara should not be alive. In a kingdom where even knowing the language of Magic is forbidden and grounds for death, as a magician she should have suffered the same fate as her parents long ago. However, thanks to the quick thinking of her step-mother, Jin Zhara has been able to carve out a small existence for herself and her small family. But what is the point of living if your day-to-day does nothing to bring you joy? What is the point of moving forward if there is nothing to strive towards?

So, when a chance encounter at the bookseller brings Han (supposedly a local student) into her life, Jin Zhara's eyes are opened to what life could be and the world that awaits her if she's just brave enough to embrace her magic.

Marketed as a mix between Sailor Moon and Cinder, GUARDIANS OF THE DAWN: ZHARA is probably better left to stand on its own two feet. While it is very loose Cinderella retelling, ZHARA is a great choice for any young adult reader interested in stories with magical, mythological, or fantasy elements. The humor is juvenile, but the world building is extensive and the large cast opens the series up for lots of twists and turns.

The audiobook narrator did a great job of capturing a lot of the quirky humor and making each character feel differentiated and unique.

Overall, ZHARA was a fun read and a great first book for (what I'm guessing will be) the four book series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

I was unsure for a while how I've felt about this book. On the one hand, the worldbuilding was amazing and so fresh. I loved learning about the magic system and understanding the history to the world. I loved the humor and the way that the characters were so relatable despite their magic. I really adored Zhara and watching her grow and understand the world along with me.

On the other hand, I felt like the impact was a little soft. It hasn't stayed with me the way I thought it would. It felt a bit too young at times, but also felt very slow at times, and I ended up feeling like it was far longer than it needed to be.

I did love the different kinds of representation, though! I loved the disability representation and the way it really works through feelings of being useless or a burden due to disability as well as the guilt that can come with injuries and accidents. I loved the nonbinary representation and the way it was so seamlessly integrated.

I definitely want to see where this series goes, and I hope other fantasy lovers will pick it up too!

I loved this book. The world building was great and the magic system felt unique. It really did feel very Sailor Moon-esq! I have the audio book and loved the narration, without it I'm not sure I would pronounce anything correctly.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for providing an e-arc, and to Macmillan Audio for an alc in exchange for an honest review.
Guardians of Dawn: Zhara releases August 1, 2023

cw: physical abuse, ableism, starvation, body horror, underage drinking

- first in a series
- dual pov
- disabled character (blindness)
- magicians
- possession + monsters
- a persistent stray cat
- awkward yet endearing adolescent yearning

Zhara is an apothecary’s assistant, and has the ability to wield magic. She lives with her younger sister and stepmother after the death of her father.
On the day of the release of an anticipated romance book, Zhara stumbles across Han, the royal heir.
Amidst seeking out answers of his own at this bookshop, Han has the forethought to gift Zhara this new release, but instead, accidentally slips her his copy of a book about magic.
Through a series of events, we find out that Han’s younger brother also a magician, and that their late mother was part of a group called the guardians of the dawn, which is a secret society dedicated to magician liberation.

This was an interesting introduction to a new series, but I found it so painfully slow-paced, and it had a lot of repetition throughout.
It felt a little juvenile at times with things like the “good looking giggles.”
I’m hoping the next installments each focus on one of the remaining elemental guardians.

Just a little side note: I tandem read the e-arc and audio arc, which both varied slightly, so I’m unsure which version most accurately reflects the final copy.
Examples:
[e-arc] — “Beside him, Xu made a face, which was beautifully painted with makeup. “Don’t encourage him, please,” they begged.”
[audio arc] — “Beside him, Xu made a face. “Don’t encourage him, please,” they begged.” (which omits the part about makeup)

*Not commenting on the non-binary rep or any possibilities of misgendering, because again, between the two arcs I had, there were a lot of variations on where a given name or pronoun was placed.