Quick Synopsis
Wren has lived her life without powers until the day of her 18th birthday when she starts glowing. Suddenly she and her friend Lee are both going to a magical school and competing in the magical trials. As they keep spending time at the school they learn more secrets and must figure out what they are.

Review
I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars. It was hard for me to get into and took a long time to read despite how short it is. The writing sometimes felt very obvious when trying to tell the reader something. I think the magical aspect was cool and the mystery was good. However I did not like the characters. I just did not find them very likeable. They felt over dramatic at times. I would not recommend this book to others.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I liked it but didn't love it. It didn't quite have the same pull that their other stories have had. I was a huge fan of House of Night, so that would be hard to beat.

Draw Down The Moon by PC Cast & Kristin Cast

This ended up being just an okay read for me. The story was entertaining enough but the characters had zero chemistry. Their relationships all felt forced and surface level. There wasn't any real connection between any of them, including the best friends turned boyfriend/girlfriend couple. It was all just too bland for my taste.

There was a time I would have eaten this book up despite its flaws. So if you were already interested in this book i still recommend giving it a shot, it just wasn't for me.

I can definitely see this book having a place in my high school library, especially with my young adult fantasy readers. I was a bit bored, and it didn't feel too original, but I'll still be purchasing for my students.

I really wanted to like Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, but it just wasn’t my favorite. The premise was interesting, and I was excited to dive into the world they created, but I found myself struggling to fully connect with the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kristin and PC Cast have done it again! I have always loved their books and this book was no different. I loved their magic system in this book and how it drew its influence from the moon. The magic was beautiful in this book. I enjoyed the dual points of view in the book and felt that it added a lot to the story. I cannot wait for the next book to see where this story goes. I loved Wren and hope she succeeds in the next book.

This is a story very firmly rooted in the young adult world. Wren and Lee our two main protagonist are have a very childish and silly spirit to them throughout the whole book.

Overall, I found it very hard to get into the book because the writing felt very subpar to what I’m used to from PC Cast. I find the naming of things very simplistic and unimaginative. Like the moonstruck aka magic wielders and the mundane aka no magic people.

I found the layering and referencing to Bridgerton a bit heavy-handed in the beginning. Luckily throughout the book and tempers down a little bit and becomes a cute inside joke between friends.

I know overall we’re supposed to root for the two main characters to get together. But from the beginning, I found Lee’s character very undesirable. He’s so obsessed with himself and his own future that he’s completely blind to his best friend’s struggle. Even when she does mention things he dismisses her. It read like he was actively gaslighting her. “No Wren.your overly emotional, the headmaster that chased us with his black SUV and made us run for our lives is not creepily staring at you all the time.”

But in the end, like most PC casts writing, the plot was interesting enough that I would like to continue with the second book.

Oh no, this was not for me. I fell for the cover I'm afraid and this plot simply did not live up to it. The characters fell flat and the plot/tropes did nothing for me. I really wish I liked it, but I had to really push myself to finish it unfortunately.

Thanks, Wednesday Books, for the arc!

I’m an OG fan of Kristin Cast and P.C. Cast from the HOUSE OF NIGHT days. It was nice reading about a magickal school again from them in DRAW DOWN THE MOON. Did it have the same effect on me as HoN? No, I’m not head over heels obsessed, but I enjoyed the adventure that DDTM took me on. I liked the characters and the magickal powers that exist in this world. I’m also intrigued to see how everything plays out in the final book of the duology. I’m just sad I didn’t get the same feels that HOUSE OF NIGHT gave me.

I want to thank the authors, the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me an opportunity to read this book and review it.

I loved the Marked series by these two amazing authors when I was a kid! They were magical and fun and always a great escape from reality. I was so excited to approved to review a new book from them as an adult as I loved them so much as a kid!

My problem is that I guess I'm not a kid anymore (I know you can still love things from your childhood so on that's not what I mean by this). This book is marked as a ya first in a duology but it's more something I would have would completely read at 10 years old. Like others have said despite the characters being basically adults their behaviours were more similar to a middle schooler than a high school graduate and for some reason it just doesn't work at all for me. As well right on the first page is a huge spelling I guess you call it that issue that was so glaring I couldn't forget it, and it wasn't the only one through out the book. This may be a new book but these are not new authors it seemed really out of place for them.

Thank you very much for allowing me the opportunity to relive a magickal part of my childhood I really appreciated it!

Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast is the first book in a YA fantasy series about a girl named Wren Nightingale who believed all her life she was just a normal human despite having Moonstruck parents but finds out on her 18th birthday that she is actually not as mundane as she originally thought. Although this book was a little young for me I think it would be great for its intended audience. I did love all the elements of the story, elemental zodiac based moon magic, a school for magical kids, and a dark secret. I did however feel like the ending was extremely rushed and that the reaction that the FMC had to the events that unfolded at the climax were out of character for her, but I’m definitely still interested in knowing what happens next.

While I really tried, I just didn’t find myself engaged in this story. I think it just wasn’t for me, but I think many will enjoy.

This was a good fantasy book! Being in the YA genre did make it feel a bit more juvenile than some of the books I’ve been reading recently so I struggled with connecting to the story at times and characters, but overall I enjoyed the plot and was a good read to start of the month with!

Let's start by talking about the writing. Say it with me "just because its Young Adult doesn't mean the writing has to be bad". So yeah the writing was bad. It felt super repetitive and I felt like so little was explained. It also made the characters seem way younger than they were. I also didn't really get the ending. I guess more will be explained in the sequel but the I really have no idea what happened there at the end. Anyway overall not a bad story.


Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

*3.5*
Now, if I pretended these characters were children instead of their 18 years of age then this would’ve been absolutely fantastic and cute. But because these characters were 18, this was extremely childish. Did I still have a good time though? Yes.
What I did was pretend they were much younger, the characters sounded a lot more like freshman than just graduating high school. I did enjoy these characters though, I liked their relationships with each other and how they were true friends that wanted to help one another.
The constant modern references though were annoying. Most of them were Disney references too so that also made me think of them as middle schoolers rather than young adults.
The plot made this definitely feel like I was reading Keeper of the Lost Cities. The Chosen one trope. But not too horribly played out. Not everything revolved around our main character. Things happened because of her but not so much that the world is changing because of her.
A big gripe I had was the ending. It felt extremely rushed and disappointing when you’ve read a whole novel trying to figure out what’s going on only to have a few pages for the main character to confront someone before whisking away. Very unsatisfying in that aspect.
But overall, I did enjoy this book. I’m not sure why, the story just sucked me in and I found myself engaged the whole time, regardless of the things I didn’t like about it. I also really enjoyed the characters which is a plus.
My only warning is don’t go into this book expecting it to be mind blowing or amazing. Or that it has mature characters because there are none here! But if you want an easy pallet cleanser, this is a good one.

This was an entertaining YA read that caught my attention due to its use of the zodiac signs as a magical system.

I really enjoyed the unique use of the zodiac signs in this story and their corresponding magics. It was unlike any magic system I have personally read about and it was a large part of what kept my attention.

When it comes to the character relationships, I found that I was mostly uninterested in the main character’s relationships with each other, but rather found the supporting characters relationships with the main characters and with each other to be much stronger. The two main characters just lacked chemistry for me.

One thing I really think could have used more depth or conflict or something was the ending. I realize that this is a duology, so it does leave you at a place in the conflict for the second book to pick up and solve, but I personally wanted something a bit stronger of a finish.

Overall I liked this read and it kept my attention throughout, but I am unsure if I will pick up the sequel.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC of this book

I had a really great time reading this book! I really enjoy P.C. and Kristin Cast's writing, and this latest series sounded like a good read! And I did have a really good time reading this book! It was great to get to know this world and these characters!

Getting to know this world of magic, and the history and the politics were really interesting. The way it worked, how the culture is structured, it was so interesting to learn. Given that Wren didn't have magic and then suddenly did, and Lee, who has grown up with it, they've lived pretty different lives.

Speaking of Wren and Lee, I really enjoyed reading their story! That they were friends, but he was secretly in love with her, yeah, I was rooting for them! Watching as they were competing in the trials, as they were spending more time together, as split loyalties and secrets and mysteries came between them.

Oh, but the plots at the school! I think we've really only brushed the surface of what was going on. Things were definitely set up in this book, and started to get dealt with, but this is the first book in the series-there's going to be more!

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to continue on with this series!

Definitely a Young-Adult read. Authors craft a great fantasy with intricate world-building. This might be better for younger readers wanting to dip their toes into the Young-Adult realm. But we get all the things that us readers love - destiny, friendship, and sacrifice. I did find the pacing to be a little bit inconsistent. Otherwise, this was cute.

This young adult fantasy would have been great if I were in high school, even though the characters are 18 years old. I enjoyed it and felt that it was a great set up for the series to come. It was a quick read with a lot of world building, and action. Would I recommend this to younger readers? Yes. Am I looking forward to the next book? Yes.

I want to thank Netgalley & St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for an ARC of this book.

I enjoyed this read and I think the characters were all strong and I could connect with each and every one of them! I loved the writers style and I would definitely pick up another book by her!