Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. You should read it!

⭐2.4

A brilliant concept undermined by weak execution, 'Only a Portal Away' by Akira Varma boasts a compelling premise: the unexpected discovery that the magical world you've cherished is not only real, but far more perilous than imagined. This revelation, triggered by the arrival of a beloved character in one's home, is an intriguing setup. The narrative is engaging, with Enzo's portal-manipulation abilities serving as a strong plot device. For those willing to look past the novel’s flaws, there’s an enjoyable story here.

While the pacing is adequate, the writing style significantly detracts from the reading experience. The prose is marred by repetition, limited vocabulary, and a lack of refinement. The writing is undeniably the novel’s weakest element and would greatly benefit from extensive editing.

The primary characters are somewhat underdeveloped, which is unfortunate given their evident potential. Sienna’s irritation with the others adds a humorous charm, but overall, these characters could have been much more impactful - particularly Aliyah, of whom we learn so little despite her pivotal role.

The novel is rich in high-stakes action sequences and features a formidable villain commanding a fearsome berserker army, although the emotional depth of the story is somewhat neglected.

'Only a Portal Away' is built on an excellent foundation, but its execution falls short. The plot is captivating, with a skillfully handled cliffhanger, but the novel is ultimately held back by subpar writing. With substantial editing and a more thorough exploration of the characters, this story has the potential to be truly remarkable.

Genre:
-Fantasy Romance

Tropes:
-Quest
-Magical realism
-Fantasy World

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this book. The plot of the main character meeting her favorite fictional character is a great trope for a fic, and I was hoping that it would end up just as good, if not better in this book. However, I was severely disappointed. The book had so many grammatical issues, typos, and sentences that just didn't make sense. It made for a pretty hard read. The author does not do a good job of describing things that are happening, which makes it hard to follow or understand what's happening in the book. An example is that the main character ends up driving a Lamborghini, a car that is not hers, and then at a pivotal moment, somehow ends up driving her car with no explanation of how she ended up in her car, if she switched cars etc.

The premise is good and could get better with better writing, but for now it's just hard to follow which is it's biggest detriment.

I had to DNF about a quarter of the way in. The repetition was sadly giving me a headache. Unfortunately this is just not written in a way that I truly can get into… thank you for the chance to read it, it is appreciated.

I was instantly hooked on this book just by the summary.

I loved the characters, especially Aliya and Enzo. I also loved the idea of a favorite game character coming to life and then being part of what was originally thought to be fictional.

This is a fantastic book that I personally enjoyed reading.

Ahead of starting this I thought it sounded fascinating and nothing like anything I've read so far. I thought the first 25-30% of the book was a really good start but after that I found it incredibly repetitive and things were being over explained and descriptive, and it just wasn't necessary.

I personally didn't understand the relationship between the two main characters, it felt really out of place and somewhat forced because that's what the author decided was good for the story.

It was so fast paced to the point I think it impacted the overall plot/story as we missed out on a lot of information such as back story and what lead to the goings on in the book.

It all just felt a bit confused and wasn't as cohesive as I was expecting.

I instantly started enjoying this book merely from the fact that it reminded me of Kate and Leopold but a fantasy action version. When Aliyah comes home and finds her favorite book character Prince Enzo there and injured she embarks on a journey to help him get back home. This journey takes them on quite an adventure together.

If you like:
- Magic portals
- Adventure
- Different timelines
- Wizards
- Slow Burn

You will enjoy and read this book very quickly. It was a quick read, which surprised me as I didn't realize how fast I was going through it until I finished. I was not prepared at all for it to end on a Cliffhanger as I guiltily was getting impatient for the happy ending that I was imagining in my head. Overall this book was a much needed read for me to get me out of my current book slump I fell into. One downside is the repetitiveness that would happen sometimes, it gave me brief deja vu moments. But if you can look past that the eagerness from the authors' writing is contagious and will have you enjoying the book regardless.

The premise of the book is what grabbed me - I would absolutely love coming home one day and my favorite character is sitting there in need of my help. So many ways to go with that, though unless they have an ancient map they're trying to read - they'd be SOL. But that's completely irrelevant when it comes to the story written by Akira Varma. This book however, was super fast paced and didn't leave enough room for character development, and because of that - the plot lacked a bit. Overall though - I don't regret taking the time to read it, it was fun. It just had the potential to be more.

An interesting concept, I found the execution lacking and had moments of unbelievability that pulled me from the narrative of Enzo's characteristics. I did like how developed the internal monologue of Aliya was, but the other character's dialogue felt stilted at times.

this was such a fun and fantastical book! I love the enchanted vibes it was really so fun! enzo and aliya are so cool and it was overall just fun

An exciting action adventure with a hero, a villain, some demons, some magic and an ordinary girl with extraordinary bravery.
A page turner no matter where I look.

Only a Portal Away is the book to read if you want any of the above elements with a balance of character relationships.

Aliya is brave, naively so, has grit and is the most relatable character in her day to day life. Her relatability pulled me into the story despite a feeling of repetitiveness, the story carries. Opposite her, Enzo, a prince of the fictional world, battle worn, brave and scared. Between them is an exasperation, endearment and warmth. As much as I appreciated all these emotions in their quick adventure, I highly think the romance was rushed and the story could do without it.

The author's ability in character is exceptional. If you love a naturally flowing character relationship in midst of chaos, Only A portal Away is a good example.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

The idea behind this story was interesting. A college-aged girl ends up meeting her favorite character from a book series after he falls into her world. She must then help him find his way back home.

In execution, however, the story could use a little work. The bones were there and sturdy, but a few more rounds of editing would make this book even better. I don't know if part of it was that the author tried to incorporate too many perspectives or if only the first part of the story was concrete. I would love to see this book improve (and I suspect that the rest of the series may be better), but I honestly only finished it because it was fairly short and I was interested to see the cliffhanger that was promised.

When Aliya, a junior from the University of Georgia, returns home with her arms full of groceries, she finds a surprise waiting for her.... her favorite fictional character, the Crown Prince Enzo al'Deran had broken in and was in her living room. She didn't believe that he was who he said he was, at first anyway.... not until she saw the pointy ears, oh and when he created the portal in her living room. Enzo is determined to go back to his world, but he needs her help. When he discovers all of the books that have been written about him & about Indresal, he decides that the author must hold the key to getting back to his world. The problem is, the maniac that chased Enzo from Indresal has also come through the portal to Earth. Intent on killing Enzo, and he will stop at nothing..

This is book one in The Codex Of Indresal series, and this series promises to be a good one. The author did a great job with character and world building, and I love how this book ended, on a cliffhanger, setting it up for the next book. I am really excited to see where the series goes from here, and I look forward to seeing if there is a romance in the future for Enzo & Aliya.

Very interesting premise. I was excited to see what the author would do with the romance because there are many ways that can go down with a book-boyfriend & fan pair. So many questions come up, but it takes a disappointing turn with the insta-love. The characters seem to accept everything thrown at them. It ended up making the relationships a bit unrealistic and not believable.

An entire plot of how Aliya found the secret-author could've been added and it would've made things a bit interesting. Instead, she seems to magically find the name and house of someone who was told to be mysterious and super secretive.

There were typos, grammar issues and the book was extremely repetitive. Multiple times, the author adds in weird phrases - it ends up reading like a fan-fiction at times.

The dialogues are hilarious at times but the reading eventually gets tiring as there is more 'telling' than 'showing'. Characters go back and forth in their thoughts for multiple pages without any progress.

All that being said, the premise was intriguing and I hope the writing in the further books improve.

The book has a lot of potential, but it’s highly repetitive and there’s a lot of really basic grammar mistakes. It would benefit from some basic editing.

the premise of this book sounded so good, i am literally heartbroken that i did not love it. the first half was enjoyable but.. alas, i had to drag myself to read the rest and for that itll be 3/5 stars.

It was okay. It felt super fast and rushed. The cover and summary drew me in (yes, I judge a book by its cover lol) but the story itself just didn't hit it.

I was initially attracted to this book because the cover was attractive. I love the art and the premise behind this book. It held a lot of promise to me based on those two attributes; however, once I started reading this book I started to lose interest. This is not to say that this book was terrible, it just was not the right book for me. Please do not hold your opinion to my own as our preferences are not the same. I did DNF this book but it did hold promise.

I was disappointed in this book. The plot seemed exactly like something I would read, but the writing didn’t hit the mark. The characters reactions and their relationship wasn’t believable at all.