✨ Magical creatures
✨ Dark and light magic
✨ Forbidden Love
✨ Lies and deception

I enjoyed this new romantasy, A Touch of Darkness by Jessica Thorne. I read this both on the kindle and audiobook.

I am giving this book 4 stars because I very much did enjoy this book, but felt the short length impacted the plot. This is a quick read, which almost feels like a prequel or Part 1 of a larger book. You start to see some world building and character development just as it ends. However, there is a lot of potential for the books to follow. I like Wren and look forward to her story in particular. Elodie had me rooting for her, but it was hard by the end. The bond between Wren and Finn, however, has me in a chokehold. I hope the next book explores deeper in to their relationship.

The story is fast paced, but almost too fast paced. I would have liked a little more descriptions of the magic and the history. I would recommend this for fantasy romance readers.

Wren has been in hiding her whole life, it seems. Elodie, the woman who has raised her, has always encouraged her to reach for the light and admonished her never to let the darkness in. But the darkness has always beckoned to Wren, even as she has tried to resist it, to keep her magic hidden. This is sometimes challenging, as she and Elodie live apart from everyone in a forest where remnants of dark magic – the Nox – are known to linger. When the small village they call home is invaded by Ilanthian knights clearly looking for something, and their tower is aflame, Wren flees into the dark forest. A knight of Asteroth, Finn, seeks to protect her and in so doing, is attacked by dark forces himself. Wren does the thing she’s been told not to do and saves Finn, but at what cost to her and to him? Now they’re somehow bound together, and drawn almost irresistibly to each other.

This is a pretty good fantasy read, although it doesn’t quite live up to The Bookbinder’s Daughter (which I loved). We’ve got a pretty clear matchup of good versus evil in Asteroth and Ilanthia. Asteroth, the kingdom of light, with an eternal flame that supports their magic system that now kind of exists in limbo, not really active, but still existing. Ilanthia, seeking to restore the Nox to its former glory and use it for their ends, sounds like a truly awful place. But Wren and Finn seem to be some combination of both light and dark (at least sometimes), and this feels like it’s laying the groundwork for the two of them to somehow bring the two kingdoms together and restore balance. That, or they’ll burn each other to a crisp with forbidden dark magic and everything will go down in flames, I’m not sure which.

Thorne gives us a strong character in Elodie. She is clearly more than the hedge witch she presents herself as, and I hope she was somewhat in the background in this story because we’ll see much more of her in other books in the series. She isn’t invisible, but I get the feeling we haven’t nearly seen her tap the depths of her power yet.

The attraction between Wren and Finn felt a lot like insta-romance to me, and that really isn’t my favorite. I prefer enemies to lovers that takes time to grow. But given the spark that lit the romantic flame, I can see why their relationship unfolded in the way it did. I hope we see something deeper blossoming between them in later books. There was some explicit on-page spice – not a main focus of the book, but it is there, so be mindful if that’s a deal-breaker for you.

The story kept me interested, but it felt a bit underdeveloped. I know it’s the first of a trilogy, and I’m engaged enough to keep reading. We’ll see how the next book goes!

The Bookbinder’s Daughter is still my favorite Thorne book, but I’m hopeful this series will get better with each successive book, and by the end of it, I’ll love this story almost as much!

I liked a lot of the elements in this book, but I felt that it could have gone a little more in depth with the characters and world building. The magic system was intriguing but not touched on as much as I would have liked. It was a fun, pretty quick read, and I would like to see what the author does in book 2. I think there's a lot of potential here.

This was cute. It’s great for someone just getting in to fantasy. But as someone who has consumed fantasy at an alarming rate the past couple of years, I will agree with some other reviewers that say that there is still quite a bit to be desired. I’m also not a huge fan of insta-love, which is how this came off. It’s a very quick read though, so I definitely think anyone looking for a short and sweet romantasy read should give this a try! I’m interested to see how the authors writing style develops in the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy.

Wren has been brought up by a woman who she assumed is her mother. They never called ach other mother or child so she was never sure. They got seperated and Wren ended up meeting with Flynn.
Magic has been outlawed and Wren and her mother use it for healing powers.
Finn was brought up in one kingdom but is helping another kingdom. It seems that Wren and Finn's destinies are interwoven.
There is also spice n this book.
I enjoyed the banter between these 2 and the kingdoms.
I received this from NetGalley and Second Sly for the ebook to review,

2.5 stars

A Touch of Shadows by Jessica Thorne is a relatively quick read with an interesting magic system that drew me in. Wren is a character with a mysterious background that even she is not privy to beyond the strange, dark magic she can call upon which has more control over her than she does over it.
 
The start to this story was a bit slow for my preferences so it took me a while to really get into it enough to be interested to continue. I did struggle to stick with it because of this, but it eventually opened up enough to convince me to see it through as more interesting characters were introduced and backstory of these characters began to unravel. It wasn’t my favourite read of the year by any means, but it was enough to have me wanting to learn more of the world and to potentially pick up the sequel later on.
 
The characters were OK, though didn’t necessarily engender enough attachment in me that I was truly concerned about what might happen to them. Their backgrounds were the part I most wanted to know more about, though in Wren and Elodie’s cases they ended up being relatively predictable. Wren’s dangerous connection with the shadows was the most interesting part about her, and the fact that this was somehow tied to the length of her hair did intrigue me. Otherwise, I could have taken or left any one of the main characters and not been terribly affected by it.
 
I was initially drawn in by the promise of witches and magic, but in the end, I don’t think it quite ended up being what I was expecting. As a result, it didn’t quite land with me the way I was expecting it to, though it was a decent enough read once I got going with it. It still didn’t overly suck me in and I found myself at times annoyed with characters’ decisions which took me out of the experience.

In the end A Touch of Shadows was a decent enough read, though perhaps not fully for me as far as meeting my expectations. I may or may not continue with the series.

2.5 stars but rounding up!

This was not my favorite book that I've read but it was definitely one of the fastest books to read! This was a fast-paced magical story about a girl hidden away in the woods for her own protection and the knight that saves her, kicking off a big adventure crossing worlds and learning the differences between light magic and dark magic.

I thought the characters, their connections, and the magical mystery surrounding them were very interesting, but I found myself wishing that they went a bit deeper. The strongest relationship was between Wren and her mother (?) Elodie, and even that needed a bit more depth to it. Wren and Finn had the insta-love that wasn't founded on an emotional connection level as much as a magical level.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Jessica Thorne for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This book was ok. It had the premise to be really good but I felt like I was reading more of someone's initial draft that was written after they created a rough outline versus a completed story. There was very little world building, or character development and I often felt confused about what was happening. Our main character made bad decisions that you knew were coming but even as she was making the decision I kept thinking "I'm missing something" because while I KNEW it was a bad decision, the plot was so vague that it was almost like it was counting on the reader to draw conclusions as to what was happening.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

elodie and wren and arrived in the village many years ago.... they were the hedge witches in the forest and many of the villagers sought out elodie for help

but the day the village was invaded was the day that changed everything...

wren met the man that was to change her life forever

elodie was about to have her past thrust back at her

was the dark magic about to come back....

what a read and what an ending...cant wait for the next book in this series

A Touch of Shadows is a nice book for someone who wants to read a romantic fantasy novel for the first time. It's fast paced, the magic system is not complicated and the book is well written. However, for me, there was a lack of world building and the main characters needed a bit more fleshing out. I wasn't able to pick up exactly their personalities and traits - they felt a bit bland. Excluding Elodie, who stole the show, in my opinion.
The romance was too quick for me and a bit out of the blue, but I am a slow burn kind of girl.
The cliffhanger at the end was really nice and left me wondering what will happen next! All in all, this was a nice and quick read.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



✨ Fast Paced
✨ Cliffhanger
✨ Sci-fi




✨ Eloise was the main character of the story.
To be honest, it’s my first time reading a scifi series and I’m struggling at first.
But knowing the author, have some handy tips on the first few chapter I can actually read it lightly even though it’s a struggle.

✨ Cliffhanger is a huge part of this book so you may keep an eye out on the second book.



✨ Overall, it’s a good read. Lots of things to learn about. Not the greatest fan of sci-fi but this is a great start of the journey.



✨ Thankyou #secondsky #bookouture for the opportunity to read this arc for a honest review.





🫶🏼shaye.reads

Well, this is the first in a stunning new fantasy series. One that was left on a cliffhanger!

So I LOVED the narrator of the book, and I listened to the book, but I think, for me, this is one I would have been better off reading. I feel like I missed out on some things because of the detail that Jessica has put in. It didn't all completely sink in for me - so next book, I am reading! Although, I might re-read this one! The detail is not a bad thing, you need this detail but because my brain floated away, I missed things.

For me, Elodie was the shining star. There is something mysterious and endearing about her all at the same time. I need to find out more about her and Roland!! Their love, their story I need more!

This is going to sound silly to say, but this book was magical. I love the magic, the world-building, the characters but it was just something special. I loved the easy way you found yourself with the characters as if you had always been with Wren from the beginning. And yet, there is still so much we don't know about her and the shadows. Why does the darkness want her? I know we see a snippet of things, but that's just it, a snippet. I want more - and I have 2 more books to find out my answers.

It was free-flowing, easy going, but with some sizzle and some battles and a whole lot of magic and I can't wait for the next instalment.

I was very fortunate enough to get an arc of this. Loved the cover and the premise. It was an enjoyable read and the magic system was interesting as the first book in a series. I am excited to see how it develops further on.

Found my new favorite series! I couldn’t put this book down! The great world building and twists and turns keeps you hooked until the end. I can’t wait for the 2nd book in this series to be released! Thank you Second Sky for providing me an ARC!

One-word review: wonderful-escape
Emojis: 🤔😳🫣
Rating: 4 🌟s

Favorite Character:
My favorite character was not Wren—at least not in this first book in the trilogy—but Elodie, who is the mother or mother figure (that's one of the mysteries that needs to be solved) of Wren and a powerful wielder of magic. She is fascinating and powerful, with a past full of mystery and a power that can change the fate of everyone she comes into contact with. She is a supporting character with definite main-character energy.

My Top-Five-style Review:
5. The world-building, while in need of more development, holds great potential. With two books to go, there's a sense of anticipation. The basic introduction was sufficient to prevent confusion or frustration, leaving room for more to be unveiled.

4. The romance, though rapid, is a whirlwind that worked for me. In a fantasy story like this, the concept of insta-love is easily believable and can engulf you like no other emotion, adding to the immersive experience.

3. The story pulled me in from page 1 and thoroughly entertained me from start to finish. Its entertainment level is perfect for an afternoon read.

2. I'm never a fan of a cliffhanger ending, and boy, did this have one. Fortunately, I will be delving into book 2 in just a few days, making the impact not as bad as it would have been otherwise.

1. I loved the story's pacing, which is enhanced by loads of high-stakes situations such as life-threatening battles and intense magical confrontations, and plenty of tension. The fast pace kept the pages turning rapidly, and I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.

3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️

For readers who are new to the fantasy genre - A Touch of Shadows might be a great introductory book. Short, fast paced with an interesting and engaging magic system - A Touch of Shadows hits all the right notes without being overwhelming.

For more experienced romantasy and fantasy readers like myself - A Touch of Shadows may be something you want to tackle after more books in the series are out. I loved the magic system that Jessica built. It felt unique and played on the trope that two sides of the same coin must exist in balance with one another. The characters leave you wondering who is up to what and who you can trust which led to me devouring the book in less than 24 hours because i had to know what was going on. However, the story left way more questions for the reader than answers and given the story’s brevity the world building and character development was limited which I think added more questions than it answered. I’m also not a huge fan of the insta love trope but the way Jessica structured it within the magic of the universe made it more palatable then I expected - I just wish we would have had more of a slow burn outside of the magical bond between Finn and Wren as it came across a little unbelievable and rushed at times.

Overall I think if the book had been a little longer and we had a bit more character development this would be an amazing series and I would have rated it a little higher. However, if you’re a reader new the genre I think this would be a great entry point without being overwhelming.

I need the second asap really.. Oh I loved this book very much easy 5 stars for me I also made a proper review on my Booktok about it and it's an easy recommendation from me to be honest, I loved seeing the different perspectives and I loved Wren and Finn together

Jessica Thorne’s A Touch of Shadows (The Lost Queen Book 1)* is like stepping into a magical blender set to “chaos.” You’ve got light magic, dark magic, good guys, bad guys, and a heroine who’s just trying to figure out who the heck she is amidst all this. It’s a wild ride from start to finish, and honestly, I couldn’t put it down.*

Our leading lady starts off with an unknown past—because why make things easy, right? As she tries to untangle the mess of her life, she encounters characters who are as morally gray as they come. And trust me, you’ll love (and sometimes hate) every one of them. Whether they’re dishing out cryptic advice or dropping major bombshells, they keep the story buzzing with tension.

The plot is full of twists and turns that’ll make you question everything you think you know. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, Thorne throws in another curveball that leaves you flipping pages faster than a wizard in a spellbook. The battle between light and dark magic is more than just a backdrop—it’s woven into the characters, the magic itself, the love interests, and even Elodie’s tumultuous past. The constant theme of good vs. evil manifests in every aspect of the story, from the conflicting emotions that Wren grapples with to the moral complexities of those around her. It’s like a high-stakes game of magical tug-of-war where the lines between right and wrong are constantly blurred, keeping you on your toes and deeply invested in the outcome. Is the darkness the evil after all or are the shadows neither good nor evil but influenced by the person wielding their power?

Emotionally, this book packs a punch. You’ll laugh, you’ll side-eye, and you’ll probably yell at the characters to get their act together (they won’t listen, but it’s worth a try). Luckily the characters and the world-building were very well done.

Thorne’s writing is immersive without being overly flowery. The story unfolds in a medieval setting where two neighboring kingdoms, locked in a bitter feud for years, create a backdrop brimming with tension and intrigue. The setting mainly takes place in an ancient forest where the shadows tell of conflict and power struggles. The forest acts as a divide so to speak between the kingdoms where the evil from long ago still resides and is lying in wait. Elodie reminds Wren often to focus on the light to prevent the shadows from forming, as Wren secretly is drawn to the shadows. The long-standing rivalry between the kingdoms adds depth and complexity to the plot, making the world feel both expansive and intimately connected to the Wren and Finn’s personal pasts.

One aspect that occasionally had me groaning was Wren’s naïveté. I get that she’s dealing with a lot, but there were moments when I found myself wanting to shout, “Wren, connect the dots!” She is definitely giving “deer in headlights” kind of vibes multiple times as she makes questionable decisions. It’s particularly frustrating because her mother, Elodie, is aware of the dangers lurking in Wren’s past but doesn’t provide her with crucial information. A little advance warning about the magical chaos would have been helpful, right? While Elodie’s overprotectiveness is understandable, it sometimes feels like it does more harm than good. It’s a classic case of ‘if only they’d communicated better,’ leaving me wishing Wren had been more prepared for the upheaval in her life.

As Wren navigates this complex world, she finds herself entangled with two brothers, both connected to her mother’s past but with very different backgrounds. Leander, the prince of the neighboring kingdom, is drawn to Wren because of her unique magic and has his own reasons for pursuing her. On the other hand, Finn, a seasoned knight, meets Wren under unexpected circumstances—he intervenes when a local boy is bullying her. As Wren travels with Finn, she discovers that he has a deeper understanding of the shadow kin, a contrast to her limited knowledge as she was mostly trained as a hedgewitch or healer growing up. The real question is whether Finn can help Wren unravel her past and tackle the conflicts she faces, or if his own troubled history will hinder their connection.

If you’re into epic fantasy with a side of moral complexity (and who isn’t?), this book is for you. Fans of Sarah J. Maas Throne of Glass series and Leigh Bardugo Shadow and Bone trilogy, consider this your next read. Plus, Thorne has a knack for slipping in quotes that’ll make you stop and think, like: ‘In a world of shadows, even the brightest light casts a darker shade.’ Deep, right?

In short, A Touch of Shadows is a fun, fast-paced read that’s perfect for anyone who loves a good magical mystery with characters that aren’t afraid to get a little messy. Add it to your reading list, and prepare to be hooked!

And yes... It does end on a cliffhanger.

Overall: (4 out of 5 stars): ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I really enjoyed reading the 1st book of the series. It captured my attention and I ended up reading the book in 1 day. I cannot wait to see Wren’s growth in book 2!


Review will be live on Amazon and GoodReads.
Goodreads review is currently live online - 9/1/24.
Amazon - I will add after the book is released 9/5/24.

I really struggled to get into this one, the book was feeling too similar to some other books in the genre

I loved this magical fantasy. The world building was great, I loved the connection of dark and light. Poor Wren doesn’t know where she belongs, but she has such powerful magic and she just wants to learn about herself. Finn is such an amazing MMC, the way he protects Wren, at all costs, he loves her with his whole being. It ends on a major cliffhanger and I need to read the next book!!