4.5 stars. I loved this stand alone fantasy romance novel. I found the pacing to be perfect. It caught my interest from the very beginning and held it until the very end. I adored the characters and I hope the author decides to write more novels about Elia and her family. I would love a book focused on each of her siblings. I highly recommend this book to lovers of YA fantasy, witches, or monsters.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand.

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

Devoured this book, there's something about a main character that strikes me when they have everything to lose and have made mistakes. There are always consequences, but there are improvements that can be done. The effect is still there but that does not mean you have to just let it happen. Elia and Trys are a dynamic duo, giving the "you are my other half". A naive scholarly prince that believes in the best of the world, and a girl who will do anything to keep her family safe. I love all the side characters, their cranky witch-almost grandmother Rinna-Grivya, her best friend Maisie, and the Nameless Queen.

The world-building atmosphere of the book was fantastic. It was a unique and interesting story plot. The story starts strong, pulling readers into Elia’s desperate situation and the heart-wrenching choices she must make to save her family. However, as the narrative progresses, the pacing falters. Elia and Trys lack chemistry. Their growing attraction feels forced and underdeveloped. Trys is mainly one-dimensional, making it difficult to invest in their relationship. The story tries to juggle too much, maybe the book could be a duology instead of one stand-alone. This leaves the reader feeling that the story is overstuffed and underexplored, with too many competing threads for a single book. It has all the ingredients for a captivating fantasy with distinctive magic. The book is an immersive and emotionally engaging experience and think it was worth the read.

I received an ARC ebook for my honest review. Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins.

This was a good, solid debut! I was hooked from the beginning but began losing interest towards the middle-end. I wasn't a big fan of the pacing and the plot was confusing at times, but I thought the characters were great; definitely the strongest point of this book. Would read from this author again, but this definitely isn't my favorite book of the year.

Thank you NetGalley for this ebook ARC!

Characters: The set up at the beginning of the book with our main MFC was beautiful. You care about her and her family's desperate situation. Motive and the way the family’s predicaments unfold were not rushed and felt grounded.
BUT as the story develops none of the character’s flaws are worked on over the course of the book and it is a standalone. All the external problems are solved creatively but the depth that you feel at the beginning of the book, or any internal character growth, doesn’t carry through.

World Building: Oh the world building! It was magical. There were bakeries, locksmith, weaving, healing, all sorts of magical powers in the kingdom that were fascinating and so were the glimpses of the politics that we got to see.
The first chapter puts you right into our MFC’s powers and how fun they are. And then a neighboring kingdom is introduced that is also beautifully descriptive with unique problems happening, and it was truly a wonderful ride.
BUT
Halfway through, all that beautiful world building in both kingdoms gets left behind for a desolate battlefield the rest of the book and I felt like all the magical build up was left wanting in the last half of the book.

Writing: The writing was easy to read and enjoyable, all through the POV of our MFC.

Romance: Again, at the beginning of the book there was good chemistry, interesting encounters and problems, a marriage of convenience and even some good bantery moments.
All that was left behind.
Especially for it being a standalone, the couple did not have enough time together for the relationship to feel believable, so when halfway through the book our love interests are basically separated for the rest of it, the magic fizzled out and it was hard to be invested in their relationship like you were in the beginning.

Ending: Since this is a standalone, the ending was a solid HEA but like I said, I wish their relationship would have had a little more substance for me to feel completely satisfied with the ending.

Overall: 3 out of 5 stars for me. I’m glad I read it and really did love the first 50% of it. I guess I just had different expectations for how the story would go based on the set up and had wished the magic and the relationship would have continued as strong to the end. I’m glad I read it and I think it was a fun YA read.

This started out as a 5 star read. It really hooked me from the very first page, and the concept was so promising. However, it fell flat by the end. The world is AMAZING, so unique and magical. I loved the vibes and the whimsy atmosphere. The magic system was really cool and I wanted to see more of it. The main character has the ability to conjure keys to unlock anything, including doors to other worlds. Trys was a good love interest. Great? No, but good. We didn’t see enough of him for him to be great. Which is what made the romance not very believable for me. The humor and chemistry was there until about halfway through the book where they split up and the plot really takes a plummet and drags for way too long. I still think this will be a great read for others, it just didn’t reach its potential for me.

This is a standalone YA fantasy novel that should appeal to younger YA readers. Aspects of the book feel young, but there are dark themes (death) and violence, and the main characters are technically adults.

The pacing is brisk. There’s a romance between a scholarly prince and a more pragmatic girl with an interesting form of magic; both are similarly naïve, although they have good intentions. This is a case of instalove; the two have very few interactions before they’re ready to commit to the rest of their lives together.

The ending is quite bittersweet. You want to call the characters foolish for some of their decisions, but they are forced to carry the weight of the consequences.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an interesting read. I think some plot points detracted but it was overall smooth.

Read this if you love:
🔐 unique magic systems
👑 scholar princes
💛 fantasy standalones

I requested this ARC on a whim and I'm so glad I did. I love supporting debut authors and Unlock the Dark was just the book to break my reading slump.

Elia is a Conjurista, a magic user with the ability to open any lock. She uses her ability in tandem with her father's to unlock doors to faraway places—for a price. When her father falls ill, Elia makes the difficult choice to painfully extend his life using magic to provide for her young siblings. This enrages the god of death, who claims her brother's life as as servant in recompense. A deal with a kind prince named Trys may be the only option Elia has to save her family from ruin. In exchange for her help, Trys offers Elia has hand in marriage!

I loved Elia, our protagonist. Her devotion to her family was beautiful and layered. Everything she does is to protect them. The magic system was unique, though Elia's magic gets a little... weird. I can't even describe it without sharing spoilers, but just know that it's a little odd. 😂 Regarding the romance, Trys was fantastic. Truly, he's a book boyfriend/fiancé for the ages. It's rare to see such a genuinely kindhearted, male love interest in YA fantasy these days: we need more cinnamon roll princes!

The first half was excellent, but I do think the pacing suffered a bit in the second half. However, I'm okay with it because this is a debut novel and it was still engaging enough to finish. I'm glad this was a standalone, but I hope the author writes more in this world. I can't wait to read more from Sasa Hawk!

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was beautiful! I really love the magic system especially Elia's magic (I think her conjuring key magic is so cool!). Beside her magic, Elia is a strong lead and I was cheering for her all throughout the book. Poor baby has gone through a lot and I just admire her willpower. We need to protect Trys at all cost tho this one prince is too precious (he is so smooth too, bless him). Also I need Cuddles, stat.
I really, really enjoyed this book!

First off, a huge thank you goes to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book totally blind (I requested it from NetGalley many moons ago and forgot everything about its description) and I loved every moment of it. Well, almost. I wasn't a fan of the insta-love and constant bedroom eyes the characters gave every other page. The romance aspect of things was cute, but also felt incredibly juvenile at times.

The plot, on the other hand, was fantastic and made up for any awkwardness and gawking that took place. It was an incredibly fast-paced read, and I really appreciated the depth that we saw in each of the characters- especially Elia. I also LOVED Cuddles.

The ending was a little too rushed, in my opinion, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I'm just not entirely sure I'd count this as a "romantasy" like it's being marketed as.

3.5! I enjoyed this one for the most part! I always love finding new fantasy standalones because it’s so hard for me to keep up with series nowadays. Though I do think this might have worked better as a duology! There are some pacing issues and the relationship doesn’t get the time to flesh out as much as I would have liked. It also just feels like there was so much more to the worldbuilding to explore! Especially the creatures, which quickly became my favorite part of the book (the exclusion of Cuddles in the epilogue was egregious). But overall I had a nice time with this and would look for other books from this author in the future!

I absolutely loved this book! I read it in one setting because it was so good and I could not get enough of the characters. I really loved the characters the author created and there journey that they took. The story was fast paced but detailed where I felt immersed but not bored. I will be recommending this book to all of my family and friends.

I have been waiting for a YA fantasy book to fall in love with as it's been a while and this book did just that. Elia was such a wonderful MC she was likeable and made you want to root for her. The way she adored and cared for her family really resonated with me. Trys was also super likeable and sweet and I could see why there was instalove. The world building was wonderful paired with this magical story it was just phenomenal. My only complaint was I wish this was a duology soni could get more!

4.5 + stars

This was almost a 5 star read for me. I have been having trouble finding books to love lately (with a few exceptions), but this one caught me right from the beginning. Elia is such a great heroine, and I loved her journey. Her relationships with her siblings and all the side characters were wonderful. And Trys was a sweet love interest.

My only quibble was the end. It felt...abrupt...quick...too neat? A little much deus ex machina. I was expecting a cliffhanger because I was running out of pages, but everything was suddenly tied up with a bow.

Definitely a good debut, and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Hmmm...a tricky one. The world-building and setting of this story was truly phenomenal. Vivid and unique and intriguing. As was the magic system. I felt the writing style was also well done. Unfortunately, where the story lacked for me was in the relationship between our two characters (I felt it just lacked in so much depth and growth) as well as the plot pacing.

I wanted to love this so much but unfortunately it didn’t hit the way I wish it did 😔 I almost don’t want to write this review because there were so many things I didn’t enjoy about this.

Let’s start with the good. I loved the setting, it’s whimsical and I just loved it so much. Another thing I loved was the magic, and I wish we got to see more of what Elia could do. I also did really like both of the main characters but I wanted more Trys.

Ok let’s move on to what I didn’t like. I think my biggest problem is the pacing of the book. I think this would have done so well as a duology. Before the big conflict I wanted more relationship development between the characters and seen them go through a hardship together before the big one. I think the second half would be so much better dragged out (not in a boring way obv) but in the way that we get to see the characters go through their feelings on what to do and what happened and maybe the aftermath of all of it as well. The romance was cute but it was insta lovey, if the characters went through more together I would love them sm more. And can’t forget Cuddles <3

Overall I loved the setting but wish the pacing and depth of the characters was more developed.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the arc <3

I haven’t been this excited about a fantasy world since the first time I read Harry Potter.

The world the author creates is absolutely intoxicating. I will cry my heart out if this is the only book set in this world that Sasa Hawk writes. I am literally begging for more of this world.

I’ve had such a hard time writing this review because there is so very much to love about this book! I can’t stop thinking about it and I absolutely plan to re-read this, I am in love.

Because I’m at a loss for articulate worlds to describe how fantastic this book is I’ll default to list style for now.

What I love…
- There has never been a book (since HP) that I wanted to desperately to be able to be magically transported into.
- The world building feels rich and it’s done in a way that’s not forced or info dumpy. We get little tidbits as they become relevant in a natural way.
- The world and magic is unqiue and so f-ing cool
- I felt emotionally attached to these characters within the first 20%
- the connection between the FMC and MMC is not lusty - their relationship and attraction is built on shared trauma, and mutual respect.
- did I mention the magic was so freaking cool???!!?!?
- The FMC is strong, smart, and makes difficult decisions
- This feels like a book that can be loved by the masses - the themes are appropriate for middle YA, but feel mature enough to grab and keep the attention of adults.
- The CREATURES, are you kidding me with this? Unique and interesting and I want more.
- the family dynamics are so well done and I love the emphasis on family.

What I did not love…
- This could have easily been a duology and I think it would have done better as one (see below)
- I wanted more of their relationship development, had we spent a little more time prepping for their adventure/quest we could have seen their feelings develop more and turn into a deeper stronger relationship. I saw another reviewer mention that the romance was the least strongest aspect and I agree, but it didn’t have to be! It was set up to be an amazing romance but got rushed bc of the standalone book imo
- I did not like the split plot line, it felt like two different conflicts were fighting to happen and I would have strongly preferred the book stick with the main FMC and MMC conflict and plot.

I will be reading anything Sara Hawk writes from this point on.

More things of note…

I need a prequel of the FMCs time in the floating world.
I need a sequel.
I need more, please, now.

P.S. While this was not a perfect book, I am still giving it 5⭐️ because all the things RIGHT with this book greatly outweigh the mild plotting/pacing issue.

A cozy family forward story with an incredibly lush fantastical world that will have you craving more.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the arc! Hm, I’m conflicted on this one. This book was engaging, but the weakest aspect of this story was the romance, which is unfortunate for a romantasy. I did like some other aspects about this story though. I’ll break it down into pros and cons.

Cons:
-Instalove
-I really liked the world building we got, but as always I wish there was more.
-I know this was a YA romantasy, but the romance read very cliche and juvenile. Once again, it was easily the weakest aspect of this book.
-I thought we’d see more of Elia using and pushing her magic. We got way too little. It was essentially a zero to hero arc, and it felt very underdeveloped.
-Third act was a decline in quality, especially towards the end. Some plot points frustrated and/or confused me.
-Speaking of the ending…nah fam

Pros:
-Loved the world building we did actually get. I can see (and I want) more interconnected standalones in this world
-Speaking of which, I want more Serratura. What a fascinating country we spent too few pages in. I especially want to see more of the big city with its Rings, culture, advancements, and library. That being said, the countryside also had its own culture and appeal. The lore of this country was fascinating too. I just want all of it. MORE SERRATURA PLEASE!
-Loved Elia’s family and all their dynamics. This is the relationship I wanted more focus on. This was way more developed than the romance.
-Interesting yet underutilized magic system. Elia’s type of magic was unique and interesting.
-Cuddles -ikyk

All in all, this book was a fascinating concept with a lukewarm execution. That being said, I did love this world, and would love to see more in it, particularly plot/character forward as opposed to romance. I do see potential for this author, and will watch out for what she writes next, all though cautiously. -3.5 cursebound scrolls