With the promise of magical (cursed) libraries, two fae love interests and a cosy, cottagecore setting (along with that absolutely gorgeous cover) I delved into Analeigh Sbrana’s debut with gusto. And was incredibly pleased to find that it was a really fun and enjoyable read. 

Though I found this a far pacier read than the average cosy fantasy (I do feel the pacing could’ve been a bit more consistent) , and the cottagecore vibes weren’t nearly as prevalent as I had hoped they’d be. However, the found family-esque cast of characters (Isla, Finn and Gryph) and their love and support for each other (and for Lore) definitely won me over. I just wish their time together wasn’t soo brief. 

If you love a slowburn romantasy then, you might enjoy this. I won’t spoil anything but I have to say I much preferred our deliciously broody, second love interest over the first. But he and lore didn’t get nearly as much time together as I wanted. What we did get was really cute and I am holding out hope we more of them (and their budding feelings for one another) in the sequel. 

This is an adult romantasy (there’s one very sexy scene near the end of the book that was pretty steamy) but the writing did, for the most part, feel like YA (which I actually didn’t mind as I love the YA genre.) But is something to consider if you don’t usually enjoy that style of writing. 

I was really NOT expecting THAT reveal at the end, which was actually a pretty interesting twist (that I hadn’t expected) but, I was a little let down it ended on a cliffhanger and it felt a bit anticlimactic. 

Still, I did really enjoy this and will definitely be picking up the sequel when it’s released.