theenchantedlibrary's reviews
620 reviews

I read book 1 and 2 of this series a couple of years ago and really enjoyed them. I found the plot interesting, the characters had depth and there was a really great play on paralleling this fantasy world with the real world in terms of social commentary and politics with an emphasis on being open minded and well informed. Those books included lessons, character development, an interesting magic system and world building. I feel like that’s why I’m so disappointed in The Shadow Wand, because it seems to have lost all of that.

The Shadow Wand follows our characters shortly after the events at the end of the last book. It allowed just enough of a time jump to get everyone where they need to be to kick things off… but then not much happens. I found myself very confused in terms of why everyone was doing what they were doing, why we have focus placed on certain characters at all, what the purpose of most of the plots are and why everything was divided into sections that don’t really make sense. In this book, I lost the drive behind each characters motivation and where exactly this series is going. I feel like books 1 and 2 had a very clear vision and this one feels so out of place and almost like it’s from a different series altogether.

I can really appreciate the effort that Forest has put into this world though. She knows all of the places, the political structure, the opposing sides, the different sub-sects of people and what their individual beliefs are. It’s so much to create and keep track of for a writer and I know it’s hard work weaving all of it into a story that is digestible to the average reader and you can tell she’s put a great deal of thought into it.

There’s so much planning with the world/politics but it gets lost with all of the different subplots and characters that you need to keep track of. There’s even a couple page chapter from a certain character’s POV but it’s just a single chapter for a very significant character and the events of that chapter seemed so haphazard that I wonder what the point of including it really was. We needed to have followed that character more leading up to that moment or just get rid of it altogether. I found myself caring less and less for the characters in general due to the sheer number of them and how little their plots actually moved.

And, on that note, it felt like the entire plot didn’t move. Elloren is our lead, she’s the main character that we are meant to feel for and follow the journey of but her entire character arc in this book took place in her last couple chapters. It seemed like their was no point to the first 3/4 of the book and even then she ends off pretty much where she started… except now she has some confidence I guess.

I wish that I had more positive things to say about this installment of the series but it’s diverted so much from proceeded it that it just feels out of place and jumbled. I think this is one of those rare times where I am going to choose to not continue reading a series. I’ve unfortunately lost interest after The Shadow Wand.

This book was an absolute delight. As a lover of historical fiction, a rom-com based around a group of suffragettes is a natural read for me. I am excited as well that this is the first book in a series that appears to be following each of the supporting characters/suffragettes.


Right off the bat, this books paints the perfect picture of Annabelle as she speaks to her cousin and convinces him to let her attend Oxford. She is sly, smart and not afraid to use either of these aspects to her advantage. With her main goal being to get an education and be able to get out from her cousin’s thumb, Annabelle will not let anything stand in her way and I love this in a main female character. A lot of the time this ‘trope’ can seem very heavy handed and unnatural but Dunmore was able to make this feel so authentic to Annabelle.


With the education-piece being such an important thing to our main character however, there was very little time actually spent on that part of the plot and more time was opted to go towards time between Annabelle and Sebastian. Which, honestly, makes clear sense considering this is a romantic read after all. The attraction between the two leads is obvious from the get-go and I really appreciated the clear differences in opinions that they each shared. Her being a forward-thinking woman and him being a very traditional man of the times. These differences allow for some great banter and very realistic conflicts. Not entirely dissimilar to a certain Miss Bennett and Mr Darcy.


With Bringing Down the Duke, Dunmore is able to shed some light on a part of history in a very fun way but also being rooted in the truth of that time. She touches on how women were viewed, some of the inner workings of the House of Lords, the women who stood up for their beliefs and the risks that they took to get a higher education, how not all women are able to think about their future romantically and sometimes needed to think practically and how opinions can change and mark history. She was able to do all of this while writing a fun, flirty and passionate story about a woman with nothing to her name and a Duke.


In all honesty, I am ready to do a re-read of this immediately if not for my packed TBR that I am still working through… not to mention all of the reviews I still need to write. If you are a fan of historical fiction, women’s rights, political conflict and, of course, a great romance, this one is for you!

I don’t want to say too much about this one seeing as it is the 5th book in an ongoing series but I can assure you that I absolutely devoured it.

I feel like I say this a lot but I am not a thriller/mystery reader generally because I don’t tend to find them overly exciting or surprising. One thing that I love about this series though that keeps me coming back is the fact that Kelley Armstrong writes each of her characters with so much depth, that I want to hear more of their stories. I want to learn more about Rockton and what surrounds it. I want to see what the next adventure brings. I want to learn more about the council. In short, it keeps me coming back for more.

In this installment, Armstrong further delves into backstory whilst expanding on the world that surrounds our favourite hidden town. During the process of dealing with finding an abandoned baby, Armstrong sprinkles in plenty of plot points which I cannot wait to pay off in future books. It has been confirmed that we have at least 2 more to look forward to and I am already eagerly awaiting their release dates.

Needless to say (especially if you know me) these books are ones that I look forward to every year and will continuously sing their praises. If you are looking for a non-stop ride that gives a possible answer to the statistic that ‘enough people go missing each year to populate a small town’, then this series is for you.

I read My Plain Jane when it came out and was entertained so when I saw that this trio were creating a story surrounding Calamity Jane, I definitely wanted to pick it up. I’ve been meaning to delve into the world of Westerns and the idea of doing so with an easy to read comedic take on the genre seemed a great entry point. In truth, I don’t think I would recommend anyone read it on that basis.

Throughout the last couple of years, I have really been finding Young Adult reads to no longer be an age group I totally enjoy. There are some that are amazing but, for the most part, my reading tastes have changed a bit so please keep that in mind when it comes to my thoughts here.

My Calamity Jane is a very surface-level story that really centers around Annie Oakley. I’m not sure why it is marketed as having Jane as the main character (I guess the obvious answer is that her name is Jane and it fits with the series) but she really does not get much time in the story. The majority of her journey is overlooked and her major character moments are very much lack-luster. I liked the idea of following Jane, Annie and Frank but the book was very Frank/Annie focused - which is fine but not really a ‘Jane’ story.

Of all of the characters, I would have to say that Frank was my favourite. Heck, maybe even his dog haha. Frank is easily the most mature of the bunch but, because of that, he does not have much of an arc. He is fairly stagnant and reliable. Annie was spunky to the point of almost being annoying but I did like her conflict even if we don’t get to see her development as much of it happens during a travel time-jump and a very randomly convenient plot moment involving a bear. Jane herself has a good enough back story to help force her ‘revelation’ near the climax of the book but she really just sits around drinking a lot and being confused about her crush.

The Lady Janies as a writing trio seemed more of a collective in My Plain Jane but in this iteration, I could really tell that it was written by 3 different authors. The story did not have a good flow and the ideas that they went with were a bit all over the place. They desperately try to make a social commentary on many different aspects of the time period to the readers of modern day but it felt extremely forced with all of their ‘narrator asides’. I also know that they try to add humour with their commentary but I mainly found these moments boring if not a bit cringey.

In terms of the paranormal twists that get added to each book in this series, I wasn’t overly on board with the idea of them being werewolf hunters. The lore never added up for me from how they started to how to ‘cure’ it to the society that surrounds them… it was all very under-developed. Almost as though there was just a few points that they wanted to cover regardless of how they fit together. Further twists in the story were also fairly obvious. Nothing was really surprising aside from how they brought up these revelations. The set up for one particularly ‘big’ twist wasn’t even really done, there was just a line that essentially said ‘by the way, this is a thing’.

This just wasn’t a fun ride in general for me. I wasn’t invested in the characters, there was too much and yet not enough going on and a lot of the story seemed forced. I do plan on picking up My Lady Jane however because I do want to give this series another try but if book 1 doesn’t hook me, I likely won’t continue on to read their next trilogy (which I believe is based around Mary’s of history).

This book was such a treat. I remember looking at it a few times before ever picking it up. I would look at the cover, think it wouldn’t be for me and let it lay on the bookstore shelf until one day I decided it caught my eye enough times to finally pick it up. It honestly did not disappoint. Considering this is also a debut novel, it did not seem to fall into the traps that many do.

Waiting for Tom Hanks is a love letter to the hopeless romantics among us. If you ever watched a rom-com and felt wistful or as though at any moment, that leading lady could be you? This book will speak to you on so many levels. It is heartwarming, funny, honest and a bit of a reality check in some respects.

Kaylee *ahem* ANNIE is a dreamer and a writer waiting for her life to steer her into the beginning of her very own rom-com. Her detriment is that she is relatively passive in her life… hence the waiting. Waiting for her big screen-writing break, waiting for her life to get on track, waiting for her friends to realize they live in their very own rom-com and waiting for a love of her own. I found Annie completely relatable and kind of scary that I see so much of myself in her. She isn’t living her life passively on purpose, I doubt she even really realizes it but I think that’s what gives her a great starting point. After having been dealt a huge loss, Annie has been living her life in the past while her uncle and friends try as much as they can to give her loving doses of reality in hopes of getting her to move forward.

Enter, Drew: seemingly cocky playboy in town to shoot a movie where Annie lands a job on set. Honestly, I love Drew as a character but the ‘cocky playboy’ facade wasn’t totally believable and I wasn’t able to tell if Winfrey meant for it to come across that way or not because it didn’t seem like the character even believed the ruse. Regardless, Drew and Annie’s banter after the first interaction or two was wonderful. It felt like their meeting was a bit forced (even though it was an ‘accident’) and I don’t think I really saw the appeal of them together right off the bat. But that didn’t last long. The two had great chemistry and I couldn’t wait to watch their story unfold.

We are also introduced to a slew of side characters who manage to steal plenty of scenes themselves. Uncle Don is super supportive and plays weekly D&D sessions with his friends and then there’s Nick, Chloe and Tobin from the coffee shop who you can tell have their own story (and just you wait till you get to see it all in book 2!). Along with the cast and crew from the movie and various locals, everything really serves to round out the picture. I had so much fun reading all about the town.

Now, while this may seem like the book is all fun and games - and, to be honest, most of it is - Annie also has to deal with having lost her parents and keeps her memories of their relationship on a pedestal. The further arc that Annie has in dealing with this certain plot point did seem a bit rushed and quickly resolved but I do like that Winfrey included it as a reality check. Just like Annie, I enjoy when a rom-com (or chicklit) is able to touch on real issues that characters can be going through while giving a ray of hope that could break through the darkness.

I will happily be continuing to follow this series to see what else Winfrey has up her sleeve. (Spoiler: I’ve already read book 2!)

Almost immediately upon starting this book, I felt extremely nostalgic. The odd thing is, I normally only get this feeling during a re-read and I’ve never read anything by Elizabeth Gaskell before. My only reasoning was that the writing evoked the same kind of feeling I get when reading Jane Austen and they both published in the first half of the 1800s - not super scientific but anything that brings me back to the first time I read Jane Austen is fine by me.

Considering the brief synopsis, this book has SO much depth and so much going on that the synopsis seems a bit deceptive but still covers the basis of the plot. Gaskell weaves an amazing story of a young woman from a small little hamlet in the South who has to move to a Northern industrial town which is very much out of her comfort zone. The truly great thing about Margaret Hale is that no matter what she has to face, she does so with grace and dignity along with a heck of a lot of gumption. She is a character who is far beyond her time in terms of social politics and business-sense but also for her gender. It isn’t often that I come across such a strong female character who comes by this attribute so honestly and naturally while also being open to seeing every side of a situation - even if she can be a bit stubborn about it at times.

The relationship between Margaret and Mr. Thornton has so many layers to it and I appreciated that we could get a glimpse into the thoughts of both characters surrounding their interactions but this really isn’t the main theme or point to the story. North and South really is a commentary on the way of life in both places and how there are pros and cons but also a need to adapt to change and to do better than those before us. To think critically and see all side of an issue. I feel that even though this was written in the 1800s, it’s themes are still applicable today.

The biggest plot point within the story is by far the topic of the impending strike and the relationship between master and worker. What I find most impactive about this aspect of the plot is that Gaskell is able to masterfully write a debate between Margaret and Mr. Thornton on the topic in which the outcome was very hard for me to pick a side on! Both views were so well-thought out and were so honestly written that I couldn’t help but be amazed. This really is where Gaskell shines in her writing. You can really tell that she led a similar life in the fact of her moving from the South to the North and she understood the workings of the society to a T.

I absolutely adore literature from this time period and most of the books that I have read from it were ones I read when I was between the ages of 8 and 13. It has been a very long time since I have been able to discover something ‘new’ from this period but I am so happy to have found Elizabeth Gaskell and I will gladly pick up her other works.

This book was more like a 280 page advertisement for every major brand out there right now. Unfortunately this book fell into the ‘what I don’t like’ column in terms of contemporary reads. It is too anchored to the time. I don’t need to hear about Zac Efron or Apple devices or The Bachelor or Jason Bateman or Tinder or Bumble or Fifty Shade of Grey… and all of this (and more) is referenced in the first chapter alone. I know that people argue that these not so subtle nods to pop culture helps to root them into the story but it does the exact opposite for me.

I was interested in the premise of this book after reading the synopsis but the actual execution of the story was unsatisfying. I felt like I was promised one thing and then given another. I hardly felt anything for the characters and I really did not see the appeal of Charlotte and Brian as a potential couple. And honestly, after what we learn Brian did, I wrote him off completely.

This entire book is full of strained characters where one or two make it seem like they have depth but they are all sadly one-note. I know that Belden interviewed a series of real people who have dealt with the loss of their significant others and children to have true-to-life examples to draw from and I commend her for that. Some moments managed to bring those feeling forward but the majority was lost amongst everything else.

I wish that I had enjoyed this book because it had potential but I just couldn’t. In all honesty it would have been a DNF if it hadn’t been a buddy read.

Oh my heart, this book! *chefs kiss* This book was perfection. Throughout reading Dragonfly, I tried to balance wanting to read it as quick as possible while also trying to savour every moment and every line. I was holding my breath while turning the pages and became unbearably invested with these characters!

I have never read a Leila Meacham book before but I am so happy this was my introduction. I love historical fiction in general and with this one being based during WWII, I was 100% on board. I really didn’t fully grasp what I was getting into when I picked it up but the journey I went on was one I won’t soon forget. Dragonfly is a page-turner that gives you zero down-time where Meacham expertly crafts the heroing stories of 5 American spies (who have gone beyond enemy lines to help the war effort) into a cinematic masterpiece on paper. I gasped, I cried, I laughed, I bit my lip in anticipation as events unfolded and I truly felt like I was among the characters.

Upon opening the book, there is a character list that gives you each name, codename and undercover alias for our team as well as other players during the story and what their roles in the war were. This gave me a brief pause thinking that I may get confused over whose POV I was reading but I did not have to worry. Each character was distinctive and Meacham was able to integrate each alias to the point where it was natural to attach three different names to each person.

The scope of this story was amazing in terms of how each member of Dragonfly had their own mission, their own hurdles, their own risks, their own reason for joining the team and every step, every moment is perilous for them. And yet no matter how separate they are, there is always the potential that one decision could effect everyone. I loved each and every one of their journeys and waited with baited breath to see where they would lead.

I loved the way that these stories are told and how the book is divided into parts, it is a perfect way to set the scene. I fell in love with these characters and wished for them to come out of everything unscathed but war is relentless and time cannot heal all wounds. Dragonfly gives you action, subterfuge, friendships to last a lifetime, hope, loss, glimpses of joy and so much more. I cannot recommend this one enough.

It has been a handful of years since I read Ever the Hunted and, even though I purchased both books at the same time, it has taken me just as long to pick up the sequel. Granted, my reading tastes have changed and I don’t find myself drawn to Young Adult anymore but I still wanted to finish this duology.

I wish that I had a lot to say about Ever the Brave but the truth is it was just a solid middle of the road read for me. I didn’t love it but it also did not have any major glaring issues to me. I appreciated how conflicted Britta was and how she was forced to question her feelings to find what is valid and what is simply because she is magically pulled one way over the other or if it is even a mixture of the two.

I went into this one without fully remembering all of the events of the first book and that worried me at first but Summerill was able to effectively sprinkle in details of events past to get me back up to date without feeling like an info dump or detracting from this new part of the developing over-arching story.

There was additional hesitation on my part thinking that there would be a very stereotypical love triangle and I guess there was but it was written in a way that I haven’t seen often. The conflict is so evident between the characters both mentally and physically but, while you will likely root for one over the other, you can see the appeal in both instances.

Beyond the romance, Ever the Brave is really about Britta’s journey to self-acceptance. Her powers have been both a blessing and a curse for her (very cliche I know but there’s no other way to say it lol), she learns more about her past, she has no one she can trust to teach her how to use her powers to their greatest benefit… essentially her life is in transition and she can only fully rely on herself. It was great to see Britta grow in this book.

We do flit between the POVs of Britta, Cohen and Aodren which is helpful in terms of figuring out the scope of the story - particularly with Cohen’s side of things. Aodren’s chapters more or less revolve around him trying to figure out his feelings towards Britta and very little to do with his kingly duties to the point that I forgot he was one aside from the fact that he lives exceedingly well. Cohen is really the one taking the most chances and getting the most done during his travel and the people that he meets. Britta is conflicted over a number of things but has a very natural progression of development.

Overall, I’m glad that I finished the duology but I don’t think I have a need to read the off-shoot novel, Once a King, to follow Aodren’s story further.