Congratulations to Analeigh Sbrana on her debut novel, this is a great success! The buildup to this book/the marketing were fantastic and I was ecstatic when I received an ARC for this book.
The world building/establishment of the magic system were executed really well and I truly fell in love with the world that Analeigh Sbrana created.
I am glad that there will be more books following this one because I really felt like I could have gotten to know more about Lore, her powers, and her relationships with the other characters.
I cannot wait to read the next book!

This was a good debut novel! It did feel like it lacked some unique voice for me. It felt like the worldbuilding didn't draw me in as much as I like. There is good potential for a great series here!

I wanted to love this one but it fell extremely flat for me. The concept was amazing and something I was very interested in. However, it felt like the author was just telling me what was happening instead of describing the world and what was going on in the story. It felt disjoined, like we would go from one action to another without any explanation as to why it was happening. I will say that I enjoyed the overall plot of the book and will likely be reading the second book, if only because I’m curious as to how the author will write it.

4⭐
0.5🌶️

Lore of the Wilds had such a beautifully strong start by showcasing a town of humans imprisoned by the neighboring fae. After an earthshake occurs, Lore, skilled in languages, is tasked to work in the magical palace library where no fae can enter in exchange for rebuilding her town and saving her people. Lore finds a book that is seemingly empty and harmless, but ends up being an item of great magical power. It showed her the dark horrors that have occurred after she left. Using her magic and some allies she gained along the way, Lore goes on the run to save the people she loves.

The world-building is deep in the beginning and can definitely be overwhelming, however, after the first 20% I felt like I got a grip of the world and everything in it at that point. I really love the magical library and how well done it was. Lore being a chaotic & unreliable FMC was phenomenal. Any time she was faced with a conflict, I expected her to go one way, but she flipped the script and did something unhinged. I loved that.

The romance with Asher definitely felt a bit forced, but understandable with the situation of how they met and interacted in the beginning. I was most definitely rooting for Lore to pick grumpy Finn over Asher as their interactions increased. He really cares for her and he better be end game or else...

I know it is sold as a romantasy but this is that in the loosest way. There are fantasy elements & romance elements, but you're not going to get the same feeling as other big name romantasy titles. This 100% felt more like a YA novel with a sprinkling of spice rather than an adult novel. If the spice was omitted, I felt like the plot and writing would feel like it made more sense. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, my expectations were a bit different.

Jaw on the floor plot twist! Unreal!

"Power is beautiful and, Lore, you're the most beautiful creature I've ever lain eyes on." swooooon

📖 Magic Library
📖 Love Triangle
📖 Chaotic FMC
📖 Unique Magic system
📖 Great world building
📖 Plot TWIST & Cliffhanger 😑

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Avon & Harper Voyager for the eARC of Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana.

What a fun and easy dip into fantasy. After multiple high stakes series, this is beautiful and whimsical palate cleanser that leaves you wishing for more fairytales in real life. A stunning debute novel.

Lore, a human living in the only human territory on the planet, is coerced to leave her city to help fae royalty unlock the magic inside the library that has been warded against anyone with fae blood to enter. As Lore learns more about the library, a grimoire calls out to her and makes a bargain to protect her if she takes its magic within her. While on the run with her bodyguard, Lore begins to learn to harness the magic and cast spells, all while the fae are working on a plan of revenge to steal the grimoire and return it to it's owner.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ 4.5/5
Spice: 🌶️ 1/5

Tropes:
Bodyguard
Hidden Powers
Magical Quest

Triggers:
Extreme Poverty
Kidnapping
Slavery
Assumed SA

My thoughts:
What an awesome book with great, easy-to-follow world building! Lore is no damsel in distress and instead works with those protecting her to keep herself and the human population safe. My only complaint is that there isn't a sequel release date yet!

I really enjoyed this book and am very excited for the sequel! The world building was strong and the characters had good depth. I think the pacing in the beginning was a little quick, but that could also be me wishing we spent more time cataloging the library! I love cataloging and was so excited on how a magic system would impact the workflow. That's likely a complaint more unique to me as someone in cataloging and libraries.

This book was not what I was expecting. It was a good first book but when I am given the premise of a magical library, I expect to be in the magical library for most of the book. The romance was also a bit off. At one point I thought the love interest might be the someone introduced later in the book. I did like the ending and while pick up the second book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was one of my most anticipated books of the year and overall it did not disappoint. I loved all the characters and the story and I cannot wait to continue this story and world. I will say some of the plot points were a little rushed and the pacing in the book was weird (there would be large times jumps randomly) but those things didn’t overly deter from my enjoyment of the book. This book is marketed as a love triangle and while yes there are two male leads I wouldn’t 100% consider it a love triangle at least not yet. The romance is also not the main focus of this story so if you are going into it with that mindset just know that this is more of a fantasy world with small glimpse of romance. If you are looking for spice there is really only one scene towards the end. These are not things though that bother me but I know some people will be disappointed if they are expecting heavy amounts of romance. Again so happy I read this book and can’t wait for the rest of the series.

Short Synopsis:
Lore is dragged from her poor human town to work for a fae lord. Her task: to find a magical book in the enchanted library. Through her tasks and journey, her paths cross with two very different fae males who she must trust.

My Thoughts:
I came for the gorgeous cover. I stayed for the enchanted library, fae love triangle and magic. This was such a lovely debut fantasy. I will say it has similar themes to a lot of fae books already out (a magicless human girl gets taken to live with the fae, torn between two fae males and learning about magic), but still done in a creative and captivating way. I really enjoyed it!

And the ending? It gutted me. How long do we need to wait until book two?

What You’ll Find in This Book:
📖 Magic
📖 Similar vibes to ACOTAR
📖 Love triangle
📖 Humans vs fae
📖 Enchanted library
📖 Twists

This was a great adult fantasy romance debut novel, with a twist ending! I would definitely recommend to those who think it sounds interesting!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

2.5 ⭐️

Well, on the outside this ticks a lot of boxes: a cottagecore romantic fantasy featuring an enchanted library and fae. I had to give it a shot, but oof. This was not it.

The first big offense here are major tone inconsistencies. One minute I'm thinking ah, this seems cozy! But then suddenly somebody's head is getting cut off and blood is everywhere. And then we're back to being cozy? In the span of a few pages? Help? Another minute I'm thinking that the writing style feels pretty juvenile, possibly geared towards a younger audience, and then suddenly there's out-of-place explicit spice. The whiplash... 😭 Please pick a lane.

Secondly there were a *ton* of structural issues. Pacing was all over the place. The plot developed in a very unnatural and unbelieveable way. The characters frequently instantly overcame obstacles in no time at all and faced zero consequences, which then made most of the plot points feel like irrelevant side quests. What was even the point of the fox? (We could've had a Barbie-like sidekick but didn't? 0/5 according to Ted Nivison's scale /j) And the sheer repetitiveness of the descriptions was eye-roll inducing. He's growling and smells like blackberries and honey, I get it (please make it stop)!! 😃

Romance wise, I was not sold on either love interest. On the one hand, you have instalove with zero chemistry and an awkward progression, and on the other you have the mean one who can't express any of his feelings unless it's aggression. Red flag much??

I honestly considered DNFing this a few times, but stuck it out for no pay off. This had a lot of potential but could've done with several more rounds of rewrites.

This book was so enchanting and mesmerizing. I never wanted to put it down. Page after page it kept getting better and better. Thank you so much netgalley for an arc of this book.

Thank you to netgalley and harper collins for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Dnf

At first glance, I was so excited to pick this one up. The premise sounded right up my alley but the final product just didn’t live up to my expectations. The writing style wasn’t my favorite, and often felt like an overuse of unnecessary text that felt wordy and made it hard to get into the flow of the story enough to truly escape into this world.

I also felt like the pacing was off, moving much too fast in terms of important plot scenes that deserved more time and attention yet slow in certain scenes that felt unnecessarily long.

For these reasons i just don’t see myself enjoying the rest of this novel. While this wasn’t right for me, perhaps other readers may enjoy it.

I loved this book and am completely invested in the story and characters. This was a very readable fantasy where the world building was well done without being overwhelming. The romance aspects were a slow burn, but entirely worth it. And the ending left me ready for the second book immediately. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon/Harper Collins for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thoroughly enjoyed this ARC! Perfect for cozy fantasy lovers and readers. I'm excited to see more from this author - can't wait for the sequel!

Diverse fantasy with cottagecore vibes. It’s definitely for me and fans of cozy fantasy. It does read like a YA with adult scenes which threw me off a bit. But I liked it! I would and did buy it.

Received a free copy to review from NetGalley. Final rating 2.5 stars.
This book confused the heck out of me. I started really enjoying it, around a 4 star read for the first 30-40ish percent. But then it just went downhill after Lore left the library and kept getting stranger from there. Some of the biggest issues I had were pacing and timing. The plot frequently had random time jumps where I would actually go back and make sure I hadn't accidentally skipped pages. The characters made dumb, impulsive decisions constantly. If they found out new information they would immediately act on it without verifying anything or having any sort of plan - which was frustrating when it happened again and again. By the end it also felt like random plot points were thrown in just to include them. Overall, good potential but disappointing.

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

I loved the cover, title, and premise. I tried to read through a few chapters, but this book really couldn’t draw me in. There was a fair amount of description and world-building at the beginning along with some emotional conversations with characters that didn’t feel quite earned yet. You have to show someone being a badass before you get into the feels. I ended up not finishing this book.