This book has so much appeal. It has such a great character development that helped me grow along with the characters. Well written and such a delightful storyline. I’d recommend it to everyone.

Synopsis: Saran is princess of her world, the first. Her companion is Keleir, both of them are mages and Saran is protecting Keleir from the demon who inhabits him. But when Saran's magic is stolen so is her connection to Keleir and must prevent both war and Keleir's transition into the living god.

This book went above and beyond any expectations I had. It was an interesting, page turner with a premise I'd not come across before. I loved the three main characters and the villain was fantastic. I liked the way the lines were blurred between good and evil and the introduction of 3 different worlds. I'm definitely excited for book 2!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

dnf @ 67%

you know what, i keep thinking about how little time i seem to have for reading this year and it just gives me anxiety when i'm wasting it on something i really don't like.

i'm stopping at the scene where the main character, having just found out that she is pregnant, is being beaten up as per her father's order. i don't consider myself squeamish, like, i can handle violence, but only when it is somehow justified. it should be beneficial to character arc, or it should somehow move the plot forward, or, as in some of my favourite novels, be a central piece of discussion, and therefore described thoroughly. here, however? this was absolutely pointless.

this book is slow, it certainly takes its time to pick up the pace. and i'm not against that kind of slow immersion: on the contrary, actually. but i am more than halfway done now, and i still feel like i'm reading the introduction. nothing of significance happened: the characters introduce their plans, meet up with a few people, and then, for the rest of the book, take their time discussing said plans while doing virtually nothing. it is somehow justified by the circumstances, but why should i care about their boring days? why should i be reading about this?

on top of the non-existent plot, flashbacks are thrown around viciously, nonstop, to the point where i started wondering why not just write a book about this whole genuinely exciting experience that the characters had prior to the "events" of this book. like, i'm serious: most of the action or character development occurs in flashbacks. why am i wasting time in this middle-of-nowhere location then? why am i reading about events that barely affect the characters at all?

the good thing about this books is, surprisingly, the romance. these two people have been in a relationship for a while when the book starts, and it reads this way, so it was pretty nice to follow. however, i am not a romance reader, and the book did not promise that, exactly. i picked it up for fantasy, which there was very little of, especially towards the point where i abandoned it: i literally forgot it was supposed to be fantasy at this point. what a bore.

here goes my standard: i'm glad i didn't spend money on this book, but i sure am sad that it turned out this way. because holy shit, that premise, that synopsis, that (potential) action! really had me. but i ended up not having them in return.

The beginning was interesting. But then the book lost its appeal, things that happened happened kind of conveniently and I had a feeling that the characters acted only because they need to do something or the book will be boring. Like get caught with a lover even when they knew that it would put them both in danger. All in all, the characters were not very clever.

Sadly, I DNF it at 23 %, maybe it got better later, but I was not interested enough to finish the book.

Wow. Ok. So this book definitely exceeded my expectations! Right off the bat you are put in the midst of a battle that you know nothing about and no one in it. This is a really fun method of reading as it requires you to pay close attention from the very start. I love this because it stars you off pumped. Side note: this is NOT a standalone novel.

The setting of this novel was a little bit of a mystery to me..which actually worked well. You have horses, and princes/kings/princesses, sword fighting, castles, etc. Then you find out there are two other worlds. One world is the United States..which made me think maybe a little dystopian. In that world at least. It was really interesting and I hope we get more interaction with these worlds in the next book!

Saran is the princess of Adrid and a Time mage (she can pause time, reverse time, do other time things..it’s pretty fantastic). Her father, the king, is basically the worst person..and is dying, so theres that. He is convinced Saran is a piece to a puzzle that when all the pieces come together, the world will implode and a new leader will forge a shiny new society. Keleir is a Fire mage (this one is easy..he is hot *ouch, too hot!* and makes/does things with fire) and has been host to a demon since his birth. He is said to be the biggest piece of the puzzle-The Living God. Saran and Keleir are badass fighters with their magic and their skills and *aww*, they love each other gush. I love them too. They both think the king is looney tunes, and as such, are part of a rebellion to essentially overthrow him. Despite being looney tunes however, the King knows whats up. In retaliation to his daughter’s shenanigans, he binds her magic, severing her tie to the core. All hell doth break loose.

And so begins a story of death, destruction, mayhem, love *aww*, drama, war, rebellion, and magic. If you have read Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series, this has similar vibes with a badass female lead, magic, and the overtaking of a kingdom. This is excellent for reader’s who enjoyed this same type of world building but also something completely of it's own.

Generally, I liked this. The pace plodded a bit and it didn’t really deliver the slow unwinding of lush world building that I expect at that sort of pace. However the story and character journeys were good. I liked Saren and I found her desire to think and question instead of just accept, refreshing. Enjoyable if a bit slow.

The Living God sounded interesting enough. While the story is engaging, it's too slow for my taste. A faster tempo would have made a big difference in the overall picture. The excitement factor was absent. Unfortunately, I dragged through and got bored with the story. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not going to say I disliked this book. The plot was great, I, for the most part, enjoyed learning about the characters, and a lot happened. There were some problematic factors with a few characters, and some of the foreshadowing was a little heavy handed and led to me guessing some critical plot points that I think were supposed to be more of a surprise element, but just weren't because they were alluded to SO heavily.

But, man, this was a SLOOOOOOOOOOOOW read. Even the action scenes were slow. It started slow, and halfway through, there was still not an appreciable uptick in pace. This book could have had a lot edited out of it, been a faster read, and I would have liked it better.

Also, the story seems to assume you know a lot about this world already. Of course, you don't. So there's some points that don't make a lot of sense until far later in the book, when you get the explanation. I don't HATE that when it happens a couple of times, but I do dislike how frequently it happens in this book.

It was a good story, and I think I'll probably read the second in the series, but I definitely hope it moves faster. This isn't going to be a prized novel in my collection, though, and I don't think I'd like to read it again. Generally in this genre, I'd recommend this to my daughters, but I'm not sure they'd have the patience for it.

Reading Arc is amazing and exciting but it also means that you can't talk with your friends about the book yet and ypu have to wait extra time to know what's next!
I liked this book even if sometimes it was a little slow. What I liked about Saran is that she doesn't believe all the religious nonesense and she wants to make her own future, what I don't like is that her good heart make her vulnerable and people take advantage of her. All of them, Saran, Rowe and Keleir, should be more self-confident and think clearly, instead they let others manipulate their minds. The setting was interesting with the three worlds and their different kind of civilization. About the Oruke, sometimes is really hard not to agree that human kind is worst thing that happened to the planet but I still have hope.

4.5/5
This was a fast read that kept you just interested enough to turn the page. Some parts were slower than others but overall it was a nice pace. The characters are fleshed out and you get enough out of them to be invested, which is a major plus when reading a book. I’m am looking forward to reading more from this author.

See, I'm not exactly sure how to rate this.
I want to rate it 4.5 based on the plot alone, as I thought it was such great character development. At first I thought that the characters were quite bland. I didn't really care too much about them at the beginning. We have a male lead and female lead who are both powerful and destined in their own way. It seemed, and still is, quite cliche. However as the book went on, I started to grow to enjoy these characters. I believed in the romance a bit more by the end as well. I really felt that the characters were growing and learning about their own issues and boundaries. Seeing them realize and learn to deal with their problems, even the mental ones, was quite nice. I thought it was really well done.

I also kinda want to rate it a 2.5 for entertainment purposes. It felt really slow. There were times in the middle and end where things really amped up, but for the most part it was a steady pace. The other characters didn't offer so much to make me excited, and Luke was one I couldn't stand. I didn't have much fun reading this, which was unfortunate as I did enjoy the development.

Overall, I'd give it a 3.5/5 stars. Some parts I enjoyed, others I didn't. Some may like this more than others, but I don't see myself reading this again for entertainment.