This cover is so beautiful! This is such a bitter sweet story even if it is predictable. There were some good aspects of the story but overall the pacing was a little off and sometimes it felt flat. Still worth reading.

For some reason, I really love brother/sister siblings, especially when they're the heirs of a royal kingdom, so obviously I had to pick up this one and I was honestly surprised by how quickly I was sucked in! I loved the characters and the world and I can't wait to see more!

Jennesara is the princess of a frozen line of warriors, forced to hide her magic as it threatens her brother right to rule, on the eve of her seventeenth she is promised to another prince and snuck out of the castle when her father suspected something amiss within his lands.

I loved Jenna as a character. She wasn't spoiled, but she was still young and knew she needed to learn. After being sent into the wild, she learned and struggled her way through.

I am a fan of romance, and it was so well done. I can understand her reluctance and anger at being married to a stranger, but she as she meets people, she develops a respect for them that I feel is sometimes left out of YA books that people will later have a change of heart.

I loved the description and the world building. The magic system is phenomenal!

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles.
I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

I enjoyed this title. It was a creative fantasy that engaged readers and built a world that I really enjoyed!

Jenna, second born child to the king of Hàlendi, is promised in betrothal to the prince of another kingdom, Turia, to get the resources Hàlendi needs to win the war they are fighting. Although Jenna wants nothing more than to stay near her family and help her kingdom with the war, she agrees to go to Turia for the betrothal. But the caravan is attacked on the way there, and Jenna is faced with revealing her secret to help the kingdom, or continuing on her way to Turia. Flanders shows excellent world building and great character development in Shielded, and it was truly a joy to read! I fell in love with Jenna and loved her wits, her sarcasm and how whole heartedly she cared about the people in her kingdom and the people close to her. She was a great heroine and I will be rereading this book multiple times!

first off, the cover of this book s absolutely gorgeous!! I loved the world-building and the magic system, it was really well executed. the villains of this story definitely stole the show for me, as they were every inch creepy and hateful as i had hoped they'd be!

I enjoyed this one but I don’t think it was anything unique unfortunately. It satisfied my need for an easy YA fantasy read but I think I just wanted more from it.

The pacing was ok and I really enjoyed the action scenes. Also the different cultures were captivating for me and the magic system was interesting to read about.

So yeah all together and enjoyable and easily digestible fantasy that reminds me of why I enjoy it in between the more epic books I read.
I may pick up the next one but it’s not a major priority for me.

Great world-building and character development. I always love a strong female main character and this didn't disappoint. While the growth was great to see the character stayed true to herself. A well crafted, fantasy/adventure, slow burn book for younger YA. A great read!

The villains were my favorite part of this! It was a tad predictable but I will definitely be reading the sequel.

Wow I started this book and then life got busy and forgot about it. I saw the second book become available to request and thought, I should finish the first book and see if it was good. AND BOY WAS IT! I was a little unsure at first. It had a slower start but then it got good fast. I wish I could have spent more time with the characters and different parts in the journey, but the pacing was perfect. There were some things that were a little predictable but not in a bad way. I loved the main character, side characters, magic system, culture, world-building, story-line, etc. There was one character I wish we got to see more of but I can't say too much without spoiling things. I am excited to get to continue exploring this world with Untethered. (And I can't even tell you how thrilled I was when I got to the end and was reading about the author and saw she graduated from my alma mater :,) Lovely book and can't wait for the next installment! I ate it up in about a day once I got into it and that's despite all the essays and exams I'm studying for

Thank you Netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review!

I thoroughly enjoyed Shielded! It was fast-paced with danger always lurking around the corner. Magic was banished long ago but will now be needed to save the continent. As dormant magic users try and wrap their hands around the way magic works and to use to save their people. The love story was sweet. I thoroughly loved the two main characters, Jenna and Enzo. It was a great, adventurous read and I look forward to book 2 in the duology!

**Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

I really enjoyed the world building in this story, I felt that the characters were well rounded, and the plot was interesting. However I found it strange that Jennesara hid the white streak in her hair around her family when they would have seen it as she grew up.

This was a great introduction to teen historical fantasy. If you have read all of Sarah J Maas and don't know what to read next, I recommend this book. I liked the characters, the author did a good job at world building, and I will definitely read the next book she puts out!

Can we talk about the gorgeous cover? It's the firat thing that draw me to this book and oh, boy it was not the only thing amazing about it. I loved it and I'll be waiting for rhe next book of Flanders.

Do you like ancient evil stirring up dark magic? Sword-wielding girls with far too many secrets? Cinnamon roll boys who happen to be princes? Then do I have the book for you!

Jennesara’s kingdom is in trouble. There’s a traitor in the castle and war presses in on all borders. And Jennesara can help. She knows she can.

But her father has other plans.

The King sends her to a neighboring kingdom, betrothed to their prince. It’s a credit to Flanders ability to develop characters here, because this isn’t the dramatic clash of wills that it could be. Instead we see a worried King and a caring daughter. He explains their need to find allies and she sees the strategic benefits this alliance would bring. So she goes.

This is actually part of her personality I enjoyed a lot. She is grounded, logical, and deliberate in her actions. Too often in YA fantasy, even with the strong heroine trope, we get girls who act rashly or let their emotions run away with them. And it isn’t that Jenna is devoid of emotion. She isn’t. But her thoughts, her reactions, her emotions, all ring true for a level-headed teenager and seriously, I am here for more of that!

Halfway to the kingdom of Turia, their convoy is ambushed and Jenna barely escapes into the Wild with her life.

The Wild is one of my favorite parts of this book. A lush forest that is so alive, it’s almost a character in its own right. The descriptions are vivid and I wondered at the Wild’s motivation, because it clearly behaved with certain goals in mind.

When she finally makes it out, the magic has taken a toll on her body but she’s made it to Turia. Only to find out the two kingdoms are at war.

Up until this point, the pace of this book has been a pretty consistent jog. We’re moving, with some spectacular moments of tension to very needed softer scenes. But once Jenna reaches Turia, we speed up into a steady run, and then towards the end we ratchet up to an all-out sprint.

So, the magic. This is an interesting part of the book because no one really understands magic. We learn that it was banished as an attempt to make sure no one ever becomes powerful enough to terrorize the people. Which is bold for sure, and remarkably well-intentioned. But magic still exists. Jenna can feel tethers between her and her family. And her brother Ren can heal. But there’s strange new magic rising up on the borders, which is why they’re losing the war.

When Jenna’s convoy is attacked, it’s by a powerful mage who sends shadow hunters after her. And the Wild is known for it’s strange magic making people afraid of it. I love when I get to go on a journey of discovery with a character, and Shielded does a marvelous job with this. It also helps with the pacing because the more we learn, the higher the stakes get, until we’re practically breathless by the end.

Prince Enzo is also a breath of fresh YA air. A Prince who cares about his kingdom. Who isn’t a jerk or some broody pain in the ass. He is a lovely counter to Jenna’s own pragmatic traits and I really enjoyed reading their sweet romance. This isn’t the swoon-worthy chemistry some characters have, but just because it’s quieter doesn’t mean it isn’t as strong.

In fact, that’s a theme that holds true for this book. There is dark magic and secrets to unfurl and puzzles to solve to save the day. But it doesn’t get taken down strange side plots where drama seems to be the sole purpose. There’s a lot of danger and super high stakes, but there’s also a lot of hope and good propelling Jenna forward. It makes her an easy protagonist to root for. And while dark and twisty is my brand, I admit that I really enjoyed the straight-forward nature of the characters and the book.

In all, this is a fast-paced read that is easily devoured. The only down side is some parts were perhaps too fast-paced, leaving some chances for world-building or character development on the light side. It depends on your preference in the fantasy world and while I would have liked more, the tension was delicious. So it worked for me.

The most important piece for me is the prose, and as you can see from the quotes highlighted above, the writing is sharp and visceral. Two of my favorite things. I love sentences I can wrap around my fingers and twirl around my mouth, and Flanders gives me plenty to satiate all those prosy desires. In all, this is an incredible debut and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Four stabby stars!

3.45 because goodreads is allergic to half stars and it doesn't feel right to rate it 4 stars.
Although it doesn't offer any new concepts to the YA Fantasy universe, I still found it quite enjoyable.

What I liked: It has a short intro and an incredibly fast pacing, there's always something happening and if you're not a fan of slow burn reads you'll connect quickly with the plot. I loved the fact that Princess Jannesara of Hálendi, our protagonist, isn't presented with these high, unusual and extremely unreal qualities for a young princess as in most royal-fantasy tropes, on the contrary, we got to know her strengths and weakness as the story progressed which made it feel more fluid and natural.

Cons: I didn't get to connect and, to be honest, didn't care for the romantic interest though i liked them as individual characters. We don't get to see much of the magic system, which is very confusing mainly because it has a huge impact on the final plot so i'm looking to see how much Flanders will address the principles of magic in the next book.

This book wasn’t bad, overall it was straightforward to read. The book had all the points which make a good teen fantasy book in my opinion. However, this book was lacking something that made it stand out from every other teen book in this vein out there. It was easy to read and easy to forget.

Shielded is about a princess who is sent to another country because she is betrothed to a prince. On the way to the country, they are attacked and she must survive on her own.
I dnfed this because I was bored with it. She was wondering around in the Wild by herself. I don’t like books like this where it is more adventure and slow.

I absolutely enjoyed this. The characters was strong. They had a good development so they were definitely round characters. Some of the tropes was a bit iffy but enjoyed it nonetheless. They marketed this saying you would love this if you loved sorcery of thorns and I agree.