I loved this book and this story. I've always liked Tricia Levenseller and her writing, but this one, this was one of the best, maybe the best of her work yet that I've read. I cannot wait to read the rest of this story! I love, love, LOVE this story, and Ziva, she's one of my favorites and she and Kellyn are so great together - definite swoon-worthy romance in this book.
This is quite an original and unique story that I love! I love how Ziva has social anxiety in this story - I mean I don't wish anxiety/social anxiety on anyone - I know what anxiety's like and it's not fun. While I haven't known or experienced much about social anxiety, I believe this is an accurate depiction of what it might be like for someone with social anxiety - some of what is described that Ziva deals with is the same that I deal with except that I don't have as much of the issues with the social aspect. I can so relate to Ziva and I love having this represented in a character in an awesome fantasy story.
Ziva and her sister live together alone since their parents have died running a blacksmith shop with Ziva as the smithy with magical powers and her sister runs the front desk, dealing with the people and everything while Ziva makes the weapons and imbues them with her magic. One day Ziva has a warlord that commissions a weapon from her and what she ends up making is a terrible weapon with powers from her secrets being poured into it. After Ziva realizes what the weapon does and what the warlord wants, she and her sister head out to escape the warlord. Ziva and her sister are accompanied by Kellyn, the mercenary, and Patrick, the scholar, and on their journey, they get to know themselves and each other as they form friendships and relationships. I laughed, I cried and it was an emotional rollercoaster ride that left me with all the feelings and a book hangover.
If you haven't had a chance to check this out, then hurry and go get it and read it now! Thanks so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group - Feiwel & Friends for letting me read and review this fabulous book. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This book was surprisingly entertaining. After the not-so-impressive books previously written by Tricia Levenseller, this book shows the improvement that Levenseller's writing has taken. The plot is interesting, the characters are different than the usual main characters, LGBTQ+ couples are normalized, etc.

However, there are a few things about this book that I did not enjoy:
-the sibling dynamics of the main character is so off. As someone who has a sister (and friend of many who have a sister), this duo did not feel like real siblings. It didn't click.
-there is a scene where the main character is sexually harassed and it's made fun/lighthearted. Which isn't funny 😐.
-the main character gets awfully close to being a slut-shamer especially to her sister (which is fine as long as her character grows out of it, but I didn't like it at all).

This book was simply amazing!!! I love all the main characters and their story lines. The writing is as always so captivating, it’s like I’m there in the story. Although Ziva really gets on my nerves from time to time but I love her and Kellyn developing story🥰....definitely a must read!!!!

First of all: how dare you with that cliffhanger!!! 🤬🤬🤬

Secondly, I 100% think that Ziva is on the autism spectrum AND the asexual/aromantic spectrum.

Thirdly, I totally did not see that Le Mort de Arthur “solution” cropping up.

Fourthly, the journeying from town to town bogs the story down a bit, but it picks back up!

Fifthly, I feel like Levenseller is creating protagonists who are largely personified by which big warts house they would have been sorted into.
- Alessandra from The Shadows Between Us: Slytherin
- Ziva is definitely Hufflepuff
- Rasmira from Warrior of the Wild is Gryffindor
- Alosa in Daughter of the Pirate King is Ravenclaw

This was an accessible, fast-moving book about a girl who isn't traditionally beautiful who thinks that she doesn't have much to offer in a relationship because of her personality and appearance. She learns, of course, that she is worthy and even more important, that she is strong and smart and capable of so much more than she even knews.

This author's writing style is always a hit or a miss for me, and I never know which I'll get. At times the word choices just grate or take me out of the story. However I really appreciate the depiction of a character with anxiety in a fantasy story. Not all heroes are brave and bold "chosen ones" but can be related characters with flaws that give them uncanny strength and ability to solve the problems of their world.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to review this title.

What a fun read! A smithy who imbues her weapons with magic, so creative!

Things I loved:
-the magic system
-found family
-a budding BROmance
-sister bond
-PLOT TWIST!!

Things I didn’t love:
-I connected more with Temra (sister) than our main protagonist
-Ziva’s social anxiety showing itself so strongly on the page

While Ziva’s struggle with social anxiety is in the synopsis I didn’t anticipate how much of a major focus of the story it would be. It is well done, but it was a little too realistic, which pulled me out of the story a couple of times.

This book had great action, great banter, and great relationships!

I would definitely recommend this if you love YA fantasy.

I really enjoy everything Tricia Levenseller has written, including this story. Though it took a while for me to get into the book because the beginning kind of seemed to focus a lot on the Ziva's anxiety. I feel that I have some social anxiety, though not as badly as the MC. But I felt quite frustrated sometimes and stressed out sometimes. I don’t know, I think I just didn’t want to be reminded of my own anxiety. Like I totally understand the blind panic of having to talk to talk to people and the overthinking that comes with. I get it because I do it too, but I don’t really wanna read it.
However, I was quickly drawn into the story and really ended up enjoying it. All the characters are really well written. And I really liked the different relationships between Ziva, her sister and the two boys. Especially between the two sisters.
The romance was really sweet, and I appreciated that the characters didn’t immediately fall in love and actually got to know each other. I also really appreciated that the love interest is flawed and is not perfect. It just made them so much more realistic.
The world in this book seems really cool, I thought it was interesting that there were restaurants there. Ziva’s magic was so interesting. I love that she’s a black smith and I love her creations, they’re awesome.

i loved levensellers last standalone book. this one fell a little flat for me... maybe it was the author trying to do too much? i appreciated the representation in the novel but somehow the social anxiety felt like less and less of an issue as the book went on? I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it. otherwise it was an enjoyable quick read!

I enjoyed this book so much! At first, I was a bit annoyed at the MC reminding us so many times that she has social anxiety, but the way it was developed worked well. The relationships between the four MC’s was perfect- how they slowly progressed from almost enemies, to friends, to maybe more. Then the Magic system was awesome! I can’t wait to read the next book.

Tricia Levenseller is one of my must-read authors, and she hasn't et me down yet! I binged the whole thing in a few hours… Why wasn’t it longer?! Levenseller writes what I would describe as very standard short format YA fantasy. She uses soft world-building and a lot of common tropes (which isn’t a bad thing; they’re popular for a reason), but manages to twist things in new and exciting ways. She's definitely mastered the shock-twist action at the climax. Blade of Secrets doesn’t seem like anything amazing at first glance (that awful cover isn't doing it any favors), but what sets Levenseller apart is her effective style of complex and natural characterization.

Blade of Secrets has BY FAR the best social anxiety rep I have ever come across. As someone with severe social anxiety, Ziva’s struggles hit very close to home. She’s not an anti-hero, she’s just anxious about being forced into the hero role. And Levenseller didn’t make her seem any less for her mental health struggles. She didn’t paint Ziva as someone in need of fixing. Her social anxiety is just part of her and that’s that.

The book left off with a lot of interesting revelations and plot twists… I can’t wait for book 2!

Thank you to Fiewell and Friends as well as Macmillan and Netgalley for an early peak at this spectacular novel!

It's no secret (pun intended) that I stan for Levenseller. I received an email from Netgalley recently that referred to Tricia Levenseller as a "Maven of Fantasy" and now I cannot call her anything else! This is an excellent addition to her already stunning repertoire. I keep saying that every book gets better and better, but it is absolutely the truth in this case, by the time the end of the novel came I was actually devastated that it had ended! I turned the page until there were no more, hoping there was a "secret song" that came after the last track.

The story follows Ziva, a magic bladesmith, as she escapes from the clutches of an evil warlord who is after the most powerful weapon she has ever made. The thing that really got to me about this particular novel is that Ziva had extreme social anxiety- which is something I've dealt with all my life- but only recently had a name for. I can't imagine what this sort of book would do to a kid who was like me, suffering from something they could not name, and seeing a character go through the exact same thing. Ziva's thoughts were my thoughts, and that fact alone drew me closer to the book.

I am a bit biased because I've liked every single Levenseller book she's ever written, but I really do think that this would be perfect for all fans of fantasy. It has the perfect amount of humor, love, and wit that makes the story absolutely unforgettable. Add this to your TBR list immediately!

Levenseller always manages to make an amazing book. I loved the characters, plot, I found myself cruising through this book at an amazing pace. Five stars all around.

I love Tricia Levenseller's books and this was a great addition. I do feel like a little more more could have happened in this volume, but I have high hopes for book 1. The social anxiety rep was great to see.

This book was such a fresh new take of our classic tough female heroine saves the day! I loved the anxiety rep and felt seen for once and able to connect to a main character. I loved her relationship with her sister, it was absolutely *chefs kiss* and ugh that frickin ending after all the tension and build up between our two main characters i need book two now

Teenage blacksmith Ziva spends her days locked away in the safety of her workshop, where she forges magical weapons with all sorts of unique and sometimes terrifying abilities. After receiving a commission from a powerful warlord, she ends up making a sword that steal its its victims' secrets, and you guessed it, chaos ensues. .

I enjoyed Tricia Levenseller's The Shadows Between Us, but ultimately Blade of Secrets fell a bit short. I loved that Levenseller created such dynamic main character -- Ziva's thoughts and emotions really communicated her social anxiety (and at times even made me anxious reading them!) My qualms: A lot of time was spent just describing the characters moving from place to place -- it felt like filler instead of meaningful plot development, The romance also felt a bit cookie-cutter and predictable.

Overall this was enjoyable read and a rich world, but I don't know that I'll continue on with the series.

I can not praise this book highly enough. I am a huge fan of the shadows between us, and this book absolutely did not disappoint. The main character deals with severe social anxiety, and the author really approach this with compassion and understanding. It was extremely comforting to be able to relate to a main character on that level. I highly recommend this book

Since page one, the author knows how to hook you in and after reading this book, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. She's a new author for me, but I acsoultely loved the plot and the characters. It was an engaging story and after reading it again (Because yes, it was THAT good) I have to add this author to my list of favorite authors and I can't wait to see what's next!

I am a huge fan of Tricia Levenseller's. I have read every single one of her books and I am happy to report that Blade of Secrets was another smashing hit with me. I loved everything about this book, the characters, the plot, the setting and the writing. The only thing I would complain about is that it just wasn't long enough which I say about every single one of her books lol

This was a quick read that I ended up enjoying quite a bit. As an autistic lady who understands anxiety, I found the depiction of social anxiety realistic, even though in the beginning it made the protagonist somewhat unlikeable (to me personally). I’m glad I stuck with the book because obviously the main character grows up a lot along the course of her journey. The sister relationship was very sweet, as was the romance subplot. The book sets up a sequel and has a couple cool twists toward the end. Definitely a young adult fantasy for young adults (there’s such a wide range of sophistication in the genre sometimes it’s hard to tell) but as a 30-something I still enjoyed it and would recommend!