"The Girl Who Stole The Queen's Eyes": 3⭐

(Unpaid Review: thanks to @netgalley, @marilizeloxton and the publishers for allowing me to read this eArc copy in exchange for a review).

The premise of this book could have been much more appreciated than it was. I'm not saying the book was bad, it was enjoyable but not the best read. The world-building could have been much more developed and the characters weren't very good, because they weren't very likable.

The premise of this book had me so excited and the prologue was fantastic. Unfortunately for me the book started to go downhill from there. I found the writing to be regularly quite jarring and it really pulled me out of the story. The main character felt like a very cliche YA girl who thinks she's terrible at everything and not as pretty as the other girls. This book just didn't work for me unfortunately but I can see that this author has some excellent ideas and with time and practice will definitely improve.

I received an e-arc of this from netgalley for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While I wanted to adore this book, as the premise is so so intriguing and unique. I just couldn't get into this.

The characters weren't relatable and made stupid decisions. Camilla was very whiny and even with things explained to her seemed to be very clueless. While the ending was tied together nicely and everything was resolved I found it very underwhelming.

I think this would be more enjoyable to a younger audience rather than the higher audience of YA.

I really wanted to like this book! I mean, look at the cover! Gorgeous!! But I just couldn’t get into the book. I. Tried. So. Hard. It just wasn’t for me.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

It's said that the first born of a new generation will inherit the power of the Allesian eyes and rule the kingdom. The Girl Who Stole The Queen's Eyes by Marilize Loxon follows the POV of Camilla, an 18 year-old with striking blue eyes, and Extine, current queen of a hidden kingdom called Escana. Suddenly, Extine becomes blind. But that only happens when the next heir turns 18, but her daughter isn't 18 yet. So what is happening?

As the story progress, we come to find twists and turns and I did find myself not wanted to put the book down. Sadly, the ending starting become predictable and I felt like it dragged (I do not want to spoil the ending for those of you that want to read it). There is a "cliff-hanger" at the end and I do find myself hoping that there will be a sequel.

Overall I enjoyed this book and was a quick read. If you like modern day with a hint of fantasy, I recommend reading this book.

Thankyoj to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC.

This book started off so strong, but it quickly lost its appeal to me. The world building was incredible, and the characters were unique and interesting, but the writing style was average, for me.

Overall, this book has a lot of potential, but fell flat for me.

What a wonderful prologue! I honestly think this was one of the most intriguing prologues at have ever read. Unfortunately, the rest of the writing throughout the book fell a little short of my expectations based on the prologue. This is not to say that the writing was bad. It was just not amazing. I feel like some of the author’s ideas were not as fully fleshed out as they could be. I do think the idea for the story is very unique and different!

I found Camilla’s character to be a little annoying. Whiny characters are very frustrating and unenjoyable to read. Also, Pearl’s actions were VERY annoying and especially her decision to keep Camilla in the dark. The author clearly has potential and I will definitely seek out more books by them.

The Girl Who Stole The Queen's Eyes by follws the story of Camilla who's just turn 18. She supposes her blue orbs are the only thing everyone ever sees. It seems to her that her identity is her blue eyes.

But one day, in a kayak competition, only she is the one who can see a castle on the lake. Was her eyes playing tricks? Perhaps no, when she again sees the castle, visible only to her. And more people follow her, as if she has a control over them. Her mother seems to have some idea, but it's a secret kept from Camilla.

Extine, queen of Escana, hides her kingdom with the power of her eyes. Suddenly, she has gone blind. But that only happens when the next heir turns 18, and her daughter, Remy isn't 18.

The kingdom is slowly visible to rest of the world. And to regain her eyes, she must turn to dark magic. She needs to get her stolen eyes back.

The story has two pov's - Camilla and Extine. Both explain their actions and show their emotions. Extine's character change due to dark magic was clearly shown. And the twist with Finn got me cracking. Camilla felt stupid at the end of the novel, but thankfully she put it behind her.  The author somewhere didn't want the novel to have bloodbath, but I craved to see Camilla and Extine fight over the throne. The end was good but wasn't amusing. The sudden change in Extine was not that good.

This book is recommended to those that love low fantasy with hint of kingdoms and magic. And to those who want a quick read.

The Girl Who Stole the Queen's Eyes had me hooked right away with the prologue, but from there it kind of lost me. It felt weirdly like two different authors, like something was missing, but I'm not sure what. The premise was pretty interesting, but I did find the plot to be a little bit predictable. The one thing I loved the most was that the POVs featured a villain POV and I am here for all the villain drama!

The Girl Who Stole the Queen’s Eyes is a very interesting novel with so much potential. I loved the idea of a secret kingdom that is protected by the power of the Queen’s magic eyes. This was such a unique idea and I was intrigued.

Overall, I am giving this book 2.5 stars, mainly because I genuinely think it should have been longer. The book is an easy read and I finished it in one sitting, but I felt like a lot of the concepts were underdeveloped. There was so much potential there behind the ideas, but just not enough time spent exploring them.

I also felt like the resolution was a bit rushed for my taste. Everything was resolved in like 10 pages it felt like, and that just isn’t enough for me to feel like I am getting a solid solution.

So while I did enjoy the book, I was often left wanting more from it. There is such a solid and unique concept here, but it just needed more to really reach its potential.

A lovely new look into the fantasy world. Where a strong fmc tries to find her way into the world after being lied.to for 18 years. It had a good plot and lovely charcters

Unfortunately, I really didn't enjoy this book. It was pretty okay but the characters were fairly irritating. Camilla and her mother were incredibly annoying mostly because Camilla was very whiney about being a loner but did nothing to actually step out of her comfort zone. And then Pearl? She was frustrating because she straight up refused to share ANY information even when it put her daughter in danger. I will also say that the love interest was written fairly poorly. The book itself came across as though it was the second book in a series, like we were already supposed to know a bunch of information. It just confused me a lot and I kind of struggle finding much that I liked about it.

This was a cute read. I enjoyed the lightness of it, the premise is very intriguing.
Girl grows up knowing nothing about her true heritage? Evil Queen wants to steal said girl's eyes? Okay, sure.

Camilla has grown up in a small, run-down house for as long as she can remember. Crushing on a boy who is 'out of her league'. When he suddenly takes an interest in her, she starts seeing things that shouldn't exist. Things that just don't make sense, and makes her mother act out of character.

All she want's is to be normal, and fade into the background like she always has. When three strangers show up, she's forced to show them around. But something about the strangers don't add up, they act weird, and ask questions that Camilla doesn't have answers to.

Once Camilla learns the truth will she embrace her fate, or will she hide like she's always known?

A tangled web of love, family, and heartbreak. Will love prevail the wickedness of dark magic?

Thank you NetGalley and GenZ Publishing for gifting me an eARC of The Girl who Stole the Queen's Eye's. This review is being left voluntarily, all opinions are my own.

I had some pretty high hopes for this one, as the premise of the book sounded unique and is what drew me to this. Unfortunately, I found myself struggling to connect with the characters (Camilla is just kind of meh, and the rest are equally as flat and one dimensional, even the "villain" is lacking) and the pacing of the story was just weird for me. I think if Loxton had fleshed out the storyline a bit more and gave the characters some personality, I would have enjoyed it so much more.

The prologue for this had me hooked. I did not want to put it down. Unfortunately, the rest of the book did not read like the prologue. It got cheesy and easily predictable. It felt like watching a tv show that gave you horrific second hand embarrassment.

Camilla is always being told she has beautiful eyes. She is told that so often that she doesn’t think anyone notices anything else about her. Things get weird after her eighteenth birthday. There are new people in town, she sees a castle on the lake and she seems to control people who look into her eyes. Extine is the Queen of Escana. She is losing the power that put her on the throne, but none of her children have come of age. If the queen doesn’t get control of her powers, her kingdom will no longer stay hidden. What is the connection between Camilla and Extine? Will Escana stay hidden or be revealed to the world?

The Girl who Stole the Queen’s Eyes is a stand-alone fantasy. When I read the description of this book on NetGalley I thought it would be a great chance to try a new author. The book had everything to make a great book, yet it still fell flat. Now that I got that out there, I still want to say I am glad I read the book. Loxton is a new author and I see a lot of potential in her next endeavor. I look forward to her next novel, whenever it is finished.

i was given this book for an honest review. This book sounded quite interesting in the synopsis, however it wasn’t exactly my type but overall i did enjoy the storyline and the characters, however it wasn’t exactly my type, but i do believe people will enjoy it or they won’t. This book is certainly a hit or miss type of book in my opinion.

This book is top tier! Loxton did a wonderful job at creating characters and mindsets that the audience can relate to and can be entranced with. The multiple viewpoints was spot on. They were differing voices which was so much fun to read. I feel like all the characters made such a large sacrifices throughout the book. Finn, Logan, Milo, Remy, Camilla, Pearl, Extine, and other side characters as well. They all had hold in how this plot turned out and it was just beautiful. It was flawed like real life, yet it came together in a non perfect way.

I would recommend this book to YA readers that love royal life, complex families, main characters who discover a power, and a real adventure. I loved this journey with Camilla and Extine and all the others. I want to read more about them! I'm going to go have my book hangover now! 5/5 stars!

** Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy, in exchange for an honest review!

This book was not for me.

#NGL the cover and the description got me really interested, but the writing and the plotting didn't click. I got the feeling over and over that not only is the intended audience much younger than me, but also the writer herself! About a third of the way through, I looked her up and indeed, what I suspected is true.

With more practice, world experience, and a very good editor, this author clearly has potential. The world building was interesting (albeit superficial: How do they live and what is their economy like? Why is the kingdom hidden? They've clearly kept up with the modern world, so what are they preserving?) but the characters were very monodimensional, as though viewed from a child's pov -- which is fine if you're a child and you're reading it; it just doesn't work for me. (For instance, without spoilers, two long-lost lovers meet after 18 years and their reunion was the flattest thing on earth, again, filtered through the things a child would notice. In another scene, someone suffers physical trauma and her daughter's first response is, "Yuck" based on how it appears!)

Again, I felt like some tough love from an exacting editor would have pulled this up a few stars. I would have liked to leave off giving any stars, because it's a debut novel from a very young writer, but netgalley won't let me. I got this ARC from #netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm going to leave this here.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced arc of The Girl Who Stole the Queen’s Eyes for an honest review!!!!

The things that drew me to this book were the gorgeous cover and the blurb. I love fantasy, so I thought I would give it a try. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. I didn’t realize it would be in the modern world. I also would have like some explanation about the power behind the eyes. The adult characters seemed just as immature as the teenagers and it kept throwing me off.

I liked the writing style and the idea of a hidden world that is just out of sight. This book just wasn’t for me.