I think what the first dream is this book was the cover I thought was very different, and I really liked it but reading this book; I don't think it was for me. I read a lot of fantasy so I know what I like and what I don't like and this just didn't hit the mark for me. Overall it's not I don't think it's a bad book, I said I don't think it hit the right notes with me it didn't resonate I didn't feel like I could relate to the characters and the world-building just wasn't strong enough for me where I could picture the settings like I couldn't picture the queen's castle I couldn't picture the diner where Pearl worked for me it just missed the mark.

This book holds a lot of promise and I truly wish that I could give it a higher rating, but the AR copy still felt like a rough draft version. The story plot and characters hold a lot of potential, but there are a lot of open ideas that weren't put together clearly. While reading I had way more questions than normal and they never really got answered. There was also a lot of similes used to the point that it felt forced.

Questions that I kept having while reading are:
-Why is it so easily to go into 'town' (leave the hidden castle/city to the real world)
-Why wouldn't Pearl just tell her daughter everything on her 18th birthday? Especially after weird things begin to happen. She claimed it was to keep her safe, but she would have been kept even more safe knowing everything to prepare her for the possibility of people coming from Escana looking for her.
-There's a hidden castle that's been kept hidden smack dab in a lake, yet the only magic really explored is how the persuasion of the magic eyes hold it hidden. There's so much world building missed on this intriguing idea.
-How are the teens in the hidden castle/city so American teen-like? The angst was too forced and unrealistic. Dialogue between the queen and her kids felt like a lifetime movie.
-Why in the world would the 'transfer' students tell people that they're from Escana?? Make up an identity when trying to be low key, don't specifically tell real name and where you're from. Especially if it's magical.
-There is so much forced wrist grabbing and fingernails being dug in done by everyone, my word.

The reason why I'm so bothered by all of these things is because there is potential here and I would read it again if it gets edited and all of the characters and world building is improved on. The current state just felt like it was published after one or two edits. I hope that all of this is taken as constructive criticism because it's all well-meant. There's a great story in here and don't give up editing it to find it so that it can be truly enjoyed by readers.

(I was given this book as an ARC or advanced reader copy by Netgalley as a kindle book for an honest review.)

Book Review for The Girl Who Stole the Queen’s Eyes

Full feature for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

I was drawn to this book for many reasons, the main was the description. loxton writes a book about a girl who unintentionally steals the queens of Escana’s eyes. Of course Camilla has no idea and there for she is surprised the whole book with things she never knew about. I liked the concept for this book and really enjoyed the writing style. I read the first part of this book in a day and couldn’t stop thinking about it, however as the book went on I found it less interesting and the ending was very unsatisfying. I would recommend this book to a younger age group, but I definitely wouldn’t read it again. I enjoyed it but not completely sure I would have my friends read it.

I enjoyed this book, it definitely took some unexpected turns. I loved that though it was a regular degular teenage romance/ fantasy novel, it wasn't exactly that. There's definitely more than meets the eye here and i definitely recommend it.

I just reviewed The Girl Who Stole the Queen's Eyes by Marilize Loxton. #TheGirlWhoStoletheQueensEyes #NetGalley

This was a YA fantasy novel that followed the story of a kingdom that cannot be seen or perceived by the outside world because it has been warded using the power of the Queens eyes. The Queens eyes are magical in that they are able to compel others into the will of the Queen and they keep the kingdom safe and hidden from the outside world (which is our world). Things are made difficult though when the Queen begins to go blind. This is confusing to the Queen because she should only be going blind when her daughter (the rightful heir of the throne) turns 18 years old. She, however, is not yet 18 years old and so the Queen turns to a sorceress for help. The sorceress informs the Queen that her sister (who had run away around 18 years ago) had become pregnant in secrecy and fled the kingdom carrying the heir to the throne, and that child had the powerful eyes that the kingdom needed to return to safety and solitude. This angers the Queen and she sets out to track down her sister and this child and steal back what she believes is rightfully hers.
This story was in all a really fun and interesting concept that I have not really seen used in any other fantasy setting. The concept that someones eyes held power and was passed down from family to family was something that was, in my opinion, very unique and very interesting. However there were some aspects of this novel that I did not particularly care for.
Firstly the main character was not someone I had particularly liked. She fell into the much used “I’m not like other girls” trope. She constantly judged other girls around her for being “all the same” as if she was above every other female in her vicinity. She is portrayed as a girl with no friends, and a girl who does not want the company of others, however she is quick to judge those around her who may also be outcasts (like her), as weird or even scary.
The romance in this was cute and fun to read about but it was also somewhat erratic, as out of no where this popular sporty guy seems to become entranced and in love with the main character. Although I am a fan of this trope and enjoyed how it ended up, I do wish there was more of a build up around why he had fallen in love with her, rather than just him bumping into her and suddenly head over heals for her.
The last section of this book was really good in my opinion and I wish that we were able to see the characters develop a little more, as all of them went from being pretty horrible characters to really kind and caring characters that I eventually fell in love with.
In all I thought this was a fun read and one that went really smoothly. I was able to finish it in a short amount of time and found myself wanting to read more of it!

I got attracted by the unique premise and the beautiful cover. Really wanted to love this independent book. But the writing ended up quite bland, the characters were not very developed, lots of the situations ended up feeling like events I had already seen before and the dialogues was too on the nose. This is very much directed at teens that haven't read extensively. There was a lot of potential, but I think it needed another round of editing to tighten the intent, infuse more personality and voice of the author in the writing.

The premise of this standalone book was intriguing, unique, and has a lot of potentials. The world-building was underdeveloped and the characters are not so likable. The storyline could have been broadened by adding a backstory about the Escanian Kingdom and its people, the relationship of the queen to her people, about Captain Finn, and Sorceress Juniper. It would have been delightful too if we were able to read more about Finn and Pearl's forbidden romance.

The story follows Camilla Ward, a high school student living with her mother, Pearl, who works at a diner. People usually notice her beautiful eyes and when she turned eighteen, she suddenly notices things that only she can see.

Queen Extine, the ruler of Escana, a kingdom she hides from the world with the power of her eyes. When a firstborn of the next generation reached adulthood, the power is automatically passed on. When the queen starts to lose her powers, she resorted to dark magic to reclaim her eyes.

About the queen, the leading antagonist, it would have been impressive if her powers go beyond persuasion and hiding the kingdom from the outside world. A powerful, selfish queen should not be temperamental but someone tenacious.

The turning point of the story was a letdown for me but the ending was sensible.

Overall, this was an average read for me but would check out the other works of the author. I'm thankful to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read and express my view of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you, GenZ Publishing and NetGalley, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The title was so intriguing and unique, and that’s why I asked to read the book. The beginning was so exciting, and I had many questions about the world-building, like what will happen to the queen if her “sight” goes to her daughter? What if she never had kids? Is it okay for her to be blind for the rest of her life? Why even this was the case with Escana?

While the story has many potentials, I think the world-building needs more clarifying and perhaps more details about the back story about the forbidden romance between Finn and Pearl, which btw it shocked me when I read the later twist about Finn and the queen.

I liked Pearl, but camellia... not much. She seemed more like a 15 year-old-girl. I was not fond of Remy at all. While I was reading the book, I was wondering how a terrible queen she would be.

Some random moments drove the plot: just like when Pearl threw the castle drawing in the river and made its way to the castle. What if she didn’t do that? Would the queen found out about Camilla then? And when she found out about her, I didn’t feel that her dad was concerned about his daughter’s safety! The dialogue, too, pulled me out of the story sometimes.

Note: While I was reading about that Camilla (and the others) never heard about Escana, I couldn’t help but wonder: a simple google search would certainly clear out the doubts about this place!

Overall, this was a good fantasy book, and I recommend it to the YA readers who enjoy a good and unique story.

Rating: 4.9/5

Wow!

A tale of forbidden love that forces 2 in love to make a hard decision. Set in Modern small town with a teenage girl, named Camilla, who just feels like something is off ever since her 18th birthday. Her eyes have always been something that everyone has always said “Magical” but now they seem even brighter and have a power of their own. A magical city set back in time, Escana, that is close to becoming seen by a world it was hidden from years ago.

I really did enjoy this book a lot. The writing style of this author was amazing. The attention to details made me feel as if I was experiencing it while reading. I loved the short chapters because it made reading easy and to where you wouldn’t want to put it down. The characters were so relatable for me and I enjoyed reading more and more to see them grow, becoming stronger and better.

Only reason I didn’t rate this book 5 stars is because there were a few unanswered questions. Now if I knew this would become first in a series or even a duology. I would have hope that the next books would give us the details that were not in this one.

I want to thank NetGalley and GenZ Publishing company for the chance to read this book and give my honest opinion of it in a review.

Unique read! I was intrigued by “The Girl who Stole the Queen’s Eyes” from the moment I read the synopsis.

The narration style is a lot different from what I am used to, but I thought the concept was great, as well as two separate points of view. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a different kind of read.

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

I had pretty high hopes for this one; the synopsis sounded fascinating and the cover was just perfection. When I first started the prologue was definitely interesting and I really enjoyed the set-up - with the forbidden romance, the child-that-shouldn't-be, and the potentially evil queen, but when I actually got to the "meat" of the story I unfortunately found myself rather disappointed.

While I think the story has a lot of potential, I think that a lot of the characters and plot fell rather flat for me as the story went on. The main character seemed rather bland and uninteresting, with the only things spoken of being her eyes, her crush on Logan, and her visions of this castle no-one else can see; and Logan (whilst sweet) really didn't seem all that inspired as a love-interest, and was just the "nice, attractive, popular jock guy and friend from childhood." The villains (or "villains"?) also seemed to suffer from a lack of development, and much of it seemed to be "being bad for the sake of being bad" and just making rash decisions. There just wasn't really any explanations or examples as to why the characters were the way they were, and I would have appreciated some more solid motivation from well... ANYONE

I didn't feel that the author devoted the time necessary to get you truly involved in the narrative, and I spent a lot of time going "...but why" when plot points were revealed. [potential spoilers removed]

Overall I just found the world hadn't been fully thought out (or if it had, that this hadn't been well conveyed to the reader) and I really wish that the author had taken the time to flesh things out a bit more and do some world-building and character-building, because I do truly think that this novel had some real potential. It just didn't do it for me unfortunately :/

Thanks to NetGalley and GenZ Publishing for this ARC!

The Girl Who Stole the Queen's Eyes is a YA fantasy following a girl named Camilla who develops a strange power on her eighteenth birthday, and the vengeful queen whose magic Camilla unintentionally stole.

First of all, magical cover alert! I love it so much, I could stare at it all day.

This story sucked me in right from the beginning. The prologue is amazing, and set up the rest of the book perfectly. I enjoyed the dual POVs of Camilla and Extine - I love when the villain is one of the POV characters! I also liked that it gave us a peek into both worlds, our world and Escana, though we really only got to see the castle, and I would have loved to explore more of the kingdom.

My favorite thing about this book was the characters. Each was so well developed, and they all had such distinct personalities it made for a really enjoyable read. I don't know if there is going to be a sequel, but if there is I'd love to see more of Remy, Pearl, and Finn. I felt like the story ended quite quickly and we didn't get to see much of what happened to them.

I also enjoyed the magic system in this book, and the idea of power being linked to the eyes of the queen. The fact that only one person at a time can possess power, and that there is a great price for this power, was refreshing in a genre where magic is often overused and all-powerful.

(My one gripe - if I were fleeing a hidden magical kingdom to hide my unborn child from my queenly sister whose power my child will one day inherit, I would run slightly further than the town literally right outside the kingdom's borders.)

Overall, The Girl Who Stole the Queen's Eyes is an intriguing, fantastical story which kept me turning the pages right till the very end.

I DNF'd this book at 50%. The idea was interesting and concept of eyes holding magic was a good concept but the execution of said concept missed the mark. First, the magic itself was touched on but not explained. Why do royal eyes hold the magic to keep the kingdom hidden? Why does the old ruler fo blind when the new ruler inherits the magic? How does the persuasion work? I understood none of it.

And then there's the characters. Camilla was a normal 18 year old high school student and I have no opinion on her. But Extine? Extine the queen, at least in her 30s maybe 40s, acted like a 12 year old. A poorly behaved 12 year old. Her attitude drove me up the wall. Her 17 year old daughter acts like a poorly behaved 7 year old. How are these people in charge of a kingdom? The manipulation of her husband and her victim act when it stopped working was unacceptable and gross.
This book was just not it.

Interesting premise but unfortunately very weird and a lot of things came out of nowhere. The idea behind this story was so new that I was really excited to read this book. Unfortunately, the story had so many random moments that I was mostly reading it and thinking wth. I think another run-through of the story and some editing would make it an interesting exciting book, but it just isn't there yet.

Extine’s magic eyes have kept her kingdom safe for generations. But the magic is leaving, and Extine? she is going to get them back.

(I was given this book as a ARC or Advanced Reader Copy given through NetGalley as an audiobook for an honest Review. All of these thoughts are mine and at no point was I pressured or swayed in my opinion)

This book comes out on July 13.

Triggers:
Dubious consent (off screen/mentioned)

I would rate this a 2.7/5
The premise and world building was wonderful and had so much that I wanted to explore. But I felt that the execution was lacking a bit.

Camilla has been praised for her eyes for years
But after years of that being the only thing that people seem to take notice about of about her. Things are taking a turn. When her eighteenth birthday comes to pass things around her are taking a turn for the weird.

Especially when she suddenly seems to have some type of hypnotic control powers that come over her when people make eye contact with her.

And Camilla’s mother? She seems to know more than she is willing to tell her.

And speaking of weird, the castle that shimmers in view on the lake?
But that’s not all that has taken a turn for the weird. A castle that seems to be appearing over the lake when it wasn’t there before? Yeah that’s weird.

Let’s not also forget the strange new people that seem to be showing up around town? Strangers who seem to want something from Camilla.

Extine’s family have ruled for years with the power of there eyes
Past down from first born, to first born, there eyes have had the power to keep there kingdom hidden from the world for generations. But when the rulers own first born comes of age they lose the power as it goes to the child.

Which is the fate that has befallen Extine at this exact moment. And Extine? her first born has not yet come of age.

And with Extine’s powers slipping her kingdom is on the brink of being revealed to the world. Extine has to do something to keep herself and her kingdom safe.

Which means that she has to find the person who has stolen her eyes.

I Loved the World Building
This book was filled to the brim with world building and lore that I wanted to skin my teeth into. The kingdom that Extine ruled, her family line, the power of her eyes. All of this I wanted to know more about.

I wish there was more of that was explored in this book as I definitely think that it would have added more to the story. Both to make it more immersive, and in knowing why the story was playing out the way that it did.

The characters were interesting but hard to follow
the characters were interesting in concept and had a lot of potential. There storylines being something that I would have loved to follow.

I wanted to spend more time with them in places. Know more about why there are the way there are. (another nod to wanting more world building)

But I felt the character continuity was lacking in places. And that in turn made the dialogue not flow very well and gave me whiplash in places.

Speaking of dialogue
While the story kept me engaged the dialogue pulled me out of the story from time to time and the characters switched personality and mood from time to time.

Some of them going from mad at a character and snappish to a sudden one eighty and moving on.

This book has a lot of potential
I feel like this could be a great book if it got a little more polish and time. There was some great things in it from the world building, to the characters in it.

And with a little more work it could definitely be something work checking out. But not right now.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I like the concept, the magic and the characters. I do have a few issues/points to get across but other then a few, I loved the book.

1. The characters: While I really enjoyed them and I think that a vast majority of the characters were well flushed out, I think that the Queen, Pearl and FInn were not given anywhere near as much depth. The Queen went from full on psycho to full on supportive and caring in a matter of minutes. I feel as though there should have been more development and internal struggle on her end. I know that they showed some. .but I would have liked to see more.
2. Ok. if I know that I have to go blind as soon as my first child turns 18. . .I would NOT get pregnant at 18! I get that for Pearl, it was a mistake, but I mean for the Queen. ANY of the rulers. Especially knowing that it takes place in the present where we have advances in medicines that make it so that they can pick and choose when they have kids. Im not saying I would wait until I am 50 or anything, but certainly not make it so that I go blind by the time I am in my early to Mid 30s. minor nitpick but still.

What I did like. I loved the main character and Remy. I also loved the magic and the fact that while it takes place in hte modern world, there is this entire kingdom that is hidden from us. It gives the world a sense of mystery and wonder.

I also love the fact that they made Logan love her for her. I really feel like there needs to be a second book because the ending just seemed to be cut short. THey resolved a lof of the story lines but so abruptly that you dont really get to see how everyone was affected. I would have liked ot see more of Remy and her character development as well as more of what happens between Camille and Logan.

Overall though, I really did love this book and would absolutely recommend it.

This book was so good!! It was full of twists and turns which I really enjoyed. I loved the main characters because they were fresh and interesting. All around a great book.

Thank you for giving me a chance to review this book early.
I did honestly like the idea of this book, the synopsis sounded interesting and I was keen to see where the book took me.
Unfortunately the first few chapters did not hook me into the storyline.
I found the world building a bit rushed and the main character was portrayed very young even though she was 18.
I feel like a younger audience would definitely enjoy this book but it just wasn’t for me.

Firstly - hello stunning cover!!! This is a captivating novel full of intrigue, forbidden love and action packed that will keep you engaged all the way through to the last word.