The magic between
I did not enjoy any of the fantasy or magic of the book at all, but it was a very cute story without it. I enjoyed the writing and the romance but just did not enjoy the fantasy.
Thank you netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately I DNFed this book not because it was bad but because I just felt like I was forcing myself to read it and it’s something I’m trying to avoid this year (forcing myself to read a book). If the summary sounds appealing to you go for it, it’s really original and unique!

This was so good I really enjoyed this and was hooked from the opening chapters. It's very sweet and a lot of fun to read. The characters are very dramatic (and kinda ridiculous but in the best way) and are super interesting MCs to follow along.

It's a pretty cliche read and follows a lot of tropes but it acknowledges that and it 100% works for the story. The plot is well-placed and interesting and I really enjoyed the writing style.

Overall this was a blast to read and I devoured it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I just reviewed The Magic Between by Stephanie Hoyt. #TheMagicBetween #NetGalley Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this book. At 766 pages, it’s a fairly long book but I assure you it is worth every minute you spend on it. There’s not much of a complicated plot - the plot is the romance, which was fun to read. Though the thought of magic in everyday life might scare you away from the book, don’t be. The magic isn’t some “I can levitate cups across the kitchen” type of thing. Yes, they have magic, but the characters in the book are not using it every minute of every day. I thought the magic was well written. The characters are AB Cerise, a famous pop star, and Matthew Hellman-Levoie, an NHL student finishing college. The plot around bonding was great, and I liked Matthew’s sexuality crisis - it didn’t feel overblown or bad or anything, just sweet falling in love. I liked how the book dealt with homophobia in a way that was real but not the focus of the book or preachy, and it dealt with it both in the music industry and in the NHL.

Honestly, I just liked how sweet this book was. The developing romance felt real and whole, and the book didn’t focus too much on the extraneous things like jobs or anything else. It talked about being gay and bi without feeling like a manual or virtue signaling and overall was just very good. 5 stars!

Ad meliora,
Max

Loved the relationship between Matthew and AB. Wonderful to read how they change and develop together. Was a bit disappointed we didn't learn more about magic and how it worked in their world. There was a whole description of it at the start and then it was just about their relationship. It was a bit disjointed for me.

I wasn't too sure about this book going into it, it felt like quite a big info-dump that I left not completely understanding. And to be honest, the magic system and the importance of certain aspects, I never fully understood throughout.

However, once I got past perhaps the first 25% of this book, I was completely hooked. I adored both AB and Matthew and the supporting cast. Their relationship was adorable and this ended up being the perfect, sweet, low-stakes holiday book I needed.

I give this book 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 because of how quickly I devoured the majority of the book. The 0.5 off is for the slow start and to me, confusing magic terms.

A quick romance that delved into the paranormal.. This story follows AB Cerise a n out pop star and Matthew an up and coming hockey star. The two run into each and the sparks fly-quite literally. I really enjoyed watching their story unfold. Also love the bashing of how homophobic the NHL is because it is so bad. Can't wait to read more Stephanie Hoyt!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!!

Stephanie Hoyt writes a world where everyone has magic, some rarer than others, but where displaying it is taboo. In this world, some believe that bonding with another—think soul mates—is possible and causes wonderful things to happen, but it is very rare. Matthew is one of those who believe in bond mates and is quite excited when his magic strongly reacts to AB Cerise—even though he is straight and AB is another guy.

The Magic Between has a wonderful premise, but its execution left a lot to be desired. First, a lot of the explanation for the magic happened in the prologue and then wasn’t reinforced in the story. Instead of being reminded of the magical properties in the text, readers might have to bookmark those earlier pages and keep returning to them. Also, there were some things that came up and weren’t explained right away—or at all. The Frits, for example. While they were mentioned a lot and the word itself seems obvious, it was never very clear if it causes that person’s specific type of magic to go haywire or causes a person to temporarily have random powers that they can’t control. It might seem like the former, but then how did AB use it to cover up his invisibility? He disappeared on stage!

Readers don’t see much of AB’s and Matthew’s lives outside their relationship. AB’s stage life isn’t included much, nor Matthew’s hockey. While it makes sense to focus a romance on the relationship, seeing more of the characters’ lives would’ve developed them more.

Overall, this was an okay read, but not one I’d recommend.

This is my favorite ARC that I've received through Netgalley so far! AB and Matthew are precious and I love them. I love angst especially when it's just sprinkled like confetti on top of all the fluff and that's exactly what this book was. I deducted one star for two reasons and honestly, they're probably just very specific to me as a person.

<spoiler> 1. All the different reiterations of purple. It seemed like overkill. While AB's Invisibility almost to a backseat to every other aspect of this book, Matthew's magic was at the forefront like 80 percent of the time.

2, Did I miss something or did we never find out what the B stands for in AB Cerise? It probably wouldn't have bothered me as much if we hadn't found out what the A means and then left hanging on the B... <spoiler>

DNF

I was really intrigued by the world building and the prologue got me hooked. But sadly I lost interest quickly with the characters and the quality of the writing.

this book was full of magic and a slow but cute romance.

I loved the magical world that the author describes, I would have liked to see more of that world and its powers, but this story focuses more on the romance between our two protagonists.
A. B is a famous singer who struggles with his obsessive compulsive behavior in the face of his power of invisibility, he is full of insecurity and old wounds that prevent him from moving forward.
Matt is a young man with a very rare magic who believes fervently in 'bonds' and is sure that A.B is his destined for him, after a meeting in the bathroom that literally has sparks.

At first neither of them is sure of the other, but they have an undeniable connection that is explored throughout the book.
the supporting characters are great, each other's family is lovely, and the friends are great.
I wish he had spent less time arguing about his relationship with others ... but I think that's part of his charm.

The book is about two celebrities who fall in love while one of them discovers his sexuality and the other comes to terms with his magic.
The way the prologue acquaints the reader with the world and it's magic without making the information seem a lot too the reader.
I really liked the character and world building, the characters were easy to empathise with, with their insecurities and doubts. Even the situations they got stuck in and their reactions also felt real.
It did feel like the book was longer than required as it seemed to drag sometimes with the mulling of the characters becoming too much to endure.
However, the illustrations added with the tweets added a nice touch, giving a window into the MCs life.
Overall, a nice read that didn't get lost in the glamour of celebrity lifestyle and treated the characters as people.

Adorable love story centered around magic and bonds.

AB is a famous popstar, Matthew an up and coming hockey legacy.

A chance encounter proves their magic is something special together, but Matthew has always thought himself to be straight.

As they attempt to forge a friendship around this magical connection will they embrace the love that blooms?

I looooved how Matthew can see colors when someone is speaking or the sounds of music or anything. It’s powerful imagery.

I did wonder just how awkward the twin bond is when Maddie or Matthew are with their respective lovers.

I DNF this about 30% in. I just couldn't get into it at all. The writing style made me feel disconnected to the story.

The Magic Between by Stephanie Hoyt is set in a world in which everyone has magical abilities. People grew up with the legend that they could “bond” with one another… varieties of magic … opposites magics may even enhance that bond. But, as with many things, there are people who believe and people who don’t.

AB Cerise is a famous pop star who in addition to great talent, lives with OCD. He’s out about his bisexuality but hasn’t come out about his type of magic. His ability is that he can turn invisible. Having gone through a bad breakup, he is pretty much anti-relationship. He has great friends who the press loves to pair him up with and that works for him. Bonds? No way! Not with his heart break still lingering.

Matthew Hellman-Levoie is a top-level goalie prospect in the NHL. He's straight, sweet and a believer in bonds. His search for a bond has become a bit of a joke to his friends; the fond teasing is taking its tole though.

When AB and Matthew meet, sparks fly - literally and figuratively. Thus begins AB and Matthew's journey. Sparks may be an indicator that the two of them have a bond… and so is the act that AB spontaneously goes invisible in Matthew's presence. You see, Matthew can see the "unseeable" and he sees AB even when he's invisible.

This book is very sweet. The main characters relationship is characterized by quirky and charming dialogue, tender moments of discovery and friendship.

This is a lovely story and I quite enjoyed it. There were some times when I felt there was a little too much telling rather than showing, but it didn't both me a lot.

A good warm, cozy read!

This book was a lot of fun, with discussions of hard hitting topics such as mental health and bisexuality that I really related to. Though the book was heartwarming and theoretically a fun dive, the poor writing quality kept me from really enjoying the read. The writing level was so basic and low-level, with no sense of prose which was frustrating to read. The author did a lot of showing and not telling, and the dialogue felt unnatural.

I did really enjoy the overall premise as well as the aforementioned discussions and social commentaries, I would've enjoyed it a lot more if the writing was better.

The Magic Between must have been written for me, surely? It contains everything I love. Magic, public figures falling in love, social media drama, sports and music. Beyond tropes, and somewhat unexpectedly, there was a deeper discussion of struggling with queerness and bisexuality, and discussions of mental health (including OCD). The only thing that would have stopped me liking this book was poor writing.

The world-building was interestingly done. The prologue outlines much of the information the reader needs to know, and whilst I’d usually be apprehensive of a start like that, the descriptions of magic systems and soulmate bonding caught my attention. Thankfully, the writing was a breeze, and once I finished the prologue I was interested to see how the author utilised the magic system. I do think it was easy to follow, but the main focus of the book was the relationship between Matthew and AB. The magic is more of an undercurrent. AB (an openly bisexual pop star), and Matthew (a straight hockey player), are both in the spotlight. It was great to see how their magic was impacted by both their personal relationships, and the stress of being famous.

AB’s magic has caused him many problems. His struggle with OCD was incredibly compelling. I loved how openly the characters discussed mental illness. AB’s explanation of knowing how unlikely his compulsions and intrusive thoughts were to lead to his fears coming true, yet being unable to control his brain or anxiety, was very relatable. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, OCD is extremely complex, and I was impressed by the author’s ability to explore how AB’s magic impacts his OCD, yet remain realistic.

I loved how complex the writing was. Mostly written in prose, the writing deviated at times through hilarious and accurate Twitter threads, articles and text messages. The changing pace was refreshing, and the author managed to retain the heart of AB and Matthew’s relationship within all moments. The concept of magical mates, or simply soulmates, is one I personally love reading, and could have easily been wasted or lost. Yet, the protagonists were well written, and the alternating perspectives helped me connect with both. It was wonderful seeing what I believed to be a healthy relationship. Matthew’s patience with AB’s mental illness was great to see. He actively worked to understand how AB’s OCD worked, and strived to support him through dealing with its many obstacles.

There were a few plot holes I felt could have been more fleshed out, and one big moment I was anticipating that didn’t really pay off. Besides that, this was a fun romance, and the fantasy aspects were interesting enough to be valid additions to the story. This book reminded me of others I have loved like Red, White & Royal Blue, and the Charm Offensive. If you liked those, or urban fantasies, I’d definitely recommend this!

I was nervous for the first couple of chapters of this when it started with a very convoluted explanation of how the magic works in this book. I had such high hopes and immediately was thrown into confusion. But I needn't have worried. This was so incredibly adorable, I can't tell you. I'm sitting here with that feeling of just wanting to stay in this work for a little bit longer.

The magic stuff is relevant but not really the main focus. It's mostly a vehicle to really push the romcom elements. The whole thing was super heartwarming and exactly what I needed right now. I'd say it's a really good pick for fans of books like Red, White & Royal Blue. Absolutely loved both the characters. the setup is all ridiculous but fun, and it was just an all round good time.

A sweet Rom-Com great for older to late teens. Has bisexuality representation. Happy ending. Light, fluffy romance between boys.

This book was super unique. I don't usually read romances with magic in them (for some reason???) but I love it when a romance book has a fantasy element in it! And this book definitely had magic. The prologue explains the different types if magic someone can have, and it is a bit complicated to understand it all right at the beginning, but don't worry, they mention the powers throughout the story and what each one entails.

The book focuses on AB that is an Invisible and he's in a famous band and Matthew that's an Omnivision that is a hockey player, and these two guys, they have a bond, so it's basically insta-love, but make it magical, and throughout the book, they discover thier bond through friendship at first, and more later on.

This book was really cute, I LOVED the illustrations and I wish there was more of it, I think all books need illustrations, I love them. I also didn't know this book was closed door, so there's your heads up!

Thank you to NetGalley and NineStar Press for the earc in return for an honest review.