A delightful read. The magic of the original Shakespearean text, "The Tempest", remains in this story made a bit more accessible to today's youth. I believe young readers will leave this book excited to tackle reading Shakespeare. =The narrator does a wonderful job, and transports readers to this magical island.

Put this in the hands of Brigid Kemmerer, Shelby Mahurin, and Leigh Bardugo readers.

This was such a unique and new storyline. The story opens and focuses on Mae a young woman who lives on an island full of magic owned and managed by the Prosper family. Mae’s biggest dream is to be able to do magic herself, but the more she seeks it the more she realizes something is not right on the island after all. The story takes place over the course of a single day, and wow I can’t even begin to say how exhausted she must be after it’s all over! This out of the box fantasy kept me enthralled and needing to know more the whole time. I also loved the narration so well done!!

I really loved this book!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my advanced listeners copy of Bright Ruined Things.

What I Loved-

*The Audio- Bright Ruined Things is narrated by Imani Jade Powers. She is absolutely wonderful. I was first introduced to her voice last year while listening to The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon. (If you haven't read/listened to that book I highly recommend it.)

*The Characters- I loved them all! Even the ones I wasn't supposed to. I found them all equally interesting and unique. I enjoyed the relationship dynamics and the drama surrounding them. This book wasn't overly dramatic imo it fell somewhere in the middle. It was perfect. The characters really carried the story for me.

*The Atmosphere- This book had amazing atmosphere. From the first chapter it really sucked me in and I was engrossed with the setting and the story.

*The Writing- This book is beautifully written. It was young adult but didn't translate that way. I feel like people of all ages can read and enjoy this book equally as well. If the fact that this book is labeled as YA is hindering you from giving it a try: don't let it.

Why This Book Lost a Star-

*The Magic- This sounds silly because this book is very magical. I really loved the paranormal ghostie aspects of the story. I liked the vague sense of what was going on in the beginning regarding the magic and the island. The last portion of the book lost me. I know I'm weird and the most action packed part of the book is supposed to be exciting.

After everything was said and done and we reached the epilogue the author won me back.

Overall- Highly recommend. I can't wait to read more by this author.

I’ve never read “The Tempest” and thought this sounded interesting. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy the author’s writing style and wasn’t a fan of the characters either. I ended up giving up on this one. I’m sure others will love this book but it just wasn’t for me.