Fun, unique fantasy where the Jester is omniscient and appears to be pulling the levers on the palace machinations. Great worldbuilding!

I LOVED this book. It was extremely unique and I loved every second of it!!! It had my hooked from beginning to end. Highly recommend!

Sadly, this is one I have tried again and again to get into and I just haven't been able to get past the first 20%. I loved the premise the start just seemed to drag on for quite a while.

I will not be providing feedback to this book for I had not the opportunity to read it before it got archived! However, I am still interested in reading this book and I’m hoping to review it in the future on my social media platforms!

"Wizard's Masquerade" by Jay Pellegrin is a captivating fantasy novel that enchants readers with its magical world and intricate plot. Pellegrin's storytelling prowess shines as he weaves a tale of wizards, intrigue, and the allure of a masquerade. The book's richly imagined setting and well-developed characters create an immersive reading experience that transports readers to a realm where magic and mystery collide. Pellegrin skillfully balances elements of fantasy and suspense, adding layers of depth to the story's themes. "Wizard's Masquerade" is an enchanting journey that invites readers to immerse themselves in a world where secrets and spells intertwine, leaving them eager to uncover the mysteries that lie beneath the masquerade's facade.

!!! THIS REVIEW FULL OF SPOILERS !!! BEWARE !!!

DNFed at 12%. I wanted to like this book, it sounded interesting and had an engaging premise, but, man, was the actual read incredibly disappointing.

First of all, Leyna is a dumbass. Not a single braincell in that pretty head of hers. I rarely find main characters as uniquely unintelligent as her outside of poor wattpad fanfics.

Her opening scene is that she girlbossed too hard and got turned around in a maze, and failed part of the practical exam, then engaged in combat with her rival, but his spell went errant and knocked her off a tower and broke her jaw, and she still somehow scored second place in the practical exam and is said to be one of the best in class when it comes to fighting. Bitch, WHERE????

Then she followed up that misadventure with studying for her most important graduation exams and said that if you fail, you repeat a year. Instead of being like “welp, studied enough, time to sleep” she went and joined her classmates in relaxation time (fair), they started drinking (I’m pretty sure she didn’t, so what’s her excuse for being dumb), and then decided they’ll go pull a prank. They snuck into headmaster’s office and while the rest were pulling the prank, she snooped and ended up being called to an ancient demon summoning book that she very wisely started reading from. Her rival—who mind you almost killed her not a day earlier, remember that opening scene—interrupts her, as one does cause he also isn’t smart and idk why he thought it’s a good idea to interrupt someone summoning a demon 🙄

So the demon is summoned, and it tries to eat her, eventually the headmaster defeats the demon, but not before it mangles her leg so badly, she might not be able to walk. (Her LI is probably that healer guy who fixed her broken jaw and mostly fixed her leg, too bad he’s not good enough healer to fix her dumbass brain.) So she wakes up 8 days later. Leg? Mangled and potentially not functional. Exams? Missed. Year? Has to be repeated. Her? Idk why not expelled for summoning a demon.

So like???? Why not just stay in character and not go on a stupid prank adventure and not miss your exams, when previous paragraphs said you, in fact, don’t engage a lot in student life outside of studying. She didn’t even drink to justify the lack of braincells in decision making.

Anyway, 0/10, would not recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

The story begins with a magical bang and introduces Leyna and her wizard friends. The Jester, a masked man, appears in chapter 9, leading readers to form suspicions about his identity. The chemistry between Leyna and the Jester is fantastic, with the two spending a lot of time together. The Jester is likeable and charming, with various facets such as romantic, steamy, witty, noble, and fool. The romance in the book delivers roses, sweet notes, and a delightful Pride and Prejudice-style dance. The castle environment is rich and expansive, with aesthetic moments that never detract from the pacing. The book is light-hearted and sensual, with some tragic scenes and a disappointing execution. The Jester's true identity is revealed in chapter 9, and the steamy scenes and kissing scenes are well-written. The book contains a good spattering of vulgar language, but the steamy scenes do not use explicit language.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order next year and will recommend it to students.

<b> <I> Thank you so much to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of “Wizard's Masquerade” by Jay Pellegrin in exchange for an honest review. All of the following opinions are formulated on my own. Any quotes in this review should be cross-referenced with the final copy for any possible edits.</I> </b>

<b> Overall rating: </b> 3 out of 5 stars

<b> My review: </b> Let's start off with that cover, show stopper right there, I read this book and it was a bit clunky for what I expected based on the marketting though I see it is now marketed as "a big book" and this may deter other readers... I did enjoy the slow burn portion of the story and I think there is definitely potential for the next book between Leyna and the Jester. I do think the romance immersed within so much carnage was oddly placed. I wasn't a fan of Leyna as a character. She was one of those characters where you want to scream at them to figure it out! You are supposedly so wonderful and all these great things are happening to you... SHOW US WHY! I did, however, love the way disability was treated in this one.

<b> Try this if you like... </b>
- Heartless by Marissa Meyer

<b> Will I finish the series? </b> I do not plan on doing so.

<b> Notable Themes, Elements, and Tropes: </b>
-Grumpy Sunshine
- Royal Court
- Royal Guard

A world full of magic, duels, royalty and a whole heap of mystery Do you trust the charming and charismatic Jester or is he simply playing you the fool? And that is what Leyna the female mc must unweave herself in amongst the other twists and turns this story throws at her.

This one took me a bit to finish I have to admit, not because it was a bad story but because I was trying to get familiar with the world and the characters. I did like the magic system and what we learn of the world its set in but I was a bit bothered by the name choices I have to say.
I think Ya lovers will love this one because contain basic elements of this category while being unique in its own way.

OBSESSED. Enemies to lovers, masquerade balls, magic, secret goings on and intrigue. Romantasy that suprises me for not having become a booktok sensation yet. So much fun, and perfect for escapism.

A magical win! The characters were interesting and fun. It had mystery vibes with magic and world building. It was a cool story

It's been a while since I've had to set a book aside for a moment just to recover from the way my little fangirl heart was singing. 'Wizard's Masquerade' had me pausing multiple times for that reason and I enjoyed every second. I enjoyed the characters and their dynamics. The plot was enjoyably predictable, but not without a few twists and turns along the way.

Were there things I'd change? For sure. Sometimes the writing was repetitive or circular. Some characters (especially lower tier antagonists) needed a bit more depth. But these things did not stop me from enjoying this book at all. For me, this was a five star read because I would gladly reread it over and over again.

Thank for the chance to read and review this book.

I wish I could have liked the book, but barely 20% into it I kinda wanted to run away. Reading it would have been the start of a reading slump.

This was an enjoyable read. It gave me something to look forward to and the end of the day.
Overall 4 stars

I enjoyed the Wizard's Masquerade, it's a refreshing romantic fantasy with good worldbuilding and a fantastic chest of characters. I favor the Jester a lot because he was such an entertaining and mischievous hero. The main female character on the other hand was a bit of a struggle for me. At the beginning of the book, Leyna's character annoyed me, but slowly she grew on me. She kind of came off as pompous and spoiled. The writing was good and well-paced.

I received an ARC of this book for an honest review

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙁𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙍𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨.

3.5 🌟

I listened to the audiobook and followed along in the ebook, both gifted by @netgalley and the publisher. There is great worldbuilding, the narration is done well and the magic elements will have any fantasy reader captivated. The narrator did a wonderful job making the story and characters come to life. This medieval fantasy needs to be on your TBR.

The story is very detailed and has a slow pace with some spicy scenes. The Jester and his antics are entertaining and I found Leyna's character interesting. The drive to succeed as a wizard in the Royal Guard, her friendships with her fellow wizard students and dealing with a mother that keeps on pushing her into the arms of unwanted suitors, are all elements that add to her character and her perseverance to rise above society's expectations. The banter between Leyna and Jester had me smiling and I can just imagine the lovely artwork that could be made about them when they share scenes.

I found the story to be more espionage than romance, but there are some romantic moments. Lovers of slow-burn romance will have the time of their life. There is also a prison with a magical door, betrayal and a secret admirer. I got so excited when Leyna read the note from her secret admirer, I hoped it would be a particular character and I was right. The joy I experienced when it turned out to be that character was next level. I became so invested in Leyna and that specific character's relationship.
This is the first book in the Huskarl Duology and I'm excited for the next book since so much happened near the end, some characters have undergone significant changes and I'm curious to see what Pellegrin has planned for them.
I'm still not over Jester! Please, we need character art!

》 Magic
》 Secrets
》 Hidden identities
》 Court politics
》 Friendship
》 Banter
》 Spicy scenes

All opinions are my own.

I want to preface this by saying this is just my opinion. I give no offense to anyone, I was so excited to read this book and I was so disappointed. The beginning was so intriguing. The story starts off with so much action. However, after that I just felt like I personally couldn’t get into the story, I’m sure there are plenty of people who will love this, I ended up DNF this book.
*thank you to NetGalley for an arc.

It's not a bad book, but I think it was bad for me.

Despite the beautiful cover and intriguing premise, I found it very hard to enjoy this book at all. I often take notes while reading, especially if the book is long, and even more so if it's fantasy. However, my notes are sparse on this, because very little felt note-worthy to me. The main character, Leyna, fell flat in nearly every way, and the story tends to tread water when it should be moving. It's frustrating when you're excited to see a plot unfold, but it stagnates instead. About halfway through, my interest waned significantly. It's a long book for one that doesn't flesh things out more.

That said, I can also see why there's many positive reviews. Jay Pellegrin is clearly a creatively gifted author. The magic system is not the same as every single other one I've read before, the character of Jester basically stole every scene, and though things meandered too much for me, the plot threads are there, and when it comes together, it comes together beautifully.

So no, not the book for me. However, for a patient reader wanting fantasy, action, a bit of romance... this very well may be your next favourite read.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC.