I kind of went into this blind so I didn’t have any expectations for this journey other than what I would find between the pages.

Harrow is a seer that works with a traveling circus as a fortune teller. She is secretly the last of her people and definitely thinks everyone believes she is a human even though she’s been with the circus for 50 years and has barely aged. One day her water magic tells her something big is coming…

Enter the shadowy mysterious Raith. Who knows nothing other than being tortured at the hands of his captors.

Of course our lovely water sign Harrow, I mean water elemental sees nothing but the good in him and devises a plan for them to escape the circus so Raith isn’t forced to perform.. (even though that’s what Harrow and her friends do daily..)

Anyways there’s some spice and love and maybe fated mates. All in all it had me screaming at my phone but also kicking my feet over the adorable Raith getting feelings. This is definitely more romance than fantasy. Still was a great read and look forward to getting that beautiful book in my hands.

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book, I really did and I feel like that’s why it has taken me so long to write this review. There were so many things missing from this book, in my opinion, such as the world building. I got excited thinking that this book was set in a magical circus, but it just didn’t feel like there was much magic that was portrayed in the book. I also couldn’t get invested in the characters. Like they were just not it for me and they didn’t have much character development throughout the book. Overall, I have seen so many people enjoy this book and I feel like it is one where it works great for some and not as much for others.

Sanctuary of the shadow is a book unlike anything I’ve read to date, the first 15% I struggled to get into it because I couldn’t picture certain things however I decided to stick it out and I’m glad I did because once it picked up I couldn’t put it down. This is multi pov and there’s questions that you as a reader have that keep you driving forward which i love. I loved raith (our main male character) and so many times found myself just wanting to reach thru the pages and wrap him in a hug. The underlying message this book has is beautiful and I think once you stop and really absorb the lesson it’s one that will stick in your mind. We all have choices to make everyday and those choices determine who you are and who you become not whatever circumstances stand against you. This story did feel a little rushed at times and maybe not all the way fleshed out there was definite room for improvement on just overall character depth and building but it was a fun read and I was hooked after the struggle in the beginning.

I really wish I had enjoyed this book. I went in so excited, but I could just not enjoy it. There was so much potential with the world and we end up just skimming the surface in this book. There are more planed so hopefully there will be more depth. I love fantasy so much world building and lore that I can really sink my teeth in to. This one leans much more in the romance than the fantasy. There is NOTHING wrong with that but I struggle to know what I’m getting in to with “romantasy” books. There was so much that COULD have been going on, and none of it did.
Like it said I found the fantasy aspects lacking and the romance was just not for me. I don’t like insta love or amnesia and while the sexy times were written beautifully it just… felt so weird to me with the amnesia going on.
Thank you to both NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review. An extra shout out to entangled team for hosting a read along for this book, it helped give me motivation to finish reading.

I DNF’ed this at 16%. This review is a bit harsh, just a a heads up.

I was majorly looking forward to this book as I have enjoyed the other books under this publisher. I lost interest in reading this from the first few pages, which honestly hasn’t really happened to me before. The writing does not draw you in in the slightest, and it just feels so poorly put together. I know a level of world building needs to occur throughout a book, but everything felt felt immediately surface level and didn’t seem like it was going to get deeper. I was being told everything, not shown anything, all in an extremely straightforward and blunt manner. Oftentimes, the writing would repeat itself but in a slightly different way, like someone trying to fill up a word count on an essay. The writing quality is extremely lacking and I just couldn’t be bothered to care about anything happening.

Second, this is marketed as adult but feels extremely YA. I don’t use this as an insult at all because I love YA books, but without the spicier scenes, this probably could have been a YA book. There isn’t much that lends this to feel or be an adult book. The characters felt young from the start, and the main character, Harrow, did not feel, act, or think like an adult. She lacked depth and was not fleshed out. None of the characters had any sort of personality, and I didn’t care about anyone at all.

I have been trying to convince myself to pick this back up for a month and a half and I just don’t have it in me to try to trudge through this any longer. One of the biggest disappointments of the year.

I am sure this book has an audience out there somewhere, but it just wasn’t for me, and that is okay! Not every book is made for everyone.

Thank you to Entangled Publishing and Red Tower Books for the early copy.

I loved the IDEA of the book. The actual plot line seemed so interesting, but everything just fell flat. World building felt more like it was all dumped onto us instead of being immersed into it. There didn’t really seemed to be any depth to the characters, I was not invested into any of them. Everything seemed a bit too fast paced. It was advertised as based in a magical carnival but we barely seen any of that. Though the spice was written very well it just felt icky due to lack of proper consent. The story had so much potential, I felt like it would have been so amazing if everything was slowed down and there was proper world, story, and character building/ development.

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5/5)

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sanctuary of the Shadow is one heck of a carnival ride. What an intriguing storyline! I love the dark carnival them with an amnesia-affected shadow beast and a powerful young fortune-teller as the main characters.

This fast-paced story will have you feeling like you are speedreading through the journey of Harrow and Raith. I suppose I was expecting more of a slow burn, but it. is. not. and I am just fine with that. I also admire that Harrow has strong friendships in this story; it helps identify the layers of her personality.

I loved the inclusion of important themes like consent, deceit/grudges/revenge leading to forgiveness and redemption, personal growth and forging a path forward. All of these themes are packed in for a quick ride, and I am so beyond excited to find out what happens next in this series!

#Fantasy #YA #Romance #SanctuaryoftheShadow #AuroraAscher #Entangled #NetGalley

Harrow has done all she can to pass as a human while hiding the fact she is the last Seer in the elemental world. It's a secret she has been keeping for decades while working at the elemental circus. Raith wakes in the middle of the desert with no memory of who he is with only flashes of who he was before. When he is captured and bought by the elemental circus their worlds collide.
I enjoyed the chemistry and connection Harrow and Raith have. And the spice was so well written. Steamy with the right amount of emotions involved with more than physical intimacy showed.
I am looking forward to the next book. I loved Malaikah and hope we get more of her next!
I received a review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I definitely had high hopes for this book, considering Fourth Wing's success with Red Tower. LOVED the design and edges, however, other than the cover, the book fell flat for me. The premise of the book, was what made me excited to read it. However, it was a miss for me. Maybe I'm not the target audience for this book. I just felt the writing was very juvenile, and the writing style wasn't my style. I encourage people to read it and establish their own opinions, but it wasn't for me.

I read this as part of an ARC from Entangled Publishing and did a read-along with them, so this is my first feedback/review for this type of thing.

The story involves a seer named Harrow, who has been living with a magical circus where she disguises as a human. She soon learns that the leader of the Circus has found something, or rather a someone who she becomes fascinated with. This individual is called Raith, named after a creature known as Wraith which is due to a creation from one of the Queens who has raged a war between the other queen's for a very long time. However, Harrow feels somewhat connected to him and begins to earn his trust and finds herself in a sticky position. The story revolves around their relationship mainly and how they are connected along with Harrow's and Raith's past.

There are a few issues I found with the book - namely the lack of detail with the War and the Circus themselves, there was very little given upon this and I do understand that Ascher plans to continue this series in other POV's but considering the War was a main feat of the story and the magical circus, this would have been a good aspect to build upon. There isn't much character development or depth to other characters and very little is known about other characters - literal skim of the surface. There was very little plot and a lot of erotica involved, which isn't a problem but I found that both parties were very much instantly in love - the ending was also, somewhat obvious.

I did enjoy the chemistry between Harrow and Raith as it was fleshed out and I did feel their connection that they had together, it was very heart-warming. I would recommend this book to others. It wasn’t a perfect story but I found it to be a lot of fun in the end. I liked a few of the secondary characters quite a bit and hope we see more of them in future instalments in this series.

The last known Seer in hiding. A man with no memory of his past whom her instincts tell her to trust. The catch: there's a chance he could be the assassin that massacred her family. When the past reveals itself, is he really the monster everyone else thinks he is? I’m really torn on this book. The premise was promising. The book started off great with mystery, intrigue, and some spiciness but I was a bit disappointed. This is the instance where you wished the book were longer so more details could be fleshed out. The story was told from multiple 3rd person POVs but easy to follow. The characters, world and storytelling were rich and compelling. I enjoyed the side characters, especially Mal. I'd like to know more about her. I wasn't as enthusiastic about the last parts of the book. I actually surprised at how much spice was in this lol. Not that it's bad but I thought this was more of a NA genre. It's not and there were times that there was more focus on spice than plot. Then the ending seemed too rushed. Overall I gave this a 3 star. I could almost argue for 3.5 stars. I did enjoy parts of this and would read the second book but it's not as good as I had expected.

I was a part of the Entangled Insiders read-along and it was so fun! I loved the thought provoking questions and enjoyed seeing others theories. I hope we do it again soon! Thanks to Entangled Teen and the author for the ARC!

This book is a must buy! Like stop and go immediately to buy it. It held my attention the entire time, and I almost wanted to call in to work just to finish it! The story really holds your attention and the characters are likeable.

3.25⭐️ Romantasy. I think my expectations of this book were different than what it actually was so once I realized that I enjoyed it more. You have to view it as a standalone Romance in a Fantasy world. This will be part of a series I heard but this book is the conclusion of Harrow and Raith’s story and the next one will focus on one of the other characters we met in this book, much like romance series. Now that we have gone over that I did enjoy the message of the love story of learning to embrace the dark and light in people, accept their flaws, forgive, and just love them for who they are without judgement. Finding your soulmate in the least likely of places is always a journey I enjoy reading.
Sorry for the longer review but I felt that other reviews expressed concerns about how it was presented versus how it read and explaining it this way helped me enjoy the read more than when I first dove in.

Thank you NetGalley, Red Tower Books , and Entangled Publishing for the eARC of Sanctuary of the Shadow by Aurora Ascher in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Entangled for my ARC!

I enjoyed reading Aurora's debut novel - I would like to see more of this series. That said, I think that there is room for more character development during the story as well as world building. The spice was very nice but came on a little early in their relationship for me.

Salizar's is a traveling circus of oddities, a place for humans to experience a world in which there are those with mystical abilities. Harrow is special in more ways than one - able to hide her true identity living amongst others who are in a similar situation. Able to find friendship among those in the circus gives her peace, until a new threat arrives... or is he?

Cloaked in pure darkness, a monster in the flesh. Talons on his fingertips and eyes as black as his skin, he rages against those who have imprisoned him. Unaware of the danger to her the new male draws Harrow in. There's something about him that calls to her. She is desperate to protect him despite his pleas to leave him to his misery. He has no memory of who or what he is but he feels a connection too.

A love story that has a circular journey for both of them to travel. Unconditional love will overcome all obstacles.

I want to first thank Entangled Publishing, Red Tower Books, and the author for the e-arc I received via NetGalley.

I was extremely grateful to receive this ARC and have the opportunity to participate in the Entangled read-a-long. Ultimately though this book did not hold my interest and left a lot to be desired, resulting in myself DNF'ing the book around 42%.

*Potential spoilers in the following review*

Like others have mentioned, I had very high hopes for this book and was let down.

When I finished chapter one, I was thoroughly confused. It was a very rough intro into the story and the POV jumps were harsh with no warning/transition. (I am a reader who loves multiple POVs... When done right, with proper transitions. Because when it isn't done right, it results in a ton of back reading to figure out who we are seeing now.) As I got into chapter 2&3 I had the feeling that Chapter 1 may have been better suited as a prologue of sorts.

I should have known after chapter 1 though that I would be DNF'ing, but I had high hopes and pushed on.

1- the circus lasts no more than 20% of the book as a whole. Given the cover and the blurb, I would have expected it be a larger portion. You also don't really see the circus. You pretty much get told "the setting is a circus, this is where we are," rather than getting any type of world building with it. (Which is a shame, because that could have been AMAZING). This also brings me to the fact that the world building was severely lacking in general.

2- the absolute insta-love. Zero build up. No character development leading them to their relationship. Nothing.

3- Harrow is 60. She's been with the circus for 50 years. I know that the elementals/hybrids age differently, but she is written like a 15 year old teenager. Not someone who has any type of life experience (as we are supposed to believe)

3- Like others have also said, there is a noticeable increase in the attention to detail during the "spice" scenes. I wouldn't go as far as to say the writing improved here, just that there was more attention to detail. Honestly, these scenes made me cringe, for more than one reason.
A)- The terms used felt so awkward. Their thoughts during the "deed" were also extremely awkward. I have no other way to explain it
B)- I have concerns with the fact that Harrow initiated things with Raith the way she did. Raith... who has no idea of who he was... No idea of anything... You know, complete memory loss... And Harrow initiated "spicy" time with him. I know she stopped once he froze when she pretty much put "things" where they go and let him decide whether or not to go forward... And he does decide to go forward. But the issue of consent there just does not feel right to me, at all. He has ZERO memory up until a month ago

I just couldn't get past the lack of world building, lack of character development, and the jarring transitions. Not only did I dnf the book, but I also cancelled my pre-order for the hardcover with the edges. (And I love beautiful books, so that was not a decision made lightly)

Thank you to Entangled Publishing for sending me an ARC copy of the book.
This book was not what I expected. It’s a strange mix of magic, fates, magical creatures all together.
Harrow is a water seer, the last one of her kind who had to witness the murder of her kind.
Raith wakes up one day with no memory of who he was before, and not knowing what he is either.
Those two are connected somehow. Fate has a way for bringing people together.
This book is definitely a romantasy, lots of magic and steamy romance. The secondary characters play a part just as important at the main ones. I did not see this end coming… It’s just the beautiful story of two magical beings.

This adventure had me on the edge of my seat.
I was initially drawn into this plot by the circus premise but there’s so much more happening in this story that make it’s incredibly addictive. I love the POV switch; although there were times when it was a little confusing to follow, but I still got the full effect of it. I really would’ve loved to have learned more about the Queens and their pasts. I was really intrigued with what happened there. I also really loved the main relationship even though it had a slightly rushed feeling to it, and those spicy scenes were really nice, very well written.


This was a quick read and it was a very enjoyable romance

I really wanted to love this book, and had a copy preordered. However, I found the writing style to be underdeveloped, blunt, and repetitive. The chapters were long and it took a lot of words to do little in the plot. I dove into this with high expectations after loving Fourth Wing, and was incredibly disappointed.

I lost a lot of interest in the story after the first chapter. It had a weak opening that didn’t jumpstart the story in any way. Nothing about this story really sucked me in and made me want to keep reading. Even at 25% of the way through the book I had no idea what the point of this book could be or the main characters motivation.

I think what’s mainly lacking for me is a compelling plot on top of the romance. It was essentially “insta love”. I personally pick up romantasy because I enjoy a high stakes world with romance, not a romance in a fantasy setting. Even for a romance, there was no tension or build up at all. I left not caring about them or their relationship in the slightest.

The speed at which the main characters fall in love was also too much for me. The FMC decides to drop everything for this man/creature after 1 week together. I also found it slightly weird that she was focusing on sleeping with him when he has no memory of who he is. That amnesia gives Raith this childlike feeling…which just made the sexual parts feel icky and non consensual.

Its totally okay to have a romance with a fantasy setting, or book with no real plot other than sexual scenes. However, the marketing needs to reflect that.

Sadly, I could not continue and push through this book. It felt all over the place and felt very disconnected. The characters did not come across as real and genuine, many scenes were giving me the worst cringe ever experienced, the writing was dismal and embarrassing at times, the world building was severely lacking and dull, and the plot was.....left out entirely?? I'm still wondering if this was written by a elementary school age child. The scenes jumped awkwardly from one to the next and the overall book just didn't flow. I was looking forward to this based on the premise, but it just didn't deliver what it promised. I ended up DNFing about 70% in. Unfortunately this book was not for me.

Oh my god this book was so captivatingly amazing! It took me a couple of chapters to really get into it but once I dove into the deep end of the story I was enthralled with the story unfolding before me. I love the character development of Raith and his discovery of who he is as a person and his romance with Harrow was so adorable that I had a smile on my face the whole time I read it. I love that it has a happily ever after ending and I love that this book deals with heavy themes with thoughts of suicide and death, but it also shows how love can help you get through the darkness. This book was such a good and quick read that I had a hard time putting it down. Plus who doesn’t love a circus with a bit of real magic.