Guardians of Dawn: Ami, returns where the adventurous series left off with Zhara in book one. This latest installment to the series is fun and dynamic, with a Beauty and the Beast twist. I love the inclusion of the Bangtan Boys! Zhara is coming into her power more and understanding how she can change the world around her. Meanwhile, Ami has bigger problems than magic. She is responsible for her father and strikes a deal to save him when he is arrested. I enjoyed the new characters we met in this sequel.

This book is filled with action-packed battles, beautiful prose, and fun characters. I loved when Ami and Zhara finally met and were able to work together with their powers. I also enjoyed the LGBTQ+ rep. Readers who enjoy Sailor Moon and magical adventures should check out this series.

Thank you to S. Jae-Jones, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As I really liked the first book in this series, I was super excited to receive an ark for the second one! I continue to be impressed the way Jae-Jones weaves her world building. I think if you want a packed SFF with fun tropes and a lot of attention to detail, this is a perfect one. I like that it doesn’t go light on worldbuilding and that we really get to see the continued development. I hope this gets the attention it deserves because it’s really well done.

I have been dying to read this book for months and it did not disappoint!! I really enjoyed how the author was able to introduce an entire set of new characters and a different, but still connecting plot without confusing me. Each time I picked up the book, I didn’t want to put it back down!! If you liked the reading Zhara, you’ll definitely enjoy the sequel!

Guardians of Dawn: Ami by S. Jae-Jones is a thrilling and enchanting sequel filled with action and magic.

I really enjoyed "Guardians of the Dawn: Ami," the second book in this killer YA fantasy series. It’s about Ami, who’s been hiding who she is while taking care of her sick dad. But then she meets this mysterious Beast, and everything flips upside down.

This book is a follow-up to "Zhara,:. Ami is such a cool character—strong, resilient, and super easy to root for. And Galen? Perfect match for her. Their chemistry is great and makes the story even more engaging.

The world-building here is on point. The author creates this vivid, intricate fantasy world that sucks you right in. The friendships, especially between Ami and Zhara, add a lot of depth. And the action scenes? They’re packed with magic, demons, and undead creatures—everything you’d want in a fantasy book.

Ami’s personal journey is really touching. Her struggles with her father’s illness and her own self-discovery add a great emotional layer. You really see her grow throughout the book, and it’s so rewarding. The sprinkle of romance is just right—not too much, just enough to keep things interesting.

There are a few minor hiccups, like some plot points that feel a bit aimless. Sometimes the characters seem a little lost, waiting for the next big event. But honestly, that unpredictability keeps things fresh and engaging.

Overall, "Guardians of the Dawn: Ami" is a fantastic sequel that nails it with action, character development, and magical adventure. If you’re into fantasy worlds with awesome characters and epic battles, you need to dive into this series. Start with "Zhara" and then jump into "Ami" for the full experience. Trust me, you won’t regret it—I can’t wait to see where the next book takes us!

For Fans of:
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Guardians of Dawn: Ami follows a young, subservient, scrivener named Ami. Ami is clever and well-educated, but her father's fragile mental state has forced them away from their home and to beg on the street. Luckily, she is soon recruited by the "The Beast," a sweet young man who serves as one of the king's assistants, to help him read through inscrutable documents. But their progress is soon interrupted by a plague of demonic possession. Zhara and the gang soon unite with Ami and decide to fight back against the dark forces descending on the land.

This book includes:
- LGBT characters
- neurodiverse protagnist
- disability representation
- ensemble cast with multiple POVs
- monsters, zombies, and demonic possessions
- secret magic
- cults
- arranged marriage

I enjoyed the dynamic between Ami and the Beast, and I liked watching them interact with Zhara and the gang. Unfortunately, I could not get myself to get into the story and decided to DNF. However, I imagine most fans of book 1 will love this sequel as the series continues to have strong writing.

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, S. Jae-Jones, and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to review this book. This review is also available on my GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

How many times will a gorgeous cover draw me only for me to realize this is not the first book in a series?
Not to fear, this wasn't an issue for me this time. Funnily enough, Zhara was a book I'd circled at the bookstore for several trips before making the purchase. And when I made the connection that I owned and could read it first...the puzzle pieces fit. While I probably could've picked this up ans caught in quick enough, definitely read the other beauty is well.
I think the covers match the beauty and fantasy of story within. Love love love.

💛🩵 Guardians of Dawn: Ami ARC Review 🩵💛

Thank you so much to S Jae-Jones and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Guardians of the Dawn: Ami is a YA fantasy and book two in the Guardians of the Dawn series. Throughout her whole life, Ami has had to hide who she is. Her father is unwell and requires her full attention - she has no time to focus on anything else. But when her path crosses with the mysterious Beast, her life changes in ways she never imagined

This was a fantastic read and a great follow up to Zhara, the first book in this series. Ami was a wonderful character and I really enjoyed her strength. I loved Galen and their story too - they were a wonderful character and perfect match for Ami! I really love this world and that the characters from Zhara were so involved in this story!

Overall this was a five star read! I love this world and the characters! I can’t wait for the next book! This book did have a romantic subplot with YA levels of spice, so overall one flame for spice

If you’re a fan of YA fantasy with strong characters, beautiful world building and Eastern Asian mythology, then absolutely pick up this series! As this is a continuation of the story started on Zhara, I absolutely recommend reading these books in order.

This is a fun, fantasy world that once I got going, I didn't want to stop. I ended up reading this in a day, which goes to show that it kept me captivated! I enjoyed meeting the cast of characters, and they all had their pros. I am looking forward to reading more about them (time to pick up the first book I missed!), and the new characters I get to meet in the next book!

Note: While I read this book without having read the first in the series, I do not feel like I missed enough to be confused about what was happening. However, it did take me a little bit to understand the world the characters are in, and what the purpose and plot were. I think if I had read the first book prior to this, I would rate this book higher.

Thank you Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the eARC, these opinions are my own. I must admit I haven’t read the first book so I jumped into it with this one. While there were some things that took some understanding overall it was pretty easy to step into it. Though if you have the time I would recommend reading the first book. The book is full of adventure and action as well as whimsy humor and joy! A bit of darkness and intrigue around mysterious elements and from what I can tell continued growth from the first one! Characters are well written and the story has a lot of depth to it! I enjoyed Ami’s journey and I love the concept of the Guardians powers! Definitely worth checking out but read the first book if you can!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an E-Arc of this book to read and review. All thoughts are my own.

While I did enjoy the world building and the characters, it did take me a while to finally get into this book. It started off slow and think the constant switching of POV’s was a bit confusing for me and threw me off just a bit. Seeing Zhara in this was fun and I loved Gaden and Ami a lot and hope to see more of them going forward in this series.

I am excited to see where the rest of this series is going to go. I did enjoy this book for the most part and it has intrigued me. Also, this cover is stunning.

I plan to buy this book when it releases to go with book 1 (Zhara) that is already on my shelf!

3.5 stars!

I really wanted to love this book. I think this is another it's me not you instance. I think YA readers who enjoy Keeper of the Lost Cities will LOVE this series though!!

Things this book does well: the COVER ART, LGBTQ+ representation (nonbinary x pan female character and asexual x female character), and Beauty and the Beast undertones (love me a fairytale retelling!)

The world building was very interesting and unique. I liked the romantic subplots. I loved the concepts. It just had a more juvenile tone than I was expecting. I think that's the main thing that held it back from a higher rating for me.

Content: manipulation, gaslight, void possessed undead and plants

Thank you so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Somehow I think I like this one even more than Zhara?? I loved the expansion of knowledge that we got to build off of what we learned from book one's, and I think Ami is my favorite MC so far! I'm already so excited to see what'll happen in the third one!

As the second installment in the Guardians of Dawn series, this book is a lot of fun. It includes so many of my favorite things in a fantasy book: awesome magic, evil demons, and hordes of undead. Zhara has learned a lot about herself and her magic since the first book and is able to do some really cool things in this one. Ami is a great addition to the Guardians, with a unique ability that fits so well with the way that Zhara does magic. I loved the friendship between the two girls and the way they gave each other strength to overcome their evil foes.

One thing that I would have loved to see in this book was a more conventional plot. The book lacks a clear goal or typical plot points. Instead, the characters are never really sure of what to do next and sort of wander around until the next zombie or demon attack. They do have some vague goals, but there’s no overall thing they are trying to accomplish other than what was established in the first book of defeating the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons. Instead, book two makes baby steps toward the whole series goal without having its own plot line to carry it through.

The characters are great though, so it’s fun to just hang out with them as they wander. And I loved their magic, as well as the endless undead. Overall, those things made the book an enjoyable read.

I requested this because I thought I wanted to continue the series but then I realized I wasn’t interested. I read a bit of this story but wasn’t really interested. I ended up dnfing

I think this book was okay but I sadly wasn't interesting enough for me. The dmc does reads a bit more developed than Zhara, I liked that but sadly is not enough for me to continue the series.

What an amazing adventure and wild ride. I also had not read Zhara before being sent this book as an ARC, so I went ahead and purchased it and dove right in. You should read the first book before starting with this one since it is a continuation.

Wow, just wow. From the first pages I was sucked into the story and world with the characters. This book is a little more serious than the first but it has splashes of humor thrown in giving it that lighter feeling. I appreciate the multiple view points and that Zahara has a major role in this installment with Ami and Gaden. (We have LGBTQ representation). The story in this book just continues and flows beautifully feeling very fleshed out. The world building is chef's kiss in my opinion. You get exactly what is needed in order to feel side by side with the characters. There is more character development and growth especially with Zahara. I enjoyed this book almost as much as the first it's just a little darker. My only complaint was that the magic system was a little hard to follow but it could just be me. I wanted it more fleshed out with the guardians. I was slightly confused on being able to heal magicians and non-magicians. Regardless I throughly enjoyed the ride.

I think you hit the YA target audience beautifully. My kids will definitely have this series as an option for required reading. I work with troubled teens and this series will be perfect for them. Ami in particular struggles to connect with others and I think that will resonate with my teens. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to dive into your world. I can't wait to continue with the crew. Cheers to Zombies and defeating the Mother of ten Thousand Demons. I highly recommend this book and series. I give it a 4/5. Well done.

I really enjoyed this book and this series. As context, I had not read Zhara before being sent this book as an ARC, but as soon as I cracked this book open, I realized I was missing a lot of important context, so I went to the library and read the first book before getting back into this. Wow, my expectations for YA fantasy have diminished significantly over the last few years (either as a function of me maturing or as the genre being over-proliferated), but boy did this series blow my expectations out of the water. I will say, I did not enjoy this book as much as the first, but overall, it is so clear S Jae-Jones is an incredibly talented writer, and I will definitely be continuing this series.

Like the first book, Ami is a well-researched, well-developed book, and the world-building is so intricate and fascinating. Like the first book, there are little snippets of info-dumping, but It's not done in a too heavy-handed manner, so I didn't mind it ~that much. I love stories following 2 main characters where one is asking a lot of questions and the other has all the answers, and Jae-Jones navigated this beautifully. She kept the story lines separate but overlapping long enough to build the angst, but thread them together early enough that you didn't feel the need to bang your head against the wall.

I loved seeing Zhara's growth in this story, and seeing her mature into a lovely young woman and strong and level-headed leader, and Han as our favorite himbo cinnamon roll provided much needed comedic relief when exploring the other darker parts of magic. Ami was an interesting character, and her relationship with her father was beautifully explored and resolved.

My main (nitpicky) point against this book is Beast as a character. I found him to be a little self-absorbed and immature, and some of the emotional developments of the characters seemed a bit one-dimensional/naive. But considering how this is a YA, I think its rather par for the course. YA characters do tend to lack emotional nuance. Since their entire plotlines revolve around discovering their identity, this was a point I could easily concede.

Overall a really well-written book, would definitely recommend.

3.5/4
This story has so much promise but I don't think the author's writing style is for me anymore. This story has multiple points of view and brings Ami into the mix of Zhara's story. Zhara's pov is a lot more tolerable with less 'good-look giggles' references in the story which I absolutely hated in the first book. Ami seems to be a more mature and well thought out character. The plot line was interesting but it got a little boring that I once again started to skim the story to get back to actually something happening. It's bringing an interesting set up to what I think will be the final book.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read this e-arc. This is my honest opinion.

Ami is the second book in the Guardians of Dawn series, where classic fairy tales meet Sailor Moon in a traditional Asian fantasy world.

Li Ami has always been different. Her intelligence, awkward social skills, and unique magic made her seem standoffish and created a distance between herself and the world around her. Forced to flee with her father to the western edges of the Morning Realms, Ami finds herself using her skills with languages to translate an ancient book of magic, one that will reveal the truth about Ami's true nature and the demon threat that has arisen in the world.

Although this is Ami's book, there are three main POVs: Ami, Zhara, and Gaden. Zhara is the Guardian of Fire, and she's much more confident in her destiny than she was in the previous book of the series. Having Zhara as a large part of the story makes things feel more cohesive while also giving Ami someone to befriend and rely on as she learns of and has to quickly accept her destiny as the Guardian of Wood. Ami's POV does a fantastic job of showing how much she lives her head and how that makes it hard for her to connect with others. Her friendship with Gaden is established early in the story, and I love the way the relationship between these two develops, both before and after their true natures are discovered; both characters accept each other's differences and do their best to make the other feel truly seen and heard. Gaden has their own secrets, and the reveal is not entirely unexpected, but it's done well and will play a major role in the upcoming books.

As far as romance, Zhara and Han have some ups and downs until they finally discuss the nature of their relationship, but the flirting and sweetness is still on point. Ami and Gaden have a slow-burn romance with many things still needing to be worked out at the end of the story. The LGBTQ rep is still strong, and the use of the Asian use of the ungendered third-person pronoun make this aspect feel more subtle and in keeping with the culture of the fantasy world.

There are many new characters introduced in Ami, and I'm sure we'll see most of them again as the crew continues on their quest to find the final Guardian and defeat the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons.

Although more serious in tone than its predecessor and with a bit of an abrupt ending, Ami is a wonderful continuation of this series and has all the Sailor Mercury vibes you could want. I can't wait to read the rest of this series!