This is such an immersive read!! I adored this author’s debut - the vibes were immaculate and it felt like I was dancing through a Pinterest board. This book was the same! The plot was solid and the writing bordered on flowery but at just the right amount.
I’ll be reaching for this book again soon!

Wonderful world building and characters! I very much enjoyed reading about. I never felt that it was info dumpy or that it was to weighty in expecting you to keep up with everything as has been the case sometimes with other books! Definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of the genre!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my review.

4.5 stars for this fantastic standalone fantasy that feels like the child of Divine Rivals and The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy!!

Oh my goodness what didn’t this book have!? The world building was out of this world, with a magic system tied to writing and doors to other worlds; our main character Maeve was persistent, so full of heart, and extremely clever and capable; the friendships, reluctant at first from Maeve’s end, so full of genuine care and willingness to take that extra step for someone who needs it most; and the mystery at the heart of the story was engaging, thrilling, and oh so magical!

I loved so much about this book and this world, I only wish I could have more!! Thanks so much to Emily J Taylor and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!

It’s been quite a while since I read Emily J. Taylor’s debut novel, “Hotel Magnifique,” but I do clearly remember liking it. So I was excited to see that she was releasing another YA fantasy novel! And I ended up liking this one even more than the first!

There are many things to praise, but I’ll start with the writing quality and the world-building first of all. Taylor writes in a clear, confident tone that easily draws readers into her fantastical world while also centering us around the characters and their own personal stakes. The serious nature of Maeve’s situation was clearly conveyed, while the transition towards more comedic or romantic moments was smooth and natural.

As for the worldbuilding, any time an author attempts to create a secondary fantasy world, there’s a risk of falling into info-dumping holes or unnatural dialogue used as exposition. Not so here. Instead, we are slowly introduced this world, its history, and its magical systems. The nature of the magic was incredibly interesting, and I enjoyed the way additional layers were papered upon the original concept as the story progressed. Beyond this, the history of this world is incredibly important to the story, and as Maeve is attempting to work through the mystery of her father’s life and death, she begins to uncover truths about her world as well. By the end, the magic system and the world itself have been built up by leaps and bounds from the foundations that the book starts with. And then, the bow on top, these are woven together for some great reveals in the very end.

Of course, none of this would work if Maeve herself hadn’t been an excellent character. From the start, her perspective and motives are clearly established, and as she works through the mysteries before her, she never loses sight of what is most important. Further, due to the secretive nature of her childhood, she’s incredibly distrustful, struggling to open up to others well past the point when others would feel secure. I appreciated that this aspect of her nature was so firmly established, even when it worked against Maeve’s own best interests.

I also really enjoyed the romantic subplot. There was a moment early in the book where I was concerned the book was going to go in one direction (I personally struggle a lot with books that hold on too long to secret identities), but luckily it jagged at the last minute. Even with certain secrets revealed, this was still a slowburn romance as these two slowly began to open up to one another with their own various secrets. They had excellent chemistry with each other throughout, however, which made all of their interactions a pleasure to read.

I ended up loving this book! There were several incredibly fresh fantasy elements included and, best of all, Maeve was written as a fully-fleshed out, complex YA heroine, something that I seem to have a harder and harder time finding recently. If you’re looking for a YA fantasy novel to restore your faith in the genre and that it’s still a good fit for you, than this is definitely one to check out!

Rating 9: Breathtaking in its creativity and incredible character work; I especially enjoyed the fantastic main character and the slowburn romance.

Link will go live on The Library Ladies on March 7

Five stars. Ten stars. How many can I give??

The Otherwhere Post is magical. An entirely original idea that was implemented so beautifully that I was hooked from the jump. I'm almost sad that there isn't another book, but this book was executed so beautifully, with no unanswered questions. Highly, highly recommend!

If you loved Divine Rivals, you will absolutely love this!

I really liked this book. I liked the plot, but I loved the development of all of the characters. While the main character is Maeve, and her search regarding her father, it didn’t completely focus on her. There was Tristan and his past with the Post, and his parents. There is Nan, and her developing self-confidence.

There is also the dialogue. The sarcasm and witticisms didn’t only exist between Maeve and Tristan. Emily Taylor continued the flow with each character but managed to insert their own personalities.

There is fantasy mixed with mystery (which is why I loved it so much). I enjoyed the world building in this novel much better than in Hotel Magnifique.

Overall, I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.

In a world where magical letters are the only way to communicate, The Otherwhere Post takes readers to a world where the pen literally is mightier than the sword.
Seven years ago, Inverly was torn apart by the Aldervine and Maeve Abenthy’s father was the cause. After losing everything that meant anything to her, Maeve lives under a fake name working at an inksmithy sharpening quills while preparing to move again before anyone can figure out who she is. But her plans go awry when an anonymous old friend reaches out claiming that she doesn’t know everything that happened in Inverly that day. The only way to find out who this person is and what the truth is is to pose as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in scriptomancy—the magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past becomes dangerous to her and those around her including her roommate and her mentor.
Emily J. Taylor creates a world torn asunder by a vine that puts people to an unwakeable sleep. Maeve’s life has been literally and metaphorically torn apart because of this. The vine has literally taken her mother and her homeland. She has lost her name and her father due to rumors and social blame from the fallout of the wretched thing. Taylor has written a character who could live in agony and could do nothing but live in self-pity in the dark. But instead, Maeve lives productively each day even if she moves constantly to keep her secret safe. Each step Maeve is a fighter, and that characteristic becomes stronger as she heads to the Otherwhere Post. Sadly, but not surprisingly, her dependentness on herself gets in her way. In this, I could absolutely connect with the character and just wanted to help her learn to trust like I did. I rooted every step of the way for her.
I loved the world-building and would have loved to see more of the story extended past this one book. That’s how much I wanted to see everywhere that the Otherwhere Post reached. Taylor created an immersive world that you care about, that the reader wants to see fixed and reunited. The magical aspect is fun and unique and something I truly enjoyed. I would love to see more of it. That is the hallmark of a good book: the reader would want more of the world and characters.
The ending is a tad bit rushed, but overall, The Otherwhere Post is a thrilling mystery where I was rooting for the romance the whole time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Penguin Young Readers Group for supplying me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
When the blurb says those loving Divine Rivals and A Study In Drowning will love this one, it could not have been more true. This book absolutely gives Divine Rivals vibes for me. I would venture to say you could also compare it to Curious Tides. I love dark academia. This one is a bit of a twist on most dark academia books I've read. The mix of mystery with a cool magic system layered with some nice world building really had me turning the pages.
Maeve is a main character you can definitely relate to. I love that she's not perfect. She has lived her life on the run since her father caused a terrible accident killing many people. She has no training in the magic system. She has no real money. And she's determined to keep her identity a secret. She does a lot of illegal things to get herself into the academic setting that will hopefully help her clear her father's name. While I loved the was the underdog, I will say all the things she gets away with are a bit over the top. She's never caught or found out. It just seems so impossible to me.
Tristan is a great character. I love that he is related to the man who runs the Otherwhere post and is in charge of the scribes. But he definitely is a rebel in his own right. I would have liked to see him use his magic more.
I enjoyed the romance that was built. It was light with a reliance on the chemistry and slow burn between the two characters.
I loved the layering of the worlds. How you have three different worlds lining up parallel. The one thing I would have liked to see is the background of these worlds. Taylor does a good job of building the world Maeve and Tristan reside in, but we don't know much about the other two worlds. I can easily understand not knowing the one which has been closed off, though Maeve lived there so I feel like flashbacks could have helped with that. But I didn't see much difference between the other two worlds.
The side characters were interesting. Lots of personalities were developed. I liked how Maeve was able to make friends, despite her secrecy with who she was. And especially since she didn't really have any friends prior to entering The Otherwhere Post.
I would have liked to see a bit more story revolved around the academia. We don't really see much of the students in class to get the sense of the academic setting outside of being told they are at a university.
The pacing of this one was really good. I didn't want to put it down. The mystery had me totally intrigued and the world was different from other fantasy worlds I've read in the past. The writing flowed really well.
The story does wrap up in the end, though I see the potential for other stories within this world that she has built. And it did feel just a bit rushed with everything tying up in a neat bow.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one. There are a few kinks and some plot inconsistencies that bothered me, dropping my rating to 4.5/5 stars. But I really liked the author's prose, so much so I decided to download the other books by this author.
If you're looking for something to read after your Divine Rivals hangover, this one will definitely fill that gap.

What a fantastic book! Such a unique concept! For a little bit, I was confused by the world building and learning all the intricacies in this book but I caught up pretty quickly and easily followed along! The ending was twisty which I loved! And the characters were likeable! There were some times where the morality of the characters were questioned and some moments that were rather graphic. Phenomenal writing! A thrilling fantasy indeed!

Thank you NetGallery for the opportunity to read this eARC!

A unique magic system, a bit of spooky mystery, layered world building all made this such a fun story! I fell in love with these characters and the found family they created along the way!

Maeve is the type of heroine you want to root for in her search to reclaim something of her tarnished name, as she assumes a false identity to join the school of scribing in order to uncover secrets about the tragedy her father caused between worlds.

As she learns how to scribe among the other magical letter carriers, she’s assigned to a handsome but distant mentor, Tristan, as she secretly tries to unearth all of these secrets and figure out what really happened on the day that the horrible aldervine destroyed an entire world. I was invested in every step of the journey!

The setting has older world romanticism vibes of Divine Rivals, and a bit of romance sprinkled in as well! If you love a good old-fashioned whodunnit that is laced with world building and a unique magic system, then this book is definitely for you!

Highly recommend, and will likely be doing a reread once this book officially hits shelves!

For the last 7 years, Maeve Abenthy has been hiding her identity. There was a tragic accident in the city of Inverly, where Maeve was with her aunt running to escape, but her aunt was attacked. Someone grabbed Maeve and got her to safety, but her father and aunt were left behind. Maeve was sent to an orphanage, but she was treated horribly and escaped. Her father was believed to be dead, but he was blamed for the tragic accident, so Maeve has been taking on other identities to stay safe. She’s been moving frequently and taking odd jobs to cover lodging and food. She receives a letter from “an old friend” saying her dad is innocent. Maeve decides to start an apprenticeship at the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy. Scriptomancy is a type of magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. However, Maeve’s real goal is to track down whoever sent her the letter and find out more about her father’s innocence. During the apprenticeship, Maeve finally makes some friends and meets a potential love interest. This book was very readable; and I found it easy to keep flipping pages. However, I thought the different worlds and the magic of enchanting letters was hard to understand. I still found the book engaging and enjoyable, but those two things would have made this an easy 4 or 5 star book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story was an interesting story from an author I don’t know or haven’t read before! Will look at finding other things by this author. I am grateful for the early access, thank you to those that allowed it!

I love this story! Maeve and Tristian's relationship also just had me *gasping* at certain moments, whew the heat! Maeve is so strong during this whole book, so brave! I keep thinking back to Harry Potter for some reason and I think it's because I get Hermione vibes from Maeve. Maeve is literally fighting for her life throughout this story and that ending just had me in all of my feels, in a good way!


Thank you NetGalley for providing me this arc from G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for an honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


“I told you already; I’m nobody interesting.”
“I think it’s the opposite,” he said. “I think you’re somebody very interesting who has a lot to lose by revealing yourself to others. Most of all, I think you’re scared of who you are.”

“Of course she would leave. Leaving was the grand design of her life. The sun set, the sky was gray, and Maeve left.”

“You begin with a blank page and a single word.”


Three worlds layered on top of one another like translucent sheets of paper, a deadly vine that destroyed one world, a murderer who may not be a murderer after all. A daughter who wishes to clear her father’s name while hiding her own.

It took me a minute to wrap my head around this world and understanding of scriptomancy but there was so much to enjoy about this book. The MCs struggle with self isolation/loneliness that grew from a fear to speak her name, and share who she really is, crumbles as her relationships progress. It unfolded beautifully. The mystery of the destroyed world kept the pages turning. The magic was unlike anything I’ve read before. What a wild world to create. Such an imaginination. There are times I’m in awe of authors that have the ability to come up with something as unique as I found this story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'd settle to give this book a 4 star rating. It's a very well written book and it has an interesting premise but unfortunately it was pretty boring for me. I chose it because it seemed to be similar to Divine Rivals and it does stack up pretty well to it but ultimately this book did not keep me engaged much. I feel like not much happened and that this was a more character driven book.

This was an interesting book, but it took a bit to get into it. The magic system was different from any book I have read which I liked.

The beginning was slow and confusing to me. The FMC wouldn't explain why she was hiding until the end of chapter 7, and that was frustrating to me. Once that was explained, it made the book easier to follow.

I wasn't a big fan of the MMC from the start. He never really grew on me, but that could be a me problem.

Overall, it wasn't a bad book.

I got this ARC from Netgally in exchange for my honest review.

The hook of this book is a good one: Maeve, a teenager who has been living under an assumed identity since her father was deemed a criminal receives a letter that says her father was innocent.

From there, we're swept into a dark academia-tinged world where a terrifying outbreak of the Aldervine collapsed a magical doorway between different realms, separating families and making inter-realm travel impossible—unless you're a courier. These trained scribes use magic to imbue letters with all sorts of things – feelings, memories, curses, creation and even opening doors to other realms. Maeve's father was once a scribe, and with this new, mysterious letter from another realm, she sets out to infiltrate the world of the scribes and find out what really happened the day the Aldervine was unleashed.

Though I liked Maeve's tenacity and the cast of characters around her, I often thought parts of the world building was lacking—especially regarding what the Aldervine was and why it was so destructive—and thought the big reveal was a little underwhelming. In the end, I appreciated that this story wrapped up so that it is a stand-alone novel, but wished there had been a bit more clarity around certain aspects of this world and that some of the reveals and more climatic points of the plot felt more exciting to discover.

Add The Otherwhere Post to the top of your TBR pile immediately! This is sure to be one of my top reads of the year, and it is only February.

•YA Fantasy
•Dark Academia
•Mystery
•Romance
•Unique magic system
•Masterfully crafted world-building

Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy’s whole life changed. She now finds herself on the run and afraid to use her true name in fear that someone can connect her to her father and his crimes.

A mysterious letter written shortly after the events seven years ago finds its way to Maeve, who will stop at nothing to track down the unidentified sender to see if what they claim is true. Including infiltrating The Otherwhere Post.

While searching for answers, Maeve encounters a few other members of the school. Tristan, an overly observant courier tasked with being her mentor and teaching her arcane magic and scribing. And Nan, her fun loving and extroverted roommate.

As Maeve continues to search for answers, she will learn who she can and cannot trust, especially when she starts receiving dangerous letters threatening her.

I loved, loved, LOVED reading The Otherwhere Post! It is a smartly written novel full of all my favorite elements. The ending leaves room for possible future books as well. Keeping my fingers crossed for that!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Emily J. Taylor is a new author for me. The cover and the description caught my eye. After ready the description I had to have it.

Description:
Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.

Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible Your father was innocent.

To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned.

Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation—or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed the magical aspects of this story with the scriptomancy - it was intriguing. I liked Maeve and her determination and endeavors to find the truth of what happened seven years ago. The world building was well done. This is a good mystery and a great adventure. I recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy and magic.

Thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers through Netgalley for an advance copy.

The Otherwhere Post is a fresh YA fantasy with a cool magic system and a mystery plot. It has a slight dark academia vibe without fully falling into that genre, and elements of the story remind me a little of A Darker Shade of Magic and Wednesday.

While the magic system was so fun, I found myself a little confused by it at times and couldn’t quite keep track of how it worked. But I also decided the aesthetics of the book--both the world-building and the magic--were way too cool and I didn’t care if I understood the magic system 100%.

In addition, I really like the characters, especially the side characters. Tristan is the right kind of brooding book boyfriend, and I’m convinced that Nan deserves her own story. The mystery plot was a fun thread to follow alongside the characters and magic, and I really like how everything came together in the end.

The story wraps everything up but leaves so much potential for this world (worlds?) that I wouldn’t be surprised if the author writes more books with these characters and this magic system. All in all, a solid YA fantasy for fans of the genre.