Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I really enjoyed the interesting magic system in this novel as well as the characters

For readers who love:
🗡️ Soldier FMC with hidden powers
👑 Dark and brooding princes
🔥 Enemies-to-lovers tension
🏰 Court intrigue + rebellion
💫 Found family + high stakes magic
⚖️ Betrayal, redemption, and reluctant allies-to-lovers

Mageborn had everything I love in a fantasy: a tough-as-nails FMC with a secret, a cold prince with a haunted past, enemies-to-lovers angst, and political scheming. Grace is such a fierce, loyal character, and watching her struggle with trust, power, and identity made me ache for her. And Bastien? Dark, brooding, and unexpectedly tender—my favorite kind of reluctant ally.

The pacing kept me on edge, and the world felt rich and dangerous with every turn of the page. I loved the moral grayness woven through both the characters and the plot—nothing was black-and-white, and that made it all feel so real. That last 30%? I devoured it. My kindle colorsoft was practically smoking from how fast I was flipping pages.

If you love:
🏰 Court intrigue
🔥 Enemies to lovers
🗡️ Strong female leads with hidden powers
💫 Found family and secret magic
…this book needs to be on your radar.

This is a thrilling adventure filled with magic, betrayal and love. The world building is remarkable. I loved this book. It's full.of twisted people in search of power. Things are often not as they seem. I need the next book.

I was hooked from the beginning!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn’t influence my review. The book unfortunately didn’t pull me in, I had to DNF
Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Soldier FMC
Hidden identity

This wasn't my normal book type but I love giving new authors a try and it did NOT disappoint! I'm ready to read all of her backlog. The dark and brooding prince made me stay and I have 0 regrets

3.5/5

In this fantasy, we get a sprinkling of medieval vibes, mythology and court politicking and corruption. All the good stuff!

I really liked the complexity of these characters and their motivations, that felt more real. They have internal conflicts as to what is right and what is wrong, they're not so black and white. Some fantasy book main characters can be so black and white that they feel two-dimensional and fake. Real people struggle over big decisions and have to think about why they're really doing something. I think this book executed that general element quite well. I wish it was a touch more fleshed out in that regard, but it was still there and I still really appreciated and enjoyed that.

I think my only real issue with this book was the writing. I just didn't really love it. It felt a little choppy and assuming. By assuming, I mean, it felt like I was supposed to know things that were never really explained or brought up before. And I wasn't provided the context clues to have figured it out on my own. That was just a little weird and made reading some moments a bit awkward. I would rather be given too much information than not enough. I think that if the worldbuilding and pacing were sped up, that problem could be less obvious. I think that since some moments also dragged (pacing-wise), it emphasized that I was just sitting there without a clue.

Overall, I had a good time with this book! I can see a lot of fantasy readers enjoying this.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Grace is an orphan rasied on the streets. She is foreced to ask prince Bastien for help when her best friend is taken away to the dungeons. Grace also has a hidden mageborn power that the queen wants....

Love the story. A great magical plot. Enjoy the chemistry with the main characters. An interesting magical world.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Found family
Magic
Political intrigue
Strong FMC
Minimal 🌶️

Not going to lie- for the first half of the book I was confused, but I stuck it out and I’m glad! Second half of the book captured my attention and kept me flipping the pages. This can be read as a standalone novel, but the author also leaves it to where there could possibly be a sequel/ have it lead to a series.

This fantasy book was amazing! The concept of it was unique and it was great! I want to read more from this author!

First and foremost, thank you to the publisher and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this story and it was definitely worth the read!