𝒜 𝒸𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈 𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓉𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓌 𝒶 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔𝒹𝑜𝓂. 𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒷𝓇𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓌𝒶𝓎.
𝒜𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇’𝓈 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽-𝒷𝑒𝒹, 𝐸𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓉𝒽 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓃𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇’𝓈 𝒾𝓁𝓁𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝒶𝒸𝒸𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇. 𝐸𝓋𝒾𝓁 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔𝒹𝑜𝓂 𝑜𝒻 𝒱𝑒𝓃𝒹𝒶𝓁𝑒. 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒, 𝓃𝒶𝒾𝓋𝑒, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓊𝓃𝓉𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹, 𝐸𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓉𝒽’𝓈 𝒹𝑒𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓃𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇’𝓈 𝓂𝓊𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝒸𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒. 𝒲𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝑅𝒾𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹’𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓋𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝒾𝓍𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒶𝑔𝑒𝓈, 𝐸𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓉𝒽 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒸𝓀 𝒾𝓃 𝓁𝒾𝓂𝒷𝑜: 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶 𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝒸𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒶𝒹𝓊𝓁𝓉 𝒹𝑒𝒸𝒾𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈. 𝑀𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈’ 𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓉 𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓃𝓈 𝒶 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓌𝑒𝒷 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝑒𝓇.
𝒞𝒶𝓃 𝐸𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓉𝒽 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒸𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝓊𝓇𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒹𝒹𝓈?
*** Synopsis copied from amazon.ca ***
3 out of 5 stars
Aspiring’s premise is extremely intriguing. The moment I read the synopsis I was interested.
Astrid’s writing is very crisp, clean and flows smoothly. Making this a pleasant, easy read. The characters are described perfectly, well rounded and with great back stories. The amount of plot vs dialog is distributed perfectly throughout.
All around, well written
Unfortunately the execution of this story fell short for me.
After reading the synopsis which starts with “A coven of witches plots to over throw a kingdom” I was expecting an action pact read, with a splash of romance…which was not the case.
I found this story was almost confused on whether it was meant to be a fantasy story full of evil witches with one to stand in their way, or a full on light romance.
It started off great with Elisabeth finding out she has powers herself, while her mother was fighting for her life on her unfortunate death bed. Elizabeth knowing she is untrained and needs to learn how to use and control her powers. This had me fully invested as a reader! Until the part where she is receiving the proper training is grazed over and the story becomes her and her crush showing and admitting their lover for each other.
I personally was looking for that witchy adventure and excitement that the synopsis promised… not receiving the true thrill until the end of the book.
Now, that being said. I know this is not a stand alone novel. There will be a sequel and I am sure not only the characters but the plot will thicken as it goes. But with such a strong synopsis tied to this first novel I was expecting more from this story. Which could put off any reader from picking up the second books, expecting the lack-luster of action to be carried on to the sequel.
Please keep in mind these are my own opinions. I am not dragging this lovely author by any means. As mentioned, her all around writing was absolutely fantastic.
Where something may not have been what I was expecting, doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it yourself.
I don’t know how many times I have read or seen a negative book review, still held interested, picked up the book and absolutely adored it.
Aspiring may be your perfect cup of tea!
And of course thank you all for reading.
Your Fellow Book Worm
-Nichole
𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕪. 𝕀𝕥’𝕤 𝕒 𝕡𝕒𝕔𝕥. 𝔽𝕦𝕝𝕗𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕃𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕝’𝕤 𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕦𝕤 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕕 𝕡𝕒𝕤𝕥, 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕙𝕖’𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕣𝕦𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕒 𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕, 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕙𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕟.
𝘍𝘪𝘨, 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦-𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮. 𝘏𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘍𝘪𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘍𝘪𝘨’𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘪𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳.
nichi.i_readpastmybedtime 