★★★★★ 5
Top Book of 2024
Format: Kindle
May Contain Spoilers!
Where do I even begin?
I'm still in shock of how amazing this book was, how it touched my heart, and now how I have to wait for H. M. Wolfe to write the second. Because those last few chapters...went from 0 to 100 quick. So much new information, new relationships and loss, that now the tides have turned, and we NEED more.
This is a fantasy book of love, loss, the power of friendship, and finding one owns strength. TBOC is about Hyacinth whose home is at Asrai’s Academy for Orphans. She was torn between the safety of home or leaving it all behind for a chance at a new life. But when a mysterious messenger appears, whispering rumors of a God among Fae, everything Hyacinth thought she knew about the Realms comes crashing down, and she must now make a new journey.
This book ate me up and spit me back out. I was not anticipating the emotions I would feel within these pages. I'm talking I was laughing, then I was swooning, then I was on the edge of my seat, then I'm ready to slap someone, then I'm rooting so hard for certain characters I don't wan to stop, then my heart is broken, then I'm excited af.... it was all an emotional rollercoaster. The last few chapters contained a lot of new information, so of course as much as it doesn't leave off on a complete cliffhanger, I was over here like scraping the bottom of an ice cream cup, wanting more.
The magic system starts out ambiguous, but as you continue reading you start to get more and more to build off of and start to piece together the world H. M. Wolfe created. TBOC brings in eight main characters that test alliances, grow in friendships, fall in love, become a team, and even break bonds.
The friendship among the girls was everything. Ata is a spit fire, Pria is sweet yet terrifying. The banter and protectiveness these three had for one another made me want to join in with them for breakfast. I liked how there was multiple romances going on at once. Yes we have the main characters, but it just wasn't always about them, and it was great to see how others shifted and grew too.
And last the romance, I've never rooted so hard for two characters. We're talking slow burn between them. In the beginning you're not sure how this is all going to play out, but Landers is a tatted, "touch her and die" kind of MMC, which who cannot love that? Hyacinth definitely had to grow within the chapters and learn how to be strong, because sometimes she was making me mad and I just wanted to step in there for her. But Landers was everything she needed and it was so well written, which is why by time you get to the end you only want more of them!
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Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2024
