"Illusionary" by Desiree Williams

About this book:

  “Dorothy got sucked into a tornado.
    Alice fell down a hole.
    Wendy flew to Neverland.
    Kamryn? She tripped down the stairs.
    Now, Kamryn Kensington finds herself in a strange new world. Within minutes of her arrival, she dodges an archer’s arrow and avoids getting sliced up by a cosplay reject holding a dagger to her throat. And that’s before the storyteller’s breath brings stories to life.
    Home is the mission—to return to her family and pursue her life’s dream of art and travel. Yet the longer she’s in the Land of Ur, the harder it is not to feel for the people she meets. Even her artistic side can’t help but breathe in the beautiful wonder and magic of this new world. So when the Oracle hands her a different quest, she takes it on the condition he sends her home afterward.
    No one thought to warn her of a jealous queen and her dragon minions. Or that, by helping her, the cute storyteller would go crazy. Or that her heart would rip in two when she left. Those would’ve been great facts to know ahead of time.
    Considering that nothing in Ur is what it seems, the mission proves to be more than she ever imagined. But more than her own future will be in jeopardy if Kamryn doesn’t succeed.”


Series: No, a stand-alone novel.


Spiritual Content- Prayers & feeling peace; Mentions of prayers, praying, praising God, & blessings over food; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of God; A few mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of blessings & being blessed; 
             *Note: Kam says “oh dear Lord” once (could be taken seriously or flippant); Kam is given a special necklace (that can change her outfit and guide her to a decision) with a mysterious note and when she falls down the stairs, she wakes up in another world; She is bought to the world by the “Great Oracle” (*Spoilers* who is implied to be the Creator/God and a few things he says sound similar to Scriptures; He is described as an old man with a long beard and wearing a robe; He created the one who created the world that Kamryn fell into and says the creator is precious to him as all his children are *End of Spoilers*); One of the people she meets is Reese, who is called the “storyteller” of the world and is able to say something to make it happen (such as healing someone’s injuries, making a person sleep or shrink, making items appear when called, bringing a story to life, and going from one place to another like teleportation; all of these are seen on-page, up to semi-detailed); Kam refers to Reese’s abilities as “mystic powers”, “hocus-pocus”, and“mojo”, but another says they are “gifts” from the Great Oracle and leave a trail of “energy” when used; Reese is cursed and unable to eat, sleep, or feel pain; Kam clutches the necklace to seek “help from a greater power” connected to it; *Major Spoilers* Reese is the creator of the other world (an author in his story) and in a coma in the real world after a car accident; The Great Oracle isn’t a character Reese created and implied to be God *End of Spoilers*; Kam crosses her fingers and prays for something; When being lectured by her older sister, Kam draws her with horns, a serpent tongue, and fangs; Mentions of curses & being cursed; Mentions of dragons, mermaids, faeries, & sprites; Mentions of luck & being lucky; A few mentions of spells (from the “dark queen”); A few mentions of evil consuming someone and darkness winning; A mention of Reese facing demons in his mind (bad memories); A mention of demon-sucking demons; A mention of a supernatural event (regarding Kam going into another world); A mention of the stars being in Kam’s favor.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘bugger’, a ‘duh’, a ‘flippin’’, a ‘jack-squat’, a ‘kissing up’, a ‘stinking’, a ‘sucks’, two forms of ‘dumb’s, two ‘shoot’s, three ‘geez’s, four ‘blasted’, five ‘shut up’s, five ‘stupid’s, and seven ‘crap’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; A couple lies; Nearly dying, Being attacked and nearly killed (including by creepy fantasy creatures, multiple times), Almost drowning, Being held at knife-point, Being shot (with arrows), Being grabbed, Falling down the stairs, Pain and Extreme pain, Injuries (including major), Blood/Bleeding, & Earthquakes (up to semi-detailed); Seeing fantasy creatures killed (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Remembering a car accident (up to semi-detailed); Hearing lies about one’s self; Reese has the thought to kill someone who has harmed him and the world, but Kam stops him (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of deaths from cancer & grief (including a grandmother and young children, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of deaths from a car accident & drunk driver; Mentions of another car accident & major injuries; Mentions of being shot, being attacked, weapons, injuries, blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of stealing, thieves, & criminals; Mentions of lies, lying, & deceit; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunks, & taverns; Mentions of awful smells & animal carcasses; Mentions of poop; A few mentions of possible torture; A couple mentions of dead bodies; A couple mentions of gunshots; A couple mentions of hatred; A couple mentions of gossip & rumors; A mention of throwing up; 
             *Note: Kam’s parents died when she was little (car accident) and lived with her grandmother until her passing six years prior (cancer), when her older sister and her husband were awarded guardianship of her; Kam feels smothered by her older sister & it leads to them arguing with each other (including about her sister not allowing her to go on a trip); A woman sneers and calls a man in a wheelchair a “cripple”; A handful of butt jokes (because of someone’s name being close to derrière); A comment about a woman having an “unhealthy fetish with knives”; A couple mentions of horror movies; A mention of Halloween.

 
 
Sexual Content- Two hand kisses, three forehead kisses, a neck kiss, an almost kiss (semi-detailed), a not-detailed kiss, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and two semi-detailed kisses; Wanting to kiss and touch (barely-above-not-detailed); Staring at lips; Touches, Embraces, Cuddling, Hand holding, Warmth, Butterflies/Flutters, Tingles/Shivers, Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Blushes, Winks, & Flirting; Noticing & Staring (up to semi-detailed); Kam and Reese share a bed when sleeping (cuddling happens and she wakes up first, up to semi-detailed); When a guy makes a suggestive comment to Kam (asking if another man has “tasted” her yet), she wishes to put her knee in his groin (he leers at her a couple times and nuzzles her neck); A comment about a woman “spreadin’ her legs” for another man in her boyfriend’s bed (cheating; *Spoiler* Reese found his girlfriend in his bed with another man and there are a few vague references to this *End of Spoiler*); a ‘hot’, a ’skank’ when referring to a woman, and four ‘babe’s; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of couples touching, embracing, cuddling, & kissing (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of cheating, catching someone cheating in a bedroom, exes, lovers, & heartbreak; Mentions of flirting, blushes, & winks; Mentions of young boys crushing on and being enthralled by Kam; A few mentions of other crushes; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: The “dark queen” wears a tight corset pushing up cleavage (more cleavage that Kam thinks is proper for a queen; mentioned again later); A comment about life being a “cruel and unfair mistress”; A couple mentions of half-clothes women in a shipping port-like area and men calling crude remarks (not written); A couple mentions of underwear; A mention of a busty woman; A mention of menopause; A mention of testosterone.
 
-Kamryn “Kam” Kensington, age 19
-Reese
                                P.O.V. switches between them & one other character
                                                        255 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

That was…different. 

 

I went into this book with an open mind because I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it ended up not being my personal cup of tea. 

 

Maybe it’s because of the shorter length of this book, but I thought Kam took the knowledge of being thrown (quite literally) into another world really well, actually. I think I would have been a little more panicked and stressed than her. I was confused at times once she enters the fantasy world because things aren’t explained at first. Eventually we get some information, though, so I just had to hold my questions until then. 

 

It reminded me of a mix between The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan—which is admittedly not my favorite two fairytales as they’re usually a little too out-there, sad, dark, or just plain nonsensical for me. I didn’t quite understand Reese and his powers because they seemed just for writing and telling stories, but then he would be able to heal Kam’s injuries or help her sleep (while adding to dream of him to the command, which was a little strange but also a little sweet?). 

 

Poor Kam can’t catch a break in this book: never mind just falling down the stairs into another world, she’s also attacked left and right by those and the creatures in said world and then bleeding often or near death because of it. 

 

It was sitting at a two star rating for me personally because it really wasn’t my thing of fantasy book and I was having trouble understanding what was going on, but I really didn’t like some reveals at the end and some cruder comments throughout the book. Kam didn’t have a filter for her comments which left some of them in poor taste. I liked the very end, but that was really the only part I can say that I enjoyed.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

"Season of My Enemy" by Naomi Musch

About this book:

  “Only last year, Fannie O’Brien was considered a beauty with a brain, and her future shone bright, despite the war pounding Europe. With her father’s sudden death and her brothers overseas, Fannie must now do the work of three men on their 200-acre farm—until eight German prisoners arrive and, just as Fannie feared, trouble comes too. Someone seems intent on causing “accidents,” and Fannie is certain the culprit is one of the two handsome older Germans—or possibly both. Can she manage the farm, keep the prisoners in line, and hold her family together through these turbulent times?”


Series: Part of the series “Heroines of WWII”, but is not connected to any other book.


Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are quoted; Prayers, Thanking God, & feeling peace afterwards; A few talks about God & praying; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; Fannie doesn’t want to go to church one Sunday because she thinks there’s other things that need to be done, but her mom insists; Mentions of God, Jesus, & receiving His peace; Mentions of prayers, praying, answered prayers, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, & pastors/chaplains (including one pastor giving a “hard and fiery” sermon because of German prisoners in the congregation); Mentions of Christians & faiths; Mentions of Jewish people; A few mentions of Christmas; A few mentions of hymns/songs; A mention of someone from the Bible; 
             *Note: Religious phrases: ‘thank heaven’ and ‘for heaven’s sake’ are both said once; A few mentions of luck & being lucky.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blah blah blah’, a ‘darn’, a ‘dumb’, and six forms of ‘stupid’; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Being held at gun-point and threatened, Being attacked and grabbed, Throwing up, & Seeing blood/bleeding and fighting (up to semi-detailed); Staring a fire, sabotaging, & thinking of killing others (up to semi-detailed); Watching a film reel about malnourished and mistreated people and prisoners & dead bodies (up to semi-detailed); Two of Fannie’s brothers are fighting overseas and her family has not heard from them in a while which worries them (she wonders if they are still alive or are being mistreated by the Germans; *Spoilers* One brother comes home due to becoming deaf and is very upset about the German PWs on their farm; The other brother comes home later in the book after being a prisoner of war in Germany and very mistreated, but wants to get past the war and tries to accept the PWs on the farm *End of Spoilers*); Some of the German soldiers do not believe that Jews are being executed and that their American counterparts are being mistreated in German prisoner camps; Set during, all about, & many mentions of World War II, battles/fights, prisoners of war, captures and possible missing soldiers, prison camps, guns/weapons, injuries (including amputations and burnings), & killing and deaths (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of deaths, seeing deaths, possible deaths, & grief (including Fannie and her family for her father, all up to semi-detailed); Mentions of mass graves & prisoners being malnourished and mistreated; Mentions of rumors about Hitler’s hatred of Jews, him deeming them subhuman, & concentration camps; Mentions of gunfire, explosions, & bombs; Mentions of sabotage & fires; Mentions of prisoners escaping or trying to escape; Mentions of hatred & prejudice (including shown by spiting at others and threatening to shoot others); Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of alcohol & drinking; Mentions of cigarettes & smoking; Mentions of hunting; Mentions of using the bathroom outside; A few mentions of firing squads & executions; A few mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of lies & lying; A mention of manure; 
             *Note: A prisoner reacts badly to be called a ‘Mischlinge’ (someone with mixed blood), mentions of him abandoning his family due to it, & mentions of Hitler declaring he can null that those with mixed Jewish blood are not Jewish if they met certain requirements and would fight for him; Fannie is strongly against having German Prisoners of War on her family’s farm because of her brothers overseas fighting the Germans (this is a major part of the book with her concern over them being Nazis and being the enemy), but as the book continues, she tries to remember that they are human and want to go back home to their families (though she still struggles at times with hatred and blame);  Fannie’s younger sister makes comments against the German Prisoners of War, viewing them as Nazis, spies, and “not quite human”; Fannie ignores her mother’s orders a couple of times (which later causes trouble); Mentions of books (‘Rebecca’, Rabbit Hill’, ‘Gone with the Wind’, & ‘The Sword in the Stone’); Mentions of movies, actors, & actresses (‘Since You Went Away’, ‘The Seventh Cross’, ‘The Adventures of Mark Twain’, ‘Hollywood Canteen’, Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Spencer Tracy, & Roy Rodgers); Mentions of singers & songs (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, & the Andrew Sisters); A few mentions of car brands.
 
 
Sexual Content- A (unwanted) kiss (on the neck, up to semi-detailed) and a semi-detailed kiss; Some touches, hand holding, shivers, & nearness (including a character on purpose trying to fluster Fannie and get close to her); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing, Staring, & Remembering another’s body (including at curves and muscles, up to semi-detailed); Some of the German Prisoners stare, ogle at, and lick their lips when seeing Fannie and her little sister (which makes Fannie uncomfortable and flush; This is mentioned often at the beginning of the book; Wolfgang thinks the men “deserved a bit of sport…even if it was only in admiring a woman they could never approach”and calls the men “harmless” which is later showed to not be true of all of them); Leo’s mind wanders to “feral thoughts”when staring at Fannie’s body; Fannie warns her little sister (age thirteen) that some of the prisoners are barely older than her and haven’t been around any girls in a long time (and warns her from giving them any “notions”); One of the prisoners teases another about Fannie’s little sister being too young for his “lovemaking”; *Spoilers, but about an assault* Leo grabs Fannie, pulls her into a small room, threatens her with a gun, touches her hair, and kisses her neck; She is rescued by Wolf and others before he does anything else; After being arrested, Leo taunts Fannie with kissing the air towards her and is later given a twenty-five year sentence for his actions *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of men ogling at Fannie (including when she has wet clothing); Mentions of shirtless men (including Fannie staring at a one); Mentions of prisoners of war trying to escape to meet women; Mentions of girlfriends/boyfriends & break-ups; Mentions of blushes, crushes, & flirting; A couple mentions of kisses; A couple mentions of cute men; A mention of a man dancing with “bar floozies” to make his girl jealousy or mad; Love, falling in love, & the emotions.
 
-Fannie O’Brien, age 22
-Wolfgang “Wolf” Kloninger
-Leo Friedrickson
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                           Set in 1944-1945 (Final chapter in 1947)
                                                        256 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

My dad was born and raised in Wisconsin, so because of that and having extended family there, I was curious in this book and the history. I’ve read other books that mention about German Prisoners of War working in American factories and on farms, but this was my first book that actually showed it. As a gardener, I also found the farming and agricultural interesting, if not a little repetitive at times. 

 

However, I didn’t care for the comments and suggestions towards and about Fannie and her younger sister from the German soldiers. I kind of expected it to a degree, but there was more about their shapes/curves/figures and it bought a crass undertone to the story. Because of that and an attempted sexual assault, it honestly reminded me more of a secular historical fiction book about this time period than a Christian Fiction one. This was the major reason for my low rating and why I won’t be recommending it. Their comments and suggestions were brushed off and felt like a ‘boys will be boys’ kind of mentality, down to a comment from Wolfgang that the men in his team were “harmless”, but that’s later shown to be not the case when one attacks, corners, and kisses Fannie.

 

This book had it’s interesting moments and gave me a lot of bunny trails of history to research, but ultimately I didn’t care for some of the content—not necessarily the war content, but the sexual suggestions and hints. It was lustful at times, particularly the couple chapters in one of the prisoner’s POVs which was very uncomfortable to read and border-lined on creepy. 

 

A major part of the story is working through prejudice, which I honestly think was very understandable for Fannie. Her two brothers are fighting overseas against the Germans and here she is, having to accept help on her family’s farm from German PWs. It had an interesting moral dilemma because of that part of the story, but I find it a bit hard to believe about her falling for a German Prisoner of War—and him falling for her—during everything going on. It almost had the forbidden love trope because of it, but because he isn’t a true Nazi (noted in the book as he didn’t join the war for his own beliefs, but to protect his students that had enlisted), that can gave their potential romance a little more of a likely possibility of happening. Overall, I would say I have mixed feelings on it and just the book in general because of the sexual parts. It was good to learn more about this family in history, but I wish the sexual comments and parts would have been left out.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

"Deny" by Tricia Mingerink

About this book:

  “A Blade never betrays his king.
    Promoted to the top rank among King Respen’s assassins, First Blade Leith Torren hides his involvement with the Resistance. How many lies will it take to protect his secret?
    Renna Faythe has done nothing but survive for the past four years, but now Leith’s courage inspires her to try to be something more. If only she could figure out what that duty might be.
    When the unthinkable happens, faith wavers. Friendships tear. What else will they be forced to deny?
    But this time, Leith faces his greatest fear.
    He can’t save everyone.”


Series: Book #2 in the “Blades of Acktar” series. Review of Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- Daniel 3:17-18 & 2 Timothy 2:12-13 at the beginning; Scriptures are mentioned, remembered, & quoted; Songs/Hymns are sung; Stories about Daniel are shared and paraphrased; Prayers & Blessings over food; Many talks about God, Jesus, Daniel, trusting God, God being with us, being in God’s hands, & praying; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; In this world, being a Christian and/or owning a Bible is illegal; Renna struggles with her faith, trusting God, & praying when it seems like many bad things are happening and God is not answering her prayers; Renna nearly denies her faith or thinks about it (x3) to save her and her people thinking that God would know the truth *Spoilers* but each time Brandi other jumps in and rejects doing that or others help Renna realize that true safety is in Heaven and not on earth; She feels peace after knowing this *End of Spoilers*; Many mentions of God, Jesus, trusting Him, God being in control, being in God’s hands, & being changed by God; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & those and events in the Bible; Mentions of Christians, faiths, & witnessing; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of hidden churches, church going, secret services, & ministers; Mentions of Heaven; Mentions of cross necklaces; A mention of miracles; A mention of a blessing; A mention of Godspeed; 
             *Note: The king believes he has the power over others’ lives rather than God and wants Christians to deny their faiths; Someone comments on starting to believe that Renna and Brandi “must hold a curse or something” to be able to survive as long as they have; Someone else accuses Renna of having sorcery (but she does not); A mention of luck.
 

Negative Content- A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Leith has to lie often to keep his cover (justifying that his lies are saving lives and would rather have more lies than more deaths on his conscience); Eye rolling; Lots of near death moments, fighting, being attacked, being cut (including on the throat), being held at knife-point and nearly killed, holding others at knife-point, being slapped, being covered in blood, major pain, injuries/wounds, blood/bleeding, & almost passing out (semi-detailed); Finding a mangled corpse (up to semi-detailed); Seeing fights/fighting, others being killed (executions), lots of blood, & headless bodies in a mass grave (mostly slit-throats or beheadings; including Renna remembering seeing her parents killed & Leith remembering killing someone, up to semi-detailed); Remembering seeing & hearing murders/deaths (up to semi-detailed); Helping someone injured and bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Grief (up to semi-detailed); Leith is an assassin & has killed or helped killed others before; Leith wonders if killing the corrupt king would be justified as it would save lives, but does not kill him; Many, many mentions of deaths/murders (including of parents), assassinations and attempts, bodies, blood/bleeding, weapons, & grief (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of thinking about killing someone (including Leith for his father when he was young & admits killing the man in his heart over and over again); Mentions of wars & fighting; Mentions of torture & executions; Mentions of beatings & being punched/slapped and whipped; Mentions of screams, people being shot and stabbed, & attacks; Mentions of fires; Mentions of thieves & stealing; Mentions of lies, lying, & deception; Mentions of gossip, rumors, & eavesdropping; Mentions of mountain lions attacking people (including envisioning someone being attacked, up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of a kidnapping; A few mentions of children becoming orphans; A couple mentions of an abusive drunk; A couple mentions of throwing up; 
             *Note: Leith’s father was physically and verbally abusive to him and his mother & sold him to cover a debt; Leith has always believed that his mother didn’t wanted him and killed herself, *Spoilers* but is told in this book that she was actually protecting a man who was helping her when trying to get Leith back; Leith questions why his mother would have stayed with his father, but the other person does not know why *End of Spoilers*; A mention of a mother and baby dying (unsaid if it was in childbirth).
 
 
Sexual Content- Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Flutters, Nearness, & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Remembering touches & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of courtship, romance, attraction, & liking someone; A mention of a girl sighing over a mysterious guy; Some attraction & the emotions.
 
-Leith Torren, age 18
-Renna Faythe, age 17
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                                        330 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

*big sigh* Yeah, so that was a lot of blood and killing and executions and death. Yikes. Definitely not for my fellow readers who can’t stomach a lot of violence. My stomach was turning in a few parts (or more than a few) and I had to try really hard not to visualize what I was reading. Definitely 17+ in my opinion unless the reader had seen a lot of war movies or whatnot, because, there really was a lot of blood and killing in this book especially.

 

While I found myself a bit bored at times when reading this book at first, it picked up about halfway.  The faith content is what is keeping me into this series because Renna’s struggles make perfect sense for what she and her family have gone through and I love seeing Leith’s faith become stronger in intense moments. It’s truly inspiring and made me think about how I would react in these situations of persecution. 

 

Honestly, I’m scared for the rest of the series and who isn’t going to be alive by the end of it. I almost want to binge-read it for answers—prayerfully and hopefully happy answers 😬—but I don’t think I can take the heavy amounts of violence and blood back-to-back. I get the hype for this series already, but it has too much violence for me to broadly recommend it.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

"Petals and Poison" by Cara E. Ruegg

About this book:

  “He was born to marry wealth. She was born to be invisible. But fate—and a magical wolf—have other plans.
    Nicholas is the privileged heir to a powerful estate, with a future as carefully arranged as the marriage he’s expected to make. Mira is a commoner—the quiet, strange servant who disappears into the forest, returns with mysterious herbs, and keeps company with a magical wolf. To Nicholas, she’s nothing more than a witch in disguise, and when his father is poisoned, she’s the perfect suspect.
    Determined to expose her, Nicholas sets out to prove her guilt. But when a hunting trip ends in disaster and leaves him wounded, it’s Mira who finds him, tends his wounds, and risks everything to bring him home.
    As suspicions clash with undeniable truth, Nicholas begins to see the girl he thought he hated in a very different light. But with an arranged marriage on the horizon, a village quick to accuse, and a family name on the line, love between a nobleman and a servant is not just forbidden—it’s dangerous.
    And the real murderer may still be closer than either of them realizes.”


Series: Part of the “Realms of Lurin” series, but does not seem to be connected to any other book.


Spiritual Content- A few prayers & reading form a prayer book; ’H’s are not capital when referring to the Creator; Nicholas hasn’t prayed since his mother’s death, *Spoilers* but talks to his mother and asks for her to speak to the Creator for him and beg Him to forgive him *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of the Creator; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of a book of prayers; A mention of a church; 
             *Note: Seeing magical creatures (including dragons, wolves, and fire birds) & mentions of them and tales of what some can do (including potentially curse someone); Mira meets a magical wolf and while tales say that if someone is bitten by one, they would be cursed forever, Mira is bitten and sees two visions of future events in her life (later, she says the future isn’t for her to know and if the Creator wanted her to know, she would know); Because of her interest in the woods and plants, Nicholas often calls Mira a “witch” and accuses her of being one (dabbling in the “dark art of divination”), but she is does not practice anything like that; Mentions of other mythical/magical creatures (including goblins and sirens); Mentions of witches, possible curses, & others possibly being bewitched/enchanted/under a spell; A few mentions of someone possibly being a ghost or spirit (not seriously); A few mentions of luck, being lucky, & luck saving Mira once; A couple mentions of a man’s “devilish screams” & later wondering if the man is possessed; A mention of superstitious people.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘dumb’s and a form of ‘stupid’; Some lying; Eye rolling; Eavesdropping; Two near-death moments with serious injuries, Being poisoned, Being in a forest during a storm (and thinking she’s going to die), Being bitten by a wolf, Helping someone who was shot and is bleeding, Injuries, Pain, & Blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Seeing deaths and dead bodies (on-page and a flashback, including someone being burned alive by a dragon; including someone who was poisoned and killed; border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Shooting at mythical creatures (while hunting and in self-defense); Nicholas wishes to destroy Mira and see her hanged (believing her to be responsible for a murder); Nicholas and his friend used to terrorize Mira when they were children; *Spoilers* After she saves him about half-way through, Nicholas feels guilty over his past actions and comments towards Mira and apologies *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of deaths, illnesses, & grief (including for parents and a brother); Mentions of poisons, a murder, attempted murders, & a murderer; Mentions of a suicide (*Spoiler* It’s revealed at the end that the brother of the young man was threatened by their sister to make it look like their brother committed suicide (the reason is not given) *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of hangings, prisons, & criminals; Mentions of fires & a death; Mentions of gunshots, someone being shot, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & someone possibly drinking too much; Mentions of hunting & shooting animals (implied more for sport than food); Mentions of nightmares & trauma from past events; Mentions of hatred; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of a wolf biting someone; A couple mentions of body waste & the smell; A mention of a war; A mention of manipulation from a family member; A mention of throwing up; A mention of smoking & pipes. 
 
 
Sexual Content- A hand kiss, two cheek kisses, a not-detailed kiss, and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Touches, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); *Spoilers* Toward the end, when Nicholas confesses his romantic feelings to her, Mira doesn’t believe him and think it’s a prank; At the very end, Mira confesses her feelings after Nicholas has a near-death moment and she realizes her feelings *End of Spoilers*; Mira is glad that she doesn’t possess her mother’s beauty as her “common” appearance keeps men from noticing her; A young woman comments about being “tainted” because she’s already kissed a man before marriage; Mentions of kisses, kissing, a couple being caught kissing, & a vision of kissing someone; A couple mentions of an unmarried couple being left in a bedroom together with the door open; A mention of a woman’s virtue; A mention of a young woman’s “seductive eyes”; A mention of a widowed man fancying a widowed woman (but nothing coming from it); Light love, falling/being in love, & the emotions.
 
-Mira
-Nicholas Lockwood
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                        Regency-inspired fantasy setting
                                                        184 pages
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Pre Teens- 

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Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

As someone who enjoys learning about plants and their medicinal benefits, I really liked Mira. She was very sweet and reminded me of Snow White at times with her kindness. She definitely made the book better and was a great main character who perseveres through hardships. 

 

Nicholas on the other hand: he was absolutely horrible at first. I’m not a fan of the enemies-to-more romance trope, so I was a little leery about this book because of it. Nicholas was a terror to Mira for their entire lives, basically, and it took a good shock to realize how awful he has been to her. I liked the character development—especially because it was muchneeded for him—but I wish we could have seen some scenes leading up to his change with feeling a prick of guilt for his actions and mean comments to her. I think it would have been more natural then as I was questioning how they could even fall for each other. 

 

Rather than a find-out-who-the-murderer-was kind of mystery, it was more of a get-evidence-of-the-murder kind of mystery. The answer seemed obvious to me, but I enjoyed the setting of a regency-like fantasy time-period. There’s magical creatures, but no magic per se. I would have liked a bit more in the faith content regard regarding the magical creatures—did the Creator make them for a special purpose? Or are they just animals to hunt like deer? I think there could have been more with the world-building, but for the page length of the story, I mostly enjoyed it.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the author for this honest review.