Today I’m revealing the cover of Iron Hearts and Dragon Magic, the sequel to Frozen Hearts and Death Magic. Romance, drama, and mystery abound in this telenovela-inspired upper-YA romantic fantasy duology for fans of multi-POV stories, forbidden love, enemies to lovers, family sagas, royal intrigue, and mysterious magic.
Romance, drama, and mystery abound in this telenovela-inspired upper-YA romantic fantasy for fans of multi-POV stories, forbidden love, enemies to lovers, family sagas, royal intrigue, and mysterious magic.
A forbidden fae kiss could be deadly.
Naia was raised in the shadow of her twin brother, the crown prince, who has iron magic much more powerful than hers. But Naia has wishes of her own. They awaken when she finds a white fae almost dying in the woods. She only heard of them in stories; the dreaded race that razed cities to the ground, killed her grandparents, almost rid Aluria of humans—until they disappeared. Now, almost twenty years later, are they back? Is there another war coming?
But the fae is evasive and secretive—and also alluring and fascinating, more beautiful than anyone she’s ever seen. And then it happens: Naia kisses him—and nothing will be the same again.
In another kingdom, Leah, a necromancer princess, has to find a husband in less than four days, during the gathering, when royals from all over Aluria meet. Her family makes it very clear that she can pick any prince she wants—except one: Naia’s brother. And it turns out that he’s the one; the one who makes her heart beat faster.
Meanwhile, war looms over the land. One of the kingdoms is amassing immense power. The White Fae might be returning. Amidst it all, Naia and her brother struggle with newfound magical powers, family secrets, and most of all, their own treacherous hearts.
Check the complete duology with the naked hardbacks:
About Day Leitao:
Day Leitao is originally from Brazil and lives in Montreal, Canada. She loves to write books with romance, magic, and humor.
It’s the fourth day of this tour and is my turn! ?. You can check the other hosts in Favourite Pages Book Club.
Synopsis
Darkness has taken over her land, and Zora has to find a solution before her world and the Shadow Kingdom merge once and for all—and before Griffin is lost to her forever.
Joined by unlikely allies and facing enemies at every turn, she journeys to a dangerous island where dark secretes are kept, from where nobody gets out alive.
Griffin is in enemy territory and has to play a dangerous game and race against time if he wants to save the people he loves, even if it might mean losing them forever.
The Dawn and the Prince is the action packed, emotional finale to the series Kingdom of Curses and Shadows. Get ready for adventure, romance, creepy magic, and girls kicking ass.
Review
This book picks up the story right where The Curse and the Prince ends. In addition, at the beginning it has a summary of book 1 and 2, which I think is excellent because it happens to me a lot that when I do not read a series in succession, I do not remember anything when I start the next book ?.
Zora and Griffin found the Blood Cup and used it. What they did not know is that the Cup was in fact the key for a spell that the Solana, an ancient race to which Riadne (or false Alegra) belonged, had used to seal the Kingdom of Shadows in the Dark Valley. By using the cup, the Kingdom was no longer anchored to the Valley and shadow creatures could move freely at night throughout Gravel.
“When you’re not sure, listen to that inner voice inside you, you know which one.” Right. The crazy voice that made people make stupid decisions. But Zora didn’t say anything.
Not only that, but Griffin’s curse, by breaking the seal, changes his body with the king of the Shadow Kingdom, and leaves him trapped in Grota. Where live creatures that look like lizards, and from where the shadow creatures get to Gravel.
Zora, along with Riadne and Larzen as unexpected allies, must find a way to save their kingdom from the shadow creatures, and win Griffin back.
She had no idea what she was going to find, but didn’t let her hope fade. She was going to fight until the end, fight to undo her mistakes, save the kingdom, and get Griffin back. She had to.
Meanwhile Griffin must manage to keep his true identity hidden and thwart the plans of the creatures of Grota, who want to invade Gravel.
He shook his head. “I was raised knowing it could happen, and I’ve accepted it. For a moment I had hope, and love, and life, but it was just a moment. It’s gone now.” He smiled. “But at least I have nothing to fear.”
At least (maybe) they could have some help from the golden woman (or Sun Goddess) who appears whenever she feels like it… And that is if she really wants to help ?.
Zora took a deep breath. Hope. There was always hope. But that was the thing; hope should be like that sword; reachable, not like a star, up there somewhere. That had been her mistake. All her life, she had clung to hope; she had tried to teach her students to hope. But what was pointless hope but a lie, a false promise? It was like believing in the Sun Goddess, believing in something outside her reach.
The first thing I must say about this book is how impressed I was with the expansion of the story. Each saga, a trilogy for example, as a general rule starts with a little circle of the story, which is then expanded in the second book, and expanded a little more in the third, to give a full vision of the story. But this book begins with a small circle, it expands a little in the second, and in the third it explooooooodes. There was sooooo much we didn’t know. Suddenly everything has an explanation, things I took for granted in previous books.
To exemplify what I say I will use the map that appears in this book.
These are the places we get to know about in books 1 and 2:
And the map in book 3…
Is this one:
And this without taking into account that there is another dimension …
I really liked the description of Grota, especially since the place and the creatures made me think about Umadhún and the Sheks from the book Idhun’s Memories. Truly more to the Szish.
The problem is that the new information was SO MUCH that it got to a point when I didn’t know what to do with it. Unbelievably at no point did it get boring, but it was impossible to think that everything could be solved in this book. In fact when I was nearing the end I was very scared that things would not really be resolved.
Was everything resolved? Yes, at least everything important. The truth is that Day did it, but I would have liked one more book. I feel like so many things were added to the story that I would have liked more time to close each topic. In addition, there were some details that I would have liked more explanation.
Now, what I can’t believe is that my favorite character ended up being Riadne. The growth of all the characters is quite good, but Riadne’s is really spectacular.
Riadne felt odd to trust strangers who didn’t even know about Solanas’ existence until a few days before. To trust them to do what generations of her people had not been able to… For once, she allowed herself to hope. If she kept at it, she would start to sound like Zora.
While I love Griffin and Zora, and their relationship is excessively cute, in this book I was completely fascinated with the relationship between Riadne and Larzen, which is still cute but also excessively funny. And it made me want to hit Riadne more than once.
“And remember you’re the sunbeam of my moonlight.” “That doesn’t make any sense.” “It’s supposed to make sense? Well, then, you’re the acid in my stomach.” “Oh.” She meant ew, but it sounded off. “I have no words, Larzen.”
Probably the most important thing in history is hope. But great relevance is also given to relationships, and even abuse. Zora’s fear (rather panic) of sex, even though I felt got a bit lost in the story despite being constantly mentioned, is a topic that I haven’t seen in any book before. I loved finding a story where relationships, particularly sexual, are treated in a different way. There are many, many stories that create the fantasy that everything works perfectly fine from the start, and I think that is precisely what was happening to Zora, who was forcing herself from the beginning just because she believed it was supposed to be like that, that she was the problem. When in reality she just wasn’t ready, and that was perfectly fine.
“All change is traumatic, Zora,” her mother said. “Even change for good.”
…And Seth was an asshole, but that’s a conversation for another day ?.
This is why I don’t give it 5 stars. Because it’s not perfect, but I would still extremely recommend it as it’s a nice, fast-paced, easy to read story. And the characters are wonderful. Besides, Day always does this amazing thing of teleporting you to these realms where you would love to be. (Well, I don’t know if I would like to be in Grota, but you know what I mean ?).
Trust that sometimes things happen for a reason.” She smiled. This idea of greater meaning for why things happened was more and more sounding like a way to dodge responsibility. Yay, let’s blame destiny! Not stupidity. Nope, not at all.
Thank you so much to Favourite Pages and Day Leitao for letting me be part of this tour. I loved this saga and I’m super happy to be on the tour for the last book.
Author
I’m originally from Brazil but I’ve been living in Canada for over 10 years now. I have some influence from Brazilian writers and Brazilian culture, but I also read popular books in English. I watched some Anime as a kid, my favorite being Yamato. I’m a longtime Star Wars fan and I’m active in the fandom podcasting at Lords of the Sith as Denise. I’ve always loved to write stories, and I like to always include romance, action and humor in my writing. I think stories can touch us deeply. I live in Montreal, Canada, with my son. My books include the Ya fantasy series Portals to Whyland, and the sci-fi standalones The Sphere of Infinity and Star Spark. Check out my blog for some news, updates, and nonsensical ramblings.
A troubled prince. A deadly curse. A mysterious cup. And the power to save or doom the kingdom.
Of course things didn’t go as planned at the Royal Games. When do things go as planned?
Now Zora is on the run, and has to join a disgraced prince in order to retrieve a powerful magical artifact that might undo her valley’s curse. For the first time in her life, she has real hope for her people.
Problem is, for the second time in her life, she’s falling for someone she shouldn’t. Finding a hidden object is hard enough on its own, she could do without the heart palpitations and lack of air. And she could certainly focus better without the constant memory of his lips on hers, his arms around her… Gaah! See? How can she avoid pursuers and decipher enigmatic writings when her brain has been turned to mush? Painful, hopeless mush.
But the real trouble is that there’s more than one curse in the kingdom. And not enough objects or time to get rid of them all.
Review
Together, hope and fury were more than a flame in her heart; they formed a scorching blaze that would burn down this Kingdom of Shadows with everything in it.
In the Cup and the Prince, Zora and Griffin escape the palace after Kieran tried to assassinate his brother for being with his fiancée, Allegra. Since Zora killed the lion, she technically won the games and should be able to find the famous cup. But first they must go to the Dark Valley, so that her parents heal her wounds. On the way, Griffin realizes that there will be a new moon and, therefore, he will transform into the famous monster that makes him his curse.
Both manage to overcome the night and reach the Valley, however, they must resume the journey so as not to be captured by the palace guards and because, now more than ever they must find the cup, the only way to cure Griffin’s curse and perhaps even the Valley’s, and only Zora can do it, but unfortunately she has no idea even where to start.
Perhaps it was still guilt. Perhaps it was something else, one of those unidentifiable feeling from a strange, hard-to-reach place that she couldn’t really translate into words. Or maybe it was just a normal urge to help someone in need. An urge to smile and give him hope. Make him believe that everything would be fine, that everything was possible. Even if it wasn’t.
Meanwhile, Larzen finds out about everything that has happened and that Kieran wants to murder his brother and begins to extort Allegra to fix things. Allegra’s initial plan was to get the three brothers to murder each other, even knowing there was a mathematical impossibility ?, but when she saw Zora desperately trying to save Griffin, she couldn’t avoid helping them escape and completely ruin her own plan. Now she just wants to leave the palace and return to her brother, but neither Kieran nor Larzen will allow it.
Larzen decides to go behind Griffin to convince him leaving the kingdom, and takes Allegra with him. They may not trust each other, but both want to save their brothers.
Zora is sure that Griffin has no real interest in her other than getting the cup and maybe having fun along the way, besides her relationship with Seth left her unwilling to get close to someone else, but she is unable to deny her attraction to Griffin, less when he seems equally interested… and when they just have one hammock (I love this twist on the cliché of the only bed ?).
But there was so much they had to do, so much to figure out, she’d better not get even more distracted than she already was. And by the Light, Griffin was distracting.
I honestly believe that Day Leitao has a kind of super power to make others happy, as well as transporting you to the world that she is presenting.
Anyway, in this book I felt at one point that I was in a cloud of ultimate happiness… only to immediately suffer a looooong fall. Day gave me the world in a crystal ball only to smash it on the ground as I watched. But at least she left me with hope.
Another thing that I have loved about these books is that I feel like everything is explained. Like their way of life in the valley. In this case, for example, Griffin mentions more than once that Zora had lighter hair ends, and I was quite struck by it, but she explains it in a moment and it blew me away not to think about it.
“You lighten the tips?” “Lots of people do in the valley.” She chuckled. “After all, we fight the dark.”
I was so shocked with Allegra’s character. I hated her, and even though she helped them once, I thought she was nothing but a selfish woman that suddenly got a little of conscience. Yet, she is way more than that.
“Fine, fine. Don’t forget it. Just… listen to me as if I weren’t the most evil creature you’ve ever met, as if I were capable of good intentions sometimes. As if I were a normal human being, someone who makes mistakes sometimes, gets taken by anger, jealously, hatred, but who can also love and have compassion. I’m not a bad person, Larzen.”
Her life has been extremely hard, and she had to learn to live one day at a time, and doing what was necessary for surviving. My favorite quotes from this book are from her, I mean, I still don’t love her, but now I can understand.
“I live one day at a time. And today, you know what we have to do, right? Get up this mountain, so let’s keep going. Tomorrow’s problems are tomorrow’s problems.”
Now, and just to be critical, I must say that there are moments that bothered me in the writing, especially repetitive phrases like when Zora remembered that he was a prince in love with Allegra. Anyway it doesn’t change my opinion, I’m loving this series.
Damn, I just realized that there are still many questions to answer… At least I know that we will have an answer for all of them in the next one, because they are things that have been continually mentioned ?♀️.
I hope everyone would read this book, I think is exactly what we need in a moment like this, where everything seems to be wrong in the world, but we can still keep our hope.
Happiness was never perfect… Happiness was in the small moments, in freedom. Everyone would leave this world one day, so every single life ended in death. And it didn’t mean it wasn’t happy. Perhaps she didn’t have much longer to live, but that was what she was going to chase: happiness.
Bye bye ?
If you liked this post please like, share & comment
Throne of Glass meets Minecraft in this fun YA romantic fantasy.
One prince wants her out. Another wants her as a pawn. Someone wants her dead.
Zora wants to win the cup and tell them all to screw themselves.
Yes, 17-year-old Zora cheated her way into the Royal Games, but it was for a very good reason. Her ex-boyfriend thought she couldn’t attain glory on her own. Just because she was a girl. And he was the real cheater. So she took his place.
Now she’s competing for the legendary Blood Cup, representing the Dark Valley. It’s her chance to prove her worth and bring glory for her people. If she wins, of course.
But winning is far from easy. The younger prince thinks she’s a fragile damsel who doesn’t belong in the competition. Determined to eliminate her at all costs, he’s stacking the challenges against her. Zora hates him, hates him, hates him, and will do anything to prove him wrong.
The older prince is helping her, but the cost is getting Zora entangled in dangerous flirting games. Flirting, the last thing she wanted.
And then there’s someone trying to kill her.
The Cup and the Prince is a light and fun YA fantasy with romance, action, and intrigue, for readers 15 and older. It’s book 1 in the series Kingdom of Curses and Shadows.
Review
But this story is getting messy, so we’ll get back to the beginning. Four hundred years before… Too early? Let’s go back four hours then, when Zora was still bright-eyed and oblivious.
That beginning is epic ?. I really like Day Leitao’s books, so when I found out she was writing a new series I had to read it. Although I felt a little scared when I learned that it was inspired by Minecraft…
I honestly find it incredibly cool to pull out a complete story inspired by the idea that monsters can appear in dark places.
Zora is a 17-year-old girl who has lived all her life in the Dark Valley, a place where monsters spawn in every small space of shadows, so all the citizens are in charge of keeping lamps lit and locating things ensuring that they do not create spaces without light.
Given this lifestyle and the fact that accidents cannot be avoided, everyone in the valley needs to know how to defend themselves against the shadows, even children. Zora is a teacher and is in charge of teaching them both to survive, to read and, above all, to always keep hope.
“What do we do?” “WE SHINE OUR LIGHT,” both replied. “What if shadows come?” “WE FIGHT, WE FIGHT, WE FIGHT.” “What if fear shows up?” “WE ALWAYS TRUST OUR MIGHT.” “And what do we do meanwhile?” “WE HOPE, BELIEVE, AND TRY.”
Zora’s “war” shout
Zora had a boyfriend, Seth, who was a reverend jerk and was just using her. Seth had been selected as the valley champion who would go to represent them in the Royal Games competition. Fortunately, Zora discovered his deception just the night before Seth left town.
“You’re a girl and all, so you can’t do things yourself, but you can be my inspiration.”
I’m so kicking this idiot’s ass to a dark spot where he can be eaten by a shadow wolf
After this betrayal, Zora decides that she does not need love or hope. And she takes Seth’s place in the competition as revenge.
Then she checked the lamps in the house to make sure they had enough oil for the night. If a shadow creature spawned inside his house and killed him, what was the point of all that? You can’t humiliate dead people… …Her idea was to write, “Dear Seth, when I find glory, please know that none of it is yours.” But then she remembered he couldn’t read.
He’s such an idiot that is even hard to humiliate him ?
One small detail is that she has no idea what the competition is all about. Also, she managed to anger Griffin, the youngest prince, as soon as she arrived.
Well, if she won the cup instead of him, she’d be the one with the mocking face. Simple solution. Complex execution.
Being the only woman in the competition should put her at a disadvantage, but at least it meant finding some unexpected allies, including Prince Larzen, who offered his help in exchange for her taking part in the courtship.
Well, duh. He was a guy and probably thought women were naturally born with makeup and hair done.
Things were going relatively well, until Zora discovers Griffin’s big secret and someone starts trying to assassinate her. Now Zora is caught in the middle of the competition itself, but also the problems between the three princes. Plus the king’s fiancee, Alegra.
Be careful, be careful. It was all people told her. As if the responsibility for not getting murdered were hers.
I was a little scared when I started reading this book because I saw a pretty bad review. I’m very glad I didn’t listen to it because my only critic to this book is the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger, and I only complain because I suffer a lot when the next part has not yet come out.
But really, it blew my mind.
For starters, I loved Zora. She is very brave, super intelligent and life in the Valley has given her many resources. However, she is not indestructible and knows it. She suffers more than one collapse in the book and I love that, because it makes her feel so much more real.
Tears were running from her eyes again. If they could fix anything, Zora would have no problems.
It reminds me a lot of The Hunger Games, apart from the competition itself. This is done to entertain the subjects of the kingdom. It also made me think of Mulan. Although she does not disguise herself as a man, she must prove her worth in front of them, in addition to wanting to win to honor her people.
Perhaps the heart had a special place for one hated person, just like it had a special place for love, although she swore to leave that empty or fill it with love for humanity, for her valley.
I cannot say anything about Throne of Glass because I am an embarrassment to the reading community and I have not read it yet.
Yes, it’s me inside the box
The Dark Valley is very well-built. When I was reading I kept thinking of “mistakes” for things that would inevitably make a shadow like the sheets, however, it is explained that, in fact, they do not use them.
Now, it is true that there are TOO MANY “sexual” jokes in the style of a 14-year-old boy, but for me it was like listening to a friend telling bad jokes ?.
Griffin scoffed. “You’re assuming she’d want to come.” “Weird.” Larzen scratched his chin. “I thought that was what most girls wanted.” Alegra and Kiran laughed. Zora looked uncomfortable.
Finally… Are there clichés? Yes. Do I care? No ?. I love castles and balls in books, competitions too. Also, while you could say there are clichés, I feel like Day gave all of them an original turn. And fear not, there is no love square between princes and Zora ?.
Final verdict: 5/5, I highly recommend it to have a good time.
PS: I went overboard with the quotes but there were some too good to leave out ?.
Bye bye ?
If you liked this post please like, share & comment
Alana’s dream is to leave the poverty-stricken, government-controlled planet where she lives with her mother. But that’s impossible when she can barely manage enough to eat. Her big chance comes in a well-paid mission to retrieve a golden sphere. The problem: it’s in the Ghost Ship, a mysterious alien vessel abandoned for millenia. Nobody has ever set foot on it and come out alive. How will Alana manage it?
Meanwhile, Jasper has come to her planet to oversee the government. His real goal? To see the mysterious dragons—if they are still alive.
Destiny brings them together and thrusts the fate of the Samitri Planet and the Human Universe in their hands.
The Sphere of Infinity is a standalone YA Aladdin retelling novella.
It was part of the box set Kingdom of Sand and Wishes.
Review
Alana is a thief. She “works” stealing small objects or information from different places, using her small stature as great advantage. However, Alana never wanted to have this lifestyle. It is her only option to survive, since her mother is in a wheelchair and cannot work.
Alana’s dream is to get enough money to be able to leave Samitri, her home planet, with her mother and go to Ringon, where the government is located and “everyone can be what they want” (Zootopia vibes). Also, to be able to do the surgery that will allow her mother to walk again.
Her dream seems impossible until a woman, Mara, offers her an excessively well-paid job to retrieve a golden sphere from a spaceship that has been abandoned in space for years, the Ghost Ship. Alana can’t resist, besides, Mara would go with her so there was nothing to fear, right?
Alana manages to find the sphere, but when the ship itself seems to want to prevent her from escaping, Mara abandons her and leaves her to die on the ship. Fortunately, the golden sphere was actually a container for Janet, a creature capable of granting three wishes and that helps Alana to return to Samitri.
Now she can finally change her life, but Mara has not given up the sphere. Things get even more complicated when Alana meets Jasper, a Ringon representative on Samitri, who immediately catches her attention.
I listened to the audiobook of this story and I don’t know if it’s the audiobooks themselves but again this book reminds me of fairy tales, but modern. Maybe it’s Day’s style or the fact that this particular one is a new version of a fairy tale ?♀️.
I honestly think that if I didn’t know that this story is based on Aladdin, it would never have occurred to me. But knowing it, it is impressive how many similarities can be found, without being obvious.
For example, the names of the characters: Alana (Aladdin), a thief to survive, and Jasper, a member of “royalty” who gets along better with animals than humans (Jasmin). And the golden sphere (lamp) where Janet (the Genie) is trapped.
There are many more similarities, but I don’t want to mention them for avoiding spoilers.
I know I shouldn’t give this book 5 stars, as I had some unanswered questions. Like what about the dragons and what was Janet really, they bring it up but I honestly didn’t get it. Another thing that is not clear to me is the scope of the wishes that can be asked to Janet.
But I don’t care, I really enjoyed this story and the characters, I especially loved Jasper. Mention aside, the covers of Day Leitao’s books are truly wonderful.
Another thing that struck me a lot about the story is Alana’s way of thinking about love. Her mother writes romantic stories and does not allow her to read them because she says they are nothing more than garbage, very handsome and chivalrous men, ready to rescue the woman from all her problems. Now, it is true that it’s quite unlikely that you are going to be riding your bike and crush with Chris Hemsworth and then you’ll get married, but I feel that today’s society trashes fairy tales excessively. No matter how powerful you are on your own, there is nothing wrong with having someone by your side who wants to take care of you. It is true, a woman does not need you to rescue her from a tower, she is perfectly capable of making her own ladder, but there is nothing wrong with having someone to hold it for you while you go down.
It also felt good to be near Alana. Tiny as she was, she was fierce but also had fear and vulnerability, reminding him of the tigers in Firis. He’d obviously never mention it to her. He also knew that she wasn’t a wild defenseless cub, and that it would be her choice whether he’d ever be able to care for her. So far she’d been allowing him, though. He could almost believe she liked it, which was a small consolation in his world that had been shattered.
So yeah, I’m giving it 5 stars anyway and I highly recommend it if you want a cute, entertaining and original short story.
And remember… Be careful what you wish for.
Bye bye ?
If you liked this post please like, share & comment
* After reading the complete saga, I think the best order to read it is the original. Starting with Spell Speakers or Step into Magic. But reading these two before Kissing Magic and Within Magic. It is true that is not necessary to understand the story. But it’s necessary to feel it complete. *
Synopsis
Magic has never been as dangerous.
Troubled by dreams of Sian in danger, Karina opens a new portal.
But instead of going to Whyland, she breaks the defenses against
Lumina, an ethereal city with advanced and dangerous magic. Not only
that, she ends up powerless, alone, and without any awareness of her magic, trapped in a strange land where not even her mind is safe.
Sian has an impossible task: defeat the gigantic Maris king. A victory doesn’t mean a ticket home, though. In his struggle, he’ll come across magic more powerful than he ever imagined.
Intruders in Whyland force Cayla and Darian to go to the Light Gardens, where more truths and secrets are about to be revealed.
Stranded across dimensions, how will these characters come together again?
Get immersed in this action-packed, emotional conclusion to Portals to Whyland, recommended for teens 13 and up.
You’ll find adventure, romance, intrigue, revelations, and magic. Start reading it now!
Review
This book has a totally different tone from the previous ones. From the beginning it felt much darker, not losing its essence, but the protagonists suffered too much in a very short time.
Everybody was sent back where they belonged. This means that Karina was back in her own dimension, with all the portals closed. Away from Whyland. Away from Sian.
After 6 months of research, Karina went with Zoe to meet a stranger who claimed to have a teleporting tower. This was clearly a bad idea, but Karina was desperate, especially since she kept dreaming that Sian was in danger.
Things were even more complex than she expected, as she ended up opening a portal to Lumina, one of the ethereal cities, which had long been isolated for trying to conquer others. Karina ended up being kidnapped by the people of Lumina for being able to open portals, and was tricked by Satwak (with a very dirty trick in my opinion), the leader’s nephew, to get her help.
Meanwhile, Sian had been sent to Marisia, since he had to fulfill his promise and defeat their current king. The mission was impossible for a human even against a normal Maris, and the king was much larger than these. His only chance was that his dream was right and he had more power than he thought. Being without shoes…
Still, he was surprised that he remained there. The realization that he was in a dream usually pulled him awake.
The woman exhaled and smiled. Her hood covered the top of her face, but he could feel her eyes piercing him. “The fight tomorrow. Don’t wear shoes.”
This was quite odd advice.
On the other hand, in Siphoria, Darian and Cayla are finally having a nice relationship. Darian was named Grand General by Lylah, while Cayla is practicing self-defense and trying to be friends with Alessa, her coach. Everything was going perfect until Lumina was unlocked. Lylah involuntarily evacuated Cayla and Darian to Light Gardens to protect them from the people of Lumina, the same ones who had Karina.
Sian: One of the biggest reasons I liked this saga. Sian is finally learning about his powers, but he is also learning about himself. After being with Karina, he understood that feelings don’t necessarily make you weak. But, after having to survive in Marisia, he doesn’t really know who he is anymore. Clearly, all his suffering in this place, plus everything he suffered as a child made a dent in him. For the first time he has to learn how to cope with emotions, instead of burying them. His evolution in incredible, because he is learning from his mistakes and wants to do things right this time. However, there were times when I felt it was not like himself. Above all, I needed more of his sarcastic and overreacted attitude.
Karina: She looks stunning on the cover, it’s my favorite! It’s always easy to identify with Karina, and it’s nice to grow up with her. She has become much stronger and more determined. She wasn’t going to accept not seeing Sian again, nor losing her chance to become a guardian. However, things do not turn out as she expected and ends up trapped in Lumina. This time we get to know this ethereal city through her eyes, while she tries to remember the last two years of her life, the ones she has spent in Lumina’s royal family with her husband … Wait, what?
Cayla: She is finally beginning to mature, which implies that she needs to fix her relationship with. Although this is not easy when the two are unable to hold a conversation without attacking each other. She is also determined to learn self-defense and make friends. All while enjoying her relationship with Darian. But things get complicated when she is forced to escape to Light Gardens.
Darian: At first I thought he wouldn’t be really important in this story, but I’m glad I was wrong. Darian has finally understood that he should not overprotect Cayla. He has matured a lot and wants to have a true relationship with his brother. He is also for the first time in a real searching for his powers (for which he becomes something between a hippie and a buddha).
Satwak: Nephew of the leader of Lumina, he’s crazy. Karina is kidnapped and then Sat erases her memory to protect her from her uncle. Or not? I would have liked to know him better, he is a very interesting character. I still hate him, but he’s interesting.
For me this book deserves 4.5 / 5 stars. I really wanted to give it 5, but something was missing. I had a hard time understanding what it was, but I think I already know. It could give much more. It is a very good book, but the created world and the characters presented are so many and so good, that there isn’t enough time to cover everything.
As in the previous books, so many things happened that some of them simply lost relevance along the way. At least most of my doubts from Kissing Magic got an answer.
I liked the style of Day very much. I love that there is so much humor and sarcasm in the book. But above all I admire her imagination. From creating a new world, she went on to create dimensions, creatures and powers. With a really endless resource of imagination.
This book, and the whole saga are totally recommended for spending a pleasant time, in a world surrounded by magic and wonderful characters.
He was raised to resist them. Now he has to join them.
14-year-old Darian was raised in an isolated village in Whyland, among people who resisted the oppression of the King and his army. When his life takes a tragic turn, he ends up living in the King’s castle, forced to train in the military academy, closer to his enemies than he has ever dreamed. His only solace is Cayla, a girl he befriends at the castle, who helps him smile and feel whole again, with whom he slowly falls in love, whose identity he ignores at his own peril.
But the castle holds more dangers than expected. Darian has to thread carefully if he wants use his position to help Whyland find freedom and remain alive.
Spell Speakers is a coming-of-age fantasy novella introducing characters featured in the upcoming series Portals to Whyland.
Review
It is probably my favorite book from the saga. Knowing Darian and Cayla’s relationship at last, in addition to each other’s past, explains a lot about why each of them did the things they do in the future. I definitely think the saga should be read in order, starting with this. While it is true that you can understand the story without reading them all, the feeling is completely different.
Cayla, Darian and Sian have many reasons to be as they are. And we can only fully understand them once we know their full history. For example, in step into Magic I liked Darian’s appearance, but now that I know how things went, everything makes a lot more sense. The same with the evolution of Sian’s and Cayla’s personality.
In this short novel we can know the love story between Darian and Cayla, from his point of view. It is a wonderful story of a first love that begins as a friendship in a secret garden. Unfortunately, they are forced to postpone their relationship.
It is also an interesting family story, because we finally know how Sian and Darian met. And how they attempt to relate with great difficulties.
Basically, it is a warm story, which gives us as a bonus a little more information about the village where Darian was raised and the capital, Siphoria. And the state of the latter upon Karina’s arrival in Whyland. Totally recommended.
*I know that this book says you don’t need to read the first one and it’s true, but it’s nice to have a better understanding of the world and the characters, so I would recommend reading it first anyway.*
Synopsis
Kiss him. Don’t fall in love.
Break a spell with a kiss. Karina has heard and seen enough weird stuff for this request to sound
legit.
At 16, Karina has a shot at adventure—and an odd first kiss—when she’s called to Whyland, a kingdom in another dimension, to save Sian. Sian. Last time she saw him, they were in opposite sides. Still, other than trying to take the kingdom for very selfish reasons and keeping her friend hostage, he was pretty nice. And he sent her a book. Maybe he’s not that bad. Well, she’s not going to leave him enchanted just because he was a greedy jerk some months ago. And it’s not like kissing him is some kind of torture. Far from torture. Still, Karina’s smart enough not to fall in love—or at least to tell herself not to. But it turns out that risking a broken heart is the smallest of her problems. As an ancient darkness rises in Whyland, Karina will have to take a stand—and face more dangers than she’s ever expected.
If you like romantic fantasy and adventure
with snarky and witty characters, you’ll have a great time reading Kissing
Magic. This is book 2 in Portals to Whyland but you can jump straight into it
without having read book 1. This novel is recommended for readers 13 and older.
Review
Karina goes back to Whyland to save Sian from a weird spell that made him a statue. Only a kiss could wake him up and for some reason Darian expected Karina’s would work. While they tried to wake Sian up, Cayla, Darian and Karina were attacked by Kyons, sort of clay creatures that mimicked an incomplete human shape. Karina couldn’t let Sian-statue abandoned so she run and ended up teleporting to her own dimension with him.
Karina crossed her arms. “I kissed you on the cheek. Friendly kiss.”
His eyes widened, then he frowned. “That’s cheating!”
Sian finally woke up and warned Karina that the Kyons were after her. She didn’t believe they could reach her dimension, but they did and attacked her and her best friend Zoe. To save her, Karina teleported to Whyland with the Kyon and met Sian again. So, she stayed with him in the Darloom Castle to find a way to stop the Kyons. Karina repeatedly told herself to avoid falling in love. But maybe it’s not that easy.
She’d been fascinated with him from the moment she first saw him. She’d told herself he was weird. Weird were her feelings. And now she’d have to deal with them.
Meanwhile, Cayla and Darian are finally together but now they will have
a harder and unexpected problem that may end their relationship. They become
the king and queen of Whyland in Lylah’s absence.
So, the girls are clearly in bigger problems than before, and now they
must add love to the list.
Sian is seriously one of the best characters I’ve read about. He’s
really complex and has a superior intelligence. He knows how to get whatever he
wants but he’s not a murderer monster and he never lies, as he makes clear a
lot of times. It’s clear that Sian wants Karina by his side. But the question
is why?
Sian tilted his head. “Nobody believes in love at first sight. Until they do.”
Karina is amazing, she’s clearly a normal girl that found herself in the
middle of too many unknown things, but she grew up along the story becoming
braver and smarter. She still makes some silly mistakes but that’s only because
she’s naive. Above all the new things she’s living, she falls in love for the
first time and with the worst option possible (although I disagree on this).
Sian, the weird guy that flirted with her after kidnaping her and Cayla. Now
she and whole Whyland have bigger problems than ever before.
Sian stared at her. “It was a joke, then. All a joke.”
“It wasn’t. But you never told me what you wanted to do, never. You spent time away from me, probably planning whatever it is you’re going to do, and you never said anything. You never asked what I thought of that.”
Cayla and Darian have finally sorted things out, but Cayla is still stubborn,
and Darian has an extreme need of protecting her, so they have a lot of fights
around this until they both understand their mistakes. We can also see a little
more of the past of them both, which is way more interesting than expected.
Cayla snorted. “You said it all, Darian. If I made the decisions. The problem is that I don’t.”
That was unfair. “I’m doing this for you! For us!”
I can’t say much about the other characters in the book as there would probably be too much spoilers.
In summary I loved this book. I’ve liked a lot the first one but was clearly for younger people. This one has a much more complete story with much better characters, or more than that, better presented ones. The evolution of the characters, mainly Karina and Sian, is really nice. You can truly see they are growing up and learning instead of getting stuck. Something interesting are the occasional explanations of how technology works in Whyland. More worlds, more magic, more love. What else can you ask for? Also, the fairytales vibes are still here, and I love them. Therefore, I recommend this book 100%, even more than book 1.
One thing I was forgetting. I didn’t read this book, I listened to the audiobook. About the audiobook itself, the voice is really nice to listen. My only complain would be that, as it’s only one narrator, when the conversations got a little faster it was really hard for me to know who was saying what. Anyway I enjoyed it a lot. This was my first audiobook and it opened my mind for keep listening them.
Not special. Not chosen. But she’s got magical shoes.
14-year old Karina doesn’t know what she wants, but knows what she’s found—fascinating silver shoes. Fascinating, dangerous, and potentially evil. On the upside, they do bring cool visitors. When a princess invites her to go to Whyland and save her kingdom, of course she accepts. There’s that little “let’s destroy the shoes” detail she’s not crazy about, but hey, free trip, alternate world. But Whyland is nothing like she expected. Karina finds herself stuck in a kingdom she doesn’t understand, with no clue on who to trust. Before saving anyone, she’d better save herself—if she figures out how. To make matters worse, as much as the princess is fierce, determined, and brave, she’ll jeopardize everything just to reconnect with her boyfriend, almost boyfriend, or whatever. And that might just be their doom.
Step into Magic is a fun YA portal fantasy adventure. If you like books with strong heroines, friendships between girls, subtle romance, and some mystery, you’ve found your book.
Review
This story starts with a completely normal girl named Karina who falls in love with some silver shoes in a garage sale. She didn’t buy them at first but once she got home she felt the urge to go back for them. For some reason Karina decided that she wanted nobody to see the shoes and hided them in her closet as her special secret. The problem was her best friend Zoe who found the shoes and decided to “borrow” them for a dance. While Karina got furious seeing her friend with her shoes, Zoe suddenly slipped and fell from the stairs breaking her leg. Although it seemed stupid, Karina was sure it happened because she had wished her friend would take the shoes off. So, the shoes were magical and really dangerous but for some reason she didn’t throw them away.
The shoes – and what they seemed capable of doing – sent shivers down her spine.
One night a woman entered Karina’s room claiming to be the real owner of the shoes and offering a wish in exchange from them as they could not be stolen like Zoe tried.
No harm in trying. “World peace.”
“No, no, no, you have to wish something for yourself.”
“Why? That’s a good wish.”
“It is. But you see, you cannot mess with other people’s free will”.
Oh well, that meant there would be no new era on Earth thanks to her.
The woman, Lylah, said she came from another dimension and couldn’t stay long, so she would be back the next day which was more than a week later in her dimension. After she left, Karina went to sleep and woke up as she felt somebody in her room again. This time were two girls, Cayla and Ayanna, princesses from Whyland, the dimension where also Lylah came from. They needed the shoes and Karina for destroying them as they were Lylah’s fount of power and she was an evil witch that put their realm in danger. So Karina, eager for knowing about other dimension agreed to go with them to destroy the shoes and become a heroine. Unfortunately the first part of the mission seemed to be quite easy and boring.
Perhaps that was what real adventures were like: they felt ordinary and mundane when one was in the middle of them. Only later, when looking back, people would realize what it had been, which was sad because it meant nobody ever truly lived an adventure, only remembered it as one.
“Luckily” for Karina, she found out really soon that things would be harder than she expected as there were real dangers in this world and she knew nothing about it.
Characters:
There clearly are more important characters that take part in this story but I’ll just talk about the ones that I felt more important.
Karina: A normal girl eager for knowledge and adventure until she finds out that adventures where more dangerous than she expected. Most of the book is from her perspective so we are as clueless as she is about this realm we are brought into. Even though she gets easily scared in this new world she never quits in her mission and decided to be brave so she can help her new friends.
More than anything, Karina hated to be wrong. Wait. There was something worse: admitting she was wrong.
Cayla: Stubborn teenager princess. Bad combination but she’s not that bad. Her life style made her brave at a point that could be crossing the line for being reckless but she’s a really good person inside.
Cayla looked at the girl. She stared as if examining her before answering. “People in the castle are not like you” “What do you mean?” Cayla had a half smile. “They are not dumb.”
Darian: I spent most of the book trying to understand what side was he into. Darian is the “friend maybe more but not” of Cayla. He’s the son of the king’s general but was raised away from the castle. He was born with the talent of influencing people and he really gave it a use. “I’m sorry for my part in it. But I did tell Cayla it wasn’t safe to go wandering on her own. I offered to go with her, but no.”
Lylah: I don’t really know what to say about her. It’s clearly the most powerful person in the kingdom and she’s an evil witch. But, is this true?
“I was hoping this would be the day,” Lylah said. “Have you ever considered that most of what you heard in your life were lies?”
Sian: I wasn’t going to mention him as he’s not really protagonist in this story and actually we don’t really get to know him. Sian is Darian’s older brother, but they are in opposite sides of the war. However, his honest and funny personality caught me immediately.
“You don’t talk much, do you?” He smiled. “I like it! My favorite type of conversation partner. I can hear more of myself.”
In summary I loved reading this book. It’s full of small secondary stories and has friendship, a little of romance, adventure, magic and some hilarious parts. I guess I should add that if you’re of the kind that likes to get an explanation for everything, this may not be your book as lots of things just seems to happen. Anyway, this is just book I so there’s plenty of time for getting this answers. After thinking about it I believe this book it’s a lot like old fairytales, as we get immerse in a realm where we follow this girls and their companions to their destiny while our hearts get filled with magic. I recommend it a 100%.
I got the opportunity to hear the audiobook and to be honest it gives even more vibes of a fairytale. The narrator is super clear and easy to understand, but I hated the attempt to do some voices, particularly Odell’s and Nia’s. And general Keen sounds like a snake ?. Anyway I loved this audiobook.
If you liked this post please like, share & comment
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
