#Review - The Bookbinder's Daughter by Jessica Thorne #Fantasy

Series: Standalone?
Format: Kindle, 269 pages
Release Date: September 20th 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy

The song surrounded her now, the murmuring of the library insistent, and her foot took the first step on the winding stairs. She knew it wasn’t entirely a dream. It was the library calling her, its magic driving her.

When Sophie is offered a job at the Ayredale Library – the finest collection of rare books in the world, and the last place her bookbinder mother was seen when Sophie was just a teenager – she leaps at the chance. Will she finally discover what happened to the woman she’s always believed abandoned her?

Taking in the endless shelves of antique books, the soaring stained-glass windows, and the grand sweeping staircase, usually shy Sophie feels strangely at home, and is welcomed by her eccentric fellow binders. But why is the Keeper of the Library so reluctant to speak about Sophie’s mother? And why is Sophie the only person who can read the strange spells in the oldest books on display, written in a forgotten language nobody else understands?

The mysteries of the library only deepen when Sophie stumbles upon an elaborately carved door. The pattern exactly matches the pendant her mother left behind years ago, engraved with a delicate leaf. As the door swings open at her touch, Sophie gasps at the incredible sight: an enormous tree, impossibly growing higher than the library itself, its gently falling golden leaves somehow resembling the pages of a book. Amidst their rustling, Sophie hears a familiar whisper…

‘There you are, my Sophie. I knew you’d come back for me.’

Jessica Thorne's The Bookbinder's Daughter introduces readers to a magical library that holds all the secrets and mysteries of the world since the beginning of time. For hundreds of years, the Special Collection held a place at the heart of the library and archival world. The library is right up there with the Library of Alexandria and the Vatican SecretArchives for its mystical properties and secrecy. Sophie Lawrence works in the Conservation Department for the Academy in London. The Academy has always been Sophie's refuge from the world. Sophie works on rebinding, repairing, and restoring older books. 

After bereavement leave after the loss of her father, she receives a visitor. The visitor is Head of Acquisitions at Ayredale's Special Collections who just happens to be her uncle Dr. Edward Talbot her mother's younger brother. For Sophie, the Special Collections is the place where she grew up and had a special connection to until 15 years ago when her mother disappeared, and her father took Sophie away which ended up with Sophie losing all memories of her past in the library. It's a frustrating thing not to know what happened 15 years ago, and why she has been having vivid memories of a mysterious tree which she apparently has a connection to. 

So, when Edward offers her a position within the Special Connection as a conservator and specialist binder, how can she say no? Coming back to the library sparks Sophie’s memory and she begins to start remembering bits and pieces of what happened the day she lost her mother. She begins to remember that this library is not just an average library but a powerhouse for the world's history and creativity, and the staff are not just librarians but keepers and guardians of all the world’s knowledge and treasures. And so is the boy, Will Rhys, she left behind.  

One of the most prevalent storylines in this book is Sophie's memory loss and her supposed Dyslexia. Despite being dyslexic, Sophie finds a particular book, the oldest book on display actually, and it is full of spells - spells that apparently only she can read. How is it that she cannot read even the simplest of things without difficulty but she can read these spells in what is most certainly a forgotten language? 

Will Rhys is an assistant librarian as well as the guardian of the library. Sophie and Will grew up together. Will was heartbroken when her father took Sophie away. Now that she's back, the past needs to be revealed as well. What really happened the day 15 years ago when Elizabeth Talbot disappeared? Her family has been associated with the library since its creation many millennia before our story. Her romance blossoms with Will, though thankfully not in exquisite, sexual detail, and not so much that it takes from the story. 

I personally thought the final chapters were the best in the entire book. I hated Sophie's alleged boyfriend who was a controlling butt head. He can't stand the thought of Sophia having a life, or a life without him controlling every aspect of her life. There are villains and there are good people. It's up to you to figure out who is who.  

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#Review - Nightborn by Jessica Thorne #YA #Fantasy #Romance

Series: The Hollow King #2
Format: Kindle, 382 pages
Release Date: May 26, 2020
Publisher: Bookouture
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

Like deep dark water, it pulls them down. The faint fire of magic within them flickers and dies. Their eyes turn black as night. They are nightborn now.

Grace Marchant has been many things: streetwise orphan, rebellious servant, and now beloved companion of Prince Bastien, heir to the throne of Larelwynn. But their sunlit happiness is not destined to last. The golden magic which brought them together in purest passion is threatened by strange and ancient forces. Innocent people are becoming nightborn – cruel, deadly, unrecognizable to their loved ones – and these two young lovers are the only ones with power enough to stop it.

In times of peace, striking a deal with their closest enemy would be unthinkable, but now their only hope is to ally with the neighboring Valenti royal family: manipulative, cunning, and always with an eye on the Larelwynn throne. The partnership comes at a devastating price… if Grace wants to defeat the nightborn, she must watch Bastien marry a Valenti princess.

Grace knows she must make this heart-wrenching sacrifice for the good of the whole kingdom – but she also fears the magic in her veins, usually so warm and bright, is turning cold as deepest midnight. A beguiling darkness whispers to her from within. Is Grace herself becoming nightborn?

Time is running out. With Bastien promised to another, and a stony distance growing between them, will Grace find the source of the nightborn curse before every last soul is consumed by the darkness?

Combining sizzling romance, courtly intrigue, and heart-in-your-mouth action, this dark and addictive fantasy series is perfect for fans of Graceling and Emily R. King.

Nightborn is the second installment in author Jessica Thorne's The Hollow King series. This story picks up 3 months after the ending of Mageborn. There are several key characters that readers must pay attention to: Captain Grace Merchant, Queen Aurelie, Asher Kane, Kurt Parry & Bastien Larelwynn. Once upon a time, a terrible plague known as the Nightborn descended on the world. Their magic was wild and dangerous and nothing could control them.  

Lucien Larelwynn made a pact with the Hollow King to separate magic from the ruling monarchy and to keep it under strict control. The pact Lucien demanded of the Hollow King bound one member of his bloodline to control all the mageborn. As the story opens, Grace, Bastien, and Grace's remaining squad mates (Ellyn de Bruyn & Daniel Parry & Lyric Misha) are in a foreign court, where Bastien is playing -or rather trying not be played by - courtly games which might end with him being married to Princess Rynn.

Grace and Bastien need the Valenti's help in order to stop Aurelie from furthering her magic addiction that has seen mageborns rounded up and imprisoned or worse. But, the Valenti monarchy has other ideas. Tales have reached Grace of mageborn being rounded up and locked away. Aurelie and Asher as trying to use Mageborn to harness their powers and enslave them with a bit of help from Bastien's psychotic sister Celeste. Even in the Valenti Island's where Grace sent those Mageborn saved by Kurt Parry, they're not safe from machinations of powerful people.

Aurelie and Asher haven't stopped their determination to control Bastien and will go to any lengths to get what they want including killing Grace and taking her warrant as well as using a memory remover to ensure that Bastien doesn't remember her. It also means using Princess Rynn to become the next Queen of Rathlynn. Previously, Grace was given the King's Warrant by former King Marius so that she can protect Bastien. But, protecting him might cost her everything including her friends who have stood with her through thick and thin. Meanwhile something odd is happening to the Mageborn.


They are being converted, filled with darkness and turned into vicious and powerful Nightborn. There's no way to save them, and the only way to destroy them is to kill them or let them kill themselves. Grace, who is a firestarter (Flint), powers are dangerously close to turning Nightborn. After losing them for so long, having her abilities again may be catastrophic. The only way to stop the Nightborn may be returning to the source of the Maegen, source of all magic, and trying to find a cure even it if means a sacrifice.


This story has plenty of action, suspense, betrayal, romance and new characters like Lara Kellen along with Jehane Alvaran who is a very dangerous character. We also learn way more about Ellyn and her roots which really make this story deeper in depth. Don't over look Princess Rynn. While she may be a pawn like Grace and Bastien, Rynn isn't a character that is powerless or worthless. However, in fairness, this series needs a sequel. Sequences at the end of this book leave way too many unsolved story lines that really need answers. Especially when it comes to Grace and Bastien's future.

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#Review - Mageborn by Jessica Thorne #Fantasy #Romance

Series: The Hollow King #1
Format:Kindle Edition, 303 pages
Release Date: February 18th 2020 
Publisher: Bookouture
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

Sold to the Crown in the aftermath of the Last Great War, Grace Marchant has never known her parents. Now, she trains as an elite soldier tracking down mageborn – those born with an ancient and long-outlawed magic – and destroying them if they don’t surrender their power to the Crown.

The mageborn who submit are collared, then handed over to the King’s cousin and heir: the elusive Bastien Larelwynn, Lord of Thorns, locked away in his shadowy workshop deep inside the castle. What becomes of them is hard to say – the Lord of Thorns keeps his secrets close.

Grace has always fought the voice inside her that questions whether the law is truly just, but when her closest friend is next on Bastien’s list, Grace’s loyalties are tested to the limit. Confronting Bastien – searching his strangely compelling obsidian-black eyes for answers – Grace is shocked to feel herself begin to change, to show the first signs of the wild magic she so fears.

Only the Lord of Thorns has the power to save her and the rest of the mageborn – if he doesn’t destroy them all first…

Mageborn is the first installment in author Jessica Thorne's The Hollow King series. This story actually has two main characters which the author alternates her story with: Lieutenant Grace Marchant and Bastien Larelwynn. Grace was apparently dumped off at the Academy when she was a child after having her magic, called Flint (Firestarter), ripped out of her. Grace and her squad (Daniel, Ellyn, Kai) are trained to track down wild Mageborn, those who possess dangerous magic, who refuse to submit to the Crown.

 

After four bodies are found in four weeks with hands that looked like they were burnt, and her own mageborn teammate (Kai) goes hollow, Grace's only hope might lie with Bastien, the so called Lord of Thorns, to understand what is happening and why. Coincidentally, Grace also has burns on her hands. Grace, who is a rising star among the Academy elite, hasn't told anyone that she was born a mageborn since she no longer has access to her powers, nor does she care to be collared like other mageborn are required to be. 

 

Grace wants to hate the man who finished off her ailing friend, but Grace & her supposed non-existent magic, finds herself drawn to Bastien and how he is able to unfurl her magic that she thought was long gone. In a world where Mageborn are forced to obey the Crown, collared and used by It, Grace struggles to keep her secret magic hidden. Grace has tried hard not to have her loyalty questioned by the Crown, but with Bastien watching her like a hawk, she finds herself conflicted. 

 

As the two work together seeking answers to multilevel mysteries, Grace starts to see Bastien in a new light. He's not the boogeyman that everyone claims he is. Yes, he is dangerous, but he also genuinely cares for the mageborn as proven in one particular scene at the Academy. Grace swore to uphold the law and protect those who cannot help themselves. But, what if the law is actually hurting people? Curiously, both Grace and Bastien struggle with memories of their past. Grace doesn't remember her parents, or who took away her powers, or how she ended up at the Academy. Sure, there are those who probably do know the truth, but Grace hasn't solved that mystery yet.

 

This world is built on a legacy where the Hollow King was supposedly defeated by a man known as Lucien Larelwynn. The pact Lucien demanded of the Hollow King bound one member of his bloodline to control all the mageborn. Fast forward, Bastien Larelwynn is the cousin to the King known as Marius the Good. Marius is slowly dying and without a heir with Queen Aurelie, the crown will likely end up Bastien's. However, as a mageborn himself, Bastien isn't supposed to sit on the throne. 

 

Herein lies the crux of the story. Bastien is powerful but he also struggles with memories that seem to have been erased. He can take magic away from any mageborn and he knows that there is something about Grace that she isn't saying. He's under constant attack by those who don't want to see Bastien as King. Grace is given the King's Warrant by Marius so that she can protect Bastien. But, protecting him might cost her everything that she's done since becoming a squad leader, and given a raise to the rank of Captain. 

 

There are political games and betrayal deeply ingrained into this story from the Queen herself, to various other secondary characters, to Bastien's sister Celeste who might be the creepiest character in this story. Everywhere Grace and Bastien go, they are hunted by forces that want to control Bastien and thus the mageborn. As the story unravels, the more readers will learn about Grace, her past, and her powers that seem to somehow grow stronger, and Bastien's past which will make sense once you realize there is so much more to him than meets the eye test.  

Personally, I think the overall story could have benefited from going even more in debt on the whole mage born history and current affairs. Another wish of mine; more character development especially for Ellyn and Daniel who have been with Grace since they were kids. The ending builds up the suspense for what is supposed to come in the next installment.

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