Gizmo's Reviews

Series: Fallen City Duology # 1
Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

Release Date: November 4, 2025
Publisher: Saturday Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical, Fantasy

Luca Matius has one purpose—to carry on the family name and maintain its presence in the Forum once his powerful and cruel uncle dies. But his noviceship with the city's Philosopher places him in the middle of a catastrophe that will alter the destiny of his people.

Maris Casperia was raised amidst the strategic maneuvers of the Citadel's inner workings, and she knows what her future holds—a lifetime of service to a corrupt city. But her years of serving as a novice to the last Priestess who possesses the stolen magic of the Old War have made her envision a different kind of future for the city. When she meets Luca, a fated chain of events is set into motion that will divinely entangle their lives.

As a secret comes to light and throws the city into chaos, Luca and Maris hatch a plot to create a calculated alliance that could tip the scales of power. But when an execution forces Luca to become the symbol of rebellion, he and Maris are thrown onto opposite sides of a holy war. As their fates diverge, they learn they are at the center of a story the gods are writing. And even if they can find their way back to each other, there may be nothing left.

Fallen City by Adrienne Young is the first installment in the Fallen City Duology, a Greco-Roman-inspired historical fantasy romance that blends political intrigue, forbidden love, rebellion, and divine intervention. Set in the opulent yet decaying walled city of Isara—divided by the Sophanes River into the elite Citadel District and the struggling lower quarters—the story unfolds across dual timelines labeled "NOW" and "BEFORE." These timelines gradually converge to reveal the full picture of a rebellion simmering for a century. The book also alternates between two protagonists (Luca Marius and Maris Casperia).

Luca Matius, a disciplined legionnaire and centurion from a powerful family tied to the Forum, burdened with carrying on his cruel uncle's legacy while apprenticing under the city's Philosopher. On the other side is Maris Casperia (or Casoeria in some descriptions), the sharp and strategic daughter of a Magistrate, raised in the corrupt inner circles of power and trained as a novice to the last Priestess who holds remnants of stolen magic from an ancient war. Their fated meeting ignites a chain of events that entangles their lives with the gods themselves.

When a dangerous secret surfaces amid growing unrest, Luca and Maris form a calculated alliance in a bid to shift the balance of power. But an execution catapults Luca into the role of reluctant rebel symbol, thrusting the lovers onto opposite sides of a holy war. Themes of loyalty, sacrifice, corruption, and divine will drive the plot, as the city teeters on the brink of collapse. The story incorporates elements like a deceptive lottery system, meddling gods, political scheming, and the weight of legacy in a society ripe for revolution.

Young's Greco-Roman-inspired world is complete with chitons, forums, legions, philosophers, and priestesses. The setting feels gritty yet glittering—opulent marble halls contrasting with the desperation of the lower districts—creating a palpable sense of a civilization on the edge of implosion. Political intrigue, class warfare, and the interplay between religion/magic and state power add layers of depth, making Isara feel alive and consequential. Dual POV enhances intimacy with each character's inner conflicts, while the divine elements—gods writing the city's story—add a mythic, almost tragic grandeur reminiscent of classical epics.

Complaints? Yes. While ambitious and effective at building mystery, the story can feel distancing or confusing for some, keeping readers at arm's length and preventing them from fully emotionally investing in Luca and Maris early on. Pacing occasionally suffers as timelines unfold, with certain revelations or emotional beats landing less impactfully due to the fragmented presentation.

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Series: Standalone
Format: 372 pages, Paperback

Release Date: March 31, 2026
Publisher: Delacorte
Source: Publisher
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Fantasy

After a devastating heartbreak, a teen girl decides to spend her summer helping her eccentric great aunt manage her quaint Vermont inn--but this fixer-upper is hiding a magical secret--in this cozy and irresistible new fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop.

Sixteen-year-old Calisa is desperate for a change of scenery after her lying ex ruins her perfect Brooklyn summer. When her parents suggest she head to rural Vermont to help her great-aunt run her cozy bed-and-breakfast for a few months, she jumps at the chance.

But when Calisa arrives at the B&B, she's shocked to find a rundown inn with only a handful of guests. And to make matters worse, upon meeting with her great-aunt it quickly becomes clear that Calisa was not invited. Auntie Zee is determined to keep anyone from messing with her beloved inn…even if it is clear she needs the help.

To earn her keep, Calisa sets to work fixing up the inn, enlisting extra help from the groundskeeper's (handsome) son. But the longer she stays, the more it becomes evident that there is something strange about the B&B—and its residents. Something almost…otherworldly.

The inn is keeping a magical secret—but to protect the place she's come to love, Calisa must unravel the truth of it, and her aunt, before it's too late.

The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst is a delightful, cozy YA fantasy that perfectly captures the healing power of a summer spent fixing up a quirky inn while uncovering family secrets and a touch of magic. Sixteen-year-old Calisa flees her Brooklyn life after a devastating breakup with her cheating ex-boyfriend, who shatters her plans for the perfect summer before senior year. Eager for escape, she heads to rural Vermont to help her eccentric great-aunt Zee run the Faraway Inn, a bed-and-breakfast she vaguely remembers from childhood as cozy and welcoming.

Upon arrival, reality hits hard: the inn is a rundown fixer-upper with a sagging porch, overgrown gardens, a dusty library, and very few guests. Grumpy Auntie Zee seems less than thrilled to have her there and actively resists any changes or help. Undeterred, Calisa rolls up her sleeves, enlists the aid of the charming groundskeeper’s son, Jack (who brings a sweet romantic spark), and sets about restoring the place with determination and Brooklyn grit. As renovations progress, strange occurrences pile up—quirky guests with odd behaviors, inexplicable events, and hints that the inn holds deeper, magical secrets.

Calisa must unravel the truth to protect the place she’s grown to love, all while learning to open her heart again and discovering her own connections to the inn’s hidden world. The story blends heartfelt coming-of-age elements with light fantasy, where doors might lead to more than just rooms, and family legacies come with whimsical surprises. The Vermont setting feels alive and inviting despite its initial shabbiness—think tangled vines, creaky floors, and a library begging for attention.

The atmosphere is frosted with joy, making readers want to check in and never leave. Calisa is a relatable, resilient protagonist whose heartbreak feels authentic without overwhelming the tone. Her growth from jaded teen to someone embracing change and magic is satisfying and gentle. Auntie Zee starts as a wonderfully grumpy, antagonistic figure but reveals layers of eccentricity and protectiveness that make her endearing.

Supporting cast members, including the handsome groundskeeper’s son and the inn’s eclectic guests, add charm, humor, and emotional depth without cluttering the narrative. The romance is a light, endearing dash of sweetness—kisses and budding connection rather than anything intense—pairing perfectly with the cozy vibe. Themes of healing from betrayal, found (or rediscovered) family, and the joy of restoration resonate strongly.

Chapter One

There were a lot of trees.

Calisa stood by the mailbox with her backpack and her suitcase and told herself very firmly that this was exactly what she needed.

Ahead of her was a forest, hemming in a one-lane road. Pine trees clustered together, the expanse of evergreens only broken by the occasional white-barked tree that stood out like a candle against the dark green. Overhead, the sky was a matte white, clouds blotting out the sun, which matched her mood—cloudy with a chance of rain.

“This is going to be an amazing summer,” she said, as if saying the words out loud would act as some kind of spell to make them come true.

She just hadn’t pictured what it would feel like to actually be here, by herself, in the middle of a truly excessive number of trees, away from everyone she knew and everything familiar. She’d been too focused on not being there.

A few weeks ago, she’d never have considered coming to Vermont by herself for two entire months, but after her world fell apart, she’d pounced on the invitation. She’d wanted to spend her summer anywhere but Brooklyn—anywhere but where Ethan, the boy who’d yanked her heart out of her chest and then stomped on it with the enthusiasm of a four-year-old in tap shoes, was going to be. It was essential self-care.

In retrospect, Calisa supposed she should have had the Uber driver take her all the way to her great-aunt’s doorstep instead of just the mailbox, but after the hours on the train and then in the car, she’d wanted to walk.

Also, the driver wouldn’t stop talking about fly-fishing. So, here she was.

It will be fine. She could tell from the clouds it wasn’t going to rain until later. And if it did, she’d packed an umbrella, though she wasn’t sure exactly where.

Everything is going to be fine.

Shouldering her backpack, Calisa hauled her suitcase down the road. On either side, the trees loomed over her. It smelled like pine and wet earth and not at all like the mix of hot gyro meat, bus fumes, coffee, and overripe trash that she associated with the street outside her family’s apartment in Park Slope. Above, birds cawed to one another with sharp, biting cries that made her feel like an intruder. Listening, she thought she heard one softer trill, a cascading chirp that was more friendly. Squirrels leaped from branch to branch, causing the forest to rustle. She wondered if Vermont had wolves. Or bears. Probably not. Or maybe yes? This wasn’t the city or even suburbia. Bears weren’t impossible. On the plus side, being attacked by a bear would make a unique party story. Or an excellent college application essay. She hadn’t started writing hers yet. On the minus side, it would not be great to be mauled.

Close beside her, the trees rustled again, and Calisa jumped. She spotted a squirrel racing up the trunk of a pine tree. Just a squirrel. Not a bear. Only my overactive imagination.

In Google Maps, it hadn’t looked that far from the main road to the bed-and-breakfast. She pulled out her phone. No signal. She shoved it back into her pocket and kept walking. Ahead, the sky was darkening as gray clouds seeped into the white.

The road twisted, and in front of her, on the left side, was a wooden sign, half devoured by ivy, with letters gouged into it that read:

THE FARAWAY INN

She exhaled and smiled.

“See,” she said to the trees. “Almost there.” She’d thought it was a melodramatic name—Vermont wasn’t that far from Brooklyn—but now that she was here in a random, possibly bear—infested forest, she decided it fit. She felt extremely far away from everything, which was exactly what she wanted.

Cheered, Calisa walked faster—and it began to rain.

At first it was just a few drops, one on her cheek, one on her head, and a few spattering on the road around her, and then it increased to a drizzle. She shivered as she walked, wishing she had worn something warmer than her favorite Brooklyn Beans T-shirt (teal with a picture of a coffee cup and the words “Brew can do it!”) and a pair of jean shorts. Mom-Kate had insisted she pack a jacket, even though it was summer, but it was shoved deep somewhere, probably with the umbrella. She didn’t want to stop to dig either of them out and risk drenching everything else in her suitcase in the process. Better to just keep walking.

A few minutes and many raindrops later, the road rose up a hill and then, as it crested, widened to reveal a hollow between slopes thick with pine trees. Behind it was a panorama of the mountains, crowned in gray clouds.

And in the center of the hollow was her great-aunt’s inn.

“Huh,” she said out loud.

Calisa hadn’t been here in years, not since she was five or six, and it did not match her memory. She thought she’d remembered a storybook inn, framed in roses and lilacs, with a burbling brook next to or behind it. Had she imagined all of that? She’d been young enough that it was one of those fuzzy kinds of memories that felt jumbled. But she’d still been expecting cute.

This . . .

It was not cute.

Well, she supposed it could have been charming once, but if so, it had been many, many years ago. Blinking through the droplets on her eyelashes, Calisa looked at the run-down inn and wondered what had happened. Auntie Zee’s B&B was gray, drab, and . . . the kindest description she could think of was “vintage distressed.” It reminded her of a squashed wedding cake. Three stories tall, it had faded and peeling paint that could have been white with ivory trim at one time but was now gray with dirtier gray. The roof was tilted, lopsided, and the shutters hung crooked on either side of the windows. One window on the second floor was boarded up with plywood. And the wraparound porch was so overrun with vines that half of it was buried beneath greenery.

It was all tremendously overgrown. The flower gardens, which Mom-Kate and Mom-Elise had gushed about while Calisa was packing—“Daffodils and lilacs and roses and lilies everywhere!” they’d said—were a mess. Okay, that was putting it mildly. Brambles and ivy from the forest sprawled across the flower beds as if they were trying to devour them. She couldn’t even see the supposed burbling brook, if there still was one.

It looked as if the forest was on the verge of swallowing the inn whole.

To be fair, her moms had said Auntie Zee was having trouble keeping up the place. It was, in fact, the reason that Mom-Kate had the idea to send Calisa here. She could help Auntie Zee and recover from her heartbreak at the same time. “Two birds with one stone,” Mom-Kate had chirped cheerfully. But Calisa didn’t think her mother had any idea how run-down it really was. If it wasn’t for a few lights inside, she’d have thought it was abandoned.

Calisa stood, staring into the hollow at the shabby bed-and-breakfast while rain slithered down her shirt and seeped into her sneakers. Her socks were already soaked, and her hair dripped on her shoulders. It wasn’t the arrival moment she’d pictured.

At least Auntie Zee will be happy I’m here. There was clearly a lot of work to do. She wasn’t afraid of hard work. Just afraid of being pathetic. Far better to be the unpaid, overworked help than the heartbroken girl everyone felt sorry for. She’d cheerfully be Cinderella so long as it meant she didn’t have to dance with any kind of prince.

Her original plan for the summer hadn’t involved any of this. Before Ethan upended everything, she’d had it all nicely mapped out: she’d secured a job at a vintage boutique called Buttons and Bell-Bottoms, which would have been fantastic. She’d work there for a few hours every afternoon, primarily playing on her phone and trying on the most random outfits she could assemble. After work, she’d meet up with her friends. She, Maddy, and Crystal had set themselves a challenge to visit every single coffee shop in Brooklyn before the end of August. Every evening, she was going to meet Ethan at the bodega where he’d be working, downstairs from her apartment. They’d have dinner (sometimes with his family, sometimes with hers, sometimes just the two of them), watch movies, and cuddle, or go out and drop in on one of Ethan’s friends’ parties. It would have been a very, very different summer than this.

Now . . . even if she spent the entire summer on nonstop yardwork and housework and whatever else until she had blisters and calluses on both hands, it was still a better option than having to see Ethan every day when she walked past the bodega and feeling as if she were being ripped to shreds from the inside out all over again.