A Shadow Bright and Burning #1 | 416 Pages | 2016

A Shadow Bright and Burning at a Glance

• Overall Rating: ★★★★
• Heroine: My speech writer
• Dude: Which one?
• Steaminess: PG folks
• Brutality: see CW

Pairs Well With

A nice moscato

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Review

I feel like I have to add some content warnings lately. This isn’t something that I normally do and I may not be consistent about it, but I’m going to try to be.

CW: child abuse 

“Corsets were not designed for battling monsters.”

Oh girl, I believe that. I had a lot of fun reading this story. It’s quick and fun and full of magic. 

Henrietta is found to be the first female sorcerer in years, the chosen one. Or is she? She might be a magician, which are outlawed. Yes, it’s a strange and discriminatory magic system, but it’s all explained. She finds herself in the home of a sorcerer along with a harem of male trainees, which seemed kind of lame, but was actually fun. Sounds like a typical cookie-cutter YA right?

Honestly, I didn’t want another story of this perfect girl who had all of the guys falling at her feet. Luckily, that isn’t what we got! Yes, there are some stereotypical guys, the fuckboys, the brooding hero etc. But, It doesn’t play out the way you would expect. At least not in the first book. I haven’t read the rest of the series yet, so who knows. 

It was just a fun and refreshing read. Not too heavy, but it also had some depths. 

“If you’re so certain,” I said, my voice rocky and low, “that the poor are born inferior, then all the shame in the world on you for not protecting them. If people are born generation after generation into poverty and deprivation, it is your duty to look after them, not sacrifice their lives to save your own!”

YES. Henrietta is a fighter and her power speeches are fantastic. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself and she instills loyalty because of this. Her and her little band of men are adorable. If you have some time and have this on your backlist, pick this one up because it’s so much fun!

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Have you read A Shadow Bright and Burning? Let me know what you thought in the comments! 

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