by Monica Sanz
Genre: YA Paranormal/Mystery & Suspense
Release Date: September 4th 2018
Entangled Teen
Summary:
Abomination. Curse. Murderer. All names hurled at eighteen-year-old Seraphina Dovetail. As the seventh-born daughter to a witch, she’s the cause of her mother losing her powers and, in turn, her life.
Abandoned as a child, Sera dreams of becoming an inspector and finding her family. To do that, she must be referred into the Advanced Studies Program at the Aetherium’s Witchling Academy. Her birth order, quick temper, and tendency to set things on fire, however, have left her an outcast with failing marks…and just what Professor Nikolai Barrington is looking for.
The tall, brooding, yet exceedingly handsome young professor makes her a proposition: become his assistant and he’ll give her the referral she needs. Sera is quickly thrust into a world where witches are being kidnapped, bodies are raised from the dead, and someone is burning seventhborns alive. As Sera and Barrington grow ever closer, she’ll discover that some secrets are best left buried…and fire isn’t the only thing that makes a witch burn.
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My Rating: A+
My thoughts on the book:
Witch books are usually hit or miss with me, but I absolutely loved Seventh Born. I stayed up half the night reading the book, and I was so glad when I checked online and found out it is part of a series because I am not ready to say goodbye to these characters or this world yet. Sure, there are tons of books out there about ostracized witches and outcasts and betrayal, etc., etc. This book stands out, though... it has feeling. On top of that, it has a murder mystery that is actually well done! Add that to well-developed characters and top of the line world-building, and you have Seventh Born. This novel completely captivated me.
The heroine, Seraphina Dovetail (her friends call her Sera), can't remember her past. On top of that, she has PTSD from the past that she can remember, which results in her having issues controlling her magic if she feels threatened or has a flashback, so she kind of sets a lot of things on fire. Her PTSD reactions are really spot-on, though. I know that everyone handles things differently and PTSD presents itself differently in everyone, like all illnesses, but it was easy to believe that Sera has PTSD. It's not diagnosed as such in the book (I think this was set in the Victorian era... or a similar equivalent for the world Sera and co. live in), but it's pretty obvious. Sera is a wonderful leading lady, and so empathetic, even though she has walls up and trusts no one. It's clear she is a good person from the beginning. In addition to Sera, we have a full cast of well-developed secondary characters, including her best friend Mary, the popular boy Timothy, and Professor Barrington. None of these characters are what you'd expect, though. There are no cookie cutter or filler characters in these novels. I felt like I got to know everyone Sera interacted with, at least as well as she knew them, and that is a rare find.
The world building in this novel was fantastic. I could clearly picture the world that Sera lived in, and I understood the rules of the world. That's always difficult to do in a fantasy style novel. There were no info dumps, though. Everything was paced out nicely. Sanz wrote beautifully, too. I absolutely loved a lot of the lines in the book. The plot was complex, and the "big reveal" actually surprised me, and that doesn't happen often. It was still believable, though. While we found out around the middle of the book who was doing the killings, we get a nice big betrayal at the end that I didn't see coming at all. The ending tied this book up nicely and leaves room for a sequel.
Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy/paranormal novels that are set in alternate realities/historic type worlds with strong leading ladies and wonderful writing. Give this book a try. You won't be sorry.
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