Review: The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin

The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

At it's heart this is a beautiful story about grief and love.  Our female main character, Aurora is terrified to love anyone after seeing her mother fall to pieces after her father passed.  She loves her family, but when it comes to relationships she never wants to feel that kind of loss.  Our male lead, the Starmaker, has lived for a very long time and has become numb to losing people and has long learned to stop caring about those around him as while he has been gifted an immortal life with many comforts one of the curses is outliving those around him.  When Aurora discovers that she is to be the next Starmaker, she has a hard time coming to terms with what that means and why she was chosen.  As she trains with the Starmaker, they both must come to terms with mortality, immortality, loss, grief, love, and what it means to truly live.

The world building in this was fantastic.  The descriptions of the landscape, the animals, and the emotions of the characters was excellent.  I loved the story of the Sun and the Starmaker that is at the heart of the story.  The concept of the town and pulling in the light each day was really unique.  Unfortunately, I didn't feel the chemistry between our two main characters which is essential for me to connect with the romantic aspects of a story.  It did eventually click towards the end, but I didn't feel the yearning.  Aurora's insufferable attitude also turned me off to her character for much of the book, though she did redeem herself in the end.

Overall this was a unique story that starts off slow and builds to a satisfying end.  It has emotional ups and downs as it deals with some heavy topics.  This features Griffin's beautiful writing style and as always I look forward to reading whatever she writes in the future.

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Review: Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin

Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I received an ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.  This book releases on August 2, 2022.

I loved The Nature of Witches and was so excited to see that the author had written another book. This is not a sequel, the magic system is different and there is no character overlap between this book and the previous book. You can read them both independently, however if you have read and enjoyed The Nature of Witches, I think you will very much enjoy this one as well.

The book is set in current times where witches are a part of society and not hidden away. They have a governing body that dictates the rules and laws regarding the use of magic. People are still hesitant to welcome witches into their lives because they have seen what some of the rule breakers have done. Our main character Iris was present when her best friend cast a spell that broke tons of rules and it did not end well. Iris was unable to stop her friend from performing that spell and it changed her life forever. Now Iris and her mom run an animal sanctuary, and life is good. No one knows that they are witches and Iris gets to do what she loves. The only hiccup in her daily routine is Pike, an annoying intern working at the sanctuary. As a way to vent her frustrations, Iris performs a ritual where she casts spells and curses giving them to the earth never to be unleased. Well as you can imagine Pike finally gets on her nerves and she casts a curse for him, but it gets cast onto an owl instead of dispelled into the earth. The owl is a sacred bird that can amplify magic, and Iris will be in a whole world of trouble if her curse in unleashed on Pike.

In an attempt to undo her mistake, Iris and Pike set out to collect the owl from the forest. During their time together they have to learn to work together and put some of their differences aside. With nothing to do other than to get to know each other, they quickly realize that there is more to the other person than they thought.

This was a fun YA romance with witches. It is also fairly clean with no sex and only a bit of kissing. I thought the character development was good. Iris was constantly worrying and in her head, and Pike was constantly trying to get her out of it. It touches on what it is like to live with anxiety and fear of losing everything. Pike was constantly trying to be Mr-Know-It-All, when Iris had to correct him without letting it slip that she was a witch. Their dynamic while frustrating at times was fun to watch develop. I enjoyed their banter. The worldbuilding was great, I really enjoyed the time spent in the forest, as I also enjoy that setting myself and felt like I was there with them. The magic system isn't overly complex and I thought the author did a good job explaining how it works.

I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more from the author!

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Review: The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via Netgalley, all opinions expressed are my own.

I really loved this from the first page to the last! I really enjoyed the magic system and the witches being part of society instead of hidden amongst it. I also liked the concept of witches being a sort of climate control, and the fact that this touches on real world environmental issues that we face today. I thought that was a creative way to tell the story and create the magic system.

I thought the magic system was well explained and fairly straightforward. We have seasonal magic, where a witch has power from one of the four seasons, with the exception of Clara who is an Ever. She can access all four seasons. Clara's magic is a little more complicated and confusing than everyone else, mainly because she is the only Everwitch and the last one lived 200 years ago. Not much is known about them and what they can do. As she learns about her power, so do we.

I thought the worldbuilding was well done, which is not something you typically get a ton of in a more urban fantasy type of book. Books set in the real world versus a fictional world don't tend to spend a ton of time describing the scenery, but I thought the author did a good job with it here. Because the magic is connected to nature and most of it is done outside, I think that the descriptions of what was happening really helped paint the picture of what Clara and the other students were able to do with their magic.

This was a great YA fantasy. It has a sweet romance and a ton of self-discovery. This has great side characters. They played an integral part in Clara's character development and were great friends to her even when she tried to push them away. I don't think Clara would have ever gotten control of her magic and accepted it had it not been for Paige and Sang. She finally came to terms with the grief over the loss of her loved ones and the responsibility she has by being the only one of her kind.

If you like urban fantasy, magical schools, witches, I'd give this a read. I really loved it!

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