Enjoyed it but not enough to become a new favorite. The world can be a bit difficult to follow, especially at the beginning. Don't think it's a series I will be following through with, but there's definitely an audience for this story.

This book was nothing like I thought it was going to be. I didn’t have a lot of expectations going into it because I didn’t know much about the story itself. I had heard that this book was supposedly a Phantom of the Opera and Moulin Rouge mashup, but I haven't seen either one of those so I was really in the dark on what this story was going to be about. I think that ultimately served me very well because I was completely in the dark on where the story was going to go and that made the plot twists that much more shocking.

This ultimately ended up being a really solid read for me. This universe and the storyline are both very and truly unique. I also found a lot of the characters to be likeable and interesting. With the said, I did have some issues with the main character, Kallia. She just wasn’t that relatable or my cup of tea.

I definitely have a lot of theories for the next installment, but I think all of those theories are probably going to be turned on their heads based on this book.

What a fantastical story this was. Angeles managed to grab my attention in the first chapter and kept a hold of it until the last page. I cannot wait to see where this story goes. If you are looking for magic and action and everything amazing that you don't even know you're looking for then this is the book for you. Get ready to step into a uniquely build world and be amazed and wowed by all the things this talented author brought to life.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First things first, this is Kallia's story. If you're going into this book expecting a large cast of characters to care about, you're going to be disappointed. This is a story about a showgirl/magician and her hopes and dreams. The other characters do not need to be as developed as Kallia because they are not the ones you are supposed to care about. Again, this is Kallia's story.

Kallia is running from the club she has been trapped in by illusions in the hopes of something better, something that she can control. She enters a mysterious city, finds a quick companion, and makes her way to the stage for an audition in the magician's competition. Now, I already said this is Kallia's story, and it is. However, this book is also about the city itself, and the city seems to be angry.

**Potential spoilers below**

If you can't tell by now, I've read the negative reviews of this book, and I think they're ridiculous. The main complaints I've seen include the fact that you feel nothing for the disappearing magicians. Great! You're not supposed to. This is Kallia's story. The disappearing magicians are nothing but a plot device, and that's fine. I never once felt like I was missing out because I didn't know who they were or why there were there. This was not their story. Instead, their disappearances are meant to make the reader question who or what is causing the disappearances and if Jack (The Master of the club Kallia has run away from) is behind it all or if he's truly trying to heed warnings.

Jack is abusive. There's no question about that. He's manipulative and abusive, and his character is completely confusing and his motivations are unclear. THIS IS FINE. This is the first book in a series. If everything wrapped up cleanly by the end, there would be no book two. Instead, we're left wondering what Jack was trying to warn Kallia about, how he knew about DeMarco, and more specifically, *what exactly he knows about DeMarco*.

That leads me to... DeMarco. While at times this felt like it could also be his story, it is not. It is Kallia's story. DeMarco is looking for his missing sister. We learn how she went missing later in the book (why are so many people complaining about loose ends and plots that don't make sense when we literally have one right here that we're watching pan out very, very clearly?), and we learn how that affected him as a stage magician. HOWEVER, considering the way she disappeared and Kallia's intense phobia of the *same thing*, this is clearly a set up for something involving Kallia and potentially Jack.

A lot of the angry, negative reviews of this book, in my opinion, treated this book like a standalone and not the opening to a series. Yes, there are loose ends and things that don't make sense. However, (those of you who DNF...) if you'd taken the time to get to the end, you'd see how all those loose ends meet up and set up book 2, a book that I cannot wait to get my hands on and am quite upset I have to wait so long to get.

A little bit of mixed emotions about this one, but all together a good first book in a series. It checked all the boxes for me, I'm interested and invested at this point, I only wish there would have been a bit more solidity in certain things by the ending.

The writing was quite beautiful, it skirted the edge of purple prose at times but ultimately I felt it wasn't too over the top for me. I thought the author did a great job at setting the scenes. There was a captivating contrast between the cold bleak backdrop of a dying town and the invigorating colorful splashes of magic at play. The fact that magic also held this undertone of mystery and danger only made it that much more exciting and intriguing.

I could see some having issue with how boisterous and exorbitantly headstrong Kallia can be. Honestly, I loved every minute of it. I loved how daring and passionate she was. In the face of a world where magic was a man's game, she unabashedly held nothing back when flaunting her talents. I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of the story. Were there times where she used excess bravado to push back? YUP. Were there times she could have let someone in and shown a bit of the worry she struggled with? Uh huh. But I honestly totally get putting on your game face and not letting your haters, and even sometimes your friends, see the obstacles get you down. I think it made a lot of sense after Kallia was so deeply violated recently for her to be more on guard for awhile in who she let fully in.

I really enjoyed a bunch of the other characters too. Jack is a big ole mystery that I really want to know more about. He falls pretty well into this dark grey place right now, he's not the hero but I'm not sure he's the fully the villain either. There's so much to be learned about him still. I would have liked to get even a few more morsels of information about him before the end, the few crumbs we got really only made like 20 new questions emerge. Demarco was one I wasn't quite sure if I'd end up liking or not for awhile. I was glad more about him was revealed towards the end, it gave him depth that seemed to be lacking the first half of the book with him being so closed off and broody. Aaros brought a much needed cheeky lightness to the fold. I hope to see even more from him in future books. Also, the entire magic circus, more of that whole troupe please, because they were fabulous!

There was a ton of intrigue throughout this one, but ultimately not many revelations by the end. I would have liked at least a few of the many mysteries to come to some sort of fruition, but as I said before, this author can really set a scene. Where Dreams Descend set the stage for the second act and it is full of many deliciously wicked possibilities!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changed my opinion of the book.

So I was under the impression this was going to be kind of like Phantom of the Opera and kind of like Six of Crows. There's a mystery that needs solving and there's a team of people who each have their own secrets, but their own skills to help get the job done. I liked both of those books and I've seen this book hyped a lot by others who had read it. I was excited. I COMPLETELY missed the review from Claire Legrand comparing it to Caraval. I would've had much different expectations had I seen that.

Where Dreams Descend is mostly about a magician named Kallia, a powerful female magician who wants to prove herself on stage. She goes to the lost city of Glorian to compete in a magic competition where she meets Daron Demarco, a famous magician and judge who has a dark past. As the competition starts, unfortunate "accidents" start befalling the contestants and it's up to Kallia and Demarco to try and stop it.

First off, this book took me THREE MONTHS to get through. I was that disengaged. Every time I picked it up, I'd get a little further and then put it down again. I finally said enough's enough and forced myself to finish it. I was very bored in a book about magic and magical accidents. That should be near impossible for me. I love Fantasy books. Most of that is due to the characters. I just didn't really care about them or their goals.

-Kallia is a stereotypical "headstrong female lead" who's kind of abrasive but you know it's to hide that she's vulnerable underneath the shell. She bends the rules a lot and then gets upset when people call her out on it.

-Demarco has this secret for nearly the whole book. You can figure out what it is and who it involves pretty early on, so it's frustrating from a reader standpoint to wait until over 80% of the book is done for him to FINALLY confirm what you already knew forever ago.

-The judges of the competition, minus Demarco and another judge named Erasmus, are almost comically sexist. Like the sexist version of a mustache twirling villain who puts damsels on train tracks. Every time Kallia performs, she way outdoes the other contestants (all men) and the other judges are like "WHAT?! a WOMAN?! Performing MAGIC?!?! *clutches pearls*". It gets tedious the longer that shtick goes on. You'd think at SOME point, her talent would show them they should rethink their preconceived notions, but then we can't have it hammered over our heads that women can't be stage magicians and should be assistants, but KALLIA is a FEMALE MAGICIAN with a MALE ASSISTANT! CRAZY! Also, they make a big deal of Kallia bending the rules and call her out for "cheating", but then they blatantly cheat left and right and write it off because it's of benefit to the male contestants. They don't really have character traits other than "sexist".

-There's also Jack, who is Kallia's teacher and the "Phantom" character. His big twist comes way too late in the book and before that, he's pretty much just the Phantom of the Alastor Place instead of the Opera. If you've seen or read Phantom, you'll see the similarities very quickly.

It definitely reminded me of Caraval in that the magic system was kind of random, it wasn't really explained how it works, and characters shrug off any irregularities. For example, "The cane must've been riddled with all sorts of tailoring gear somehow". This is something Stephanie Garber did, too, and it drove me nuts. The word "somehow" should not show up in reference to the magic system of your world. It sounds like even you don't know how it works. YOU created it. You should know how everything in the world works and be able to explain it. She also does that thing Garber does where the metaphors are nonsensical. For example, "falling like wishes granted". I feel like she meant to evoke a falling star here, but it sounds very flowery for the sake of being flowery and doesn't really make sense. I feel like if you REALLY loved Caraval, this is for you. I didn't, so I was irritated with this.

I know this is a duology, but the ending left a LOT open and a lot of loose threads. By the time some of the "secrets" you're waiting for are revealed, I didn't care about them anymore, so I most likely won't read book two to find out what happens. There are new characters introduced with less than 20% of the book left, which left me wondering why instead of just saving them for the second book.

The one saving grace of this book was Kallia's stage assistant, Aaros. Aaros is a cinnamon roll and needs to be protected at all costs! He's very funny and protective. He's a great friend to Kallia. I loved him. He was the only character I really cared about and I wish there had been more of him. I understand this wasn't really possible because they have to work in that love story. However, I would read a book just about Aaros and his life before he got dragged into this mess. One star just for Aaros.

All in all, if you liked Caraval, then you will probably love this. It just wasn't for me.

I'd like to begin by thanking NetGalley and Wednesday Books. I was provided an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Comparing your novel to the likes of Moulin Rouge, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Night Circus is a bold move. Ballsy, in fact. All three titles are timeless classics in their own right, or, at the very least, celebrated for being speculator debuts inside of their given genre. It's an easy sell, and a nigh impossible delivery. I'm sorry to report that Where Dreams Descend doesn't deliver. I wanted to like this book. The buzz/hype surrounding it seemed surreal and promising, especially for a first novel. It was so overhyped on Goodreads, that one comment breathlessly claimed that they 'had very strong feelings that this book would be making its way into subscription boxes this summer.' Well, yes. But not for the reasons you'd expect.

Don't misunderstand. I was swept up in the same giddy, infectious excitement. I was delighted when my request for the eARC was granted. I have a deep, abiding love for magic, over the top showmanship, magicians, and showy dance numbers. Yet, strangely, for a book that promises to incorporate all of those things and more, there was surprisingly little magic or showmanship in Where Dreams Descend. While I had high hopes for this novel, it was ultimately a disappointing slog that failed to hold my interest.

In this review, I'll do my best to outline the various issues I had with Ms. Angeles debut, as honestly as possible.


Writing quality/readability - 3/5 From a purely technical standpoint, Where Dreams Descend is an easy read. The writing style is direct and to the point. It is also, unfortunately, very spartan. For a novel that centers around showmanship, magic, and the stage, the writing is surprisingly bland. To put it bluntly: there's no magic in the writing itself. No sense of wonder or suspense. Janelle Angeles has stumbled, here; succumbing to a common pitfall of YA, where the writing feels watered down to the point where she inadvertently talks down to her audience. Forgetting, I think, that YA isn't just for ages 12 - 19. I didn't connect with the writing style, and because of that, the score suffered. The writing wasn't compelling/gripping enough to hold my attention. But, if you like no-frills and little description, Where Dreams Descend meets this criteria. In this case, I've scored purely on readability; not necessary because it's an enjoyable read.

Plot - 1/5 Oh, goodness. Where to begin? This is perhaps a question Ms. Angeles should have asked herself as well, as Where Dreams Descend is very slow to start. Nothing of note happens until 69% of the way through the book. I'm willing to chalk this up to a rookie mistake for a first time author/ a poor pacing decision, but unfortunately, my eyes were glazing over by the time the semblance of a plot took shape. Even then, I was left with more questions than answers. This is a novel that suffers heavily from unresolved loose ends/plot holes.

There's also the fact that for a novel about magicians, magical competitions, and the stage, very little of the above is ever actually shown. It certainly isn't the focus of the novel. The blurb is misleading, in that respect. We're promised magic. What we get is an overdone heterosexual will they/won't they? romance, a stereotypical "feisty" PoC, and...plot holes. Lots and lots of plot holes.

Characterization - 2/5 In this case, the score is generous. The characters in Where Dreams Descend felt very...flat. Perhaps 'underdeveloped' is a better word. Unfortunately, across the board, Kallia, Aaros, the mysterious 'The Master' aka Jack, and even the love interest Daron were one dimensional. Kallia quickly goes from being a sympathetic character to thoroughly unlikable. She's also reduced to the role of the 'hysterical/haughty woman,' depending on who she interacts with, and (I'm still bitter about this) the 'feisty/mouthy/aggressive PoC woman.' Ugh. Just...ugh.

Jack is introduced as the antagonist early on, and plays such a minor role/contributes so infrequently to the plot that he's instantly forgettable. While it's obvious that he's meant to be a nod to The Phantom, he mostly serves as barely more than a stereotypical Scooby Doo villain for the duration of the novel.

Even the circus performers fall flat. They're hastily introduced, brought back when it's convenient to the plot, and then banished from sight/mention again, with no growth or development. Aaros is the one saving grace, and even he doesn't live up to his full potential. He's also the only thing saving this score. If I could give a 0 for this category, I would.

World Building - 0/5 The elusive 0/5 made an appearance, after all. That's because, unfortunately, there's nothing to score. Where Dreams Descend has a glimmer of a world, but unfortunately, it's never fully explored or explained. Even the characters claim that they know nothing of the city/town that the majority of the novel takes place in, beyond a certain point.

Yikes. This is unfortunately lazy writing. Irredeemably lazy writing. And incredibly frustrating, to boot.

I had high hopes for this novel. It was unfortunately a far cry from what I signed up for. I doubt I'll have the interest (or the masochism,) to return for book 2.

Where Dreams Descend follows Kallia as she auditions for a contest amongst magicians where women are not supposed to compete. During this competition, people start mysteriously getting hurt and disappearing.

This book is so disappointing that it makes me angry. It didn't live up to the books it was compared to: The Night Circus and Caraval.

There was no plot from this book other than the competition that Kallia is participating in. There were threads that were mentioned but never brought up again and side plots what had no relevance or significant meaning to them. The romance was not slow burn, it came out of nowhere. Everything is very convenient in this story. Information pops up out of nowhere to further the plot instead of subtly putting it earlier in the book.

The characters were so one dimensional. Most of them didn't have a names. The actions of the people who do have some development make no sense.

The world building doesn't exist. Kallia is an overpowered character with "born magic" which is inherently stronger than "learned magic". We don't know the boundaries of the magic system. We don't know much of anything about the world at all. This is easily explained by the fact that no one knows the history of the city, but that's just lazy writing.

The writing for this baffles me. This book is 70% feminist statements Kallia thinks up on how sexist this world is. I don't mind a feminist book, but I do mind the blatant hypocrisy of this since if the roles were reversed, Kallia would be considered sexist. She gets a pass though, since she's a woman in this story. It is not acceptable to have a female character throw feminist statements out there when this character is verbally abusive to every male character and most female characters. This female character physically abused two male characters, one of which is the love interest! This female character doesn't doesn't actually care about the feminist issues she brings up (sexism amongst stage magicians) otherwise she would be uplifting other women to do the same thing. She doesn't embody any feminist trait. She is rude, arrogant, self centered, and a hypocrite. She still somehow has a love interest!

This book is incredibly problematic and YA readers deserve better than this. YA readers should have protagonists that care about lifting other people up with them when they face sexism. There needs to be better examples of this in books, and Where Dreams Descend is an incredibly poor example.

1/5

Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 3
Pace: 3
Plot development: 3
Characters: 3
Enjoyability: 3
Ease of Reading: 3

Overall rating: 3 out of 5

I really loved and enjoyed this book. It got me out of a huge reading slump! I loved the whole atmosphere of the world, the magic system was good and the characters were amazing. The book was well-paced, it took time to develop the characters, their friendships and the world but it wasn't boring and I really enjoyed reading about them.
Kallia was really powerful, a little bit too powerful at times. I couldn't really believe in her and her abilities because everyone seemed so weak compared to her. I loved all the characters, they were all well developed, the friendships were so endearing and fun to read about. I also loved the romance! It's a bit of a love triangle but I didn't mind it. I really liked the plot twist at the end, and the vilain was someone I really enjoyed seeing and reading about.
I only wish we had more POC and LGBTQ+ characters in this book. I hope there will be more of them in the next books. I Highly recommend checking this book out when it’s out!

E-arc provided by Netgalley in exchange of an honest review!

I wish this had worked for me--it has all the things I would love in a story. But the prose felt awkward and I couldn't connect. I also really wanted a better, richer atmosphere, but instead I felt there was a reliance on telling instead of showing, and ultimately I didn't even finish the book.

I enjoyed reading this, but I wish we had some answers!

The plot is interesting, there's a world where people can be born with great magical powers or acquire it through work or other means (not sure what those are), there are dark powers we don't know anything about and something sinister is going on. I liked Kallia as our lead character, she's bold and strong and won't let anyone bring her down. I enjoyed seeing her magic and her romance with Demarco is sweet.
However, the story seemed to drag and we didn't get any answers about the town's secrets, the mirror world, who or what Jack is, and what happened to Eva. It was a lot of buildup with no payoff. I wanted more than questions, we needed information so it didn't feel like stumbling around in the dark. At least tell us more about the families or what the cards mean.

I did have fun reading this and trying to guess what was going on. I also liked that the romance was a slow build and didn't take over the story. Aaros is also a great sidekick and I adore him. Plus, awesome female circus performers!

I received an advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I had to try a few times to start this book, but I am so glad I kept trying. It has been such an enjoyable read. Enough mystery to keep me reading, subtle hints of romance without being in your face, characters you can relate to even without having lived their experiences...it is all there. I will be looking forward to the next one!

I haven't finished the book yet. I think eventually I will but it's not capturing my attention and I have other books that do. It's not bad. But it hasn't sucked me in. And I feel like the main character is too trope-y, too chosen one, too special. Not realistic (which yes I know this book is about magic, am I supposed to expect realism?) I'm still intrigued about certain things and I think once I really dedicate myself to reading it I might enjoy it more. We'll see but until then this book is just okay. But with potential.

Man oh man. I loved this book. I guess I was behind because I didn’t know other people were saying it reminded them of moulin rouge until I was on a book group I’m in. I kept coming up with theories and I would dismiss them because I never knew what exactly was going to happen. I have a soft spot towards a few of the characters in this book. I just love them. I can’t wait for the next book to be released and can’t wait to hold a physical copy in my hands.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read Where Dreams Descend before the publication date. I really went into this story with all the love and hope for a fantastical themed book. I expected a little bit of Caraval mixed with Night Circus (2 books I love) and came out with a one star review. I DNF’d this book a little over 50% read. I am a lover of characters and the characters weren’t very loveable to me. I will probably finish the book through audible when it comes out, but I will not finish the arc.

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at St. Martin’s Press. Kallia has been raised off the grid by a reclusive magician, his protege and the star of the show at his club, Hellfire House, but she’s always looking toward the distant city spires of Glorian. When Kallia finally gets the nerve to break away from Jack and head for Glorian to join a competition of aspiring magicians, she has no idea what she’s getting into. The city has always been forbidden, and Kallia has to work twice as hard as any of the men to earn her place on the stage. But there’s more at work in Glorian than a competition, and Kallia might just be playing for her life. Trigger warnings: controlling/emotionally abusive relationships, captivity, severe illness, injury, blood, misogyny, stalking, threats, grief.

Ray Bradbury instilled a strong love for circus/carnival stories in me at a young age, and I had high hopes for this novel. Unfortunately, it’s very much a first novel, and it has almost nothing that I look for in books. The descriptions are vivid and lovely, but they often overwhelm the important things like plot or character development, of which there is almost none outside of the main romance. Side characters are underused or barely fleshed out, or both, and the ending fails to bring any kind of closure–plot or thematic–to the events of the story. However, I can see it working better for readers who enjoy the romance or don’t mind waiting for a second book for answers.

I really wanted to like Kallia, a poc main heroine with more power than any of the men, but who is constantly fighting for a place at the table. And I do like those things about her. I like how she pretends confidence or arrogance even when she’s doubting herself, and I like how she never steps down for anyone. I don’t like how her descriptions constantly refer to her as a “viper” or with other snakelike qualities just because she’s ambitious. The constant misogyny she faces would probably be wearying if it mattered to the plot at all, but it doesn’t. Kallia is already so far ahead of any of the male magicians in power that they can frown on her, but they can’t stop her–and that’s the other problem. There’s no development for her because she’s already at the peak of her powers. The only change in her by the end of the novel is that she’s stuck in a different cage, and she has a boyfriend now.

I wish I cared about Demarco and his sad story, but I don’t. I think we’re supposed to think he’s a lot better than the other magicians because he at least gives Kallia a shot, but he’s a little too gloomy and controlling for my tastes. I was totally prepared to love Aaros and the Conquering Circus ladies, and I probably would, except they’re little more than side characters there to propel Kallia’s story. Honestly, my favorite character is probably Jack, Kallia’s manipulative teacher/protector/captor(?), because I always love the Problem characters, and at least he knows what he is. Again, though, there’s little insight into him outside a plot reveal toward the end that, given the limited information we have, isn’t as effective as it probably could have been.

The plot, such as it is, is murky. There’s the sham of a competition that everyone knows from the auditions that Kallia will win, assuming she doesn’t die or get disqualified before then. I wanted much more out of the challenges–for example, for them to actually be challenging, or to even remember the names of one of Kallia’s competitors. The mystery around Glorian is far more compelling. It’s clear there’s a greater villain than Jack at work in the city, but the ending fails to bring any of it together. It favors shock value over logic, and it’s an obvious lead-in to the next book. I don’t like cliffhangers, but I can live with them; what I can’t tolerate is a book that completely fails to stand on its own in any capacity. Even as part of a duology, I need to leave off feeling as though I’ve made some progress, but there’s nothing at the end but a new problem to solve (without any attempts to solve the ones in this book). I’m on the fence about the sequel, so I suppose I’ll see how my feelings age before I decide whether or not to pick it up.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

"Where Dreams Descend" by Janella Angeles, not gonna lie, is a heavy fantasy book. I enjoyed the recurring theme of mirrors and the deceptive way they can be use and I thought it was very intriguing to use them in the case of a magic show. However, there were times that I felt there was too much introspection and not enough action regarding a book about magic. There were also a couple of things that I wanted answers to and by the end, the answers, if any, were very vague.

However, I did enjoy Angeles's beautiful description of the world and the characters that inhabit them. I would use passages in this book to, perhaps, teach about descriptive writing and internal monologue.

This book was somehow way too long, and yet also didn't have any character development or plot or world-building at all. How is this possible? I have no idea, but wow, was it a disappointment.

This book begins with a bang, I'll give it that. The introduction to the main character, Kallia, and the performance house she lives in with her magic teacher/warden(?) Jack, was phenomenal. Kallia's desire to leave and stretch her magical wings in the neighboring city of Glorian was admirable. Kallia's arrival in Glorian to become a contestant in a magic competition should have been where the story kicked off in earnest, but instead it ground it a halt. Between each round of the competition, absolutely nothing happened. There were tiny bursts of fun interactions between characters, but overall, it felt like between the majority of the plot happened in the first ten percent and last ten percent of this book. Most of the characters felt incredibly one-dimensional, with the author relying much too heavily on dropping hints about mysterious pasts rather than just...giving her characters personality.

I did enjoy the writing style quite a lot. It was pretty without going overboard into disgustingly flowery. This society frowns on female magicians, but the reason why isn't really explained, so while I can appreciate the author trying to throw some female empowerment in there, it felt a little clunky. The epilogue gave some hints as to what might happen in book 2, sort of a found family, Six of Crows-esque dynamic, which I think could be quite fun. Although I was disappointed in the execution of many aspects of this book, I am still intrigued by the world and I'm interested in seeing where the story goes next.

Gah! My heart.

When looking for my next read I like to ask the question: how do I want to be emotionally destroyed today? Welp, look no further! Where Dreams Descend has all the makings of a stellar series and in this first installment we are introduced to a solid cast of characters and a story that quickly jumps off the page.

Kallia is pretty badass in my opinion - the type of character that doesn't take lip from anyone. She's fierce in her decisions and dares you to prove her wrong. But she's also torn between a past that won't leave her alone and a future that refuses to let her go.

Jack and Demarco are the two guys in Kallia's life. She's constantly pulled into two different directions, struggling between her head and her heart - what she's known and what she's willing to take a chance on. I won't get into spoilery details, but I will say that I acquired a new book boyfriend hella quick! Brooding and mysterious wrapped in conflict? Uh, yes please!

I can't end this review without mentioning the ending that literally clicked with me 1.7 seconds before everything hit the fan and left me screaming into my pillow long after the dust had settled on my scattered brain.

Where Dreams Descend is a delicious, layered fantasy set in the world of magic and magicians. Part mystery, part romance that will leave you wishing you had magic if only to have the next book in your hands today. Highly (highly!) recommended!