Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK and Transworld Publishers for the advance reader copy.

I went into this book with high hopes and unfortunately they were not met.
There’s a a lot of POV changes within chapters and also I couldn’t tell if this was meant to be YA or new adult - especially with the sex scenes and how the characters are written,

I’m sad this wasn’t as good a read as I expected.

I went into this book with high hopes. How could I not? Sanctuary of the Shadow promises a magical circus set in a fantasy world with a forbidden romance. Plus, Red Tower has been releasing great romantasy books! I thought this book would be a slam dunk. Reader, it was anything but.

3.5 stars for me,

This was overall a fun spicy read! I didn't go in with any expectations as was pleasantly surprised!

I wish I could say otherwise but this book just didn't work for me. There wasn't a single redeeming quality to it and I tried, I really tried to like it because I don't like leaving negative reviews but this was a big no.

Sanctuary of the Shadow by Aurora Ascher is the first novel in the Elemental Emergence Series.

It is a new adult fantasy romance with elemental magic, hybrids, and travelling circus that might just be more than you'd think.
The concept sounded fun but I would say the exectution could have been a bit better.
Insta-love is not usually my preference but it wasn't horrible.

Overall, a solid read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Aurora Ascher for this ARC!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Red Tower books for this ARC.

Things I enjoyed:

*This book has an incredible premise and I loved the opening
*The FMCs friend was a fun character
*I was so intrigued by the wraith's backstory

Things that didn't work for me:

*I found the writing hard to navigate with the narration swapping a bit too much for me to process what happened/retain information.

*The insta love didn't appeal to me and I would've preferred more slow burn than very quick spicy scenes.

*I wanted more elemental magic!

*I felt the dialogue didn't give me enough of the characters' personalities.

*I didn't enjoy the ending because it felt like the threat of what happened to Wraith will always be there and there wasn't a sense of closure...

A spicy fantasy romance that has promise. The circus haven could have brought more vibes to the story than it did but was very much in the background - the majority of the story happened elsewhere.
This was an easy read that felt YA, but then the spice was on a different literary level. I feel this should have been either pure smut or simply a cool YA story.
The FMC is a seer but frustrated me multiple times by ignoring her powers. The MMC is morally grey and felt very typical (dark haired, muscled and winged). The romance was pretty instant, with more attention paid to the interactions between the pair I would have been a lot more invested in the spice.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I found it a little hard to get into the this book, and ultimately I was never fully invested.
I was looking forward to it because I love books centred around circus but I felt as though this one was a little neglected, more of a background setting that the focus of the story.
The characters were interesting and I liked learning about their magic. Some of the characters seemed more developed than others though.
I had to push through this one a little.

Initially I really struggled to get into this book, but once I did I loved it! There's mystery and intrigue that keeps you guessing until the end. I loved the dynamic between the characters as well, although I feel like it could have been explored more deeply in some places. Overall a very enjoyable read and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more from this author!

I always, always look forward to my books from this publisher because 99% of them have pride of place on my bookshelves as top favourites. However, this book really fell short for me and I really hate giving negative feedback, infact I strive not to, but in the interests of being honest I have to say this book was not great.

There was no depth to the characters within this story which left everything feeling very one dimensional and bland. This lack of depth also made it impossible to feel any real connection with the characters or story making it impossible to get behind the relationships or the plot itself.

I was excited for the circus aspect of this story but again, we spent very little time around that actual theme. I don't have an issue with insta love books when they are done properly but as previously mentioned, with the lack of character depth and poorly executed world building it just didn't seem great. I did however note that a lot more care an attention seems to have been put into the spicy scenes as opposed to the main body of the book and characters. This was frustrating for me, I love spicy books, but the spice is supposed to complement the overall story, not be the only part of the story that was given due care and attention.

I hate to admit that while I persevered I did almost DNF this on multiple ocassions.

Received ARC via netgalley

I rarely DNF a book, but this managed to get DNF'd TWICE. I gave up on it, then a few days later thought no, I'll give it another shot, and it was worse the second time around.

You could see the difference in care and writing style between plot and spicy scenes, the plot was so lack lustre it's clearly there for filler.

2⭐️/5 for the concept, as it wasn’t so bad, however the execution of it left a lot to be desired. I think the book would benefit from at least a little bit of world building, as there’s literally none of it. The dialogs are very cringe and there’s no natural flow.

As circus theme is something I really enjoy, I had quite high hopes for this book, and unfortunately I’m quite disappointed.

1 star

This book was a huge no for me.
What I expected and what I got where two very different things.
My biggest issue was the amnesia trope and everything that happened around that. Nope.
Overall this was a big disappointment.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Looking at the Goodreads rating gave me a idea of what to expect in this book. And unfortunately for it, I did get exactly what I was waiting for. I rarely read a book with insta-lust like the one in here: it is absolutely way too quick for me. I am an insta-love/insta-lust hater, so that did not go well for me. Plus, the sex scenes are quite cringe.
The circus was barely here and it was the reason why I was interested in this book. The characters are one-dimensional and there is no « relationship » development at all, they both seem immature (except when they have sex, they get cringe) and barely talk to each other. Anyway, I would not recommend it. Which is sad because it had a lot of potential.
And also, spoiler here but the pregnancy trope at the end definitely buried the book for me. I absolutely hate this trope.

Nonetheless, thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

A fun, dark fantasy adventure set in the mysterious circus was an enjoyable read, but I do wish I could have related to the characters more.

It definitely was something. I wasn't sure what I was going to read. But it was interesting.
I feel like the plot has something really original. The writing style is authentic, with great descriptions but still a lot of emotions and actions.
The characters are well written and original.

I don't like leaving negative reviews, but sadly there is very little I enjoyed about this book and I was left wishing I'd followed my instincts and DNFd it.

I was really looking forward to this book and I feel incredibly disappointed in it. The story had a lot of promise but it wasn't delivered on and left me struggling to get through the whole book. I was hopeful at the 40% mark that it was going to get better as it started to get more interesting, but sadly this wasn't the case.

The only good bits of this book were the sex scenes, which were detailed and well-written. In comparison to the rest of the book, it felt like they were written by someone else. It almost felt like they were written first and a sub-par plot was created around them.

The world had the potential to be great but so little attention was paid to world building that it just didn't make sense. Who were the queens? What was their history? How did everything actually tie together. We are drop fed sma details that seem like they might lead to more and then nothing.

I don't mind a lack of world building if the characters are great, but this wasn't the case. Harrow is insipid and boring and Raith gives nothing except brooding. I didn't believe their relationship or really care about it, especially as it was predictable that everything would work out fine. Malakai was the most interesting character and while the next book is about her, I don't think I'll be reading it.

The while thing felt rushed and everything had an unfinished quality to it. It could have been great with a bit more care, but sadly it didn't even have great vibes to enjoy.

This book was wonderfully unique, it was spicy and fun with so much to love.

Raith was so misunderstood and complex, it was easy to adore him and his dynamic with Harrow. I love the happy ending and hope to explore the powers that arise due to the combination of the 2 of them.

I hope the author will explore more of this world too possibly following other character stories.

Meh. Nope.
You can read this book if you're in for the romance and the sex (5. very. lengthy. sex scenes. ugh.). If you're in for the fantasy, then read something else. I know it's a romantasy and I like this genre a lot, but when it's a good balance between fantasy and romance ; here, you get mostly romance/sex with a fantasy twist.

The main idea was nice and that's what made me continue reading, but I shouldn't have.

I didn't liked the main characters and one thing is perturbing as hell: HARROW IS 60 YEARS OLD ??? We got told Harrow was found as a little girl at age 10, so it's assumed she looked like so. Then we got told she spent 5 decades in the circus, that means 50 years, and she was saying she's human but she'll soon have to do something because "she doesn't age like human does but slower". So that means she pass as a 60 year old woman who just looks younger than that but not enough to make every single person in the circus to doubt anything. So we get a 60 year old woman.... acting like a 16 year old teenager. Ok. You clearly see the need to stay vague on the age and physical appearance features of age to stay in the YA/NA range...

Also, this is OPEN SPOILER BECAUSE TW : pregnancy and child.
I hate that. I hate that authors think it's obvious that happy ending means a pregnancy and a kid which is "the best experience of their life" and that they "know peace now that they have a kid". It's disgusting. It made me go from a 2/5 to a 1/5 stars..

Sanctuary of the Shadow by Aurora Ascher is the first book in the Elemental Emergence Series.
 
I mainly picked up this book because of the concept of a magical circus, however this aspect fell completely flat for me, and you barely get to see any of it. This created a lack in atmosphere and in addition the world building was barely there with the Elementals, the War and the Queens and you’re mostly left in the dark about all of this. There are also a few time jumps that made me disconnect to the story even more.
 
And unfortunately, the characters weren’t anything but average. Harrow is a seer, but her powers aren’t properly trained and therefore she lacked potential.
Furthermore, she is supposed to be 60 years old in Elemental years but acts like a clueless and naive teenager. Raith is a nameless creature and without an identity in the beginning of the book. A lot of people fear him and only Harrow takes a chance to get to know him. He felt a bit like a poor copy of Azriel from Acotar.
 
They start building a relationship with him being in a cage and her wanting to help him. That was very sweet at the beginning but at some point, it all of a sudden switched into them having the hots for each other and it was just weird and unbelievable. This book was way too descriptive and except for the cringey spicy scenes there was only telling and not showing.
 
Overall, this book fell completely flat for me, and it couldn’t convince me. 2 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)