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The Starlight Sanctum #2
Clockwork and Conspiracies
A student's ambition. A reclusive mage's trust. In the dance of time, love and betrayal collide.
Julian Hartley's passion for magic knows no bounds, and the chance to study with Emeric Greywood, a renowned master of chronomancy, is beyond his wildest dreams. An apprenticeship with the reclusive and brilliant Emeric is the opportunity of a lifetime and a welcome escape from the shadow of his family's scandals.
Emeric Greywood, a reclusive mage, guards his groundbreaking chronomancy research from the world, haunted by the specter of betrayal. When Julian seeks Emeric's tutelage, his defenses begin to crumble, but he senses Julian is hiding darker secrets that may threaten them both.
Thrust into the dangerous Convocation Trials and forced to play a cunning senator's games, the fragile trust between Julian and Emeric is stretched to its limits. Their secrets risk tearing apart the delicate fabric of time they have woven together,
Join Julian and Emeric on a journey where every tick of the clock echoes with danger, ambition, and forbidden attraction. In this perilous dance, the hands of time may offer salvation—or destruction.
Vera Winters invites you to a world of enchantment with Clockwork and Conspiracies, the newest standalone entry in the Starlight Sanctum series. Perfect for fans of cozy fantasy, romance, and heartfelt adventures, this standalone M/M romance weaves a captivating tapestry of magic, love, and the timeless struggle between fate and freedom. This book contains steamy romantic scenes intended for mature readers.
Julian Hartley's passion for magic knows no bounds, and the chance to study with Emeric Greywood, a renowned master of chronomancy, is beyond his wildest dreams. An apprenticeship with the reclusive and brilliant Emeric is the opportunity of a lifetime and a welcome escape from the shadow of his family's scandals.
Emeric Greywood, a reclusive mage, guards his groundbreaking chronomancy research from the world, haunted by the specter of betrayal. When Julian seeks Emeric's tutelage, his defenses begin to crumble, but he senses Julian is hiding darker secrets that may threaten them both.
Thrust into the dangerous Convocation Trials and forced to play a cunning senator's games, the fragile trust between Julian and Emeric is stretched to its limits. Their secrets risk tearing apart the delicate fabric of time they have woven together,
Join Julian and Emeric on a journey where every tick of the clock echoes with danger, ambition, and forbidden attraction. In this perilous dance, the hands of time may offer salvation—or destruction.
Vera Winters invites you to a world of enchantment with Clockwork and Conspiracies, the newest standalone entry in the Starlight Sanctum series. Perfect for fans of cozy fantasy, romance, and heartfelt adventures, this standalone M/M romance weaves a captivating tapestry of magic, love, and the timeless struggle between fate and freedom. This book contains steamy romantic scenes intended for mature readers.
324 pages, Paperback
Published February 28, 2024
78 people are currently reading
365 people want to read
About the author
Vera Winters
16 books64 followersClasse 1989, autrice self, nata e cresciuta tra le verdi colline della Brianza, sono diplomata come corrispondente in lingue estere, ma il mio sogno è vivere di quello che scrivo.
Musica dipendente, fangirl fino al midollo, amo Stephen King, Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman e i gatti. Più di tutto i gatti
Tra le mie pubblicazioni trovate alcuni racconti editi con case editrice e distribuiti in diverse antologie, un romance dal titolo "E alla fine di ho incontrato", e la mia quadrilogia di punta #OpheliaHargreavesChronicles
Tutto è disponibile anche per Kindle Unlimited ovviamente.
Vi aspetto su IG poichè è il social che utilizzo di più, mi trovate sempre come Vera Winters, e se seguite l'hashtag di Ophelia è ancora più facile.
Much Love
V
Musica dipendente, fangirl fino al midollo, amo Stephen King, Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman e i gatti. Più di tutto i gatti
Tra le mie pubblicazioni trovate alcuni racconti editi con case editrice e distribuiti in diverse antologie, un romance dal titolo "E alla fine di ho incontrato", e la mia quadrilogia di punta #OpheliaHargreavesChronicles
Tutto è disponibile anche per Kindle Unlimited ovviamente.
Vi aspetto su IG poichè è il social che utilizzo di più, mi trovate sempre come Vera Winters, e se seguite l'hashtag di Ophelia è ancora più facile.
Much Love
V
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 8, 2024
1 star due to lots (lots) of issues. This book was really frustrating to read.
Firstly, there were a metric f-ton of typos and repeated sentences, such as:
It was so rare that he appeared in public he’d been in public like this,
Emeric straightened and met the councillors’ gazes head-on. “I trust that won’t be a problem?”
“I trust that won’t be a problem?” Emeric asked, his voice a challenge. A dare.
Then there were lots of misspellings, wonky grammar, bad formatting, etc., such as:
unbiddden (should be "unbidden")
itm ust (should be "it must")
He smilesd, (should be "He smiled")
So many of them were painfully obvious, and yet they made it through, like writing "Julia" instead of Julian.
There was also a lot of strange wording, such as:
his soles ponderous against the cold floors.
Soles cannot be ponderous - seriously, look at the bottom of your own foot and try to imagine using ponderous as a descriptor. I think the author meant something like "one's footsteps were ponderous." Maybe.
Quite honestly, I'm probably the last person who should be acting like the grammar police, but really, there were just SO many truly blatant instances that it became quite maddening.
There was also a real lack of continuity. The first time Julian's eyes are described, we read that they are "a deep, stormy gray." Later on, Emeric comments on Julian's eye color again and we read about the "deep brown of his eyes" - in fact, there are two times that Julian's eyes are described as brown. There's a similar issue with Emeric's hair color - we first read a description that it is white, but then later on Julian calls it "the dark sweep of his hair."
Another example is a point where the Important Relic (I won't reveal more) is described as being held by Emeric, but then "Julian looked back down at the artifact in his hands" (where "his" is strongly implied as being Julian in this case). The confusion continues as we wrap up this scene with:
The (relic to be announced) rested innocuously in Julian’s hands now, his eyes wide with wonder, and Emeric couldn’t help but smile. This was what he’d hoped for, when he first took Julian on as his apprentice: the thrill of discovery, the chance to uncover something that could change the course of history. “Careful,” Emeric said as Julian reached for the (relic to be announced)."
So Julian is holding it, then it somehow teleports into Emeric's hand, then back to Julian, who then has to reach for . . . a thing in his own hands? This is the point where I threw up my hands and wrote "OK, who the hell is holding this thing?" in my Kindle notes.
There are also instances where both MC's are interacting and male pronouns are used in a manner that leaves you wondering just which "he/him/his" is being referred to at any give point in the interaction/dialogue. I know that pronouns are particularly tricky when referring to same sex individuals, but there were a few places where there could have been more clarity on exactly who was doing/saying what.
To sum it up, if there was an editor for this book (dubious at best), they need to look for a different line of work. I ended up with an absolute laundry list of typos/issues, every one of which broke up the flow of the story, which had more than enough issues to begin with.
Moving on beyond grammar, spelling, formatting, et al, I had some real dislikes about the story/characters. To start with, this book is described as "cozy", which I believe usually means that said book will not have any sex on the page; well, this supposedly "cozy" book definitely did have sex on the page in several places. The way this book is written outside of the sex scenes made those scenes feel like an uncomfortable intrusion of a completely different writing style. Now, to be clear, I don't mind sex in a book, but in this particular book the overall tone of the MC's relationship is strongly portrayed as being of a G-rated variety of attraction. This makes it feel really bizarre/startling when we suddenly get a scene dropped in that incorporates very specific body parts and very specific "tab A goes into slot B" type descriptions.
Even if this wasn't being marketed as "cozy", I was unable to buy into Emeric being sexual or capable of intimacy. While the author has Julian make occasional references about Emeric having a nice body and being in some manner good-looking, I just couldn't conceive of this character as anything other than a crotchety old man who liked to bang his cane on the floor to make a point and who was completely non-sexual in nature. Granted, Julian didn't come across as particularly sexual/passionate either, but at least his character was clearly delineated as someone who would be open to a physical relationship - but certainly not with a character that comes across as rigid, sterile, and pretty much incapable of intimate interaction. To add to the oddity of this partnership, once these two do have sex, the next day they revert back to interacting in a manner that contains no intimacy or emotions. The way their interactions are written, it's like a switch goes off and on regarding intimacy and sex, which comes across as weird and even jarring.
There's not a lot to like about the pairing of these two. The plot line that causes the two to break up (aka your standard late-in-the-book dose of miscommunication and incorrect assumptions) made Julian seem like an infuriatingly hypocritical jerk, which is compounded by the fact that Julian KNOWS he's being an infuriatingly hypocritical jerk but is hell-bent on having his feathers in a kerfluffle because he was accused of a specific thing that he didn't do. In other words, Emeric implies that Julian has screwed him over based on a theft, Julian gets all pissy about being accused of such a thing and rides off on his high horse, despite the fact that Julian literally was screwing Emeric over in a different way, well before the theft. So we have to endure Julian going through a whole range of existential angst as he ping-pongs between being pissed off and being ashamed:
We start with Julian telling Emeric:
“You’re a coward,” he spat.
Not sure how the hell Julian comes up with calling Emeric a "coward", but anyway . . . this leads to:
“I thought . . .” Julian’s voice cracked, and Emeric felt his heart shatter with it. “I thought we had something special.
Which leads to Julian thinking about himself:
He’d deserved it, of course. He was nothing but a liar and a coward, and now he’d lost the only thing that mattered to him.
Yep, that is correct - especially the ironic use of the word "coward" to describe himself this time. Anyway, this leads to:
Julian may have deserved Emeric’s scorn, but not for the reasons Emeric thought. And the reasons Emeric thought were foolish.
The wording "the reasons Emeric thought" doesn't make sense as written, but I suppose I got the gist of this rationale, erroneous as it is. This then leads to Julian thinking:
But it didn’t change things. It didn’t change the fact that Julian had betrayed him.
Did you get all that? You'd need a scorecard to figure out where Julian's pea brain is from minute to minute. And then his numerous ruminations lead him to this stunning conclusion:
But . . . what could he do?
Oh, for the love of God, you idiot. Pardon me while I smack this dumbass kid. Hell's bells, Julian - maybe you could have taken up one of Emeric's multiple and very genuine offers where he told you that "you can talk to me about anything"? For god's sake, Emeric even makes the offer again, after Julian runs off to have his dramatic pissy fit:
“But I hope you know you can talk to me about whatever’s troubling you.”
Of course, rather than do that, Julian spills everything to someone else, who then quite sensibly tells him "“You’re a damned idiot, Jules.” Yep, my feelings exactly.
This book was just strange all the way around. The best part of it was the cover, which is really intriguing. Unfortunately, the characters on the cover remained as two-dimensional as a screenshot and were made to navigate through a very awkward set of circumstances, none of which came close to creating a sense of romance, much less HEA. I was left scratching my head over the whole thing.
Cannot recommend reading this; what I DO recommend is for this author to hunt down a real editor and take their lumps before they publish anything further. This was downright painful.
Firstly, there were a metric f-ton of typos and repeated sentences, such as:
It was so rare that he appeared in public he’d been in public like this,
Emeric straightened and met the councillors’ gazes head-on. “I trust that won’t be a problem?”
“I trust that won’t be a problem?” Emeric asked, his voice a challenge. A dare.
Then there were lots of misspellings, wonky grammar, bad formatting, etc., such as:
unbiddden (should be "unbidden")
itm ust (should be "it must")
He smilesd, (should be "He smiled")
So many of them were painfully obvious, and yet they made it through, like writing "Julia" instead of Julian.
There was also a lot of strange wording, such as:
his soles ponderous against the cold floors.
Soles cannot be ponderous - seriously, look at the bottom of your own foot and try to imagine using ponderous as a descriptor. I think the author meant something like "one's footsteps were ponderous." Maybe.
Quite honestly, I'm probably the last person who should be acting like the grammar police, but really, there were just SO many truly blatant instances that it became quite maddening.
There was also a real lack of continuity. The first time Julian's eyes are described, we read that they are "a deep, stormy gray." Later on, Emeric comments on Julian's eye color again and we read about the "deep brown of his eyes" - in fact, there are two times that Julian's eyes are described as brown. There's a similar issue with Emeric's hair color - we first read a description that it is white, but then later on Julian calls it "the dark sweep of his hair."
Another example is a point where the Important Relic (I won't reveal more) is described as being held by Emeric, but then "Julian looked back down at the artifact in his hands" (where "his" is strongly implied as being Julian in this case). The confusion continues as we wrap up this scene with:
The (relic to be announced) rested innocuously in Julian’s hands now, his eyes wide with wonder, and Emeric couldn’t help but smile. This was what he’d hoped for, when he first took Julian on as his apprentice: the thrill of discovery, the chance to uncover something that could change the course of history. “Careful,” Emeric said as Julian reached for the (relic to be announced)."
So Julian is holding it, then it somehow teleports into Emeric's hand, then back to Julian, who then has to reach for . . . a thing in his own hands? This is the point where I threw up my hands and wrote "OK, who the hell is holding this thing?" in my Kindle notes.
There are also instances where both MC's are interacting and male pronouns are used in a manner that leaves you wondering just which "he/him/his" is being referred to at any give point in the interaction/dialogue. I know that pronouns are particularly tricky when referring to same sex individuals, but there were a few places where there could have been more clarity on exactly who was doing/saying what.
To sum it up, if there was an editor for this book (dubious at best), they need to look for a different line of work. I ended up with an absolute laundry list of typos/issues, every one of which broke up the flow of the story, which had more than enough issues to begin with.
Moving on beyond grammar, spelling, formatting, et al, I had some real dislikes about the story/characters. To start with, this book is described as "cozy", which I believe usually means that said book will not have any sex on the page; well, this supposedly "cozy" book definitely did have sex on the page in several places. The way this book is written outside of the sex scenes made those scenes feel like an uncomfortable intrusion of a completely different writing style. Now, to be clear, I don't mind sex in a book, but in this particular book the overall tone of the MC's relationship is strongly portrayed as being of a G-rated variety of attraction. This makes it feel really bizarre/startling when we suddenly get a scene dropped in that incorporates very specific body parts and very specific "tab A goes into slot B" type descriptions.
Even if this wasn't being marketed as "cozy", I was unable to buy into Emeric being sexual or capable of intimacy. While the author has Julian make occasional references about Emeric having a nice body and being in some manner good-looking, I just couldn't conceive of this character as anything other than a crotchety old man who liked to bang his cane on the floor to make a point and who was completely non-sexual in nature. Granted, Julian didn't come across as particularly sexual/passionate either, but at least his character was clearly delineated as someone who would be open to a physical relationship - but certainly not with a character that comes across as rigid, sterile, and pretty much incapable of intimate interaction. To add to the oddity of this partnership, once these two do have sex, the next day they revert back to interacting in a manner that contains no intimacy or emotions. The way their interactions are written, it's like a switch goes off and on regarding intimacy and sex, which comes across as weird and even jarring.
There's not a lot to like about the pairing of these two. The plot line that causes the two to break up (aka your standard late-in-the-book dose of miscommunication and incorrect assumptions) made Julian seem like an infuriatingly hypocritical jerk, which is compounded by the fact that Julian KNOWS he's being an infuriatingly hypocritical jerk but is hell-bent on having his feathers in a kerfluffle because he was accused of a specific thing that he didn't do. In other words, Emeric implies that Julian has screwed him over based on a theft, Julian gets all pissy about being accused of such a thing and rides off on his high horse, despite the fact that Julian literally was screwing Emeric over in a different way, well before the theft. So we have to endure Julian going through a whole range of existential angst as he ping-pongs between being pissed off and being ashamed:
We start with Julian telling Emeric:
“You’re a coward,” he spat.
Not sure how the hell Julian comes up with calling Emeric a "coward", but anyway . . . this leads to:
“I thought . . .” Julian’s voice cracked, and Emeric felt his heart shatter with it. “I thought we had something special.
Which leads to Julian thinking about himself:
He’d deserved it, of course. He was nothing but a liar and a coward, and now he’d lost the only thing that mattered to him.
Yep, that is correct - especially the ironic use of the word "coward" to describe himself this time. Anyway, this leads to:
Julian may have deserved Emeric’s scorn, but not for the reasons Emeric thought. And the reasons Emeric thought were foolish.
The wording "the reasons Emeric thought" doesn't make sense as written, but I suppose I got the gist of this rationale, erroneous as it is. This then leads to Julian thinking:
But it didn’t change things. It didn’t change the fact that Julian had betrayed him.
Did you get all that? You'd need a scorecard to figure out where Julian's pea brain is from minute to minute. And then his numerous ruminations lead him to this stunning conclusion:
But . . . what could he do?
Oh, for the love of God, you idiot. Pardon me while I smack this dumbass kid. Hell's bells, Julian - maybe you could have taken up one of Emeric's multiple and very genuine offers where he told you that "you can talk to me about anything"? For god's sake, Emeric even makes the offer again, after Julian runs off to have his dramatic pissy fit:
“But I hope you know you can talk to me about whatever’s troubling you.”
Of course, rather than do that, Julian spills everything to someone else, who then quite sensibly tells him "“You’re a damned idiot, Jules.” Yep, my feelings exactly.
This book was just strange all the way around. The best part of it was the cover, which is really intriguing. Unfortunately, the characters on the cover remained as two-dimensional as a screenshot and were made to navigate through a very awkward set of circumstances, none of which came close to creating a sense of romance, much less HEA. I was left scratching my head over the whole thing.
Cannot recommend reading this; what I DO recommend is for this author to hunt down a real editor and take their lumps before they publish anything further. This was downright painful.
December 11, 2024
This book was awful. Read like a fanfic, terrible repeating phrases, dramatically errors. It felt like it wasn't proofread or revised at all. I even noticed an entire paragraph repeated, just the first sentence was different. Don't wait your time with this one.
September 11, 2024
It was ok, опис двох зірочок влучний. Хоча насправді it was ok на посередню трійку, бо нічого поганого, але й нового ця книга в свій жанр не принесла, була прохідною та не запам'ятається. Проте я й не плювалась, дочитала швидко і рівно. Планую навіть читати ще щось в авторки під настрій.
(Як завжди все можна було порішати однією розмовою в першій чверті книги. Як кохатися, так завжди готові, а як поговорити словами через рот...)
(Як завжди все можна було порішати однією розмовою в першій чверті книги. Як кохатися, так завжди готові, а як поговорити словами через рот...)
May 28, 2024
I love the world that Vera Winters has created here. A Regency style tale with a magical bent. Lots of creative imagery of rooms, buildings and other realms. The book started a bit slow for me, but by a few chapters in, I was invested in Julian and his Master Greywood.
Julian and Emeric are both more comfortable in research library than among Luminars's magical society. Their attraction is immediate and mutual but they don't fall into bed day one. Emeric has trust issues and Julian is being blackmailed into spying on him. Awkward, intelligent men make for great main characters. Their romance is sweet steam rather than in your face smexy.
The storyline is original. The secondary characters were excellent. A fun read. This is my first time reading this author and I'm looking forward to more.
Julian and Emeric are both more comfortable in research library than among Luminars's magical society. Their attraction is immediate and mutual but they don't fall into bed day one. Emeric has trust issues and Julian is being blackmailed into spying on him. Awkward, intelligent men make for great main characters. Their romance is sweet steam rather than in your face smexy.
The storyline is original. The secondary characters were excellent. A fun read. This is my first time reading this author and I'm looking forward to more.
March 15, 2024
Loved it!
This was book so good. Not only is it a super cute love story, it was entertaining and the fantasy in the book was enjoyable to read/learn about. Not super long, but also not super short! I want more of them, but feel satisfied with what I got! I also enjoyed that there wasn't any real talk about the MM relationship. No internalized homophobia, which is super refreshing, because I feel like most MM romances focus super heavily on that. 10/10, I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested :)
This was book so good. Not only is it a super cute love story, it was entertaining and the fantasy in the book was enjoyable to read/learn about. Not super long, but also not super short! I want more of them, but feel satisfied with what I got! I also enjoyed that there wasn't any real talk about the MM relationship. No internalized homophobia, which is super refreshing, because I feel like most MM romances focus super heavily on that. 10/10, I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested :)
April 5, 2024
I wanted to like this so badly. The story was there and I think it would have been amazing if the editor had caught all the errors. There was a lot of misspelled words or names. Repeating sentences or paragraphs. I really liked Emeric as soon as we met him. I got invested in finding out his story. I really had wished there was a better editing process because the author knew how she wanted to story told and had a good vision for it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
April 28, 2024
𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝐴𝑙𝑙
Emeric and Julian meet when Emeric reluctantly takes Julian on as his apprentice. Both men are mages and while Julian is finishing up his graduate work, Emeric is a master of chronomancy, or time magic. Emeric was forced by the Arcane Council to share his magical knowledge, something that he had been burned by with his former partner and lover in the past. However, Julian proves to be up to the challenge and Emeric is drawn to him despite his misgivings.
Shortly after being hired as Emeric’s apprentice, Julian is approached by a crooked senator who wants insight into Emeric’s research in exchange for keeping knowledge he has about Julian’s father’s illegal business dealings a secret. Julian doesn't want to do it, but because of his sister, he feels like he has no choice. Still, he tries to give the senator as little as he can to appease him. In the meantime, Julian and Emeric grow closer and ultimately begin a sexual relationship while on a research trip.
The research trip led to a breakthrough in their work with time and spurs Emeric to decide to present their findings at the upcoming Convocation, which is a huge symposium and magical tournament. After goading from his former partner, he also decides to have Julian enter the Convocation to test the skills he has been learning. Underlying this is increased pressure from the senator for more information about Emeric’s work and Julian trying to figure how to get out of the sticky situation he’s in.
“Clockwork and Conspiracies” is a cozy romantic fantasy between an experienced mage and his apprentice. Both Emeric and Julian are stubborn men who need to learn how to trust other people and not try to do everything on their own. The underlying intrigue with regards to time magic and the scandal Julian’s family was involved in added interest to the story. The steamy scenes, though infrequent, were a good reflection of the relationship between the two men. I enjoyed this book and rate it four stars.
Emeric and Julian meet when Emeric reluctantly takes Julian on as his apprentice. Both men are mages and while Julian is finishing up his graduate work, Emeric is a master of chronomancy, or time magic. Emeric was forced by the Arcane Council to share his magical knowledge, something that he had been burned by with his former partner and lover in the past. However, Julian proves to be up to the challenge and Emeric is drawn to him despite his misgivings.
Shortly after being hired as Emeric’s apprentice, Julian is approached by a crooked senator who wants insight into Emeric’s research in exchange for keeping knowledge he has about Julian’s father’s illegal business dealings a secret. Julian doesn't want to do it, but because of his sister, he feels like he has no choice. Still, he tries to give the senator as little as he can to appease him. In the meantime, Julian and Emeric grow closer and ultimately begin a sexual relationship while on a research trip.
The research trip led to a breakthrough in their work with time and spurs Emeric to decide to present their findings at the upcoming Convocation, which is a huge symposium and magical tournament. After goading from his former partner, he also decides to have Julian enter the Convocation to test the skills he has been learning. Underlying this is increased pressure from the senator for more information about Emeric’s work and Julian trying to figure how to get out of the sticky situation he’s in.
“Clockwork and Conspiracies” is a cozy romantic fantasy between an experienced mage and his apprentice. Both Emeric and Julian are stubborn men who need to learn how to trust other people and not try to do everything on their own. The underlying intrigue with regards to time magic and the scandal Julian’s family was involved in added interest to the story. The steamy scenes, though infrequent, were a good reflection of the relationship between the two men. I enjoyed this book and rate it four stars.
June 23, 2024
Clockwork and Conspiracies is book 2 of the Starlight Sanctum series, and reads really well as a standalone if you'd like to drop in without catching up. It's an unpretentious and accessible fantasy, but be aware it's not all cozy - there are plenty of open door spicy scenes throughout the book.
What I really enjoyed in this one was the world building. Our characters, Julian and Emeric, are chronomancers and there's so much interesting background on their time magic and how it interacts with more traditionally explored types such as elemental magic. From a lore perspective, this book definitely scratched the itch for a fresh take on fantasy worlds and I found myself really appreciating all the details that get revealed little by little.
That said, the characters themselves and their relationship fell a little flat for me. Romance went from 0 to 100 in no time, and I didn't expect so much focus on their age difference (I don't think they specifically mentioned how much, but it was always present in conversations) and status difference as apprentice and mentor. For example it felt a bit icky to still see Julian call Emeric "Master Greywood" even near the end of the book, without people present or anything. I also got a little frustrated with the lack of communication happening almost throughout the entire book - some is fine, but it got a bit much, and felt like the tension was extended unnecessarily. The ending, though? Perfection. More of that and it would've been a much higher star rating for me.
Overall, a charming little cozy-spicy fantasy with a unique twist in magic, plenty of mysteries, and a satisfying ending. Give it a go if this sounds like your cup of tea.
✨ Disclaimer ✨ I received a free copy of this book and this is my honest review.
What I really enjoyed in this one was the world building. Our characters, Julian and Emeric, are chronomancers and there's so much interesting background on their time magic and how it interacts with more traditionally explored types such as elemental magic. From a lore perspective, this book definitely scratched the itch for a fresh take on fantasy worlds and I found myself really appreciating all the details that get revealed little by little.
That said, the characters themselves and their relationship fell a little flat for me. Romance went from 0 to 100 in no time, and I didn't expect so much focus on their age difference (I don't think they specifically mentioned how much, but it was always present in conversations) and status difference as apprentice and mentor. For example it felt a bit icky to still see Julian call Emeric "Master Greywood" even near the end of the book, without people present or anything. I also got a little frustrated with the lack of communication happening almost throughout the entire book - some is fine, but it got a bit much, and felt like the tension was extended unnecessarily. The ending, though? Perfection. More of that and it would've been a much higher star rating for me.
Overall, a charming little cozy-spicy fantasy with a unique twist in magic, plenty of mysteries, and a satisfying ending. Give it a go if this sounds like your cup of tea.
✨ Disclaimer ✨ I received a free copy of this book and this is my honest review.
March 18, 2024
A charming book with a fun story.
It was a lot of fun to read. The story made sense, and the characters' motivations were clear and not confusing. My single problem with this is that it could do with another round or two of editing. There were a lot of typos. Most I can overlook, but a few were on character names, and that bothered me more. Repeated sentences were a problem as well. Despite that, I could overlook it all and finish the story.
Emeric and Julian are just lovely characters. The overall villains in the story lacked a little; we didn't know much about them until the end, but again, it didn't bother me too much. Overall, this was a fluffy love story, and at the end of the day, that's what we got.
It was a lot of fun to read. The story made sense, and the characters' motivations were clear and not confusing. My single problem with this is that it could do with another round or two of editing. There were a lot of typos. Most I can overlook, but a few were on character names, and that bothered me more. Repeated sentences were a problem as well. Despite that, I could overlook it all and finish the story.
Emeric and Julian are just lovely characters. The overall villains in the story lacked a little; we didn't know much about them until the end, but again, it didn't bother me too much. Overall, this was a fluffy love story, and at the end of the day, that's what we got.
March 14, 2024
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is an excellent book. I was invested from the jump. I loved both of the characters and the magic system was unique and interesting. It reminded me a little of the Timekeepers series. I was emotionally tied up in the decisions Julian has to make to rescue his family.
There were a few placed where I saw some typos or a sentence repeated, but that didn’t pull me out of the story. I would still recommend this book.
There were a few placed where I saw some typos or a sentence repeated, but that didn’t pull me out of the story. I would still recommend this book.
March 30, 2024
Great story!
But unfortunately there are multiple places where everything from a sentence to a paragraph is repeated. There are multiple places where everything from a sentence to a paragraph is repeated. Maybe it’s a temporal anomaly….anomaly….anomaly.
But other than copy editing difficulties, I really liked this book. I can’t wait for the rest of the series! Great imagination and great personalities.
But unfortunately there are multiple places where everything from a sentence to a paragraph is repeated. There are multiple places where everything from a sentence to a paragraph is repeated. Maybe it’s a temporal anomaly….anomaly….anomaly.
But other than copy editing difficulties, I really liked this book. I can’t wait for the rest of the series! Great imagination and great personalities.
June 26, 2024
The story has potential, it isn't bad. The issue is all of the receptiveness, this made the story hard to get through. The love story is solid and actually really sweet but it was hard to get through.
I will continue on with these books as I enjoyed the first book in the series.
This one just missed the mark for me.
I will continue on with these books as I enjoyed the first book in the series.
This one just missed the mark for me.
August 2, 2024
The comprehensive world-building, well-developed characters, and compelling plot captivated me. The intimate scenes were tastefully portrayed and added depth to the story.
November 26, 2024
AI generated slop.
December 17, 2024
The cover is AI generated btw
January 29, 2025
Generated by AI.
July 29, 2025
Absolutely loved it!
January 9, 2025
I wish it would’ve been longer! It was very good and I loved the relationship with the main characters. However, it’s kind of one and done. It feels like we only get the problem in the story and not a lot of scenes with the two main characters. I just wish we could’ve gotten more at the end AFTER they figured out the issue showing us a little more of their relationship.
December 4, 2024
Lower star due to story. I don't really read MM romance just because I haven't really come across anything.
I dunno if it's the bookcover, but I get a dragon age/arcane vibe with this series. Believe it is free on kindle unlimited which is where I've been reading this.
Okay, so the characters do overlap and you should probably read this series in order if you don't want to be spoiled about who ends up with who, and where are they now situation.
I dunno if it's the bookcover, but I get a dragon age/arcane vibe with this series. Believe it is free on kindle unlimited which is where I've been reading this.
Okay, so the characters do overlap and you should probably read this series in order if you don't want to be spoiled about who ends up with who, and where are they now situation.
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