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Nephaura
Seventeen-year-old Hephzibah Beatrice Greer is tired of being treated like a maid. She longs for self-worth. Is that too much to ask? Her cruel stepmother makes her cook, clean, sleep on the couch, and hand over all the money she earns from her part-time job.
Freedom. That’s what she wants. Not an unknown ball of light that rudely merges with her mind and forces her down a portal to planet Nephaura. She finds the ball of light’s personality extremely annoying and wants to get rid of its irritating presence.
Hephzibah wishes to escape from her predicament, but she gets entangled in a search for the missing king, Hugh. Although magnetic and powerful, he is not what he once was, and Hephzibah must help him regain his normal self. Which means vanquishing the doubts that plague her, outwitting the Imp, and overcoming a series of life-threatening tests so Hugh can take back his throne from his greedy, slimy uncle, who seized his crown and imprisoned him.
Before Hephzibah’s journey, her stepmother ruled her life. But not anymore. Hephzibah can make her own decisions.
Freedom. That’s what she wants. Not an unknown ball of light that rudely merges with her mind and forces her down a portal to planet Nephaura. She finds the ball of light’s personality extremely annoying and wants to get rid of its irritating presence.
Hephzibah wishes to escape from her predicament, but she gets entangled in a search for the missing king, Hugh. Although magnetic and powerful, he is not what he once was, and Hephzibah must help him regain his normal self. Which means vanquishing the doubts that plague her, outwitting the Imp, and overcoming a series of life-threatening tests so Hugh can take back his throne from his greedy, slimy uncle, who seized his crown and imprisoned him.
Before Hephzibah’s journey, her stepmother ruled her life. But not anymore. Hephzibah can make her own decisions.
380 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 17, 2024
Hephzibah struggles to juggle her job and the overwhelming chores her step-mother expects her to complete every day. So she doesn't have time to be distracted by her dreams of a glowing ball of opinions. When the ball appears in real life and melds with her consciousness, Hephzibah is thrust through a portal to the planet Nephaura where she must complete a quest to return King Hugh to power.
Nephaura is a chaotic and zany tale that occasionally becomes confusing. While the tone is rather light-hearted and fun, the characters take their goals simultaneously too seriously and not seriously enough. Characters fight and insult each other, often undermining their progression in the quest. Scenes abruptly start and stop with only a little continuity. Quest objectives are similarly taken up and abandoned as needed (for example, Hephzibah's given the task of finding Hugh's body, heart, and soul. She finds his body and soul, but it's never clear if she ever finds his heart). This book would have benefited from either truly leaning into absurdism or dialing back the non-linear story telling for more realism. As is, the chaos gets a bit frustrating for the reader.
The book would have also benefited from a little more time to develop Hephzibah's character prior to her trip to Nephaura. There are multiple times where Hephzibah is supposed to overcome shortcomings from her life on Earth, but as we are given almost no characterization for her, we have no idea what she really struggles with. Was she truly beaten down by her step-mother? Did she have any long term goals? Does she have any reason to really be working on this quest with her friends? Who knows! All we really know about her is she has an extremely sensitive nose, a fact that has little to no bearing on the plot. We don't even know if she truly has feelings for Hugh, as when they meet he says he was cursed to be loved on sight by all females. Was that a joke or the truth? We will never know.
Despite its shortcomings, Nephaura is a creative story with hints of Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland that went in unexpected directions. An unusual read with room for growth.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Nephaura is a chaotic and zany tale that occasionally becomes confusing. While the tone is rather light-hearted and fun, the characters take their goals simultaneously too seriously and not seriously enough. Characters fight and insult each other, often undermining their progression in the quest. Scenes abruptly start and stop with only a little continuity. Quest objectives are similarly taken up and abandoned as needed (for example, Hephzibah's given the task of finding Hugh's body, heart, and soul. She finds his body and soul, but it's never clear if she ever finds his heart). This book would have benefited from either truly leaning into absurdism or dialing back the non-linear story telling for more realism. As is, the chaos gets a bit frustrating for the reader.
The book would have also benefited from a little more time to develop Hephzibah's character prior to her trip to Nephaura. There are multiple times where Hephzibah is supposed to overcome shortcomings from her life on Earth, but as we are given almost no characterization for her, we have no idea what she really struggles with. Was she truly beaten down by her step-mother? Did she have any long term goals? Does she have any reason to really be working on this quest with her friends? Who knows! All we really know about her is she has an extremely sensitive nose, a fact that has little to no bearing on the plot. We don't even know if she truly has feelings for Hugh, as when they meet he says he was cursed to be loved on sight by all females. Was that a joke or the truth? We will never know.
Despite its shortcomings, Nephaura is a creative story with hints of Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland that went in unexpected directions. An unusual read with room for growth.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
March 17, 2024
This had everything I was looking for in a fantasy world. I was invested in getting to know the main character in her world, I really enjoyed that she was taking control of her own life and not being ruled by her stepmother anymore. It had a great fantasy feel, and it almost had a Fairytale quality to it. I was invested and engaged with the story and enjoyed the writing style and how it worked perfectly for the genre. The rest of the cast of characters worked and I felt like they belonged in this world with Hephzibah. Esmarie Fernandez does a great job in writing this and after I finished reading this, I wanted more in this world as I enjoyed it so much.
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.
March 28, 2024
This book had my attention from the first several pages. I loved the pacing of the book and felt like the relationships weren't forced upon the reader. I also loved how the author included pronunciation and translation guides, although I will say that the French sayings were a tad on the heavy side. There were a few times where an entire conversation would be mostly in French and I would have to piece together the English translation from context clues. Other than that, I enjoyed this book and will recommend it to others once it comes out.
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.
December 13, 2024
3.5.
Would have been a 4, but I was so lost in the beginning with a diving off point of 10 major characters that I had to mark down.
I love love love this twist on fairytales, and will definitely read the next one!!
Also, it’s so niche, but the being able to hear each others thoughts thing has always tickled me.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Would have been a 4, but I was so lost in the beginning with a diving off point of 10 major characters that I had to mark down.
I love love love this twist on fairytales, and will definitely read the next one!!
Also, it’s so niche, but the being able to hear each others thoughts thing has always tickled me.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews