I was a litte disappointed by this book. At first the blurb really intrigued me but as the story progressed i figured it wasn't what I expected at all.

I wish there was a little more character development and that the characters were more likeable. It wasn't a really bad book but it left me pretty disappointed after I got so excited to read it. If the series continues, I hope things will improve.

My rating would be a 2.5/5 stars but I'll round it up to a 3 stars rating.

This was a pretty cool book! I don't typically read any books that are roman inspired so that was a pretty interesting aspect of the book. I will say that the synopsis saying that this is "panem meets grishaverse" isn't the best description of it. While this book is more of a dystopian type fantasy with the government watching their citizens, so yes like the hunger games, I wouldn't really say it gave me grishaverse vibes at all. Honestly, this book mostly reminded me of the "Uglies" series by Scott Westerfield or the "Delirium" series by Lauren Oliver, simply because a lot of this book takes place inside basically a "wall" where the government can watch all its citizens, and it follows with another character that comes outside of that wall.
The "magic" that Cassandra apparently has also really isn't that evident as it should be, as well.
Overall this was a decent book, and I hope the sequel really gives more insight on the world beyond the wall.

I really enjoyed this book, the world building was original and something I hadn't seen before. The beginning is a very info-dumpy so it took me a few chapters to get into it and not feel lost, but once you get your bearings it is a very compelling story. The world is an amalgamation of Roman history, Arthurian and Britannia myth and history, magic, and futuristic tech. There are a lot of standard YA tropes used but I didn't mind as I still found countless other aspects of the plot refreshing and not easily predicted. The character development is well done, not just for Cassandra but for Devyn and Marcus as well. The brief introductions and mentions we get of other Britons have me very curious to how a journey outside the walls would hopefully play out. The cliffhanger is massive and I cannot wait to find out what happens next. This was a fantastic opener to a trilogy and I'm excited to read the upcoming installments!

First and foremost, let me say that I love mythology, magic, and most things involving those subjects, so I really wanted to like this novel, but the stark contrast between the historical setting blended with modern or futuristic tech was too much for me.

The writing was okay, but it did nothing to really hold my attention and the pacing felt warped, both too fast and too slow all at once.

Like I said, I really wanted to like this, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this book much more than I did. The title and description gave me high hopes/expectations.

The cliche romance and cliche main character just really detracted from the book so much. I think i spent more time shaking my head and really questioning why instead of enjoying this book.

There's not much more I can say because I am honestly just left feeling blah and I don't want to ruin the book with spoilers for those that might actually enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins One More Chapter for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Set against the backdrop of an alternate history where the Roman Empire never fell, Secrets of the Starcrossed follows the story of soon-to-graduate and secret fiancé of the most-eligible-bachelor-in-the-city Cassandra, a girl who was brought up with the Code and who must now face, for the first time, the knowledge that not all is as it seems.

Right off the bat, this world where modern technology is adapted to the customs of ancient Rome while also coexisting with Celtic magic and traditions sucked me in completely. The setting is so complex, with its weaving in also of elements of Tudor history and Arthurian legend that it is impossible not to be utterly fascinated and want to know more.

Which brings me to the only aspect of the book that made me dock a star from my rating, that is the rather stringent description thereof. As someone who rather likes that bit of infodumping at the beginning of a fantasy novel, since it helps me to really get into the story by knowing a little bit more about the surroundings and history of the place, I was a little disappointed when discovering that here such pieces of information were rather rare, which contributed to the frustration of the main character just as much as it did mine.

On the other hand, a lot of time was dedicated to Cassandra’s own moral dilemmas and pining over her love interest, resulting in a bit of an unbalance between the two aspects. Had the narration been in third person, I feel this might not have been such an issue, but maybe it’s just me.

Nevertheless, the constant internal monologue of Cassandra allowed for a very well-developed internal growth, as the change from frivolous superficial and law-abiding citizen to a more self-aware and independent woman was made even more believable because of its rather slow progression.

Likewise, I really enjoyed her dynamic with the two other main characters, Marcus and Devyn, and I am really looking forward to learning more about them in the next couple of books.

All in all, it really was a good and highly enjoyable read, jam-packed of cleverly placed twists and turns, culminating with a cliffhanger that has me wishing I had the second instalment right now!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

It's very rare that I give a book 2 days. I could not get into his book at all and had to force myself through it. The storyline didn't interest me at all and the MC seemed to lack maturity despite being an adult. The dialogue seemed forced and so I was not able to relate to the characters or imagine what they would sound like. The plot could have done with a lot more work before being written. It just didn't flow the way I expected it to.

The concept of the story was good, by the story itself, not so much.

Well, this book took me on a bit of a ride. I had pretty lukewarm feelings for this book for about half of it. The characters were a little flat at first for me, the worldbuilding felt a bit like info-dumping. The way the information about how their government worked and what was really going on was presented through the MC talking to another character who starts the main conflict didn't really sound very organic to me.
The characters were the biggest issue for me. They are in their early 20's but read like teenagers. I was honestly shocked when I found out the MC was 21, and the "boy" was 26. They come across more like 15/17-ish, so the synopsis calling him a boy is a little weird. Both describe a male, but boy give the connotation of someone who is very young. Both Cass and Devyn, Cass being the MC and Devyn being the love interest, took some time becoming interesting characters. But once they did I was far more invested in the story. It did come across a little like instalove, but once things were revealed it made more sense at how attracted they were to each other as quickly as they were.

This might get called at having a "love triangle", but it doesn't really. She's not really all that attracted to the guy she's betrothed to and he's not that interested in her beyond friendship. Although that was an odd aspect to the story, and it wasn't mentioned if every betrothal is treated like theirs, where they meet once when they're first paired, and then don't see each other again until they are closer to getting married. I just feel like it would have made more sense if they saw each other like... once a year during their whole betrothal. But theirs has some shenanigans attached to it that would disrupt the plot, which is what makes me wonder if theirs was different in more than one way.

The last third of this book was by far my favorite part. There was a lot of action and some of that spy work that's mentioned, and I really enjoyed that.

One thing I would have liked to see in this book is some of it from Devyn's POV. He's a character who holds a lot of secrets and I would think some of the world building had it been told from his perspective would have helped those moments seem more organic.

There's a pretty intense cliffhanger, that makes me really excited for the sequel.

I don't really know what to say about this book, and I must be honest, I didn't even get half way through so please take my comments with a pinch of salt, as maybe it improved in the second half, as many books do!

The premise was really interesting, and the world building seemed decent, but I just couldn't get into the story at all. It seemed very overwritten, with dialogue that annoyed me and sounded wooden, which made it had to relate to the characters.

I really love the cover and the ideas in this, but it just didn't work for me.

The Secrets of the Starcrossed was such an interesting idea and concept for a book. Combining celtic mythology along with roman history to create the vast and unique world of Londinium, where the very likeable Cassandra falls for the mysterious Devyn and discovers the darker side of the empire and all that it's been hiding. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am already anticipating the sequel.

Author O'Connor had great ideas, for an altered history, an arranged marriage, and forbidden love involving the main character's soulmate. Some may really enjoy the way she brought everything together here.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I first heard about this book I was totally interested. With star-crossed lovers, ancient magic, and the world on the brink of war- I had high hopes. The plot sounded great and this was a brand new author for me too, so I was equally excited about that.

This book was a classic run-of-the-mill YA Fantasy. I've seen this plot recycled many, many times and this didn't bring anything new to the table for me. The pacing was slow and it had a little too much info dumping for my taste. I wish there was a little bit more development with the world & magic itself in Londinium overall. Some of the history I didn't find relevant and it was confusing to sort through.

Cassandra was a decent MC but her decisions sometimes got the best of her. I also wish there was more maturity since she is in her 20's. I was very wary of the love triangle aspect because it's one of my least favorite tropes. Unfortunately, I just didn't connect with or care about either love interest. I found myself more interested in Cassandra and her own journey instead.

The cliff-hanger ending sets up book 2 to be filled with more action, and that's what a lot of this book was missing for me. This book had potential, and I'm disappointed it never got there.

Secrets of the Starcrossed follows Cassandra who leads a seemingly perfect life however after a chance encounter with a fellow student she learns the truth about who she is and those around her.

The book started off really well; I liked the main character, the set up of her perfect life and the plot point revolving around how criminals are dealt with and Cassandra helping the young girl however the writing style of the book was not for me, I found the book really hard to read. The book drags on a lot, there was so much descriptive information about the world building/history scattered throughout the book and also a lot of focus on Cassandra’s feelings that I was bored reading the book and I just did not like the main character anymore – she just kept going on and on and it got annoying fast. The plot of the book is not unique and was very predictable, it moves really slow and does not go anyway – it was disappointing. Cassandra is being constantly manipulated and never given answers by the people around her, I did like how she tried to stand up for herself and demand answers but the writing style and the descriptive answers left me really confused, the magic and the different types of people was hard for me to understand and the lack of answers that Cassandra gets throughout the book was frustrating.

The book did feel flat, I found it hard to connect to any of the side characters although I did like Cassandra especially when she tries to deal with everything changing in her life and figure out the truth and I also liked how she helped the siblings at the start of the book however I just did not like how she was written – she does very little in the book and is just constantly thinking, her thoughts are repetitive and longwinded. The romance in the book was weird, there was this instant connection between the characters, but they kept going back and forth which got boring constantly and I did not feel any chemistry between them.

The book is slow paced with little happening, the ending part does pick up and is more action packed and I liked how the book ended and set up for the next book.

2/5

3.5 stars!

I'm not exactly sure where to start with this one...

Did I enjoy it? Kind of.

Let me say, the premise of this world where the Roman Empire never fell was SO interesting. This book is kind of futuristic, kind of dystopian, and more of a "what if" kind of world building. This is where the majority of my rating comes into play, because it's a unique, NEW, interesting background to a fantasy/dystopian novel. My issue was that it was information OVERLOAD. I was so lost throughout most of this book having to reread paragraphs. I almost got to the point where I was going to write down things to remember and keep track but I was so far into the book it was pointless by that time. So while the premise is amazing, I felt like we got too much information in too short a time. I've read quite a few books with unique worlds and I've never encountered such a massive info overload like this...not since Terry Goodkind and his Sword of Truth series.

Another thing I had a bit of an issue with was the somewhat love-triangle. First of all, I don't like them and maybe I missed it, but I was unaware that was a trope in this book. Although, it really didn't feel like a love-anything because there was too much push/pull and very little "relationship." Devyn was hot, sure, but he wasn't truthful or honest. Marcus was...self-absorbed? And Cassandra, while in her 20s, acted like a pre-teen. There's being naïve, and then there's being just immature and stupid. She fell into the latter. Some people mention an insta-love feel. As someone who actually likes that trope, I didn't see it. And who is this book geared towards as readers? We have characters in their 20s, which should be NA romance, but their actions and interactions were more YA. There's also "some" steam, which leans towards NA, but everything else is drenched in YA overtones. That was a bit confusing.

This story could have been PHENOMENAL. I went in with such high hopes to be blown away. And while I did enjoy it...somewhat...it left me feeling confused, a little bit angry, a little bit annoyed, and a lotta bit disappointed overall. However, I'm VERY thankful for the opportunity to read this book early.

🌸 ARC provided to me in exchange for an honest review. 🌸

I really wanted to like this book.
A great concept, alternative history which I'm a sucker for, a secret hero, and bringing down a corrupt regime. What's not to love?
I liked the little details of this world, how the Roman Empire had survived in hostile Briton, how there were trade deals with the indigenous people of America because Britain had never invaded over there. I wanted more of those details, that world. Of course I gathered the Empire was corrupt, controlling and fake, and I was keen to see it's downfall.
But then that wasn't what this book was.
What I found was a love triangle that was a realistic as the whole handfasting tradition in this world was. I didn't care for our lead character, Cass. I found her shallow and with no plans of her own. Everything revolves around her boy choices. The lads, Marcus, so focused on his doctoring he didn't think about anything else around him, and Devyn, the mysterious, tall, dark stranger who would not answer a straight question.
Oh insta-love, I'm not a fan and this hasn't changed my mind.
If the author wants to write in Cass' point of view, fine, but I really need her not to blindly wander around her story without seeking out her own answers. She just came across as hopeless and pathetic. I know the society is designed to be restrictive, but seriously, she had no one else to talk to? And the one person she could have spoken to was wasted on an escape, one of three attempts....... seriously.
I called the cliffhanger ending at the beginning, so no surprise there.
I wanted to enjoy this, I did. I even finished it, hoping it would give me that 'yay that last third was so worth it feeling' but it didn't.
If you love insta-love, not getting straight answers, planning but no action, a lead character who chooses nothing for herself, not even who she sleeps with because of being drugged, no matter how hard the author wants me to think otherwise, and a great world set up that is ignored, then this will be the great love series for you. For me, no.
Your enjoyment will depend on if you like the main characters.

Secrets of the Starcrossed by Clara O’Connor was an amazing book, loved the plot and the characters!

This was definitely not a bad book by any means it just wasn’t really for me! I really liked the writing style and thought the flow was really good but I am such a character driven person and I just didn’t really connect with any of these characters.

I enjoyed the plot and thought it was fun and there were high stakes but I just didn’t care as much as I feel like I should have done and really wanted to!! I’d still recommend this book if it sounds like your thing it just wasn’t my favourite unfortunately.

I loved this so much that I immediately pre-ordered Book 2! Set in an alternate London where the Roman Empire never fell and all of British History takes a left turn to a place almost recognisable but not quite, it is the story of handsome and enigmaticDevyn Agrestis, a Briton from beyond the wall who has magic in his blood and Cassandra Shelton, a pampered high society princess, adopted by a wealthy family at birth, who finds out she too has magic and a past that is shrouded in death and mystery.
This was an exciting read, with a flavour of Noughts and Crosses, but uniquely its own and I can't wait to read Book 2.

A gripping book filled with a London the reader can almost recognise. A London we are familiar with, yet totally different. 
We follow out main characters while they learn things about themselves and each other, things that will change the course of their lives.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

ARC from NetGalley

This was a decent enough read. Interesting premise. Frustrating at times. How many times can you get caught? Apparently many. It's set in a sort of future/parallel world Europe with a high-tech city that is really anti-magic, and we follow the zany antics of the probably some kind of royalty MC because trope. This read like a YA fantasy, and I honestly thought the MC was like 16 for a good percentage of the book, but she is in her 20s. The ending was a bullshit cliffhanger that made me drop a star. I'm irritated.