I really enjoyed the storyline in world building in the novel. I also really liked the characters. I thought this was a solid read, and I will definitely be reading more by this author.

I did not finish this book, I couldn't get into the story because of the writing style wasn't for me. I kept trying to pick this up but I couldn't get into it.

This is so funny and witty. I loved the storyline and Tanya's will to do whatever it takes to save her livelihood. 10/10 would recommend!

A tavern wench, an ice queen, a volcano demon, a thief, a captain of the guard, and a magical feather are at the core of Kaplan’s Wench. Tavern wenches are not generally the heroines of ya fiction, but Tanya is not the traditional tavern wench. Tanya has run the tavern owned by her benefactor since he rescued her when she was abandoned by her mother. However, once he dies, Tanya discovers that he has not left a will and the tavern’s supplies are quickly confiscated by shady Queen’s guardsmen who are transporting a mysterious box to the capital. Tanya joins the guardsmen on their trek to the capital determined to ask the queen to grant her the deed to the tavern. Once upon the road, the group is robbed by a nimble female thief who shows Tanya the contents of the mysterious box before disappearing. The contents of the box dominates the rest of Kaplan’s tale of fantasy, magic, and the will of a tavern wench to determine her fate. Kaplan’s work is compelling but feels somewhat disjointed. There are three distinct segments to Kaplan’s story and unfortunately the second segment does not continue to build upon the secondary character relationships introduced in the first segment. When the secondary characters appear again in the third segment, the relationships do not feel as genuine. Overall, the powerfully depicted feminine characters in Wench are a joy to see develop and the casual acceptance of same sex relationships is depicted exceptionally well. Recommended for fans of Daughter of the Pirate King.

The premise for Wench was a good one, but unfortunately the book didn’t live up to expectations. So much happens and so many characters were introduced in the first half that just as I would get accustomed to what was happening, it would go in a different direction. This made the story less engaging and the characters difficult to connect with.

A sassy, spectacular YA story about a girl who can and will do anything - in a magically fun fantasy world.

Fun and raunchy (but appropriate for teens still) this book is fantastic for any fan of Harlots or Reign or going to renn faires with your friends.

I was drawn to this book for the historical fantasy aspect, but the fun colors of the cover also drew me in. Like other readers, I found my focus on the book felt mixed. This could be due to age, since I am much older than a YA reader, and some YA still holds my attention, while some does not.

I got this mixed up with a book about someone working at a RenFaire but ended up reading further and liking it anyway.

Fun read! Fun characters! Fun story! Fun magic! Lots of humor! I really enjoyed this one. I did have some issues with the story and the magical world, but it was still attention-grabbing.

This was really cute. I loved the characters and the plot. The LBGTQ representation was awesome (even if I wanted more of it). That said, it was a bit disappointing. The pacing was a little weird and I had a hard time following the story at times. Overall, still a fun read, just not a new favorite.

Despite trying to read this ARC multiple times, I simply could not get on with it - I'm not sure whether it was the main character specifically, or the whole setting, but it's a DNF for me.

This was a fun read! There was great humor while letting the lead be unapologetically female. It hit all the notes with humor and kept this reader interested to the last page.

Looked cute but didn't have the chance to read it. Based on the description, I would probably recommend it to teens in my library if we had a copy.

I was really excited by the premise of this book. It sounded like it was right up my alley, but I had a very hard time getting into it. I ultimately decided to DNF around 50% because I just kept setting it aside to read something else and just didn't have the desire to pick it back up. I am sure there are readers who will love this, but unfortunately I just didn't connect with it.

This started off so strong. The magic is really interesting. The magic system isn’t really explained in detail but its written in such a fun way. I especially love the idea of magical runoff happening in random places because of overuse of magic by untrained magicians.

I love our female protagonist’s personality. She’s funny, independent, and fierce. She takes control over her situations with determination. However, the strong character and magic wasn’t enough to keep my attention. By the 50-60% point in the book, I had lost all interest. I could tell the plot was supposed to amp up but we spent so much time meandering with nothing substantial happening that I lost all interest. I rarely DNF and I tried to pick this up several times before I decided to give up. This has promise but it didn’t work for me.

Unfortunately I was unable to finish this book. From the description it seemed to check all the boxes I love in a YA fantasy, but for me it simply was not an engaging read. I didn’t connect with the characters or plot and ended up putting it down after about 125 pages.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have complex feelings about this book because in the first half of the book I was ENTHRALLED! I mean this book has so many amazing factors, it has medieval ambiance, adventure, treacherous quests, fight scenes aplenty, mystery, and magic. But then about halfway through I suddenly felt it had lost the magic and adventure it had in the beginning. I think, in part, this is due to how many things were going on in the book. There were like 12 different things towards the end that had to be rounded up and I felt, perhaps, that is why towards the end of the book I felt it was a bit rushed. I honestly still was confused by the magic system but that could have just been my thing. However, I really liked how using the magic came with a price as it added a factor of surprise as to what exactly would happen this time because they used magic. It was confusing and odd magic but I still enjoyed it even if I felt like I was just smiling and nodding my way through the descriptions of it.

As I said prior the last half of the book felt rushed and I think in part that has to do with the writing becoming increasingly choppy throughout the book. In the beginning, it didn't feel like that at all and I really didn't realize it until I had finished the book and was flicking back through it to write this review.. That being said, I loved the characters in this book, especially Tanya. She was vivacious, strong and independent, and freaking hysterical. I loved the humor in this book and I truly did find myself giggling as I read. I also loved the support characters and I felt that they added balance to Tanya but that's just the thing, I didn't feel like they were truly their own characters. It felt like they only existed to move Tanya's story along and while at the absolute core that is what supporting characters do I felt like they should be more fleshed out. They all had so much potential but by the end, I was feeling conflicted because I felt like the ones that had gone through the majority of this story with Tanya were pretty much the same as when we had initially met them despite all that they had been through.

I will also say that the flitting romances that took place between a few of the supporting and Tanya were forgettable and I was a little disappointed. I don't mind romance in books but they felt chucked in there and meaningless in a lot of ways to the plot or to Tanya's story.

Still, I enjoyed this book and I felt Tanya was such a strong character and I really loved the world-building and ambiance of this story. I just wish that the supporting characters had been more developed than they ended up being. This was a fast-paced read, however, and I truly was sucked into the story from beginning to end. I would totally recommend this book for any medieval, adventure lover who loves a vivacious MC and a good quest.

This was a DNF for me. I just couldn’t like the main character at all. This one felt all over the place and didn’t really hook me. If I revisit in the future I will update my review!

I don't usually read Young Adult/Teen books, but the cover of this one really drew me in and I couldn't pass it up. This was a great read with a strong feminine lead character and I was all here for it!