This book is actually quite fun. You have Cassandra, who finds out that she's magical enough to enter a magical school. However, something happens in real life that's bothering her so much that she can't really concentrate at magical school, and her OCD won't let her just get on with her life. I enjoyed the teenage relationships Cass has with her friends, and of her "discovering new territories" with Colin, but eventually it got a bit too Young Adult for me.

This book had many good qualities: a heroine with mental illness and dealing with grief, a magical world right under her nose that she's inexplicably drawn into, supporting characters that deal with their own trauma while helping their friend, and an overly supportive parent.

Sometimes I didn't quite understand how the scrying worked. Even with explanations it was difficult to keep straight but I enjoyed how Cassie learns and develops as a person and scryer.

Foretold starts slow and then the story unfolds as the main character discovers a whole new world that she and members of her family belong to. The story is engaging and the only problem I had with it was the whole OCD constant insertion into the it. I hope the next book does not put so much emphasis on OCD. It distracts from the main story.

Foretold is a debut fantasy novel that starts off at a slow pace but picks up when the story starts to unfold itself, packed with action, unique magic, and charming characters. However, what stood out the most to me was Lumani's skill at accurately depicting OCD, anxiety, and grief.

4/5

I will say it takes a special kind of book to make me stay up til 4am to make sure I finished it in one sitting. This book 100% — could not put it down.

I agree with other reviewers that the middle was a little slow; however, the middle did not spare me from crying along side the main character. The ending felt like a whirlwind, but I felt it fit the plot well.

One of my favorite things from this book was how Cassie’s OCD was portrayed. I felt raw with her the whole time and her internal monologue really hit home how these experiences ran her down. I have never read a book with such honest depictions of mental illness and wow it truly changes the reading experience.

I am extremely excited to read the next book. 2022 can’t come fast enough.

CW: death, grief, blood, cutting

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC!

First of all, let me say that this book is not what I was expecting, and I was pleasantly surprised by the end of it. To be honest, I was confused by the first 10 chapters of the book, mostly by the descriptions given to the secret organization of soothsayers. However, as the story progressed, I understood more, and the story got better. There are several plot twists in the story. The main one was a little too predictable, but the details surrounded it made the story unique and set the tone for the next book.

The thing I loved the most about this book is that the main character has to deal not only with her "magical" problems, for lack of a better word, but also with the struggles of a mental illness, which in this case is OCD. For me, this detail made the main character more real, and it also made the book a little educational, which I think is amazing.

I had the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review, thanks to NetGalley and Uproar Books.

2/5

Honeslty, I am a little conflicted. I thought the premises sounded really interesting: Cassandra, who has OCD and always imagnies the worst possible situations, learns she has the ability to see and maybe even change or influence the future.

Sounded really good on its own, was disappointing. I liked the way the book handled OCD and panik attacks, portraing them in a realistic way instead of romanticising it, as it is the case in a lot of other media. The rest of the book was just average: the world building was one of the biggest issues, there was this big info dump at the beginnig and that was it, at the end I still had no idea how the magic system and the scrying even works. The characters were just meh, nothing special nothing too bad, I just couldn't bring myself to care about anything, not even Casse. The romance was again just kind of boring, while it was obvious Colin was going to be the li, it just happended so quickly, they hung out and bam she was in love, which wouldn't be a bad thing, it just came out of nowhere and felt rushed.

While I'm glad there wasn't a love triangle in this book, I definitely feel like there's going to be one in the next book: cute-neighbor-who-is-already-boyfriend-and-loves-her and then hot-kinda arrogant-everyone-crushes-on-heartbreaker-guy. The set up is there and honestly I'm surprised the whole oh do i love him or the other guy didnt' happen.

(It is written in present tense, something I'm not a big fan of, I don't know wheter it was that or the entire writing style, maybe it just wasn't for me)

Now onto the biggest "problem": the pacing. The first half was just plain boring, I had to push myself to even pick it up. The second half was a little better, but the only really interesting part that grabs your attention are the like last 10%.

All in all it was just a really average book, it had its issues but it wasn't horrible.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book. In a nutshell, Cassandra Morai is diagnosed with OCD after her mother dies when she's 13. The story begins when Cassandra is 16 about-to-be-17. When her OCD gets really bad, she gets glimpses of the future. Cue meeting the boy next door, Colin, who Cassandra has glimpsed dying. Cassandra's Aunt Bree (father's sister) introduces Cassandra to an organization of scryers and she the story follows Cassandra as an initiate trying to learn the magic she needs to save Colin on the down low. This organization, called the Theban Group, as a very Google Headquarters-meets-Ministery-of-Magic vibe. There is also something much bigger as work with this organization, which seems to be warring with outside, rogue scryers.

This story is mostly about Cassandra trying to save Colin, but the author also lays the foundation for whatever the plot is going to be in the next book (at least that's what I assume). There is a lot of things that happen and Cassie is used as a pawn in what seems to be organization v. rogue scryers, but none of that culminates in a big scene in this book. Which is why I assume it's going down in the next book.

I loved the characters. Cassandra's inner monologue is one of my favorites of all the MC's I've read. She's witty and intelligent and just a little on the cynic side. I loved the representation with regard to mental health. Cassie's OCD wasn't like a token trait so the book can boast mental health representation but still treat the character like she basically doesn't have it. Cassie is constantly battling it and it causes a stir in a few places. It's really well done. I also love the side-kickish BFF Regan. She's like a season one Caroline Forbes, and I get the feeling she's going to be well-developed in the second book. Griffin is the Ron to Cassie and Regan's Harry and Hermoine, and he plays some vital roles and provides much comic relief. Then there's Sebastian, who is supposed to be in a love triangle with Cassie and Colin, but I don't really see it yet. I see that there's a draw there, but it kind of happens fast and it's not like he's a sweet-talker or anything. There are a few romances between characters, and none are mature romances. It's all very beat around the bush or insta-love which is more believable because the characters are 16-18 years old. I would not expect nor would I believe a romance written like it was between 30 year olds. So, I actually liked the younger love aspect and how it was written. And again, I feel like it's something this author will do a good job at propelling forward in the next installments.

This was such a good book, I'm very impressed and can't wait to read the next one!

(Than you Netgalley and Uproar Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review)

I had never read anything to do with scrying or looking into the future so i didn't really know what to expect and was worried i wouldn't enjoy it but i actually really did. I loved the future predicting aspect of this book and reading about all the rituals and omens was so interesting.

The idea of the TheBan group reminded me a little bit of Men In Black with the secret entrance and the building underground. Obviously fighting aliens and predicting the future are very different things but the whole secret organisation aspect gave similar vibes. I'm not a huge fan of insta-love and Colin and Cass's romance was very quick to develop but i did like their relationship and Colin is such a sweet and adorable person. The ending was such a huge surprise, i never saw it coming. I presumed from the beginning that something bad would happen near the end but i never expected that! I just wanted to give Cass the biggest hug.

I did have a couple negatives with this book. Firstly, it is a little slow in places, especially at the beginning. It takes a while for it to get into the main plot but once it gets going, its really good. My biggest issue is with the world building. The writing style is really good but the world building was defiantly lacking in places and i found it hard to imagine thinks like the Coil.

But, overall, Foretold is a really good YA fantasy that intertwines the real world with the fantasy whilst also showing how OCD effects people in everyday situations and i'm looking forward to seeing how the series continues and develops

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First I must say the cover of this novel is what drew me in it’s beautifully done.

Cassie struggles through OCD and I appreciate the fact that this is mentioned throughout the novel rather than just a paragraph here abs there. The author does an outstanding job of accurately describing OCD. But her OCD she finds out is in part to her psychic abilities abs not only that her aunt is a part of this secret society of others with similar gifts. All should be well but of course in the book world, something must always go wrong. Her love interest the adorable Colin is destined to die. She will do whatever it takes to not witness another devastating vision come true so she joins her aunt.
This ending was really surprising unfortunately I can’t say more without spoiling the entire thing but in regards

to the love triangle, I am most certainly team Colin.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an arc in exchange of an honest review / First i really liked how OCD is treated, it was very well handled, we can really see what it is to live with it, and showed how it is without complex and wasn't in the usual cliché.
i didn't like the romance it felt like she had feelings for him at first sight, there's no real development;
the concept was really good, i liked that it came all from her OCD she's always seeing the worst that could happen but it was in fact a vision she could try to prevent.
Now it was really confusing, the pace wasn't stable and the worldbuilding lacked delicacy, suddenly everything about the secret organisation and the magic system is thrown at us and that's it. I found myself ending up skimming because of all the repetitions that yes Cassie has a new life, it''s dangerous and have to make a sacrifice it was said so many times, it took a lot of time until something actually happened. The plot was predictable too with a love triangle it's fairly easy to guess at it.

;

Thank you NetGalley and Uproar Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Where to begin... honestly, I fell in love with the cover, which is how it usually works with me, and although I was a little unsure about the synopsis, I decided to dive in.

Foretold tells the tale of a young woman, Cassandra Morai, who sees death and devastation all around her and suffers from severe OCD and extreme anxiety.

As I said, I wasn't too sure about the synopsis (just for my personal taste), and although the first 20% or so of the book wasn't the smoothest of beginnings, the rest of the book was pretty brilliant. The combination of fantasy and reality works really well. There is honestly such a broad range of character development that you seriously fall in love with so many individual personalities.

There's romance. The 'bad' boy (sorta). The best friend. The supportive parent. The loss. The love. The feeling that everything that happens in this book could happen in our world.

*SORTA SPOILER BUT NO DETAILS*

I cried multiple times throughout this book. My heart raced. I smiled. All the emotions were felt!

I really can't wait for the next book to come out. The ending broke my heart and I honestly can't wait to see what happens next.

Like some other readers, I had high hopes for this book.
The cover is absolutely beautiful, the story intriguing.

However, Lumani’s storytelling failed to meet the mark for me. It felt like all of the interesting parts of the story were sidelined for the romance plot line that showed little uniqueness to that already flooding the market.

*I’d like to thank NetGalley and Uproar for providing me with an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

5 stars
★★★★★

TW: mental illness, death

Foretold is the first book of The Scryers trilogy by Violet Lumani


Synopsis ✿
Cassandra is diagnosed with OCD, anxiety and catastrophic thinking. She imagines the worst situations every day to herself and those she loves. Crossing the road one day she sees her new next door neighbour die, but this time it was a vision. In order to change the future Cass joins a secret organisation to save her cute boy wonder neighbour. Defying death is not easy and cost Cass everything.

Review ✿
This book blew me away. 
The secret organisation that was also somehow school was a unique premise with the Coil being a cool living organism that is not benign, but hostile and dangerous and that we later find out unwilling host. 

Griffin surprised me the most out all the characters. His character arc really made the book that much better and his friendships with Cass and Regan felt real and authentic.
Noah can eat shit.

Cass was really having a hard time and after she went to the secret organisation camp school she really blossomed and came into her own. I felt so happy she had friends and her mentor helping her with her OCD and catastrophic thoughts. Nua felt like Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter and the stunt Marko pulled made me die from happiness. Cass has such good intentions and a forgiving spirit but the forces conspiring against her ultimately cost her, her family and her friends a lot. Perhaps too much. 
The plot twist with the evil eye was shocking. 

Times I cried:
- I cried about Theodore 
- Sebastian talking about the cupcakes. 
- cried when she had a fight with her dad, talking about how she felt stuck and everyone was moving on and her OCD compelled her mid convo to start straightening the carpet
- cried at the end. 
- cried about the painting at the end.

I truly don't know where Cassandra's story arc will go from here. How her actions and the consequences will shape her and how she will make choices in the future. I hope she learns and grows and has some form of peace but I assume she will spiral negatively and make some more bad choices before settling into a happier place. Given her name is Cassandra, which I assume harkens to the Ancient Greek Oracle Cassandra and how tragic that story went makes me not have any hope for this Cassandra. Not one ounce. Not one trickle of hope. 

I was very emotionally drained by the end. I cannot believe I have to wait so long for the next book.
This will be me for the next couple days. No I won't be thinking any other thoughts other than this book at this time. Please respect my lack of productivity. Thank you.

I really enjoyed this book! I liked Cassie a lot as a main character, but there were parts that I felt frustrated with her characterization. Reagan and Colin were also an amazing secondary character cast. Reagan was an awesome friend and super, super supportive (we love to see it). And, while I'm not necessarily a fan of the insta-love trope, I found myself pleasantly okay with this one because Colin was just great.

The mental health rep in this was also awesome, but I don't experience OCD myself, so I cannot speak to the accuracy of it. I do love to see author's take the time and make an effort to include non-neurotypical rep, though.

I think the plot of this novel was a little predictable, but it was a fun, gripping ride! I won't go too into detail as I don't want to spoil anyone, but I will also say that around the middle the pacing does slow down a lot and it feels a little chaotic/untethered. But, around the 3/4 mark it picks back up and settles back into its rhythm. I would really recommend this novel, I had a great time reading it!

Thank you NetGalley and Uproar Books for the ARC; All thoughts and opinions are my own!

This book is incredibly magical, I loved everything about it. The story was told in such a realistic way it made me feel like I was actually there! The characters are well thought out and are so real and vivid l, the story had me gripped throughout and I can’t wait for the next book!

So I have to say I adore this book! I loved the story line and the characters. It was great to read about a main character who has a struggle like OCD and is trying to navigate life with that and having so much thrown in the way. I feel like they attempted to set up a love triangle but it wasn’t super intense. I like the way it was set up. Really I can’t wait enough how much I enjoyed this book. I can’t wait for the next one!

I felt as if I had a ton of information dumped on me while reading this and at completely random times. The main character has OCD but it is misrepresented and poorly executed. The characters were not likeable, in my opinion, and they were rather 2D. I would maybe recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was really nice to see a book with mental health representation, as most people struggle with some form of mental health issue at some point in their lives. I do not have OCD, so I can't talk about how accurate the portrayal is but I know that other reviewers that have OCD have said that it was depicted well.

The world-building was great but the plot was sometimes slow, and I did sometimes struggle with that.

Overall though it was a read that I enjoyed.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Foretold was such a fun book to dive into. Even some of the characters either rubbed me the wrong way in the beginning or for the entire book. In it, you will meet Cassie. She was completely interesting to me because she had these visions of the future but she was also dealing with her OCD. Since I know absolutely know one with this, I was very invested in getting to know her a bit more. Especially when it came to what triggered her and how she coped with it.

Besides her, there's Reagan and Griffin - who I loved. Absolutely adored the shit out of them. I'll admit that I wasn't a fan of Griffin in the beginning but he definitely wormed his way into my heart. These two always had her back and tried to help her with the coping mechanism's.

Now I'm sure you are wondering who I don't like - Noah. I hated this guy because he blamed every little damn thing on Cassie. It's raining - Cassie's fault. He tripped over a rock? Clearly Cassie's fault. So the little tantrums he had were just unamusing and I wanted to punch him a whole lot.

In the end, I flew through this and enjoyed the crap out of it. Mostly because I completely ignored Noah.