IVE HAD ENOUGH. IVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS BETRAYAL AND CLIFF HANGERS. I orignally was in an awful reading slump for nearly a year and i couldnt read this before it got released so apologies for the god awful amount of time it took me to read this but UGH it was so good and im glad i finally feel motivated to read! The ending tho- brutal. Give me 5-10 buisness days to recover. Thanks x

This book took me months to finish because I just did not care. Then I read the last half in a matter of days because I just wanted to be done with it.

It's not horrible. I think it has potential. But you want the book your friend wrote to have potential. Not the book you bought at the store that has had an entire team working on it.

Lore of the Wilds is a mess. The spicy scenes were jarring. Probably because the writing would have worked better for a middle reader, not... New Adult?
Lore is incredibly stupid. She's so stupid. She breaks into a castle on her own and it works out, but it works out because the author wanted it to. Not because it was a great plan. But Lore is Smart! and Amazing! and Short! She's so short it is constantly brought up.

After the first half, the pacing was weird and the story jumped in odd spots.

The big twist at the end was... bizarre. So bizarre. It was completely WTF but not in a good way. It was WTF, if this is happening, why is it happening *now*. Which made that character also incredibly stupid.

I wanted to like this book so badly, but what I would like is to fight the editor who approved this and didn't make the author iron out the chaos (bad chaos, not good chaos) that Lore of the Wilds is.

Unfortunately this book just wasn't really what I expected out of it. I was promised Romantasy, which gives the feeling it's not Young Adult but it read very Young Adult. It could've been an amazing read but it just didn't fully deliver. Part of it was underdeveloped writing I fear with a lot of 'I don't know how to continue this so let me just say Lore feels its right and then time skip'. It just really flopped for me.

DNF 28%

I was not able to finish this book for a multitude of reasons. Some being my professional life getting in the way others being the book itself.

I found it hard to believe that this book was classified as a young adult book due to the robotic language and the amount of saying rather than conveying it did. I was compelled when I started reading to go back and look up its classification thinking I had accidently picked up a middle grade book.

Additionally, this book is another one that falls prey to the instalove trope (my personal hell most of the time). There is no foundation for attraction between the characters and I really need that in the books I read. Sexual attraction? Sure, I can usually get behind that, but romantic attraction, love at first sight? It is getting annoying. You don't know them! And yet for some reason you don't ever seem to need to get to know them to fall in love, just stay in love with the person who is a stranger to you.

All of this made it really difficult to continue reading until life took over. I am sad because I was looking forward to this book for a long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book.

Lore Alemeyu lives in one of the only human towns in a world owned and ruled by Fae. When her town is destroyed by an earthshake Lore is summoned to the home of a Fae Lord. In exchange for medicine and resources to help her people rebuild she agrees to enter a cursed library and catalogue it for them. Its been a thousand years since a Fae was able to enter. When she discovers a blank book in the library she decides not to report it and so starts Lore's adventure.

This book was so much fun. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, doesn't do anything unexpected but instead induces happiness through the easiness of it all. It's nice and short and a bit basic in the best way. It's slightly cosy, got somewhat of an enemies to lovers love triangle and lots of magic and romance. There's even a surprise shock ending setting up the next book. I loved it!

This was a fantastic romantasy book. Lore was a great character and I enjoyed her strong journey throughout the book. Despite the writing being more YA, I liked the plot and storyline. Can’t wait for book 2!

Book Review 📚
Lore of The Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana 🫶🏻
5/5 ⭐

As soon as I finished this book I went and got the hardback physical copy – for the trophy shelf of course!

Lore of the wilds is a breathtaking book into a fantastical world which captivates the imagination from the very first page! Sbrana has crafted a beautifully detailed universe filled with magic, intrigue and the most unforgettable characters.

Firstly, the world building in this book is nothing short of spectacular. Sbrana paints such a vivid picture of the wilds with beautiful landscapes and unforgettable character developments. Every single scene is described with such detail that the reader can almost feel the breeze, smell the earth and hear the whispers of those ancient secrets. Sbrana sets the scene for an epic adventure.

The character development is another feature in Lore of The Wilds that stands out. Each character is crafted beautifully with depth and personality. Their growths and interactions throughout are authentic and engaging, making it so easy to become so emotionally invested with their journeys.

The plot itself is beautifully paced, although it started slow it builds the story for you and opens the world around you. There is action, mystery and emotional moments captured with finesse. Sbrana kept me on the edge of my seat with twists and turns that are not only unexpected but also satisfying!

Sbrana’s writing style is flawless and she has a strong talent for storytelling, which is beyond evident on every single page. She made it easy to lose myself in the adventure and wonder of the wilds. The book transports the reader into another realm. Escaping reality is what every reader wants, and Sbrana makes that possible in Lore of The Wilds.

Analeigh Sbrana is a truly mind-blowing writer and author, bringing to light this remarkable work of fantasy that deserves every bit of the 5 star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing company for allowing to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

I LOVED this book! We follow Lore, a human woman, as she is taken by a rich fae lord and made to search his library for magical tomes, as only humans can enter. She encounters a guard there, and becomes close with him, but when she comes to stay in a quiet village, she meets more fae, including Finndryl, who seems to hate her-but not everything is as it seems with anyone. I loved the story from start to finish and found that unlike other fantasy novels with new world building, there were no slower bits as everything was explained along the way and I found that despite the conflict, there was a sense of cosy fantasy about the book in parts. The characters were amazing, and I really liked all of them, which can be quite rare, but the author did a fantastic job of fleshing out the characters and making them all so captivating. I can’t wait for more by this author and would recommend this to any fantasy fans!

Nooope sorry I didn’t enjoy this at all😭

No character’s depth, surface level chemistry, character driven plot but most of the time Lore (the MC) just doing whatever she want without considering any escape plan. She survived everything by sheer luck and her “friends” help. Without them she’d be long gone fr. Maybe the author intended to make her to be a valiant heroine but in my eyes she’s just reckless.

Won’t be reading the sequel. Sorry once again

This was a really fun and fascinating read - the world building and character development had me hooked from start to end. I had such a good time with the characters, the magic and the world.

Wonderful and vivid, with a great cast of dynamic characters and a lush cottagecore vibe. It was totally dreamy! I really liked and admired Lore, and as a Black woman, it’s great to see diverse fantasy romances like this one make such a wonderful splash. Looking forward to seeing more by this author.

This book follows Lore, a human who finds herself immersed in the hostile fae world that surrounds her village. This was definitely a hyped read and I was very excited when I was approved for an advanced copy.

I feel like we were promised "A Library with a deadly enchantment" - buzzwords to get the readers in, but the library is such a small part.. As much as I wanted to enjoy this book, I found it was not keeping my attention. My eyes would be scanning the words but I wasn't thinking about the story - not a good sign! I found the pace to be very slow. I didn't realise this was a first instalment and that would explain the slow world building. It was 99% slow, and then BAM, twist at the end.

Would I read book 2? I could be persuaded to see where this goes.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced copy in return for my honest review.

This was a really fun book, I enjoyed the world building and character development. Lore really grows throughout the book and loved her journey, the interactions between her and the other characters felt very authentic and overall really easy to follow.

I really loved the magic system, its a little different but works really well. Hoping to see a lot more of some of the characters in book 2, I cant wait to see what happens after the plot twist.

This was more new adult than YA but, despite that was an action packed, romantic fantasy adventure that my Sixth Formers will love.

A great premise - I love Fae stories and love triangles and all the drama that comes with it, however I think this falls short in execution. The pacing is very slow and the pay off is minimal, with the overall strut ture of the writing feeling a little messy. The world building and magic system in particular is lacking, with Lore being able to do magic without any real explanation of why. The characters also felt underdeveloped, which I think was additionally hindered by the fact that this is only told from Lore's perspective. It made everyone else feel a little flat in comparison.

A really interesting idea, with so much potential, but this just missed the mark a bit for me.

I really liked the premise of this book, its about Lore who is a human living in the village that is completely cut off from the rest of the world by fae. She finds herself in the middle of their shenanigans when she is taken to work in an ancient library of the fae because no fae can enter.

I really liked the plot but this was more a YA story and writing than an adult fantasy. I listened to the audio which was wonderful, I just wish the storyline was less telling and more showing. There were too many times that magically everything was working out to benefit the story.

In terms of the romance, I really liked it, loved the love triangle to be honest!

It's cosy but its rought at some points, its descriptive and magical and I loved the world, I would love to know more and read the second book.

This is not a strong debut, whatsoever. I’ve heard nothing but negative reviews and unfortunately this is just one more.

Ahhhh I was so excited by the idea of this book! It’s everything I would want in a faerie based idea and with the inclusion of books and a library too!? I was so excited but I had to stop at about 25%. It just didn’t keep me engaged and I was so disappointed about that! I’m sure Analeigh will continue to write and maybe I’ll revisit some of her works later

I really enjoyed this book. I felt it was written really well and the creativity was luring. Full of lavish descriptions and world building. The characters were are created with a realism to them and they really brought the story together.
I enjoyed the plotline and the direction it took.
I enjoyed this novel so much that I have bought a copy for my shelf

Lore of the Wilds was, sadly, a wildly disappointing read. The beautiful cover obviously immediately captured my attention and the plot sounded intriguing, but the execution was simply so lacklustre to me.

I personally feel like no aspect of this landed - be it place, time, motivation or characters, nothing seemed defined and coherent enough to make for a compelling story and compensate for the lack of quality in any of the other categories. The romance didn't connect with me, the setting and timeline was all over the place, the characters didn't really display any sense of coherency when it came to their personalities and motivations... ultimately, this was just a painful read that I should have put down when I first considered DNFing it, but alas.

That being said, I do think that there might be a target audience that would enjoy this. In light of the SJM craze, this might land with some fans of her work, especially considering the parallels that could be drawn. (Which is, honestly, another aspect that greatly disappointed me, but oh well, let's not get into that)