unfortunately, the cool cover didn’t do much to save this book. i struggled to enjoy this one.

it was hard for the first 20% until things picked up. then it was good for a while before i just got bored.

immediately after finishing the book, i couldn’t recall what had happened in the second half. none of it stuck with me. i could’ve gone without reading this book entirely.

it had a good magic system though. very well thought-out and detailed, but the characters weren’t very memorable/likeable.

An absolute amazing book, I honestly couldn’t stop once I started and I went ahead and brought a copy for my shelves! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

The general idea was fascinating, but I needed more detailed world-building. I would love to know more about the witches' crystals for example, as they are a crucial element of the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Orbit for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: death, violence, burning, fire, grief

Penelope Albright is the daughter of the Thorn Witches, one of five covens bound in servitude to the dictator known as the High Warden, and soon she will be forced to join her sisters in patrolling the veil between Life and Death. To do this every night, a Thorn witch must burn herself at the stake to reach it and by sunrise, they must use their power to be brought back to life. Failure to patrol means long-trapped magic and the souls of the dead could flood into the world of Halstett. Penny is dreading her first experience in burning, having seen the emotional changes in her older sisters Mila and Ella since they started patrolling, but when her favourite sister Ella fails to return home, she takes an extreme step and burns herself. Through the veil, Penny discovers that things aren’t as stable as the Warden has made out and to bring Ella home, she must make a deal with a secretive lord named Malin to return every night and aid him. However, back in Halstett, Penny soon gets caught up in a rebellion against the High Warden and the plight of the Warden’s captive prophet, Alice. As romance blooms on both sides of the veil, and her choices have an impact on those around her, Penny finds herself unable to control the magic she’s kept hidden for so long.

There's aspects of this book that I really enjoyed like the world building, the relationship between the sisters and the magical system which kept me reading. Ella and Penny in particular have some great moments. Penny is a strong main character with a lot of devotion to her family but I found her experiences with the side characters- whether it be Malin or Alice or the wider Resistance- to be a little vague. This meant that many of the other characters, my favourite being Alice, never really got to shine as much as I would have liked. I felt like I waited a long time for something big to happen and when it did, the pay off didn't feel like it landed as well. However, this was a strong debut and I adored the magic system and back story.

I like Katherine’s books. Nothing crazy sophisticated to put me off, with badass characters and OMG moments. Just what I like in my fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

I loved this book. And this is a debut?? Really impressive can’t wait to see what comes next.

I loved this story and the characters, I missed the world building as I felt that I missed a lot of lore.
There's a lot of potential, it's entertaining and it will be an excellent series
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 - Tonight, I Burn - Katharine J.Adams

guys guys GUYSSSSSSSS

i am here to announce i have fallen in love with another authors debut fantasy novel - this time we have ‘Tonight, I Burn’ by @katharinejadams - the first in a trilogy that i am going to be simply restless for whilst awaiting book two !

‘Tonight, I Burn’ is a fast-paced witchy delight that I’ve gotten through in less that 48 hours. The world-building in the novel is rich and the lore of the magic is so detailed but set out in a way where not a single sentence felt a bit much (you all know what i mean 💀) - and it had one of my fav additions to assist with this - LIBRARY INSERTS FROM BOOKS IN THEIR REALM !!

Adam’s filled this book with characters you want to root for - to succeed and to die :))))) that’s all I shall say - no spoilers here !

I truly ate this book up and if you’re looking for a suspenseful book full of betrayal, love, anger, friendship, and death - you probably will to!!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing this ARC 💫

#review #reading #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #booksbooksbooks #arcreader #arc #reader #netgalley #bookquotes #orbitbooks #tonightiburn #katharinejadams #whatiread #outnow #newbooks

The cover drew me in, the synopsis convinced me, and the story won me completely. This was such a good book! Tonight, I Burn is the first in a trilogy following Penny Albright, a witch of the Thorn coven, sworn to walk into death. The Thorn witches are the only ones capable of crossing over into death to protect the veil, which is controlled by the wicked and corrupt Warden.

Penny is a special character who follows the rules but will do anything to protect her sisters, especially Ella. I loved the complexity of the whole family dynamic functioning under a domineering matriarch.

The introduction of Malin is great as we get everything from Penny's perspective, and she is not a fan. Slowly, however, we start to see that he is not all he appears. Their relationship really develops throughout the book and will clearly be challenged in later installments. We also meet Alice, the life spinner. She and Penny grow a special bond through their experiences, which offers a beautiful relationship. I think the topic of a polyamory is handled so well and felt organic and natural. Alice is an enjoyable character and balances her dark situation with hope.

The writing is brilliant and completely draws you in. I couldn't put this book down. Will definitely be getting myself a physical copy to treasure. Cannot wait for the sequel! If you liked one dark window/two twisted crowns, I think this would be a good book to try. Katherine J. Adams is going to be an auto buy author for me.

I absolutely adored the writing style of this. I found it was beautifully written even if the world building sometimes got a little bit confusing with frequent info dumps. But I just loved the premise so much and I was definitely invested enough not to get unnerved.

The romance side of the story whilst interesting, kind of fell a little flat for me. For whatever reason I just didn't feel the chemistry.

But again the covens and the magic system was so interesting, I couldn't leave and I certainly will keep an eye out for the author's works.

I really wanted to love this one as the premise sounded amazing and I just really liked the idea of it all. Sadly I ended up dnf-ing this one after multiple attempts. I just could not get on with the story and I don't think that was down to the writing style because I found myself liking Adams style, I just think I couldn't get on with the characters and found myself unmotivated to continue on.

I'm so sorry! I've seen so many good reviews for it but I just personally couldn't get into it.

Two stars for the lyrical writing!

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for this eCopy to review

I enjoyed Tonight, I Burn, the characters are well developed and I really wanted Penny win. I felt it was a little slow in places and expected a bit more in terms of better magic for Penny due to her special black crystal.

I liked how the fairy tales were woven into the story and acted as a guide to how magic worked before the Warden gained control. All the Covens working together instead of being rivals is a good concept and one that is hopefully explored further in future books.

I've become a lot pickier when it comes to requesting review copies than I used to be. I wanna make sure I still feel like reading them once the release date nears. However, when I tried to not request this book, I kept on thinking about it. So, eventually I decided to request my copy through Netgalley anyway and luckily Orbit granted me a copy. So, since the book is releasing tomorrow, this weekend it was finally time to dive in.

I had high expectations when starting this book, but now I finished I feel like those high expectations were never met. I think that's firstly because the writing style doesn't fit the kind of story that is being told. The writing is beautiful. Each and every sentence is a piece of art. I can already imagine loads of people will find some new favorite quotes in this book. But, I also think the heart and soul of the story got buried beneath the words and are now very hard to find.

Since the writing was flowery it was sometimes really hard to really understand what was going on. I'd even say that despite the huge amount of words used to describe everything in this book, the explanations of the world, the magic and what is going on are not clear enough to make me understand everything. Therefore the entire story feels a little wobbly. Everything is possible, because it feels like the rules and limitations are very unclear.

The same seems to happen with the characters. I don't doubt that underneath all the words some amazing characters are hidden, but for some reason it doesn't feel like I really get to meet them. That's partly because all those words are used to tell more than they are used to show and therefore we never get the chance to feel this story. The romance therefore falls a little flat and it never felt like I could form a bond with the characters.

I'm pretty sure that readers who enjoy beautifully written stories and who prefer a good plot over bonding with characters will love this book. I'm sadly not one of those readers.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Sadly, this one fell flat for me and I ended up DNFing about halfway through.
I thought the premise of the book was really intriguing, but the execution didn't quite live up to it.
I found it hard to get into the story, and ultimately I DNFed because I realized I didn't care enough about the plot to find out how it ended.

I liked the characters and the writing style, but the plot just felt a bit boring. I usually really enjoy mysteries, but this one felt quite repetitive and like no real progress was being made.

I think others might enjoy the book more and maybe it was just a mood thing, which is why I decided to still give the book 3 stars, but personally, I didn't have a good time with it.

𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐈 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐉 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐬
A thorn witch with the power to walk between the realms of Life and Death finds herself at the centre of a magical rebellion, and a dangerous romance, that could destroy her coven and her soul. A dark and decadent debut where the fate of all magic is at stake and it only takes one witch, and one spark, to set the world ablaze.

An intriguing magical system where all covens of witches are bound in servitude ti the tyrant High Warden of Hassett. Penny Albright is a daughter of the thorn coven, who patrol the veil between realms of Life and Death. Nothing is at it seems and everything is a stake. This is an incredible novel that will have you believing in romance and the power of familial love.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘑 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘴

Wasn’t a huge fan of this book which was disappointing. Slow to read and I had to really push through just to finish it.

A hit or miss I feel. It could grab the attention of a particular reader, and unfortunately that wasn’t me.

Thank you for letting me read it early!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!

Okay, so, I enjoyed this - the magic system was interesting and pretty original. I like that the world is revealed to us fairly slowly, and we follow along with a rebel resistance to a magical dictatorship.

However, I felt like I needed a lot more details on this world. I feel like some authors avoid info-dumping, but I don't mind that and I think for this book I needed more of it. There definitely was some explanation of the lore and the events leading up to where the story starts, but I was confused at times. Sometimes I do read too fast and miss details, but that's not what happened here as I kept finding things I didn't fully understand.

Also, I have to say I wasn't very invested in any of the characters (they felt a little two-dimensional) so it took me a long time to read this. I think it was also a little too long, some of the trips into Death felt repetitive.

Overall, I did enjoy this but I probably won't be reading the sequel - we'll see!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. This was a impressive debut. The worldbuilding was done really well and I liked the complex characters. If morally grey characters are your thing, you will probably like this book. A couple of things that could have worked better are the pacing (in particular the end felt quite rushed) and more development of the romance side of the character relationships. Nonetheless I did enjoy this and look forward to the next instalment.

"Tonight, I Burn" is the first chapter of "Thorn Witch," a fantasy romance series written by Katharine J. Adams and currently in progress.

A dark, fascinating and seductive novel that bewitched me right from its premise. Oppression, rebellion, witchcraft, sisterhood, friendship and love? The perfect mix to capture my attention! I had quite high expectations and thankfully I was not disappointed! I liked the elaborate world building, although sometimes chaotic and with several info dumps, a lot. The story full of deceptions, subterfuges and intrigues, after a somewhat slow and introductory beginning, absorbed me completely. The complex and tormented characters won me over (I admit I have a soft spot for Malin!). And the romance, even with its ups and downs, made me swoon badly! All in all, I found it an enchanting read, albeit not without its flaws, that kept me glued to the pages from beginning to end! I can't wait to read the sequel!

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off really well and I loved the premise. Covens of witches who hate each other, banned magic and plenty of intrigue and in fighting. Unfortunately the more I read the more I felt that it was turning into a ground hog day. It became so repetitive with a steamy romance just to make it interesting. Unfortunately I soon lost interest. Do I want to read the second book? This reader is still on the fence.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc in return for an honest review.