Goodreads review 5/19

Thank you netgalley and Victory Editing for the arc of Only a Portal Away

2.5/5 ⭐️

I really liked the idea behind this book and I think most readers have imagined their favorite character coming to life like this story. I did have to dnf this book though. The world building and plot line needs some work and I think it could use a few more rounds of revisions. There were just certain aspects that kept me from being able to finish this book but I think it definitely has potential and I'm sure there are others who will love the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Akira Varma for providing me with a free ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

The idea for this book is so fun - what would happen if you found your favorite character from your favorite fantasy series standing in your living room and in need of help? It was a book description that immediately caught my attention.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy most of this book. There are significant spelling and punctuation errors,the characters are not loveable, and the writing is repetitive and redundant. I wish I could give this book a better review, but it was a struggle to read.

If you like the description of the book, you might still enjoy the story, but I couldn't overlook the errors and redundancy. I hope others enjoy this more than I did.

Wow. What a wild ride. All action and adventure with some funny banter mixed in. I was hooked pretty early on with this book.
What happens when your favorite fictional character from your favorite book series shows up in your living room? A whole lot of crazy that's for sure!
I loved Aliya and Enzo's initial dialogues and internal musings. I was smiling the entire time she was explaining things like cars & airplanes and how it would only take a couple hours to go 100 miles.
I enjoyed the multiple POVs and the overlapping timelines had me so intrigued!
There was some repetitiveness in order to get to those overlapping timelines but ultimately, they didn't bother me.
I am definitely super invested and want to know what happens next!
If you like fun, easy to read, action packed fantasy books check it out!

When Aliya's favourite book character shows up in the real world, she must help him find his way back to his own world.
[DNF} I think this just wasn't the book for me - the premise sounded fun but I was hoping for a bit more adventure and worldbuilding but I found it a little slow and focused more on the relationship between the main characters. It felt a little insta-lovey which is well-founded on her side since he's her favourite character (I would be the same way!) but we didn't get much reasoning for his side. This, combined with the fact that it felt very unfinished even for an ARC (lots of repetition and grammatical issues), meant that I decided to DNF.

I will start by saying I really enjoyed this book. Thank you for letting me get an ARC of this book. I loved the changing timeline. I will say the cliffhanger has me wondering when book 2 will be released.

Personally, the faster the plot, the better. I feel like this book literally carries you away at 100mph! Slow burn romance, magic, FAE! I am so grateful for this genre/trope..there are so many people who are now book lovers for this alone! Action, adventure, love, magic..its all there!
Devour this book!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for gifting me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the idea of this book as it was something I haven’t seen or read anywhere yet. I enjoyed the fact that it was a book written about a book.

Some plot twists were not expected and it made the story quite interesting.

I didn’t find myself being pulled in as much as I would liked.

We shall see what the second book brings

I loved loved loved this book and am not going to give any spoilers for this story but you have to go out and read it. You feel for the characters the story pulls you in and you can’t wait to continue reading it. I just couldn’t put it down.

I liked the premise, I always have adored Disney's Enchanted and was excited to read this and dive into a fantasy version of this book. The intro totally pulled me in, and hooked me. I enjoyed the slow burn and watching the relationship develop. Thanks for the free arc and the opportunity to read it!

I enjoyed many things about this book: the multiple POVs, the jumping timelines, the world building, and the battles. There were also things that didn’t work for me: the pacing (everything happens in 2 days??), the repetitive writing style, lack of character development/depth, and the plot holes. After the entire story, I feel like I still don’t really know Aliya or her motivations.

I also would have liked to know more about the story that Enzo falls out of so we can understand him and his motivations more as well.

Overall, very interesting idea, just wasn’t executed to the best of its capabilities.

Overall, I would give this book 3.5 stars. It had a really interesting premise that I couldn’t wait to dive into! I mean, who doesn’t dream about falling in love with their favorite fictional character? And while the overall plot line is intriguing, the book fell flat for me.

A lot of the writing seems kind of clunky. I know I received this as an ARC and there is still more editing to go, but the phrasing and repetition of phrases was a bit much for me.

I would have liked to see more chemistry built between the two main characters, but it is the first book so I can understand that. But the miscommunication between the two at all times felt a little exhausting. Especially considering they didn’t build any kind of rapport before they started assuming what the other was thinking.

An interesting idea with questionable execution.

“Only a Portal Away” finds your average girl Aliya face to face with her favorite fictional character and while they try to make sense of what could make something like that possible they realize he may not be the only thing that’s jumped off the page.

Here’s the thing I think any of us who find enjoyment reading have dreamt of a scenario where our favorite characters end up in our world and feel a connection to us that’s just as strong as the one who feel to them but unlike this version of that fantasy I would have way more questions.

The characters in this are fine with more than a few sharing names to that of The Vampire Diaries but maybe that’s just a coincidence? There’s a lot of repetition in not only plot elements but also character quirks and dialogue which makes it a bit clunky overall.

I agree with some other readers that one of the biggest struggles is that we know next to nothing about the original book series Prince Enzo falls out of so the impact of her meeting him and the rules of the world that’s now bleeding into our reality makes little sense as to why it would be a favorite at all.

I had high hopes for this one but I do hope other readers find enjoyment with the series!

*special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Imagine you get home after a hard day of work or uni and your favorite fictional character is standing in your living room...
That is exactly what happens to Aliya.
Crowns Prince Enzo of Ravendore is standing in her living room and her life will never be the same!

This book contains:
- Fae
- Magic portals
- Kingdoms at war
- Slow burn
- Adventure

This book just had me squealing and giggling the whole time.
The banter between them is amazing and him just being flabbergasted by her world is just too cute.
Also how Aliya is just so embarassed by all the fanart and little knick- knacks she has laying around is hilarious.

The book is really fast paced and i could not put it down! I mean, we all imagined at some point what it would be like
to meet our favorite fictional character so to read a book like that was amazing!
I loved every single second of it and immediately had to look up when the next one was coming out, cause i
need to know how the story continues!

I highly recommend this book to anyone that always wondered, what it would be like, to meet your favorite fictional character!

Not for me I'm afraid!

I wanted to love this book, the premise sounded amazing. Your favourite character from your favourite book series is real and standing in your house? And requires your help? Sign me up!

Unfortunately the execution fell flat, I found the writing quite juvenile and repetitive, and the fact that the FMC's name was repeated probably 10 times per page was frustrating to read.

The plot was fast paced (I think possibly too fast paced in some areas), we didn't really get any proper character development so I wasn't really invested in any of them...I felt like I was skimming over pages at certain points just to get through it.

I feel like with a bit more editing, refining certain areas so it's not as repetitve, and taking out around half of the "Aliya"'s, this book would be a good light fantasy read for a younger audience.

This book was so fast paced! I love that it only took place over 2 days.

It drew on everyone's little daydream - to meet your favourite characters! And, it is a wild ride.

I'm so thrilled that romance wasn't one of the main plot points - too many books these days only draw on romance and capitalise on having a romantic plot as the forefront of the text, but the fact that this one didn't allowed it to focus on so many other huge themes and ideas!

Sometimes I found it a touch repetitive, like we were revisiting the same themes and ideas over and over again, and having the same conversations just pages after we'd already had it, but I enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend it to someone.

I really wanted to love this book based on the premise (I'm a sucker for meta books about books) - however this was not my cup of tea. This is an ARC so I know that the grammatical/syntax errors will be fixed before publication, however it felt like there was a lot of editing that still needs to occur. I think the author has a great idea for the plot but it just fell flat for me. However I'm going to rate this a 3/5 because I think others might really enjoy this book post final editing.

“No fictional character should know the extent [to which] you love them.” I want to start by saying that I loved the premise of the book - you come home one day and your favorite character is standing in your living room and needs your help? Uh, yes please.

Where I think the idea gets let down is in the pacing (so fast) and the writing style (so repetitive!), as well as in the (lack of) character development. It doesn’t really make sense that Enzo would form such a bond with Aliya as fast as he does, and even the reader knows basically nothing about her by the end of the book. And also, he is kind of a jerk to her! To me, the chapter headings were a little silly, and not a good fit for the chapters themselves, though I did chuckle at the one about Aliya thinking Damon would be taller. I know we are not meant to comment on these types of things, but… an editor is really needed to catch the MANY errors in spelling and grammar, and some (albeit minor) plot holes, such as one character having a bat in the backseat of her car (but she is actually driving another character’s car at the time….).

I really wanted to hear more about the original book series that had made Aliya such a fan. My favorite line in the book - “Even Crown Princes can be side characters in someone else’s story,” - is so awesome, but we hear nothing about that someone else and never learn whether it was a real person or whether it was a story that Sienna had made up.

I did like the cliffhanger ending!

Thank you to NetGalley and Akira Varma for allowing me to read an advance release copy of the book; this is my honest review.

Thank you to Akira Varma and Netgalley for giving me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

As an aspiring writer myself, one of my WIPs actually has the same basic premise: "What would you do if your favorite character suddenly shows up?" which is what made me want to read this book in the first place. The first 20% was... okay, and some parts are great; this book touched on some aspects of "meeting your favorite character" that I haven't quite explored in my own work.

Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there. The grammatical issues and typos are things I could overlook, as they may get fixed in the final version anyway. But so much telling makes the reading experience tedious, and it's hard to overlook how plot-convenient some things could be.

First of all, it's never explained how Aliya could find the address to her favorite author's home SO EASILY, when the said author uses a pseudonym and supposedly protects her identity very well. And then there's the repetitions; this book would describe the same actions and/or feelings more than once at times. In addition, the book would use weird phrases multiple times, such as:
(Statement), that was.
(Statement), her mind added, unhelpfully.
His body ached in places he didn't know he has muscles.

But what bothers me the most is how none of the characters' motivations are explored deeply enough; Enzo wants to return to where he comes from, sure, but after a while he no longer bases his actions on that - and I'm not even sure what Aliya wants. And when I don't get their motivations, I can't relate to them nor care about them.

The two main characters are almost immediately attracted to each other; Aliya, I get, since this is her favorite fictional character in the flesh - but Enzo? Then again, I don't get why Aliya is willing to risk so much - even her life - for Enzo. Heck, I don't even get why the so-called villain is so insistently on their tails. It's like this book is trying to do so many things at once.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this but unfortunately this is a DNF for me.

I was intrigued by the premise but felt some of the language language used didn't fit and certain words overused. It also felt like it was geared towards a younger audience than me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Akira Varma for allowing me a chance to read this book early in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet your favorite fictional book character?

Well, Aliya does.

When she gets home from work one night to find an injured man in her house. She realizes that its Crown Prince Enzo of Ravendore, a character from her favorite book series. The rest of the story from there is a wild ride.

If you like:
✔ Changing timelines
✔ Fae
✔ Magic portals
✔ Adventure
✔ War torn kingdoms

There's a lot more, but I'll leave it at that.

This book was very fast paced (it takes place over only 2 DAYS) and I found myself flying through it. It was nice to read about the characters of books being placed into our world. I found myself laughing out loud whenever Enzo was riding in a car.

Romance was not the main point of this plot, which is a bit out of the norm for me, but I really enjoyed it. The plot of the book had you wondering what was going to happen next and the CLIFFHANGER at the end of this book. This book isn't even out yet and I need the second one.

A few things that I found was the repetitiveness, it felt like sometimes I was reading the same thing over and over and I was just ready to get to the next part. Also the fact that the same words were being used quite often. I don't think I've read the word "unhelpfully" more in my life than I did in this book.

Overall I would recommend this book, just push past the repetitiveness and I think you'll really enjoy it.