Charmed Deception

***

3 Stars/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Egmont USA for giving me this book to review.

Sable is the only daughter of a talented wizard and she is fascinated with magic but she lives in a land where women are not allowed to have powers or they will be imprisoned. However, one night she sees a ghostly figure but the girl is not a ghost but someone called Never, who is being used because of her unique magic. As Sable tries to help Never, she is wary of people who are staying in her home, especially Reason, a new guest with a secret that he is searching the house for, and her father’s colleague Lockton, who is seemingly interested in what Sable is up to and why she is interested in magic. Sable is willing to help Never but is she able to do it without risking her own life?

Charmed Deception is an enjoyable YA fantasy novel set in a regency type setting. I found the first third of the book to be very slow but it did pick up as the book progressed and I got more into it. It was predictable and a bit clichéd with a sweet romance but I was not a fan of the weird names.

Sable is a strong-willed and interesting character who I liked but like so many books set in a regency setting she was too modern in the way she behaved and thought, especially with her upbringing and class. I liked the main love interest as he was open minded and was not perfect (apart from looking handsome but a YA book cannot have an ordinary looking man). I would have liked to know more about Never and I did not ‘feel’ her friendships with Laurel and Mason as they were nothing like her.

I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more by this author especially if there is another book in this series. I would recommend Charmed Deception to fans of You Are Mine by Janeal Falor and Breathing Frost by Alyxandra Harvey.