At a Glance

Title: The Will and the Wilds

Author: Charlie N. Holmberg

Published: January 21, 2020 by 47North

Page: 265

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Goodreads Rating: 4.12 out of 5

My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis

“A spellbinding story of truce and trickery from the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician series.

Enna knows to fear the mystings that roam the wildwood near her home. When one tries to kill her to obtain an enchanted stone, Enna takes a huge risk: fighting back with a mysting of her own.

Maekallus’s help isn’t free. His price? A kiss. One with the power to steal her soul. But their deal leaves Maekallus bound to the mortal realm, which begins eating him alive. Only Enna’s kiss, given willingly, can save him from immediate destruction. It’s a temporary salvation for Maekallus and a lingering doom for Enna. Part of her soul now burns bright inside Maekallus, making him feel for the first time.

Enna shares Maekallus’s suffering, but her small sacrifice won’t last long. If she and Maekallus can’t break the spell binding him to the mortal realm, Maekallus will be consumed completely—and Enna’s soul with him.”

Thoughts

I’ve never read any other books from this author before, but have heard that the Paper Magicians series is really good. After reading this book, I may have to check those one out.

Enna lives on the outskirts of town with her father, who has a strong case of dementia. His dementia, caused from spending too much time in the Mysting realm, which I associate with being a second universe/world to our mortal realm. The Mysting realm will start to eat away at a human’s soul and body if stayed in too long. The same goes for mystings in the human realm as well. Which is really the bases to our whole story.

I thought the way Holmberg built the world within the novel to be really interesting. I would have liked a little more information around the way magic works in this world though. We learn a lot about mystings but at the same time we don’t fully understand how magic works. We also never directly learn how Enna’s father managed to steal of the protection stone she has.

I know that this is a stand alone and while the story itself wraps up nicely, I could have used a bit more about ‘how’s’. Past that I loved the amount of monster folklore and the reading ease of this book. It’s for fans of YA Fantasy books, and of course forbidden romance fans.

A solid ★★★★☆ rating.

If you think you’d like to read this book, it comes out today and you can get a copy HERE!

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on The Will and the Wilds. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.  Huge thanks to 47North and Netgallery for my advanced copy of the book.  

About the Author

Charlie N. Holmberg is the award-winning author of the Numina series, The Fifth Doll, and many other books. Her Wall Street Journal bestselling Paper Magician series has been optioned by the Walt Disney Company. Charlie’s stand-alone novel, Followed by Frost, was nominated for a 2016 RITA Award for Best Young Adult Romance. Born in Salt Lake City, Charlie was raised a Trekkie alongside three sisters who also have boy names. She is a proud BYU alumna, plays the ukulele, owns too many pairs of glasses, and finally adopted a dog. She currently lives with her family in Utah.