An imaginative story of a woman caught in an alternate world—where she will need to learn the skills of magic to surviveNora Fischer’s dissertation is stalled and her boyfriend is about to marry another woman. During a miserable weekend at a friend’s wedding, Nora wanders off and walks through a portal into a different world where she’s transformed from a drab grad student into a stunning … a stunning beauty. Before long, she has a set of glamorous new friends and her romance with gorgeous, masterful Raclin is heating up. It’s almost too good to be true.
Then the elegant veneer shatters. Nora’s new fantasy world turns darker, a fairy tale gone incredibly wrong. Making it here will take skills Nora never learned in graduate school. Her only real ally—and a reluctant one at that—is the magician Aruendiel, a grim, reclusive figure with a biting tongue and a shrouded past. And it will take her becoming Aruendiel’s student—and learning magic herself—to survive. When a passage home finally opens, Nora must weigh her “real life” against the dangerous power of love and magic.
For lovers of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians series (The Magicians and The Magician King) and Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night).
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Different that most of the “other world” fantasy books, in that it references earth and its overlap to faerie. The characters are well thought out and vividly described.
One of the best books I have read in a long, long time! I couldn’t put it down, and now I impatiently await the sequel! A wonderful and creative fantasy story that is both cozy in feeling and also keeps you on the edge of your seat to learn what happens next.
Fun and magical book. It is a big book but well worth it. I never wanted it to end.
Why did I not know this was going to be a series!? I can not wait for the sequel. You kinda start out not liking the main character Nora that much but she is developed really well over the course of the book.
Long and drawn out
Loved this book. Pining for a sequel. Magical in everyday
This was such a fun read. I didn’t know what to expect going in and I went on a wild ride. Highly recommend.
I am not usually a fan of fantasy novels but this was smartly written as well as very entertaining. The characters are very likeable…including the ‘bad’ guys.
A well-written book that avoids the usual fantasy cliches. The two main characters are interesting and well-done, again avoiding overdone cliches by veering off in unexpected directions. The title makes it seem more lightweight than it is. I liked that it was more pragmatic and didn’t fall into romanticizing the events or relationships. I very much look forward to a sequel.
Kinda confusing to read and had to reread paragraphs a lot. Good main female character after getting about half way in. Wonderful magic going on throughout the book!
Not really a Harry Potter book for adults, but interesting. It was easy to read and to follow the twisted plot, although it took some getting used to,
Very good and written for a sequeal
Based on the description, I had very high hopes for this book. They were quickly dashed. The main character lacked a brain and didn’t think. Ever.
The title really doesn’t say what this book is about, to be honest. But I loved it: I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved the world. I can’t say enough about how much I adored this book. I don’t even usually write about liking books. I’ve read so many that it’s pretty hard to find one that makes me this gushy.
I really enjoyed this book although I had a hard time liking the main character in the beginning but I warmed up to her (don’t want to spoil the story by explaining why). In no way did this remind me of a Harry Potter book but it was very creative and fun, although in a kind of dark way. Loved the various characters and their funny names. The story was well developed and I was happy to see that the book was about 600 pages rather than the usual 300ish that everyone seems to be writing now. I did NOT like the ending and that is why I gave it 4 stars rather than 5.
The main character is a modern woman with an advanced education attending a wedding in the mountains when she stumbles into another reality with different “rules.” She is unknowingly enchanted and gets married to a “man” named Raclin. She bumps into Arundiel in the forest who tells her that she is under many spells, and things get interesting from there.
I couldn’t put this book down! It was so good and I can wait for the author to publish the sequel. There’s a cliffhanger at the end that I can’t wait to see resolved.
I really enjoyed this – but the cliff-hanger at the end was a little too big a cliff!
It seems like the author was trying for a mashup between Pride and Prejudice and Outlander. Woman wanders away from a wedding weekend, gets lost, captured by the fae . Woman is rescued by grumpy magician who grudgingly starts to teach her magic because, while women are generally uneducated wives, mothers, or drudges, he deems her capable of learning.. Apparently, the “thinking woman” reference in the title refers to her ability to learn to read another language because she doesn’t seem to think ahead or to act independently, most of the time.
Overall, it was an okay diversion of a read but nothing extraordinary and too cliche to really pull me into the story.
Unexpected plot based on the title but a fun read. Good mix of characters and great interactions. Lots of twists and turns. Honestly, awaiting a sequel to get some closure.
Boring. Couldn’t finish.