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By Sasha Peyton Smith

It is 1911 in New York, and sixteen-year-old Francis Hallowell’s mom has been committed, her brother murdered, and her father left long ago. She’s down on her luck and working as a seamstress in grueling conditions until she is brutally attacked, and her attacker ends up dead at her feet with her sewing scissors in his neck. This is when everything changes for Francis as the world beyond what is known reveals itself, and she discovers that magic is real. Swept off to Haxahaven Academy, she begins studying small magic that could improve her skill at domestic tasks. But she longs for something bigger. That’s when she meets Finn, who helps her learn such magic in an effort to uncover who killed her older brother. As Francis’s power reveals itself, she becomes a desirable commodity in the magical world and begins questioning the motives of those she thought she could trust the most.

This is a fun, fast-paced YA fantasy novel with crisp writing and many well-developed characters that each have depth and purpose in the story. I did a combination of print and audiobooks to read this novel. The audiobook narrator is exceptional with accents and adds a ton of emotion to the performance. I’d highly recommend this book!