I loved, loved, loved the book. This was everything I love in a book. There was magic, there was an amnesiac witch who wanted to be an inspektor, a kind and intelligent professor who mentored her, a belief about the seventh born, and a murder investigation.

My first book by author Monica Sanz, and believe me, I savored the book. Each word was a haunting melody that spoke to my soul. I love my thrillers, and this too was as enthralling, if not more.

The writing was superfluous which spoke of a greater command of the storytelling. The author has enriched the prose with subtexts and nuances. The mystery of the seventh born dogged my steps as I kept reading.

The magic and the spells filled me with a sense of breathlessness so deep that I could just submerge myself in it. This was a murder investigation at its core. Someone was using the great magical power of the seventh born to raise the dead and get to the secrets of dark magic.

Professor Barrington was investigating it, and Sera, the seventh born witch studying at the Wichling Academy, was asked to be his assistant. Sera remembered nothing of her life before joining the academy. Her memories of her family and childhood were locked.

The seventh born were considers an abomination meant to be shunned, even though they had vast reserves of magic. This book did not explain much about the world they lived in or why the seventh born were hated, but it captivated me from the first page.

The characters were just breaking out of their mold in this book, slowly spreading their wings showing me who they really were. I loved Sera, a hot-tempered witch who was broken by a sadistic abuser, but her anger and the professor slowly healed her. Anger is a great power if used aptly.

For me, this book had the power to heal my mind. I was captured by this story from the very beginning, the strands of the author’s rich storytelling pulling me into the book with each page. A haunting read!!

Eager to get onto book 2.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and publisher, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

Abomination. Curse. Murderer. All names hurled at eighteen-year-old Seraphina Dovetail. As the seventh-born daughter to a witch, she’s the cause of her mother losing her powers and, in turn, her life.

Abandoned as a child, Sera dreams of becoming an inspector and finding her family. To do that, she must be referred into the Advanced Studies Program at the Aetherium’s Witchling Academy. Her birth order, quick temper, and tendency to set things on fire, however, have left her an outcast with failing marks…and just what Professor Nikolai Barrington is looking for.

The tall, brooding, yet exceedingly handsome young professor makes her a proposition: become his assistant and he’ll give her the referral she needs. Sera is quickly thrust into a world where witches are being kidnapped, bodies are raised from the dead, and someone is burning seventhborns alive. As Sera and Barrington grow ever closer, she’ll discover that some secrets are best left buried…and fire isn’t the only thing that makes a witch burn.

Publication Date: 4th September 2018

Publisher: Entangled Teen