Review: Mine to Spell by Janeal Falor

Goodreads Summary:

Cynthia has always hidden from her father’s hexes behind her older sister. When her family gains independence unheard of for women, she’s relieved that her days of harsh punishments are over. But as her seventeenth birthday approaches—the typical age to be sold to a new master—death threats endanger her sisters. She now faces two options: run or meet society’s expectations.

For once, Cynthia isn’t going to let her older sister shield her from the problem. She’s going to prove to herself, her sisters, and society that her family isn’t a threat to their traditions. She willingly chooses to be purchased by a new master. A bold step that takes her somewhere she never thought she would go and to a man she might possibly fall in love with. With his help, she may just find a way to save her sisters while discovering how to stand up for herself. If she lives long enough.

Publication Date: May 5, 2014

Mine to Spell was a great continuation of the YA fantasy series from author Janeal Falor. I really love how imaginative the series has been thus far. The author uses incredible imagery to draw readers into her world. I also enjoy the feminist movement at the center of the story.

Cynthia is a lot different from her sister Serena. She’s more impulsive than Serena and was very dead-set on changing the way women are treated in their oppressive society. Not only does Cynthia want freedom from being owned by a warlock, she also wants to be free to practice magic.

The secondary characters were fabulous. I especially fell for Cynthia’s love interest Lukas. The romance is kept very light in this book, like the previous, and although I understand why, I still would’ve liked more development in that area. I was also happy to see Zade take on a big role in this novel and it was great to see how caring he was about Serena and her sisters.

I love the magical scenes. The author uses color to describe the effects of the spells and hexes and it makes it easy to picture the battles between warlocks. The world building was well done and even though I read the first book months ago, I found myself able to understand how the society worked without a lot of extensive background information.

The feminist movement plot kept me interested and I can see the sisters working together to completely overhaul the government in future books. The novel ended in a good spot and I’m eager to read the next book. I’d recommend the series to fans of YA literature who enjoy fantasy with strong female leads.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Thanks to the author for gifting me with a copy for review!