Eva Chase

In a world where only the women have magic and their consorts refuel said magic by being intimate, we meet Rose Hallowell, a witch soon turning the critical age of 25. If she hasn't taken a consort from one of the other witching families by then, she will lose her magic spark forever.

Returning home after a forced 11 years absence fills Rose with joy, even if it is to fulfil an arranged marriage. It also brings back memories of her 5 childhood friends with whom she grew up and who were ultimately the reason she had to leave. They were unsparked and as such not fit company for a witch so they took her away.
Wanting to know how they are doing, she sets out to meet them. Only to discover she is fiercely attracted to not one, but all of them. Rose cant stay away even when she knows she is destined to marry a man she has no feelings for.

When she discovers a heinous plot against her the race against time and a magic wielding stepmother has started.

My take on the book:
I was actually surprised how good this was :)
Not that I had no faith in the author, but with it being a pretty short book I was afraid it would feel rushed... it wasn't :)
It was well written and as far as I could tell, there were no errors in the book.
Pacing was good, the author took the time to go into detailed descriptions at times so we could follow along effortlessly.
Character development was good. We got to know the history they shared, what happened during the time they were apart and we have an imaginary best friend who really is the best! (wish I could have one myself as cool as Philomena!!).
The relationship between them felt normal. Yes there was that attraction (they are prime male specimens after all), but starting of as reunited friends, they got to know each other again.

Since this is a Reverse Harem, yes, there is sex involved. This is by no means a slow burn RH.

I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book, courtesy of NetGalley, and I really enjoyed it! Now let's hope we don't have to wait that long for book number 2 :D

If you're looking for a quick fix to your RH craving, search no further and go read this one!… (meer)

The worst kind of bully romance magical school.
The MCs motivations for everything plot-relevant make no sense and are deliberately constructed just to drive the plot.
I thought for a long time I just hated bully romance in general, but after reading The Folk of the Air series I realized there is a specific reason related to the bully part.
I hate them because setting up a believable set of circumstances and motivations to have the MC take so much abuse while not making the MC appear spineless, TSTL or constructing some obviously absurd scenario is just really hard and this one, just like most, fails spectacularly at it.
The necessary willing suspension of disbelief is just way too much to ask for.
In this case, it is a mix of spineless while pretending the opposite, utter stupidity and outright brain damage which I don't mean as an insult but as the only explanation I can come up with for some of her behaviour.
I totally understand the draw of these kinds of stories. They can easily keep emotions high and very intense constantly by swinging between hatred and attraction.
If done well this can very much improve the engagement and emotional investment but just like in this book it usually seems more like a very cheap and lazy tool.
Btw The Folk of the Air series is by no means perfect in that department either but it does it a LOT better than anything else I've read so far and by painting a so much more believable picture the emotional impact is in turn much higher.… (meer)