Kalyn Josephson

Genre: High Fantasy / Romantasy
---
❤️ Personal Takeaway

I was completely sold on Allaster right from when his name was dropped... Allaster St. Archer ❤️ I definitely knew I wasn't returning him once he was revealed as a grumpy, cursed, Howl-like librarian who cares deeply for the people and creatures under his care. Kasira gave me Celaena vibes with being a skilled, confident con artist / monster hunter infiltrating the library with a death in her past that still breaks her heart.

An show more enemies-to-lovers story and a slow burn done right, they go from despising each other in the beginning to slowly gaining trust and becoming the most important person in their lives. While both are hiding secrets from each other and lying at every turn, Josephson still somehow managed to develop a genuine, sweet connection between these two. Typically I'm not the biggest fan of miscommunication and keeping secrets, but this novel does it so well where you can really feel the calculation behind the moves, and feel the emotional impact each one holds on both sides. Kasira especially is such a clever narrator who reveals her tactics of manipulation and espionage, even as she realizes more and more that they're bringing her farther away from the truth and the future she wants.

Jesse Vilinsky gives us such a rich tapestry of accents which was a perfect fit for voicing a cast of diverse characters. Where every character has an origin and a home kingdom, it really helped to differentiate them and bring so much more depth to this multi-cultural institution. I knew Allaster was going to have a smooth, intelligent voice, and I was swooning once Max Meyers' narration began. He sounds so studious with underlying tones of humour and existential dread, and I would have gladly had him teaching me magic for hours.

I did find that the pacing tended to slow down a bit too much during the middle, and one less betrayal/combining a reveal could have tidied up the narrative and made it less repetitive... Yet somehow Josephson makes the relationship still feel so real and the trust between them so sweet and strong. How?? I'm so impressed!

I cannot wait for the rest of this series, it feels like we've only just scratched the surface with this magical world! I want to learn more about the other kingdoms (especially the one that's been sealed off), as well as their artifacts, supernatural creatures, and their own ecological disasters. Time to add a beautiful, sprayed edge edition to add to my shelf!

---

🧵 Quick Plot Summary

A con artist under cover is ordered to infiltrate the most powerful magical institution in the six kingdoms... only to fall for the enigmatic librarian she's meant to betray and the wondrous life she was never meant to have.

---

🧩 Tropes

- Con artist heroine
- Grumpy x prickly slowburn
- Magical library setting
- Supernatural creatures
- Secret identity / hidden monster
- Forced infiltration
- Found family
- Female friendships
- Political sabotage and kingdom level stakes
- Ecological fantasy

---

🧠 Themes

- Identity vs. Survival
- Power and neutrality
- Trust earned slowly
- Redemption through belonging and self-discovery
- The morality of loyalty
- Nature corrupted by greed

---

🧭 Recommendation

For fans who love:

- Slow burn romances
- "A Study in Drowning" style academic magic
- Morally complicated heroines
- Wide scoping high fantasy worlds with unique magical creatures

---

Thank you very much to Kalyn Josephson, RB Media, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ALC in exchange for an honest review. 💕

Trigger Warnings: violence against magical creatures, betrayal, coercion, imprisonment show less

What if a con artist gets caught, punished in an utterly horrific way, and is eventually offered a way out by quite literally getting her childhood dream job? But no one can know who she is, because she had to lie to get there and has to keep lying to keep the position! This story follows Kasira who must take on the role of someone else to infiltrate the magical Library of Amorlin and earn the trust of the grumpy librarian Allaster. There’s so many complex politics at play, with the show more library being a neutral power at the center of 6 kingdoms, and it’s fascinating to follow how these different societies have formed certain beliefs and how it shapes the characters. For example, Kasira is from Kalthos and the Kalish people believe that magical beasts must be hunted down and killed, while the library strives to protect the beasts from people and the people from beasts!

I loved this book, it had everything I was expecting and more! There are so many moving elements at play that it can be hard to keep track of, but this is such a good thing because it leads to many shocking twists and turns! The worldbuilding is amazing, the characters truly make you care for them, and I have so many unanswered questions that I cannot wait to see where this story goes next! Also this is the very definition of a slow burn romance, such a slow burn that will have you screaming for more.

The narration is so good, I love when a dual POV has two narrators, it just makes it so much easier to follow along and it was quite clear who we were following at each point in the story. The narrators also do such a good job with distinguishing different characters talking, and the changes of tone truly communicate the emotions of the scenes. If you are an audiobook listener this is a great production to enjoy!

The ending is such a cliffhanger you will want to throw your book, kindle, headphones, and pretty much everything you own across the room. I need book 2 ASAP but also would wait years because I’m just so in love with this story and can’t wait to see where it goes next!

I recommend this book for fantasy lovers, fans of a good con artist, lovers of libraries and beasts, and anyone looking for a magical escape. Out now in a gorgeous hardcover edition!

Thank you to NetGalley, RBmedia, Kensington Publishing, Erewhon Books, and Kalyn Josephson for the opportunity to read an eARC and listen to an ALC of this book! show less

Ravenfall, the first book in Kalyn Josephson's Ravenfall series, showed up among my LibraryThing recommendations. I was intrigued enough to check it out from one of my county's libraries. This middle school fantasy has chapters from two either Anna or Colin's viewpoint, usually alternating between our heroine and hero.

Ravenfall Inn is a magic house in Wick, Oregon, a magic town. The House stands within Hollowthorn Woods, also magical. The Ballinkay family call Ravenfall home. It's run by show more Nora Ballinkay, a fortune teller with visions of the buture. Her husband is a relic hunter and often away from home. Together they have three daughters and a son: The fraternal twins Rose and Kara are 18. Anna is the youngest at 13. The brother is studying to be a physics professor at MIT. The family members have magical gifts. Rose is an empath (senses emotions) and Kara is a telepath. Anna has recently come in to her gift, psychometry. She is deeply disappointed. What good is the power to see death as a person who witnessed it saw and experienced it? (Well, I think that law enforcement agencies would find it very useful, but Anna wants to be able to help entertain the guests.) Gran runs a tea shop in town. Her known gift is telekinesis. Any other magic she possesses, she refuses to reveal. Aunt Elaine, Nora's sister, can read auras and talk to spirits. Uncle Roy, Nora's brother, has pyrokinesis.
This magical family and young Colin are going to have to foil a plot to destroy the world as we know it.

Notes:

Chapter 1:

a. There is a singing ivy in the ballroom. It has crimson vines.

b. Anna's gift gives her a vision of a double murder. Ick.

c. Max caught a faerie trying to poison the garden when Anna was three.

d. Nora has brown eyes. Her son started the kids calling their mom by her first name.

e. The house needs a new coat of periwinkle paint, but won't allow it because being painted tickles.

f. Crushing a fairy light will grant a small wish. There are some decorating Ravenfall's wraparound porch.

g. Colin's eyes are a very bright gray.

Chapter 2:

a. Colin Pierce arrives and describes the exterior of Ravenfall.

b. Anna has olive-brown skin and big brown eyes, but her hair is blond.

c. Colin came to Ravenfall from Montana. His family had been on the run for seven months and told him nothing.

d. Don't answer any questions from the mirror on the third floor. Avoid the third floor -- it tends to disappear.

e. Some of the interior of Ravenfall is described. Generations have added to the house and the house hates that. It's alive.

f. Colin's room is described.

g. The Pierces were living in California before they went on the run.

h. Colin has a worn dictionary from their first motel room...He's read it through part of 'S'. HIs father was a nurse before he became a part-time grocer. HIs mother used to work in an auto shop. Both didn't want anything that could be tracked.

i. Colin finds a worn, leather-bound journal with an Irish trinity knot on the cover in his bad. It was his parents' - and he's sure it was in his mother's bag.

j. Colin puts on his mom's necklace, a silver Trinity knot with a tiny emerald in the center that is on a black rope. He took it from her night side table before leaving the motel.

Chapter 3:

a. Anna has picked up her Aunt Elaine's habit of lifting one eyebrow. She tells Colin about her power.

b. Anna parents once called the cops because a vampire was on a hunting spree. The cops bungled it.

c. Anna tells Colin that Max is a Jabberwocky, a guardian of the Shield between our world and the Otherworld. They help spirits cross over. (This is a big error. 'Jabberwocky" is the name of Lewis Carroll's poem about a Jabberwock. The error seems to be spreading.) Max has chosen to be in the form of a cat, but his kind take different forms.

d. Ravenfall was made from the trees of the Hollowthorn Woods that surround the house. The woods are very magical because the Shield is thin there.

e. Anna's powers come from her mother's Irish line. Her Jewish father has no powers, but his family has some magic. Anna hasn't seen them since she was very young. Her dad doesn't want to talk about it. From Anna's description of what they did, they may have been celebrating Sukkot.

f. Anna's dad is gone for months at a time. He brings her a new funny T-shirt when he comes back and tells her stories.

g. Colin has pale skin and dark hair. He's cute.

Chapter 4

a. Colin is tired of frozen pizza or takeout. His father used to make a new recipe every night and his mom made dessert.:

b. Nora's sister, Aunt Elaine, is described. Her eyes are green, her hair is black, and her arms tattooed. She recognizes who Colin is. Colin's mother grew up in Wick. His parents stopped coming to Ravenfall because of his brother Liam's birth.

c. We learn Elaine's powers. Also, it was Uncle Roy who taught Anna a piercing whistle.

d. Aunt Elaine gives Colin Wish Cider, which tastes like whatever one wants it to. He chooses oatmeal butterscotch.

Chapter 5: Max takes his true form to deal with some ghosts. Two of the ghosts are Colin's parents.

Chapter 6:

a. Anna explains the Shield.

b. Anna is home schooled because when she went to school in the third grade, she got nicknamed 'Ghost Girl' (haunted cafeteria).

c. Colin sort of remembers a logo on one of his parents' killers.

d. Rose uses their herbs to make glamour bags for the guest rooms.

e. The Andrades' powers are explained.

f. Ravenfall handles cleaning, changing sheets, and baggage handling.

g. The password to Anna's dad's computer is given and his study described.

Chapter 7:

a. Anna explains what a grindylow is.

b. Rose and Kara's room is down the hall from Anna's. Anna, the twins, and Nora are the only family members who live at Ravenfall full time. The twins' room is described.

c. Supernatural creatures' eyes turn silver on camera.

d. An oak in Hollowthorn Woods will give a ride for a pie. Its favorite is strawberry-rhubarb.

Chapter 8:

a. Downtown Wick is more forest than town.

b. There's a row of pumpkin-shaped witches' cottages where locals go for spells. All of Willow Street is spelled for good luck.

c. A dark green building covered in ivy sells magical hats. Max buys most of Ravenfall's hats there - don't wear one of them.

d. The Wicked Orchid has a purple and white front with its name spelled out in real black flowers. Inside it's a greenhouse that's bigger than the outside. Dilara, a brown-skinned teen dressed in black works there. She's Rose's girlfriend.

e. Other shops on Willow Street include a wish granter, bottled dreams seller, candles that help one relive memories, and an enchanted bakery run by a witch. Normal people can't see the magic, which makes Colin wonder why he can. The last building is green with cartoon cats and dogs on its face. It's the Andrade Animal Shelter.

f. Pocket dragons are great at finding things.

g. Wick has a Faerie Garden with a white wooden bridge. A wraith is there.

Chapter 9:

a. Anna explains that Ravens are keepers of the Shield.

b. That wooden bridge in the Faerie Garden belongs to a Red Cap, which is explained.

c. The Merrow Café, where Anna's Gran lives, is painted scarlet, is nestled among cherry trees, and has a cù-sìth (midnight green huge faery dog) named Mr. Connolly on its porch. The effects of some of Gran's teas are described.

d. Gran has Celtic tattoos and the tips of her silver hair are dyed fire red. Part of Merrow's inside is described, too.

e. Both of Colin's parents were descended from ancient lines of Ravens. Brigit used to work at Merrows in the summers. She met Niall there when he came from the East Coast tracking a rare Faerie. Brigit learned how to make her oatmeal butterscotch muffins that Colin loves so much from Gran.

Chapter 10:

a. Pierce '67 Dodge Charger is delivered to Ravenfall without Liam.

b. This is where we learn that Anna's full name is Annabella Neviah Ballinkay. (Some parents in the USA have a system to let their children know how much trouble they're in. First name only means one is not in much trouble. First and middle name together means medium trouble. All three names at once? It's groveling time! In fact, middle names are so common in the USA that the Air Force put down my late father's name with 'NMI' for 'no middle initial' on his official paperwork.)

c. Uncle Roy arrives.

d. Colin's mother once took on a Red Cap with her bare hands.

e. Aunt Elaine has a skull tattoo on her forearm. She and Roy talk about Ravens.

Chapter 11:

a. Ravenfall has a 1900s-style fedora with a gold feather on its chimney. Max changes its hats.

b. Aunt Elaine performs a ritual with the Pierce family Raven journal.

c. Elaine and Roy start Colin's training. Roy trained with Brigit. (Elaine is still mad that Roy set fire to a bedspread she made when they were kids.)

Chapter 12:

a. Until now, the only Raven that Anna has known is her father's friend, Salem.

b. Niall might have given Brigit Saint Knives.

Chapter 13:

a. Colin has a vision because of the Saint Knives.

b. We learn about wraith toxin and, later in the chapter, what a Triskelion is -- more about them in chapter 14.

Chapter 14: Anna hates to read or do research.

Chapter 15:

a. Elaine was supposed to take over Ravenfall, not Nora. We learn what happened.

b. Anna has a nightmare and makes a flip book about it.

c. There are more wraiths in town.

d. To be friends with Max is the greatest offense, in Ravenfall's opinion.

e. Colin and Anna discuss Anna feeling useless.

Chapter 15:

a. Uncle Roy's husband runs a farm in Ireland.

b. Anna loses a bet with Max that determines her Samhain costume.

c. The source of the crest Colin saw in his vision is tracked down.

Chapter 16:

a. Anna attempts to help with the Pierce family journal.

b. They visit the Final Masquerade costume shop. Anna has a vision there.

Chapter 17: Seamus the shopkeeper identifies a mask as a Radharc and explains it,

Chapter 18: Kara reveals Anna's theory about Colin. Colin doesn't like it, but Gran confirms it.

Chapter 19: Uncle Roy and Colin go to the When in Wick Motel. Roy tells him why his parents left the family trade.

Chapter 20: There's a discovery about Gran. Gran talks about Fin Varra, his people, and Otherworld.

Chapter 21: Alice the motel clerk has powers.

Chapter 22: Aunt Elaine attempts to contact Liam.

Chapter 24: We learn about a ritual for getting rid of something one does not want.

Chapter 25: Anna searches for their enemy.

Chapter 32: Anna tells Colin what new things she's learned about her power.

I love the house, the woods, and the town. I love the fact that the book teaches readers how to pronounced 'Samhain'. The folklore lessons were painless, the peril real, and I liked the solution. The only thing I didn't like was calling Max a 'Jabberwocky' instead of a 'Jabberwock'. Was that enough to spoil my enjoyment of the book? No. I've already ordered my own copy and book two, Hollowthorn.

Dog fans will doubtless find Mr. Connolly's appearance all too brief.

Cat fans will probably enjoy Max's impersonation of a black cat. show less

I don't remember where I first saw about this book, but I know that I saw that cover and immediately wanted it. And with good reason! The cover perfectly encapsulates the spooky-but-magical tone of the book without giving anything about the plot away. Plus, the cat on the cover actually features in the book, and is a wonderful side character!

The characters were wonderful, and the members of Anna's family all felt like family. They bicker and argue, and still have each other's back. I loved show more the depiction of family here. The Ballinkay family—for all that they have magic—feel very realistic. I also greatly appreciated the way they accepted Colin into their midst so easily. He needed the acceptance after losing his parents.

The house and atmosphere are also great—both almost characters in their own right. (Okay, the house really is a character. And it's wonderful!) I wish I had stuck to my plan of reading this in the fall leading up to Halloween; since it's set at Samhain, that would be the perfect time to read this book. I ended up reading it in the winter, though, and the darker, colder days still resonated well with the book's atmosphere.

I'd really recommend this book to anyone looking for an atmospheric, slightly spooky book featuring young characters. It doesn't ever feel too young, though it is definitely a Middle Grade book, and the adult characters were believable in the way they treated the kids. I'm definitely glad I picked this one up before the expected sequel comes out this fall! show less