book review: in the shadow of a wish
Image: In the Shadow of a Wish by Maci Aurora
In the Kingdom of Kaloma, women are forced to marry by the age of 26. It’s the law.
In the remote village of Sevens, at the northernmost point of the kingdom, there lives an impoverished family with four daughters and a son. Without the means to make love matches, the daughters are trapped by their circumstances.
When one daughter discovers a golden key deep in the Whitling Woods, it may have the power to change everything...
Auri Fareview, practical and realistic, does what she can to serve her family. When she finds a golden key that could be the answer she needs to save her sisters from the unjust Kaloma Marriage Laws, she discovers the treasure might be more than she bargained for. Enchanted, it doesn’t just come with a price attached, it’s also home to an imprisoned god, who wreaks havoc on her body, her heart, and her soul. And those aren’t practical matters. He has the power to break her.
Nixus Uraiahs has lost track of how long he’s been imprisoned by the spell on the key. There have been six key-keepers, all of whom have failed to break the spell to free him, and Nix knows he’s the reason why they haven’t. So, he will hold this 7th key-keeper accountable to the bargain of the spell: three wishes and a price for each. There’s no hope in her freeing him, however. Nix knows she'll be like all the key-keepers who came before her. Except Auri approaches her wishes differently than any of the others, and Nix begins to see her as more than just a key-keeper. She intrigues him, proving her strength, surprising him, and enchanting him. Though he’s entrapped by the enchantment placed on the key, Nix realizes his heart is at risk of being captured by the seventh key-keeper. That is a risk he can’t afford to take knowing his villainy is just a single wish away.
In the Shadow of a Wish is first in the Fareview Fairy Tale series, and the debut title from Maci Aurora, the adult penname of YA author C.L. Walters. This novel is a lovely adult fantasy/faerytale, following Auri’s experience as the Key Keeper for the god of night, Nix, who has been trapped in an enchantment and is relying on Auri to save him.
Auri is a thoughtful, considerate heroine, and her arc echoes a coming-of-age journey as she finds her inner strength awakened (along with other things!) throughout the course of her relationship with Nix. Nix is brooding and swoony, a faerytale take on the Byronic hero, and Auri awakens in him something he thought long lost — hope. Their relationship is playful and steamy by turns, and an integral part of it is the knowledge and awareness that Auri gains about herself and her body through their intimacy.
Aurora's prose flows and sweeps her readers into this story; I loved the development of Auri and Nix's bond and the slow building of trust between them. Both characters are well-drawn and easy to empathise with, and Auri's determined resilience is especially admirable. The world of this novel is particularly enthralling (both real and enchanted) and I can’t stop thinking about the small details - especially the ribbon! (It’s going to drive me mad!)
This lovely novel releases on April 26 and is available for preorder now! Thank you to Maci Aurora and Mixed Plate Press for the chance to read an ARC!