There is plenty to celebrate in March. From Women’s History Month to the start of spring, THP’s book team stays ready for any occasion. Today, we’ve paired two incredible new novels to review. Both feature stories of female empowerment and rage during a time when we need to feel it most.
Her Hidden Fire by debut author Clíodhna O’Sullivan is an edge-of-your-seat romantasy starring seventeen-year-old Éadha, a servant girl who’s just unlocked a powerful magic. She pretends that this ability is Ionáin’s, the boy she loves, so he can save his family from exile. Éadha must hide her ability from everyone as the two of them attend an intensive magic academy.
When I Was Death by Alexis Henderson is a dark speculative YA novel that tells the story of Roslyn. Still mourning her sister Adeline, Roslyn tries to get to the bottom of her mysterious death. She joins the group of girls that her sister did last summer, only to find the sinister dealings happening within. Roslyn must decide if finding answers is worth a deal with Death.
Both novels bring something new and exciting to our reading list, and we can’t wait for you to dive in after this. Here is our latest dual review of Her Hidden Fire by Clíodhna O’Sullivan and When I Was Death By Alexis Henderson!
Book Overview: Her Hidden Fire
Content warnings: death, violence, bodies, coercive behavior, sexual and physical assault, vomiting (Read at your discretion!)
Summary: In a world where dragons soar through the skies and magical abilities are an elite privilege, the ruling family of Ailm’s Keep is on a knife-edge: Can their son Ionáin prove that he can channel magic, or will his entire family be cast out in disgrace?
Éadha, a servant girl who loves Ionáin, is shocked to discover shortly before the test that she can wield magic herself. It’s extremely rare for a girl to have this talent, especially outside the few great Families. At Ionáin’s moment of truth, when it’s clear he is about to fail, Éadha makes a desperate gamble to save him from humiliation by pretending her magic is his, forfeiting her own claim to power.
Her decision sends them both to an academy of magic, where she must shield her secret from every grim Master and scheming apprentice—especially the handsome but enigmatic Gry. As Éadha enters this whirlwind of patriarchy, class, heartache, and jealousy, she also learns about magic’s terrible cost—the human price that Channellers willingly pay to maintain their power.
Our Review
What an incredible debut. The experience of reading Her Hidden Fire has truly ignited a fire within ourselves. Éadha’s poor upbringing and status carry with her even after she’s admitted into Lambay as a Keeper. The elitist Channellers and other Keepers treat her like filth, unworthy of her apprenticeship alongside them. Little do they know of Éadha’s true powers. And yet, through it all, she does everything she can to protect Ionáin from being exposed as powerless.
Éadha grapples with her love for Ionáin, especially once he starts giving in to what’s expected of him as a Channeller. The human cost for maintaining such magic becomes buried by the opulence of the lifestyle. And the more that Éadha learns to wield her magic and understand it, the more she uncovers about the history that has been rewritten to feed into this patriarchal illusion. We couldn’t hide our emotions as well as Éadha did in this book.
Filled with female rage and empowerment, Her Hidden Fire presents a main character who has a power to change the world, yet a position that holds no power at all. Éadha’s very existence disrupts history itself. While we don’t know where she will go in the next book and beyond, we’re fully locked in with her now.
Release date: March 3
Order Her Hidden Fire here!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CLÍODHNA O’SULLIVAN:
INSTAGRAM | TWITTER
Book Overview: When I Was Death
Content warnings: death, death of loved ones, drowning, overdose, suicidal thoughts, mentions of rape and child abuse, car accidents, hospitalization, some violence, vomiting, themes of grief and loss (Read at your discretion!)
Summary: Roslyn isn’t herself anymore. It’s been a year since her sister, Adeline, died under mysterious circumstances, and Roslyn is still tormented by her absence. So when the elusive caravan of girls that Adeline spent her last summer with rolls back into town, Roslyn joins them to finally figure out what happened to her sister.
Strange, beautiful, and intriguing, the girls are closed off from the world. And as it turns out, they’re brought together by a force more sinister than Roslyn’s nightmares could’ve conjured up: Death himself.
Death has spared the girls from untimely endings, and to pay for their lives, the girls travel the country reaping souls on his behalf. Now Roslyn must decide if finding closure is worth the price of striking the same deal.
Our Review
The next book in our dual review is When I Was Death by Alexis Henderson. The author’s YA debut tells a speculative story of a girl battling with grief a year after her sister died. Roslyn has essentially lost her ability to thrive, letting her grades fall and barely moving through life on autopilot. She’s been stuck in a shell of herself ever since her sister Adeline died. That is, until she finally gets the chance to find the answers to all her questions one day.
What is the price for those answers? Roslyn unknowingly joins a group of teenage girls who do Death’s bidding. They collect souls on his behalf and guide them from this life. Each girl has been handpicked by Death, saved from an untimely end in the past. Roslyn gets to know these girls more over the weeks of carrying out Death assignments. But she doesn’t realize just how many secrets they were keeping from her, including ones pertaining to Adeline.
Roslyn and the girls continue to face grave challenges and inner turmoil while their own fates hang in the balance. When I Was Death highlights one teen’s journey through grief, learning how to let go of guilt, and finding a community—a sisterhood—again.
Release date: March 3
Order When I Was Death here!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALEXIS HENDERSON:
INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE
What do you think of these two new March releases? Are you interested in Clíodhna O’Sullivan’s Her Hidden Fire and Alexis Henderson’s When I Was Death? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
Want to hear some of our audiobook recommendations? Here’s the latest!
