“Haven’t you heard that the rarest blooms are the most interesting?” (p. 157)
★★★★☆
Society of Magical Botanists, Book 1
Review:
First, I would like to thank the author and Itsy Bitsy Book Bits for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The mysterious Evergreen Academy stands concealed in the woods, its students and programs unknown to the small town’s residents. When Briar Rose has a chance encounter with an attractive young man in the dead of night outside the Academy’s gates, little does she know that her life will soon take a sharp turn. When she is identified as gifted by one of her community college professors, she becomes Evergreen Academy’s newest magical botanist. Strangely, she has no special plant affinity, unlike her peers, meaning she cannot wield plant magic. Despite doubting whether she even deserves to attend the Academy, she has grown to love it and is determined to help when the verdant shield protecting the Academy is threatened.
Evergreen Academy by Heather Schneider is a cozy, atmospheric young adult fantasy with an intriguing, well-developed plant magic system. The ways in which the professors test for plant affinities to determine which magical powers Briar may have are really fascinating. Callan, Briar’s tutor and a descendent of the Academy’s founding magical botanists, is so charming and attentive. The slow-burn, forbidden romance that is building between Callan and Briar has left me desperate for the second book in the Society of Magical Botanists series to be published. I am so eager to find out how Briar will fit into the hierarchy of magical botanists in her second year at the school. The revelations about her possible lineage and her magical abilities have set up the second book to be very exciting!
Audience: young adult
Trigger warnings: parent death (off page)
Recommended for fans of: light academia, cozy fantasy, plant magic, secret society, small town, cottagecore, coming of age, slow-burn HFN romance, forbidden romance
Publisher's Synopsis:
Welcome to Evergreen Academy, the secret college for Magical Botanists.
I’d always sensed something peculiar about the reclusive Evergreen Academy, tucked deep in the woods of my hometown. But I never could have imagined it was a college for magical botanists–and that I am one of them.
An invitation to the academy opens up a whole new world of wonder, yet my plant affinity powers remain elusive, and my scientific training is far behind that of my peers.
When I’m assigned a tutor, Callan Rhodes, a powerful descendant of the academy’s founders, I’m baffled by his willingness to help me.
Despite my challenges, I’m enchanted by the academy’s glass schoolhouse, its grounds which are overflowing with plants that defy the climate, and the quirky festivals held each equinox and solstice.
But disaster looms as the verdant shield that protects the academy from the prying eyes of nonmagical people begins to falter. Can Callan and the other founder’s descendants sustain the magic on their own, or will the clock finally start to tick on figuring out my powers?
Source:
Itsy Bitsy Book Bits
©Lilac Fables Publishing: October 25, 2024
Edition: Digital ARC, read on Kindle Unlimited
340 pages
Connect with Heather Schneider: heatherschneiderauthor.com
Read the
free bonus prologue from Callan's POV
here!
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