Mara Fitzgerald

A dark, queer YA fantasy that's perfect for fans of the Three Dark Crowns series and Wicked Saints. After Emanuela Ragno kills the one person in Occhia who can create water, she must find a way to save her city from dying of thirst. Emanuela Ragno always gets what she wants. With her daring mind and socialite schemes, she refuses to be the demure young lady everyone wants her to be. In her most ambitious move yet, she's about to marry Alessandro Morandi, her childhood best friend and the heir to the wealthiest house in Occhia. Emanuela doesn't care that she and her groom are both gay, because she doesn't want a love match. She wants power, and through Ale, she'll have it all. But Emanuela has a secret that could shatter her plans. In the city of Occhia, the only source of water is the watercrea, a mysterious being who uses magic to make water from blood. When their first bruise-like omen appears on their skin, all Occhians must surrender themselves to the watercrea to be drained of life. Everyone throughout history has given themselves up for the greater good. Everyone except Emanuela. She's kept the tiny omen on her hip out of sight for years. When the watercrea exposes Emanuela during her wedding ceremony and takes her to be sacrificed, Emanuela fights back . . . and kills her. Now Occhia has no one to make their water and no idea how to get more. In a race against time, Emanuela and Ale must travel through the mysterious, blood-red veil that surrounds their city to uncover the secrets of the watercrea's magic and find a way to save their people -- no matter what it takes.

Beyond the Ruby Veil

“Ale,” I say. “What’s happening? Is that… is that the—”

I wanted the most powerful magic I could have. But it’s more powerful than me.

“It’s a blindfold,” he says. “I’m just blindfolding you. That’s all.”

They don’t realize what they’re doing. I’m going to save them. They need me.

His fists are clenched, like he’s braced for me to say something horrible. As if I didn’t break out of the watercrea’s tower and immediately run for his house. As if I wouldn’t kill anyone who hurts him.

But I can’t wipe it off. Then I’ll look like I’m sorry about this, and I refuse to feel sorry about it. 

I want the kind of magic that belongs to me, and only me.

If magic can be chosen, I want to choose the most powerful magic there is.

She shouldn’t pretend to be a saint. She shouldn’t care if they think she’s perfect. She should let them see just how far she would go for them. Because it’s real, and it’s a little extraordinary.

That’s… perfect. I don’t want her to stop. I want her to fight me the way I deserve to be fought.

I’m not going to tell her anything, but if I were, I could tell her that I know exactly how it feels to have someone at my side. I could tell her that Ale has been with me for every day of my life.

“So all you care about is whether or not you come out on top,” she says.

I shrug. “It’s where I deserve to be.”

“I don’t care if people love me, or if they think what I do is 

. But rest assured, they’re going to know I was here.”

There are six other cities, and no one in them knows my name.

 And I’d felt… something. But I didn’t know what to do with it. I wasn’t prepared for it. So I turned away.

I have this city’s ruler tied up in a trunk. I’m in control now. I’ll always be in control.

I don’t want to struggle for normal. I want to look better than everyone else.

i think her friendship with ale is so complex and that it should be studied 

And somehow, they still didn’t know that he belonged to me, which meant they weren’t allowed to touch him.

why is she such a bitch to her only friend 😭

Nobody wants you at all. Do you even realize how pathetic your life is without me?

“I’m not going to die,” I said. “Do you know why?”

”Look at her now, and then tell me—who’s really untouchable?”

 I don’t even know what I’m going to do. I just know that if she’s going to hurt us, I’m going to hurt her.

Occhians don’t just charge at the watercrea and whack her with a book. Even I haven’t done that.

evil gay people turn cannibalistic. that’s the plot 

A dark, queer YA fantasy that's perfect for fans of the Three Dark Crowns series. After Emanuela Ragno kills the one person in Occhia who can create water, she must find a way to save her city from dying of thirst. Emanuela Ragno always gets what she wants. With her daring mind and socialite schemes, she refuses to be the demure young lady everyone wants her to be. In her most ambitious move yet, she's about to marry Alessandro Morandi, her childhood best friend and the heir to the wealthiest house in Occhia. Emanuela doesn't care that she and her groom are both gay, because she doesn't want a love match. She wants power, and through Ale, she'll have it all. But Emanuela has a secret that could shatter her plans. In the city of Occhia, the only source of water is the watercrea, a mysterious being who uses magic to make water from blood. When their first bruise-like omen appears on their skin, all Occhians must surrender themselves to the watercrea to be drained of life. Everyone throughout history has given themselves up for the greater good. Everyone except Emanuela. She's kept the tiny omen on her hip out of sight for years. When the watercrea exposes Emanuela during her wedding ceremony and takes her to be sacrificed, Emanuela fights back . . . and kills her. Now Occhia has no one to make their water and no idea how to get more. In a race against time, Emanuela and Ale must travel through the mysterious, blood-red veil that surrounds their city to uncover the secrets of the watercrea's magic and find a way to save their people -- no matter what it takes.

Rachel 

I actually really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed that our MC isn't likeable and seems irredeemable and I love the worldbuilding. I do feel like it was too short to fully get into. I feel like it ended a bit abruptly and while I know there is a sequel coming out this year, I do think that this first book could have benefitted from a few more chapters to flesh out the main cast a bit more. I'm excited to see where the story goes.

"After Emanuela Ragno kills the one person in Occhia who can create water, she must find a way to save her city from dying of thirst"--

Jessica Williamson

2.75 stars

Oooookay. I'm really not sure how to feel about this one at all. The world building was interesting. 

The MC was an absolute shit show (I know the point was for her to be unlikable, but I'd like her to at least feel redeemable and I didn't get that), and there weren't any other characters that I particularly liked either. Part of that may be because we spend the whole book inside the MC's head and she thinks she's SOOOOOO much better than everyone else. She treats everyone like dog shit stuck on the bottom of her shoe. Even her "best friend" whom she yells at for basically being a waste of space who would be nothing without her. So yeah, it's hard to enjoy characters when you're seeing them through the lens of someone without any human qualities. 

Like I said though, the worldbuilding was cool. I'm interested to see where it goes so I'll probably pick up the next one.

cover 3; characters 2; plot 3; pace 3; writing 3; enjoyment 3.

Kayla Smith

This had a really cool world but that's about it. I like unlikeable characters but apparently I don't like characters THIS unlikeable. I wish I enjoyed this more because I'm curious to see what'll happen next within this universe but I just don't think I can put myself through reading the sequel.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this ebook from the publisher for Rockstar Book Tours. Thanks! All opinons are my own.

Book: Beyond the Ruby Veil

Author: Mara Fitzgerald

Book Series: Beyond the Ruby Veil Book 1

Rating: 3/5

Recommended For...: fantasy, revenge, romance, bully like romance

Publication Date: October 13, 2020

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 288

Recommended Age: 16+ (romance, sexual content, violence, gore, death, torture)

Synopsis: Cunning and unapologetic, Emanuela Ragno is a socialite who plays by her own rules. In her most ambitious move yet, she’s about to marry Alessandro Morandi, her childhood best friend and the heir to the wealthiest house in Occhia. Emanuela doesn’t care that she and her groom are both gay, because she doesn’t want a love match. She wants power, and through Ale, she’ll have it all.

But Emanuela has a secret that could shatter her plans. In her city of Occhia, the only source of water is the watercrea, a mysterious being who uses magic to make water from blood. When their first bruise-like omen appears on their skin, all Occhians must surrender themselves to the watercrea to be drained of life. Everyone throughout history has obeyed this law for the greater good. Everyone except Emanuela. She’s kept the tiny omen on her hip out of sight for years.

When the watercrea exposes Emanuela during her wedding ceremony and takes her to be sacrificed, Emanuela fights back…and kills her. Before everyone in Occhia dies of thirst, Emanuela and Ale must travel through the mysterious, blood-red veil that surrounds their city to uncover the source of the watercrea’s power and save their people—no matter what it takes.

Review: For the most part I liked this book. It was a fun, short read that kept me on my toes. The book is great for people who want something fast to get through in one sitting and the plot kept me intrigued from start to finish.

However, there were a ton of problems with this book. The book is way too fast paced and by 15% in I had already reached what should have been the climax of the book. The book is also confusing and spends very little time on developing the story. Nothing is explained outright and the reader is left to guess. The book also had very little world building and the character development was non-existent. 

Verdict: It was good and I liked it, but there’s some problems.

Beyond the Ruby Veil

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