Anna Bright

“Sparkles with beauty, intrigue, and romance.”—Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Selection series Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match. But after an excruciatingly public rejection, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic to visit a series of potential suitors—and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all. From the gardens of England to the fjords of Norge, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks…and the stakes of her voyage may be higher than any happy ending. Lush landscapes, dazzling romance, and captivating intrigue await in this stunning alternate historical YA debut—perfect for fans of The Selection or Caraval.

The Beholder

Megan Lowe

This was a solid book. I really liked Selah. She’s super sweet, but also strong when she needs to. 
I also love her crew.
What got me, was the world they’re living in. I don’t quite understand how it works, how it came about, how everything works together.
I was also really confused with the Bear storyline. I really hated that whole thing happened. It made Selah look flighty and a bit like a lovesick girl, especially given what happened after.
The Tolden storyline was a little bit hard to believe, especially after Bear. I didn’t really get their chemistry.
Also, the subplot was confusing. I need to know more about the tsarytsya, what she’s done, what she wants. 
Still, I liked this book and will be continuing!

Liz Griffin

In a word… farfetched.

Selah was not believable as a girl capable of being in charge of anything, let alone a kingdom. She read more like a 12 year old than whatever age she was purported to be.

The worldbuilding was deeply confusing. I could not tell what alternate time period it was supposed to be (sometimes it felt pseudo-modern, and sometimes it felt 1770s), and there were so many locations and names to keep straight.

The insta-lust was eye-rolling. I can barely acknowledge one romance per 400-page book, let alone 3 in one book.

Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be reading the sequel.

I’m giving it three stars. Not because it was undeserving of more- but it was so oddly done. 
I loved the way it was written, Anna Bright is clear and concise. 
I love a good romance, which this book did not lack but maybe it should have just focused on it? The other parts- the “treason” and the sudden defiance Selah had? They felt like absolute afterthoughts. It kind of hurt, I’d have loved to seen Selah have been more confident, defiant and strong through out or even a semblance of growth. But it came out of absolutely no where in the last thirty pages. 
It also clearly left off so that there would be a sequel but it more felt like there was no resolution to anything.

Alexa Jade

honestly this took me 6 weeks to get through and i’m upset about it. this was boring, the in creative af town names threw me off and this is the first time i’ve ever read a book and thought maybe i’ve outgrown ya. which I didn’t hold against the book in terms of rating so don’t worry.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I bought this book as apart of a Beacon Book Box. Support your authors!

Book: The Beholder

Author: Anna Bright

Book Series: The Beholder Book 1

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: Romance, Adventure

Publication Date: June 4, 2019

Publisher: Harperteen

Pages: 497

Recommended Age: 16+ (romance, violence, language, sexism)

Synopsis: Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match, a partner who will help secure the future of her people. Now that day has finally come.

But after an excruciatingly public rejection from her closest childhood friend, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic, where a series of potential suitors awaits—and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all.

From English castle gardens to the fjords of Norge, and under the eye of the dreaded Imperiya Yotne, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks…and the stakes of her voyage may be higher than any happy ending.

Review: I didn't think I'd like this book as much as I did after seeing some of the reviews but I felt the book was well done. I liked the world building and I liked how the book didn't entirely explain everything. Through snippits you can understand that this is an alternate universe in which America did not start a revolution. The world building was detailed but subtle. The characters are also well developed and while the main characters motives are romance I love how she grows and how she isn't one dimensional. I also love how a rebellion story was developed out of this supposed romance book.

The only fault I had of this book is that it's a bit on the nose and easily predictable, but the book did have some great twists, regardless if they were obvious or not.

Verdict: An amazing book!

Moon Child

Can I have this in netflix please, just NOW!!!!

Vanessa Beppler

Samantha Bass

You can read my other reviews/posts on my blog ladyandstar.wordpress.com

Okay, so I had heard a bit about this book and how it was like The Bachelor on the sea (technically The Bachelorette) and it wasn't wrong, but this book is so much more. Selah's proposal is rejected at home and her stepmother sends her on a journey across the sea to find a husband claiming no one will marry her after her public rejection. Selah is shipped across the sea and has to make a stop in the Imperiya, which is like awful. She's terrified of the fabled, but possibly real, Baba Yaga.

Now, I love romance in books, so long as it's not the main plot point, but I actually really enjoyed this book! The romance was a big portion of the story, but it also shows Selah cultivating friendships and learning about different cultures as she's shipped across Europe (or what we would deem as Europe).

It's clear that Anna created her world off of our current world, keeping some names the same, and changing some to fit her world. My favorite part was her inclusion of Finland! While it was funny to base some of the characters off of the vikings, which were more Norway/Sweden than Finland, it was still heartwarming to see my second home mentioned. For those that are not aware, I am Finnish and I actually have dual citizenship for the USA and Finland! Though I don't speak the language well, so don't ask!

I like Selah's personality, more specifically her sense of honor and her trusting nature. She's a very genuine person with her friends and her love interests - it makes the book much more enjoyable.

There wasn't much I didn't like, although I was a little disappointed in one of her reactions. I was rooting for them, but I understood it was to keep the plot going (STILL UPSET THOUGH!) I have heard some pretty divided debates about this book, but it's a strong 4.5 // 5 stars for me!

Gaelle claeys

everlinet

The beginning was terrible. I was so so so disappointed because I though the setting was not supposed to be modern. Well, after all it wasn’t that modern. I didn’t enjoy the fact it was too closely similar to the real world - I rarely enjoy fantasy like this. I love when the world is completely different and set in different era. Well, but I just couldn’t put this book down anyway. 30 first pages were disappointing but after that it became a page turner to me and I couldn’t stop til finished. 
Sometimes I fall in love with the world itself. I did not. I do not really love the setting but I do in fact adore some characters and their behavior, their personality. It’s original idea, a bit of a fairytale retelling. I wold have changed a lot of real aspects of the world building I didn’t like but... honestly it didn’t matter because the romance was SO good. I rarely find the romance beautiful because the characters lack of chemistry. But this was not the case. The chemistry was there! So I will definitely continue though some aspects were a bit disappointing to me, because the romance got me and some characters as well.

Alicia Haws

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4 STARS

From the description alone, I kind of expected this debut to be similar to The Selection, and in certain ways it was. This books tells the story of a girl named Selah, the only daughter to the Seneschal of their country Potomac. As Seneschal-elect, she has a duty to find her perfect match and she believes that Peter, her longtime crush and childhood friend, is just that. Selah proposes through official channels (their fathers) and it is announced publicly. When Peter's father rejects the proposal, Selah is left embarassed and heartbroken. Afterward, her stepmother proposes a plan and sends her on a journey across the sea to find a suitor, and is only to return once she's engaged.

The first hundred or so pages are quite info-dumpy, and honestly? Kind of confusing. This first part of the book holds 90% of our world-building, and most of it left me very confused about the setting and time period. Basically, this book is set in our world, but with fictional countries and a fictional history, and I believe it is set in a different century? It was a bit weird truth be told, and a map would have been very helpful. I definitely struggled with this first part of the book, but i persisted. After this hard hump to get over in the beginning though, the writing flowed very nicely, and was a very fast and fun read. 

About 100 pages in, once Selah is aboard the Beholder, things really start to pick up in the book. There was a whole lot of fun, but also some serious notes. Heartbreak, intrigue, and heartwarming romance. I truly loved this story once the plot really took off. 

Romance is obviously a main focus of this book, and I definitely enjoyed meeting the few guys we were introduced to. Fairly quickly into the story, I decided that I was clever and had already figured out the ending. I was quite shook though once we were introduced to Selah's first suitor and I immediately questioned everything I thought I knew. It didn't even stop there! Her relationship with her second suitor was EVEN BETTER! I honestly was surprised so. many. times. and I eventually decided to stop trying to figure out where it was headed. 

As far as MC's go, Selah herself is an ok female lead. She is kind, and sweet, a little nieve and a tad bit overdramatic at times. This was one other reason I knocked off 1 star--she was very much just going through the motions, and we didn't see her personality shine through for a good chunk of the book. When you read it though, I believe Anna Bright did this on purpose. The last hundred pages or so, we see that Selah really comes out of her shell and takes control of her story and her life. But if you have issues with a pushover female MC, then the fist 2/3 of the book may disappoint you quite a bit. I found myself wanting to yell at her at certain points in the book to stick up for herself! But the way she acted and her personality towards the end of this book has me very excited about the sequel.

Overall, this is a very fun read and I enjoyed it immensely! Like I said, it did take me a bit to get invested, so stick with it and I promise it will get better! Even though this was a light and fun read, it did take a more serious turn at the very end, and it has me VERY excited for the next book in this duology to see how it ends! If you like a good YA Romance with a bit of adventure, you are sure to like this one!

Georgiana.aysha

** spoiler alert **
           This book was so long and nothing happened. It got more interesting at THE VERY END as everything started to happen in chapter 40. AND BTW we spend 39 chapters of this book with a love interest then he betrayed her and then we spend only 28 chapters with the real love interest 🗿 thank god I didn’t get attached to the first one :))

Manon van Heumen

Rereading this was just as epic as the first time around. This book is so, so good.

This book was something. Halfway through, it broke me apart, to never really let me completely heal throughout the rest of it. And I loved every second of it. This book is a gem, and will definitely be one of my favourite reads this year. So, so good. Words fail me at this point.

Ashlee

The Beholder is a charmingly romantic fantasy that left me longing to cross the ocean and explore new lands.

When I went into this, I expected the story of a girl forced into a betrothal by an evil stepmother only to find she’s developing feelings for the one she’s meant to marry. While some of those aspects are somewhat true, this story took me by surprise and ended up subverting my expectations at multiple turns.

First, I fell in love with the crew of The Beholder and I fully expect to learn more about them in the next book, particularly our prickly captain. 

Selah is blindsided by plans to marry her off across the world and quickly suspects something is afoot. However, she’s also awed and quickly swept away by the people, cultures, and new places she’s introduced to. 

It was easy to get just as swept away as Selah. While this story can’t claim to be a retelling of a single story, there is a blending of elements from Cinderella, The Odyssey, King Arthur, and Hansel & Gretel into the story (and probably a few others I’m not thinking of off the top of my head). 

My biggest caveat with this story is that Selah is the type of character that things seem to just happen to. And that is fine, but Selah doesn’t often use the agency she has to question and push for answers or seek answers on her own. There’s several instances of obvious foreshadowing in this that I felt Selah could have used a gateway to be more forward and stop letting people direct her life. However, this is something that Selah comes to do by the end of the book, it’s just unfortunate to see her characterized this way initially. It makes her seem very naive and aloof, especially when one considers how quickly and easily she is willing to give her heart away (something I hope she keeps close to herself in the next book).

Other than that, I’d say the time period is a little difficult to pin down. Initially, I felt the story took places in the 19th century for sure, but there is mention and use of a technology that won’t be as advanced as it is in this book until the early 20th century. If anything, there are times the world building is descriptive and interesting, but it does feel as though it’s fully realized and developed enough in this book. I’d love to see more explanation about how Potomac and the other countries came to be and their story, beyond the brief explanations we get in this book.

However, I think both Selah’s characterization and the time period/world-building are minor aspects to the whole of this book. It’s charming and romantic and definitely pulled me in to Selah’s story and adventures. I’m absolutely going to be reading the next one – I’m excited about where this book leaves us!

Jelke Olila

** spoiler alert **
           this book really wasn’t for me.. i would’ve dnf’ed it if i wasn’t buddy reading it. i absolutely hated the romances (how freaking fast they claimed to “love”), did not like the writing style and frankly just did not care about the protagonist.

but, even though this book wasn’t for me, i do think anna bright has great potential and will read another book written by her once it comes out (i will not read the sequel to this book).

Bailey Anderson

"Sparkles with beauty, intrigue, and romance."--Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Selection series Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match. But after an excruciatingly public rejection, Selah's stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic to visit a series of potential suitors--and if she doesn't come home engaged, she shouldn't come home at all. From the gardens of England to the fjords of Norge, Selah's quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother's schemes aren't the only secrets hiding belowdecks...and the stakes of her voyage may be higher than any happy ending. Lush landscapes, dazzling romance, and captivating intrigue await in this stunning alternate historical YA debut--perfect for fans of The Selection or Caraval.

The Beholder

Reviews