Stalking Shadows | By Cyla Panin | Book Review
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Title- Stalking Shadows
Author- Cyla Panin
Publisher- Amulet Books
Genre- Gothic Fantasy/ Wolf shifter/ Dark Fairytale
Links- Amazon | Goodreads | Book Depository
My Rating- ★★★★✰
Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
*Trigger warning for scenes with gore, mentions of alcohol abuse, mentally abusive parent, and child death.
Contents
Book Blurb
My Review
About the Author
Book Blurb
A gothic YA fantasy debut about a young woman striving to break her sister’s curse and stop the killing in her small French town
Seventeen-year-old Marie mixes perfumes to sell on market day in her small eighteenth-century French town. She wants to make enough to save a dowry for her sister, Ama, in hopes of Ama marrying well and Marie living in the level of freedom afforded only to spinster aunts. But her perfumes are more than sweet scents in cheap, cut-glass bottles: A certain few are laced with death.
Marie laces the perfume delicately—not with poison but with a hint of honeysuckle she’s trained her sister to respond to. Marie marks her victim, and Ama attacks. But she doesn’t attack as a girl. She kills as a beast.
Marking Ama’s victims controls the damage to keep suspicion at bay. But when a young boy turns up dead one morning, Marie is forced to acknowledge she might be losing control of Ama. And if she can’t control her, she’ll have to cure her. Marie knows the only place she’ll find the cure is in the mansion where Ama was cursed in the first place, home of Lord Sebastien LeClaire. But once she gets into the mansion, she discovers dark secrets hidden away—secrets of the curse, of Lord Sebastien . . . and of herself.
My Review
First up, I’d like to say that I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and kept me interested the whole time. It is a fantasy/ mystery with a nice underlying romance that doesn’t take over the plot. I particularly liked the eighteenth-century French Village setting and the descriptions and uses for different medicinal herbs throughout the book.
Plot
The story follows Marie as she tries to protect her sister from the townspeople, finding out her sister’s secret — that she is the beast that roams the forests at night.
Mysterious deaths in the village lead to suspicion, and Marie becomes desperate to find a cure to her sister’s curse. This leads her to the home of Lord Sebastien LeClaire. Marie is sure the secret to curing her sister lies within the walls of the mansion.
It is an interesting plot that kept me hooked most of the time. There are some slow bits in pacing, but overall a really fun plot to follow with lots of mystery. There were a few good plot twists around the end which I had been hinted at throughout the book and made for a satisfying ending.
Within the Vale by Jen Becker
Setting
This was my favourite part. I loved the setting of the quaint French Village with suspicious villagers. It made me think of Belle’s little town from Beauty and the Beast, but quite a lot darker. I liked the strong inclusion of the seasons into the story; I think most of it was set in winter, and this really came through strongly. It had a real feeling of cold and darkness about it. I also mentioned before that I liked the descriptions of herb use; I liked the detail with this and the descriptions of actually making the teas, perfumes, and preparing plants. This was a real highlight for me, as it’s something I’m quite interested in.
Characters
The main character, Marie, was a strong protagonist with lots of drive. She was constantly moving to get shit done and find solutions for her problems. I’m not sure I really liked her as a person, but I liked that she was so motivated and cared for everyone around her that this made me want her to succeed.
I liked the build up of the relationship with Sebastian. It didn’t take over the plot, but was a nice subplot to have going on and made me want to read more.
Summary
Overall, a good book and easy to keep reading. I would recommend it to anyone who likes that Gothic French village setting and wolf shifter stories. The vibe is kind of dark fairytale/ gothic fantasy, so if you’re into that, it could be the story for you!
About the Author- Cyla Panin
Author Cyla Panin
Cyla Panin is an MG, YA and Adult Author who prefers to look at the world through a dusting of magic.
After spending most of her childhood wanting to escape into the wonderful worlds her favourite authors created, she’s now using her own words to craft magical places. When not writing, Cyla can be found playing dinosaurs with her two young boys, watching swashbuckling and/or period TV shows with her husband, and, of course, reading.
Her YA debut, STALKING SHADOWS will be out with Amulet, Abrams Fall 2021. She is represented by Chloe Seager of the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV, and Film Agency.
Check out Cyla Panin’s website
Buy Stalking Shadows
About the reviewer- Jenny sandiford
Hi I’m Jenny. I am passionate about promoting new authors and sharing any amazing books I find with the world. I am a book blogger, bookstagrammer, YA fantasy writer and travel writer.
I’m also a lover of nature, hiking, Harry Potter, cats, fantasy lands and quiet places.
Other books you might enjoy
Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1)- By Shelby Mahurin
A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1)- By Brigid Kemmerer
The Stolen Kingdom (The Stolen Kingdom #1)- By Bethany Atazadeh
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