Trial By Fire by Josephine Angelini | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

"A Must Read Romance. This is one of the best books I've read this year. It has everything a book should have: action, adventure, violence, a butt-kicking heroine and one hot hero." —USA Today
This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergiesmake it increasingly difficult to live a normal life, and after a completely humiliating incident ruins her first (and perhaps only) real party, she's ready to disappear.
"Come and be the most powerful person in the world."Suddenly, Lily finds herself in a different Salem. One overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women—including Lillian, this world's version of Lily.
"It will be terrifying. It was for me."What made Lily weak at home, makes her extraordinary here. It also puts her in terrible danger. Faced with new responsibilites she can barely understand and a love she never expeceted, Lily is left with one question: How can she be the savior of this world when she is literally her own worst enemy?

I have been doing this revolutionary thing where I just read whatever I want instead of based around blog tours and publication dates, etc. I know most of you read like that, but with me, I don’t know I just feel this pressure to read in an organized sort of fashion. Anyways, I grabbed Trial By Fire by Josephine Angelini off my shelf because A) it was in a book-house (one of those special boxes the publishers send the ARC in) and B) because I was in the mood for something otherworldly seeing as how the previous book I read, The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand shattered me and I wanted something completely different. As per usual, I am the best at making life choices. OMG, this book. Yes, it was radically different and I actually quite appreciate that. I also appreciate that it sat long enough on my shelf for me to have the next book on hand - Firewalker.

Trial By Fire by Josephine Angelini is about this girl named Lily who lives in Salem. Lily is in love with her best friend Tristan, but Tristan is consistently chasing tail. He’s a good best friend, but definitely not a great life choice for romantic partner. Anyways, Lily is allergic to pretty much everything and she’s kind of weak. This is important for later. So, okay her and Tristan hook up and she assumes that means they are boyfriend and girlfriend. So, Lily, who is allergic to everything, goes to this party with Tristan. Tristan hooks up with some other girl, Lily has an allergic reaction to something and then a seizure. In her seizure state, she hears this voice and decides to follow it.

She ends up in a parallel world, where there are witches who power everything in Salem. In this world, she is evil and known as Lilian. Lily, however, does not support her alternate reality self, and so, she begins to learn about being a witch and a crucible and about those people whom she can power and who help maintain her, called mechanics. One, in particular, Rowan. Whom she begins to fall in love with. The crux of this book lies upon Lily and the choices she makes in this new world that she’s inhabiting. Will she stay or go? Will she take on Lilian and fight fire with fire? Of course, you’ll need to get your hands on Trial By Fire for these answers because I am not about to tell you.

I won’t lie, I did not immediately gel with Josephine Angelini’s main character. So, I thought that Lily was super weak and kind of a wet blanket and all of the allergies were annoying. I know, I know, I am an awful person for thinking those things. She has her convictions though, and that’s cool. Like, Lily is a vegan and she refuses to eat meat in the parallel world, even though it is something that would save her and keep her going. I like that she is so strong willed and cares about different causes, it is awesome. I also liked how she eventually came into her power too and how she handles that whole process. Eventually Trial By Fire‘s Lily won me over.

Of course, the romance was one of the highlights for me in Trial By Fire. I honestly thought it was going to go in the direction of a love triangle. Thankfully, it did not. Rather, the romance centers around Lily and Rowan. At first, there’s no love lost between them. They don’t really like each other or trust each other. But over time, as Rowan sees that Lily is not Lillian, he falls for her and she falls for him and it’s super adorable.

We do get to see how Lillian treated Rowan and why Rowan hates her, which I thought was crucial to establishing this romance and understanding the conflicts that Rowan experiences. OH AND YOU GUYS! There’s totally kissing and it’s awesome and I am actually quite satisfied with what we get. There’s even some pretty big conflicts going on too, like how they are from different worlds, literally and how can it actually work out if they aren’t from the same world? Tortured love, y’all.

So, one of the last things I’ll touch on is the worldbuilding in Josephine Angelini’s Trial By Fire. Yo, this book has got some unique world building and I am actually mostly satisfied with it. So, in the parallel world that Lily ends up in, each person has this thing called a willstone. Willstones open up doors and act as an ID, they also help the wearer remember everything and in addition complete the magic process.

Witches can’t really use magic to enhance themselves, but rather to power up their mechanics. Different energies are transmuted in this world via Lily and the other witches. I love how intricate the magic is. I love how much fine detail Angelini weaves into her world building. For me, this greatly enhanced the story. I felt like it was totally on point. Not once while reading did I think, okay, this makes no sense or this is such a deus ex machina, I cannot even.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time reading Trial By Fire. In fact, after finishing it, I immediately began Firewalker. I am now about halfway through the sequel and YOU GUYS trust, you’ll want it on hand when you finish up Trial By Fire.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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