Reckless Magic by Rachel Higginson

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Title: Reckless Magic
Author: Rachel Higginson
Series: Star-Crossed #1
Published by: Audible Studios
Release Date: January 31, 2017
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Bailey Carr
Length: 11 hours and 35 minutes
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance
Source: Audible
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2019 Audiobook Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ iTunes ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

"Twilight meets Harry Potter." Fans of magic, mystery and romance will fall in love with book number one in the Amazon Best-Selling Star-Crossed Series!

Sixteen-year-old Eden Matthews has been in and out of private schools for the last two years. She can't seem to stop herself from closing them down. Kingsley is her last chance to finish high school. Only Kingsley isn't like the other schools she's been to. The students are different. But, then again, so is she. After meeting Kiran Kendrick, the mysterious boy who seems to be the source of all her problems, she is suddenly in a world that feels more make-believe than reality.

When her best friend Lilly is taken away and Kiran's life is threatened, Eden finds herself right in the middle of an ancient war that is so much bigger than high school. She alone has to find a way to save her best friend and the boy who has captivated her heart.

Reckless Magic is an intricate story about adventure, magic and forbidden love. Eden Matthews is an unlikely heroine determined to save the world and be with her one, true love before it's too late.

My Review:

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW:
5 stars — OK, OK, maybe the narrator is more like 4-4.5 stars…but I’m just so in love with this series, that I can’t help glossing over everything.  Ms. Carr did a pretty solid job narrating.  I felt so many emotions, I felt the urgency, I felt the whining, I felt the confusion…  The pacing was great.  Honestly the only thing I wasn’t solid on was her voices…and not even all the voices, it was just a couple.  I wasn’t keen on Talbott (though at least that accent was solid).  And I could be here and there over Kiran.  Since his sexy British accent is kind of a big deal, it really needed a male voice IMO.  And the only other thing was super small: the French teacher did not have a French accent as was proclaimed, but sounded Russian.  It was the silliest thing, but if you can’t do a French accent, don’t do an accent at all.

Everything else I have to say would just be shameless fangirling that’s unlikely to convince anyone.  I can never quite figure out why this series got under my skin, but I just love it so much.  It’s not as though the characters aren’t flawed.  I mean, I love Eden and Kiran and so many others, but they’re actually kind of brats a lot of the time, and the romance is just swimming in uncertainty…and heck Kiran isn’t even always a super nice guy.  But I think Ms. Higginson does a great job of showing us these vulnerabilities that have him get under my skin.  It doesn’t hurt that I also know how it all plays out, and how much they both grow over the series, so I’m willing to wave away their immaturities.

Which is why, even though I have a gagillion other things I’m supposed to be reading right now, I can guarantee that as soon as I close this laptop I’m going to be starting on Hopeless.  *sigh*  Heart, prepare to get decimated.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
5 stars — It’s the kind of book that I raced to finish b/c I couldn’t put it down b/c I was completely absorbed in the story and characters, and then once I did finish, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Actually, not quite true — I was supposed to be napping. But instead I was going over all parts of the book, sighing in enjoyment, and trying to figure out what it all meant and where it was going, and hoping my paranoia about “the other shoe dropping” is just that….. So yeah. I enjoyed it. And have now downloaded Hopeless, which is how I feel…;)

REREAD now that the series is all written so I can be totally absorbed in the world and it was as good as I remember…I’m getting nervous though…I’ve only read the first 2 so far…

REREREAD — ok, after effusively recommending this book, I noticed that others have major problems with the typos and stuff…and yeah, I guess it can be bad at times. But for me, it was so freaking good story/character/emotion/etc wise that I completely overlooked that part. So I guess be warned about that part, if that’s something that seriously grates on you as a reader.