Mini Reviews: The Outlands and A Magical Inheritance, because I know how to mix and match them!

Hello everyone! Today I am here with another post for the Self-Published Appreciation Week, hosted by Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub, and today I am here to talk about two books that I have finished recently and that I enjoyed quite a lot! So, let’s start!

This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Outlands
Series: The Outlands saga #1
Author: Tyler Edwards
Pages: 452

In the ruins of the world that was lies the city of Dios, a haven protected from the hostile environment known as The Outlands. Ruled by an oppressive Patriarch, the people of Dios are conditioned in fear. The smallest infraction could result in banishment to the Outlands, a fate worse than death.
With his make-shift family of “Undesirables”, Jett Lasting struggles to find his place in a world where drawing attention to yourself can get you killed. His very existence is considered a crime. To survive, he must avoid guards, beggar gangs, and an ever-growing tension that could drag the whole city into chaos.
Jett unwittingly becomes entwined in a plot to overthrow the government where his choices could lead to freedom or the death of everyone he’s ever known or cared about.

I will spoiler right now the end of this review because, for once, I want to start from the end. I gave 3.5 stars to this book, but my rating has more to do with my personal enjoyment of it than with the book itself. I think that this book has two really strong features: the world-building and the humor of the MC. And I appreciated these two things a lot!

First of all, I am not the biggest fan of dystopic out there, true, but from time to time I enjoy them and let me tell you that I think that this book has a top-notch setting. I loved the world that the author creates. Sure, “love” here is a strange world to use, because well, this is not a nice world. I would hate to live there (and I think that this is one of the things that links all the dystopic out there, you don’t really want to live there, right?), and I would not enjoy a short visit either, so you see my point, don’t you? But all the same, the world here is just so vivid in all its sadness, in all the fear and in the cruelty of the government, that here is named the Patriarch. We have a really oppressed society, in which there is no possibility to change your fate, to be something better, even if all the propaganda kept telling you the opposite. I really appreciated the way in which the author creates this society because he is really detailed and he developed it so well.

And the other really good thing is Jett. He is a good MC, even if he is pretty standard YA material because the author makes him real. He is sweet, in some ways. He is in love with a girl, and so he cannot speak a word when she is present. And usually, he is a chatty one! And he is naive, in some ways, but he is strong-willed, he wants to do the right thing, and he wants to change the world. But the best part is his sense of humor. He is witty, he can be sarcastic, he is no mean or bad, at all. But his voice is pretty funny to follow.

And then we have all the things that we usually have in this kind of book: a rebellion, a good group of friends, some betrayals here and there, and the big plot twist, in the end, is good. Pretty good! It is not a boring book, at all. It is a fast-paced adventure, and it kept my interest alive from the start to the end.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to the Editor.
Again, a detail: I received a copy of Magic & Mystery from Tyche Books, and this is a box with some series starters, and this book was there, yay!

Title: A Magical Inheritance
Series: Ladies Occult Society #1
Author: Krista D. Ball
Pages: 292

Miss Elizabeth Knight received an unexpected legacy upon her uncle’s death: a collection of occult books. However, when one of the books begins talking to her, she discovers an entire world of female occultist history opened to her—a legacy the Royal Occult Society had purposely hidden from the world.
However, the magic allowing the book to speak to Miss Knight is fading and she must gather a group of female acquaintances of various talents. Together, they’ll need to work to overcome social pressures, ambitious men, and tyrannical parents, all to bring Mrs. Egerton, the book ghost, back.

I discovered this author last year, and it was love at the first sight. And since then I kept this book on my TBR, but I kept procrastinating. I really, really, really wanted to read it, but lately, it seems like I am constantly on a book buying ban of a sort or another and so I waited and waited for the right moment for it. And then here it was, after finishing Solomon’s Seal, what I discovered there?? So, I was planning to read the next book in this box in August or September, because my TBR is pretty full at the moment but… I needed to read it! And I have no willpower whatsoever when we are talking about books so… here we are!

I loved this book, and I was enthralled by it from the beginning. And I devoured it. It was magical, it was funny, it was sweet, it was all I was hoping for and even more! I have to confess that my favorite series by this author remain The Dark Abyss Of Our Sins, but this one was good. Really, really good!
This is an adorable Regency story about magic, but especially about women, and friendship. I think that, in the end, friendship is the best thing in this book.
Elizabeth is an interesting MC, she has the patience of a Saint. She is just so good at heart (and yes, she can be too good sometimes). And this is her best trait, but it is also her major “fault”. If I have a complain with this book is that sometimes she is too much good. She is always trying to help, and she is the most considerate person in the world, and this is not a bad thing, but sometimes a bit of egoism, or if not as far as that, at least a bit less of it would have been good (but maybe this is just because I am not as good a person as she is!). Anyway, she is really a good person, and she has the best support team ever! I loved her aunt (she is just amazing!), and I loved Mary and her husband. They are sweet, they are also one of the best married couple around (and let me tell me, that I appreciated so much seeing a married couple that is in love, in their own unique way, and that function so well as a team. It is not a common thing, and I think that we need more of them around!).

And then we have a ton of books, and also a magical one. And a ghost, sort of. We have also bad men who are trying to bully Elizabeth. A big inheritance, a family that is not really the best one out there (and okay, they are not the worst, but really, they are not good!), and some new friendships blooming. And occultism. So, yes, we have quite a lot going on, and even if this is a quiet book, in some ways, because it is not an action or adventure book, this is for sure, it is also not a boring book. I loved it. And I am eager to continue this series. So I think I know which books I would buy next!