The nation of Trylia believes that the gift, a force that can alter the world through the intent of the person who wields it, is a myth. The stuff of children’s tales, brought to life only in the imagination.
For Lila, separated from a life she was too young to remember, it’s a confusing power that has set her apart from the family she found. And she is only just beginning to understand it when her home and family are destroyed, and she is captured.
To escape, she unleashes the gift in a destructive wave that also forces a man she doesn’t trust to keep them alive. Bryn won’t survive unless Lila does, and they must flee the wrath of the captors still pursuing her. If they can’t find a way to work together, Lila won’t live long enough to learn more about the gift.
As Lila finds her strength, the gift inside her grows. Unless she can control it, she may be a greater danger than the one at her heels.
This review may have some slight spoilers, please keep that in mind.
So took me a minute to first get into the book, I honestly kind of thought it was gonna be a pirate book, and it’s not that I don’t think that pirates are neat, but I don’t wanna read books about them at this moment. (It’s a mood thing.) Despite my first hesitation, the way the author starts the book with the main character (Lila) being on the ship and working, I got pretty into it and sped through the first part of the book fairly quick.
When the big bad event happened, it added a lot of desperation and intrigue into the storyline. The pacing of Her Latent Charm is pretty quick, and things happen fast. However, at the same time it still feels like you get to experience the slowness of the characters trekking through the woods and trying to avoid the BEG (big evil guy).
A lot of the book took place in a forest with two characters running and trying to get away. The twists and turns and bad things that happened were well timed, and were enough to make me feel the urgency of the situation – which I really enjoyed. Those parts kept me hooked; the urgency, the need to get away, to get to safety.
The worldbuilding is great. There were really great descriptions, and I could see exactly where they were and what they were looking at in my mind’s eye because the author built such a beautiful world.
“Stark white trunks amid yellowing birch leaves gave way to a large stretch of green pines as we climbed higher into the foothills guarding the passage to the soaring peaks. Hawks circled in the sky above the tips of the green giants, piercing calls echoing through the clear autumn day.”
Her Latent Charm
The story of Lila learning her magic and learning to use it, and being taught control by Sam was one of my favorite parts. Instead of skipping a month and having Lila suddenly being like “I can do this”, I wish we could have seen more of her practice and Sam’s lessons.. I loved the scenes we got to see Sam’s teachings.
There were also moments where she got close to learning about Sam’s past, and I really wanted to know more… but it sounds like it could be setting up for Lila to learn more about Sam in the next book or two. I hope we get more of his backstory in the future. (I also hope we get more of Lila’s backstory and where she came from!)
Without trying to give too much away, I love in the end who Lila found, and who found her. I also love that Sam claimed her as part of his and Bryn’s family, which I thought was sweet.
The character strength was really good and I feel like their personalities showed really well. Her and Bryn’s banter was good, and them bantering with Sam. Sam totally came off as being kind of a grumpy old guy, Bryn seemed like a level headed and fun dude, and of course Lila is this fiery little redhead who is super caring despite what she’s been through. She has definitely been through some trauma. We didn’t really get to see her process that trauma, although there were times where you could see it take a toll on her. Each character definitely had their own personalities, and it made it so much easier to read and be immersed in the story. The Author was really good about writing strong characters. I really like Samuel and I really wanna know what happened to him. Based on how the book ended – the second is set up to be a really cool story. I wanted to read the it, even though this book isn’t out yet. (expected publication date is June 1st)
The storyline was easy to follow, with a very clear antagonist and protagonist.
The romance was kind of like enemies to lovers. It was actually like enemies to reluctant guardian, to friends, to romance. The Author gave the characters time to build a friendship and then a relationship, and it had a really nice pace. The romance itself was well done and pretty tasteful. There was only a little bit of spice and it left more to the imagination than actually describing it. Spice rating would probably be a 1 out of 5, cause there wasn’t that much honestly.
Strong characters, great villain, great storyline. The romance was really good. All in all I think I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I really liked the conclusion, and although at first I thought it was going to be too easy, it definitely wasn’t. It was a good way of showing that things don’t always go according to plan…
A HUGE thank you to Dana C Brentson for providing this ARC for me to read and review. All opinions are totally honest and my own.
TLDR; Great book with a strong storyline, memorable characters, and a beautiful romance. I recommend it anyone who loves sweet characters, magic and fantasy!
4/5 stars
1/5 spice
Buy or pre-order it here: Her Latent Charm by Dana C Brentson
The Bashful Bibliophile 
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