Sanctuary of the Shadow - by Aurora Ascher (Hardcover)

It’s advertised as having a plot, but it’s really just p*rn in a book. It lacks a plot, and the scenes don’t always give consensual. I would pay more to get back the time wasted on this book than I would pay for the book.

I ordered the book with sprayed edges and received one that did not have them. The picture is very misleading.

I read this book hopeing the hype on tiktok was right. I should have waited to buy it. The book was a waste of my time and money. If you enjoy reading things like A03 and such this is the book for you. The book was all over the place. The plot had so much potential but there was no world building to really draw you in. I do not know why but the biggest thing that bothered me was the time skips through out the book. They could be randomly in the middle of a chapter in the middle of a paragraph. This happened multiple times.

I started reading this in the store, and thought... okay, cute concept. Circus, magic, elf people and animal hybrid people. Could be okay. I finished reading this, and yes.... it is an interesting story... But there's grotesquely drawn out relations. Like a 5 day long romantic scene that is about as graphic as graphic can be. Not for anyone under 21 years old. I'm no prude, but this is beyond the typical grocery store harlequin book. Buyer beware, not for the kids!

I’m not a critic by any means, so don’t expect a breakdown of plot or character development. I liked the book, and I read it in a day.

Book looks great and in great condition. Love the edge die job. Haven’t read yet as I’m working on quantum radio.

The quality was decent, I LOVED the edges, and I thought the cover was gorgeous, and it was an impulse buy. I started reading and couldn't get through the first chapter, I'll admit I'm a pickey person when it comes to books, but it felt like something straight from wattpad. Quality was fantastic. If you take a peek at the book and like the writing style, then I'd definitely recommend it. However, if you know what wattpad is and don't like that writing style I definitely don't recommend.

Horribly written book, no plot.

This book sounded promising and I was intrigued. However, I am 4 chapters in and probably won't waste anymore time reading this. The writing is all over the place with little to no explaination and jumps back and forth. The story doesn't flow and these 4 chapters have been a struggle to even get through. I only gave it 1 star due to the beautiful cover and sprayed edges. This will just be decor for me at this point.

I was really excited for Sanctuary of the Shadow to release since I have enjoyed the books Red Tower Books has been publishing. But ultimately, I was not a fan of this one, Sanctuary of the Shadow starts off feeling strong and promising. You have the allure of who Harrow is and their magic and once we meet Raith, it becomes intriguing on the possibility of who is he and what is his past. The pacing starts off well, but by the halfway mark the pace really starts to lull and drag. It was at the 50% mark that I found myself sitting there staring at my kindle screen and wondering what this book is really about? There was no real threat or catalyst to boost the plotline/story arc and it felt like it was taking two characters and bringing them together using an insta-love and forbidden love trope to make this story. With the forbidden love trope there really was not much of an explanation due to the poor execution of character development and world building. All in all, there was stuff going on with the smut aspect, but when you pull back and think about the book in whole, you realize that not a lot was going on. To the last quarter of Sanctuary, the pacing even got slower and it kind of felt like Aurora Ascher no longer cared about the story since the writing felt poorly done. Sanctuary definitely had the bones of a good story, and it could have been a great story if there was more time spent fleshing out the characters and the world. There will still be those who will enjoy this, and I may try to read book two when it releases to see if anything changes.