Author: Samantha Cohoe
Publication Date: 15 February 2022
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Page Count: 352
Dates Read: February 5
Reading Method: Physical (thank you to the publisher!)
Review
Last year I read A Golden Fury by Samantha Cohoe and absolutely fell in love! When I saw Cohoe had another book coming out I shot it straight to the top of my tbr. With a gorgeous art deco cover, a mysteriously magical island, and a night you won’t forget, Bright Ruined Things is a book that should be on everyone’s radar.
The story takes place over the course of just one day and it filled with mysterious magic and the eccentric characters who wield it. Mae, the main character, has always dreamed of learning the magic and finally feeling like she belongs on the island, but when she starts to uncover the truth, she quickly realizes nothing is as it seems. The magic in this book is hauntingly beautiful, but hides a really dark secret. I was not expecting the reveal at the end. Honestly the last ¼ of the book is action packed and full of shocking, gut-wrenching twists.
There are so many characters in this story that will make you feel a wide range of emotions. Mae is inquisitive, curious, and determined to secure her place on the island. Even though she is constantly digging to solve the mysteries of the magic, there is something pushing her away. In addition to her own challenges, the family that runs the island and allows Mae to live there is full of eccentric characters. Coco is Mae’s best friend and full of life. She’s always looking for the next adventure. Mae has been in love with Miles forever, and this year they seem to be getting closer, but is it everything Mae had hoped it would be? And we can’t forget XXX, the reclusive heir to the Prosper magic who seems to be taking a special interest in Mae. With a handful of other family members all striving to achieve their own goals, First Night is bound to get a little out of hand!
I was so close to making this a five star read, but there was something holding me back. The immediate appeal of Bright Ruined Things is the gorgeous, 1920’s cover – but though the story is set in that time period, you really wouldn’t have been able to tell if you didn’t already know. There was no reference to anything from the time period. The 20’s are such an iconic period of time, marked with distinct fashion and lingo and culture… all of which was missing from the book. I just really wanted to feel more immersed. Never the less, I will be anxiously awaiting future works by Cohoe.
About the Book
The only life Mae has ever known is on the island, living on the charity of the wealthy Prosper family who control the island’s magic and its spirits. Mae longs for magic of her own and to have a place among the Prosper family, where her best friend, Coco, will see her as an equal, and her crush, Miles, will finally see her.
But tonight is First Night, when the Prospers and their high-society friends celebrate the night Lord Prosper first harnessed the island’s magic and started producing aether – a magical fuel source that has revolutionized the world. With everyone returning to the island, Mae finally has the chance to go after what she’s always wanted.
When the spirits start inexplicably dying, Mae realizes that things aren’t what they seem. And Ivo, the reclusive, mysterious heir to the Prosper magic, may hold all the answers – including a secret about Mae’s past. As Mae and her friends unravel the mysteries of the island, and the Prospers’ magic, Mae starts to question the truth of what her world was built on.
About the Author
Samantha Cohoe was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs. She attended Thomas Aquinas College, a Great Books college in California, and graduated with a BA in liberal arts. After studying Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School, she decided academia wasn’t for her, and rediscovered her love of writing stories brimming with adverbs. In 2011, she moved with her family to Denver, where she currently divides her time between teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs. She writes historically inspired Young Adult Fantasy.
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