Seventh Born (The Witchling Academy #1) by Monica Sanz #bookreview #fantasy #YA #paranomal

Title: Seventh Born

Author: Monica Sanz

Publisher: Entangled: Teen

Publication Date: September 4, 2018

Page Count: 400

My rating:   2 stars

About the book:

Abomination. Curse. Murderer. All names hurled at eighteen-year-old Seraphina Dovetail. As the seventh-born daughter to a witch, she’s the cause of her mother losing her powers and, in turn, her life.

Abandoned as a child, Sera dreams of becoming an inspector and finding her family. To do that, she must be referred into the Advanced Studies Program at the Aetherium’s Witchling Academy. Her birth order, quick temper, and tendency to set things on fire, however, have left her an outcast with failing marks…and just what Professor Nikolai Barrington is looking for.

The tall, brooding, yet exceedingly handsome young professor makes her a proposition: become his assistant and he’ll give her the referral she needs. Sera is quickly thrust into a world where witches are being kidnapped, bodies are raised from the dead, and someone is burning seventhborns alive. As Sera and Barrington grow ever closer, she’ll discover that some secrets are best left buried…and fire isn’t the only thing that makes a witch burn.

Seventh Born by Monica Sanz is the first book of the young adult paranormal fantasy The Witchling Academy. Really this series has a bit of everything wrapped into it with some romance, a historical feel and a murder mystery.

Seraphina Dovetail is a seventh born, and seventh borns are not exactly at the top of the list in the witch community. Despite her unlucky birth order and being abandoned as a child Sera has managed to fulfill her dream of studying at Aetherium’s Witchling Academy.

Things are not easy for Sera at the academy however and when pushed a bit too far Sera finds herself caught using magic without a wand. However instead of punishment Professor Barrington proposes an offer to make Sera his assistant to help with solving murders.

Nope, not for me at all. I really wanted to love this one as it had such an intriguing mix of elements to the story but there were a few things holding me back. First, I felt like this is one that the world and character building were lacking and it was more like being thrust into the deep end without a life jacket. On the other hand I also felt the story dragged and could get a little overly wordy so figure that out, not enough but too much. Then I’m really not a fan of pushing towards a teacher/student relationship so I think I will be skipping any more of the series unfortunately.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

Monica Sanz is a romance writer with an established fan base on the social writing website Wattpad where her works have over 6 million combined reads. She is a member of the Wattpad4, a group of writers who host weekly Twitter chats on the subjects of writing and publishing.

When not lost in one of her many made-up worlds, Monica can be found on the sunny beaches of South Florida where she resides with her husband and their three children, or scouring YouTube for new bands to feed her music addiction.