Draw Down the Moon

This review will be about Draw Down the Moon by P.C Cast. It’s the first book in the Moonstruck series and was published April 2, 2024. On goodreads, it’s classified as a Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal genre.

A little about the book;

Wren Nightingale isn't supposed to have any powers. Born of magickal parents but not under a moon sign, she was destined for life as a Mundane—right up until she starts glowing on her eighteenth birthday. In a heartbeat, Wren's life is turned upside down, and she's suddenly leaving her home for the mystical Academia de la Luna—a secret magickal school on a hidden island off the Seattle coast.

Lee Young has always known about his future at the Academia. He has one goal: pass the trials, impress the Moon Council, and uphold his family's reputation. But he wasn't expecting to be attending alongside the girl he's been secretly in love with for as long as he can remember.

As Wren and Lee are thrown into the Academie's gruelling trials, they quickly learn there's something different--and dangerous--about the school this year. Wren will have to navigate a web of secrets, prophecies--and murder. And Lee will have to decide who to protect--his family's legacy, or the girl he loves.

Review:

I haven’t read P.C Cast in a very long time, back when the Marked series was first being published, so I was very excited to read this book! It starts off with a prank, which I love! Then I realized that throughout the book, it will be based on Wren’s and Lee’s point of views. Now, I don’t mind that but I was kind of hoping for just one point of view but, that’s okay. 

It was kind of difficult for me to get sucked into the story. I believe it’s a good book, don't get me wrong, but normally when I find a really good book, I can’t put it down. This one, I’ve actually been kind of putting off for a while. I’ll read some of it, then end up putting it away because I don’t really connect with it or it just doesn’t grab my attention as much. Which saddens me because I truly love this author. 

There are so many references to stuff like Bridgerton and that type of era, Lord this and lady that, I know it’s supposed to be a cute thing, but too much of it gets to be a bit much. 

I loved the character growth on Wren, at first she’s the type of girl who loved pulling pranks and isn’t very mature but once she gets to the Moon Isle, her whole demeanor changes. She’s more shy, until she starts making friends, then she opens up a lot more. Wren still had some growing up to do, but since it’s only the first book, I’m not to surprised. 

Lee, now, I love the banter and playfulness he has with wren and their love chemistry is amazing. But he’s focusing all on the wrong things. He wants to follow in his sister’s footsteps but it seems like he’s just following his parents instead. I have mixed feelings about him but he’s a character that's well-written. 

Besides all of those negatives, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Like I mentioned, I did have a hard time trying to read it and had to put it down a lot of the time but I’m glad I continued because it got progressively better once there was more action, romance, and angst. I think it started to pick up closer to the end of the book. The story building, as far as the magic and stuff, is explained to wren during the book so it’s like you're learning it with her. I really enjoyed that, because it brought up different emotions for her and you were able to connect with her a lot more through that. 

I’ll definitely keep my eye out for the second book! I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars, only because it just didn’t grab my attention as much and I had to power through it until it got better. I enjoyed the world building, and the magic too!