Review: The Shadow Student (Wraithwood Academy #1) by Teresa Hann

                                                            

Print Length: 167 pages

Publisher: Teresa Hann (July 25, 2019)

From Goodreads.com: I'm not who you think I am.

My enemies aren't who you think they are.

Welcome to Wraithwood Academy.

My father is dead. And my mother's enemies smell opportunity. To save us both, I’ll have to navigate the troubled waters of Wraithwood Academy, seeking allies and outsmarting enemies among the heirs to the country's most powerful mage families.

The vicious, gorgeous Nightfeld brothers think they know me. Cly Redbriar, the weak daughter of a powerful father. A spoiled, scared little girl hiding behind her bodyguard. Nothing but a new plaything for the kings of Wraithwood.

They know nothing.

Because I’ve been forced to live a twisted lie.

See, I’m not really Cly Redbriar…

  

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Full disclosure, I downloaded this book because I had a feeling (I still do if we're being honest) that it was written by another author that I have read using a different name. The covers are similar, the genre is similar, heck even their good reads author photos and bios are similar.  And while this book also reminds me a bit of that other author's works (they all take place at some sort of Supernatural Academy to start with), this one was more in line with what I was looking for. 

Don't get me wrong there was still some disappointment in the characters, the real Cly Readbriar for example was a one-dimensional wanna be bully who turned tail and ran at the first sign of trouble (or hard-work as she had Cassandra attending classes for her starting on the second day of the semester despite knowing she would need to learn these things herself as leader of her family). Her bodyguard Aegis, while having a little more depth constantly irritated me with the way he was so blind in his servitude of the family Redbriar that he didn't hesitate to betray Cass despite them being friends growing up.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this one was the descriptions of not only the campus, and the people, but of the magic aspect of things as well. I found it fairly easy to imagine the scenes as they unfolded, and I loved the way they incorporated something as simple as printable stickers into something that could boost their chances in duels. 

As for the romance aspect of this, I'm will admit that I'm not a huge fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope, but this one was such a slow burn in terms of they literally were at each others throats for most of the story, that I felt it worked in its own strange way. I also liked the way the nerdy friend found a place not only in her life, but came into his own as well being from a "no name" house. I am curious as this story continues however if there are plans to add any other characters into this relationship and if so, how it will be done. I can see the potential for at least three more being added, although I'm not sure how I would feel about two of them.

That being said, I do have the second one already on my kindle. I will give that a read and depending on how it goes decide whether or not I'm going to continue on with this series. Right now, I'm cautiously optimistic that these books will only get better, but I guess we will see.