House Of Eclipses

House of Eclipses
By Casey L. Bond

In a world divided between the light and the darkness, the light is ruled by Sun Goddess Sol and the dark is ruled by the Moon God Lumos. Sol’s Aten, or chosen vessel of the goddess has 3 daughters and Noor, the third daughter is almost of age for Sol to choose which one of them will become the next Aten.

Noor is unwanted by her father and she knows that when the day comes that one of her sisters is chosen as the next Aten, her life will be useless to him. She gets a chance to take a different path when the House of Moon sends word that their Lumin, the chosen vessel of the Moon God, wishes to marry one of the Aten’s daughters and broker a peace between the kingdoms.

Will Noor win his heart despite her sister’s cunning and beauty? Will she be able to steal his crown and find a way to stop her tyrannical father from ruling both kingdoms? Finding unlikely alliances and the keys to unlock powerful secrets, Noor has a chance to forge her own path as long as she can tame the phoenix inside of herself.  

This book is one that I picked up because a friend of mine on Instagram was doing a buddy read and I wanted to read along with them. (If you want to watch the live chats that she did every third of the book-check out her Instagram @boundhobbies) It was really fun to read a book while others were reading it and to chat about it with them along the way and I definitely pan to do it again in the future.

Noors journey is gorgeous and riveting from beginning to end. She starts out not really knowing who she is and if she will even live to reach adulthood, but soon we see her grow in confidence and ambition. I loved seeing her heart and authentic self unfold even as I was just getting excited for the moments when her dresses had pockets!

The love story in this book was so beautifully written and wonderfully healthy, which I think is super important and sometimes hard to find in a young adult fantasy these days. The romance was all very tasteful and appropriate, yet managed to get steamy at all the right moments. All of the relationships were complex and I never knew exactly how anyone felt until they laid it out for me. It was all very exciting and suspenseful.

This book was compelling from the beginning and I did not want to put it down. It was exciting and Casey L. Bond does such a wonderful job of building questions in your mind and then answering them in such a way that you are always surprised and thoroughly satisfied in the end. There is also quite a twist at the end that has me desperate for the sequel and I cannot wait for it to be released! (November 2021!!)

I give House of Eclipses 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

-Jacqui

Author: Casey L. Bond
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Romance content: Fade to black, tasteful and appropriate
Length/Page Count: 378 pages
Format & Source: Kindle e-book/Hardcover
Publishing Info: Casey L. Bond, August 2021