Review by rebeccamurtaghwrites - Traveler of Heart

rebeccamurtaghwrites 's review for:

Traveler of Heart by Elle Kish

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

For one of the first times in my life, I feel profoundly speechless. Which is hilarious because I’m sure my review is about to be a big waffle about how much I ADORE this book.

This review is coming to you at 1.45am from a momma who has to be up soon & to say I struggled to put this book down to be a functional human being once I started it, is a huge understatement!

We meet Daphne, a 36-year-old mum of 3, one year after a devastating accident that changed her life forever. Despite her best efforts at organising a solo technology-free retreat to escape & heal, the hands of forces greater than her have other ideas.

Catapulted into a fantasy world she’s only ever read about in the Romantasy books she adores - filled to the brim with magic, mischief & mayhem (also dragons!) - Daphne finds an ally in a handsome stranger & his band of (mostly) merry companions (I’m looking at you, A 👀).

Our stranger - Silas - agrees to help her find a way home to her world and most importantly, her kids. She has two weeks to figure out how to get home before anyone realises that she never made it to her retreat.

The million dollar question: are they able to achieve this & send her home to her kids in time?

Just wow. The grip this book held on me is insane, I’m not going to spoil anything but the ADHD rep in this book, the mum rep in this book was so incredible that I teared up a few times at how seen I felt, how relatable the workings of Daphne’s mind came out across the pages.

The world is so vibrant & thoroughly built - every place that Daphne & Silas end up visiting felt so purposeful to the story as a whole.

The complicated budding romance in this book was beautiful & heart tugging. Perfect balance between swoonworthy, hilarious, so-freaking-hot-that-I-nearly-boiled-alive & sweet.

I felt like the characters were complex, they drove the story & the history of the world Daphne finds herself in is so rich!

When some of the twists were revealed I did not see them coming. A rollercoaster of a ride that just kept me guessing every step of the way.

Whilst I am clasping my grabby fingers tightly to stop them from badgering Elle for book 2 (Elle if you read this - I am patient! Whenever it’s ready I will be there ready to dive back into Daphne’s story to find out WHAT IS GOING ON 😂), I am at least incredibly grateful to have the arc for the prequel Snapdragon to devour next.

Content Warnings