Secret Legacy (The Windhaven Witches, #1) by Carissa Andrews
Published by Author Revolution LLC on September 8th 2020
Also by this author: Soul Legacy (The Windhaven Witches #2), Haunted Legacy
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Format: ebook
Goodreads
Family Secrets Shrouded in Death. An Ancestral Home with Secrets of its Own. And a Legacy of Power She Can’t Escape.
When Autumn gets a full scholarship invite to the Windhaven Academy, an exclusive college meant for witches and other supernaturals, she thinks someone in the head office has clearly made a mistake. She’s a mundane human with no special abilities whatsoever. Or so she thinks.
Ever since she moved into her dad’s ancestral home to give Windhaven Academy a try, strange things have been happening. There are weird, secret rooms in the house and her new friends keep urging her to learn more about her past in order to unlock her powers.
When Autumn finally uncovers her family’s secret legacy, she wants nothing more than to turn back time or walk away. But fate has other plans and if she doesn’t bow to the power coursing through her, she could destroy the entire fabric of life and death.
If you loved Necromancer: The Complete Series by MR Forbes, Supernatural Academy by Jaymin Eve, the Tracker Hive Academy by Avery Song, or the Fallen Academy by Leie Stone, then the Windhaven Academy is your next gotta-stay-up-all-night-and-binge-read series!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving my an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Secret Legacy by Carissa Andrews drew me in with the beautiful cover and the blurb. I wanted to read more urban fantasy and this one came at the right time. But by the time I was ready to read it, I already forgot what it was about. I prefer going to into books blind though, so I don’t have that many expectations. And I think it was a good decision I did that.
The beginning of the book was rather generic urban fantasy. A girl has an opportunity and finds out she has powers, but what kind? Halfway through the book after much resistance of the MC, she finally decides to do the right thing and read what her friends told her to read. After that, she became more bearable. Part of the story is Autumn’s enrollment into the magical school, Windhaven and while she spends some time there, I don’t really see this as a magical academy book. The school is just a tiny part of her world at this time and in the story.
The thing that bugged me the most, besides Autumn’s attitude, was the amount of movie/tv references. While I’m okay with including some, these were way too frequent and were often explained, which shouldn’t be necessary. If the readers recognize the reference, great. If they don’t, they’re not pulled out of the story because they think “what the heck?”.
The second half of the book reminds me of The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong, when Autumn goes to school and tries to figure out her powers. That’s where the story is deviating from the generic urban fantasy path, which I like. So get through the first bit so you can read the fun bits. I’m really curious as to what’s going to happen in the second book. At least we won’t have to wait long.
A three-star beginning but four-star ending. I think it’s definitely worth to read, and with the other books in the series coming out soon, you won’t have to wait long. Soul Legacy will be out be released next month! Secret Legacy is out on September 8th.
