Woven in Moonlight

First of all, thank you to Page Street Publishing and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!🌑In the world of Woven in Moonlight, they have magic. Catalina can read the stars, but Ximena can weave moonlight into her tapestries. In a place where her weaving is the only piece of herrself she can embrace, it is everything. But Ana isn't back from her mission, yet, and the Condesa and Catalina are doing everything in their power to keep the Illustrian people fed and safe. Only, Ximena isn't the Condesa. Rather, she's Catalina's decoy.🌑Catalina is the last of the Illustrian royal family, and they need to keep her safe. But when the Llacsans come with a message and demand she marry the False King, Atoc, Catalina urges her to take the opportunity to spy on the Llacsans. Only, when she begins to learn that the Llacsans lives have been no better than the Illustrians, Ximena begins to trust in some of those closest to her in the Castillo, building relationships with her lifelong enemies.🌑Surrounded by her enemies, Ximena has to try and send secret messages to Catalina. Only, not everything is so black and white as it seems.🌑A lovely, rich world influenced by Bolivian culture and politics. The colors and the world-building is vivid, the magic is beautiful, and the characters are colorful and complex. There is a fantastic slow-burn, enemies to lover romance, and I was extremely satisfied with the ending!Cannot recommend this book enough! Out January 7th!

10 yrs ago, the Illustrians were defeated by Atoc, who used the Estrella gem to summon a ghost army. Ximena is a decoy Condesa, and is betrothed to the enemy king Atoc.In the beginning, Ximena is revenge and hate bent. Her plan is to find where the king is hiding the Estrella and kill him. At first, she acts rashly and foolishly (act now, consequences later), and the king has no problem with following through and punishing her or killing her people. Her hatred for the Llacsans is so strong she even hates the fact they love color. Color on their walls, in their clothing, to the random chickens loose in the castillo hahaha.As Ximena spends time amongst the Llacsans, she realizes the people are not so different from her. Both suffered loss, both want a better life and ultimately they both want to live in peace amongst each other. Will replacing the king with the real Illustrian Condesa be a better choice?The magic system is unique, or at least I found Ximena's magic unique, she has the ability to weave magical tapestries. While the magic isn't heavy, you get the impression that some people have it and some don't. Some have limits and others don't. Pretty simplistic.I also enjoyed the mysterious El Lobo, he reminded me of Zorro and it was fun guessing his identity. He and Ximena become unlikely allies, when they realize their interests align. There is a little enemies to lover romance, but it doesn't overshadow the main plot of the story and I suggest you don't read this on an empty stomach, the food described is delicious!There is plenty of mystery, action, violence and twists. The showdown between Ximena and the real Condesa, not what I was hoping, but perhaps this may be visited in the companion novel planned.While I did end up liking it, I think others will find it more enjoyable.

Thank you to Isabel and the publisher for sending me a copy to review!Woven in Moonlight is a rich and beautiful fantasy set in the world of Inkasisa. It is heavily influenced by Bolivia and Bolivian politics and culture. Ximena is the decoy Condesa- taking the place of Catalina, the real Condesa- the last Illustrian royal. The Illustrian people lost everything when Atoc, the Llacsan usurper, took over the throne in a violent revolution, aided by an ancient relic that can summon ghosts. Ximena is driven by her thirst for revenge against Atoc and the Llacsans. When Atoc summons the Condesa to be his wife, Ximena goes in Catalina's place. Ximena believes she can find the deadly relic Atoc is hiding and use it to help the resistance overthrow him. But once in enemy territory, Ximena learns all is not what it seems. She meets people who change her views, and make her question all she thinks she knows about Llacsans and Illustrians.When I first started reading, I was slightly confused by who was who. It was easily cleared up a couple chapters in, once I started to get to know each character. The world building was great and beautiful. I could picture the scenery and landscape. I can't wait to see the map in the finished copy!The magic system in WIM is really unique and interesting! The Illustrians worship Luna, the moon goddess, and are given magic gifts through her. Ximena has the ability to turn moonlight into thread, which she uses in her weaving. I won't say more to avoid spoilers, but I love how her ability played out through the story! The world building was beautiful and well done. And all the wonderful food descriptions left me constantly hungry! I also really loved the characters. Ximena's growth and change throughout the book made her such a likable and relatable character. I also love the princess and the friendship she developed with Ximena. Rumi is wonderful as well. And El Lobo! I love a good vigilante character. I did guess right on who he was, but it didn't stop me from enjoying Ximena trying to figure it out! Also I love Juan Carlos.This is a standalone, but there will be another book set in the same world! The ending left some things open that I think/hope will be in the next book!Overall, this is a beautiful debut! Excellent world building and character development, and a really cool magic system! I definitely recommend!

Woven in the moonlight tells the story of Ximena, the decoy Condesa, for the Illustrians. Her people have been ousted from their city in a bloody revolt and now they plan to place their queen back on the throne. Ximena goes to the palace in the guise of the condesa marrying the false king, in order to find a way they can defeat their enemy, While she is there she discovers that things are more complicated than they first seemed and her loyalty to her queen and her people is tested against her loyalty to what is right, Firstly, I hate giving any book less than four stars. As a writer I know how much blood, sweat and tears goes into a novel and I know that creating this novel would have been no easy feat.What I lovedFirstly I want to talk about what I loved about this book. The world was colourful and rich and I loved all the little details of the language and the food. I wanted to step in it and take a look around, eat the food and soak up the culture. I loved the way the author deals with diversity and the tough theme of war, how no side truly wins. I enjoyed watching Ximena question her blinkered loyalty to her people and her queen and start to think for herself, it is a powerful message.What fell flatHonestly, this book had so much potential. All the things that i listed above that I loved, I wanted to see more of. It felt like the author only just scraped the surface of the wonderful world she had created. I wanted more and I wanted her to go deeper. The magic system as well was never fully explained, there could have been so much more explored with that. The romantic subplot as well fell flat for me and I am a BIG sucker for romance. I never really understood why he fell for her, again it all felt very surface level. And the actions of the characters - I found myself screaming in frustration on more than one occasion as things they did were just so idiotic, or brattish or just didn't make sense. I really struggled to connect with Ximena and even Rumi and towards the end things unravelled in a way that made me really annoyed - it almost felt like it was rushed to a climax.All the elements of a great novel are in this book and the author is a great writer. I almost wished she had made this a series so that she could have fully explored the world, the magic, the characters and the themes. I will keep an eye out for her future books and I'm sure this is just the beginning for her.

Nice enough story but did not have enough substance for me. Personal preference as I prefer fantasy novels that tend to be far more in depth but it is a pleasant one-off. Read this for a book club.

Loved it! The cover is stunning

Excellent

Woven is Moonlight is quite mythical, inspired from Bolivian politics and history with a strong protagonist, masked vigilantes, forbidden romance, and a dash of magic.▪Ximena acts as the decoy princess and goes in the stead of Catalina to be a spy in the court of Llascan and find the Estrella (a magical bracelet) which will help her destroy the Llascan king and get the real princess back on the throne and give her people their homes back. But once she gets there she realizes there isn't always one way of looking at things.▪I read this book in one go all through the night. It makes for a quick read and doesn't meander much. You are in the thick of things from beginning till the end. This also can be read as a stand alone novel which is where I had a problem with this book.▪Look I enjoy stand alone fantasy novels. And this is a good one but there is only so much you can do within 375 pages.▪My problem with this book lies in the fact that it never delves deep into what it is offering. The whole magic concept is there without explanation. The whole when and how is omitted. And it's such a beautiful concept of weaving moonlight threads into lush tapestries that I wanted to know more! There are other types of magic as well such of a seer and healer but everything is skimmed.Even with the characters, I feel I wouldn't have minded to spend some more time with them to actually develop a connection. I liked them but there wasn't any emotional attachment to their well being.▪There is lush culture in this book and you mostly experience it through Ximena's tapestry weaving. There is beautiful description of food and spanish dialogue and the atmosphere is of course well done.▪Though I still feel this book should've been longer with a bit more explanation. The ending also felt quite rushed and cluttered to me.▪But overall for a standalone fantasy novel I think this book is well done.