Nigel Barrett spent his whole life preparing for the Culling - a spell-casting competition that determines which of the world’s teenage magicians get to keep their powers, and those who will be stripped of them, in order to keep and preserve the magical balance. He’d been ready - until he met Ori Olson.

The moment they meet, sparks fly, their powers are stronger, more thrilling, but also it seems, more dangerous. As the Culling field gets more and more narrow, Nigel and Orio realize just how much is at stake - and it may very well ride on the connection between them.

I don’t know where I saw this being marketed as “magical gay cowboys” but I grabbed this as soon as I could because of it. And boy, did it not disappoint! I also don’t know what it is about teenagers and them being on the verge of losing their magic forever that gets me into these stories, but I’m down.

I did give out quite a few eye rolls when Nigel would talk about his breakup with Jeremy. He’d talk about how he knew they wouldn’t work out and listed all this stuff - but then would compare interactions with Ori to Jeremy and I’d be sitting there going, “It’s not the same!”. And, the whole insta-romance thing is never my type. This book happens over 3 days!! I know this plays on soulmates, but it’s still a bit too fast .

But, even though I didn’t care all that much for the romance aspect of it (or rather, the pining on Nigel’s part for a partner who is no longer even in the photo), I still enjoyed the novel and its story. It ended on a cliffhanger and I’ll be keeping an eye out for the sequel for sure!

*Thank you Melissa de la Cruz Studio and NetGalley for a digital advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review ( )

This one wasn't really for me! There was too much high speed info dumps of magic system details, I found the plot and multiple big reveals entirely predictable, and was not compelled by the high-pressure speed of it all, with so many firm loyalties apparently being forged in iron in a matter of minutes. And there were so, so many details on magic cave conference room layout. For me the romance and friendships got kind of lost in the shuffle. Your mileage may vary! ( )