THE BEHOLDER By Anna Bright

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Beholder by Anna Bright
Series: The Beholder #1
Published by HarperTeen on 6/4/19
Genres: Retellings, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 448
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match.

But after an excruciatingly public rejection, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic to visit a series of potential suitors—and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all.

From the gardens of England to the fjords of Norge, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks…and the stakes of her voyage may be higher than any happy ending.

Short and Sweet

After Selah is publicly rejected by a boy she thought she would spend the rest of her life with, Selah’s step mother comes up with the idea to send Selah across the Atlantic to meet potential suitors, and come back engaged or don’t come back at all. The only problem is Selah’s step mother isn’t the only one with secrets…

Characters

Selah: Our main character. Selah’s main goal is to stay in Potomac and look over her father because he seems to be getting weaker, but she knows she has no choice but to go and meet her suitors and come back to her father as fast as possible. Selah is naive and trusts people based on how they look. She’s an interesting character to say the least she kind of lives in a fairytale, except her life isn’t one.

Romance

Selah and Bear: Selah and Bear meet at her first stop and Bear is her guard. Selah ends up falling for Bear the more they spend time together and get to know each other but things get very complicated when something is revealed at the end of the visit.

Selah and Torden: These two meet during Selah’s second visit and I really liked them together. I’m not sure if it was exactly instalove or if they actually did take the time to get to know each other but they were compatible in my eyes. I think if the circumstances were different for the both of them then things could have been magical.

Quotes

~ “It was clear as day to me from the beginning that you were the one.”

My Thoughts

~ The book starts off pretty fast paced, and I liked that about the book, things start to slow down each time Selah makes her way to where her potential suitors are.

~ There were three stops and at each stop Selah was set to meet a suitor but there’s one stop Selah didn’t want to go to because of stories about Baba Yaga. But Selah is reminded that if she misses these meetings with her suitors it may offend the countries that are welcoming her.

~ I wanted to know more about Selah’s stepmother and what she was up to but we don’t get to know much because Selah is away.

~ I liked the crew of the Beholder each person on board had a different personality and Lang was great he was the captain of the ship and he made sure Selah made it to each of her stops.

~ Getting to meet Selah’s suitors was great to because you never knew what they were going to be like and the first stop had a big surprise.

~ The ending was the only thing I had a problem with because I wasn’t a 100% sure what exactly was happening or what the crew of the beholder was actually up to.

Overall

I thought this was a good book. I liked going across the Atlantic and meeting the suitors, I liked learning more about the crew. I think my favorite stop was in the fjords of Norge the characters there were vivid and I liked how close they were as siblings. Like I said I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the next book but I’m excited to find out!