"View into various religions and cults"


I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.

At first, I couldn't really get into the story, but after a while, it grew on me. It's not just about a young woman's quest to save the man she falls in love with in another world, it is about relationships, too. The story shows effectively, how destructive an unhealthy relationship can be, and how difficult it is, to free oneself of it. Apart from that, we learn something about the belief of the Yazidis, which was totally new to me, and which I found fascinating and interesting. It is not an in-depth study of the belief system, but it mentions the main pillars on which the belief is based.
I liked the ending, and contrary to a review I read, it does NOT leave the reader hanging.
The only beef I have to grind, is that there is a lot of (albeit mild) swearing. True, the protagonists are young people, but I don't know any young people who swear this much in real life, and I certainly wouldn't want to know them.

The narrator does a great job, especially with all those Welsh names (although, not knowing Welsh, I can't judge whether she pronounced them correctly or not).
The voice was well fitted to the age of the protagonists, and it was easy to follow the story, and who was saying what, so kudos here.

On the whole, I enjoyed the story, mainly due to the wealth of ideas, and the combination of real world/Other world, and how they influence each other. ( )

What if you really can fall in love with the man of your dreams?

Moira's life has been a constant pressure. She got diagnosed with ADHD, has a part-time job at a local hotel and a part-time college with a time-consuming school work. She is working on her school work in which she needs to make a still-life painting, but she only had finished the landscape and doesn't know what would be the perfect center piece will be.

On Halloween, when she helps her siblings do a Wiccan ritual at the stone circle to contact their grandparents, they opened a portal to a different world between the living and the dead. There she meets a man sitting inside a magic circle named Hayko, trapped by an evil spirit who wants him for herself. After they return home, Moira returns to the dreamland night after night. She becomes more drawn to Hayko as she learns more about his past. Soon, realizes that she is destined to help him "cross over" and do everything to save him even though she has no idea why. Will she be able to save him in time or not? Can she really fall in love with the man in her dreams?

Minkman did a spectacular job in creating a world of magic, romance and spirituality balanced with reality; a setting that you can easily picture with her vivid descriptions as well as the visuals she gave for this story. I really appreciate it a lot because she made it easier for her readers to visualize and experience the world with the characters as if you were standing right beside them. The story itself has twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end. Minkman kept me on my toes throughout.

Minkman created characters as real as possible in which you can easily see what kinds of people they are nevertheless it made me want to know them better. I somewhat understand and feel for the main character, Moira, in this novel. Initially, she was a bit annoying, but then I saw how her character developed throughout the story and it made me very happy as I took this journey with her. Also, I tried to put myself in her shoes that in one point I really got irritated, so if I may ask...

How can she put up with that guy? The guy's an ass!

The relevance of the supporting characters in the story was well thought out. Everyone had a purpose; that was good enough for me.

This is the first book I read in all Jen Minkman's novels. I am glad that I have read this book. I look forward to reading more of her novels in the future!

I won this book from a giveaway hosted by the author on BookLikes. ( )