A Simply Enchanted Life

Secrets of Erhynvale: Children of the Eclipse by Amara Starling

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
★: Didn't Like it
★★: It was Ok
★★★: Liked it
★★★★: Really liked it
★★★★★: It was amazing

Suggested Age:17+ Genre:Fantasy, Sci-Fi

I really want to sound all professional and give this book an awesome review that it really deserves. However,the best books pull out the very unprofessional, raw and candid reviewer in me. It resonates with me as a person and not just as a reader. Thus, I apologize for any grammar mistakes, rambling, excited abuse of punctuation or of internet acronyms.

As a general rule of thumb, I will not review books that are self-published. In the day of e-publishing, everyone is an author and there’s a lot of content out there that just stinks. This book is not one of them. Amara is one of those people that have a way with words. Her imagery will seep into your soul and makes you want to be a part of her story. If you're like me and you fear the self-published, this author will change your mind. She is good at what she does and honestly, I've read best-sellers from well known and well liked authors that  didn't do as good of a job.

Amara is the real deal and as a debut author, I see this as a stepping stone to a long career with many stories to be told. I look forward to the rest of this series and any new stories that she may decide to tell!



I love a character who is strong and yet vulnerable. It is hard to imagine vulnerability being an issue for an immortal but Ms. Starling has managed to take a character that is incapable of death and turn her into a real woman. Symphony is a woman who is strong in body but often fearful or weak in her spirit and that is exactly why you will fall in love with her.

I could tell you a full synopsis of this book but I feel that you can look for that on Amazon or Goodreads. What I want to share with you are the good qualities that will make you want to pick up this book so please bear with me.

Symphony is the voice of this book and though you get to know her—to know her is to know her friends. She cares deeply for those around her, though she often struggles to show how much she really cares. Especially for the Dragon king, Graggerden. Though she cares for him I think that my favorite thing about this story was that their love does not come out of necessity. Symphony can take care of herself and Graggerden can take care of himself. Instead you have two very strong characters who fall in love with each other—not from need or necessity but for the spark of love that ignites between them.

Love doesn’t always come easily and it doesn’t always fix all of our problems. That is another thing that I loved about this book. The people we love can sometimes be difficult and it doesn’t automatically make everything that is going wrong simply resolve itself. So many books do that. The princess finds her prince and rides off into the sunset of marital bliss—completely unrealistic! Symphony is human. She loses her patience and sometimes she’s a difficult pain in the butt. But, that is why I love her!

I do warn that there are a few situations that will leave you sad. Again…that’s real life. No one is promised to never have pain. Be prepared to have your heart ripped out and stomped on at least once. Despite the pain, you’ll feel the overwhelming impact of what has transpired and you’ll want to jump right into the next story.

Honestly, I’m just going to stop while I’m ahead. I may come back at some point and address the plot and characters more in the future. For now I have to just get my hype and excitement out.

Fantastic. Five stars and I cannot WAIT to read the next one!
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Amazon|Lulu Amara Starling is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and has a background in pre-kindergarten education. She began writing short stories and poetry at an early age, and later, with the encouragement of her college English professor, Amara chose to pursue a career in writing. She also enjoys reading, crafting, and spending time with her children.

Learn more by visiting  her fanpage at https://www.facebook.com/AmaraStarling