Outcast (Her Royal Harem: Ember) by Catherine Banks – Review by Ayla Phipps

Outcast by Catherine Banks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reverse Harem GOLD. So, I will admit the cover is what pulled my interest in this one and with my goal of finding new to me authors Catherine Banks was a perfect new March author. This is the first book in Her Royal Harem: Ember trilogy and honestly, chefs kiss.
Ember Jasperwood is a mage, but her mixed abilities with no obvious “hybrid” markers causes her very prejudiced community to look down on her. Not only them but her own parents. When her abilities began as a young child, they had her tested and sent to the best mage school but then gave her a cabin, 100 acres of land and a monthly salary as they cut communications with her. All Ember wants to do is be in the woods, her safe space and heal the animals, shifters, and hybrids that she finds or that are brought to her. Only all too soon does everything begin to change, strange magical rocks cover the riverbank, and cursed animals emerge from nowhere in hunt for her blood, the cure to their curse. Her patients become so much more as they choose to stay at her side and help her with these mysteries and more. The men quickly become curious of what else she is as she has a mix of powers that don’t belong to mages as well as not smelling like a mage, but something more.
Who is the one who curses? Can Ember and friends find the truth behind the stones? Why is she being targeted? This world is so rich in details, taking real world problems and transforming them into more complex roles. In a world of shifters and mages and more hybrids are the targets of racism and attacks while the princes are actively trying to change things Ember’s city seems to be falling deeper into the dark. From start to finish this book holds your attention, keeps you guessing and turning the page as you guess and trying to answer the questions of what is going on. I will be counting down to book two and then three of this series in need of seeing what will happen next and how it all ends. Book 2 Outnumbered April 5th, 2024. Book 3 Outshone May 3rd, 2024. Let the countdowns begin, I hope to see you there.

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