Retro Firday Review: Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn

Retro Friday Review is a weekly meme hosted by Angieville. This focuses on classics, out of print books or just old favorites that don’t get the attention they deserve. This Friday’s review is:

Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: April 2002

First Line: “…when I learned who my traveling companions were to be, I stopped complaining and began dreaming.”

GoodReads Synopsis: As a child, Coriel Halsing spent many glorious summers at Castle Auburn with her half-sister-and fell in love with a handsome prince who could never be hers. But now that she is a young woman, she begins to see the dark side of this magical place...

Kathy’s Review: It has been way too long since I’ve done a Retro Friday Review so I decided what better way to get back into the swing of things than choosing my favorite Sharon Shinn novel. Summers at Castle Auburn was actually the first book review I did for BWN, almost two years ago. I was still new to the whole book blogging world and my review was pretty bland. I re-read Summers this week and thought it would fit in perfectly for today’s post.

Before I write my review, I just want to clarify that the “first line” above is actually just a first line from the first page, I just really liked it. Anyway, as I said before, this is my favorite Shinn book. I love our heroine Corie (Coriel), she starts off as a young naïve fourteen year-old, but is also very kind and adventurous. As she grows older she starts to see her world in a different light, seeing people she’s known her whole life for who they really are. She spends the majority of the year with her grandmother in a small village learning “witchcraft” (just medicine really) and her summers at Castle Auburn, with her half sister Elisandra. I loved the relationship between the two sisters. Regardless of their backgrounds they deeply cared for one another. I also really liked Corie’s love interest (LI) and my only complaint was that I wanted MORE time between them, especially near the very end. Her LI was very likable, for me from the beginning. He was a great friend to Corie throughout the book, and you could tell that he was totally crazy about her. I was on the edge of my seat wondering if they would ever end up together.

Aside from the main characters, the story was also very entertaining. I liked the plot and you never really know what was going to happen next. There were some twists near the end that were exciting and while I was very happy with how everything ended up, I wasn’t ready for the story to end. The story ends well, but I would love it if Shinn set a new novel in Auburn.

Sharon Shinn is definitely one of my favorite authors. I am always surprised by how creative she is, each book is so unique and she is able to create some amazing new places. Below is a list of all her books.

SAMARIA SERIES
Book One: Archangle
Book Two: Jovah’s Angel
Book Three: Alleluia Files
Book Four: Angelica
Book Five: Angel Seeker

TWELVE HOUSES SERIES
Book One: Mystic & Rider
Book Two: Thirteenth House
Book Three: Dark Moon Defender
Book Four: Reader & Raelynx
Book Five: Fortune & Fate

STANDALONE NOVELS
Heart of Gold
Jenna Starborn
Summers at Castle Auburn
Wrapt in Crystal
Shape-Changers Wife
Quatrain

YA NOVELS
Safe-Keeper’s Secret
Truth-Teller’s Tale
Dream-Makers Magic
General Winston’s Daughter
Gateway

ANTHOLOGY
To Weave a Web of Magic (Set in world of Archangle)
The Queen in Winter (Set in world of Twelve Houses)
Firebirds Rising
Elemental Magic
Powers of Detection
Never After
Elemental
Unusual Suspects