Mother/Daughter Review and Giveaway of The Black Shard by Victoria Simcox

Title:         The Black Shard
Author:     Victoria Simcox
Publisher:  Two Harbors Press
Published:  November 11, 2011

Our Rating:

From Goodreads:


Kristina's stay at summer horse camp is horrible to say the least, and it's all because Hester and Davina are there as well, making her life miserable. When Hester's cruel prank goes terribly wrong, it's actually what sends the three girls back to the magical land of Bernovem. In Bernovem, Kristina is very excited to see her former friend, Prince Werrien. When he invites her to sail with him on his ship to his homeland Tezerel, putting it simply, Kristina can't refuse.


Reunited with her gnome, dwarf, animal, fairy friends ... and best of all, Werrien, things seem like they couldn't get any better for Kristina. But when Werrien becomes fascinated with an unusual seeing stone, the "Black Shard," Kristina is haunted by a ghostlike old hag. Struggling against suspicion, guilt, illness, and ultimately the one who wants to possess her soul, Kristina will see it's in her weakest moment that she will encounter more strength than she has ever known.

Victoria Simcox has outdone herself with her sophomore novel, The Black Shard. The second book in her Magic Warble series was exhilarating and as enchanting as the first book. This book is written for middle graders, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and believe it is fun for all ages. I love the world and characters that the author created, but what I love most is how perfect this book is for middle grade kids. My daughter adores it! It’s so wonderful and gives me such peace of mind to know she isn’t reading anything too mature and that the content is 100% suitable for her age. Not only did my kiddo love it, but she has read it twice now, and I’m still seeing her carrying it around everywhere she goes. This does a mother’s heart good! Thank you so much for helping to make readers out of today’s tweens and teens, Victoria! Because of Mckenzie’s devotion to this story, I’m going to turn this review over to her so you can get a real middle grader’s opinion:

Katertot's Review:

I love when I am able to read and finish a book within hours of starting it. This is how it was with The Black Shard. I am in love with this book! There are no words good enough to describe it, but I’ll do my very best.

In the second installment of this lovely series, the two main characters, Kristina and Werrien, meet again in the magical land of Bernovem. Soon after, Kristina begins to feel odd and sick… . Something isn’t right, and no one knows what it could be. Kristina keeps seeing an ugly, old hag in the mirror when she looks at her own reflection, and, at one very interesting scene in the book, she sees the hag in the water and almost drowns. She soon learns that the old hag is trying to possess her soul and will not stop until she has.

When I read The Magic Warble (the first book by Victoria Simcox) I was intrigued by the storyline and knew that I wanted to read the second one soon. At the end of The Magic Warble, I was hoping that, in the next book, there would be a bit of romance… and I was very pleased that there was! Don’t worry - the romance is very innocent and very age-appropriate. Victoria Simcox has written yet another wonderful book, and I have fallen in love with her work all over again. There were so many pages that I marked because of a certain scene or a quote. I must have three dozen flags sticking out of the book right now.

I wish I could give The Black Shard ten stars! I adored it that much! I think one of the reasons is because the characters were a little older in this one, and I could really relate to them.

I loved this book so much that the day after I read it the first time, I read it all over again! I still read some of it every day. There were many parts in the book that had me giddy with excitement! There is so much more I could say about this amazing story, but I don’t want to give too much away!

The Black Shard feels more intense and even more exciting than The Magic Warble (if that’s possible), which is a big part of why I loved it so much. I needed more of these wonderful characters and this incredible book, and I was not disappointed in the least. The ending included a major cliffhanger, and I will be anxiously awaiting the third installment of this wonderful series.

A huge thank-you to Victoria Simcox for sending me The Black Shard for review!

So, there you have it: Mckenzie Kate and Mom Approved!

And that’s not all, guys!! Victoria has graciously offered to give away one hard copy of The Black Shard to US residents and four Ebook versions of the Magic Warble (Book 1) for international entrants. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below! Thank you for entering and good luck!


About the author:

Victoria was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Austrian immigrant mother, and a Dutch immigrant father. She now lives in Western Washington with her husband, Russ and their three children, Toby, Kristina, and William. Her other family members are a Chihuahua, named Pipsy and two cats, named Frodo and Fritz. Besides being an author, Victoria is a home-schooling mother of twelve years and an elementary school art teacher of eleven years. In her spare time, Victoria enjoys managing her two older children's Celtic band. She also loves writing, reading, painting watercolors, hiking, good movies, and just simply hanging out with her family and friends.

Purchase The Black Shard here:

Amazon     Barnes&Noble

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