Initially, Isoldesse grabbed my attention because of its gorgeous cover. This book is a contemporary, witchy, sci-fi, focusing on a group of college-aged friends who are destined for an alien run-in.
Isoldesse reads like a YA but features 20 somethings, making it more of a New Adult novel. Don’t go in expecting the steam level or heavy romance many New Adult novels center around. While there are some romantic subplots woven into this multi-pov novel, the focus is on friendship and the attempted sabotage of the Aveo Compendium.
This novel features more fantasy elements than sci-fi, especially with the heavy focus on souls, the afterlife, and the goddess Isoldesse. There’s some political intrigue, enough that my palate’s whetted and craving the next in this series.
At the end, I set down the book and still had so many questions—but in a good way. It’s a good read. Not my absolute favorite, but it does feature some diversity and a magic/spiritual system that I’m looking forward to visiting again.
This novel was provided by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunate this story was told from too many perspectives and had too much ‘info dumping’ exposition for me to really get into it. I like the premise but feel the characters don’t really speak in a way that flows, which annoyed me.. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an egalley.

This was such a good story, a different genre from what I normally read, as I’m not very use to reading Sci-fi. The cover is beautiful and attracts you straight away.

The initial chapters were a little bit confusing, there was a lot of information and many characters to get used to. Once you get to the middle of the book it got easier to follow along the story.

An imaginative book with so many details and excellent world building. The ending surprised me, I was not expecting that.

I can’t wait for the next book.

A beautiful sci-fi story, really enjoyed the 4 different points of view. The world-building is really quite different and intriguing. Looking forward to the next book.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an ARC!

I really didn’t want to DNF my first ARC.

[disclaimer: I do actually think this book is enjoyable. It’s just that I’m not the kind of person that would enjoy it. This is based on my opinions only.]

I requested this book because it looked intriguing, and also the pretty cover. The synopsis wasn’t quite my vibe - aliens? Boy troubles? But I figured it would be fun to try something new, and besides, the concept was cool.

The prologue got me so ready. There was real tension, the writing was pretty decent, the character had some mystery and a goal and a purpose and was on a moon of another planet.

Unfortunately, the cover was one of the best parts about the book.

My first problem: there were ~speshul names~. Why? I don’t know.
Kenna is a pretty good name. It’s pretty and it’s common enough.
But...Meegan? What the fuck? Sure it makes sense to say it that way, but who spells it like that? I know Meagan and Megan, but Meegan just doesn’t look like a word, much less a name. Apologies to anyone out there named Meegan, I’m not trying to be a bitch.
And Darci. Which is a name that I know but isn’t actually something I could imagine naming a miniature human.
And Cahleen? What is a Cahleen? Kahlen is a name I know. Kalen. Cathleen. Kathleen. Kaelen. Caylin.
But out of all of those decent names, our author went for...Cahleen.

The characters were indistinguishable from one another. I kept forgetting names (hence the lack of other names on that list) and I barely even remembered which of our three (six?) main characters was who.

Darci. This name literally tells you everything about the character. She’s a scatterbrained airheaded teenage girl with a passion for ~clothes~ and ~trends~. And that’s basically all we see of her until around a third of the way in, where plot twist she’s not actually that stupid. She’s not human, actually.

Meegan is also an alien. Because...I don’t know. She needed to come to Earth for something, I guess. She...knew stuff. I really don’t know. She was the info-dump paragraph out of the boring essay called the cast of characters.

“So, you’re over a hundred?” Kenna asked shakily while getting her bearings again on the road.
“Don’t freak out, but I’m more like three-hundred-and-eighteen. Believe it or not, Earth’s time is similar to what we had on Anuminis. I’m assuming it’s because our planets are similar in size and have a relatively similar position around the sun. But I can’t say for sure.”

Wow. Maybe you can tell me about the star position next. How is this relevant to you going to your friend’s house again?

And lastly, saving the worst for last…Kenna.

Kenna is...stupid. That’s the only word I have to describe her. She is clueless and despite being an “overworked straight-A student with a passion for space” or something, I couldn’t find a personality if I readjusted my telescope and stared into the void.

Now that you have met these white-paper cutout things called characters, we can move on to the plot.

Oh wait.

I didn’t see one of those, either.

Basically, there are alien races called the Anumen and the Obard, and they’re at war. I think. One or the other (or both) of these alien races worships a goddess called Idoldesse. I think. Anyway there are these people in positions called the Spiares, who have no real function as far as I know. And then there is Kenna, Meegan, Darci, and some other people that I don’t remember, on Earth. I just remember being annoyed.
Kenna mysteriously receives an Anumen arcstone necklace that...sucks in her energy and makes her see the woman trapped inside the stone? I think? Something like that? And this introduces Kenna to the world of the Anumen aliens.

But the thing is…*sigh*
Kenna shouldn’t be able to connect to the stone. Somehow, something about this human girl is Speshul™ enough to connect to an alien necklace.

This is when stuff starts getting out of hand. First of all, I couldn’t tell you the difference between Ally and an alien. Second, I have no idea what the hell happened for the 100+ pages that I read. What I read was: Kenna, Meegan, Darci and Ally stress out over boys. They cry because someone got broken up with or something. Kenna faints because she gets a magic necklace. Meegan reveals herself to be an alien and tries to figure out why Kenna has a magic necklace. They cry because someone got broken up with or something. Kenna sees the magical old lady and some other aliens in a war and gets confused. The girls...go to the mall? They cry because someone got broken up with or something.

And then there are other alien spy people searching for one of their alien spy people who is on Earth who escaped or something.

I am so confused. Meegan is over THREE CENTURIES OLD but she acts like an immature twelve-year-old. She throws tantrums, freaks out, and despite being on a ~mission to Earth~ from her planet, she’s all ~heartbroken~ because she had to break up with her boyfriend, who was a regular human guy. She is THREE HUNDRED and in the middle of an ALIEN WAR and her priority is to cry over some human who’s literally like 6.25% as old as her?

And Gemma (who I just remembered existed) was supposed to be some kind of ancient, strong alien soldier and what she ends up doing is...having a meltdown at the mall because her boyfriend is “acting stupid”.

Where is the alien war? Where are the cool hallucinations? Where is the STORY? I was promised a cool spaceship adventure and solving a mystery about a goddess.

I read forty percent of this book. Almost halfway. And this book is over 400 pages. I read almost 200 pages and there was no? action? anywhere? Someone got kidnapped but it wasn’t even important because I didn’t know who the fuck they were. I just couldn’t find a plot. Maybe it left to find Kenna’s personality.

“What did you just ask me?” Kenna’s tone was a mixture of surprise and anger. “Tell me you’re not the one who gave me this damn necklace? Or…” she lifted her wrist without breaking eye contact, “…put these things on us?”
“No, I swear! I didn’t—I mean, I don’t know who did. Kenna, please—”
“Don’t please me! Do you have any idea what kind of shit I’ve been going through? The pain and—and the hallucinations! I thought I was losing my mind!”

Chill. Meegan is literally trying to explain.

She asked one question and Kenna just decided to start ranting about how she started seeing insane things without actually waiting for an explanation of the insane things. It’s like she just wanted to complain instead of figure out what was happening to her or something.

The world-building made literally no sense to me. You remember that quote about Anumen being in a close position around the sun or something?

Does that mean this alien planet is close to Earth in our solar system? But no one knows that there’s a planet (maybe two planets) near the Earth in our solar system?

And I don’t see the difference between the Anumen and Obard aliens. They’re at war. That’s all I know. All of the aliens have bright orange eyes (yes, orange eyes) and look gorgeous. As in, they’re mistaken for supermodels.

I just didn’t understand. There was an alien rebel force from one planet but there was a group of spies from another planet and one other group was doing something about a goddess? What? I didn’t get any of it. The only thing I knew about the Obard and the anumen was that they were pretty and had orange eyes.

“Your aunt has Spidey-Senses that work three states away? That’s freaking crazy, yet kind of cool.”
“Like I said, she’s special. One of the more powerful Anumens. Someone we call a Sėara.”

First of all...Spidey-Senses?
Is this girl really nineteen?
Second, a “Sėara”. Which sounds the same as a “seer”. Because this woman can sense things.

Now for the longest, most tiring part of my review: the writing.

"Oh, mother of—this is freaking insane!” She couldn’t look away. Her curiosity overpowered the flight part of her brain screaming for her to run inside.
Those are smaller ships, like a dinghy on a bigger boat or—or a dropship like in one of my dad’s books. Shuttle ships for away missions! “Oh my God, am I seriously trying to rationalize this with science fiction!”

This is Kenna, talking to literally no one on the roof of her apartment. Or is it her house? Apartment building? I don’t remember. I remember reading that she lived in an apartment and I know she had a roommate but I also remember her having a front door? And one apartment doesn’t have an entire roof for stargazing, so I don’t really know.

Yay, inconsistencies.

Anyway. Kenna is talking to no one after seeing a UFO appearance in the place of a star. She literally sees the UFO. And now she is...talking about it. To her telescope stand. Because she’s alone and stargazing. And she’s talking about her thoughts out loud. Because I absolutely will talk about my rationalization of a spaceship in the middle of a rooftop (or wherever the hell she is) to no one.

“The overwhelming sense of emotions hummed beneath Kenna’s skin and filled her tear ducts.”

What is this sentence? Why? What?

“Why? Because you and your family are into witchcraft? That your little witch cult… what do you call yourselves, Anumens… are into voodoo spells and magic. You underestimate how much he loved you. Your secret life never interfered with our everyday friendship or your relationship. I’m sure he would’ve understood if you gave him the chance. We both would’ve!”

A comprehensive list of all the things wrong with this paragraph:
1. All Meegan said was that she was an Anumen, which Kenna has only heard once before. And suddenly Kenna is calling Meegan a witch and talking about voodoo, which I didn’t even realize was also considered witchcraft? And she’s suddenly decided that the Anumen are a cult? A cult of witches? Even though Meegan hasn’t actually said anything about what an Anumen is? And Kenna doesn’t know what it means? Her logic really flew out the window on this one.
2. Why is “voodoo” italicized? It doesn’t have to be italicized. The inflection on that word makes no sense in the sentence.
3. Kenna is insisting that she and Meegan’s ex would have “understood” if she’d revealed her secret life, and yet she doesn’t even realize that Meegan isn’t a witch. So…

Basically, Kenna is an obnoxious bitch who doesn’t have enough brain cells to comprehend the fact that she might be wrong. And she’s usually wrong.

“Seriously, you know me well enough to know I don’t have time for that kind of drama. Ben was the name of the guy in my dream last night. I promise, he’s not real.” She picked up her phone. No new messages. “And Liam, well Liam’s a good friend. And—”
“Ben is some guy you’ve been crushing on?”
“Uh, no.” She shook her head and glared at Meegan. “Did you not just hear me? I don’t have any time to date. I don’t even have time for a one-nighter!"

“I don’t even have time for a one-nighter.”
Ahahahahaha -
What.

So Kenna tries to explain her dream about the aliens, and Meegan, despite being an alien herself, decides that the guy in Kenna’s dream is someone she wants to have a fling with? And Kenna's argument for not having a fling with him is that she doesn’t have the time?

I don’t understand.

“The older woman’s head dipped, and without looking up she said, “I didn’t see it coming. The blade that pierced my side. The pressure of her hand pushing the hilt harder against my dress. She pleaded with me to forgive her as her tears and my blood spilled. She shoved the arcstone into my hand and held my palm closed over it while she recited the ascension amula. My thoughts raced with everything I hadn’t finished. The family and friends I would never see again. Isoldesse took that from me. She took everything from me and left me in solitude. Yet—I cannot hate her.”

Why the FUCK did Ulissa just randomly start narrating her death?

“I didn’t see it coming. The blade that pierced my side. The pressure of her hand pushing the hilt harder against my dress...My thoughts raced with everything I hadn’t finished. The family and friends I would never see again.”

This is literally a first-person POV inner monologue, and yet Ulissa is saying the whole thing out loud. Because naturally when describing your death you must switch to the dramatic first person monologue instead of actually talking about what happened.

And then of course there were the basic grammatical errors.

“The flame on the end of the candle flickered providing a soft glow over the mirror.”

“The flame on the end of the candle” - we know where the fire goes on a candle.
There should also be a comma between “flickered” and “providing”.

“Meegan opened her eyes and saw her best friend smiling at her and mouthing reassuring cheers like you got this and you’re doing great.”

This is a cringe-worthy run-on sentence. I could have written something better than this in sixth grade. I actually probably did.
Anyway, it appears I have to take over for the editor of this book.

“Meegan opened her eyes and saw her best friend smiling at her, mouthing reassuring things like ‘you got this!’ and ‘you’re doing great’.”

“Ulissa nodded. Her brown hair twisted in a beautiful updo.”

Um.
This makes no sense.
Is her hair twisting itself into an updo? Like an automatic hairstyle? Like those annoying trolls?

You could say her hair is twisted into a beautiful updo, but otherwise it sounds like she’s an obnoxious glittery goblin creature.

hahahahahaha I apologize for the overuse of annoyed memes, I have a whole Pinterest board I save for reviews.

Overall, the concept of this book was intriguing, but I had way too many problems. If you get to the 25% mark and there’s still no plot, I don’t expect to care that much (unless it’s really, really good, which this wasn’t). I think the way this book was set up, my questions and the plot holes would have been resolved at the end. I just didn't care enough to get there.

Like many readers, Isoldesse caught my eye with that beautiful navy-and-gold cover, but unfortunately, I didn't take to the story inside as well. The majority of this came from the fact that the reader is more or less dropped straight into Grymes' world and confronted with a lot of information from the very beginning, which left me feeling somewhat confused and distanced from the characters while I tried to find my footing. I think, ultimately, I was expecting a more fantasy kind of plot -- but that's an issue on my end and I'm sure another kind of reader, one with a greater appreciation for sci-fi and a greater willingness to consult the glossary, will love this one.

I had a hard time with this book. The first part of the book dragged, I didn’t connect with the characters and wanted nothing more than to DNF and stop reading. Inevitably I pushed through and found that the second half of the book was super enjoyable and I was finally invested in the story. Unfortunately this still wasn’t a good thing as I felt like I was reading a completely separate story. Despite finally becoming invested in the story and the characters, I can’t say that it was enough for me to pick up the next book. While the book ended on a cliffhanger, I don’t know that I care what happens after it. Overall rating: 2.75

The cover of this book caught my attention because this cover is a stunning and it made me want to read it.
From the beginning of the book, we see the main plot and how it develops. The amount of points of view didn't bother me, but certainly made me dizzy. I would’ve loved just one or two points of view, not four. I recommend to read this book with patience because there’re many names and stories behind each character and their universe. I loved the glossary of terms! It helped me a lot.
This is a well-built, Sci-Fi world that will intrigue you. My favorite characters were Kenna and Meegan. Their friendship was my favorite one.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book. The cover is stunning, but it really left me wanting more. For me it was lacking depth and character development.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I had read reviews before diving into this. They were mixed, mostly focusing on the confusion with the narration. I didn't have that problem at all. I felt that there was enough character differentiation that I could figure out who was talking. The major twist I figured out at the 50% mark but it felt earned. It was a lot of good setup but you definitely need to understand the different alien races and factions to really get the full scope of the book. If keeping track of things like that isn't your thing , then this book will be forever confusing. But if that IS your thing, the sci fi, mythology and world building will make this a must read. 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4

I wanted to love this book..I really did. I shared the name with the main character, which never happens. It promised to be full of sci-fi/fantasy goodness. I wanted all of it....Unfortunately, Isoldesse disappointed. It did not deliver everything it promised, and the characters fell flat.

I'm sorry to have to rate this book as an dnf, but I couldn't finish it at all.
All and too much, too bad though because I was so intrigued by the blurb.

I think the first thing that needs to be said for anyone considering picking up this book is that it is most likely not what you are expecting it to be.

I decided to read this after being drawn to that absolutely stunning cover, it really is gorgeous isn't it? I read the blurb and it sounded really cool. Talk of magic, strange happenings, other words and all the stuff that I usually really enjoy so it was a no-brainer for me.

So basically I was expecting a YA Fantasy but that isn't really what this is. This is more a weird blend of YA Science Fiction with a bit of fantasy and magic thrown in for good measure and do you know what? It actually really worked for me. It only took me two days to finish this book and I had a lot of fun meeting the characters and seeing the world that the author built here.

The "aliens" are definitely not what you would typically imagine when you think about an alien and the concept is really unique and fun. As it is science fiction you will see plenty of technology and other science-y themes. The magic system is actually really interesting and is a sort of spell-casting that can only be done by females and is drawn from the elements in the environment around them. There are also various magical stones that are used to amplify magic and even store a females essence after death.

Many questions are asked in the telling of this story, it is actually very intricate and detailed and a lot of questions are left unanswered particularly about Kenna and Rian and who they are and where they fit into the bigger picture. There is a royal family which is only touched upon but I believe have a much, much bigger part to play and there is also the rebel group who are trying to overthrow the government and gain more luxuries and freedoms for the Sandariens and who seem to be bad guy/good guys I'm really not sure yet but I am excited to find out more in the next instalment as at this stage I really am not sure!

The story is told from multiple POV's but each chapter is clearly marked with whose POV you are reading so it doesn't take long to learn who is who and I think overall for me it worked well with minimal confusion.

My main criticism with this book would have to be with the dialogue. Although I found the story intriguing there was something off about the way the characters all spoke. They talked like high school kids instead of 20 something college graduates so I think that definitely could have been better but it didn't ruin the story for me.

It feels like as with most books that are written with a sequel in mind that is is setting the stage for a lot of action to come in the next book and I can't wait to dive into it when it becomes available.

I'm not going to lie, I turned up because of that cover. The illustrative work was excellent and from the get go, I really wanted to love this book... unfortunately I just... didn't like it...?

I initially thought I was going into more of a fantasy read than I was a sci- fi read, and don't get me wrong, I don't mind sci-fi, it's just not my preferred genre.

A few things I didn't like:

- Literally thrown straight into action. I feel like I didn't get a chance to really 'settle' into the story or get to know the characters before I, as a reader, was thrown into the whirlwind.

- The multiple POV's were a little jarring and I struggled to keep up. I think there were just too many POV's

- Great idea for a book, but nothing really hooked me into loving the book.


I can't justify recommending a book just for the sake of a pretty cover.

Thanks to Kimberly Grymes, and Netgalley for an Advanced reader's copy of this book.

First of all, that cover is stunning! So stunning that I thought this is a fantasy. Apparently a lot of people thought that too. I saw the big crystal, the heads, stars and a book and my first thought was this is a book about witches. I am so sorry about my confusion. But I moved over fast because I love sci-fi.

The plot is really interesting, I like that from the start we got some action and mystery. The characters are well-written, I love the girls friendship. You can also find aliens, space travel and dark moments that make this book captivating.

Also the story has multiple POV which at the beginning was a step back for me because at some point I was confused. But after half of the book, I connected all the dots.

Thank you TBR and Beyond and Kimberly Grymes for the opportunity to read Isoldesse.

This story just wasn't for me. I do hope others like it as it was a person opinion and just not enjoyable to me. I DNF'ed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC to read for a an honest review.

this was confusing. i absolutely love the cover and i'm so ready for more books with twenty-something protagonists, but still.. i had my problems with this book.

it was confusing, because there were way too many POVs plus side characters that just made it really hard to follow the story. i'm still mixing characters up in my head, this was definitely one of the main reasons that i couldn't enjoy this book too much. i also wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style, the way characters talked was a little.. unrelatable at times.

the plot is still interesting and if you like sci-fi reads with a contemporary feeling, you might want to give this one a try, nonetheless!

thanks to netgalley i received an arc in exchange for an honest opinion

I really enjoyed this book enjoyed reading from the different perspectives. The magic system in this book is one that I haven't read before and I look forward to the rest of the series. The mystery and thriller combined in a fantasy novel mixed some of my favourite genres together.

The characters were very interesting and well developed Kenna and Meegan

Sadly this wasn’t for me at all, too much information thrown at you, world building felt lacking to me and it just couldn’t hold my interest. Sadly not my read

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I'd like to start out by saying thank you to Victory Editing on Netgalley for this ARC! If Goodreads had partial ratings, like The Storygraph, I'd rate this book a 3.75 stars.

I never read the synopsis of a book before I start, so I truly wasn't expecting an urban sci-fi story with multiple races of aliens, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was action-y without being overwhelming and very dialogue-based. The foreshadowing didn't click for me until the very last chapter of the book, and I'm still kicking myself for not seeing it from the beginning.

Kimberly Grymes writing style isn't my favorite, but it didn't distract from the story. It was flowy and enough to keep my attention. At one point, I thought to myself, "Maybe this is like SJM, the author won't give us unnecessary information just for fun. This has to be relevant somehow." Then I dissuaded myself only to see I was correct in my thinking. Props to you, Kimberly Grymes. You bamboozled me.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW THIS LINE!

Things I liked:
- I truly enjoyed multiple aspects of the story, but one of my favorites was the Peter Parker parallel with Kenna and her glasses. Not sure if this was intentional, but I thought it was clever.
- I enjoyed the inner monologues of the characters and hearing exactly what they thought. I personally thought Kenna's monologue was semi-formal for her personal thoughts (ie at one point she's thinking about her parents and says "my mom and dad", instead of just mom and dad). Not a total deal breaker. She thinks like common Earthen college kids.
- I loved the concept of the Phantom Tree and Kenna's ventures as a dreamwalker of sorts. I was sorta kinda team Liam until hottie lamottie Ben walked in. Catch me in my #teambenna sweater (Kenben? Kennach?)
- I *L O V E D* that Kenna embraced the weird and jumped in to save her friends instead of hiding and whining like typical heroines. She recognized a problem and went to town on a solution. Props, girl.

Things that frustrated me/I wasn't the biggest fan of:
- THE ENDING???? I GET LEFT WITH THAT????? WHERE'S THE REST???? "We'll talk later. You know where." GIVE ME MORE PLEASE AND THANKS.
- In a few places, it seemed like the author was a wee bit sidetracked and a few errors slipped through the cracks (I get it. We're only human and mistakes are bound to be made!), but one I noticed was a random name introduced as if we're supposed to know who it is. Someone was talking to Adam, but Adam hasn't been mentioned once in the entire novel. Perhaps that was a first draft name? I spent twenty minutes scouring the book for an Adam and couldn't find anything.

Reasons for my rating:
- The biggest reason was the grammatical errors. Again, I know we're all human, but there were numerous errors, and it made it hard to focus on the story in some places. Spelling errors, some punctuation, a place where a line of text was italicized but shouldn't have been. Not necessarily the author's fault, but frustrating as a reader to see more than a few errors.
- I was really intrigued in the beginning of the book, but somewhere around 40%, I put the book down and didn't pick it up for a few days. It slowed immensely, and around 60% it picked back up and I couldn't put it down. Then my heart was racing and I was reacting aloud.

I adored the last quarter of the book. It completely hooked me, and I look forward to reading the second book in the Aevo Compendium duology.