Okay so this book has gotten so much buzz, thanks to the author's active (and hilarious) presence on TikTok. I went into it with a bit of apprehension - could this really be good? IT WAS! This felt wholly original and unique, I really loved it. I would also like to know what is in that Australian water because I have yet to read a bad book from an Australian author.

As much as I wanted this book to be for me, it just wasn't. It knows its target audience and does well for a NA fantasy romance book. It just wasn't for me, sadly.

I absolutely loved this book! Ledge fits in the fantasy genre, and omg I can’t believe it’s a debut novel. The cover is amazing, as well as the writing style, plot and characters. It was announced as the first book of a Triology, so I can’t wait to read what happens next.

This review is posted on GoodReads, StoryGraph and Instagram. Links are attached.

I-I’m at a loss for words.

When I first got approved for this ARC from NetGalley, I didn’t know much about this plot or this book. I had seen it a couple of times on TikTok, but nothing more.

Fast forward 3 days and I am…obsessed. Stacey McEwan write an incredible high fantasy novel that made me turning pages, reading late into the night and genuinely curious what would happen next. Lately, I’m starting to feel like a lot of fantasy novels are starting to feel the same and a similar plot, but McEwan pulled an incredible original plot and a fantasy world that absolutely blew my mind.

What I loved the most about this is the dialogue, enemies to lovers trope and in all honesty, the real emotions that the characters went through. There’s even one chapter that I think I highlighted half off.

I’ll be reading this again…and especially before the next one. And also, THAT CLIFF HANGER!!!!!!!!!

The cold is not alive
Stay the Frost
Watch the chasm

I really enjoyed how masterfully written the enemies to lovers trope was, it intertwined lovely with the twisty, full of secrets and treachery plot. Dawsyn is an axe wielding badass who is fiercely protective and will do anything to survive. She lives in a human settlement between an icy chasm and a sheer mountain face; the humans know nothing of the world beyond their ledge - except the evil winged Glacians who reside on the other side of the chasm. Ryon is a swoon worthy and rebellious half-Glacian (handsome and winged) who works in the Glacian palace.After being randomly selected as a human sacrifice to the Glacians, instead of death, Dawsyn finds herself on a quest to save her people from their icy prison. No one knows what will happen to her on the other side, least of all Dawsyn. Murdered? Enslaved? Worse? Enter Ryon, who offers to help them both escape.

The lyrical writing, intense chemistry and spice between Dawsyn and Ryon, cool magic system, insane worldbuilding, and high stakes plot made this book a true treat!

I just finished this book and I have no words. This may be the first time I’ve ever regretted receiving an ARC because it was so good! I want to discuss this book with everyone and it’s not even out yet. The ending left me shocked and now I’m dealing with the fact I may be waiting a long time before I get anything else in this world. The main character was refreshingly independent and so strong and the world was unique and super interesting. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for my digital ARC!

I really enjoyed Ledge. When I wished for it on Netgalley, I didn't know anything about this book and I also had no idea that the author was the well-known TiktTokker/Bookstagrammer @Stacebookspace who's reels I had seen and loved.

The setting of this book felt unique, while still giving the great fantasy and even dystopian elements that I've always loved.

I found the writing style very different to what I'm used to. I'm not unfamiliar with books written in 3rd person, but it felt more impersonal than usual and I felt quite detached from the writing at first. However once I pushed through and got used to it, the book just flowed.

Dawsyn is an absolute badass. She is so strong and brave, yet also quite raw and unrefined at the same time, which I just love. She reminded me a bit of Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy with those qualities.

Ryon is such a great love interest, and is definitely much more than just that. He is also strong and brave, but still doesn't hinder and doubt Dawsyn and doesn't stop her from doing what she wants, even if it's a little dangerous. He can can call me Malishka anytime!

I'm not going to talk about the ending. One, because of spoilers, and two, because I'm in huge denial. Book 1 hasn't officially come out, yet I'm already desperate for book 2. Besides for the obvious things which needs answers, I'm also really intrigued to see the big picture as to where this trilogy is going.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eArc, which releases 13 September.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝’𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐲𝐧 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧.
𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐩 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭. 𝐀 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬.
“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞,” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬.
𝐇𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐬. “𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥.”
“𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬?”
𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐬. “𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥. 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞?”
“𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞.”
“𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞.”
“𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞, 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.”
“𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲 – 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐱-𝐰𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞.”

___________________

This book was a solid, stunning debut and I already cannot wait to dive into the remainder of the trilogy!!

Dawsyn is the last member of her family living in a village trapped on a remote and barren mountain. One by one members of the town are picked and taken by winged beings known as Glacians and never seen or heard from again. Year after year she watches people being selected until finally she is plucked off the earth and carried to the Glacians’ kingdom on the other side of the chasm from her home. After seeing the terrifying fate that befalls the surviving humans, Dawsyn takes the option to try and outrun Glacian hunters down the mountain in exchange for her life and freedom. But as fate would have it she crosses paths with a half human-half Glacian hybrid named Ryon who she begrudgingly agrees to team up with so that they may both escape the mountain. Upon reaching the town below, however, anything but safety finds them and ultimately it leads them on a path forward together to try and right the wrongs that have befallen both the Glacian and human kingdoms.

Let’s dig into the nitty gritty here. The book is written in third person present tense. While that leads to some of the most beautiful moments and quotes within the story, it does make for a very dry read. There were times, especially as the story and characters were building and fleshing out, that this made the book feel almost sterile and impossible to connect with on a deeper level. At the same time, however, it makes for a stunning and almost thematic prose, melding seamlessly into the world, and draws heavily from the strong visuals it provides to really pull you into the story. This being said the style might not be for everyone, but as for me the way that this book allowed you to both read and experience the strong depictions throughout the story felt genuine and organic and helped me to disappear entirely into this frozen world of twisted intentions and terrifying predators.

Dawsyn was a great FMC, just as Ryon was a wonderful MMC. The enemies to lovers trope missed the mark for me, but putting that aside I loved their forced proximity “I hate you, you’re supposed to hate me” vibe and how they just could not keep away from each other. They had a genuine, almost innocent sort of love when compared to the hardness of the world around them and I adored watching them succumb to their feelings for each other. Plus I’m a sucker for good banter and these two could definitely dish it out to one another!!

As I said above the book did start out a little slow but the building up was necessary and paid off in every aspect for the last 50% of the book. Reveal after reveal and revelation after revelation only proved to pull the plot together perfectly while also endearing the cast of characters to you forever. And I’ll just say Salem, Esra, and Baltisse officially have my heart forever.

The book truly is a work of art that lulls you carefully into a frozen and deadly world before launching you into the fight of your life. Then just when you think it’s over the last twists bring it all crashing back down around you and leave you hanging on for dear life yet begging for more. I am completely and utterly HOOKED and cannot wait to see what comes next!!

4⭐️

This beautiful debut novel is amazing. I really enjoyed this book. It was a refreshing read for me from my usual books I read.

It’s was well written and I felt the story had a a good flow. The plot was great and I really enjoyed the plot twists too.
The world building was unique and it really drew me in.I really enjoyed how the characters developed from enemies to lovers.
Dawsyn is a really strong main character who goes through so much and even though she doesn’t always come out on top, you can’t not route for her. I’m really looking forward to seeing where her story goes in the next book.
I was also a huge fan of Ryon who is abit of a bad guy who know has his flaws but you can see that he has changed and this is shown through his character development.

I definitely recommend this book and can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley, Angry Robot and the author for and advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I follow the author on TikTok and it has made me a little biased as the rating is actually a 2.5 rounded up and would likely be lower if I didn’t enjoy her so much.

If you’re looking for a book that is quick and fun and generally a good romance, you’re solid. You’re good to go. If you’re looking to characters with a bit of depth or even general world building with depth, you may be disappointed. There are some inconsistencies that I noticed someone else caught as well. If the mc is starved, how is she so incredibly strong? What’s the religion truly? What are the nuances?
I think Stacey is a good, promising author author and I am excited to see and watch her grow. This one just missed the mark slightly.

Ledge
The Glacian Trilogy #1
NA, Fantasy
Stacey McEwan 
⭐️⭐️⭐️

I like a good dystopian book so I was looking forward to reading this.

The characters started to develop nicely but after the halfway mark they seemed to fall flat. I found the pacing was off in places and felt rushed towards the end and while the world building was good I did find it confusing at times.

Some of the scenes seemed to jump around a bit and didn't flow as smoothly as they could have done which stopped me from staying engaged.

That being said the plot itself was interesting with a good cliff hanger ending but I thought it was a very average read.


*Thank you to @netgalley and the publishers for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Let me preface this review by saying that three stars is in no way a bad rating for me, but it is distinctly average. And unfortunately, despite a promising first chapter, that's what this book ended up being for me. I think maybe this just wasn't my thing.

Here are the things I liked about Ledge:

- the potential for the story: the overall plot idea is an interesting one and has all the right tropes to suck your average NA fantasy reader in - a vague enemies-to-lovers vibe; one small powerless girl against a corrupt, dangerous kingdom giving Chosen One vibes; a diverse and interesting world
- the very first chapter: this intro chapter was really well done and definitely piqued my interest from page one, giving me high hopes for the rest of the book
- some of the lore: I was mostly interested in the lore and way of life on the Ledge itself. I felt disappointed when we left it quite quickly

Here are the things I wasn't so big on:

- an underdeveloped main character: Dawsyn is incredibly gifted in combat with an axe, dagger and sword. But it is never explained why, when she has lived in a near-constant state of malnourishment for over 20 years, living in a hostile environment where people are barely clinging to life. Did someone train her? If so, why? And when/how? It seems the inhabitants of the Ledge spend their time scraping a living from chopping wood. Where did she even get her hands on a sword to practice with?
- some weird plot holes: there's the aforementioned FMC being weirdly well trained despite her surroundings. There's also the motivation behind the MMC's actions. His whole 'plan' is explained later in the book, but it seems a really flimsy explanation and left me confused.
- the romance: billed as enemies-to-lovers, but there wasn't much time spent as actual enemies. I found their relationship a bit rushed, and didn't feel it was that natural.

Thoughts overall:

This was an entertaining and fairly easy read, finished in a day. And I enjoyed it for what it was. But I do think some of the hype around the book is a bit much. It's an average, okay-written fantasy and a great debut for someone just starting out. But could do with another few rounds of edits and polishing to tie up some of the weirder loose ends

Wow, wow, wow. I could not love this book more. I've read so many with "tough" heroines who, in my opinion, don't push it far enough. Dawsyn was a little bit rougher, more aggressive, and she acts in impulsive and overly confident ways that I want from this kind of character. And her boldness is what got her over each of her obstacles. I would follow Dawsyn into battle.

I will offer this one bit of criticism that Dawsyn, like so many other heroines in these types of stories, just happens to be absolutely GORGEOUS. I guess it sort of makes sense in the context of the story (but I don't want to spoil anything). However, in terms of breaking the mold, this is one area where this story fits the trope.

I also LOVED Ryon for similar reasons that I loved Dawsyn. Where other books say, "He's not REALLY a bad guy," "That was an act," or, "He's misunderstood," Ryon has definitely done some things that make him a bit of a bad guy, some things that make you hesitate to fully get behind him at first. But the author does a good job of establishing these flaws, and then showing you who he is NOW and why you can trust him.

I can't WAIT for book 2.

If this had been ACOTAR, I'd be a fan and not a hater.

Ledge was actually pretty thrilling. Dawsyn and her village live on an actual ledge-an icy precipice on the side of a unscalable mountain. Monsters called the Glacians come to cull the humans of her village every season. When Dawsyn is chosen by the monsters, she has no idea what to expect, but she's a survivor.

I'm normally not the type to enjoy glaring plot holes and the weird winged human creature and human falling in love trope. Somehow I managed to get past all that because the main character wasn't a whiny annoyance. She actually managed to kill some of the monsters she fought which was a surprise to me because I actually was expecting the guy to come swooping in to save her last minute (as they normally do). I'm willing to look past the fact that she should actually be extremely weak considering how starved, malnourished, and battered by the weather she is.

Ryon is a wet blanket and nothing to write home about. Apparently his only job in the story is to trail Dawsyn around like a lovesick puppy and add romance to the book. The romance, while it could be spotted from a mile away and a little instalove, was actually believable. I'm willing to concede that if you spend days trying to survive out in the wintery wilderness with an attractive stranger who you have to press your body to for warmth every night, you might spark an attraction.

The story took a few turns and had a few twists which was a level of plot maturity I wasn't expecting after the bat people and obvious romance was introduced. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

I don't know what it was about this book that demanded all of my attention for a full day of reading, but I was seriously lost in the story for hours. I'm actually looking forward to what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot Publishing for providing me with an eARC of the book for my honest review!

The ledge is a debut novel from Stacey Mcewan. It’s about a girl named dawsyn who is entrapped on an icy ledge with no land around it. The people there are forced to harsh conditions. There is no way to escape the ledge except to be taken by the group of winged creatures(the glacien) that come every so often to take a person off of the ledge. Dawsyn is one of the people taken off the ledge on the next retrieval.

Dawsyn then meets Ryon who is one part glacien and one part human. When dawsyn chooses to fight for her life Ryon sees an opening to strike out against the icy glacien king and save all peoples from the heartless ruler. Ryon & Dawyson then embark on a journey together where truths and lies are revealed.

The first three chapters evoked sad emotion from me. I almost cried three times learning about Dawysn and her hard life on the ledge. The author did a great job of how life is on the ledge. When dawysn is taken, I do feel as though plot pacing was too fast. There were no explanation of certain plot points. The reader jumps from one place to the next without ever seeing the drop in between. For that reason, the plot holes were hard to ignore. I also felt like the relationship in the story was too instalove. I like a slow burn, and while there was a small amount of slow burn. Things moved too quickly on the romance side of things for me. Overall, I liked this book. It does leave on a cliffhanger.

I did receive my copy from netgalley and publisher for review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.

I have so little to say about this book. The writing is average. Characters with strong accents are written to have accents (yeh, yer, 'em, goin'...) which is horrendously annoying. The plot was weak. The authors understanding of living in the cold is...questionable (two twenty-year old pine trees would last a few days in a wood stove...not 12 months).

This book felt average. I feel like this author was just playing off tropes. The main character does not have the Mommy Dom vibe the author clearly strived for.

The romance isn't compelling.

The characters felt very inconsistent.

Overall, this book is boring. Regardless of how much action happens, it is just boring.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book; the review below is my own.

Whew - where to start. First off, cliffhanger ending (but I'm not gonna tell you any more than that); but with no information on the second book in the series, this may be a stopper for series bingers. And they may want to pause till more of the series is released.

Aside from that, at 400 pages I was expecting a better flow to the fantasy/romance aspect to this. This book could not decide ....did it want to be a romance, with a bit of fantasy thrown in ...or a fantasy with a little romance. The first 2/3 of the book was solid world building and character building; interesting magic, flying, dangerous death run. Very strong from the get go. The last 1/3 fell flat for me; this is where the characters also started falling flat for me. And I struggled to finish.

I love YA books. I love adult books. This solidly falls into the new adult category; which was not available to me growing up. Maybe that's why I struggled with the pacing. This new adult category- (from the few books I've read) crosses into intimacy and violence with more description. I'm fine with that. But it also tosses in -- what I call shock language, for lack of a better term. <spoiler>IE: cut off the titties as a "joke"</spoiler> And many adult award winning books do the same thing. It does nothing to enhance the story. Most of the time, I could get rid of it and the story would be just as good. It's hard to do that and weave it into the story in a genuine way...some adult books achieve this. Think Game of Thrones. But unless your...that caliber....it falls flat and its very two dimensional. And if it's not contributing to the story, those are words that could have been used to build the plot up.

There is so much jumping in the last 1/3 of the book that doesn't make sense. The MC is hurt/injured and while injured she just.....oh how is my love, and I need to be near him again. Ummm, what?! I know she cares for him, but how it is placed in the last third of the book ruins the flow and kept throwing my brain off track. It was often just one line in the middle of a great action scene, over many action scenes.

While I liked both MC's initially, by the end I did not like our heroine. She never grew and she didn't seem to genuinely care about her love interest. She was very one dimensional. Her love interest treated her with respect, kindness and support. I felt she was just dismissive of him. That's just a bad relationship.

Lastly I also felt there was a lot of "representation". Every type/kind/etc had to be represented. But they were all represented with stereotypical caricature. I couldn't like them - because of the two dimensional personality. Would have preferred less representing and a few representations that were more authentic. Or maybe the issue was too many side characters with a lack of building authenticity; too many characters with less quality. Versus a few well written side characters? Not sure.

I really wanted to love this book. I’m not sure if it was just me, but I found the world-building confusing. It was so hard for me to picture in my head. I thought the writing was pretty, but off in some way I can’t put my finger on. Overall, I just feel like this book wasn’t for me, though I was so very excited for it.

I really enjoyed this debut book! The storyline was interesting and fast paced. I felt at times the main characters should have had more character development but since this is the first book, I would assume more is to come. I am excited to see where the next book takes us.

3.5

If you're looking for an ax-wielding FMC who knows how to survive & fend for herself & a broody "touch her & d!e" & "only her touch calms me" vibes while also being a bat-winged half-breed MMC, then look no further! I really enjoyed reading this book. The writing was great & I pictured it all as if I were watching a movie. Dawsyn was born & raised on essentially this ice & snow prison village called the Ledge. The people on the Ledge fight for survival every day whether it be from the cold, hunger, or each other. They don't know of any other way to live except to try & survive. Ryon, our winged half-breed Glacian, is also trying to survive in his own way. What happens when enemies have to come together to survive the cold expanse of the mountains, well you'll just have to read & find out!

I really liked that this story captivated me from the beginning. I enjoyed the descriptions of the world & storytelling. I ended up putting a blanket on every time I read because Stacey's writing was so engrossing & descriptive that it felt real. I also had audible gasps multiple times throughout this book. This is the first book in the Glacian trilogy & being left on that cliffhanger makes me want the other books now. What a great debut story!

*Written in 3rd person
*Enemies to Lovers
*Forced Proximity
*Slow Burn
*Young Adult Fantasy
*Forbidden

Thank you to Netgalley & Angry Robot for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!