Great characters and a storyline that kept me interested. I do love a good academy setting!

In the beginning I found the world building slightly confusing and overwhelming at times but it developed nicely and of course, finishes off with a huge cliffhanger!

I enjoyed this book overall and would definitely recommend to readers who are fans of ACOTAR, Cassandra Clare and the likes.

For the supernatural angels and demon lovers, this was a fun, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, multi-POV, power main character storyline. The world-building was a little difficult to grasp and could have happened earlier in the story, but otherwise, it was intriguing, The story was very character-driven and read like an adult Cassandra Clare book - spicy with magic, training, and political intrigue with good twists and turns. Content warning: there are frequent casual references to SA that may be hard for some readers and trauma is easily glossed over and could have used more in-depth discussions.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of light in the shadows. this was a pretty good fantasy/romance. similar to a few others i read but always pretty good choices.

I’m not sure this is what I meant to sign up for?

It’s alright. It’s pretty good?

Okay, so I thought the plot and premise were surprisingly cool. The kicker is that the writing couldn’t quite keep up. The magic system and world building is somewhere between intricate and chaotic. Like the author had a lot of really interesting ideas but couldn’t quite explain them fully.

I wouldn’t write this off entirely, in fact I’m quite sure a lot of people would enjoy it immensely! I just would have liked to see a little bit more editing to the prose and narration so that the story could have taken the lead a bit more.

A new fantasy romance series that pleasantly surprised me! ACOTAR vibes! I need the next book now! So much to say, but I don’t want to give any spoilers. The spicy ya’ll!

3.5/5

I received an arc in exchange for an honest review- thank you to Cask publishing and NetGalley!

18-year-old Haven arrives at the Academy ready to discover her place among the seraphim warriors. While learning what it means to have friends, and to trust and love them openly, she discovers an ancient power. She's suddenly thrust into a world she doesn't understand, with a love triangle to complicate everything. There's corruption in the government that will come to drastically affect her, and she may be everyone's only hope at survival.
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My short summary feels woefully incomplete, but wow that was hard to write without spoilers! I have a lot of feelings about this book. There's no way to write this review without spoilers, so **SPOILERS BELOW**

To begin with things I liked:
-I felt like this story is 95% character-driven, 5% plot driven. Be warned, if you want a complex plot, you won't get it. The first half (at least) is just about Haven's years at the academy and her learning to control her powers and her wings. There's also quite a bit of the tactical exercises the cadets go on, which didn't really do anything for the story except establish that tactical wargaming is something Haven is good at. I didn't really have a problem with this, I love a good character-driven story, it just felt almost like a prequel to really establish the characters before the main storyline gets going.
-Haven's journey in letting go of her past and learning to trust and love her friends was heartwarming. I do hope that we eventually get a little more of her backstory, as we were told rather than shown what her childhood was like. However, with the direction it seems like the story is taking, this seems unlikely. Not the end of the world.
-The concept and the world are unique. There are so many possibilities right now that there is no predicting where this series will go. I'll definitely continue it.

Some things I didn't necessarily love/questions I was left with:
-As soon as Haven discovers her powers, we immediately fall into the "overpowered young female needs ancient overpowered male to teach her how to harness her powers and oh what do you know, they're mates" trope. I'm a little bit over this one.
-There was a lot of casually mentioned (not explicitly written, but very much alluded to) SA. A line/sentiment that was repeated that really stuck out to me was "it was nice to not have to fight off a male at the end of a night." I know this is a sad reality for a lot of people, but the River scene was a tough read. I don't feel like that was ever properly dealt with, it was very much just brushed off.
-The main plot line with the demons and the glowing power rock and Lilith and Rocque and the djinn is all SO confusing and was only done through info dumping. I don't feel like I know what is going on at all. I grew to dread Lilith's POV chapters because they were a little boring and a lot confusing.
-I need to know way more about Ryker in general before I'm invested in him. We got a decent amount of what his daily life is, but I don't feel like I know who he as a person is. I could see his and Haven's relationship coming from a mile away (not a bad thing, I think it was intentional), but it still managed to seem sudden. Like they went from kind of hating each other to being obsessed with each other in a matter of days.
-What exactly are the shadow walkers? Why are there only three of them? What is their role (fighting demons?? I think??) and how are their powers related to Haven's powers? I need a lot more about them in the next book.
-I have no idea how the magic system works. Where do the special powers come from? Can everyone use runes? What do the runes actually do?
-WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT ENDING. It came completely out of left field and really, really threw me off.

I know it seems like I don't like this book because of the large list above, but I did actually really enjoy it. I just have a lot of questions that need to be answered and I hope the next book does so. I think most fantasy/romantasy readers will enjoy this, especially if they like character-driven stories. It was a good jumping off point for what has potential to turn into a really excellent series!

Holy wow. This book is just mind-blowing. I absolutely did not think I would love this book as much as I did. I am currently suffering from a massive book-hangover after finishing this book.

If you are a fan of Cassandra Clare, and wished her books were a bit spicier and targeted more to adults, this is the book for you. This book mostly follows the Seraphim, Haven, who has enrolled in the Academy to learn about her magic, her wings and how to fight. The readers follow her three year journey through the Academy where she discovers her powerful, rare form of magic and is forced into a mental isolation away from her friends to work with Ryker, another powerful Seraphim who can help her learn to control her magic. However, we don't just get Haven's POV. The book is told through various characters, including the main villains. In doing so, Georgia develops the world and exposes her readers to the political subplot full of corruption and personal ambition.

This book truly has it all: political intrigue, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, multi POV, found family, powerful main character, winged males, etc. One would think all these tropes would overwhelm the main plot but it does not whatsoever. The multi POV truly made the book fantastic. Not only do the readers explore the main protagonists, Haven and Ryker, but they get to learn about the main antagonists. Through these POV's, the readers truly learn the underlying political tension and reasons behind the antagonist's opinions. Personally, I loved Lilith's POV and I cannot wait to read more about this character in later books. Some of the other themes evident in this book that I just loved are healing, self-love, and personal growth. Haven's character development is just awesome (I am biased though I really fell in love with Haven).

Every time I opened this book, I was thrown into this world. I ended this book feeling like I had lived in the Academy and Araine. Georgia truly does a phenomenal job with the world building. I will warn you, the world is complex as there are many different cities/locations that all characters frequent. And it did take a few chapters alongside flipping back to the maps to understand it. But once I understood it, I fell in love with this world. Also, the magic system is a bit more complex than other popular fantasy books but once you understand the difference between fae, seraphim, daeva (among others), it is very easy to follow. Overall, this book is fantastic and completely unpredictable. Around chapter 40, the book took a turn. That ending had me screaming and sobbing.

If this book is on your TBR (and it should be), stop everything you are doing, and read this book right now.

I received an ARC copy from netgallery for an honest review. All the opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.

I am still reeling from the ending! The story and characters sucked me in from the first page and have still not let me go. This is a story like I have never read before! I laughed, I cried and I didn't see any of the twist and turns coming! The romance, adventure, and multiple points of view are awesome! This is one book you will not want to miss!

What I liked
-centering supernatural creatures that aren't over saturated in the current market
-Good build up and chemistry before any
-Interesting core plot that kept me invested
What didn't work as well for me
-Dialogue was somewhat clunky
-Little explanation is offered before the reader is hit with references to monsters powers.
Who I recommend this book for
Light in the Shadows will be a wonderful read for those who are fans of young adult fantasy looking to revisit the era of fallen and crescendo.

Thank you so much for approving me for this ARC!

Unfortunately this just wasn't for me! The writing felt a little too young and I feel I really needed more, deeper descriptions in order to really ground myself in the world and the characters.

The ‘Light in The Shadows’ is a unique twist on the supernatural teenager trope. I really loved the premise for this, firstly it involved ‘creatures’ you don’t find in most supernatural books, with the main one being seraphim which I’ve never heard about before, I found it really interesting to read about. Also the characters are born knowing about (at least some) of there powers so the majority of this is not cliche.

One of the biggest things I struggled with however is the book jumps straight in, using terms and references to monsters and powers. This left me confused for a lot of the book because there’s no explanation until a lot later on to what each power actually does and what each character is/ how each character is actually different to humans. I do wish there was more in depth world building and that it did happen earlier on.

Saying this, I did love the characters and the writing style, although I was confused in parts, overall I enjoyed this book a lot and it is a very intriguing fantasy with elements I’ve never encountered before so I would recommend.

Immediate thoughts after finishing: HOLY SH*T WTF JUST HAPPENED?!?!? 😳😱😱😭 My eyes won’t stop bugging and my mouth won’t close from the permanent gape that ending left me with! 😵 My goddess! I feel like I need to cry but I’m still in such shock that the tears just don’t know whether to come or not. WHOA! This book was damn good and I will for sure be reading the next one.
Longer review to follow once I pick up the pieces of my shattered heart (and brain too, bc I still feel like I didn’t actually read what I just read!).

**Additional review, spoiler-free**

Ok, now that I've had some time to process...whew! That was an intense ride for the last 10-15%! BUT, this book was great, I loved it. I'm obsessed with fantasies around wings and flying (and I love me some winged men, I feel like that's all I've been reading lately and I'm not mad about it), so this was right up my alley and what snagged my attention. This book is about a young seraphim who goes to an academy to learn how to use her magic and how to fly and fight (very loose description of the plot). She meets others like her, forms friendships (found family), discovers things about herself, and gets her heart a little banged up along the way. There are also other characters and plots going on around her as well that will cross paths with her journey. Right away I noticed there were going to be A LOT of characters and a lot going on in this book/world, and over the course of the book there were times were I did get confused on who was who or what their station was in the world. I think that usually happened if the story had been away from those characters for a while, but the context of conversation usually did a good job of bringing everything back into sight. Also the maps... there are like 3 of them! I thought this book did a decent job of discreet info dumping (regarding politics of the world/time, history, etc), however I still kind of felt like I was missing some big-picture things at the end of it. Honestly, that could have been just me though, not to mention I was reading this on a Kindle. I find that I have a harder time with books like this on a Kindle because I find it harder to go back and reference things compared to a physical book. Again, that could just be me. I also didn't do a lot of highlighting in this one because I got swept up in the story a little bit, haha. Which is a good thing right?? Looking back, I did note that I thought a glossary of names and/or character terms/types would have been helpful just to kind of give a little more clarity and serve as a permanent reference point for the reader. Other books that I've seen do that have been super helpful for myself.

Haven's character developed quite well over the course of this story. Obviously she's young when it first starts (and still when it ends, but like 3 years later), but she goes through sooo much and learns quite a bit about herself and other people. Her arc makes you feel proud of her by the end, but also so incredibly sad at the same time. She becomes this fierce thing that can kick some ass, but is also still very vulnerable and still has a lot to learn (a great launching pad for the next book). I want to say more about her, but I also don't want to spoil the story for people. I'm really looking forward to seeing where her story goes next.

Since the book opens with Ryker, I'll speak on him next. Oh my sweet soul Ryker...This man...I have to be careful what I say about him here, haha. I absolutely love him, let me start there. Him and his twin River are the epitome of good v. evil...I said what I said. Ryker's development over the course of this story is a little less seen compared to Haven, but I think that's by design for a couple reasons that you will see when you read the book. For one, he's much older, so the growth/change for him is not going to be as prevalent as with Haven. But also, Haven is kind of the primary character in this first book, so her development is going to be seen and experienced the most. But I think the reader will be able to appreciate both journeys as they unfold.

Now, let's talk spice...much of the beginning of the book, probably the first half at least, was a lot of flirting, casual dating, and a lot of fade-to-black moments. Now, I am not a fade-to-black kind of gal, but honestly with the amount of BS that Haven had to incur between Larkin and River, and then going through training with Ryker...I didn't really even think about it too much. I was kinda with her, like "F these dudes" I don't need 'em anyways. HAHA! But then that GOOD SLOW BURN starts up and that beautiful tension starts happening and it just builds and builds. Then finally, sh*t explodes and you're just gobbling that sh*t up left and right and falling in love all over the place! (AKA, spice goes from 0 to 100 real quick and it is soooo good.) You're thinking, oh my goodness this is just so beautiful, you know, crying tears of joy for them and the fact that they finally found their happiness. THEN THE ENDING HAPPENS AND YOUR HEART IS FREAKIN SHATTERED INTO A MILLION PIECES! Like of course people can't just be happy, then there wouldn't be 3 more books in the series, hahaha!

So as you can imagine, I would definitely recommend this book! Great start to a new fantasy romance series. If you're looking for something different and new from an indie author, take a chance on this one. I don't think you'll be disappointed! 🤙🏼💕

I am totally consumed by this. I have to get the next one soon. I love this start of a new series and I cannot wait for more!
I just reviewed Light in the Shadows by Georgia C Leigh. #LightintheShadows #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

I thought this book was dull. The political parts were mildly interesting, but most of the book centres around the love life of a pretty bland, vanilla girl. She ends up with a rather bland, vanilla guy. There's a lot of violence that gets magically healed and no one suffers trauma from it. The world building is non-existent because it's our world, just with very good looking magical people in it. Oh, there are foriegnish names for the places, but they go to pubs and drink whiskey and beer and eat cheeseburgers and go dancing. It's literally a soap opera where some of the people can fly.

I tried to finish, but gave up with about 10 chapters left because I just didn't care what happened to anyone. I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley

This was a fantasy with a slow burn romance that focused on the main character coming to power. I’ll definitely read the sequel, but the pacing and worldbuilding could have been better. This book felt a lot like the ACOTAR series, but without the politics and colonizer vibes SJM has.

I think the characters in this book were well developed and relatable. However, there were so many of them that it was hard to keep track in the beginning. In the first three chapters, you’re introduced to about 13 side characters who don’t seem to differ much, so it’s difficult to tell who will be important throughout the book. Some of the conversations also felt unrealistic or forced.

By the end of the book I felt that the world was well constructed, but it took way too long to get there. Everything is just introduced with no explanation, including the three-four main species(?) of characters. You eventually can piece info together, but you shouldn’t have to.

The pacing was really the reason this book wasn’t 4 stars. The book takes place over three years, meaning a LOT of time is skipped. This is fine sometimes, but it happens way too often and removed me from the book every time. I think the author just wanted to build the relationships before getting to the main plot, but it felt choppy.

Overall, if you want something that feels like ACOTAR but with less politics and more training sequences, I think you’d enjoy this book.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for an honest review.

Light in the Shadows by Georgia C. Leigh, was an incredible read! Light in the shadows book captured my attention from the first chapter. The story was easy to follow and the world building was not overwhelming. The author paced the world building out, so they did not overload you with information. It is a slow burn that takes pace over the course of a couple of years. I enjoyed the multiple POV’s in the book. I felt like it well balanced. I can’t wait to see where the next book takes us.

Wow! This book is intense. First off, I enjoy reading a story about a seraphim school because we never get those. It’s always fae, vampire, demon. A lovely change. While the story was good, it was very muddled and confusing at times. I definitely had to reread parts to understand who and what was going on. And that ending was TERRIBLE!!!! I wanted to throw my poor kindle across the room. How can they DO that!!!! All in all, a good read.

P.S. the spicy bits come in 70% through so stay strong!

3.5 out of 5 stars, but rounding down for this one.

Overall, Haven and Ryker’s story is unique and full of adventure and romance that pulls the reader in. Fans of Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments and Becca Fitzpatrick‘s Hush, Hush will find this story to be a more adult fantasy version of these YA favorites.

The characters were great, and it was nice to see the relationship development throughout the story. The overall plot had a good pace and it was easy to follow.

The only thing keeping me from rating the book higher is the world building. From the start there is a lot of “tell don’t show” that is going on. Names of certain species/demon(?) types with no initial explanation, Ryker’s opening with us knowing he was weak due to traveling and how his powers work(when we had not yet seen any of his powers), and the training for the Academy that Haven goes to(when we had received any explanation for why this is significant), left me feeling only half invested in the world. EVENTUALLY, you pick up on all these info dumps and can build a good world, but I just felt that the initial world dumping (names, powers, ect) took away from the story. Having authentic moments in dialogue and action that revealed these aspects, rather than the characters reflecting on it for no reason in their head, would feel much more immersive.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and will DEFINITELY read the second book, if only to have a resolution to the ending (without giving spoilers I was both upset by it but also enjoyed the set up for the plot of the second book).

Squee.... I loved this read! I think the world building was done superbly and the characters were well fit to the situations they encountered! I want to read this again after just finishing it :).

It took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did I was hooked.

I love Haven and Ryker as characters so much.

I cannot wait for the next book!