I loved this book, the world building is beautiful and an amazing mix of light and dark. I also found the characters to be more complex than the original seem, with an enamouring romance. I do think this takes a few chapters to completely get into and it is more for a YA audience than an adult audience however I did enjoy reading this and it reminded me of all the great fantasy YA books, so I think this will become a big series.

A world that is half-beautiful, half-nightmare and a princess to match it.

Valeria has been living in the Realm of Mortals (where she has enjoyed human life with her best friend-with-benefits, Mason) and dreading the day when she will be forced to return to Empyrean and take up her birthright as Princess. In Empyrean, danger lurks around every corner and evil incarnate sits atop the throne. What will happen when Valeria faces off with demons - both the ones that walk and talk and the ones that live within her, just waiting to be unleashed?

I thought it was clever to have realms that represent Heaven and Hell, with Empyrean being the line of defense between those realms and the mortals. When it comes to world-building, though, I like to have a little more clarity about where magic comes from and how it is used, especially if it differs in each realm. There seemed to be many inconsistencies about who has magic and why, and how it is wielded.

I would have to say that the last 20% of the book was definitely the most enjoyable. It started to feel like everything was headed somewhere and my interest was piqued with the various backstory reveals.

When it comes to characters, I would have enjoyed the story more if Valeria was more likeable. I found her to be super difficult to root for and her internal monologue didn’t always suit the seriousness of the moment, sometimes even coming off as cheesy. She also pretty consistently doesn’t think about anyone but herself and seems shallow in her relationships. Speaking of relationships, while I can get behind fated mates as a trope, I still need to have a reason to believe that the mates actually love each other and that it’s not just really strong insta-lust or bond-magic. In regard to our main antagonist, a villain that seems to not have at least some semblance of a reason for being so villainous is also a tough sell for me!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

⤷‧₊˚ 2.25 ⭑
„sometimes, knowing the truth can be the heaviest burden to bear.“

what the hell happened. i wanted to love it, i mean look at the beautiful cover, but it was boring, the characters weren't anything special, i didn't care about them or what was going to happen to them, and the story was flat i thought about to dnf this one but ended up finishing the whole book because I wanted to know how it will end and not even the ending got me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Realm of Ash and Shadow by Lara Buckheit is a new adult fantasy.

Before I go deeper into the review, thank you to <i> the author for approaching me and NetGalley for sending me this ebook in exchange for an independent and honest review.

“𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍. 𝙸’𝚖 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍.”

⚜️Read this book if you like:

▪️Enemies to lovers
▪️Soulmates
▪️Love triangle
▪️Morally Grey characters
▪️Dark Magic and plot twists
▪️Found Family
▪️Touch her and you 💀


⚜️What I really enjoyed:

🥀The Plot: Val finds herself in the middle of a political game and she doesn't know who she can trust. She returns home after being in forced exile and nothing is as it should be. She meets Gideon and the connection between them is immediate but they have to fight their trust issues. Then she goes to the Realm of the Forsaken to save a friend and meets a God that makes temptation too easy.
The world building is good and it makes it easy to follow the story and get immersed in it.

🥀Val is sassy but a bit immature (that is understandable as she is just 18) and that was a bit frustrating. However, I really liked that she is honest when she makes mistakes and owns up to them and tries her best to make up for them. She also does whatever she must to make up for them. She pretends to not care but she loves fiercely and cares a lot for her people.

🥀Gideon is a mix between sassy and Prince Charming and I really love this character. He is supportive and loving, but also sexy, flirty and confident. He shares with Val that he is fully devoted and loyal to those he cares for.

🥀Mason…the ending is…concerning…Im worried about what will happen next but also in hopes he has his happy ending with certain lady S 😏

🥀Vemdour…as much as I love a broken hero or “the villain” I did not have that “spark” and I'm confused about him so far. I really don’t know how to feel about him.

Overall, I gave it 3.5 ⭐️ and I did enjoy the book. Im looking forward for book 2.

An easy read YA novel which was fairly enjoyable with interesting characters and concepts,I would recommend!

Oh my gosh the FEELINGS that this book made me feel. I just finished reading and I NEED book two asap, you can’t end it like that!!! Great plot, loved all the surprises, and those boys 😍😍😍

Sarah J. Maas and I had a rocky start. I was on the brink of quitting ACOTAR deciding that the slow pacing and the endless details when it came to world building weren't for me. However, I pushed through and then it grabbed me and I fell in love. So, when I saw this insanely beautiful cover and read the blurb I got instantly curious. This sounds like a book for me. I therefore requested a copy via Netgalley and was really glad I got one!

After finishing this book I feel kind of conflicted. I didn't have to push through and there was no moment I had to wrestle myself through the book, but there was also no moment the book really grabbed me. I was actually mostly confused throughout the story because it felt like both the heroine and the plot in general lacked direction. I understand landing in the middle of all this is overwhelming, but I still think the story was a little too all over the place.

And just like the heroine was all over the place with her emotions, the lack of her emotions and her decisions, a lot of other things were all over the place too. Starting with how this book does the combination of romance and fantasy. Since the heroine doesn't do love, but clearly does lust, her attraction is all over the place. And since our heroine's attraction is all over the place but never truly serious I never really feel any of the romances and couldn't really care about them either.

Opposing to the romance the world building feels a little too narrow and lacking depth. For some reason the fantasy world in this book seems incredibly small. Mostly because we only visit a few different locations and are never really given much details about other locations. And the places and locations we visited felt all a little generic. Which is fine, but I felt like the blurb promised me a little more which leaves me a little disappointed.

So, in the end the book is an entertaining and quick read, but not really the fantasy romance I was expecting since neither the romance nor the fantasy world really grabbed me.

Let me start off by thanking Laura Buckheit and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book early!!

Wowie!! That was a rollercoaster of a book!!

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice:🌶️🌶️

This book was an absolute stunner of a read!! I will admit when I first started this book and saw the main character was 18 I was a little put off being in my late twenties I have no patience anymore for the mellow drama that often comes along with younger main characters, but that wasn’t the case in this book! I loved all of the characters and I do mean all of the characters!! They were amazing!! The story was amazing and I’m truly already on the edge of my seat waiting for the next one!!

Let me elaborate though on the story and not just say I loved it, though honestly that’s very true! In this book we start off with a young princess who knows she’s a princess from another realm who believes she been banished and raised in the mortal world for her own protection, but her eighteenth birthday is upon our main character Valeria and it is time for her to return to her home realm. Not without graduating though. Unfortunately, graduation day is never to come as on the night of her bday Valeria is attacked, and rescue before being unceremoniously ripped back into her home realm. And while all Val’s teachings had led her to believe she was returning to a realm of Utopia she is left wanting and disappointed in the sad state of her realm. Val is nothing if not a fighter though, and she has plans for her realm. What follows is a story or political upheaval, a forbidden love triangle romance, the unlocking of powers, and learning that sometimes you have to discover the truth for yourself rather than just blindly following what you’ve been taught. If you want to know more than that though you’ll have to read this amazing story for yourself!!

I absolutely adored all the characters in this book but the three that stuck with me the most are Valeria, Gideon, and Vemdour. Valeria is our main FMC, and she is a firecracker. She takes no one’s crud, she fights for herself, and while a little naive willing to learn from her mistakes! Honestly I just loved her, I loved her struggles for self acceptance, I loved her willingness to hear the truth even if it wasn’t always what she wanted to hear or learn, and I loved that she was willing to be the first to apologize when she knew she was wrong. Then you have her opposite in Gideon, a knight for lack of a better word, who has been raised in their shared realm for all his life with a mission in mind. I loved that Gideon was understand of Val and her need to cling some of her old mortal realm habits. I loved that he was willing to be patient and walk her through their new world customs while she realized everything she thought was half truths. And I loved that he loved her through all her good days and her bad days! Then we have Vemdour, our morally black villain with a heart that seems to beat only for Val. A villain who offers her not only all her comforts and joy, her hopes and dreams, but her powers and vengeances as well. I don’t think I would like Vemdour but honestly I’m torn as to who I wanted her to end up with!! But let me know who you chose after your reading.

Overall, this book was amazing and an absolute must read!!

What an amazing first book for a fantasy series. The characters were very likable and the relationships & friendships were lovely. Plenty of twists and turns to keep you reading and a nice little cliff hanger to get you excited for the next book!

In the blurb for this book, it says that it’s great for fans of Sarah J Maas and From Blood and Ash. This immediately intrigued me and I definitely wasn’t disappointed! I thoroughly enjoyed A Realm of Ash and Shadow!

Valeria has been raised in the mortal realm for the last 18 years. She’s about to return to Empyrean (one of the other four realms in this world) where she is the princess in line to take the throne, but first she has a couple of important things to wrap up - her friends-with-benefits relationship with Mason, going to her senior prom, and walking across the stage at her high school graduation. When demons from the Realm of Forsaken attack her at prom, Valeria is forced to return to Empyrean a few days early and learns that things in her promised realm are not as she expected.

I was totally invested in this story from the first few pages! I thought the world building was super seamless and didn’t make the beginning feel slow like it sometimes can in fantasy novels. This book was a page-turner through and through! There were lots of twists and turns, but I felt like I followed the complicated story line pretty well (with a few small exceptions). I did have a couple of questions about the magic they use, but maybe that would be cleared up in subsequent books?

I loved the characters in this book. Valeria was a total badass, but I loved how she made mistakes and was vulnerable like you’d expect from an 18 year old woman finding her way in a very complicated world. I also loved her sense of humor - I didn’t expect to laugh out loud like I did reading this book! Gideon and Mason (and even Vemdour) provided lots of good tension and I really enjoyed the relationships built throughout the book. I really hope Buckheit writes more in this world. I have to see what happens next with Valeria, Gideon, and everyone else!

Thank you to @netgalley and Sword and Silk Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn’t influence my review. What first drew me in was this gorgeous cover!
Tropes: hate to love, fantasy romance, bodyguard romance
TBH the tropes weren’t done well and I didn’t like the romance

I received this book ARC from nergally, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Solid 4 stars. Fun fast read, kept me interested the entire time once she actually made it out of the mortal realm. The first few chapters felt slow and kind of unnecessary at times. I found myself very frustrated with the main character Valeria most of the book though. She came off very childish at times, letting her emotions take control and make her irrational. I loved the book once it got to the meat of the story but wish that had been more of the book, I felt that this book barely skimmed the surface of what this series will be about.
I do have to say I was very happy when her awful father met his end though! I actually cheered when I read that part.

This was a debut novel and I'm sure Lara Buckheit will wow us again with the next installment. Overall I would recommend this book and look forward to reading more in this world.

Thank you Lara Buckheit, Netgalley, and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. These opinions are an honest reflection of my overall feelings about the book, A Realm of Ash and Shadow.

What I liked- I liked the world building and the idea of having 4 realms that are created by only a few gods. It was easier to keep track of the background. I liked the idea of the story itself and think the author had great ideas. The story has potential to be great but needs work on the organization of the story. The whiplash of the FMC switching between relationships with the main male characters made it difficult to predict who she would actually end up with, which I liked. There was an air of mystery to the direction the book was going and intention behind character building. The author did a great job of developing the FMC’s father into a villainous king. I did like that it was clear that she was just a pawn in every character’s plot for power and control.

What I didn’t like- I didn’t like how quickly the FMC could switch between having crushes or being intimate with the guys in the novel. I also didn’t like the language “the guys” instead of referring to them by their names or as “men”. I wasn’t a fan of how she goes from hooking up with her best friend, to being with her soulmate, to being with her betrothed within a hundred pages. I realize she is 18 but I felt like I had whiplash from her changing opinions of the male characters in the book. This made it hard to get attached to any of the main male characters because she never developed enough feelings to be rooting for any one of them. I didn’t get to know the main male characters well enough. I also didn’t like that she wasn’t faithful to the men she chose in her life. I am not expecting an 18 year old to be monogamous but it felt a little cheap to have her develop a relationship with one character only to have her switch a few chapters later. Having feelings or kissing the men who were not her “soulmate” felt cheap and then it felt like she tried to justify it by it being her “betrothed” from the gods. I also didn’t like the pacing of the story, it almost felt too quickly paced.

1.75 stars

The worldbuilding was amazing. I found it really fascinating and it definitely shows how much work and love Lara put into creating the world. Great job on her part. The book's premise is also intriguing.
Unfortunately, it was difficult to enjoy the plot when everything else fell flat.

Usually I’m the person who defends the female protagonist no matter what. The more unpopular she is, the more I love her. It wasn’t like this for me with Val. I truly hate describing characters with that word, but she was simply unlikeable. A big part of my criticism towards the book is caused by her.
At first I really liked her. In the first chapters she comes off as a fun, relatable teen MC. You just can’t wait to see her succeed.
And then the book kind of falls apart.

Throughout the book we meet three men who have feelings for Valeria, though one of them is crossed off the love interest list very early on, so that leaves us two. Val doesn’t have any chemistry with either of them.
I love romance. I will read just about anything if it has a pinch of romance in it, but I truly believe that romance is what ruined AROAAS. All of it felt rushed and completely out of nowhere and yet it makes such a big part of the book. I really wanted to get back to the plot, but instead I had to sit through Val trying to cheat on her soulmate. It’s as if the author had no idea for the romance, just knew that she wanted the book to be spicy. Well, it was somewhat spicy, but at what cost?
All of the romance was unnecessary and forced and I wish it wasn’t there.

Val has no train of thought. Ever.
Despite the book being in first person POV, we get absolutely no insight into Val’s thoughts. She never makes any decisions, she just does things and as a reader I constantly found myself asking “But why?”. Throughout the entire book, it appears as if things just happen to Val rather than Val actually doing anything.

On the topic of her thoughts (or lack thereof), she’s not very bright. She never figures anything out, even if she has all the puzzle pieces in front of her. Someone else always points it out for her.

Val is actually the only three-dimensional character in AROAAS. The rest of them are very simple, uninteresting. Usually a character hierarchy consists of the main characters, side characters and the background characters. In AROAAS I felt like we only had the main character, Val, and a whole cast of background characters. Nobody but her was interesting, and that’s a lot coming from me, because I didn’t even like Val. I really liked how morally gray she was and her little ventures into the darkness, I just wish it wasn’t so motivated by a poorly executed romance.

I also didn’t like the way the world was presented. Again, worldbuilding was great, but the introduction failed. I guess it’s not easy to submerge the reader into a world that the main character already knows, but it can be done. It just wasn’t.
In one of the first chapters, the amount of information we learn about realms and demons is overwhelming. It’s simply too much at once.
And again, rather than Val discovering secrets on her own, we have to wait until another character tells her everything. In my eyes it’s a lazy way to give information.

Finally, it was predictable. There’s a big revelation in chapter twenty-nine that I predicted in my notes on chapter thirteen.

It had a lot of unused potential.

The book's ending won me over, though. I’m actually really curious about what direction the story will take and looking forward to the next book.

For fans of the Kingdom of the Wicked series, and From Blood and Ash comes a new story - A Realm of Ash and Shadow by author Lara Buckheit. Buckheit has shown herself as a significantly well developed writer in this story, drawing in readers to a world built in a style similar to S. J. Maas. Valeria is an outcast, and is the main character in the Realm of the Forsaken, and I found her SO relatable to today’s young women. Valeria’s adventures bring forth her smart ass style, courage, struggles and betrayals in a world of Gods and mortals. This was a hot, spicy read that will promote Buckeit’s new series to the same award levels with the big writers of YA fantasy! This librarian enjoyed it immensely and will be recommending it to all of my patrons!

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

4,5 ⭐️ THIS BOOKKKK !!! Portray this, crescent city #1 without the murder, a shorter book, and a couple that COMMUNICATES.
The plot was something I had seen, to a certain extent, but even then, the book always had something to surprise me.
I love how the author wrote the narration, her writing style was very nice.
I was chuckling after every page, the characters were all so funny, and for once, the main character was my favorite one. Val is hands down one of the funniest characters I got to read this year, her ironic remarks were EVERYTHING. She is not the typical fantasy female character but rather someone that could be seen as a ‘real person’, the way she acted really felt like I was reading the story of a friend.
I also find it very nice the way the characters were all introduced, for some reason, it is something that did mark me more than in the other books I have read.
Now onto the juicy part, THE LOVE INTEREST, finally FINALLY a couple that COMMUNICATES with each other. Even if it was indeed enemies to lovers, it wasn’t something based on miscommunication and misunderstanding but rather on a TRUE enemy to lover. I did think the way the main characters fell in love with each other was maybe a bit too fast for my liking but nothing can be perfect right?
To sum it up, very very good fantasy, the characters will make you laugh and the story will stick in your head for days after you’re done praying to get the second book. So go go go read it !!

The world setup was intriguing and the plot was interesting but the character development and romantic storylines gave me whiplash.

It’s understandable that Val is tied to the mortal realm (the only life she knew) and wishes for simple normal experiences, but despite knowing she‘s a teenage princess, I still found it hard to sympathize with her self-centeredness in the first 20% of the story. She wasn’t completely unlikeable but I couldn’t connect with her either.

Once she got to Empyrean, a few noble characteristics were revealed and I wanted to root for her.

But then in the Realm of the Forsaken, things shifted again. I enjoyed Val’s banter and court games with Vemdour at first. He was dark and vicious and weird—and honestly, I kind of loved that about him. But Val got super dark as she spent more time with him and I didn’t want to root for her anymore, especially as she seemed to be romantically fickle and shallow—repeatedly attracted to the closest/newest hot guy/god and almost completely forgetting about her previous object of desire.

As she finally started to unravel lies about the past, her character pivoted again—and therefore I wanted to root for her again. But by then I was exhausted trying to keep up with whether she is selfish, immature, and being manipulated or is strong, capable, and cares about others. Too inconsistent for me.

The reveals and twists during the last 20% of the book were interesting, but based on this rollercoaster of a morally gray character arc, I probably won’t continue this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sword and Silk Books for the ARC.

I was really excited for this one, but it was another...not miss, but not quite a hit either. Good ACOTAR vibes, and an interesting concept, but the pacing seems off, and the plot is confusing. I could not get behind Valeria, but I am feeling Vemdour. The story itself is really interesting, and the writing is quite good, I was just left wanting MORE. However, I will be reading the next book!

This felt recycled, and too predictable for me.

The writing is great and if you’re looking to get swept up in a new or different fantasy universe you should try this book. I just felt it was not for me

Gave me some ACOTAR vibes

Valeria was exiled to the mortal world after her mother's death. She was told it was for her safety. But on her 18th birthday, she was to return back to Empyrean and take on her princess duties. Upon her return, Empyrean didn't turn out as she had imagined. Instead of being lush and thriving, Empyrean was failing. Its people were struggling and starving. What has her father done? Can she overthrow her father? Can she be the change Empyrean needs?

It was a captivating story from beginning to end! There were betrayals, secrecy, romance, friendship, fights, and battles. However, there were a few minor flaws that made the novel less engaging. One issue I had was the heroine, Valeria. She is supposed to be this badass and strong character. But she came off as foolish and annoying. She was hotheaded and jumped to conclusions. I understand she's young and supposed to have some character growth, but there wasn't enough to make me like her. This leads me to the second issue, the character's depth and development. The characters needed more depth and development to help make them feel more authentic. Lastly, the story ended too abruptly. With that being said, I still really enjoy the story. I found it entertaining and can't wait to read the next installment.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Lara Buckheit, and Sword and Silk Books for graciously sending me the ARC to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***