3.75 Stars

This was a good fantasy book but unfortunately I did feel like it was missing something.
The book had great world building with a steady pace through the plot. I loved the magic system in this book and this is what initially drew me in.
The book is told from two povs which is something I do enjoy. I feel you get more from the story this way and more from each character.
The characters were well written and had a good depth to them.

I look forward to the next book in the series.


Thank you to Netgalley, the Author and the Publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

*Actual rating is 3.75 stars*

There’s a lot of things going on in this book. It starts out as a fantasy where the main character, Adele, escapes her capture and returns back home to find her roots. To find the truth about who she is, and why she has the ability to enter people’s minds. But curiosity killed the cat, and Adele soon realized that the truth is far greater than what anyone could have expected. Cue demons, angels, other worlds and so much drama. I liked this book, even if some elements of it took me by surprise or felt a bit out of place. But I can’t help feeling that it would have been better if the book was just a little bit longer. Just so plotlines could have been fleshed out a bit more, and better explained. As it is now things just felt a bit rushed once the paranormal aspects were introduced. The story is a really cool concept, and I just wish it could have been explored properly.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me an arc of this book in return for an honest review.

I think this book would be a great start for someone first getting into the YA Fantasy subgenre, but from someone who has been reading these types of books for years, it fell a little flat for me. Not to say that it was bad, it just lacked some things I typically look for in books. Personally, I thought it lacked world building. I feel like we were just kinda thrown into the world and then in some parts, there would be a sentence that said something about the world and then just moved on with the story. Going from the prologue to the actual story felt like a big change. I really enjoyed the prologue so props for that because I think prologues are some of the tougher things to write. I think if there was more information given in the first few chapters that would help with more understanding. I think adding more about her past would also help understand the main character more. I get that you can't add everything in the early parts of the book, but even just a couple sentences or scenes about her past would help readers understand maybe more about who she is and what she's gone through. I enjoyed the morally grey aspect of her character but wish there was more in depth.

What I really liked was the pacing. As someone who has ADD, it's hard for me to read slower paced books so reading this was easier than some others. Since it is the first book and there are more to be expected, I liked that it was on the shorter side. There wasn't an info dump of information that left me with too much knowledge that I wouldn't need to keep reading to find out more. It leaves me with more questions and wanting to pick up the second to learn more. This is also a unique story that even though some parts fell flat, I still want to continue the series to learn what happens.

My biggest setback reading this book was that I found the characters hard to relate to and by the end I didn't really much care for what happened to any of them. With more character development in the next book I think I could be convinced to carry on with the series. Overall I would say to give this book a chance. It's an easy read especially for people new to the genre and I think if the author really does take the time to look at the feedback from readers, then the second book has some good potential.

Firstly, thank you netgalley and Kimberly Grymes for providing me with this arc. This book was very entertaining and had great world building! I really enjoyed reading from our fmc's pov, I found her very interesting. Overall, this was a good book and contains a good plot.

Rating 2.75

I was sent the eARC of this book from NetGalley & Victory Editiing in exchange for an honest review.

The cover of this book really pulled me in and got me excited to open up this book.

The concept and magic system really intrigued me and I found this is what I liked best about the book.

But unfortunately, I found it a bit hard to connect with the main characters and found it hard to be invested in their personality.

The story I found didn't really flow that well. Relationships and interactions between characters seemed forced and unbelievable.

I wish that I enjoyed this story more.
However, I'm willing to read the sequel to experience more from the concept and magic system. So I think that I will pick up book 2 when it is released but hope that the story will flow a bit easier.

This book was better than I expected. It was a shorter fantasy novel and was a quick read but it was incredible. The characters really pushed and controlled the story. There were twists that I would have never saw coming. It has Dual POV which is my favorite and we got to see a lot of growth from Adele and Rune. Since it was a shorter fantasy novel I was worried it would feel rushed and have some plot holes but it was wrote so well and didn't feel rushed and explained things clearly.

4.5⭐️

I loved this book so much! The characters are amazing and the world is great.
Rune and Adele are such strong characters and I'm hoping to see more of Elijah in book 2!

This book felt so much longer than 217 pages and that's a good thing. Nothing felt rushed or left out, it was perfect.

I received a Netgalley e-ARC to review this book.

Overall rating - 3.5 stars

Shade of Light follows a young girl named Adele who has the ability to enter the minds of others and bring out their innermost fears and warp their thoughts into and endless loop of chaos. After being captured and kept for years in a gated kingdom, she was given the role of torturer and interrogator of anyone the general needed help with.

As Adele escapes to her childhood village, she promptly realizes she is not the only one with special abilities. With the general on the hunt to reclaim her and the 'Shades' that share abilities like herself, Adele must try and discover who can be trusted and more importantly, where she came from.

There were a lot of things that really worked for this book, and after reading my share of fantasy I will say some aspects weren't ones I had come across before which was refreshing. Some things I loved: the dual POV between characters and seeing different perspectives, interesting character developments and twists in the end.

The storyline starts off a bit slower and leaves some gapping that makes it a bit hard to follow/keep interest in during the beginning, and during the second half things become so fast-paced it just seems like a lot happening at once. Overall I did enjoy this.

This was a great quick fantasy to read that didn't make me feel like the story was going to drag on forever as I started it. I enjoyed the world building and the complexity of the plot, but overall it was really easy to fall into the world and understand what was happening, which made the reading experience so much more enjoyable for me.

The characters were written so well and the plot was crafted to perfection in my opinion. I cannot wait to see where this trilogy leads and how Adele is going to continue to learn and love herself (rough edges and all). This is a great new fantasy series that I look forward to reading!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for this opportunity to read rate and review this arc which is available November 9,2023!

Not all monsters are evil. some choose to do better. So which one am I?

That is the tag line that snagged my attention. Then came a super confusing teen fantasy novel that had me head scratching and wanting to DNF so many times that I was actually forcing myself to finish,

I didn’t like it. But it will be someone’s fav read. So I say give it a shot:

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled for the fantastic book.

This is a very quick fantasy book. I read it in one sitting and it was fantastic.

I can not say enough good about this book. I want so many more books from this author and am hoping this is just part if a much longer series.

Adele and Rune are brilliant characters.

Five stars. Highly recommend.

DNF at 15%

I kept waiting for this to pickup and get going. There is a number of incomplete plot devices at the start of this and the writing isn’t very good. The prose is clunky and the FMC goes from being capable to being a complete bumbling incompetent from literally one chapter to the next. The reason for her home being invade and really the entire “war” is not explained. There are no stakes and her friendship with the niece (?) of the general isn’t developed. Plus, travel seems to be very quick, like she travels from her place of captivity to the coast, over a sizable strait of water (overnight), and then on to her village deep in the countryside of her home in 3 chapters…

I believe this author needs more practice and development of their skill. The premise of this could be good if done correctly, but this is not it.

Until Next Time,
MC

** Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC for my honest review.**

"Shade of Light" is a quick and easy dark fantasy read that's perfect for your fall TBR.
The story focuses on Adele, a young woman with mysterious powers as she navigates the world in an attempt to uncover the truths about her path.
The worldbuilding was original and intriguing. I enjoyed the concepts of the magic system and I think that there's room to expand upon the possibilities in future books.
The plot was extremely fast-paced and while I didn't find it to be overly complex, I enjoyed it. This book is probably one I would recommend to readers unfamiliar with the fantasy genre or who are just beginning to read dark fantasy because it's easy to comprehend and the magic system/plot is relatively uncomplicated. There were a handful of twists too. I will say that I found the end to be a bit anticlimactic and that I wish the story addressed Adele's past with the General a little more, but those were my only main complaints.
As far as POV characters go, Adele was pretty cool. I did find her to be a bit rude and unrelatable at times, but that can be attributed to her past. Her internal monologue was more tolerable than those of other main characters. Personally, I liked Elijah and Rune more than Adele. Elijah was sweet and I wish we learned more about him. I liked Rune because she fell into some of my favorite character tropes.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and while it's not the most nuanced of fantasy stories, it's a great read for beginning fantasy readers. (Also, it's more fantasy-focused than romance, which is a nice switch from the romantasy that seems to have the book world in a chokehold right now).
Official Rating: 3.75/4

I received this arc from Netgalley and it was an addictive read. I sped through this as it had fantastic worldbuilding with a well rounded plot. Full of twists, the plot had some jaw dropping moments.

The dark fantasy aspect was really intriguing and I loved the narrative of sometimes accepting your own darkness or dark parts of yourself. It was a really great fantasy exploring life in different aspects. Following Adeles journey of friendship, finding yourself and adventure along the way.

I’m hooked and can’t wait for more! This is a fast paced fantasy that will draw you in from the first page.

3,5/5 stars

I didn't know I was a fan of this type of fantasy until I came across this book.

I received an ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review of the story. Thank you to the platform and the publisher for the opportunity.

In the fall, I always choose to read more fantasy than romance and I'm a big fan of reads where the fantasy outshines the romance. Both the synopsis and the cover convinced me immediately and I'm very glad I didn't finish 'Shade of Light' disappointed. On my ereader, the book was about 250 pages long - something that surprised me, but made it a quick and light read, even if the topic of the story was a little darker.

Did I like the book? Yes. I felt that at the beginning the main character was focusing a lot on events from her own past. She repeated the same thing several times and I understand. To put it in perspective, I understand her need to do that, but it got to the point where I just couldn't read any more about it. Adele was an interesting character - she was captured and used her powers at the will of her captors. Her goal was to protect.

I also feel that this story had similarities to other YA I've read when I was younger and honestly, it's been a while since I've read a YA that internally promoted a good opinion from myself - Im more NA type of gal -. I wouldn't mind reading a second book if that were the case.

I went into this expecting an exciting adventure, a fierce FMC and a story to remember p.
What i got was confusion, a very traumatised and kinda rude FMC, and then another characters pov? Huh? I got so lost and confused, I struggled to finish the book and when it was done i didn’t really remember much of what i read, it was underwhelming. There is promise for the story, but its not quite for me, to much and to little happened at the same time. I would have liked more backstory and if you are going to have dual pov i want to know the backstory of the other one as well from the start.

I really wanted to like this book.

The story itself had such great promise, a young woman captured as a child and felt by a ruthless general to be used as their Interrigator. Adele has a secret and fearsome power that she will do anything to learn the history of. Sounds great right?
Like I said, I really wanted to like this book but the writing was very mechanical and lacked a lot of warmth and life. Since it is the first book in a triology, I do plan on reading the second book to see if the author improved her writing style. It is a relevitely short book compared to others I have read, five hours of reading time on my kindle at a decent pace.
Giving three stars because while the writing style needs improvement the story overall is a great premise, and I would like to see how things develop in the second book.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the e-arc.

There are many things that I loved about this book. It has a great cast of characters. The main character has the ability of reading peoples minds and trap them there. I loved the unique concept of this book. We follow the main character who wants to know where her powers came from. The journey aspect of this book was very enjoyable.

I personally felt like the story had gaps in it. That could be because it’s an arc. But there were times where it felt like the story disconnected with storylines. It also felt like it was a little rushed in places.

I still would recommend reading this book. I did enjoy moments when reading this book.

This young-adult dark fantasy story promises a captivating and thrilling journey filled with action, suspense, and unexpected twists.

Well-written, great characters, excellent world-building. I'm excited to read the rest of the series.