A big thank-you to Netgalley for the chance to read this arc! I thought this was a delightful YA fantasy read. Ellery, our non-binary protagonist, is grumpy, relatable, brave, and communicates their feelings clearly. Their love interest, Knox, was so likeable with his awe & wonder of the human world. I loved that the found family they built together with Ellery’s cousin & girlfriend. A little bit of cursing, but other than that, completely clean. No drinking, sex, drugs, etc. I would definitely recommend this book to 14+ students for its strong themes of family, love, and sacrifice.

Thank you to NetGalley, Margaret K. McElderry Books, and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for this advanced copy! You can pick up Otherworldly on April 2, 2024.

This was such a cute and cozy YA fantasy! In Otherworldly, we’ve got a city stuck in eternal winter, a familiar and a skeptic making bargains at a crossroad, fantastic LGBTQAI+ rep, and an adorable found family.

I loved Ellery and Knox’s dynamic, but especially when they interacted with Charley and Zada. The four of them together just make the sweetest found family, supporting each other through harrowing supernatural encounters and teasing each other over innocent crushes.

If you’re in the mood for something sweet but slightly dangerous, with nonbinary rep and a fascinating Underworld (or Other World) element, this is your kinda book!

A big thank you to netgalley.com and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ellery washes dishes in a diner in the city and sends their paycheck back to their mom to help pay the bills. Ellery lives with their cousin and her girlfriend and leads a very bleak life since the winter came five years ago and has yet to leave.

Knox is a familiar. A magical being who becomes tethered to a human while helping them complete a task or goal when they make a deal at the crossroads in exchange for their soul. When his current master completes the task of making a potion to give her eternal life the shades come for her soul before she can take the potion and Knox, sensing something isn't quiet right, steals the potion and runs away, right into the cute dishwasher that he has wanted to meet every time he went to pick up food for his master.

Now Knox and Ellery are in for an adventure as they try to unravel why Knox's queen deserted the humans in the area for five years, putting them in eternal winter, and letting Knox experience what it is like to be human.

I love F.T Lukens' books! This one did not let me down. There is one line that had me in stitches, but if I write it here I will ruin some of the story (Zada's line at the end of chapter 26). If you like fantasy this is one to pick up. I love the way the book ended but I wish we got to see more about Ellery's mom and the farm. I think some backstory would go a long way.

From the first line, this book felt like a fairy tale. I was hooked by the writing, by the imagery, by the pure magic of the setting and the characters. A town trapped in five years of winter? Supernatural beings afoot in a community that whole heartedly believes in them, for the most part, even though they can't really prove they're around? Everything about the world felt so mystical and enchanting.

And don't get my started on our two MCs! By chapter 3, I was already in love. Ellery is kind and brave and grumpy as all hells but so endearing. They care about those around them, and sacrifice so much in order to make sure those they care about are okay. That was clear from the end of their first chapter, and I was excited to see where the story took them, and was not at all disappointed.

And Knox! Mysterious hot weird guy. I LOVE HIM. Literally from his first scene sitting on the couch and watching TV I knew I was as much of a goner as Ellery was about to be. He's so endearing and feels so deeply and just longs for connection and love that isn't transactional. And when these two collide (literally lol, such a good scene), the story gallops ahead in full force and leaves the reader happily devouring the lovely little found family they form. Zada and Charley were some of my favorite characters, and I loved how involved in the story they were. Books often advertise found family but don't actually deliver, but this was not one of those stories. The tenderness they all had for each other was adorable and heart warming. (Not to mention the food service workers--as someone who worked for many years in various restaurants, I related a lot, haha.

And when they strike their bargain, I instantly saw the genius of the story that Lukens had crafted. The romance of it swept me off my feet. I felt the same way while reading So This Is Ever After--everything drawing the two of them together, despite all intents and purposes being quite different. And I loved it. In as non spoilery a way as I can say, the ending was peak fairy tale vibes once again. The whole book felt that way, but by the end of the story I really felt like I had read some wintery fairy tale of monsters and darkness and heroes and light, and it was such a beautiful and heart-warming journey.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy!

F.T. Lukens has a certain formula for building their books, and it works (for me) every time. I really liked this book, and this may be a minor detail, but I thought that it was nice that the nonbinary character was a person and not the supernatural being in the relationship. It’s fairly unimportant in the grand scheme of things (gender is incredibly not important in this story) but I appreciated it. Honestly I don’t have much else to say.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC and the opportunity to review this lovely title.

What I enjoyed: the cover (gorgeous), the premise, the LQBQT+ representation, the characters, the lore, the slow burn romance
What was so-so: it was a little predictable, but is that really an issue? I go back and forth on this.
What missed: nothing, really. What a treat!

I look forward to reading more F.T. Lukens novels!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC!

This was so cozy and lighthearted. The perfect read for when you just want to enjoy getting lost in another world. It was a fast read with a good pace and the world building was easy to understand. The characters were fun, I enjoyed their interactions with each other.

coziest, cutest fantasy romance i've ever read. and i totally loved the vibes of both main chars! one weakness was that the conflicts were alittle glossed over at times. 4.5 thanks for the arc NetGalley

3.5 stars. This was very cute! I was drawn in by the lovely cover and the premise sounded great, plus it was able to quickly capture my attention when I was sinking into a mini book slump.

This was mostly delightful! I enjoyed the first half more than the second; I found some parts of the second half to be slow and too description-heavy. But the characters were great! Loved Ellery and Knox, plus the found family elements were so fun. My favorite side character was Bram!

I’ve been in a Greek myth mood lately so I was pleasantly surprised to notice some elements of that throughout this book, especially the end. Will probably check out another Lukens book in the future.

Another AMAZING story from Lukens! This book was so cozy and warm (eternal winter aside lol).

The love Ellery and Knox share is so unique and tender. We get to see just how far each of them are willing to crawl through for each other and I love at the end how much their love was tested.

Looking at them at individual characters, Ellery is first introduced as a hard core non believer in ANY supernatural activities and it isn’t until we get further into their story was their faith was crushed. Through Knox, Ellery learns to acknowledge the good in the bad occurrences. On the opposite side, Knox brings a sweet but realistic naivety to someone loosing faith in something they never had a reasons to distrust. Through Ellery, Knox learns is gained rather than blindly won.

I HIGHLY recommend this book, especially for people who are into mythology/hadestown fans!

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this advanced copy.

FT Lukens back again, darling. In this book, just like another books by FT Lukens, the cozy feelings is all over the book. It is cute and sweet. And the characters are adorable, especially Knox. I love how he learn to be more selfish.

But, sometimes I feel the conflicts sweep away too fast and a bit anti-climatic.

I al looking forward to read all next books by FT Lukens.

I liked Spell Bound, F.T. Lukens previous novel a tiny bit more, but this one is definitely the most coziest.

I think Otherworldly is very similar in writing, characters and world building to Spell Bound. So, if you loved that one, I believe you will love this one too!

F.T. Lukens is a magician in pulling readers into a story without letting go until the end. It’s everything, their flashed-out characters, their blunt but warm writing, and despite their novels being fantasy, I liked Spell Bound, F.T. Lukens's previous novel, a tiny bit more, but this one is definitely the most coziest.

I think Otherworldly is very similar in writing, characters, and world-building to Spell Bound. So, if you loved that one, I believe you will love this one too!

F.T. Lukens is a magician who pulls readers into a story without letting go until the end. It’s everything, their flashed-out characters, their blunt but warm writing, and, despite their novels being fantasy, dealing with so many real-life teen issues. This all makes their stories easily readable, even for people like me who tend to lean towards contemporary.

Otherworldly is a bit of a grumpy/sunshine story, Ellery being the grumpy one and Knox the sunny one. I really liked Ellery, who was hilarious at times, and his protectiveness made me warm on the inside, but I fell head over heels in love with sweet and bright Knox. Such a cinnamon roll! Their romance was just so cute. My jaws hurt from smiling, especially in the second half of the story.

I know this one comes out in April, but I think since it’s set in winter, Otherworldly is a perfect story to read in front of a cozy hearth. Let’s hope for snow in April! Or not if you hate snow or cold weather. Just read it whenever you want to, and let the story and the romance lift you up!

F.T. Lukens has done it again!!! Absolutely AMAZING and so wholesome. This was such a cozy, relaxing, and fun read!

F.T. Lukens does a fantastic job of writing characters with complex backstories and the most wholesome relationships ever. I fell in love with these characters, but Charley may have been my favorite. She was just so funny and so much like myself that it was easy to enjoy her character! Ellery was just adorable. They were truly a gem and I wanted nothing but the best for them. Zada was a joy whenever her name popped up! Her and Charley were so lovely together. Knox was so easy to feel for. He deserves the world.

The writing was very well done. There’s something about the author’s writing style that immediately pulls me in every time. I love how they balance the romance and plot perfectly and seamlessly.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

As a fan of FT Lukens other novels I was very excited to recieve an arc for Otherworldly.

This novel follows the crossroads spirit Knox and the teenage Ellery who has lost all faith in magic after a five year winter has ruined his family’s livelihood on their farm. Together they make a deal to help Knox experience the human world (ala the things he had seen in streaming tv shows and movies about teens) and to help Ellery figure out the cause of the winter and how to end it. Along the way they just might fall in love.

As usual the characters are super relatable, especially Ellery who has a rough relationship with his parents and his cousin Charley, who is more of a big sister that reminds him to be a teenager and experience life rather than shutting himself away. The found family feels are all present in this book, same as Lukens’ others.

However I did find the progression of the romance and the slow burn a little too much like the previous novels, even though they are all stand alones. This one especially reminded me of Spellbound. I would have liked a bit of new content and differences between the characters.

Overall the novel had a cozy feel and a conclusion that leaves the reader pleased.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this novel!

This book is similar to other Lukens novels (I do enjoy the grumpy/sunshine troupe used in this book and the other Lukens novels) with the romance and the fantasy aspect, essentially urban fantasy. I enjoyed the set-up of this book, and it was quite fast-paced with the plot involving fantasy, though I did find the romance parts to be a bit slow, mainly in the first half of the book. The 2nd half definitely picked up. I really loved the development of the secondary characters, though I wanted a bit more development of Ellery. Their backstory was interesting, and I just wanted some more of it. Knox was fantastic, and I absolutely loved his personality as well as his development.

I definitely recommend this book if you have read other Lukens novels. I also recommend this book for anyone wanting an LGBTQ+ book that showcases the use of different pronouns, which I consider a strength of Lukens's writing.

F.T Lukens has perfectly crafted a cozy winter romance tale. The main protagonist in this story Ellery and Knox have amazing chemistry with each other. The supporting cast are just charming. Otherworldly action and lore draws the reader in but the relationships that the characters exhibit truly captative the audience. I would recommend this story to anyone who is looking for a sweet queer winter romance that packs a punch.

★ ★ ★ ★ • 4

Perfect read for the winter season. Otherworldly is a young adult, urban fantasy with story-original gods/goddesses and mythology. If you’ve read any other books by the same author and enjoyed them, you’ll definitely like this one as well.

The story follows Knox, a familiar in need of a bargain to keep himself in the human world for just awhile longer and Ellery, a human in need of answers. Together, the two of them investigate what happened to The Goddess and all of the mysteries surrounding her silence/disappearance, while unexpectedly developing feelings for each other.

Aside from Ellery and Knox, Otherworldly also features a lot of great side/supporting characters and various mythological creatures. Overall, really enjoyable read to start off the new year.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review!