Thank you to Netgalley,BHC and Amy Kuivalainen for providing me with a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great Novella. The pacing was perfect, the characters believeable and well developed. The slow burn had just the right amount of tension. The only thing that felt a bit lacking was the world building but as this is a Novella in an existing world, I think reading the main trilogy would solve that. This is the only reason I am not giving it 4 stars. It absolutely stands on its own as a great read but I have a feeling that I would have been even more invested in Soren and Aramis if I knew them from the rest of the series.

It reminds me of the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs, you can read and enjoy it but if you have read Mercy Thompson, you can read it and adore it.

I'll definitely be adding The Firebird Faerie Tales to my TBR.

This book is a lot of fun and a very quick read, making it perfect for fans of light romantasy without the need for a lot of world-building. I think that the vibes and the humour are the best things about it - it made me laugh and I enjoyed every page, despite there being some flaws. I'd happily read a sequel to this story as I enjoyed the characters and it was a nice way to unwind after a more in-depth read.

The pacing of the story is very very quick, which is good as you get right into the action. However, sometimes the action happens so quickly that you're left trying to work out what the hell just happened. It also meant that the big finale was a bit ruined as it was squeezed into a chapter and no real explanation for things was given.

While I liked the characters and enjoyed the banter, I found that some of the dialogue was a bit stilted and wasn't how real people talk. The author has a habit of not abbreviating common phrases (say do not instead of don't, for example) and it took me out of it a bit, which is a shame when the rest of the dialogue is fast-moving.

There isn't a whole lot of world-building, which is fine as it's all about the action, but I still got to grips with the world. However, I was left wanting to know more, so I think adding a bit more and making the book slightly longer wouldn't have been a bad thing. At points, I was left feeling like I needed to read an initial book to get into the story and fully understand the characters' motivations.

The romance was good if a bit insta-lovey, but I expected that for a short book. Good spice was promised throughout but it was a bit lacking.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and would read a sequel. If you're a fan of Sherrilyn Kenyon, this book is definitely one for you.

I loved this book. I've read all the other books in the Firebird Faerie Tales series and this one is my favorite. Amy Kuivalanen's ability to weave a story is remarkable. She has an ability to write characters that are relatable, damaged, and funny. Reading Of Starlight & Midnight takes us to Søren & Aramais from the earlier Tales. It's been a few years since Anya and they've found a path forward after all the destruction caused by Yanka. Søren & Aramais are on the hunt for items looted from Svetilo. Of course this leads to two ladies who bring new secrets to be uncovered. Asta & Tyra aren't looking to get tangled up with two Ljósálfar. Things change when Asta is attacked and Søren rescues her.

One thing I enjoy most about Amy's stories is the way she writes female characters. Her FMCs are nuanced & older than the typical 20 something ingenue that is typical in fantasy series. They don't shy away from the dark/damaged parts of themselves or the worlds they live in. Asta & Tyra both have their own traumas but they don't let that be their defining feature. Amy's characters often find strength in embracing the dark & traumatized parts of themselves & others. Experiencing how the four characters navigate this is what makes the resolution so satisfying. If you like second chances, redemption arcs, found family, magic, elves, and flirting as combat then I highly recommend Of Starlight & Midnight.

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc copy of this book for an honest review.

It was an interesting read. I liked that the author used a lot of description to keep me interested. I did personally not enjoy the excessive use of dialogue. But that's a personal preference and shouldn't hinder other readers from engaging with Asta and Soren through their epic endeavours.

Firstly, thank you to Net Galley for providing me with a copy of this ARC.
Of Starlight and Midnight is a spin-off story from Amy Kuivalainen’s “The Firebird Faerie Tales”.
Of Starlight and Midnight follows Asta posing as a Librarian working at the University of Oslo. She is in hiding after her mother's sudden passing alongside her overprotective cousin Tyra. The only thing Asta has left of her mother is a book. A book that eventually causes her paths to cross with the arrogant Dr. Søren Madsen, who is there to work on his book, or so he says anyway. Suddenly attacked by Dark Elves, Asta’s world is flipped on its head and it turns out there is a lot more about the world, herself and the very handsome, very arrogant Dr. Søren that she needs to wrap her head around and learn as quickly as possible.

I went in hesitantly with this book, I’d just come off a previous one that I had really struggled with, but I have to say that this one completely flipped everything pulling me out of the beginnings of a reading slump and just consumed me. The story follows four main characters, Asta, Søren, Aramis and Tyra in what at the time really felt like the beginnings of an epic fantasy tale taking heavily from Norse mythology. I later came to learn that this story is a spinoff book from Kuivalainen’s The Firebird Faerie Tales and 5th book in all of that, so I’m definitely going to have to go back at some point and read the others.
The chemistry between all the characters was enjoyable, it was cheeky and flirtatious and it never got tiresome. I do wish the tale had been a smidge longer as I feel that, particularly in the latter half, a lot of information and events were packed into the last few chapters leaving me with questions about context and prior events that I’m going to have to figure out or wait for the next instalment if there is one.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, I just wish there was more of it.

<i> Another fantastic addition to the Firebird Faerie Tales series. </i>

I don't know about anyone else, but I finished Rise of the Firebird and immediately was like, " BUT WHAT ABOUT SOREN AND ARAMIS??? WHAT ABOUT THE HOT ELVES??". And as usual, Amy gives us simple mortals what we desire and even more than we could have hoped.

This book was full of hot elves, magic, evil villains, and two badass heroines. Tyra and Asta were such seamless additions to this world and I cannot get over how perfect they fit with our two broody boys. Tyra was the chaotic force that I so desperately wanted for our poor Aramis. Seeing those two dance/fight around each other until the tension was too great? *chef's kiss* And then we have Asta, who was a pleasant surprise, I loved her duality of softness and determination. She and Soren fit so well together, and I loved her ability to sneak past his long-built walls and enchant this dark hero. They both have experienced such intense grief in their lives and I felt their connection came across as effortless.

I loved our plot twist ending, but cannot help but feel like Amy is teasing me and leaving me in anticipation for a novella of Tyra and Aramis going to find her father... IFYKYK

All in all, I adored every second of this book and I cannot wait to see what Amy has in store next.

* A big thank you NetGalley and BHC Press for the ARC! *

I’ll start by saying I didn’t realize this was a spin off and have not read the author’s previous work. That said, I don’t feel that it was necessary to understand most of this book.

While I liked the plot and the characters, I felt overall this needed a bit more work toward the end. The resolution felt too easy and I wanted a little more tension. I also enjoyed the lore, but could’ve used a little more world building. The characters had great banter and I appreciated the humor throughout, although I did not enjoy the insta-love aspect. I think building tension in every aspect was lacking in this book. I would say this was medium paced for me, but I never found myself losing interest. The writing style was easy enough to follow and made for a quick read.

Overall I enjoyed this book, but I probably wouldn’t read it again.

Thank you to NetGalley, BHC, and the author for an eARC of this book.

Fun story with humorous characters and a unique storyline. I enjoyed Amy Kuivalainen's Of Starlight and Midnight.

The plot was a fast-paced, multi-POV story, but it was set in a previous world created by Kuivalainen. I think she does a good job of balancing this spin-off story. Amy makes each of the characters unique and their voices are strong. I think that helps to keep the story moving. I loved their dialogue and off-beat humor. It was a nice change from what I had been reading previously.

I hope to get more from these characters in the future.

I want to start this off by saying that I read this with very few/little expectations. I read The Exorcist and the Demon Hunter and did not like it. I ended up DNF-ing it around 25%, due to the characters not being relatable or likable in my opinion. I also couldn't get into the writing.

I was pleased that that wasn't the case for this book. I don't know much, if anything, about Norse mythology so I went into the book blind but wasn't too out of the loop. At least it wasn't anything a quick Google search couldn't help with.

Likes:
Easy to read outside of the names of places and people - The narrator's voice didn't make me hate reading the book, which is something that I found was a big issue with TEatDH
Likable characters - I found myself really enjoying the characters in this book, which is a welcome change to the last book I attempted to read by AK. They each had traits that were decently relatable, and the banter between them was pretty entertaining. Conflict resolution felt a bit elementary though.


Dislikes:
No pronunciation guide - I feel like all fantasy books should have these but most don't, so I'm used to it. But it would still be nice because I suck at pronouncing locations and names correctly, and I'd imagine there are others that would appreciate it as well.
Fantasy Insta-love - not a fan of love at first site tropes/tropes adjacent to them. Leaves a lot to be desired.
The book ended kind of abruptly - I feel like it could have been a few chapters longer? I feel like I didn't get the resolution that I wanted while I was reading. I would have been fine with a short epilogue, honestly. The ending just left me with a lot of questions.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I was able to read it and understand what was happening without having read the book in the Firebird Faerie Tales series. And I think I might read that series now that I read this, I just hope the voice is the same as OSaM.

I will say that I think the climax and ending fell a bit flat, but I didn't expect much in that regard after seeing that the book was under 300 pages. I think a couple of the earlier chapters could have been sacrificed to give them more time to develop connections and add tension towards the end. Especially after they realize that something was going to happen sooner rather than later, I would have liked to see more of what happened/what could have happened during that time. Maybe more training for Asta, I think that would have been cool.

Solid 4/5 read and I'm very appreciative of NetGalley, BHC, and Amy Kuivalainen for giving me the opportunity to read Of Starlight and Midnight ahead of publishing.

Thank you for letting me read this copy prior to being published!

As someone who hasn’t read any other books from the series, this book was a good read, but I also felt kinda lost at times!.

Although, thanks to this book I now want to read the other books and I will have to re-read this book once I finish reading the series and get a proper opinion about it.

This book was well written and I enjoyed reading it.

This book is a spin off from the author's previous series. I have not read that series, and it didn't feel like I needed to in order to understand the story in this book. I had an overall mixed response. This is first and foremost romantasy, which I really love. I liked some of the elements of this including some hints of grumpy/sunshine, which I also love. I found the book easy to read and pretty bingeable. I did think strong feelings developed pretty quickly for my taste. There wasn't much character development across the story. The biggest issue I had was the ending which without spoilers, felt like let down relative to the significant build up across the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and BHC Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All expressed opinions are my own.

Loved revisiting these characters and this world. This is a novella set in the Firebird Faerie Tales and I think it’s probably easier to enjoy if that series is read first though this could be read as a standalone. I liked the romance in this book but some of it felt rushed. However, the authors writing is so lyrical and beautiful I will pretty much read anything she writes. Would recommend for all fantasy romance lovers.

First let me say that I have not read the Firebird Faerie Tales. While I wasn’t completely lost, I don’t think I enjoyed the story as much as I could have.

I was bored by Asta and Soren. I didn’t think that their characters developed throughout the book. The sexy librarian gimmick got old as soon as it was mentioned, as was all the mentions of how short Asta was. These two like to talk about each other, but not to each other.

What I did like was the chemistry between Tyra and Aramis. They should have been the focus of the book.

If you like the insta-love story with a bit of spice, then this will be right up your alley, but not if you want a book with more plot and character development.

This book did make me want to learn more about Norse mythology. The extent of my knowledge was the Thor movies and the New Zealand television show The Almighty Johnsons, which is embarrassing.



Thank you Netgalley and Amy Kuivalainen for allowing me to read the ARC.

Epic fantasy adventure, with plenty of heat! Magic, secrets, royal hijinks, revenge, and yes, building simmer that underlies a complex and fantastical world. Will keep you holding your breath until the satisfying end. Hope to see more!

A quick and fun read, and filled with lots of magic and banter, this book was pretty enjoyable. I loved the Norse mythology elements, and the characters were all likable and had good chemistry. I especially liked Aramis and Tyra’s development. My only gripe with it was how short it was. I wanted to know more about the world, and everything felt very rushed. A lot of the world building and story set up was given to us in the form of the characters talking about it, which felt like an info dump. I would have preferred to have more scenes with more “show, don’t tell” vibes. I feel like this book would have been so much better if it had more depth and took its time, but I still really enjoyed it.

I had a chance at reading this title thanks to the publishers BHC Press and Netgalley. This is my honest opinion.

This is part of a series, a spin-off novella. It can be read without knowledge of the series as I was able to do so.

It was a decent read, though I did have a couple of issues with the book. I did enjoy the fantasy creatures aspect and the use of mythology in the book. It was decently paced. Wasn't hard to follow for someone who hasn't read the previous spin off's or series it comes from. The action was decent.

The struggles I had, the book was more romance driven, it felt (to me anyway) than plot or character driven. It used instalove not once but twice in it, and for someone who isn't super big on romance centred books, this is by far my least favourite trope. There were sex scenes, but it wasn't anything too extreme, which is good. I'm not a fan as I find things like that boring if it's not pivotal to the story, and to me, the focus was heavy on their relationships than the other things in the book.

Another struggle I had was some of the vocabulary and terms used by some of the characters. It was extremely modern vs. the age of the characters using it. I guess this could have been because of them being a jillion years old. The author wanted them to blend with the modern times, but it still felt off to me.

Lastly, the big gasps scene was a little annoying to me due to how it unfolded and what happened. I guess I felt like part of it was predictable.

All in all, I enjoyed the aspects I liked enough to give it a 3 star. If you like romance driven stories or instalove, this one is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and BHC Press for the opportunity to read rate and review this arc which will be available 3/19/24!

So you will definitely have to read another series by this author in order to understand anything that is happening in Norse/Russian inspired romantasy. I was lost the entire time. It annoyed me endlessly. It was well written and fun but honestly read the series that this is spun off of if you want to have any inkling of what is goingony

I have mixed feelings about my rating for this one. Was this book for me? Absolutely not. Did it do what it set out to do? Absolutely. Would I recommend this to my friends? Probably not...unless a friend told me they wanted to read a novella about strictly-hetero horny elves, and then I would say, "Boy, do I have THE book for you." It was a light, fun. fast-paced romp, and outside of a few personal icks, completely harmless. I have not read the series this book is a spin-off of, but it works as a standalone.

Thanks to NetGalley and BHC Press for the advanced copy in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This is a spinoff novel that features characters from the Firebird Faerie Tales, which can be read independently of the other books in the series (but now I want to go back and read the whole series). There is some insight into Norse Mythology, which is one of my favorites but admittedly don't know as much about it as I'd like to. Asta is grieving the death of her mother and trying to get answers on the strange and mysterious book she inherited from her mother. She doesn't expect to clash with Dr. Søren Madsen, the arrogant, rich doctor who comes in asking for help. We realize that Søren isn't exactly who he claims to be when they are attacked by dark elves. But Søren and his brother Aramis also believe Asta isn't who she believes she is, either.

I fell in love with the characters in this series. I think that Amy Kuivalainen did an amazing job with this spinoff. Like I said, I didn't read the main series, but I am definitely adding them to my tbr. The concept of the book is really fun and I liked the authors style of writing. I think that there was a lot of world building happening, that might have been easier to understand if I had read the other books in the series. I liked the characters more than the plot. I understood what was happening but it was hard to follow in some areas. Overall, I do recommend this one, I think it was probably a good edition to the series and I wish there was a sequel coming to hear more about the ending of the story. I feel it left a lot to desire.

Thank you to NetGalley, BHC Press and Amy Kuivalainen for the eARC of Of Starlight and Midnight in exchange for an honest review. Publication date for Of Starlight and Midnight by Amy Kuivalainen is set for 19 March 2024.

Just to preface this review - I admittedly know little to none about Norse mythology and I also have not read the main books that this one is a spin off of. The concept is great, honestly, burly elf brothers, touch her (either hers) and die vibes, found family, fmc coming into her newfound magic, good banter, couple of spicy scenes, interesting read with two equally main couples, multi pov, adventure, action. It just seemed too slow, but equally too fast for me.. if I can make that make sense. The overall plot seemed slow, not a whole lot happens, but then the relationships of the two main character couples just blasts on by. Instalove, professing our undying love in a week after being single for 2k years type of instalove. I was just a little lost at times and maybe that was due to not reading the main books, but there were some strange (for me) change of scene that seemed to flip out of nowhere and some characters who probably have more backstory. It made it hard for me to really get into and emerse myself. Maybe just needs a little more editing to make it flow easier and I need to read the rest of the books

Thank you to NetGalley, BHC Press and Amy Kuivslainen for the opportunity to read and review this arc