I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. Will I remember it until the day I die? Probably not. Will I continue to series and recommend it to friends who like the genre? Oh yes.

❤️ Relatable, awkward FMC
❤️ Banter and pranks
❤️ Mystery and court intrigue
❤️ Trauma rep
❤️ Cliffhanger ending
❌ Too many ramblings from the FMC
❌ Inconsistent pacing
❌ Some cringey dialogues

Trigger warnings: violence, blood and gore, murder and death, grief, parental infidelity and abandonment, self-harm.

Plot:
Isabel is the royal physician of a tiny island caught between warring kingdoms. She spends her days trying to keep the queen from dying and the mad king from acting out. When her best friend is brutally murdered, she starts looking for answers and uncovering terrifying secrets. Seeking vengeance, she will be tasked with infiltrating the enemy and wooing an attractive army general in order to find and steal a powerful weapon that could turn the tides.

There were many things I loved about this book, like the simple yet captivating worldbuilding and magic system, the humour, the trauma and healing rep, the sweet romance, the tension. I had mixed feeling at first, due to the slow start, but by the end I was totally captivated. It was perhaps a little too YA for me. (The book is marketed as a new adult fantasy, but it’s really more YA in my opinion.) The bittersweet cliffhanger ending was great and made me want to read more.

Note: a bonus open-door spicy scene and a bonus scene from Erik’s POV are available.

Characters:
Probably one of this book’s strong suits. Isabel was such a fun and smart, relatable, wonderfully awkward FMC. It was nice not to follow *just another* stabby and needlessly confrontational warrior princess. Instead, we get a healer-turned-spy with no fighting skills who turns out to be the worst spy ever. Erik, the MMC, was intriguing, unpredictable, and swoony. Such a flirt! I loved it. The side characters were also awesome.

Writing:
Overall, I enjoyed Page’s smooth and sharp writing style. However, a few things got on my nerves. I enjoyed Isabel’s ramblings at first, and thought it made her character relatable. But at some point, it was just… too much. Perhaps these were fixed in the final version, but there were a few confusing, under-edited sentences that made me go “wait, what?” I also feel like some cringey dialogues should have been reworked a little.

The writing was so confusing to me. However, the lover’s boxes and the Vald magic was very unique, I enjoyed that. Also how Erik and Isabel are different from your usual main characters. But overall, the writing was not good for me, like I said it was confusing a lot of times. The good scenes were mostly when there was dialogue present.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

I was excited to get my hands on this book after reading all the great reviews.

I really liked Isy and she felt very real to me. Her journey throughout the book is great.

I loved the bonding that happened throughout the book- I see you & you matter 😭

I enjoyed seeing all the pieces come together near the end of the book and will be on the lookout for the sequel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This didn't quite do it for me, which is a shame as I did enjoy the overall plot (although didn't realise I was setting myself up for another at least duology! Oops!)

I think I kept being taken out of the story by Isy's internal monologue, which occasionally felt too modern for the setting. I did find her a sympathetic character though and it was nice to have an FMC that didn't instantly go in with stabbing things as conflict resolution.

I would recommend it though if you're a fan of romantasy as it was a good read.

My first ARC read and I was so excited! Enemies to lovers, slow burn, magical elements, this looked 100% my thing. This book comes out on the 16th July, so you can pre-order it now 😍🙌

👍🏼 Things I Loved:

~ The ending! Omg I was not expecting this story to end there and now I need to know what happens! What a cliffhanger!
~ The baseline story is actually rather good. I love an apprentice accelerated-success story, especially in a fantasy novel. There’s so many ways it can go.
~ The characters are engaging and likeable. There are no ‘meh’ characters really, which can make a story drag sometimes.

👎🏼 Things I Didn’t Like:

~ The writing was okay and got better throughout the book, but I felt the whole first half of the book could have been rewritten with better descriptive language, scene-setting, and perhaps a bit more character-building. It felt rushed and basic.
~ Whilst playful, some of the writing was a bit childish. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but there was sexual tension that was dealt with like they were 16 year olds rather than grown adults, it was a bit odd at times!
~ Whether on purpose or not, there were a lot of references to water/mist/rain/condensation that the lack of anything else showed.

Overall Thoughts:
It’s a good story and I liked a lot of elements to it, and I feel that way the story has been left is an excellent setup to the sequel which I will look forward to reading in the future.

Really enjoyed this novel and I’m grateful to the author that I was able to read it before its official debut. I’m excited to see what the next book In this series brings. I enjoyed the tropes and I’m hoping for a bigger delve into the main characters! I also loved the dual POV and am hoping for some more POVs as the series goes on. The characters had great growth for an introductory novel and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!!!

I really wanted to like this book, I did. It had all of the elements I usually love: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn, and dramione coded!! Unfortunately, it fell short for me.

One of the main issues I had was the pacing. The book was really slow to start off, although it did pick up in the last like 49%. There wasn’t much world building at the beginning, it felt a bit like it was thrown in at random points so I feel like I never really understood the politics or the magic system. Flash forward to end, and suddenly everything was moving too quickly. It felt like the author didn’t know where she was going with the ending until she got to the ending, and as a result it all felt disconnected.

I also didn’t super love the writing style. It felt a bit clunky, especially with the dialogue. As a result, I was really struggling to envision the story playing out and the characters interacting in my head.

Finally, the development of the romantic relationship felt unnatural to me. This was supposed to be a slow burn enemies to lovers. However, it lacked the tension building that is critical to a good slow burn, and the transition from enemies to lovers was too sudden for me.

All that said, I did like both the fmc and mmc. I think the author did a good job with the character development of the fmc, as well as the character development of many of the side characters. I thought the conflict was interesting, and the magic system was unique!! This story definitely has promise, but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me.

I hope Isy can see all 5 stars.. (lol)

I want to start off by saying thank you to Sarah for seeing me, and for seeing all of us.

I finished this book in 2 days and if you would have asked me at the beginning if that would have been the case, I’m not sure I would’ve said yes.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this at first. From the notes I wrote in the beginning, I had a lot of questions about things and at some points felt like I was thrown into this world, and was holding on for dear life through the twists and turns. but as I continued to white-knuckle it, find my bearings and dare to venture forth, everything started to illuminate around me.

Around page 150 is when I began getting lost, I was enchanted by the tension between Isy and Erik and was glued to my screen. I was reading at night before I went to bed, in the morning when I woke up, in the shower, during breaks at work, I couldn’t stop. I was fully immersed.

At page 265 I wrote: “the story has been so engaging that I haven’t remembered to write down my thoughts” I loved the banter between Erik and Isy and their dynamic. It was hard seeing such self loathing characters but there’s so much beauty in finding love amongst the scars.

The way Erik “sees” Isy despite her anxiety, her fears and worries, panic attacks, self harm and mental health battles is beautiful and the way Isy loves Erik the same way. The aspect of mental health in this book is really refreshing to see. It’s also not in your face.. it’s more subtle things here and there that are weaved into the story like the pressure point for panic attacks etc. it was so tastefully done and resonated wholly with me.

I really admire when authors take it upon themselves to include themes that are important for the betterment of humanity like mental health and self love and show readers that it’s okay to struggle and to go through hard things and that it doesn’t make you any less valuable or beautiful, in fact it makes you stronger and provides depth of character.

As someone who struggles with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) The idea that we all have two choices when it comes to the unknown and that which scares us; either to cower and succumb to the “quiet life” or to reach within ourselves to show our potential and make a difference, was something I’ve struggled with for years, and to see this FMC’s mastery of this ability play out was truly inspiring and a reminder that there is strength in not just me but in all of us, no matter how “small”.

Overall, I am so glad this was my first ARC review and I am so enriched by and excited for this book. The beautifully written and carefully thought out details, the emotional depth of the characters and the twists and turns kept me highly engaged, intrigued, and delighted throughout this book. I very much hope I'll be asked to review other books in this series again in the future as it was my honest pleasure and delight! Thank you so much to NetGalley and Shadow Forge Publishing for allowing me the honor of reviewing this masterpiece! I can't wait for the full release and for books to come! <3

I read Illusion of Stars in one day, and it was so much fun. I enjoyed the characters, the plot, the enemies to lovers greatness. I loved the fairytale within the story weaving things together and watching the prophecy come true. I loved the FMC who admits her faults and challenges her personal limits without being an overnight expert at everything. I loved the magic.
To Sarah Marie Page: Thank you, ma'am, may I please have another 😂
Massive thanks as well to NetGalley and Shadow Forge Publishing for this ARC!

Illusion of Stars by Sarah Marie Page is a romantasy novel and the story of Isabel and Erik.
 
I liked the cover and blurb and was so excited to read this story inspired by Scandinavian mythology and I’m always down for a good enemies-to-lovers fantasy, but something was just missing for me. In a lot of ways this was a very basic fantasy novel, and the world building was rather minimal, and I couldn’t really picture the places.
 
It’s mainly character driven, and our protagonist Isabel is an apprentice physician and she works very hard. Her kingdom is crumbling with a sick king, a dying queen, and an absent prince, but there’s nothing much she can do about it. She was a fun character and I loved seeing the interaction with her friend Katrina and she totally didn’t deserve what happened to her. One day she discovers something and therefore wants to save her home and infiltrates the neighboring enemy kingdom. Isabel had a lot of willpower and strength, but at the same time she was very unqualified for the spying job and that made the book very immature and juvenile and that was also reflected in the writing style.
 
Erik is the heir and illusion-magic wielding son of the neighboring kingdom, and he is the one Isabel needs to get close to. This book is marketed as an enemies-to-lovers story and that doesn’t really come across much. In addition, the story barely has any angst, and the steam is mainly fade-to-black which made the romance way too slow and the feelings didn’t fully come across for me.
 
Overall, if you’re looking for a slow burn and not steamy ya fantasy, this might be for you. 3 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

4 ☆

this book is marketed as enemies-to-lovers, and whilst that is true on a broader level, the enemies side of things, between the two main characters, didn’t really hit the spot for me. i love their relationship and the back and forth between them, but the ‘dislike’ probably lasted a few pages, if that, so if you’re a huge enemies-to-lovers fan, just be aware of that going into this book

this book is about isabel, a physician, wanting to become the royal physician. she is from a little town and thinks of herself as a nobody, so she’s trying to prove herself. as the story unfolds, there’s a murder and instead of proving herself, she wants to make the death of someone she loved, to matter, so she sets out to befriend the enemy to try and learn their secrets and report back. erik, a kings son, who has never felt worthy is whole life, is the person she needs to befriend. she acts as a guide for him and his men, and her quest for vengeance begins.


『 tropes 』
• enemies-to-lovers
• slow burn
• magic system
• murder
• world building

『 plot 』
i enjoyed the plot, it was fun to read and was very fast paced and an easy world building to understand. there were times where it felt rushed, but for me, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. i loved the magic aspect in this story, and the mystery surrounding the lovers box. it was interesting to see how it affected people differently and what they had to sacrifice. i loved that we only ever got a glimpse of erik and isabel’s pasts, it always kept me wanting to read on to find out more and try and figure them out.

『 characters 』
i enjoyed the characters, mostly. i do feel some of them lacked depth, like they were just filler characters and didn’t really bring anything to the story. erik, isabel and signey kept me in this book. i loved the relationship formed between erik and isabel. i liked that isabel could get erik to open up and softened with her. signey was an enigma, i both hated and loved her and i can’t wait to read more about her in the second book. i did like bo and kasper, but i feel like they needed more depth. katrina was ok, i loved her in the beginning, her friendship with isabel was sweet and they had each others backs, but towards the end i feel like that friendship wasn’t important? which didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

『 overall 』
i enjoyed it, it had me hooked from the first page, and had me wanting to know everything.. i’m glad there is going to be a second book and i look forward to seeing where the author takes these characters and how the story develops.

Such an amazing book. I was hooked from the first page, emersed in a beautiful, fantastical world. The characters were so wonderfully written and their chemistry was excellent. The plot was incredible, thrilling the entire time. I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to all fantasy readers. Cannot rave enough about how good this book was.

I definitely enjoyed but didn’t love this book. It is very definitely YA and hit a little young for my liking. There is quite minimal spice which is how I prefer my books. I think some of the modern language in a more primitive world threw me out a little at times.
Isabel is quite frankly a dreadful spy and it was quite difficult to fully buy into her attempts although this is somewhat part of the story. I did like Erik and the other Volgaard and the evolution of the relationship between them and Isabel. Some of the tricks she played on them were pretty funny.
I will definitely read the second in the duology when it is released thanks to the major cliffhanger ending!

I really enjoyed this book so much, the characters and the unique magic system add in the banter between Isy and Erik which was so highly entertaining and gave some of my favourite moments.

It did take me a little while to fully get into as the pacing was a little slow in the beginning and I found it took a little longer to fully connect with the characters but once I did I completely became engaged in their story and found it such an enjoyable read. The chemistry between Isy and Erik was filled with so much tension and angst from their very first meeting, I always love enemies to lovers and this one didn’t disappoint.

I can’t wait to see what comes next and I highly recommend this little gem of a romantasy if you love a enemies to lovers filled with all the tension and angst without any of the spice and a really interesting plot.

Thank you so much to the author and NetGalley for the digital arc.

Wonderful debut from a new author. Sarah Marie Page's The Illusion of Stars does a wonderful job of balancing high stakes fantasy with light-hearted moments of fun and humor.

The story takes place from the point of view of the FMC, Isabel. Isabel starts this book trying to assert herself and achieve the job of royal physician, despite dealing with feelings of inadequacy that stem from childhood experiences. The course of her life changes when her childhood friend Hans is murdered. She is tasked with spying on a group of Volds - hostile enemies from a neighboring country that have come to her country's shores. Acting as a guide as they explore her country, she tries to make contact with her handler, but Isabel is quite possibly the worst spy known to existence. Instead of spying, she finds herself making friends, fighting attraction, and being swept up in a much larger plot of destruction. While Isabel starts off as this seemingly naïve character, she has these moments were you see her strength and deviousness. I can't wait to see that grow in second book.

I also hope we get Erik's , the MMC, POV in book two. He is a sweet cinnamon roll that tries to act morally grey, but is truly just looking for connections in a world that has largely rejected and used him. The romance between the two is build from a place of people understanding and seeing each other on a level that no one else has taken the time to do. It was fun watching them feel each other out has they danced around each other.

The story moves along quickly before exploding into a dramatic cliffhanger conclusion. Definitely going to need to know what happens next!
4.5/5

Illusion of Stars
Sarah Marie Page

What can I say? Sarah Marie Page, you took all of my favorite tropes, mixed them together in a bowl and added some magic to create this masterpiece! I listened to this ARC in one sitting and needed a ridiculous amount of coffee to get through work the next day. Absolutely worth it. Isabel- A clever, witty healer who is a terrible spy and a tad stabby. Seeking vengeance for her murdered friend and saving her defenseless nation. Erik- An exceptionally powerful enemy from Volgaard who can use magic to make you see whatever he wants. The banter is snarky, the slow burn is steamy, the magnetic pull is tense and there’s only one horse. There are so many twists and turns and I chewed through this story like it was candy. This book is one to look out for, it is going to be on everyones rec lists. 5 stars.

I went into this not knowing a thing and I was so surprised by how great it is! The chemistry between the main characters is fantastic and it is witty and exciting. I couldn’t put it down. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good romantasy/fantasy. Will be adding to our library.

This was a completely fantastic story that pulled me in with humor and sarcasm from the beginning! Amazing character development and relationship building, fantastic banter and wit, and expert story crafting went into this book. It was heartbreaking, hopeful, and so purely magical. You will not regret going on this adventure.

Isabel is a feisty and strong character who, like many of us, feels her own self doubt around her like a cloak. She wants so badly to be enough for everyone around her, and any small failure feels like falling off the edge of a cliff. Her journey with self doubt and self harm is one that we don't see often in fantasy, and I liked the way her story was told with that as a part of who she is at the very fabric of her core.

Erik is a soldier through and through. He's magic. He's powerful, and he's....an idiot. He drags Isabel along as their guide under the agreement that it will help keep peace between their people, but what started as pure annoyance becomes something so much more. Erik also fights with being enough for his father, for his kingdom, and for being seen as Erik and not just a solder or a powerful Sender.

They find that as they get to know one another, they're not all that different. Have they finally found someone to see them for them and not the power or skill they possess? But then, of course, we have secrets, betrayal, and murder sprinkled throughout the book. There were a few moments where my jaw dropped and I was so shocked at the twist! I never saw it coming, but then it brought the rest of the pieces back together to form the picture of reality.

I absolutely cannot wait for book 2!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.

I went into this blind…and I was pleasantly surprised! This romantasy had me by a chokehold, and I can confidently say it’s one of my new favorites!

The chemistry between the MMC and the FMC was everything.

“You are seen. You are enough.”

From a person who is nobody to the person who is becoming a great author of the Future!!!

This is one of those books you find by pure accident and then after reading stay with you for a lifetime.

I requested this book because of two things; the cover and the description. Then I started reading it. The book gripped me from the first scene and I could not stop reading it. The Story, the plotline, the enemies-to-lovers dynamic, the struggles of FMC and MMC....everything was perfection.

This story is perfection. 5 stars from me. I loved it so much and now I need to have it on my shelf....

I wrote a detailed review on my blog. do check it out.