3.5 stars rounded up and my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Well. I read it. I hadn't realized it was a rerelease from a self-published book years prior. I still enjoyed it enough to probably pick up the next book in the series (and 3rd?)

To say I'm obsessed with this book is an understatement. Move over SJM, the works of Imani Erriu are my new personality. I was up pacing around my house screaming "HOW IS THIS ONLY HALF" at 50% through the book. I audibly gasped many times, cursed aloud, cried, and laughed throughout the story. Enzo is my absolute kryptonite MMC, warrior-but-secret-teddy-bear, touch-her-and-die (to the EXTREME), enemies-to-lovers.
I am going to try very hard to wait for the ARC of the official pub of book 2 but I'm not sure how long I'll make it without more Elara and Enzo in my life.
Super interesting and unique world, not Fae but Stars as gods who have blessed the mortals of the world with specific powers.

*Thank you Netgalley for the E-ARC of the traditionally published version of this book*
This book is more of a 3.5 because I really did enjoy it, just not enough for a full 4 stars. I really got into the romance of this and was really loving reading about Enxo and Elara and did even let out a squeal at a few parts. Enzo was down BAD for this woman and I ate it up.
I also adored most of the side characters, the ones that Elara meets at the palace in Helion. They become a sort of found family and that is one of my favorite tropes in a book. I loved seeing Elara slowly start to trust the people around her and become close with them as the book progressed.
The main thing I can't get over however, is the pacing. I felt like things moved way too fast, and we jumped over a few things that seemed important and I would have liked to see more of. The major one of these being the beginning. We are thrown directly into what seems to be the middle of a scene in the first chapter. We see the main character start mentioning all these things that happened and these people from her life but we have no idea who these people are and don't actually see any of these things happen. I felt like my copy was missing the first 50 pages with how confused I was. We also never get an explanation for these characters she mentions besides one is supposedly her best friend (how? who actually is she? why is she your best friend?) and one is her ex-lover who also was betrothed to her (did you want to be engaged, was it forced marriage what was going on?). We also see Elara spending the whole book grieving her parents and her home but because we never got to see her life at home or with her parents I struggled a lot to empathize with her or really feel sympathetic for her.
and then in the last 30 pages like 10 different things all started happening at once and it just felt super rushed and things weren't developed or explained as they should. I understand the idea of focusing more on a romance plot, but if you're going to have this fantasy world and all of these other side plots then those need to be developed and fleshed out as well. The romance was great, don't get me wrong. I loved that part of it. I just wish we got more world building and character development outside of the romance.
I understand this being a debut indie published book, but I feel like a lot of these things could have been tweaked in the few years since before being traditionally published, which should in theory come with editors and proofreading.

Overall, the romance was great while unfortunately the rest kinda fell flat for me. I'm unsure whether or not I will pick up the second book when that gets re-released.

This is re-release of a previously self-published book. The editing could have been tighter, at times it felt like things were skipped and the writing quality was inconsistent throughout.

However, the story is intriguing and engaging. There is a lot of potential here.

Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC!

Oh my days, did I ever love this book.

First of all, Enzo?? Okay yes please, God this is the one I want, thank you. Him and Elara? Literally everything I could have ever hoped for. I devoured this book. The star crossed lovers, the fantasy, the gripping storyline? Truly everything I could have ever hoped for. The amount of longing in this book gripped my heart like nothing I have ever felt before.

I'll be waiting patiently in my enclosure until the next book because it was absolutely everything I could have ever hoped for and I desperately need more of them.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC!

There has been a significant amount of hype on Book Tok for Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu. While I enjoyed the book, the pacing felt a little unbalanced for me, and it felt like we were checking off tropes. Overall, it was interesting but didn't captivate me as much as I was hoping! Thanks to netgalley and penguin random house for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to like this because the star-based worldbuilding intrigued me. Unfortunately, the quality of the writing doesn’t meet the promise of the concept. Everything feels so clunky and clumsy.

I haven't sped through a book in a long time and I simply inhaled Heavenly Bodies. The premise involves a kidnapped princess with powers that is taken to her enemy's kingdom.

I enjoyed the development of the story and the characters. The world-building was good for a first installment of a fantasy series. I can't wait to read the next books in the series.

4.5

I absolutely loved this book, to me it had a perfect balance of romance and plot. It did get slow sometimes and had some things that didn't get fully explained or understood, and sometimes it even felt rushed with some of the romance and I was wondering if there was actually a connection more than just physical.
This book did have some flaws but I loved it and read it within one sitting having the best of times.

There couldn't be more separating Lorenzo and Elara. From different kingdoms and enemies, how can Lorenzo possibly teach Elara to use her powers? While the pick up for Heavenly Bodies was fast - I felt like before we got a sense of who Elara was she was kidnapped - it's a book that grows into a crashing wave. After I got over the brisk beginning, I settled into enjoying that Heavenly Bodies examines two kingdoms, and families, which have dealt blows to each other before Lorenzo and Elara were born. There's this history of animosity and how could their relationship, even friendship, ever blossom? It very much feels star crossed in a book about Stars!

I seen many people discussing this book prior to it being traditionally published, so when I spotted it on Netgalley I figured why not. Elara and Enzo are from separate sides of a war, when fate forces them together....they fall for each other. SHOCK! Elara must unlock her power, Enzo will help.

This is book one in a series, so there's definitely some set up. It's very obvious from the start where this story is headed. The tropes are troping hard. Right from the start you can pick them out. The concept of starborn power had a lot of potential, but I just got very bored quickly. Some of this could just be me, but it wasn't my cup of tea. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of Heavenly Bodies.

Started out semi-strong but the longer the book went on the more clear it was that this is a debut novel. It felt more like I was reading tropes instead of an actual plot and the pacing was far too slow. This novel also could’ve been condensed down in the editing process and would have made for a more enjoyable read.

The pacing felt all over the place, the ending was truly disappointing and it felt like this book was trope after trope and it just really did not work for me.

A fantastic blending of the mythology we know (astrology) to create a strong world that feels wholly its own. A fresh change with the lead being the one bringing in darkness, rather than the male character. The secondary characters are just as developed as the female and male lead, bringing a stronger sense of depth to the entire world. Excited to see where this story takes us.

This NetGalley edition seems to be a reprinting of a 2022 book. The premise is one we have had before - person is taken to be trained to fight a common enemy. Then, they find out they are fated for greatness. There are various forms of magic tied to someone’s homeland and the star in their world, who are like gods. However there were other gods before.

This book seemed to strain to want to be more than it was. There was fake bravery and numerous fake outs, too much hesitation, people somehow knowing things and taking drastic measures that somehow turned out correct even though there was not enough information for how they figured this out. It was only okay for me and the last chapter set up more books that don’t seem necessary.

Overall a fairly average read in the romantasy genre, I enjoyed the world setting and the magic system, but unfortunately that’s all I liked. The characters were all a combination of tropes, nothing new or interesting to drive the characters. Even the side characters were so stereotypical to the romantasy genre that I was bored through most of the book. I will say I should have DNF’d it at 20% but I’ve heard such good things about it that I had high hopes. Unfortunately this book was another stereotypical romantasy that had potential but fell prey to tropes.

While I overall enjoyed this book, there were a few items that I didn't like which I think are more personal preference than anything else. I found the main character Elara to be mary-sueish at times (is this still a term people use?) and it seemed like she was being written in a way that I didn't enjoy as much. I thought there were times where it seemed like the stakes were set so high and then nothing really happened or it was easily resolved, which I would like to have seen played out more. I also felt that at times the pacing was really good and other times it seemed to skip things I wish I had seen. I don't think that I would read the second one, again, because of personal choice, but I do think this book will be appealing to a lot of the patrons at our library and so I will recommend that we buy this book and the sequel in the future. I think that it will circulate well. Overall, I'd rate this book 3.9/5.

The setting sounded interesting but once I started reading it I didn't find anything that drew me in. Nor did Elara seem like a very interesting character to me, her personality was made up of a lot of overused tropes that I was just not feeling. It seemed very similar to a lot of other books that I've read recently with nothing that helped it stand out from the crowd. Though I imagine there are plenty of people who will enjoy this book, it wasn't for me.

Pretty heavily laden with romantasy tropes that - after the mass appeal of Fourth Wing - seem a bit tired. But this is tempered by the exciting magic system and premise, which uses the zodiac structure to exciting results. I'm desperate to read a book with a protagonist over the age of 20, however.

4/5 stars. Overall, I had a great time reading this book. I really enjoyed the characters and the storyline. There is nothing that I love more than a badass female main character, and this book was totally bringing that energy. There was angst and tension, which was almost as good as the spice. I am docking one star because there were a few small plot holes that made the storyline confusing at some points in the book, but it was still very good!