I enjoyed the world and world building in this book but felt that the begining was a bit slow to start and then the ending felt rushed. I did really enjoy the writing and the characters so I am looking forward to reading book 2!

thanks to netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this in exchange for a review!

this was a quickly paced and action packed fantasy with just the perfect amount of romance and angst. i am always a sucker for a world where magic is missing/outlawed and your mc has something special about her, and this perfectly fit that as well. my only complaint about this is because the plot was moving at such a quick pace, i feel like i didn't get a truly fleshed out picture of the main characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard!

I recommend listening to the audiobook as this story explores Indian mythology and some of the words are harder to pronounce.

This book reminded me of The Selection series but with deadly trials and a legit evil prince. I was thoroughly entertained by the plot and the characters. The romance, adventure, plot twists, and even sad moments really made this book a captivating read. I also learned some new vocabulary words because I had to look up quite a few of them to find out what they meant.

The romance was great, but I do wish it was a bit less insta-love and had more tension. This relationship felt like it formed a little too quickly for me, but I’m also a sucker for an enemies to lovers with lots of pining. HOWEVER, I feel like this dynamic could shift in future books judging from a certain POV.

Other than that, this was a fun one! I really enjoyed some of the lessons about letting go of your anger and choosing forgiveness over revenge.

4 stars! ⭐️

2.25⭐

LIKED:
The overall setting and general world building was pretty interesting
The lore of the Gods was probably what I was most intrigued by, though I feel like there were a lot of details that were either just not explored for some unknown reason or because they’re trying to have some big reveal or something in the next book
The use of runes. Always a fan of that
The cover is very pretty and I like the title

LOATHED:
Oh man. There were a lot of really well written bits that were absolutely marred by very cringe-inducing modern phrases and out of place verbiage. Like why did he quite the “blood of the covenant” line and then her be like WhAt iS ThAt. Like?? Unless that’s some clue that this is a future earth, like, why. And then I know other people have mentioned, but the Resting Bitch Face line was just jarring. Again, there were some really nice written prose, that just got so overshadowed.
Listen, this is strong. I didn’t loathe it, but the plot just wasn’t for me. The marriage plot wasn’t for me and the coup plot wasn’t for me. The magic system was not enough for me (more below). The romance was…fine. But then Ro would say something just absolutely out of pocket and take me out of anything
The villains. They didn’t have the layers that make villains actually compelling. They were just “we’re *evil* and we’ve been *evil for ever* and we are here to *serve the dark lord*
The trope of her being “so small” and him being “so big” especially during the sex scene. Why.
The p a c i n g. Oh my gosh. The pacing.Why did we spend so much time with the weird bride trials and then the magic training that kind of led nowhere. This seems like a book that was pantsed and then just…never read again.

LONGED FOR:
The magic system is JUST her being the Starkeeper it seems? And even in that, it doesn’t really get explored besides her developing her “magic” in the middle of the book. Which is a bummer. Also, I really like when runes are used and I could have used more exploration with that
The romance, as mentioned, was alright, but the tension was all over the place. I wish I had been able to keep invested in their relationship after like the second act.
More on the world and the political factions of it. I don’t have a good mental map of the land or factions, really

Will I read the next one? : Probably not. I wish this had been a standalone.

*Thank you to Avon & NetGalley for providing this ARC!

This is how you write an FMC! Finally it's so refreshing so many try to write a FMC strong but she just comes off rude and mean and not a good person!
I felt her strong willed but she still had empathy and care for others! I did really enjoy it but I couldn't tell you what was missing for this being a 5 star
I don't like being confused and this left me confused until the very end! Nothing shaped out how I thought and I'm a little scared to read the next book.
I loved the MMC and his quiet strength and support.

It took me forever to get to this book and then forever to get through it. I read maybe 50% then skimmed the rest, so it was kind of a DNF without actually DNFing...
It started off so promising but it became such a struggle. My biggest issue and the thing that kept stopping me in my tracks was the modern language randomly interspersed throughout a very solid fantasy setting. Things like "Goals!" "Thick thighs save lives" "princesplaining" etc etc. Every single time I read a sentence like that it made me throw up a bit in my mouth, I won't lie. There just isn't a place for that in fantasy like this, especially when the rest of the dialogue etc is so typically fantasy (if that makes sense at all. Like, it's not 100% modern language, so why throw in modern language randomly? It throws off the entire thing.) Another thing I struggled with was the characters. They were pretty annoying, and on top of that it felt like not much happened. Much like Powerless, this book felt a bit like it was taking a LOT of popular tropes and throwing them all together in a way that felt more random than anything. The plot did end up interesting enough and some of the more action forward scenes kept me interested. Otherwise, I just wasn't really vibing with this book at all. That's probably a personal preference though!

Amalie Howard captivates us with magic, fate, and twists in “The Starlight Heir!”

I love that we get another female bladesmith through Suraya Saab! We get a skilled craftsperson who’s use to heat and works hard, so her physicality was tested when her first trip to the palace stops being glitzy.

I love the banter Suraya has with the gardener, Roshan, who turns out to be a royal. Their meet-cute was better than that of the other royals, it essentially boiled down to good party and bad party. Later, we find that there’s a connection in their past which added to their fated partnership.

The trajectory of Suraya and Roshan’s situationship, and later Suraya’s decisions of destruction was touch-and-go however those twists had us turning pages even quicker.

I highly recommend this well-paced book for those who love discovering our inner magic and fated mates!

Thank you to Net Galley, Avon, and Harper Voyager US for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I was a fan of the romance. The writing I was not a fan of. One too many modern slang references that just kept pulling me out of the story. I get it’s YA but still don’t pull modern slang into a fantasy setting. It’s just too weird.

I couldn't finish this - it felt extremely juvenile and cliched. The modern-day language used threw me from the story so fast and had me rolling my eyes. In an already bloated romantasy genre, this did nothing new and was entirely forgettable. Hard pass.

DNF @15%. I can't give this a full review but I can say that I was bored. Didn't feel pulled into the story or invested in the main character. An early reference to "book boyfriends" completely took me out of the story. Is it too much to ask for romantasy to build a world that feels immersive and makes you forget you're in 2025?

I really struggled with this one. There were times I picked it up and then had to go back and reread a chapter or two because it had been so long since the last time it was my hands. It had a really promising start and although there were great elements to it I found it hard to read due to the current slang that was mixed in. It really takes me out of the fantasy element unless it is an urban fantasy which this was not.

I've tried to get into this one a few times now, and I'm sad to say that I just can't seem to connect with it at the moment. It's really unfortunate, as I am Persian and am SO excited whenever I see new Persian-inspired stories coming out. I do think I'll give it another go in the future to try again, but for now I just can't seem to get stuck into it unfortunately! I'll be rating it an even three stars for NetGalley purposes, but yeah - feeling quite sad at the moment!

Thank you so very much for the early copy <3

Unfortunately I DNFd pretty early on - it fell short of expectations and I didn't see the need to continue.

This was... not what I was expecting, especially considering how it was marketed. I'm not mad at it. But I can tell that it's the author's first foray into the romantasy genre. For being only 368 pages, The Starlight Heir has a plot and trope list a mile long, and none of the plot points are particularly well-fleshed out. This is definitely more of a romance-forward read, so if people are considering reading this in part due to the Persian/Indian world-building (as I was), I think they'd be disappointed. There are some cultural-specific anecdotes thrown in, but we don't get much at all in the way of information about the setting, etc. We also get nearly zero context for the deities/gods relevant to this world, which I think would have helped up the stakes in terms of certain parts of the plot that seemingly were randomly tossed in

I liked both of the MCs well enough, but if you're not a fan of insta-lust/insta-love, you may not like the romance plot in this book. Their feelings for each other go from zero to 60 very quickly. Within the bounds of insta-lust, I did appreciate that the FMC was the primary host for spicy thoughts. She is not written as demure or prudish, which I found to be relatable to a more modern mindset.

As for the magic system, I liked the celestial and runic basis for the magic, but the system itself isn't explained much, at all. I think giving the readers more depth as to the magic system would have given me a better appreciation for the fantasy elements in this book, so that the romance didn't overpower things quite as much. This is a romantasy, of course, so I would expect the romance to be a significant and relevant portion of the book, but with the fantasy elements (and the world-building) lacking in context and complexity, the romance is outweighing the fantasy elements, especially for the first 70% of the book.

Overall an okay read, and I'd be curious to see if we get additional context to any of the aforementioned issues in subsequent books, as this book almost reads like a bit of a prequel.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the eARC copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

It brings you into the deadly trials for the prince's hand right in the beginning. A prince who is very much a horrid, arrogant, power hungry, manipulative man.

Suraya is a blacksmith with a hidden power she didn't even know she had, but her family tried to keep it secret at all cost. She is invited to participate for the prince's hand in marriage, but in reality, is just a test to find the starkeeper. A being with power of the stars.

She meets Roshan, the illegitimate prince, and you can already tell that he cares more for the people than the actual heir does.

During the trials, rebels attack and Roshan and Suraya escape with the rebels where Suraya learns to harness her power. She is very standoffish with the rebels at first, but eventually learns to trust them.

I had to admit that this is where it got boring for me and I had to force myself to keep reading, but the ending came with action, secrets, betrayal, and twists!
There is definitely great tension between Roshan and Suraya

The writing was sometimes a little too modern, like certain phrases that took away from the magical, other world aspect of the story, but overall it was fun to read

The Shadow God was very strange to me. I didn't understand him in the beginning and he showed up to Suraya in her dreams and would basically feel her up (a little more than that). Those scenes always made me uncomfortable because she didn't even know what was happening. She just knew she had a dream lover. Very odd.

I wanted to kill Javed myself multiple times throughout this book! Ugh! Hate a king who only sees people as play things and property he owns.

I really enjoyed this one. I wasn't too sure at first when I originally lived in but the story was fast paced. Things just go, go, go from the moment our FMC gets around the royals. I wasn't sure of the love interest trope at first but it kept making me go "d'awwww."

A few times I did want to shake our girl because ma'am you missed how many signs? But she more than made up for it.

I just wanna know when the next comes out because that end? Are we getting a shadow daddy/god? I'm sure we aren't supposed to like whoever it is but look, something is wrong with me. I'm interested!

I think this book would do great for a certain reader, maybe someone who enjoys Holly Renee books. This was very fast paced and almost all the world building was done by bingo dumping instead of showing or even really thoroughly explaining the magic/star system. There was a lot of modern dialogue mixed in which was a little off putting because it did not match the setting of the book. And finally I feel like none of the characters were very developed. I really appreciate the chance to read this but I do think it’s for a different reader who enjoys a super fast pace and modern vibe.

Overall this wasn't an amazing book but it also wasn't a bad book. It was just okay. I've been a fan of this author for years and read most of her historicals. I'm also a huge fan of fantasy romance and was super excited to read this. However the pacing just felt a little off to me. The pacing was very similar to what her historical romances are like and it just didn't work. We didn't get the character development and belief in the romance like we do with her historicals. I'm still curious to see where this series go and think it will improve.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. It was a solid romantasy and included likable characters. I laughed at a lot of what Laleh said and was very interested in where the book would take me next. The plot was interesting and the world building was solid. However, the insta-love threw me off a bit and their romance scene felt like it came a bit out of left field... I felt like I was missing a lot of the information and history in order to really understand this book, but that could be information that will come in a sequel?
I did enjoy the book and would most likely read a sequel if there was one!