This is a beautiful story about one girl dresses up as a knight to attempt to get her friend who's about to be in an arranged marriage - out of that terrible situation.

The relationship between Jo and Lily was gorgeous and tender. Slow burn, but hot. When I read historical queer books sometimes I wonder how the author is going to get them to a HEA. Readers, never fear, Emma Denny delivers on the hea.
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Thank you Harper 360 and Netgalley for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I’m a sucker for a female knight in all honesty, and Lily just suits the role so well. Lily as William was such a joy to read about.

I LOVED Mabel and the brewery. So, so much. It was the perfect setting for Jo to realise not only what she wanted, but that she was ALLOWED to want. Jo’s journey through the middle part of this book made me so happy.

My favourite part of the whole book was when Mabel’s husband came home, not gonna lie. I won’t spoil, but I was hella emotional about all that.

Jo and Lily’s romance was slow and uncertain and tender and sweet and I loved every moment of it.

✨ Review ✨ All the Painted Stars by Emma Denny

Thanks to Harper 360 | HQ, TLC Book Tours and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

I love that Denny's brought queer romance to medieval times yet again with this follow up to One Night in Hartswood. Lily hurries from home to compete in a tournament, fighting and jousting, hoping to save Jo from her impending marriage. Largely the tournament results do little to sway the marriage possibilities, and Jo quickly realizes that William is Lily.

very small spoilers ahead:

Things I loved:
1. William/Lily fighting for Jo
2. Eventually they end fleeing and living a live with a nearby brewster, and the book brings all the cozy vibes.
3. medieval queer romance

Things I didn't love:
1. cozy vibes = slow pace
2. slow pace = not a lot of things happening at times

It was all redeemed by the end of the book for me, but I think I would have loved it even more with some more aggressive cutting and editing. If you love cozy books though, this will be a fun one for you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5 stars)
Genre: f/f historical romance
Setting: Oxfordshire in medieval times
Reminds me of: Denny's first book
Pub Date: November 5, 2024

Read this if you like:
⭕️ cozy historical books
⭕️ queer romances
⭕️ medieval tournaments
⭕️ gender bending

I love historical romances, but they predominately feature heterosexual couples. It was a great change of pace to have a F/F couple as the main romantic couple, and so insanely sweet! I think if you like historical romances and are queer yourself, there is no way you won't like this romance! It moves me so much as a fellow queer person to see these kinds of books being published!

3.5 stars

Such a cute story! A sapphic story that is not overtly tragic <3

It did read a bit too YA for my personal preferences but a fun story nonetheless.

A great sequel to one night in hartswood! If you loved the first book, you’ll enjoy this one too!

All the painted stars showcases a sapphic story of knights and jousting and winning the lady of your dreams.

Lily disguises herself as a knight in order to enter a tournament and win the hand of her best friend Johanna in marriage. Lily is seriously wounded during a joust and following an accident, she and Johanna are taken in by a local brewer to recover. While spending time away from society's expectations, a relationship begins to develop between the two women. Will they be able to get their happy ending once Johanna is forcefully engaged to a Lord?

Denny has such a compulsively easy to read writing style that makes her books such a joy to consume. I loved the previous book in this series, and I loved this one as well. Lily and Jo are such great romantic leads with a sweet and unproblematic love story. I appreciate that any drama in their relationship came from the social situation of the medieval period rather than some manufactured drama (For the most part). The scene where Lily essentially proposes to Jo by asking to be her champion had me squealing and swooning. They are so cute! And make each other better versions of themselves, it's the best.

My only minor complaint involves the third act conflict which was a little contrived. Without spoiling what happens, I just feel our friendly neighborhood brewer was made to be purposely ignorant of the identity of a customer so that the conflict could happen. Like don't tell me that someone making beer in that area of England for however many years wouldn't know the names of all the local lords and their keeps, just saying.

Other than that, Emma Denny is quickly becoming an autobuy author for me.

Reviews going live on Goodreads, Storygraph and Fable on 11/1 and Tik Tok on 11/2.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love this cover! I also love a good historical romance and friends to lovers. Always chef’s kiss. Like the last book in this series, I very much enjoyed it. I’m also always here for sword/knight lesbians. Lily made me laugh and smile. I’m also here for any happy ending in queer romance. Looking forward to more from this author and series!!

This is a low-conflict medieval sapphic romance. Johanna and Lily are friends. (They're "just friends" because Jo can't really imagine with being in love is like; Lily knows she's in love with Jo, but isn't pushing anything.) When Jo tells Lily she's going to be betrothed to one of the knights taking part in the tourney held at her family's keep, Lily disguises herself as a man and enters the contest.

At first, I thought this was going to be a dramatic reveal at the tournament; then I thought it was going to be a road trip romance. But this ended up being a hurt/comfort book with a side of queer awakening, and some really interesting historical research about brewsters.

I liked it a lot, but it was a little low on plot for my taste. If you love reading for the vibes, I think you'll be into this one.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

What a joy to return to the Hartswood world, this time following the reckless Lily as she rushes off to save her friend from marriage. By entering a tournament to win her favor. Disguised. Pretending to be a man. As one does when they are in love and willing to do anything to help the one other woman who has stolen her heart, even if she doesn't know it yet.

We saw glimpses of Lily and Johanna in Penn and Raff's story, but here they get to shine all on their own. They shine in their friendship and unfolding love for one another. When Lily's actions wind up putting her and Jo into a sticky spot, they flee to regroup and recover with the help of brew mistress Mabel and a chance to see who they are to one another without the oppressive eyes of everyone else in the castles and keeps they would normally be held to.

I loved the quiet moments between Lily and Jo. The moments where they both realized exactly how they felt (and how they had been suppressing so much of their feelings due to society, propriety, and trying to fit in in a world that didn't quite fit their own dreams). The intimate moments between them were written beautifully, and you could feel their ache, pining, confusion, and the utter care they had for one another.

Emma Denny writes queer historical romance in a way that feels fresh, with characters that are more than their world would paint them to be, and who manage to carve out a slice of that world for themselves to be able to live with those that they love. And as much as I loved Raff and Penn, Lily and Jo have stolen my heart.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

All the Painted Stars by Emma Denny is a third person dual-POV Sapphic historical romance using the knight x lady trope. Lily steals her brother’s armor and heads to a tournament held by the family of Lady Johanna, her best friend, to save Jo from an arranged marriage to the winner of the tournament. Unknown to both of them, Jo is already arranged to marry Lord Adam, who needs Jo as his wife for more than one reason.

While Lily herself isn’t strongly portrayed as questioning her gender, there is acknowledgement of trans individuals in the text and there is a discussion regarding Lily pretending to be a man within that context. I’m always down for a conversation around the strict confines of gender and how those outside the binary have always existed. While it would have been ideal for Lily herself to have some questions around her gender, this was the next best thing and I appreciated how it was handled, including respect for chosen names.

The narrative is on the cozier, slower-paced side and lingers on the small moments between Jo and Lily. Picking blackberries, staying at the brewery, and even on the couple’s dance before they finally reveal their feelings, it all serves as build-up that will satisfy anyone who likes the quieter bits in romances. The more I think about it, the more I think that this is more of a quiet romance and anyone who doesn’t want a lot of drama and constant twists would probably be delighted.

The slower-pacing also allows for a lot of subtle worldbuilding of the Medieval time period. I did feel fairly immersed in the time period and everything felt consistent and logical while also recognizing prejudices at the time and how many do not have those same prejudices. We don’t spend a ton of time at the tournament and we instead spend more time dealing with the lives of everyday people and court politics and how it relates to Queerness and marriage.

I would recommend this to fans of historical romances that explore different facets of the time period and readers looking for a Sapphic romance that uses the knight x lady trope

*Received as a free ARC*
I'm going to be honest, I spent most of this book on tenterhooks that something very bad was going to happen to someone. But it didn't! It was much more cozy than I was expecting, given that Raf and Penn spent most of the first book as icicles. Felt true to history and enjoyable.

A very sweet and romantic tale about a knight fighting for her princess, truly a heartwarming tale that you won't want to put down.

I’m so excited to read All the Painted Stars! I enjoyed One Night in Heartswood immensely, I had difficulty putting it down.

Full review:

Without giving away spoilers, I was excited but unsure what to expect from this second novel, and was pleasantly reassured just a few pages in—the story is so dynamic, it grabs you immediately and doesn’t let you go. All the Painted Stars opens 2 years after the earlier novel in the series One Night in Hartswood, (which I read directly before this) and unlike ONIH’s winter backdrop, All the Painted Stars’ summer setting brings fresh liveliness that’s felt throughout the novel. While some of the heaviness of ONIH lingers, overall the stakes are high but not quite as traumatic or life-threatening. There’s a healthy mix of unexpected turns/situations that aren’t exactly as they seem, and foreshadowing/hints so the plot flows smoothly. Problems are solved creatively and satisfyingly, and there’s some happy reappearances from ONIH. I was pleased by the (historically accurate) queerness, the found/chosen family themes, and I do hope there’s a third book—a certain squire and Jo’s family members all make for interesting characters, and I would love focus on Lily’s brother Ash. I enjoyed author Emma Denny’s writing—some of the imagery she evokes is so vibrant it stayed with me: the deep orange linen of a dress, crystalline lakes nestled in a woodland, a “whorl of intricate stars” on a startlingly blue gambeson. For me, her second novel is absolutely as enjoyable as the first.

All the Painted Stars an adventurous, lively, hopeful, very queer historical romance (set in 14th century England), and it was as fun to read as I’d been hoping. I’d give 4.5 stars if I could, and I’ll cross my fingers that there will be at least one more book in the series.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
All the Painted Stars is the second book in Emma Denny’s 14th Century Oxfordshire series. The leads of this book played supporting roles in the prior book, but my memory of that book is rather fuzzy beyond that I enjoyed it fairly well, and I can say that it works well as a standalone. And while this story, like its predecessor, leans on the anachronistic side of historical romance, it’s absolute fun and the perfect slice of queer joy in a time period where they’re not represented enough (but absolutely existed).
The leads are charming, and I really liked them. Lily in particular has a lot of spunk, with her determination to save her best friend Jo from an arranged marriage, going to the lengths of disguising herself as a boy to fight and win her hand in the jousting tournament. While the ‘girl disguised as a man” trope is rather tired and has historically been rather queerphobic, it’s always great to see it written in a queer context, as it is here. And I do like that she’s not some magically qualified warrior, and it does get out of hand. Jo is a great contrast for the more brash Lily in that she’s more dutiful and aware of what’s expected of her, even if she chafes against it.
Their romance is a super-sweet slow-burn, with them largely falling in love while on the run and in hiding in a local brewery. While the middle did drag a little, as it got a little mundane in places, I liked that they got time away from all the pressures of their “real” life to reckon with their feelings, and this is an absolute masterclass in sapphic yearning.
And while the romance remains the focus, I liked the prominence of the ensemble cast. While I can’t say I remember too much about Lily and Jo in the first book, being reminded of Raff and Penn in this book and how they’re connected was great, as well as meeting some other supporting characters, like Mabel the brewery owner, who I’d love to see more of in future books.
This was such a fun read, and I’d recommend it to readers in search of queer historical romance.

What a lovely continuation of Hartswood!

I recall finishing the first book and thinking “man a book about Jo and Lily would hit” and I was right. This was so cute and well paced and charming.

My one complaint, and I had similar feelings about Hartswood, is that it’s somewhat forgettable. I don’t know how much re-readability there is here. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it a lot.

TY NETGALLEY FOR THE ARC

An excellent sequel! I really enjoyed the characters and the plot was fun- I love women and swords, especially lesbians! I totally saw a few of the plot twists coming, but it was still a fun read. I loved the side characters as well- Ellis is honestly my fav. Overall, this is a medieval lesbians with swords and beer, so what could possibly go wrong?

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for giving me an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

The premise of this book is ridiculous and outrageously fun: set in 1300s England, we follow a noble lady, Johanna, whose family has arranged a marriage for her based on a jousting tournament, and her best friend, Cecily ("Lily"), who disguises herself as a knight and enters the jousting tournament to save her. Of course, shenanigans ensue, and along the way they fall in love.

I loved the set-up of this book and enjoyed Lily and Johanna's love story and journey to figure out what they want and how to be together in an incredibly patriarchal and homophobic society and time. There obviously aren't many books written about queer people in Arthurian England, and I this book is a really valuable addition because of course there were many queer people back then trying to figure out how to be themselves and have the love they wanted and deserved. Where this book fell flat for me was the writing - I found it a bit childish at times, and the constant use of italics irked me. It never really felt like the stakes were too high, and I wish some of the other characters had been fleshed out more. But at the end of the day, this is a fun, sexy romp with heartwarming messages.

this was a really fun, wildly historically inaccurate romp through medieval england. totally fun. Emma Denny's #1 strength is creating fun, loveable characters, and they absolutely delivered here. I really hope this series continues and I look forward to reading more.

*Alexa, play Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan*

No, because that VMA preformance was what went through my head when reading this! I hadn’t read the first book and found myself turning my head at points. So… I did read through 50% of my ARC and making the choice to go back and read the first one.

I think I’d be fine to keep going BUT since I’m enjoying all of this, I thought I’d go back and do it right!

I’m loving this whole ‘fight for your loooove’ scenario. It makes me feel giddy as a Sappho!!!