In the shadow of war, love may be her greatest enemy…
Nyleeria has always lived in the shadow of loss, with only her childhood friend to bring light to her days. But when an ancient power is discovered within her, everything changes. Her family is torn apart by tragedy, and she is thrust into a conflict that has smoldered between humans and fae for centuries.
King Thaddeus, a human ruler hardened by the endless war against the fae, seeks to protect his kingdom at any cost. When he discovers Nyleeria’s dormant magic, he knows it could be the key to his people’s survival. But the closer Nyleeria gets to the King, the more she realizes that her greatest danger may not be the Spark or the fae—but the feelings he stirs within her.
As the veil between realms grows thinner, Nyleeria must navigate a path filled with peril, where trust is a luxury and love could be the most dangerous weapon of all. Torn between duty and desire, she must decide what they are willing to sacrifice—for her people, for him, and for a future that hangs in the balance.
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arc disclosure
HUGE thanks to C.C. Hartly for giving me the chance to read and review this book!
intro
If you need to know one thing about me, it’s this: I love all things fantasy. While I will read pretty much any kind of romance, fantasy is my jam. Enter Heir of Stardust and Secrets. On the surface, this is a simple ACOTAR-inspired fantasy, but when you delve deeper, it’s actually a lot more than that.
main thoughts
Now, in order to give my honest review for the books I read, I need to be, well, honest. So, full disclosure: while I was immediately sucked in to this story, I hit a bit of a snag toward the middle. The training arc was a little hard for me to get through, and I don’t really have a good reason for why, so take that slight criticism with a grain of salt. It’s not that it was bad, it just didn’t catch my attention like the rest of the book did.
With that being said, once I got over that little hump, I couldn’t read the rest of the book fast enough. I was torn between trying to savor the story and doing my hardest to read as quickly as I could to figure out what happened next, lol.
While the story as a whole was great, I didn’t really care for the MMC. Something about King Thaddeus just rubbed me the wrong way, lol. So, this, plus not really feeling the training portion of this book is why I bumped it down to 4 stars. Again, take this with a grain of salt–it’s just my opinion and like I always say, you should read and decide for yourself 🙂
I also wanted to address something I’ve seen in a lot of the reviews I’ve read. Several people have made comparisons of this book to ACOTAR, and while there are definitely similarities, I think it’s actually kind of an unfair generalization. You’re, of course, welcome to your own thoughts and opinions, but I also think it’s important to acknowledge that romantasy can share similar qualities without being an “ACOTAR clone.” I wholeheartedly agree that there are parts of this book that could have been inspired by ACOTAR, but I think this book stands on its own as a whole and should definitely be added to any romantasy book lover’s TBR.
bullet points
- I love the way Nyleeria is written. She’s a tough girl, but she’s also been deeply traumatized by multiple things that have happened in quick succession and I felt like her actions and attitude were believable.
- I’ve already made my feelings on Thaddeus clear, but I did love his second-in-command, Tarrin. He was kind of the comedic relief within the story and I appreciated his character so much.
- I LOVE Endymion. From the very first moment he’s introduced, I was head over heels for this fae male. I have high hopes that he’ll be featured more in book 2, but we’ll have to see. *whispers* I ship it.
- I have a feeling there’s a lot more to the war between fae and humans than what we’ve learned so far and I’m anxious to learn more about it in the next book.
quotes
final
If you’re a fan of fantasy romance, you need to read this book. I doubt you’d be disappointed. And as always, please come back and tell me in the comments what you thought!
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