Not what I expected. Sorry I had a hard time getting into Of Shadow and Light. I think the book has potential though, so I hope to read an update.

I lived the title and the cover. I did not like the book much. Unfortunately, the plot did not grab my attention and was predictable....so much potential went nowhere....i am sorry, I tried but it did not work out for me.

Unfortunately, this one was not my cup of tea and is very anti on my beliefs as a woman. The premise had so much promise with dark and twisted Fae but went in a direction I cannot support.

I wish I could say I enjoyed this book. The idea behind it was good and I was excited to read about a light fae in a unselle court. However, I felt like I was reading a porno. There were so many intresting parts of the story but it got taken away with sex and abuse. There should probably be a warning in the beginning that states there is multiple rape scenes. I was uncomfortable reading those scenes but had hoped that it would get better. There were multiple spelling and gramar errors as well I was a bit confussed with the going back from one person's view to another and well as the shifts from 1st person to 3rd. I wish I could say I enjoyed this book but I can not.

Thank you Netgalley and Eb&Muse Publications for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start off by saying that when I first read the blurb on this book, it had promise. I love reading about the dark fey and their mischief. I have enjoyed books about Seelie/Unseelie for many years. I was so disappointed when this book did nothing for me. The promise of a good story and plot was there, but there was so much angst and pain for the main character, Mess, that I could not enjoy the book. I was cringing through almost the entire story. It had quite a bit of a rape feeling, had abuse from parental figures, the fact that Mess questions Stockholm Syndrome but is told that if she has to wonder about it, then she doesn't have it (seriously? wrong, wrong, wrong), and I found myself slamming my kindle cover shut whenever any coworker walked by while I was reading on my lunch break. I wanted to like this book! As I mentioned, the promise of a good plot was great, but it did not meet my expectations. It's one of those, "It's not you, it's me," situations.

This is a very dark book and not for everyone. I think it's important to note that this book has a lot of trigger warnings including physical and mental abuse and descriptions of acts between the heroine and her step father. This is not a light fluffy read.

Now that the warning is out of the way, I struggled with what I wanted to write for this review. On the one hand, I could not put this book down. I wanted to know what was going to happen at every turn. I enjoyed the writing style and the story was interesting. On the other hand, there are some scenes that are hard to read. There are a lot of sex scenes in this book and the majority are fine but a few of them are extremely dark and uncomfortable. The prince's "curse", I just struggled to figure out exactly what that looked like. The author was descriptive but I think it was just too much. (Pun intended)

Overall, I'm giving this a 4 star rating. It is dark but I enjoyed it.

I usually like all kinds of books but this one was off for me somehow.
Didn't enjoy it .
Voluntarily reviewed.

brief summary
A severely abused young woman is abducted by dark fae, who continue to abuse her emotionally, physically, and sexually, but she still manages to find love and create a family within the new confines of her world.

full review
I finished this book because it's one I requested to review and I feel very strongly that requesting to review a book commits a person to finishing it, unfortunately, I found nothing of worth in the entire piece. Below is the whole of what I plan to submit to NetGalley, in lieu of a regularly formatted review.

This book offered:
- amateurish prose riddled with errata
- maraca penis with rifling and pus-filled nodules (for pleasure apparently?)
- so much sexual abuse
- so so much
- painfully contrived plot wherein every nasty thing you can imagine happening to a protagonist happens to this one, to the point where it would almost be funny if it wasn't so truly horrendous
- one-note supporting characters
- the ending!?!? (the main character dies(?)/goes away/vanishes but is reincarnated in some other characters' daughter and that child, who was raised in a loving(ish) environment goes on to become the mate of the prince-now-king who watched her grow up from infancy, which is so many kinds of creepy and awful)

I cannot argue strongly enough against reading this book. Even for free. That's a lot of lifetime a reader cannot get back.

ARC from Netgalley. I was not expecting the graphic nature and for me it detracted from what could have been an excellent story. I liked the characters, the world, and the plot...minus the maracas and corkscrew(?)!

I received a copy of Of Shadow and Light by Ebony Olson from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, this novel missed the mark for me even though the author DOES have a way with words. I felt that the plot should have been interesting given the story's summary, but the plot wasn't evenly paced and it was just confusing as all get out. Since the author never clarified or unraveled the plot threads fully for the reader, it was not enjoyable and I struggled to finish the novel. The ending was not terribly satisfying, but I was sort of happy to be done at that point.

I'd give Of Shadow and Light by Ebony Olson 2 stars.

I must say, this book surprised me. I knew that it’s going to be different from what I usually read but I didn’t know that it was THAT good. I really enjoyed the writing, it grabbed my attention from the start. I had a hard time putting the book down. All I want was to keep reading and to explore the world. Olson worked on the world-building amazingly, the words easily turned into vivid images that swept me off of my feet. Though I admit it was kind of confusing with all the new and foreign names occasionally thrown at me. But I managed to sort it out quickly.

The tension keep building until at some point, it blew my mind. Fortunately, it didn’t stop after one conflict. There were just so many secrets to be revealed, most of it took my breath away and I got through it alive after suffering countless of times. What can I say, I enjoyed being tortured. I also liked how twisted the characters were. Their way of life was dark, brutal, and harsh. I’m amazed by how Olson portrayed them.

I wondered how the main character, Messina, after everything that happened to her, could still show kindness. The girl has been through A LOT, I’m not sure I could survive if I was her. She was so strong and brave. No wonder, Tynan has his eyes only for her. While she was the light, Tynan was the dark and shadow. Like his people, Tynan was cruel but he also capable of goodness. I loved Pride, he was so sweet. I didn’t expect him to has a heart as big as his body but how I enjoyed reading him fretting over Messina.

Overall, I had a great time reading Of Shadow and Light. It was surprisingly great with awesome world-building, great twisted characters, and lots of mature scenes. If you enjoy reading books about dark fae, paranormal fantasy, jaw-dropping romance, I really recommend you to give this book a try.