That beautiful cover drew me in and I’m so glad it did, because I adored this somuch, words cannot express how in love I am with this story , it’s a heavy read at times, but at the same time I devoured it in one go , but the twists and turns as well as the authors writing style , the magic and use of yoga, it’s just fantastic I’ll definitely be reading the next

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

This book! Where to start! I have never been so enthralled by a book in my life! I kid you not I finished it in a day, that’s how hooked I was and then I grabbed the second one. 100% recommend, twists and turns that no one would expect and I do love how it doesn’t feel so heavy. Sometimes books of this nature can feel very heavy and depressing, but it felt light whilst still managing to shock me at every turn.

This is a good book overall I think it had some upsides and downsides and I think some of my downsides are personal preference. Firstly thank you for allowing me to read this book. I liked the premise of this book and I also like the main character I felt that the writing style though didn’t click with me so I felt like I was pulling myself through this book I didn’t like the reasoning for the sport and the things it discusses tho

We love seeing more diverse new adult fantasy books! I love how "Earthshine" isn't the stereotypical magic story - instead, there's a strong female protagonist dealing with realistic trauma and working to overcome it. This book honestly reminded me of the premise of the first "Doctor Strange" movie, but instead replace it with a younger protagonist and seedy government organization interfering in her escapades. Also, instead of Strange going to seek training from the Sorcerer Supreme, it's Em Verde going to seek answers from a renowned yoga master. There aren't enough fantasy series out there that take advantage of Indian/Tibetan mythology, and I'm so grateful that this one does, and does well.

Earthshine is telling a story about Em and her friends who decide to go visit Rampur after Em and Steph constantly having a similar weird dreams after a yoga class. When I read the blurb and it mentioned yoga, I was instantly falling in love with it. I mean, yoga isn’t a quite popular topic to be found in fiction/fantasy books.

It was somewhat confusing and slow at first, like I don’t know where’s the story going because there are two other people povs as well, and it changed suddenly. But, then the story start to go interesting after they’re arrived in India. I love that every time they practice yoga, I could feel the relaxing vibes and experience a wonderful imagination while Em is on her multiverse. The dream diary that written by Em as her way to keep her weird dream’s stories is also fascinating to read.

The writing style is engaging and the story is easy to follow. The characters are lovable, and I love that some of them has great development. There are some mystery unresolved and questions unanswered in the end, but this is just book one of a series, so maybe it’ll be answered in the next book(s).

The thing that annoyed me a few times is that in some conversations that involve more than two people, it was unclear on who is speaking now in some lines. Besides that, I had no significant issue. I enjoy reading this and I love the idea of yoga and multiverse world, and I’m really eager to read the sequel!

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for the opportunity to read this eARC. All opinions are on my own.

i really enjoyed this, and i think i'm probably the perfect demographic for this, being gen z. it's definitely a novel of the time, feeling very current, in not just references but also writing style. speaking of which, the writing style spoke to me because it's not just easy-to-read (without being too tell-y rather than show-y, which i think lots of easy-to-read writing tends to fall into), but also because it's how someone would realistically think and speak (or at least, how i would).

the dream journal entries were interesting, as well as the other POVs that we occasionally got, and i like how there's much more potential to explore the mystical powers that they have. the characters and their relationship dynamics were also pretty realistic and appealing and i liked that!

while i felt that some parts could have been dealt with better, like sometimes it felt like it was moving too fast, or some things weren't really handled well (like around 3/4 of the way in when something happens that's kinda out-there for a person who's has nothing to do with all the powers and mysticism going on, they seem to accept whatever's going on a bit too quickly i got whiplash), overall it was a pretty solid read with so so much potential for the book(s) to come :) would definitely love to see things explored and expanded on.

3 ⭐️

Starting this book was a wild ride, it took me some time to get into it and understand what it was talking about. In the end, I ended up really enjoying it. This book talks about a self-discovering journey of a group of friends using the calming technics of yoga, going to the point of them going to spend a month in India to study under a very... different type of teacher. In the end, the book was a very satisfactory read.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

The stunning cover and hooking blurb were enough to draw me to this story! With the promise of alternate realities where gay geeks are jocks and love stories pan out differently (where your crush actually likes you back—the dream) I simply couldn’t resist.

Cancer surviver Emily Verde blames herself for everything that’s wrong in her life. She feels terrible that she lets herself be held back by looming thoughts of her cancer recurring and feels even worse that her crush ends up with her roommate. What’s worse, she keeps having weird dreams ever since she took a yoga class where the instructor donned only a loincloth, and fears a tumor might be growing in her head.

But she’s reassured when Steph, her roommate, tells her she also saw a tree grow out from under her feet. They take it as a sign to travel to India during winter break to find the mysterious Indian instructor—who disappeared after that one class—and find some answers.

It felt unrealistic that three college students (and one very enthusiastic boyfriend) would drop everything and head for India with no other plans than to find a yoga school. But considering Em’s gay best friend Drew was rich and Em had money saved up, finances didn’t seem to be an issue.

Speaking of him, I loved that Drew wasn’t the stereotypical gay best friend, existing only to scream ‘yasss’ and make Em look good. Instead, Drew had depth—he had his own hopes, dreams, insecurities and motivations. I loved that he poked fun at the thought of being Em’s sidekick in the first few pages.

In India, they meet Swedish tech developer Erik, who had come for the same reason they had. Graham’s depiction of the charged atmosphere, lifestyles, and culture shocks Em and her friends had to adjust to not only created the perfect imagery but also made the story feel immersive and fleshed-out. His writing is engaging and a joy to read. (And I was super grateful to see chai and not ‘chai tea’!)

The story unravels when Em finds exactly what she’s looking for, and discovers that her dreams are actually visions of her lives in other dimensions. But with great power comes great responsibility—and government agencies with ulterior motives!

Addressing characterisation, Em and Drew were the only ones who stood out to me. Steph felt flat and underdeveloped, same as Erik, who had so much potential and only ended up as a catalyst—especially since some chapters were told from his point of view. Finn was, well... perfect, and seemed like a cardboard cutout boyfriend. Nonetheless, I expect the next book will give dimension to the rest of cast.

Although the story started out slow for me, I ended up binge-reading it to get to the end! There were times I questioned why certain things were happening, and where it was all leading to... magic realism isn’t really my cup of tea. But the ending clarified and answered all the questions I had, and left me eager to read the sequel!

I almost gave up on this at 25%, because the copy editing needs a lot of work, and it looked like it was going to be otherwise mediocre. I gave it a second chance, though, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it might be; it successfully avoided the white-saviour and magical-native tropes, at least, and told a decent story that had some original elements with some reasonably engaging characters. Several of the characters didn't get much development, though, notably the protagonist's flatmate and the Scandinavian tech millionaire. The latter looked like he was going to be important, but in the end mostly acted as a facilitator of the plot for the other characters. The minor antagonist Instagram influencer couple were amusingly well drawn.

Cosmic/spiritual books can often come off pretentious and hokey, but this one keeps the mysticism to a plot-relevant level.

I normally don't talk in detail about the copy editing in books I get for review via Netgalley, since if they're pre-publication there's often another round of editing yet to come. This one, though, is already published, so I'll mention the fact that it contains a lot of dialog that is mispunctuated in pretty much every way it's possible to mispunctuate dialog, and seldom uses the vocative comma (the required comma before or after a term of address, such as a name), which to me is one of the marks that separates professional writers from amateurs. It also makes most of the other common mistakes, but not as often.

It's otherwise OK. It didn't make me want to read a sequel. It's a pretty solid three stars.

Emily Verde, a college student has gone through a lot in the past few years, with her mother’s death and her own cancer.After a yoga class with a mysterious teacher both she and her roommate start having strange dreams. Along with their friends Drew and Fin , the group decides to find the teacher and his school to seek answers. She meets several people along the way some friends some foe and might just awaken her own powers.

I do really like the basic plot of the book however the writer falters in his execution of it. The book can get confusing at times. I didn’t get particularly attached to any character in the book though all were likeable. Em’s crush on Finn was fine in the beginning but then started getting annoying.
One can say that the writer did do research for the book.
Overall the book was a good decent read

I recieved an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Right off the bat the beautiful cover and plot synopsis drew me in. Em, a cancer survivor, discovers she has the power to access alternate realities, and must quickly master this power to save herself and her friends. Unfortunately, I felt the writing fell a little flat at times, and it was personally a bit hard to stay interested in the book. However, if you are someone that enjoys slow paced but thorough world building, you will probably enjoy this read.