Love this book. The writing was so vivid that I felt like I was in the freezing cold setting. Four out of five stars.

This was everything thing I was hoping it would be! Amazing story and characters, I had a great time reading this.

Ledge has an interesting concept, following Dawysen and a community of people who live a desolate life on, well, a ledge, trapped between a chasm and a mountain. This community are at the mercy of the Glacians, winged semi-human creatures, that give sparse food offerings and yet take human tributes. Survival is dismal with people fighting each other or ending their own misery, Dawysen herself has lost everything, she has no family left, only 1 friend, not much to hope for, and then the Glacians in their latest attack take her. Dawysen is given one chance, she will be let go but the Glacians will hunt her as she tries to run. In the hunt is Ryon, a Glacian hybrid, but he has his own reasons to run.

The world building is done well here, frustratingly you don’t spend much time on the ledge not much time with the Glacians, the majority of the book is Dawysen’s survival and she attempts to escape. You feel the menace of this race though and the action and fight scenes are enjoyable. This isn’t a big book and yet it achieves everything it needs to do.

The relationship between Dawysen and Ryon comes across really healthy, which is good because it’s a big part of the book - full agency is given to Dawysen, Ryon worries for her and is protective but he is not suffocating with it. He steps back and gives her space and supports her in her actions and choices. Consent is also a thing. Yes Ryon is a typical YA cliche, his broad shoulders, broody disposition and wings, but his most attractive quality actually isn’t very common (unfortunately) in this type of book where toxic, almost predatory dynamics are shaped as the ideal. That’s why I didn’t mind the sex scenes, ok I was all for them lol, because there wasn’t a power imbalance, it wasn’t predatory, it felt an equal, fun and healthy exploration.
That said, I’m not sure how many times it was mentioned in this book how big Dawysen’s boobs were, not even solely in sex scenes, but it felt like a lot …

The book comes to a neat conclusion leaving you with an idea of where the sequel will be heading - and then the floor is ripped away under you in the last few pages so I can’t wait to see where the next book goes with this all!

Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review, I can’t wait for the next instalment!

Stacey is AMAZING. Ledge was a delicious slow-burn that captivated me from the moment Dawsyn was introduced. The writing was lovely although I'd like to have had a bit more world building. Overall, an amazing book and I cannot wait to read the rest.

I DNF this book at around 40%. I could not connect with the characters. Thank you for the opportunity.

I am absolutely overjoyed with the privilege to have finally read this. I will 100% will be buying a physical copy and await its sequel. This book has brought me out of my reading slump.

I've been following Stacey McEwan on Instagram for a long time now and i was incredibly delighted to find out she was writing a book! This was a great fantasy debut and I really enjoyed it. While I will forget everything that happened by the time the second book comes out, I will definitely be looking forward to reading it!
Super excited for Stacey's writing career!

A decent fantasy novel. The plot and characters enjoyable. The romance was a little quick for my reading preference. I was very interested in the backstory, which we only got glimpses of and I hope are more prevalent in future installments. The story concept was good but the pacing was off. The story pacing was very quick. Due to the quickness of the story I felt I didn’t get to know any of the characters. I also felt that I was missing a big part of the story because there was little detail said about each part. This plays into the pacing. I will say I liked the twist but like the rest of the book it went fast and lacked information. I will read the sequel after that cliffhanger ending though.

I didn’t know this author from TikTok but since joining have realized who she is and how lucky I was to receive this Arc. I truly enjoyed this story and felt immersed in the wonderful world she built/created! You feel chills because it feels dangerous at every page. I’m so excited for book two, and kudos to Stacey because I was shocked to learn this was a debut!

This fantasy romance definitely had an interesting premise, but you can clearly tell it is a debut novel. Not that that is a bad thing, on the contrary, I really think the author can go places if she improves her skills, which a lot of authors do.

Ledge follows Dawsyn, a woman stuck in a poor, desolate village on a ledge (we saw what she did there) of a mountain. At the beginning of every season, winged creatures swoop down and steal away humans for unknown malicious reasons since they are never seen again. And of course, the heroine gets taken. What follows is a slow-burn story of forced proximity, enemies to lovers, revenge plots, and some political schemes.

The beginning and the world-building were very slow, it would have been great if the pace was a little bit faster in the beginning and not the end, which I feel like it was a little rushed.
I liked the characters, and I want to read more from them. Both the heroine and the hero were intriguing enough that makes me want to have the next book right away to find out what will happen next. Especially because there are a lot of unanswered questions that bugged me and I hope we get conclusions to that.

Ledge is a mythical place that receives rations from another species in exchange for a periodic human sacrifice. Unfortunately, this time it is Dawsyn's turn, a strong-willed female protagonist and the only surviving member of her family. She's ripped from her icy home and suspects imminent death but instead finds herself trusting a half-Glacian called Ryon to escape.

This is a part-dystopian, part-romance and part-fantasy novel. It did take me a moment to understand the world-building, but once I was in the story I was IN. The plot, characters and writing style captivated me until that fast-paced cliffhanger ending. I loved Dawsyn and Ryon's enemies-to-lovers dynamic and the tension just added to the story. Looking forward to book two.

I am always dubious on TikTok people becoming authors but truly I feel this book was good! As a debut especially and I can’t wait to see what else comes along! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this title.

Ledge by Stacey McEwan
5/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

•••Spoiler free review below•••

I can confidently say that this is going to be a top of 2023 read for me. My preferred genre is always NA Romantasy and this world is an original and captivating read that will have you hooked from the start.

Dawysn has lived her whole life on the frigid edge of a deadly chasm, fighting for survival and hoping today is not the day the Glacians come for her. After being selected as a human sacrifice, she decides she would rather go down fighting - even if the thought of freezing to death is less than appealing. With the help of a half Glancian, Ryon, who has also been looking for a way out, she decides that she can't just survive. She needs to live. And she needs to fight.

Ledge was released in September and the sequel - Chasm - is due to come out this coming September. The cover was just revealed this week and OMG it's so pretty!!! If it's not already on your tbr, it should be! And, Stacey, PLEASE let me know who I need to push into a chasm to obtain an arc!
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Special thanks to Angry Robot for sharing a free copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

I really enjoyed this book. It had me gripped from the start and kept me intrigued throughout. Would definitely recommend.

For a first time author I was pleasantly surprised by Ledge. I have followed Stacey McEwan on social media for a long time and to be honest, I didn't expect this book to be that great. However, I will definitely be getting the next book in this series. I loved the characters, story line, and the cliffhanger. Ledge is a great fantasy read and I am expecting the subsequent books to be even better.

Thank you Random House for the arc. Unfortunately I've decided to not to finish the book. I don't DNF books often and I can usually push myself through. It's a shame since I was so excited to read it and had followed the author on Tiktok for a while. Personally I wish this book had gone through some editing, especially with sensitivity readers. The main male character is described as POC but violent and a beast-like and other problematic stereotypes for the queer/non-binary character and I immediately lost interest. I really wanted to support an Australian fantasy author but ultimately I'm a bit disappointed.

Ledge was a very enjoyable read from start to finish.

I found the concept of the ledge set this book apart from other fantasy novels. The life the humans on the ledge live and the season selection they face gave the book a very dystopian fantasy feel to it. However, as the book progresses it does seem to fall into a typical fantasy storyline.

My only complaint about the book would be that the lover interest refers to the main character as ‘girl’ a lot, and that just personally gives me the ick and would prefer he didn’t call her that 😅

3.5 rounded up.
This book is an adult Fantasy romance, with some very unique qualities especially with the setting and the fantasy elements. It follows the perspective of Dawsyn and Ryon. Dawsyn is such a strong character. I cannot believe how determined and strong willed she was especially under some of the circumstances she faced. I know I would have curled up and given up. Also, her dynamic with Ryon was interesting, I liked their development together. Ryon was a little harder to warm up to, but I did end up liking him very much at the end. I think the Glacien’s were riveting, as well as the source of their magic, which was horrifying to learn how it works. The writing for this book was ok, I had a little trouble following the descriptions and the setup of Dawsyn's village and had to reread it a couple times to get it straightened out. I think that this first book is a great start, and I will be continuing on with the series, I can’t wait for more.
Trigger warnings: assault, suicide, blood
I received an advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

Loved the opening of this book! The world description and introduction to the main character was well done! About half way through I felt as if the story started to fall apart and I began to lose interest. The love story felt very insta-love and I didn’t connect with Ryon at all. I struggled with their interactions and dialog. The concept was interesting but the overall execution left me wanting. 3 star read for me.

I received an arc of this book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

It was okay! To me, I think the most irritating thing (besides the name Dawsyn, oh NO) was how she comes from this freezing, starving hellscape of a village and yet is somehow the most amazing fighter in the history of fighting, can take down trained guards and also has an amazing rack. Let's not forget that amazing rack.