I unfortunately didn't have the time to get to reading it before it archived! Though I will pick it up in the future.
So please disregard the low rating as Netgalley forces me to put one down with my review.

This was such a good read I loved it and was completely hooked from the first page. Definitely recommend

My first time reading a book from Ekta R. Garg and it was quite enjoyable. It felt like a fairy tale for adults. I would have liked a little bit more action and at times I found the story to be a bit slow, however; I pushed through and still enjoyed it.

A brilliant read and one I really enjoyed. The characters are loveable and varied, the plot is one that is engaging and medium paced. I found myself completely drawn into the story and enjoyed the writing style.

This is my first book by Ekta R Garg and I really enjoyed it!!! If you love a good fantasy then you will like this book!!! Read and enjoy!!!

I have exactly zero feelings about this book. I tried to start it shortly after the holidays, but then put it down and never picked it up again. I don’t even remember what it was about

A Fairy tale for adults which was far too slow.

There is excessive dialogue and a little bit of action thrown in.

It was very difficult to feel any attachment to the characters.

This was not for me.

There was so much potential, not just in the premise, but the book itself.

I loved the idea of the magical forest, the exploration of grief and forgiveness, all the possibilities of the world I thought I was walking into, but it just wasn't there. The magical forest ended up being like most magical forests, and this unfortunately took away from it feeling special. Our protagonist is likeable, and I was excited to read through this story, wading through duty and grief but we are forced to focus on other things, and his grief is sidelined.

I did enjoy the read, and I imagine others will too, but I do see that this could've been excellent instead of good, if it was give just a bit more.

This book is a grown up version of a fairytale. I enjoyed the concept but felt that the plot was slow to start with but it did pick up towards the last third of the book. Beautiful world building in this book and I enjoyed the characters too.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for NetGalley for This ARC .

The pacing was a little slow but the concept was great! The world building was great!

A wonderful story about loss, acceptance, sacrifice, and hope. This is a much slower paced book than I’d normally prefer, but it was just what I personally needed to read. I have recently experienced more than the lion’s share of loss and I connected with this book in a way I never expected to. I learned about my own grief and struggles through the loss these characters have went through.

It would have been a 5 star book if it had been carved in another way...because it was in the last 30% of the book that the story captivated me the least.

This is the story of a kingdom called Linden, whose main source of income for that people is the magic wood that comes from the trees of that place. The current king has to pay the price of his father's wickedness, who had also mistreated him in childhood, removing all his self-esteem in reigning in the future. It was after marrying Lily that everything changed, with her he learned how he was capable of being more and better.

There are wonderful and special characters like Healer Geraldine and her son Alistair, Guardmaster Martin, and the King's in-laws. However, I couldn't sympathize with the king, and I only really liked him in the last 5% of the book.

The story had all the elements to be a wonderful and incredible story and it has very good messages and values ​​to pass on, which unfortunately were lost a little by the way the author wrote this book.

This is a grownup fairytale. Book starts a bit slow but keep reading. The story will pull you in. It's a love story, a fairytale, a historical and a trip thru the magical world of the Linden Wood. You will be glad you read it.
Thank you to Net Galley, Ekta Garg and the publishers for this Advance Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was the first book I had read by Ekta R Garg. I don’t normally read this genre, but it kept my interest and hit all the expectations I had of a fairy tale. There was discord and broken hearts and heroic efforts and the author did a great job with character transformation as the book progressed.

The pacing of In The Heart of the Linden Wood was very slow. I loved the characters, but it really just felt like a story I've read before- following so many classic tropes.

A solid concept, though a bit washed out and forgettable without a reason to stand out. The cover gives you your first reason, the lovely prose the second. It is unfortunately a tad long-winded, but it does not unbearably overstay its welcome. I have a great deal of hope in what I see as potential for the future in this author after my time with this book. Thank you to both Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity with this title.

In the heart of the Linden Wood we meet Christopher and Lily there the royalty for Linden a place that is revered for its magical boards and when we meet them Lily is in the middle of giving birth with the healer named Geraldine as her midwife. When the baby and princess Lily are lost Christopher blames the midwife and takes away her ability to birth babies in the kingdom and he gives her a royal decree that she must turn in to the elders in her village. When all this is over Geraldine goes home and Christopher starts the process of morning and there’s no sign of the morning letting up. Lily‘s parents come to visit and others come to get their condolences the Christopher isn’t interested in any of it but when he gets a word that their magical trees are dying he must set off to speak to the keeper of the forest and on the way he meets a few different people. I really enjoyed Christophers story and Geraldine story and found the boat said tails but once Christopher set off on his adventure the story really picked up. I thoroughly enjoyed fairytales and thought this one was a good one. I especially love the ending and how Christopher was able to cure the woods. Like any good fairytale this two had a narrator and it was the keeper of the Linden board I just wish they would’ve had a bigger part. Not that it took anything away from the story because it didn’t. If you love the fairytale enjoy this one I really did. I received this book from NetGalley and atmosphere press but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This book nearly breaks my heart in the first three chapters. It shows you what true love and an incredible deep and painful loss can make out of a man.

Garg created a fabulous world with spectacular characters and an amazing worldbuilding.

The writing is very fluid and you inhale the book within hours. Two storylines are at the beginning and their mostly switching while the story went further.

One of my first very loved highlights this year. Really amazing.

A slower paced read with a very pretty, descriptive writing style. The prologue really captured me from the beginning. It felt like a Disney story where the traumatic event happens in the first 10 minutes of the movie and then we're experiencing the after effects.

The story is incredibly magical and full of wonderful fantasy elements, but it is completely overshadowed by the plain narrative. The characters come across bland and static because of this. There is a lack of description that the book so desperately needs to be able to plunge the reader into the world of Linden. It makes the whole story fall so flat.
I enjoyed the book overall and the story that was being told, but I just wish that the descriptions had been developed much. It left me feeling disconnected to the characters to the point where I just did not find myself liking or hating them, they had no liveliness or spirit that I feel like they could have had if just a little bit more had been done. I also feel like it oftentimes felt disjointed and not enough was explained, or if it ever was explained it just wasn't explained in a strong way. I also felt like the main body of the novel, where they seek out the heart stones, happened too quickly and any problem they came across was solved quickly and conveniently, and left it feeling weaker all the more for it. I would have liked to have seen more struggle, desperation, sacrifice, emotion from each of the characters. As I said, the lack of the same made the novel feel flat, and very beige.
It's an easy enough read - perhaps a little too easy with the lack of life in the characters and overall descriptions. I feel like the book had the potential to be something much more greater than what it is.