This book was great! I loved it. Such an amazing debut for Lara Buckheit - I was absolutely hooked from the word go. Valeria is a complete badass FMC (and absolutely hysterical - a girl after my own heart). Gideon is a completely sexy sweetheart and I’ve fallen a little head over heels for him. I loved the twists and turns that were thrown at me throughout the storyline, I didn’t know who was going to betray me next!
The only reason this isn’t a 5* for me is because I think this could have easily been split between two books! I would have loved to see a little more time between her and the characters she grew to befriend and love - especially considering how much time passed!

This book has peaked my interest with an intense description of a world you could only dream of. If you have a strong imagination, dive right into this book and indulge in this glorious world of want, lust, and fantasy. This book has many adventures to follow, only making you want more.

I need the next book RIGHT NOW, and the first one hasn’t even officially been released yet.

This book was freaking amazing. At no point did I know who to trust, who to love, or what would happen. It has been a LONG time since I’ve felt that way.

If you liked ACOTAR or From Blood and Ash, read this ASAP. There’s princesses, demons, gods, knights, a witch, mortals and everything else you could want in a high fantasy novel. The best part, it includes all of that plus a little romance, and it’s good. It’s so unbelievably, wickedly good. 10/5

Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars

A Realm of Ash and Shadow is an action-packed enemies-to-lovers romantasy. The protagonist, Valeria, is the princess of the idyllic realm of Empyrean, fashioned after The Realm of the Mortals (aka our world) without the restrictions of capitalism and classism etc. Upon her 18th birthday, Valeria is to return to Empyrean from the Realm of the Mortals but she is thrust into an adventure she never signed up for.

My highest praise for this story is the writing and pacing. It can be difficult to balance action and worldbuilding, yet Lara Buckheit manages to strike this sensitive balance to keep you wanting to read the story from the first to the very last page.

There were plenty of plot twists that were expertly crafted, and I hope upon a re-read when this book is officially released that I can notice if there is any foreshadowing for these twists.

this book has so many good reviews, yet I couldn't bring myself to get past the first 100 pages. I promise you I tried, but I had to draw the line at our fmc wanting to bang the guy who kidnapped her immediately. that was too much.

It felt like you were dropped in the middle of a story and not at the beginning. The story was kinda basic, which doesn't have to be bad, but it just didn't stick out. The same goes for the characters, and I think the hole story was kinda dull.

3.25 stars, rounded down

I wanted to like this one so badly. The writing pulled me in immediately with its beautifully immersive descriptions of setting and entreatingly relatable dialogue. Within the first 30 pages or so I was certain I was on my way to a 5-star read. But that 5-star train derailed so quickly and I’m honestly not over it yet.

The main character, Valeria, is supposed to be this badass princess with immense power. She knows that she will one day take over her father’s throne once she finally returns back to her realm after being exiled by her father as a child. She was raised with all of this in mind and has become a young woman eager to return and rule the way she believes her realm should be ruled. Unfortunately, things aren’t the way she imagined it when she returns home. Poor people are running out of food and starving, and Valeria is heartbroken about what she’s seeing. She confronts her father and his council about the issue, and there’s so much lead-up to this, presumably, big moment when she finally gets a chance to prove herself as the realm’s future ruler, and do you know what she says?? “We can harness magic and ensure that our food supply doesn’t run out, like ever, so that no one starves again.”

Did you catch it? Like. Ever. When I tell you that all hope for this book went out the window at those two words… It threw me out of my immersion immediately. It didn’t fit with the tone of the rest of the book. Well, except for the author’s peculiar use of the term “guys” all. the. time. “Suddenly, a guy leapt out”… “The guy wasted no time”… “Both of the guys flanked my sides”… It was so grating. The rest of the writing was actually quite good and I think it was ruined for me by these random immature terms that I didn’t see any reason to include.

I think this could have been an amazing book if some of the plot and characters were fleshed out a bit more. The pacing felt random, some of the plot concepts felt weak, unexplained, or unnecessary, and there was a bit too much convenience for my liking (things happening at just the right moment, etc.)

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book had a lot of potential but falls a bit flat. The heroine is of course also very young, a teenager. I must admit I as a bit surprised at the explicit content as this books seems to bounce between YA and NA.
Liked the cover and thought it was an interesting read!

Fast paced and with very readable prose, this is an enjoyable NA romp which gives you exactly what you expect: a sassy princess heroine, a realm in danger, and the choice between her mortal lover-but-totally-not-boyfriend and hot-but-annoying-guy from the place where she belongs. Or does she?

From the brief but eloquent scene-setting, with only a touch of info dumping/exposition, Buckheit tips you straight into the action with a scene worthy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Things Go Wrong at the Prom. It’s shortly after that we meet our mysterious Hot Annoying Guy. I know this is a trope that a lot of people enjoy, but I found it a little less believable and took away from the character building to have the insta-lust dwelt on so expansively - I would have expected Val to have had other things on her mind given the circumstances.

The speed of the plot only continues to ramp up as Val is introduced to new worlds and new characters, vividly described and realised. The weakest part is probably Val’s feelings and motivations: she absorbs a lot of changes without seeming to blink, and her feelings occasionally seem to be driven by the plot rather than the other way around, but to be honest I prefer enjoying the action without excessive navel-gazing, but it does make it feel slightly less realistic.

This book is a lot of fun, and Buckheit’s prose is capable of being both witty and beautiful. All in all, an entertaining and easy read which may be enjoyed by fans of Kingdom of the Wicked, Throne of Glass, etc. I genuinely think SJM fans will love this one and I’m giving it a high rating because I think it is pitched just right for its audience.

This was truly addictive and so all consuming. I was hooked from the first page to the last. This has everything spice, drama, its enemies to lovers. This is the fantasy book that you need to read. Lara Buckheit is now on my must buy author list.
I just reviewed A Realm of Ash and Shadow by Lara Buckheit. #ARealmofAshandShadow #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

A Realm of Ash and Shadow is a fast-paced, dark, romance-fantasy. Valeria has spent most of her life in the mortal realm but is now expected to return to Empyrean where she is a princess. Unfortunately, her return doesn't go as expected, and, instead of a fairy-tale perfect kingdom, Valeria finds a corrupt land ruled by her evil father. Now, to set things right, Valeria must travel to the Realm of the Forsaken. There, she must wrestle not only with her feelings for an "unholy" God but also with her inner darkness.

I really liked Valeria; she is definitely a morally gray character, and some of the decisions she makes are questionable at best. There are two (if not three) love interestes. I enjoyed getting to know all of them and their relationships with Valeria. Her time in the Realm of the Forsaken is gruesome - the author does a great job of depicting the horrors.

The only real negative I had about this book was that it felt rushed. There were quite a few sections that the author could have spent more time on. Additionally, there were characters that I would have liked to have gotten to know better, such as Cayden, Sabel, and even Gideon and Mason. Hopefully, the twist at the end will be better explained in the sequel.

Overall, A Realm of Ash and Shadow is a quick read with intriguing characters and an interesting world.

Just the book I needed! Fast paced but still has the world building a good fantasy needs. If anything this book was a little rushed but after just finishing a super lengthy fantasy book, that's exactly what I needed.
I would highly recommend this book as a great in between-er. I'II definitely be looking out for a sequel to follow up on the love interests!

3.5/5 Stars + 2/5 Spice

- Fantasy/Romance
- Soulmates
- Spice
- Single POV
- Morally Grey MCs

Thank you to NetGalley, Sword and Silk Books and the author Lara Buckheit for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book follows Valeria, the FMC, who has been raised in the Realm of Mortals until her 18th birthday arrives and she is due to return to her home realm, Empyrean. There she is a princess, but all is not as she was taught or once believed. Throw in a bond, a soul mate, a love triangle/square, and politics of a kingdom and you have the recipe for a beautiful romantasy creation. However, our FMC is also morally grey. Don’t get me wrong, I love a morally grey character but I’m still not sure how I feel about her by the end of the book, if I’m being honest. This book had so many twists and turns, every time I thought I had it figured out, something else would be thrown my way - the jury is still out on if I liked this or not. I love a plot that manages to surprise me and isn’t predictable, but this felt like a lot.

I would say this book is quite fast-paced. I enjoyed the world building, however I did feel as though some extra time could’ve been spent flushing out some points that would help round out the overarching plot of the story. Also, I feel as though more time could’ve been spent exploring the relationships between characters. As far as the love interests go, I’m a torn lady, I’m gonna plead Team Switzerland, I can’t choose.

This book had the vibes of some popular books in the same genre, I would argue it still holds it own for sure, despite some overlapping similarities.

Overall, I think I’ve decided I like this book. My emotions have gone on a ride in the process of reading it, happy, sad, angry, disappointed, surprised - but I think I liked that? I truly believe I will return to this world when a sequel is born and I’m looking forward to seeing how this story progresses!

I really struggled to get immersed into this book. I was looking forward to reading this, but the writing really deterred me. The plot itself isn’t bad, and I’m slightly curious as to what will happen in the second novel, but was still often at times predictable and rushed. If you’re looking for something that requires incredibly low reading comprehension, this could the book, but ultimately felt like a high school knock off of ACOTAR.

I am very thankful to have been given an eARC copy and my review will be 100% honest

To start off, I really enjoyed the start of the book. I apologize if my feedback is unorganized

First thing first. This book is a romance before anything else. If you enjoy fantasy books that focus on romance and smut, I recommend this book. If you don’t like smut really, or prefer romance to be the subplot, I do not recommend this book.

I loved Mistress Marjorie, I thought she was such a cool, badass old witch lady that everyone feared. I really liked that she was her own entity without a god hanging over her head.

The instant love between Valeria and Gideon isn’t my cup of tea, and while it is explained by a soulmate bond, I wasn’t convinced by the attraction. Yes, Valeria is constantly talking about how attractive Gideon is, and vice versa, but nothing is said about even liking each other's personality except that Gideon is just perfect. He is perfect. I also think the miscommunication trope is a bit overused between the two of them. She hates him, then she wants to kiss him, but then she hates him and tries to fuck his best friend (dude…) but she likes him again and makes out with him in the mausoleum that her mother, and their god, resides in (dude…). I just wasn’t convinced by the chemistry between Gideon and Valeria, even Mason and Val had better chemistry.

Now getting into more specifics issues I had.

This book came off as sexist to me. Valeria states that Ellody, a girl she went to school with, bullied her relentlessly, but all we see in the book is Ellody glaring at Valeria. We only hear how horrible the bullying was right before Valeria rips her heart out of the girl's chest and mushes it in her hands. It comes off as if this was just added real quick to justify Valeria torturing a teenage girl (Val specifies if Ellody is still in her own body, not to torture the demon, but to torture her). Then, there's the demon Pyrtra, who doesn’t like Valeria immediately because she's from the other realm. Pyrtra glares at Valeria a lot, and at one point attacks her after Valeria stabbed Vemdour, who is not only Pyrtra’s lover and king, but also her god. After Vemdour picks Valeria over Pyrtra, Valeria says twice in the story that Pyrtra is “thrown away like the trash she is” why is she trash? Because she was fucking Vemdour? The only girls that Valeria is nice to are the sapphic servants of hers, and the prim and proper Sabel. It came off as Valeria disliking any woman who was in competition with her for male attention.

At one point, Val tells Gideon (after he saves her from the demon realm) that she dreamed of him and was tied to him. But, again, we are TOLD this instead of it being written that Val pined for him. She only mentioned Gideon once or twice because she's upset that he left her in the realm, and after she thinks he's dead. It really feels like Val doesn’t want to be with any of the guys, just wants someone for sex, as she immediately finds someone the moment she is taken away from another. When Gideon took her to the fae realm, she switched to sleeping with him instead of Mason, then when she's taken to the demon realm, she starts a thing with Vem and gets close to sleeping with him, only going back to Gideon once he takes her away from the demon realm after learning of Vemdours betrayal.

All in all, I would have DNF if I wasn’t going to write a review, however I would recommend it to readers who enjoy more romance/spicy type stories.

Man, what a debut. A Realm of Ash and Shadow jumps right in from the start following Val's final days in her current situation to what she has been preparing her whole life to do. Lara Buckheit successfully describes her universe without overwhelming the reader. We follow Val as she quickly realizes everything she held true was wrong. All while trying to navigate a very steamy love triangle between Gideon and Vemdour.

Tropes:
-enemies to lovers
-morally grey characters
-love triangle
-soulmates
-found family

I really felt as though I had the ending figured out for this book within the first 25% of the book. Although I love the genre, fantasy can be very redundant and easy to predict. However, I enjoyed being wrong about my predictions for the plot of this book. I loved the steady flow of plot twists throughout the book that didn't allow me to stop reading.

I hope to see a build on the relationships between Val, Gideon, and Vemdour in the second book. I would have liked to see more so that the emotions Val experienced in a short period of time could be better understood.

Thanks to Lara Buckheit for taking me on this journey; I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you to NetGalley and Sword & Silk Books for the opportunity to read this ARC; all opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this book, but for now it just wasn't for me.
I'm not sure if it's because of the characters or the way it was written, but it felt very immature and I was bored. I wasn't connecting with any of the characters, so I didn't care what would happen to them.
I might try again at another time, but for now I'm giving this book a two star.

This book was phenomenal. I am obsessed with the entire world that Lara created. I could not get enough of it and cant wait to get my hands on a physical copy. This quickly become one of my favorite books that I have ever read. I loved the drama, the suspense, the love triangles. Everything about this book was amazing. I loved how sassy and funny Val is. Also I have got to say I have been #teamgideon since the beginning. Lastly the writing was incredible. The way Lara writes had me captivated the entire time! Overall an amazing read and I can see it becoming a very popular fan favorite.

[Warning: This review contains spoilers] First, thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an e-Arc! I initially picked it up because of its really interesting premise. I thought that the realms the author chose was very creative, using worlds that most of us are already familiar with — Realm of the Mortals, Realm of the Divine, Realm of the Forsaken (trust me, you will know immediately what each of these represent once you start the book) — enhancing each of them, and adding on Empyrean as its own fantastical realm. By doing so, it helps a lot with simplifying the world building, as all of us come in with our unique perceptions of what each of the realms may look like. One thing I would’ve liked is a bit more clarity on how they travelled between realms. In the story, it looked like there weren’t many restrictions or danger, and anyone could travel between realms whenever they pleased. If that was so, why did going from one realm to another seem like such a tough decision? And why did it happen so rarely?

Another creative point I really liked was the fact that the main character, despite being the lost princess, was raised in the human world, which explains why she feels out of touch and fearless against a lot of supposedly feared characters in the story. On one side, I really enjoyed reading her sarcastic and nonchalant attitude, but other times it could get a little bit annoying how, despite knowing the consequences of her impulsiveness, she continues to repeat the same mistakes. And I LOVED the chemistry and spice between her and Gideon at first, but after realizing that she crushes on basically every male character she spends time with, I started doubting her feelings. And even though she returned to Gideon in the end, at that point I’ve gotten a little too annoyed with her just wanting to make out with everyone.

I also believed that the main character’s relationship with her brother, Cayden, could have been something that was explored more deeply, and was one of the relationships I was looking most forward to. But after months of not communicating in the Realm of the Forsaken, and they suddenly have one proper conversation and Valeria completely forgoes all the resentment she has for him, seemed a little out of the blue and underdeveloped. One more thing I still couldn’t really grapple with is: why should the main character care? Having grown up her entire life in the modern world with no knowledge or memory whatsoever of Empyrean, why does she care about taking up the throne? Even if her blood dad basically means that the throne belongs to her, she has never really experienced or witnessed the struggles of the empire. Right now, it doesn’t seem like her main motivator comes from herself and her own desire to help address the problems of the realm and its people, but more from just wanting to remove the Ward from power because of how he treated her. So as of now, I feel like there still isn't enough stakes for her to want to do everything that she is for a realm she is so detached with. Thus, I hope that her main motivating driver could be established more concretely in the next installment.

Still, I loved the quick pacing of the story, and the unexpected plot twists at the end. Seriously, if you were expecting certain types of plot twists, this story’s plot twists will make you go OH MY GOD. Overall, for all fantasy lovers who like some ~spice~ in their stories, this is definitely a very promising read! Excited to see what happens in the next book!

I read this on NetGalley and absolutely loved it! I could not put this down. Maybe it was being a bit of an outsider at school, maybe it is because I am a bit of an outsider still but I loved the story within this story and the FMC with her flaws, still being loved. Highly recommend