e-ARC & audio-ARC from NetGalley.

3.5

This was a fast-paced, entertaining read that I enjoyed. It had elements of The Selection and Rebel of the Sands with a big heaping of Powerless vibes. There are also hints of a future shadow daddy. The romantasy girlies will eat this up!

Our protagonist, Suraya, is an inn keeper's daughter who also enjoys the occasional illegal forging of weapons. She receives an invitation to the royal palace to compete for the prince's hand in marriage. This competition includes beautiful gowns, balls, and an arena death match between contestants. From the start, she does not like the prince she is there to court, but prefers the other prince, the more rugged one, with whom she can verbally spar. But, when a rebel attack ruins a banquet, Suraya finds herself on the run - from the prince who means to use her and the kingdom that has outlawed her magic. Magic she didn't know she even had.

I found the beginning of the story compelling, the middle rather slow, and the end gripping. While the novel itself was rather predictable and hit all the same beats as most other fantasy romance novels, including the training, the secret romantic rendezvous, and the underdeveloped character relationships, I think it was a solid start to a series with an ending that promises what could be an utterly unputdownable sequel.

When Suraya, a young bladesmith, is invited to vie for the crown prince’s hand, she takes the invitation as a chance to see the castle her mother once loved. The contest for the crown prince’s hand, though, is not what it seems; unrest in the kingdom is starting to crescendo; and magical forces are awakening in Suraya.

As she begins to fall for the crown prince’s half-brother and everything becomes more complicated and tangled, Suraya is left wondering who truly is in charge of her fate.

Read it for
- The verbal sparring
- The physical sparring
- Some 🔥🔥🔥 dreams
- And some 🔥🔥🔥 scenes

Be prepared for politics, political intrigue, and some gruesome descriptions. (I’m looking at you, Scavs.)

I’m curious to see where this story goes and how the gods will interfere in the next chapter.

I received an advance copy of the ebook from Avon. All review opinions are my own.

3.5 ⭐️ 3🌶️


The book had a lot of potential and there were lots of good scenes. The magic was interesting I enjoyed knowing more about the magic system and all the talk about the gods. The romance had some good moments and some scenes were amazing. The thing I’m most intrigued about is The God of Night we barely got any glimpses of him but it was not explained what is his role in the story or who he really is. I have my theories though.

The thing with this book was that there were so many loose ends that were not explained and because of this the story feels incomplete. Sura was not very good at decision making and a lot of the problems that they had could have been solved is she had made that right decision when she had the chance. Her adventure felt a lil pointless at the end because she really didn’t learned how to really used her powers. And I hated when she made assumptions on what was happening without even knowing the truth. She was not the brightest star even though she was one.

The ending was not much of a cliffhanger but This God of Night has me intrigued and I for sure be reading the next book because I need to know who is he??!! Is he somehow like this certain high lord of the night court??!!🧐🧐

4.5 ☆

Suraya is a bladesmith who has the ability to imbue her work with jadu— the last source of magic in the realm. she lives a quiet life with her family, until one day when she’s invited to the palace to participate in a tournament for the crown prince of Kaldari’s hand in marriage. that invitation is really just a cover to find the starkeeper— a girl who holds the magic of the stars in her blood.

i loved this, it’s so fast paced and i got sucked into Suraya’s journey immediately. Suraya is a powerful fmc who doesn’t let anyone push her around and is fiercely loyal to the people she cares about. Roshan is the illegitimate brother to the crown prince and isn’t perfect with secrets of his own, but he’s also a gentleman who just wants to protect Suraya to the best of his ability. I found both her and Roshan easy to like and Roshan especially was so witty and a big flirt, the tension between them was soooo good. the conflict with the royals and the rebellion had me at the edge of my seat, especially when Suraya and Roshan were on the run. i couldn’t stand prince Javed or his dusty mother, i was sincerely praying on their downfall the whole time. i liked the other side characters though: Aran, Clem, Laleh and Amma. I thought the magic was very creative too— that addition of another certain pov had me wanting to know more, i cannot wait for the sequel now.

Starlight Heir is a new steamy adult romantasy from an author I like Amalie Howard, but this one fell flat for me. I felt like there were too many themes that are all over romantasy now that I was bored- hidden magic, enemies to lovers, trial or games for king and hidden identity.

Sura is a blade smith who believes she has no magic that is called to the king to compete to marry him but he really is looking for a woman he believes is magic. Sura meets the kings half brother, Roshan, who she has real chemistry with. There are people trying to bring down the kingdom, competing magic and political intrigue all wrapped up in this book. I was entertained in the beginning and end but felt like I dragged myself thru the middle. There is some modern language that took me out of the fantasy element and I wanted to scream at Sura because there were so many clues about Roshan!

Overall, I can see some people liking this one and maybe if I hadn’t read so many romantasy lately I would be into it but the receptive themes, odd language and annoying FMC left me wanting.

Thank you Avon and Netgalley for an ARC.

New Romantasy from one of my favs Historical Romance Authors!? YES, please! I was so excited to get this arc. The cover is absolutely gorgeous too!

Suraya is our bladesmith heroine, who can make blades secretly imbued with illegal magic. When she is summoned to the palace for an event where the prince selects his new bride, she is sure there has been a mistake. But off she goes on an adventure. She is fierce, snarky, and a very believable heroine. I really enjoyed her!

All is not as it seems at the palace, and as she meets Prince Javed, Queen Morvarid and the bastard Prince Roshan, she is drawn into intrigues that makes her realize this has all been a ruse to find her and her hidden powers.

As Suraya tries to escape the fate they have planned for her, she struggles to decide who she can trust. She has to learn about her powers, gods and magic she never fully believed in, and the truth of what is happening in her kingdom. She has to accept her role and decide the kind of person she wants to be.

This was a great first book in the series. Fast paced and just the right amount of world building. I did see the plot twist coming from the start, but it was still interesting to see how it all played out and kept me riveted. It also left enough unresolved to make me invested in where this goes next!

thank you so much to HarperCollins for a copy of this book in exchanged for an honest review! <3

this premise sounded beautiful and i was really excited exited to read it, but i feel like i hyped it way too much in my mind and it did not meet my expectations. Sura as a character held a lot of promise but i felt as if her characterization was dimmed down a lot. the language also really took me out of the story; it seemed very casual and modern to our time and it took me out of the plot quite a few times. enemies to lovers/morally grey characters have really fallen flat in the romance genre due to its extreme over saturation, which is very unfortunate. if Sura as a character had been much more headstrong as described i would have enjoyed it much more.

This book was a wild ride that is only just the beginning. This first installment focuses on FMC Suraya Saab coming into new powers, surviving a corrupt monarchy, and coming to learn herself in the midst of a deadly bridal competition, a rebel faction fighting the corruption, and a society that has a complicated relationship to magic and mysticism.

If I were comparing, the novel reminds me a bit of Trials of the Sun Queen and The Foxglove King. An absorbing read for anybody looking for:

- hidden powers
- deadly trials
- forced proximity
- banter
- celestial/astrological magic
- Indian & Persian mythology

An excellent read and excited to watch things continue to unfurl in Queen of the Night Sky.

Favorite Quotes:

“Don’t you ever get tired of running that mouth of yours?” a familiar voice cuts in from behind us.
“It’s my weapon of choice against toxic masculinity,” I say brightly…

“Destiny doesn’t always get it right, my girl.”…

Thank you netgalley & Avon for this eARC! Ah, I enjoyed this. This is a fun romantasy. The dialogue and banter had me laughing out loud. It has all of the fun tropes every romantasy reader loves, and splashes of spice through out. Besides the romance, it's a wonderful story of a girl learning to use powers she didn't know she had, and having the confidence to take control. Let's also not forget how GORGEOUS the cover is?!

I've been a HUGE fan of Howard's historical romance books but this latest romantasy blew me away!! Great on audio, this had Hunger games vibes and sees Suraya Saab, a young bladesmith virgin being chosen to compete for the Royal heir's hand in marriage. Even though Suraya has no interest in being a wife, she does yearn to see beyond her little town. What she never expected was to fall for the Prince's bastard brother or discover she's had hidden potential inside her all along and might just be the key to saving the kingdom. Full of magic, romance, adventure, secrets and more, this was great on audio narrated by Anais Inara Chase and Ramiz Monsef. It's also the perfect book to pick up for fans of the Fourth Wing series or The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review! The cover alone will have me snapping up a copy as soon as it hits stores to keep on my forever fav fantasy shelf!

I so desperately wanted to like this book more than I did. I was very intrigued with the world and its basis in Indian and Persian mythology, but the world-building was not detailed enough for me to fully understand what was going on. It was certainly entertaining, but there is a trend of authors writing romance with fantasy elements who have little to no experience writing fantasy, so the world building takes a serious hit, leaving the story feeling lacking. In addition, there was a lot of modern language that felt jarring and took me out of the world. I really loved the first 20%, the pacing was great, the world building was there, and I was really loving Suraya, but once the attack on the palace happened, the world building was minimal, pacing off, and Suraya turned from fierce to immediately reliant on Roshan for everything. Roshan too was interesting in the first 20%, then it was incredibly clear and obvious that he was the leader of the rebel group, like so obvious I had secondhand embarrassment for Suraya for not guessing. I also didn't understand the chapters with the shadow guy? I can tell he'll become more important in a potential second book, but his presence was a bit disorienting.

Overall, I think this is a decent foray into romantasy for this author. It was an entertaining and short enough read that I would be interested in a second book if it was written.

The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard is an adult romantasy. Suraya Saab, our heroine, lives with her family, and to her shock, she receives an invitation to participate in a selection to become the Crown Prince’s Bride. Suraya is a self-taught smith on making powerful blades, using ‘Jadu”. Little do the selected girls know that they are searching for a woman who is supposed to have an ability of great power that would change the world. A veiled hunt for the starbringer; a girl rumored to hold the magic of the stars in her blood. Suraya decides to accept the invitation, looking forward to visit the capital city her late mother loved.

All the women who arrive are quickly put to the test of cruel trials, with many getting killed. During the trials, Suraya meets Javed’s distant brother, Roshan, and immediately both of them enjoy their banter, and the chemistry between is strong. In a short time, Javed discovers that Suraya is the girl he is seeking, who will be forced to marry him. Before the crown prince can push for the marriage, an attack comes from a group trying to fight the prince and his mother. Suraya and Roshan find themselves on the run, especially now that Roshan knows she might be the starkeeper, and is determined to keep her safe. The journey together is action filled and a magical adventure, with Sura discovers her powerful abilities, as well as her falling in love with Roshan.

I really like both Sura and Roshan together, as we can feel their strong bond. It was also nice to see the female friendships along the way; Laleh, Clem, Amma and her memories of her mother. Roshan was charismatic, and he truly loved Sura; but he also held a number of secrets. Sura had many dreams, with the shadow god connecting to her visions; with no control of the power that seems to be stirring within her.

The Starlight Heir is a fast-packed mythology, epic fantasy, romance, betrayal, love, deceit, with a Persian/Indian inspired theme. The Starlight Heir was a very good story, that kept my attention throughout. The Starlight Heir was very well written by Amalie Howard. I suggest you read this book, as it looks like more books to come for this series.

Thank you to Avon Books/Harper Collins for sending me an early copy of The Starlight Heir. What an amazing book to start off my year with. This book had everything I love in fantasy romance books. It was action packed throughout the entire story and kept me captivated from the first page! I loved our female main character, Suraya Saab. She is strong, resilient, and witty. Oh, did I mention she also loves romance books? I cannot wait to see what the second book in the series has in store for us!

This was great. This Romantasy has everything a good story should have. World building was great, the magic was creative, and the plot just kept getting better! Their was a lot of actions torwards the end that had me on the edge of my seat.
Two of my cons would be: it did start off a bit slow but I understand that world building can take some time. And I also wish the glossary section was on the beginning of the book and not the end of it. That would have been 1000 times easier to reads.
I’m excited to read book two! That was a very big bombshell of an epilogue!

Why I Chose This Book:
I’ve read three historical romances by Amalie Howard, but The Starlight Heir is her first adult romantasy. As much as I’ve enjoyed her previous books, I was excited to read something in a new genre from her. This one combines her cultural heritages into an action-packed fantasy world. But amidst magic and danger, the main characters sill find time for some romance, ill-fated as it may be.

What I Liked:
- Indian, Persian, and Caribbean cultures
- Astrological elements and birth charts
- Different houses the characters fall into based on social class and career paths. It seems similar to the castes used in India?
- Portals!
- Modern language (things like “prince-splain” and “toxic masculinity” come up); unlike most fantasy I’ve read, this one doesn’t seem to be trying to be completely historical
- Shifting allies and enemies

Final Thoughts
Much as I love Amalie Howard’s other books, I actually think romantasy suits her writing especially well! I loved the blend of cultures here (Persian, Indian, and Caribbean), the focus on astrology and birth charts, and the fast-paced action that propels the whole narrative forward. The Starlight Heir is magical, action-packed, and spicy, and with that epilogue, it’s set up for more in the series. I’m excited to see what happens in the next book!

This book completely pulled me in!

Suraya Saab is a talented bladesmith who never expected her skills to land her an invitation to the royal court.

But when she gets to Kaldari, things are anything but a fairy tale. Instead of the crown prince, it’s his mysterious half-brother, Roshan, who catches her attention. Turns out, this invitation isn’t about finding a bride—it’s about hunting down the Starkeeper.

The world-building and the way the magic is woven into the story are so well done. There’s plenty of action, twists, and even a bit of romance to keep things exciting.

And that ending? It’s got me counting down the days until the next book!

If you’re into romantasy with lots of adventure, you’ve gotta check this one out.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for this ARC!

I wanted to really love this book. There was so much I was excited about going into it. First of all, the cover is so eye catching and colorful. Second, I read that it incorporates Indian and Persian mythology so I was so pumped for that!

So let’s talk about what I liked. I liked the world and the magic system. I think it was complex but not overly confusing. And I did enjoy the nods to mythology.

Unfortunately, there were a decent number of things that I didn’t really like. I was not a fan of the use of modern speech in a fantasy world. It just didn’t feel creative or like it fit the rest of the speech used. I also found that this read like a romance book that had fantasy elements if that makes sense. Maybe that’s what romantasy is? 😂 I can’t quite put my finger on it but I found that the characters lusting after each other took away from the main plot and some of the decision making was a bit irrational because of it.

I would continue the series but it’s not a drop everything a new book is coming out kind of series for me.

One last note, I did switch between the audiobook and the ebook for this one. I found the narrators were definitely good fits for the characters and I liked that they fit the voices I imagined. I’d definitely look to listen to the sequel by audiobook.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. These opinions are my own.

I adore Amalie Howard, so I was especially excited for the opportunity to read her adult romantic fantasy debut. And can we just take a minute to love on this cover?! It's even prettier in person. I made my whole family look at and admire it.

Reading it near family was actually a pretty interactive experience. I kept laughing and gasping and could not hide any of my reactions. So I got lots of inquiries about what I was reading. That's how engaged I was in the story.

Suraya receives a letter inviting her to the palace as 1 of just 100 women who might have a chance to marry the crown prince. But there is so much more to the story than that. There's magic, fantastical creatures, old gods, guardian stars, and an amazing story world. There's also romance but with lots of questions up in the air because there's so much intrigue and so many machinations and strategies.

I was right with Suraya throughout. And I have so many theories for what will happen next and no real clue. All I know is I can't wait to find out.

4.25 stars

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC copy of this book.

I was wary to pick this up because I'm not in the biggest fantasy mood right now but this book really caught my interest. It started off at a slower pace and then really started moving quickly. I don't think there is a lot of worldbuilding or explanation of the magic system but that worked out well for me and my current reading mood.

There were a few surprises but for the most part there were recognizable tropes I've seen before in fantasy romances. I also wish there was a bit more buildup for the romance. It didn't really feel like a gradual progression to me.

I did really enjoy the two main characters. Sura grew and learned quite a bit throughout the book which I enjoyed.

I'm looking forward to trying other books from Amalie Howard.

*Sweet thank you to NetGalley, author Amalie Howard & publisher Avon and Harper Voyager for allowing me to read early & review!!*

The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard
5/5⭐️

“”By the maker, I didn’t expect you,” he whispers.”

Let me start off by saying, I COULD NOT put this down! This story had everything that I can’t live without in a romantasy: an amazing magic system, mythical beings, handsome princes, rebellion, a strong-willed FMC, a deadly bride pageant, spicy romantic scenes, and vivid world-building!

This was so sexy, edge-of-my-seat, heartbreaking, and kept me wanting more and more. Our FMC, Suraya, is a commoner of House Aldebaran, living in her family’s inn, where she is a bladesmith on the side. She gets invited to the royal palace to take part in a bride pageant for the royal prince’s hand. Little does she know, it’s all a farce; a ploy to draw her out into the open.

Our MMC, Roshan, is the bastard prince, brother to the crown Prince Javed, who meets our FMC the day she arrives at the palace and is drawn to her due to their witty banter & instant connection. All hell breaks loose when secrets are revealed and violence ensues, causing our FMC & MMC to escape and place Suraya’s safety as their top priority.

“He presses a teasing kiss to the side of my neck. “When this is over and you’re safe, I promise to drop to my knees for as long as you like.””

The spicy scenes between our two characters are perfect. They are romantic, playful, sexy and sensual. I love that they start as strangers, become friends and move into lovers.

The magic system in this story is so interesting, it follows elements and runes which can be imbued into physical weapons. Portals and magical webs can be crafted which puts this story on a line between fantasy & sci-fi which I loved!

I cannot wait to read the sequel, and to know so much more about our characters story, as well as all the secrets that haven’t been revealed yet (God of Night).🤤