Overall, I did enjoy this book. It was a solid romantasy and included likable characters. I laughed at a lot of what Laleh said and was very interested in where the book would take me next. The plot was interesting and the world building was solid. However, the insta-love threw me off a bit and their romance scene felt like it came a bit out of left field... I felt like I was missing a lot of the information and history in order to really understand this book, but that could be information that will come in a sequel?
I did enjoy the book and would most likely read a sequel if there was one!

The Starlight Heir was a good series starter! The book picked up really quickly, and I read it in two sittings; it was very fast-paced! I liked how once the action started, nothing slowed down. I thought that the magic system was really easy to understand, and the plot was interesting and not difficult to follow. I did think that the romance was a bit too insta-love/insta-lust-y, but otherwise, I had a good time reading this book, and am interested in seeing what happens in the next book! I didn't love how once the romance picked up, there wasn't really any tension between the characters, and I didn't like how fast they got together, however, which did impact my rating. Overall I would mostly recommend this book.

This book was so cute but in a fantastical, morally grey kind of way. I was hooked and read it in one day! Definitely different than Howard’s other books that I’ve read but I loved it.

This was such a fascinating read. Dealing with mythology and magics in the realm. There is slow burn romance, magic, magical creatures including wyverns!!!! The world building isn't to hard to follow and not overly detailed to where you feel it takes up the whole book. I can't wait to see what book 2 holds!!

I was absolutely ecstatic when this arrived in my Fairyloot box. =)

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

I found the premise of the Starlight Heir to be interesting and was very excited to receive an eARC from NetGalley and Avon Books. Unfortunately I don't think this book is for me.

Surayu is a blacksmith who gets invited to court to be in the running for the prince's hand in marriage. The prince is looking for a Starkeeper, that are essentially all but disappeared. As Suraya completes the trials for the prince's favor, with a little help from the prince's half brother, she starts to notice things are not quite what they seem. From there all sorts of chaos ensues, including some dream visits from a mysterious someone.

The book was fast paced, but I would have liked some of the details more fleshed out. It felt like the transition from one storyline/place to the next was rushed and I found it hard to keep up. Also the modern day slang took me out of the fantasy book setting.

I think someone looking for a romance heavy fantasy with not as much world building could really enjoy this one, but ultimately it wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the eARc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. The world building slowed me down initially but then I was suddenly 75% through. I enjoyed the characters and the twists and turns. I'm excited for the next book and to hopefully find out about our shadow friend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, I was intrigued by the beginning of this book. There were interesting elements placed, the world seemed vibrant and I was engaged.

I would say that ended somewhere around the 25% mark.

It feels like nothing in this book had any depth. Not the characters, not the world, not even the plot. Things were just happening just for the sake of things happening and then it didn’t feel like there was a satisfying pay-off for them.

By the halfway point, I was determined to finish the book just so I could be done with it.

Suraya’s arc was rushed as we didn’t get to see her learn to use her powers and she just had incredible control by the end somehow. Everything just felt very convenient and shallow.

One thing I love about books is when they surprise me, and not a single thing in this book was shocking or unexpected.

Overall, I think this had so much potential but didn’t deliver.

I had such a good time reading The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard. It’s got magic, court drama, and just enough romance to keep things interesting. Suraya, a badass bladesmith, finds herself caught up in royal chaos—and maybe falling for Roshan, the prince’s charming and infuriating half-brother. The world was so vivid, and even though I saw a few twists coming, I didn’t mind at all. If you’re into fantasy with a bit of romance, this one’s totally worth picking up!

4.25 ⭐ rounded up!

Suraya, the FMC, is strong, intelligent, and fiercely independent. I thoroughly enjoyed the FMC/MMC being in their mid-20's and not being a ripe 18.

The romance is a slow burn, full of longing glances and stolen moments until they come together around the midpoint. I live for the slow burn!

The magic system in this world reminded me a bit of Star Mother by Charlie N Holmberg meets mythology and is a wonderful cultural mashup!

I would have loved it if the supporting characters were a smidge more fleshed out, but they're still pretty good. Some of the very modern terms seemed very out of place as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and will happily wait for the next book!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“A bladesmith blessed by the stars. A prince with a dangerous secret. A god bound in shadows.”

Read if you like:
- Forbidden Romance
- Secret Identities
- Prophecies, Star Magic
- Forced Proximity
- Quests and Adventure

Synopsis:

We follow Suraya Saab, our heroine bladesmith. When she receives an invitation to the capital city, chosen as one of the many to be a potential bride for our crown prince, she leaves for a chance at adventure. But what awaits is nothing as imagined. The invitation isn’t a quest to find a suitable bride, but a veiled hunt for the Starkeeper, a girl rumored to hold magic of the stars in her blood. Fraught with danger, charmed with forbidden love, and the adventures of crossing an unrest city, Suraya begins to channel the power stirring within her in hopes to battle the biggest threat of all..

Thoughts:

What I enjoyed:
The setting, the easy to follow world building, and the fast-paced plot! The plot definitely keeps you on your toes, propelling the story forward. I was also very intrigued by the Persian and Indian Mythology and Astrology elements, and the overall concept of this novel was quite entertaining.

What wasn’t my favorite:
The romance and our female lead. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t connect with Suraya. Her character growth just didn’t feel fully fleshed out, and I think this may have been better supplemented by further enforcing the bonds with our side characters. I also found myself pulled out of the story a few times by the dialogue choices. And don’t’ get me wrong, I love a spicy scene, but the romance just didn’t have that gradual believability for me to feel invested.

Ultimately, I landed on a 3 star read, but I think this romantasy author has a lot of potential. I’d be curious to see what this author releases next!

Thank you Avon Books and Harper Voyager for my gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read to get to experience a different cultures mythology and vibes. This one is Indian and middle eastern, and had such unique magic and amazing world building with some romance thrown in!

The Starlight Heir is a colorful and charming romantasy that follows our main character, Suraya, a commoner and bladesmith from house Aldebaran, who at the start of the story is summoned to the royal castle as a potential bride to the heir to the Kingdom, Prince Javed. She is immediately suspicious of the invitation, and when she arrives, she realizes she’s been entered into a deadly competition. Strange things start happening around her, and curiously the King’s bastard brother whom she mistook for a gardener keeps showing up. She starts to wonder if her parents had been protecting her from something her whole life.

I think this had so much potential and there were many elements of this that I loved - the rune and astrological-based magic system, the house structures and the Starlight firebird that was the embodiment of Suraya’s magic - however, I didn’t think these elements were as fleshed out as they could have been. I found myself confused at times, struggling to envision the world and magic systems, and how everything worked together. I also think the pacing hindered the emotional impact of this story, and all of the reveals fell a bit flat for me as a result. We didn’t take the necessary time to sit in any of the emotional moments or get to know the main characters beyond their attraction to each other, and it felt like these big action moments and surprising reveals were thrown at us so frequently, that nothing had any real impact or consequence. I am intrigued by the shadow God, Darrius that we occasionally got hints of, but at this point I’m not sure if I understood enough of his relation to any of the event in this story to be motivated to pick up the next book.

This was my first romantasy in a long time and it will be my last for a WHILE. It was like The Hunger Games, The Selection, a bit of ACOTAR, and Divergent all mixed into one slightly confusing and wildly paced ride. It was fun but everything started happening all at once and I couldn’t really get a grip on the story.

~Take my opinion with a grain of salt because this is definitely not my genre and I only read it because I love the author’s previous work (historical romance).~

Like many have said before me, this read almost like a YA fantasy book, but with adult spice, which gives it a disjointed and slightly uncomfortable feel. I couldn’t tell what time period it was supposed to be in with the references and language used, but I didn’t mind that too much.

But I really enjoyed getting to dive into the mythology elements and the world created here: Amalie always does an amazing job weaving her Indian, Middle Eastern, and Caribbean roots into her books, and The Starlight Heir was no different. For more, go read her historical romance series with Sourcebooks. DO IT.

In terms of the scorching romance that was promised in the summary, I’ve read books by Amalie that are 10x spicier so I would not classify this as Hot honestly, which was definitely a weird experience. Like I thought if ANYTHING, the smut would do it for me. The hero was too nice (and considerate) honestly. The heroine was also too nice. They were cute, but I didn’t feel much connection.

It’s a duology though, and from what Amalie has told me I’m definitely excited for what’s to come, so I’ll be back for book two. It felt like it was going a LOT of work to set up the next book, so I’m hoping we can just sit back and enjoy the ride in that one.

The book is written in a first person present with one main POV (the heroine’s) and a second sporadic one of some shadow god dude. The hero of the book doesn’t have a POV (I think for the better).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC. This book is a solid start but missing in depth development.

I was so excited for the premise for this one when I stumbled upon it here on netgalley but unfortunately it ended up falling flat for me.

Firstly, the phrases and language used was very inconsistent to the time period that this novel seems to take place in. The main characters spoke to each other in a very formal, almost historical way, when in public, but then behind closed doors would say things like “thick thighs save lives”. It was very jarring to be reading and get random modern/gen Z esque phrases.

Another issue that I had was that the pacing was incredibly fast (sort of spoiler comment) but we went from not knowing anything about the capital to it falling all in like 18% and because of this it made it very hard for me to feel grounded within the story. There wasn’t any time to attach to any of the characters before we were moving to a new scene. I really wish we could have spent more time in the capital learning and gathering information before the inevitable fall.

Overall I really liked the ideas for this, the world had so much potential as did the choice of love interest but with the pacing and language choices I feel like we didn’t get enough of the details for those pieces of the book to really shine like they could have.

The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard completely captivated me with its lush world-building and compelling characters. From the very first page, I was hooked by Suraya Saab’s journey as a skilled bladesmith thrown into royal intrigue. The intricate mythology and fast-paced plot kept me turning pages late into the night. The romance and high stakes made it an exhilarating read, and I loved how Howard wove everything together so seamlessly. If you enjoy fantasy with a strong heroine, rich storytelling, and plenty of swoon-worthy moments, this book is a must-read. I absolutely loved it!

If there are key components to Howard’s writing it’s that there will be a strong lead character, witty banter, and steam enough to make you blush. We get all of those hallmarks and more in her latest book, her romantasy debut, The Starlight Heir.

Suraya is a talented bladesmith who receives an invitation for a bride competition the crown prince is hosting in the capital city. She thinks it’s a joke at first, and goes in order to prevent political backlash for her family. What she experiences there, however, is not a true competition for the prince’s hand in marriage. Nope, it is much darker than that. Her fierce protective side shines through as more dangers reveal themselves throughout the book. Thankfully, she runs into a potential ally early on, Roshan. Their immediate dislike of one another is both entertaining and infuriating, but their relationship grows quickly as each obstacle appears. Neither character is perfect and I adored how they helped each other grow.

I loved how the world was slowly revealed to us, as well as how the magical elements were intertwined with the plot. So many fantasy novels get bogged down in places by info-dumping what we need to know to orient ourselves within the world, and yet Howard did this masterfully. I never felt lost as we traveled with the characters. It was clear how grounded the world was in Persian and Indian mythology- which was so fun!

I also loved the commentary on power and corruption here. There are so many little pieces that fit perfectly together at the end, it was so satisfying to read! Expect lots of twists and turns in this one!

So, so excited for the next installment!

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy!

Content warnings: murder, violence

As a fan of Amalie Howard's adult and YA historical romances who also reads fantasy, I was excited to read this new direction for the author.

Blacksmith Suraya Saab receives a gilt-covered letter and thinks it's a joke. An invitation to Kaldari, a city she's always wanted to see, proves tempting -- but to go there as a potential bride for the crown prince? It's a request she can't refuse.

On her arrival in Kaldari, Suraya immediately meets the charming Roshan. He immediately seems a better option than the evil Prince Javed, but Suraya is the chosen one Javed is looking for. Suraya and Roshan have to deal with a lot of twists from the prince and his mother and may lose a lot on the way to the end.

Ultimately the world and its magic are the draw, but Suraya is also an interesting main character. The world draws on Indian and Middle Eastern mythology to create a world that is new to some and may feel a bit familiar to others.

Recommended for romantasy readers. Fans of pure fantasy may also enjoy, but there is one spicy scene they may want to skip.

I wanted this to be better. I feel like so many fantasy romances lose the “fantasy” aspect in order to pander to their audience. The FMC talks about “spicy” romance and book boyfriends. It just completely took me out of the story. And one of the main plot points and areas of conflict is spoiled in the blurb. Overall, it just wasn’t a good romance and was an even worse fantasy.