This was a great enemies to friends to lovers fantasy book. I enjoyed how the book started with action and immediately made us want to hug the female main character. I liked the pacing between her trying to live a normal life and having a huge burden to carry the family name. I liked how the male main character was introduced and how he was likeable to where you understand why he does what he thinks is needed. I liked how they meet and how they intertwine with each. I did not like the villian and figured out before that he would be evil. I loved the two side characters and hope they get a story in the next book. I didn't mind how gruesome the deaths were because it was quick. This was a great story and I will purchase the next one.

This is a fast-paced, slow-ish burn to blaze YA romance with a Hindu mythology twist. Overall, this was an enjoyable romp and the chemistry between Karan and Laila was electric. In the version I read, the prose was not the most magical but the world the author is building, and the connection to mythology was extremely fun. The opening is extremely compelling, and I think that Sharma has a good sense of how to pace the plot. This would be a fun beach romp for anyone who enjoys romantasy.

There are a few gaps that I think can be addressed by the author - for example, the tattoos on Laila and Karan are at different times referred to as being Sanskrit, "Sanskritlike", a dialect. It might be clearer to say they were in Devanagiri or Brahmi script which may be unfamiliar but perhaps untranslatable at first, or just some indication of why these 3 scholars of Sanskrit are unable to read these tattoos but also know they're in Sanskrit. Similarly for the symbol on their hands - it's described as a Sanskrit symbol but that is just confusing. What is a Sanskrit symbol? Is it a yantra? Is it a Devanagiri alphabet? I think that in trying to be more readable to a western audience, the book shies away from details that could really flesh out the world. There are similar examples, with a. reference to Traditional vs Formal Hindi, what does that mean? Growing up in India, that does not make sense to me.

A note: there is a throwaway reference to Laila's bisexuality which is never again mentioned and feels less like representation and more like trying to shoehorn in diversity. The author doesn't seem to have a lot of experience writing sexually diverse charcaters, and that's okay! It's fine for Laila to be straight.

There's a lot of promise in this book, and I hope the author + editor are able to clean up some of the less polished aspects of it to help the book live up to that promise.

This book was so cute! I love that within the first twenty pages there is a really captivating and face paced fight scene. I was hooked! Laila is raised by her demon aunts to save the world. Karan is a demon hunter on a mission to find his missing parents—and he thinks killing Laila is the key. Their collision is an enemies-to-lovers, fast-paced story heavily influenced by Hindu Mythology.
If you have an understanding of the Mythology, I imagine you get a lot more out of the story, but it isn’t a requirement at all. The Mythology is woven into the plot. It adds depth to the world without ever feeling inaccessible. The action scenes crackle, and Laila’s growth into a fierce, confident heroine is incredibly satisfying.
Anyone who enjoyed Percy Jackson, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer would love this book!

I requested this book for ARC reading because of the interesting blurb for the book. I didn't necessarily have high expectations for this book, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got reading by how good it was.

The story in short is about our main characters Laila and Karan, who both have a mythological ancestor. Their blood sets them on a path in which they have a legacy to fulfill. Their paths were never meant to cross, but what if they will?

This story was mostly written from the dual POV of Karan and Laila themselves. I really liked the switcharound a lot. When it was advertised as a book for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, I have to say I got triggered as a Supernatural watcher. And behold! The story did indeed have a Supernatural vibe to it. Especially from Karan's side of things.

Nisha Sharma also knows how to keep the tension high in a story. From the beginning to the end you're on the tip of your seat because of how exciting this story is. I first noticed it at 40% in the book, which I was surprised about because suddenly I was 40% into the book, how did that even happen?

The relationship between Karan and Laila progressed fast, but is believable at the same time. The way they interact with each other just makes sense. They weren't overly lovey-dovey either, which was nice in my opinion.

I was delighted to jump into the Indian mythology of things as well. I think this was a refreshing book on that front. It's usually a lot of Greek/Roman mythology you see (Norse often as well), so I was glad to learn more about a mythology I wasn't that aware of, so applause for the author on that as well!

When reading the book, the main villain of it is quite obvious, so if you're looking for suspense on who would be the evil guy, this book won't give you that. In my personal opinion I had no problems with them revealing the evil guy from the beginning, but it might be off-putting to some.

Some quotes that caught my eye too!
‘They were Indian Indiana Joneses in real life,…’ > love that so much.
‘“What can be worse than gossip?” he asked.
“The British colonization of India.”’ > ZING.

At last I want to thank Netgalley, Union Square & Co. and Nisha Sharma for the opportunity to read this book as an eARC. I will definitely be talking about this book with my book friends and I hope to see it do well overall!

The book follows the story of Laila and Karan, two teenagers who are descendants of demigods. Through themes of betrayal and love, they fight to survive in a world that pits them against one another.

I enjoyed this story. The characters are well-developed and feel real. The mythology is woven with intention and care. Laila is confident in her abilities and can care for herself, which contrasts with Karan's attitude at the beginning of the story. Their relationship evolves naturally through everyday interactions.

I recommend this book if you enjoy magic, a strong female lead, and plenty of action.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my review.

Im going to give this a 3.7/5 stars

I’ll start with the good parts. The mythology. I know nothing about Indian mythology. I have never heard of draupadi but this has made me have enough interest in it to research myself. It was very fun at the last 150 pages and I felt like a lot of the story started to come together. It also got me so excited for book 2 and how ever many are to come. I also have so much interest in Gopal.

The bad parts, I felt directionless for the beginning half of the book. A lot of it felt like vibes and I didn’t have a clear direction of where we were going. This could be because I have no knowledge of the mythology. Some of the lines were also cringe and unnatural.

It was said to be enemies to lovers but, there was nothing really giving enemies here. It seemed like he like liked her from he start and here was no serious clash.

But overall great work from Nisha

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for giving me access to this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The cover is wonderful.
However, I had to DNF this one. I didn't find it exciting or gripping and I was just kind of confused. I don't know much about Indian Mythology so maybe that's why I didn't connect with the story as much as I would have liked.
The over usage of people's names kind of threw me off though.
I'm sad this one didn't work for me.

This book was EPIC!

Illusions of Fire follows a young Laila Bansal, just out of high school, dealing with balancing her young adult life and the fate of the world - no big deal.

Reading Nisha Sharma's acknowledgements had me tearing up because this book would have totally fit in with the early 2010s just a few years after Veronica Mars ended and less than a decade after the end of Buffy and Angel too. But ESPECIALLY because this is literally when The Librarians was coming out! It's heartbreaking to hear that this book was left behind. I am so so so glad that Nisha didn't give up on it though because this book is incredibly necessary and so good! It absolutely needs to exist in the world. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know.

From the start I immediately couldn't put Illusions of Fire down. It was unique but familiar at the same time. As a South Asian girl, I felt so seen by Laila and I related so much to a lot of her day-to-day life. Also, where does one get this fancy chai machine? Her rich lifestyle and quirky masis alone are honestly so fun!

While I am Indian, I'm not Hindu so this mythology was completely new and fresh to me. I was so fascinated by the way the magic system worked and the roles all the characters played. I loved the way that the gods and their descendents had entire histories and present purposes in their tasks but there were also still a ton of secrets. Shout out to my girl Boo, the designated bookworm researcher.

But also who can forget Karan, the awesome MMC. I loved Laila and him together so much! We get to see the two skilled fighters together battling mythical creatures and having each other's backs for so much of this story and I was obsessed with that.

This book has archery training, flaming swords, epic libraries, various demons, and dark magic. It is so cool and so interesting and I cannot say enough good things about it!

This series is going to be amazing and no one is going to want to miss it!


Thank you so much to Union Square and Nisha Sharma for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

As a huge fan of Buffy and Supernatural this book was everything I wanted in a modern fantasy. Laila is a girl raised for a divine purpose-to save the world. Karan is also raised to battle evil and protect humans but from across the world and never to cross paths with Laila. However, he is looking for his missing parents and he believes Laila is the key to finding them. He just has to kill her. So begins his journey to Rochester, NY, of all places. There is some deep lore into Indian religious text and mythology that was beautiful. The good guys and the bad guys were complex and multi-faceted. I had some sympathy for a few of the demons. Scorned woman turned man eater?..she’s my friend. I loved Laila and Karan’s initial rivalry and their battles. I loved their connection and how it develops into something romantic. The introduction of surprise characters was very interesting and I am excited to see how this series develops. This story can be standalone but I want more and Nisha Sharma better get approval for more books. I will riot if not. This story was so unique and special. It was even a bit dark. I have to say the mention of the Kerala fighting style made me scream. I’m from Kerala and this was a deep cut that I LOVED. This is a YA book so there is only closed door spice. It’s totally appropriate for teens and up and I would have ate this up back then. I mean, I ate this up in one day today as a grown woman. A new favorite for sure.

A fast read that revolves around Hindu mythology that was quick to engage me as a reader even though I knew next to nothing about the source material. This book had everything a YA book should have- a journey of self-discovery, a cast of characters that while young- had a lot of heart, and a prophecy of destiny that may or may not be fulfilled.

One thing to note, it's not a standalone. There was not markings of it being part of a series when I read it, but it's very clear from the end that there is more to come in later installments.

Thank you to NetGalley and Union Square & Co for a copy of this e-ARC.

I don’t even know where to begin this review! Illusions of Fire by Nisha Sharma was like a rollercoaster that only went up—and I loved every minute of it. This was my first time reading one of Nisha’s books, and let me tell you, it did not let me down.

This is easily one of my favorite 5-star reads of the year. It has everything I adore in a YA fantasy: enemies-to-lovers tension, rich and accessible Hindu mythology, a badass female protagonist who grows stronger with every chapter, and an electrifying plot that keeps you hooked from start to finish.

Sharma’s writing is so smooth and fast-paced that it felt like I was right there, standing beside Laila as she trained, fought, and unraveled the secrets of her destiny. Every action scene crackled with energy, and the dialogue had me grinning and gasping in equal measure.

One of my favorite aspects was the way the mythology was explained. This was my first time diving into a YA book featuring Hindu mythology, and it was presented in such a consistent, easy-to-follow, and utterly captivating way that I never felt lost. The world-building is rich, vibrant, and inclusive, bringing ancient stories into a modern context that feels both authentic and fresh.

The relationship between Laila and Karan had me swooning. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic was everything I hoped for, with sparks flying from their first meeting. Laila’s growth—from a hesitant, unsure heroine to a fierce warrior ready to embrace her destiny—was so satisfying to watch.

This is a book especially for fans of mythology, action-packed stories in the Percy Jackson vein, and enemies-to-lovers romance that keeps you guessing. If you loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, or Legendborn, you’ll find Illusions of Fire is the perfect next adventure.

Nisha delivers an unforgettable, heart-pounding, mythologically rich fantasy that deserves every bit of praise. With its fierce heroine, swoon-worthy romance, and thrilling action, Illusions of Fire is a must-read that belongs at the top of your TBR.

2.5 stars rounded up.

I would love to give this book more stars because I actually liked the characters and the story. However, it was written in a way that I didn't find myself enjoying.

Pros
- Well thought out. I can tell the Author either knows these mythos well, or did her due diligence to find the information.
- Believable romance. I actually really enjoyed these two together even though the fated mates trope isn't typically one I like. Nothing about their circumstances seemed to force them together., which I really appreciate. I also love the way Karan talks to Liana.
- Interesting characters. At first I wasn't sold on the FMC because she seemed to just be really rude, but after a few chapters that fades off. The MMC is a sweet boy with very golden retriever energy for someone who hunts monsters for a living. However, the side characters are where it's at in this story. Pretty much every single character besides the two leads and the big bad have so much charm.
- I was really fascinated with the mythology. I spent a lot of time while reading this looking up different words and deep diving into parts of the history to get a better understanding of the story, which to me is something that I enjoy in a book. It taught me something.

- Cons.
- Writing style feels juvenile and disjointed in the early chapters. I'm not sure if I adjusted to it by the end or if it corrected itself, but I only found myself noticing it for the first 5 chapters or so.
- Information given at very random moments that stand stark instead of being told as part of the story. (IE. "had a bloodline from a mythological being. A bloodline that required her to have a child before her 25th birthday." This line was put in her introducing herself to the reader, and had zero follow up or explanation. Sure the story filled you in eventually but it felt like such a strange out of place statement with no clarifications.)
- My biggest pet peeve in reading was done multiple times in this book. Repeating plot points, Multiple times throughout the book, when the POV swap happened, we would get a repeat of what just happened in the previous chapter, simply because it was a new POV. Unless there is something from their POV that was needed for us to see (IE when Karan left to go outside while Gopal was upstairs with Laila.) However, it's often just them mentally going back over the events and how they feel about them, and that takes up a good portion of each chapter. Then you have the repeating of world building details in a way that makes it seem like the author believes the reader is not smart enough to remember something from a few chapters ago. (IE. Explaining that there was a place from only the gods, and then the gods and the demons, and then the gods, the demons, and the humans more than once.) The book is too short to need constant reminders.
- Inconsistent character traits. (IE. - Laila feels like an outsider and othered through the entire first half of the book and then the book says "but because her aunts' business was well respected, no one ever made her feel like she didn't belong.") It happened a few times but I only highlighted this because it was the most confusing. Was she made to feel like an outsider or not, because you'd made it seem so for 50% of the book and then said she didn't.
- Karan being called "Deepak" only once in the book?
- A lot of grammatical errors. Added in words or missing words. Spelling mistakes. Formatting issues. (This may have just been on the Epub version I had sent to my kindle, because I checked the first few pages to see why my kindle version had a ton of random flame pictures for 6-7 pages, and the version inside of the netgalley reader didn't have that issue, but there were also a ton of instances where 2-3 words were crammed together with no spacing, I was unable to check the netgalley reader to compare that.)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
I enjoyed this book. As someone who has been exposed to aspects of Hinduism their whole life and has a hearty appreciation for the culture, this really warmed my heart to see a South Asian fantasy book because they are so rare. That being said I found the characters every two dimensional and think the book was too short. I felt like it needed more time to explore the characters, magic system, world and the romance. Overall it was a solid read and I want to see where this goes from here, I think it has potential to be great.

This was a refreshing YA Contemporary Fantasy. I think the use of South Asian mythology and folklore was incredible. I myself who was not familiar with these topics, found it very fascinating.

A lot of fantasy books will recycle and reuse the “chosen one” type tropes, but I feel like this did that in a much more unique and interesting way.

Laila was a badass and I loved her character, I also loved Boo as well. The story was thrilling, fun, and emotional. I had an absolute blast reading this. I dropped a star because I wasn’t 100% sold on the romance and sometimes the pacing was a little off, but regardless, I would definitely recommend this book.

I’ve also been wanting to read this book for a while, I thought it was supposed to come out in February of 2025, and it may have in some regions? But when I look it up now it has an October 2025 release date. So make sure to pick it up this fall!

Thank you NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for this ARC!

I have never read anything similar to this and had no introduction whatsoever to south Asian mythology and Folklore but it made this whole experience more compelling and entertaining. It's new, fresh, draws you in like you might have never been before, is beginner reader friendly, and has everything you need! Laila, Karan, Gopal, Boo, and everyone you'll meet WILL make you feel a lot of different things (good, sometimes sad) at times, but (and) you'll love it!

Would I 1000% recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and Union Square and Co. for this E-arc!
3.5 stars!
Illusions of fire is a young adult fantasy romance set in our world, but is rich with legends and lore from Hindu Mythology. Our main character, Laila, is raised by her aunts, who are demons. they protect her and train her to prepare for her destiny..
Then we have Karan who hunts demons, trained by his father and uncle, to keep the balance between good and evil. Soon Laila and Karans path cross and they end up butting heads before they realize they might have more in common than they think....
As for my thoughts, there was a lot I enjoyed and a lot that I didn't. One pro was, of course, the Hindu mythology, this was the strongest part of the book for me. From the magical creatures to the lore of the descendants, it gave an extra layer and depth to the narrative. Another pro, was the side characters. Boo gave a lighthearted feel while also contributing to the plot because of her intelligence and Gopal, had an aura of mystery and kept the story moving.
Now for the things I didnt love as much. firstly, I wish we spent more time with Laila's aunts because I think they could have added an interesting insight considering their history. but it seemed they were essentially, cut out for most of the story. another con was that at one point, a secret was revealed and I felt like it was swept under the rug and brushed away. I wish we had some more time with it and had it discussed because it was a big part of the book.
in conclusion, I did, overall, enjoy my time and I think people should give this a chance when it releases. if you like characters like Buffy and South Asian rep. this is for you. I'm intrigued for her other works and whatever else she ends up releasing!

This book was a lovely read, I particularly enjoyed the descriptive language used in it, and how well everything was always explained from everything to clothes to the smells that could be smelt. It felt I credibly immersive which I absolutely adored.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publishing company for allowing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the myth0logy elements in the story. They were used in interesting ways and I loved how the characters used their individual inherited traits. The story was fun and I liked the characters. It was a good YA book. The writing isn't the best and there is a lot of basic editing needed to make this ready to publish.

I’m not well-versed on Hindu mythology and folklore, so when I saw this ARC was available on NetGalley, I scrambled to request it! Descendants of Hindu gods and goddesses? An FMC that’s had combat and weapons training since she was practically a toddler? SIGN ME UP.
Laila is a strong (literally and metaphorically) FMC, and I could relate to her wanting her own agency, and wanting to create her own destiny and identity. Karan’s own journey parallels hers in a lot of ways.
Boo and Gopal are fun side characters, and I hope we see more of them in this fresh new potential series.
Word of caution: this book gets VERY dark towards the end with a creepy, extremely dangerous villain. Outcome was satisfactory, but it left me wanting more. I can’t wait to read the next installation in this series!

A stunning YA high fantasy debut novel steeped in South Asian mythology, badass archery and fighting scenes, mysterious fire powers and lore, and loving and loyal families dynamics. This was such an incredible read; it was fast-paced, irreverent and emotional, with enough mystery to the plot moving. The South Asian lore was highly intriguing and I felt like the author did a good job with explaining the important elements while letting us know where stories diverged.
Our young heroes are incredible: equally strong and brilliant, and complement each other with their wit, unwavering support, and chemistry. I love the underlying theme of taking fate into your own hands and straying from predetermined expectations.
The third act didn’t feel as big and epic as I might have hoped, but it laid some groundwork for potential future threads— I already cannot wait for a book two! I’m so excited knowing that this will definitely be one of the next big generational YA reads, and it was so meaningful to learn about the journey Illusions of Fire had to overcome in order to come alive on the page today.
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