Ledge is a great debut novel by booktok influencer Stacey McEwan. While I was sold on the descriptions I had read and heard, I was initially skeptical about how much I would actually enjoy this book. However, I really enjoyed the world that Ledge introduces and of course it contains some of my favorite tropes (enemies to lovers, one bed, and more!). While this is the first book in a trilogy, and a debut novel, it shows promise for the rest of the series to continue to improve as the series really finds its footing. I loved the banter between the characters, although there were times where I could actually hear the author's voice and personality coming through in the dialogue. This did not bother me, but it was just an interesting effect from having watched so many of Stacey's videos previously. Overall I really enjoyed this book, and I can't wait to read book two because holy cliffhanger!!!!

Although it took me a little bit of time to get acclimated to the cadence and style of this author’s writing, I really enjoyed the book. The plot had familiar aspects, yet still had a spin on things that kept it from being too similar to popular new adult, fantasy, romance novels. It has some of the tried and true tropes of enemies-to-lovers, human-girl-with-incredible-strength, and a fun cast of side characters. But I think the thing that sets this book apart from others is that there seems to be a truly healthy relationship between the FMC and MMC where he respects her strength and the ability to make her own decisions. I didn’t love the cliff-hanger ending because I know it will be a while before I can read the rest of the story. Hopefully the next two books in the series will shine as brightly as the first.

This one had a great premise and it has a lot of positive reviews but it did not work for me. I think my biggest issue was I just didn't connect with or like the main character. She didn't have a lot of depth and just felt flat to me. There were also things that I felt like didn't make a lot of sense. The climate they lived in didn't really lend itself to well trained fighters and yet that is what the main character claimed to be. The rest of the story fell along familiar ya lines but had too much sex and adult language to fall into the ya category. Overall this one really didn't work for me.

This book was not for me. I did not like the first-person perspective the prose were written in. I found them confusing and very hard to follow. Even though I have ready countless books in first person, this one specifically was strangely written. I had to reread multiple passages to make sure I was understanding the story properly. I will not be posting this to Goodreads, because I really like Stacey and hope her next work benefits from more experience. I have gotten so used to seeing Stacey's hilarious Tiktok videos, that reading such a bleak story was a bit jarring. I hope her next book infuses more humor in the dialogue.

I had high hopes for this one, but it never really got there.

- The world building is severely lacking. We don't get much of an understanding of current state, let alone how they got to be there.

- Our understanding of the Glacian race is so minimal that I couldn't imagine or understand them at all.

- The storyline feels derivative of every other fantasy trilogy coming out these days.

- Ryon screams knock-off of Rowan from the Sarah J Maas Throne of Glass series

- Ryon keeps calling Dawsyn "girl" and it was driving me NUTS

- Plot often doesn't make sense / characters do illogical things considering the circumstances they're in

There are better fantasy series out there. Skip this one.

Dawsyn lives in a coldness and is lifted from the abyss and taken to the Glacians. She makes her escape aided by Ryon a half blood glacian. Together begrudgingly they make plans to take down the glacian kingdom.
I am not a fantasy reader at all and this was out of my comfort zone and I loved it. I need the next part tomorrow please!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

An interesting concept.
I just felt like the writing was a bit immature, even for YA. I follow the author on IG, she is incredibly funny and creative and I feel like that just didn't translate that well here.
Also, the names of the characters could be...improved.
Overall, an okay book but I don't think I would re-read

Ledge was bloody exceptional.

It's been a while since I was so completely absorbed with a new book world but when I read this one I fell into the story, I swear I could feel the frost! Okay, that last bit is a wee bit dramatic but regardless the point stands, it is a great book.

Am I very impatiently waiting until book 2 is released next September and did I utter a few curse words at the cliffhanger at the end? Yup.

The main characters were proper badasses, and the side characters were totally loveable.

3.5✰ // i was very conflicted over how to rate this book. there were aspects of Ledge that i found i was very fond of (who doesn’t love a main character with an axe and a frigid mountain setting ??); yet at times, i felt the pacing was a bit odd, and i didn’t feel quite as unenthusiastic toward the latter part of the book, as the plot seemed to play out pretty predictably…. that was until the very end which completely caught me off guard (like okay cliff-hanger ?!?!?!?!). i’m very interested to see how the story advances as the series progresses.
overall, i think this book would be great for anyone that enjoyed acotar and other high-fantasy-like books.

thank you so much to Angry Robot Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable read. I liked the characters and storyline was very interesting. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

I actually ended up buying the physical version of this book. It was a wonderful fantasy read. I am very impressed by Stacey's writing!

Is this a debut book? I couldn’t tell. The world building was top tier, except I could have done with just a wee bit more on the description of the MMC. I seriously need people to go read this and make fan art so I can see how close what was in my head matches what everyone else saw too. But, all that aside, the chapters were short and very easy to digest. The world building happened when and how I needed to easily keep up, and the story moved along very smoothly. Not gonna give spoilers, but I am not gonna get over that ending anytime soon. Yes, I know this book just came out but I need the next one asap!!! Great job.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an ARC copy of this book.

I have been following Stacey for a while on Instagram and love her 'turning my husband into a fictional character' videos...always make me laugh. So I had to pick up her debut novel and I am really glad I did. It is a great start to a series (need to do more research into how many books there will be) this left on a great cliffhanger.

This was a great read, hooked from the beginning and it was such a fresh idea! Like nothing I have ever read before, which is soooo refreshing. Yes, it had a fierce female lead. Yes, it had a slow burn...enemies to lovers romance. Yes, it had a broody male with wings 😉 Yes, it had fantasy elements to it with backstabbing, secrets, plotting, betrayal, etc. but honestly the story was just something so new! Well done Stacey!

I think the only thing that kept it from being 5 star, was sometimes the book stagnated a little and the pace fell.

I would really recommend this if you enjoy authors like Raven Kennedy, Miranda Lynn, Ivy Asher...!

I keep wavering between 2 and 3 stars for this one - it's fast paced, not too complicated in its world building, and about 1/3 of the way through the book we get dual POVs for Dawsyn and Ryon. Sadly, those things are also part of way I didn't fully enjoy Ledge.

Worldbuilding: Okay, yes I know not every fantasy needs a fully fleshed political/religious/magic system to work. HOWEVER. It's distracting when modern vernacular enters fantasy without explanation (at least once a character says something like "fucking hell" which is... not the linguistic vibe of the rest of the book? Or indicative of any type of religious/magic belief?

Secondly, we know that the people on the Ledge pretty much only believe in survival, but what about the villagers we meet later? Hell, what do the Glacians stand for, other than capitalism but make it literal human souls? (that would have been a fantastic commentary by the way, but went so under-utilized.)

Dual POV: I actually really liked that we got both Dawsyn and Ryon's POVs, but I also feel like I really was just glad not to be in Dawsyn's inner monologue the whole time. Maybe it's just me being picky after reading multiple fantasies with a Very Strong Female MC that can totally take out 5 of the strongest, full-blooded, very scary, supernatural creatures, but it's cool because everyone underestimated her. With Ryon, I also go back to the "what does he believe in" thing from before. He might have the clearest motivations of any of the characters, but some of his decisions I could not fathom the thought process behind them. (view spoiler)

I did think the pacing was pretty good. It took me some time to get into but at about the 50 page mark I just started flying through it. Ledge is a book that I think I liked...? I'm not completely sure that even the ending will get me to continue with the second book, but we'll see. I'm leaving this at 3 stars, I definitely think there is an audience for this book (obviously from what I can tell of other reviews) but I don't think I'm that audience.

This is a solid debut novel! I wish we got a little more depth and tension in all aspects: characters, world building, romance, and plot. But as a debut novel, this was still a solid read. The cliffhanger literally had me rereading the page and saying, “wait, wtf??”

Maybe more of a 3.75⭐️

Was feeling pretty middle of the road for the most part but I’m a slut for a cliff hanger ending

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be finishing this book.

I got about halfway through and have decided it's not really for me. The world building is lacking, and the plot seems to exist entirely for the enemies to lovers arc (which itself was not a smooth nor believable arc).

In two pages of text, Ryon called Dawsyn 'girl' five times. It was too repetitive, and half the instances of 'girl' still would have got the point across, and still would have been irksome to Dawsyn (but less irksome to the reader).

The characters were not fleshed out as much as I would have liked, and the travel from place to place felt too short.

I can see the potential, however, and will continue watching Stacey -- perhaps the next series will appeal to me more! I can see the hundreds of good reviews on GoodReads, however, and as a bookseller I can be unbiased. I know which of my readers will enjoy this book and can happily handsell it to those who will enjoy it better than I did.

A valiant effort for Stacey's first book.
However, I found myself stalling so many times. I couldn't get past certain things. If you're after a book that ticks all of the trope and fantasy boxes then this will be for you. Will I read the second book? Most likely, the read wasn't great, but it certainly wasn't bad.

Thank you ANGRY ROBOT and Stacey McEwan for the opportunity to read and review LEDGE. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review and here it is:
In a sentence, I don’t understand the hype. Harsh maybe, but my disappointment was sharp. I'd been so looking forward to this.

The cover was intriguing, the synopsis promising. The beginning was even riveting! At first. But at 48% I was done. Why? Because I felt the author was just too busy checking boxes than actually interested in telling a good story and fleshing out the characters. Also, I just don’t like Dawsyn. She’s a half-starved waif (been one her whole life), raised basically on the precipice of death, literally, sometimes resorting to eating bark off trees. She’s a carver. A woodcutter. Yet apparently she’s also a warrior capable of storming a palace and besting a guard singlehanded? COME ON! I might have forgiven her these supposed mortal super powers if she’d been in possession of a personality. But she's...prickly. And not in a good way. She’s frankly more turned on by her ax than the supposed love interest, Ryon. I didn’t much care for him either. Unlike Dawsyn, his personality wasn't that of a withered cactus. But he WAS a bag of yawns. At least likably dull, though.

Look, overall, the writing is pretty good. Even very good at times. I found the third person present tense a bit jarring at first, but eventually I got into it. It did seem to keep me a little removed from the characters. It might not have been so noticeable had the characters not been so one dimensional. So flavorless. Writing style alone is like good bread without butter. I NEEDED the butter, and it just wasn't there.

Sad to say I DNF. But I'm sure, since Dawsyn is so amazing and strong, she’ll single-handedly save the day. Unfortunately I don’t care enough to sit around and watch her do it. She’s got no vulnerability that I empathized with, even the fact that her whole family is dead should have inspired something in me but the girl is like the cold barren ice she grew up on.

Good luck next time Stacey Mcewan. Ledge was all squeeze and no juice.

Dawsyn is one of the many who live on 'the Ledge'. Life on the ledge is hard because it is a frozen wasteland on the mountain face and the only way off is a vast chasm that separates them and the kingdom of the Glacians, a kingdom of winged creatures. The Glacians deliver small amounts of supplies that the people of the ledge receive and fight over, in exchange for the occasional sacrifice. Dawsyn is one of the chosen sacrifices and she discovers what happens to the others before her and who she really is.

This book was really entertaining, and you get a good picture of who Dawsyn is and the world she lives in. I felt like it was a very interesting and quick read. I can't wait for the next book in the series!