I loved this book. Kept me on the edge of my seat during certain scenes. The building romance. The deceit from certain characters. Enough that I need the next book in the series. That cliffhanger. Oooof

The hype for this may have been too much for the book. While it was a great read, I felt myself waiting for something more that just didn't come. I would recommend this to someone who wasn't paying attention when all of the marketing for this was done as they would better appreciate it without all the preconceptions.

I enjoyed this book! it has so many plot points that I love: enemies to lovers romance, suspense and tension (BIG plot twists which I surprisingly did not see coming), high stakes, excellent world building, and love interest(s)... I personally have a clear favorite out of the 2 apparent love interests and I seem to be in the minority! I usually go for the mysterious, tall dark & handsome types but idk man...

Yes, a lot of the tropes can be compared to other books. But for a YA fantasy, I thought this was pretty well done and provided a refreshing take. I really enjoyed the fmc, Isla. She was super badass and a great character. Overall, was I absolutely blown away by this book? Not necessarily, but it's undoubtedly a flashy, captivating read.

I was obsessed with the world of Lightlark when I read it! I love the curses and the characters, and 2nd book was just as good! Can’t wait for book 3.

this was incredibly boring and the writing was mediocre. there was nothing good about this book besides the fact that it ended and i wish it could've ended sooner then it actually did so.

I genuinely enjoyed this book for the most part. I saw a lot of negative reviews online, I must not have been reading the same book. I enjoyed the characters and the plot of the story. Some of the ideas felt a bit jumbled or rushed throughout the book, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next in the series

This was such a fun read! This book was reminiscent of the books I loved reading as a teenager: Twilight, The Mortal Instruments Series, and The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy. The plot twist at the end had me SHOOK. I did not see it coming, and I had to resist immediately rereading to see the foreshadowing breadcrumbs the author left behind. Let's be real, I was too focused on the two brooding love interests and poetic turns of phrases to keep an eye out for nefarious characters. I can't wait to see where the author takes this story in the next book, especially since the real "big bad" seems to be peaking out from under a mountain and across darker lands.

I was given access as a pre-order gift. This was such a treat to be able to enter the world of Lightlark prior to the publication date. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting our main character Isla, as she ventured through the first 3 chapters of what would be an epic story.

Really got sucked in with this sneak peek but after reading the full length novel I dnf’ed the series.

I have not read the full book yet but I enjoyed this sneak peak enough that I will give it a try. Interested to see where the story goes!

I was not a fan of Aster’s writing style or the way Isla was portrayed. I have not finished the full book yet.

It was fun to read the sneak peek! I was following Alex's journey as he wrote, developed, and crafted this story! I'm curious how this will play out, and I'm looking forward to finishing the book and diving into this world!

I didn't receive a copy of Lightlark through Netgalley but I did receive a preorder gift from them when I bought the book. I received page overlays for each character!

I really enjoyed this book a lot! It was fun and kept you on your toes the whole time!

When I received this "(Official gift with purchase sneak Peek)" I did not think it would affect my feedback ratio. But looking back I guess I have to leave feed back as it looks to be affecting it! I will say when I first received this sneak peak it it was enough to entice me to read the book! I received this as a gift from a pre-order. Was not aware how feedback worked on that!

I really enjoyed this preview, it was gripping and left me wanting for more.

edit* I did finish the full novel upon release and enjoyed it. It was a wonderful YA fantasy.

★★★★

“𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨. 𝘼 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙮.”

For the amount of controversy that came with this book, I was expecting it to be terrible. However, this was really good. It read exactly how it was supposed to: a YA fantasy. It was easy and enjoyable. I liked the characters and the plot, and how fast I blew through it.

"𝙄'𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚. 𝙎𝙚𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙖 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙... 𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

I will say that there was quite a bit of repetition, and an overuse of the words “thing” and “yolk” but overall it was a good book. It’s easy to connect with the characters and to follow the plot. There may have been some loopholes, but I didn’t really notice any.

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩.”

I wasn’t expecting Isla as the main character, but she seemed to be a good MC. She had the right motives, and protected herself from others in a way that made sense. Seeing her realm and what was happening to it, and why she needed to fix it was interesting. I liked all of the realms and their powers. It was a little confusing at first, but it made sense after a while.

"𝙄𝙛 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙢.”

Let’s talk about Grim! I always love the dark-haired, smirky morally grey boys, especially if they’re all powerful. And Grimshaw didn’t disappoint. He was charming and loveable, and entertaining, an overall great character.

Also, let’s talk about Oro. I was hesitant at first, but after the forest scene, I really liked him. I can see myself getting closer to the character in future books.

"𝘼 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙚- 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚.”

Loved this sneak peek! The world feels so vibrant and different. I ended up buying multiple copies (that cover is so pretty) and now anxiously awaiting the second book.

Received as a Pre-order incentive, unsure what feedback was needed except that I enjoyed this preview

I have finally read the sampler included with my preorder and it is a great introduction to the book and leaving me wanting more! I can't wait to read the rest to see where it goes!

i typically don't write detailed reviews for books i didn't like but i feel the need to get my feelings out for this one.

i want to start this off by saying that my review is honest and is based on MY personal experience with lightlark. none of what i say has been influenced by anyone else's opinion and my review is in no way meant to cause harm to the author.

with that said, lightlark is unfortunately one of the worst books i've read and i say that with a heavy heart. i have been looking forward to the release of lightlark since fall of 2021 and i was beyond excited to have it in my hands. however, once i did, all my hopes of this being an amazing read were gone and i'm not saying that to jump on the hate train. lightlark was just truly awful.

the entire book lacked creativity (e.g., most of the realms ended in -ling and the names correlated directly with the realm's power... starling, skyling, moonling, etc...), the main character had zero chemistry with both love interests and i found it hard to grow attached to any of the characters... there was no character growth or development and by the time i finished the book, i still didn't care about anyone and i felt like i knew next to nothing about their personalities.

furthermore, there were so many plot holes or "simple solutions" to conflicts that should've had an extremely difficult path to resolution, the word choice was repetitive and juvenile (words like "meanly" were used frequently throughout the novel), and there were several grammatical errors that i couldn't overlook (e.g., the use of "sneaked" instead of "snuck" & "dived" instead of "dove") it took me out of the moment and i was left disappointed.

the (confusing) plot of lightlark was difficult to grasp and even by the end of the book, nothing excited me... the plot twists were somewhat predictable but even the ones that weren't, weren't exciting... everything was just boring and anticlimactic. i'm let down and i won't be reading the next book in the series.