✨BOOK REVIEW✨

📚 Heart of Night and Fire - Nisha J. Tuli 📚

I have read Nisha’s Artefacts of Ouranos series and it was just so good that I had to pick this one up! Heart of Night and Fire is the first book in The Nightfire Quartet series. It is a seductive, epic romantasy with aspects of Indian and South Asian mythology. It is full of mystery, intrigue, plot twists, and that slow-burn..ooft, it is a killer! Nisha really is the queen of the slow-burn 🙈🥵

I feel like the characters could have been explored a little more, and the world building definitely gets me with fantasy books haha but I know it is all worth it in the end, so that’s just a me thing and I know so many of you will love that aspect of the story 😜

What you can expect:
❤️‍🔥 Slow-burn romance
❤️‍🔥 Indian and South Asian mythology
❤️‍🔥 Strangers to enemies to lovers to enemies 🙈
❤️‍🔥 So much angst and tension!

I did find this one a little slow to get into but once I did, I was hooked and binge read the rest of the book in one sitting. I am so excited to see where the rest of this series takes us! 😍

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you so much to @netgalley @bookouture @secondskybooks and @nishajtwrites for sending me this to review 🙏🏻

#lizzieslittlelibrary #heartofnightandfire #heartofnightandfirebook #nishajtuli #secondsky #bookoutureaudio #netgalley #bookworm #readmorebooks #aussiebookworm #bookreview #booklover #bookstagram #aussiebookstagram #booksofinstagram #booksofinsta #booksofig #bookaholic #igreads #book #books

Fast paced, action, adventure, a fearless female MC, magic, demons and so much more! This world has so much potential and I’m excited to see where the story goes from here.

This is the story of Zarya, a girl who has been held captive her whole life by a man claiming to protect her. When Zarya gets a taste of freedom, she doesn’t want to waste it and jumps at the opportunity to seek some answers about her magic and why she was kept a secret from the world.

I really enjoyed the book and I can’t wait for the rest of the series.
While I enjoy fast paced books, I think that this one was maybe too fast? It needed a lot more world building, explanations and descriptions. Too much was happening in too little pages. I honestly would have loved if the book was twice as long, so we could really immerse ourselves in the story and be more connected to the characters.
It also reads like a YA book at times. Zarya often seemed 15 years old to me.
I know she’s been sheltered, but did she have to be attracted to literally everyone? For that reason I didn’t really care for the romance in this book.

I recommend this book for any fantasy lover that want to discover a new world with a lot of action and cool magic.

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘
𝗣𝘂𝗯. 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: September 15, 2023
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Epic Fantasy Romance, Indian Myth referenced

This was a rollercoaster for sure. I haven't read as many Indian myth as I would've liked but safe to say, I was a given a glimpse in a wonderful way thru this book.

This is a story about a girl with untapped powers who took shelter to a city plagued with night horrors. Mysterious allies, like rakshasas and Aazheri sorcerers, enrich the plot with intrigue.The impending darkness forces Zarya to confront a perilous choice: reveal her magic to save Dharati or risk losing everything.

With a compelling mix of mystery, romance, and impending doom keeps readers hooked until the final, fateful decision.

More more more! I LOVED this book, I just want more :) ! Heart of Night and Fire is a stunning entry to the world of Dharati and the Nightfire Quartet series. Cliffhanger ending but the next book will make it all so worth it! The world building is excellent and Nisha Tuli is taking great care to create this story. Romance is a SLOW burn (spice for this book was maybe 1 🌶️ ?) but I feel it in my bones that this series is going to pay off big time. Forecast looks like 100% chance of angsty romance and steam 😍 Fans of Sarah J Maas will love this book. Beautiful world creation, Zarya's story is so compelling and I absolutely adore the cast of characters. Cannot wait to read more!

This is the first book of the new The Nightfire Quartet series and what a great way to start a new series. Magic, passion, dreams and secrets, this book will take you on a journey through a twisty, action packed fantasy about Zarya and her freedom.

The Indian culture shines through in this fantasy and it works well within this story. Starting slowly this story builds with the turn of each page. It has eveything you want from a thrilling fantasy and is entertaining and enjoyable to read. This book has it all. Looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Thank you NetGalley and Second Sky for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I love the inspirations and culture behind this book and it really added an extra layer of depth. A POC main character, south asian mythology, found family, and enemies to lovers. This book had it all and it should be proud of that and much more widely known!
The characters development, from prisoner to personal power was amazing. And the banter and rapport between the characters who become the found family was just. Beautiful. It felt so natural and not pushed or manufactured at all.
This book deserves all the hype it gets and it should have more really. We even had an amazing plot throughout that was so well paced it just flowed!

I absolutely loved the eastern influence on the typical fantasy lore! This was such a refreshing read where Nisha took slow burn to a whole new level (I usually hate slow burn, but now im realising I just havent read a good one).

This honestly felt like a cozy but high stakes romantasy, and I'm not even sure if I've labeled it right, but it was the best book ive read in a while.

Thank you to Netgalley and Second Sky for the ARC of Heart of Night and Fire. A Heart of Night and Fire is a thrilling fantasy (light) romance story filled with tension, action, and surprises. It starts slowly and becomes more intense. Zarya has been trapped in a luxurious prison for years, and her magical powers are a forbidden secret that no one will explain. Now, she's determined to break free and uncover the truth. This was a stunning world inspired by Indian mythology. I enjoyed the novel (to me) setting, creatures and plot. I am very much looking forward to the next book.

Heart of Night and Fire was a fun read, the perfect palate cleanser between the other books I have been reading. It features an all POC cast and is inspired by Indian mythology. I can see how some people might find Zarya to be more of a YA character than adult, but to me her rashness, and what might be seen as childish behaviour, made sense in context. Imagine being forced to live in isolation with no explanation as to why, no knowledge about your past, with only two men for company - one of whom has put a magical barrier in place to stop you from escaping. With only her romance books for company, her naivety and curiosity made sense. While I will say that she frustrated me at times, she also grew on me as not only did she develop but her relationship with the other characters developed.

The world was interesting and featured Rakshasa, who are basically vampire like creatures. I love vampires so that was a nice surprise. In terms of the Indian inspiration, the familiar clothes and food such as Kaju katli, gulab jamun, and aloo paratha was a treat to see in a fantasy setting.

There is a love triangle of sorts. However, by the end of the book her relationship with one of the love interests all but comes to an end and the other one we're teased with. It was obvious from the moment she started having dreams of Rabin that he was being set up to be the true love interest. Zarya doesn't actually met him for real until the towards the end of the book, and I have to say from what little we do see of Rabin I was not a fan of. He came across as a hot headed alpha male.

On the other hand, Zarya's relationship with Yasen was cute. I love a good platonic relationship, and while theirs was great I have to admit they had more chemistry than the actual love interests. It was giving hate to love.

With three more books to follow this was a solid introduction.

I wanted to like this but I really struggled to get into it. The premise was interesting, as was the Indian influence to the story. However, pages would drag on and on with nothing happening to advance the plot and Zarya's origins were hidden from the reader in a way that was just confusing rather than mysterious. There was a lot of showing not telling, and often groups of characters would be introduced all at once and without giving enough explanation for who they were to differentiate between them. Finally, I found expressions very overdone, there was a lot more "character's eyes widened" "character grinned" "character winked" than actual plot happening at some points.

I am completely obsessed with this book! The twists and turns that happen, the glorious tension and the heat! And the ending!! I can't wait for the next book!
I just reviewed Heart of Night and Fire (The Nightfire Quartet Book 1) by Nisha J. Tuli. #HeartofNightandFire #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

I was craving a good fantasy book and this definitely delivered.

Things I would have liked was if a map was given at the start. I require all fantasy books to have a map because I need it so badly. I feel like this story really needed a first-person aspect. I didn’t really get into the story at the start and almost dnfd. I was so lost at the start but that's the case with most fantasy books therefore I understand it. I knew Zarya but I didn’t become her while reading. This only happened in the last like 80 pages. I was reading for the mystery guy but he appeared around 5 times only in the story. I thought it was going to be a slow-burn romance between the mysterious guy and the magical girl but no which disappointed me a little ngl.

This journey has mass of world building that we see through Zarya’s eye as she discovers why she has been kept a secret for the last 21 years, and what it means for the world future.

The ending of the story is a major turning point in the story leaving a big opening for a sequel. The majority of this book is the world building and I found it hard to follow at times. That being said once I was in the story I was hooked and I’m excited to see what happens next.

Just wow! I absolutely love this read <3 The pace in this was outstanding and I absolutely love the characters!! This book was full to the brim with adventures, twists and turns which I have not seen coming at all. Looking forward to the second book in the series and just so stoked to read more about this world 😩

No words for how incredible this book is. I can’t wait for everyone to read this! I loved every second of this.z

This book has taken me over a month to finish. Honest to god, this is a case of "it's not you, it's me." I don't think I was in the right mood to read this. Therefore, I will try to reread this as some point. The world building and mythology is beautiful and I loved being in this world. I'm a romantasy girlie so the concept was right up my alley.
Romantasy is obviously really popular right now and I love that other cultures are being represented in this niche genre. For me, it just had a really slow start and never really kept my attention. I do recommend giving it a try though 100%!

An Indian inspired fantasy romance with a hint of a Rapunzel retelling, Heart of Night and Fire follows Zarya, a young woman who has been locked up her whole life, but when her guardian suddenly goes missing, she quickly takes this chance to explore the outside world. Escaping to Dharati, Zarya tries to uncover the secrets to why she has been kept locked away, all while protecting her new home from the demons that seem drawn to her. Romance, intrigue, drama, court politics and hidden powers, we’re all things that drew me to this book. I have never read an Indian-inspired mythology story before either.

So why didn’t I like this book?
This book does a lot of telling and not showing. We are told this city is beautiful but I wish we got more examples of exactly how, we are told how the character feels but without any actions to represent that, I felt like the story was just carrying me along without really immersing myself in the story.

There are lots of things that are a mystery to the main character and therefore, a mystery to the reader but while these are crucial points that I was interested in, our main characters gives up very easily on finding the answers to these questions such as why she was locked up, her heritage, her powers, the weird dreams she has. This information is purposefully kept from the reader because the main character doesn’t want to talk about it because it’s “too dangerous”.

Finally, the plot within this book is one I have read a hundred times now. Nothing stood out to me regarding it and though this is Indian inspired, I wish we had more of that because beyond what it seems is the culture, there is no lore or religion or Indian influence that could make this book really stand out. Everything was very predictable..

I won’t be recommending this one, nor do I plan to continue the series.

Title: An Enchanting Beginning to a Promising Fantasy Saga

"Heart of Night and Fire," the first installment in Nisha J. Tuli's "The Nightfire Quartet," is a captivating and imaginative entry into the world of fantasy literature that is sure to leave readers eagerly anticipating what's to come.

The story introduces us to Ellyce, a young woman burdened by a mysterious power tied to the moon. Tuli's character development shines in her portrayal of Ellyce, making her a relatable and endearing protagonist. Ellyce's journey of self-discovery and the exploration of her magical abilities form the emotional core of the narrative, inviting readers to join her on this enchanting adventure.

Tuli's world-building is nothing short of impressive. She has crafted a rich and intricate fantasy realm, complete with a unique magic system, mythical creatures, and a complex history. The descriptions are vivid, allowing readers to immerse themselves fully in this fantastical world where the line between reality and magic is beautifully blurred.

The pacing of the novel is well-structured, striking a balance between character development and action. As Ellyce navigates the challenges and dangers that come with her powers, the plot unfolds with plenty of surprises and twists that keep readers eagerly turning the pages.

What sets "Heart of Night and Fire" apart is Tuli's ability to infuse the story with themes of identity, destiny, and the enduring power of hope. These deeper elements add layers of complexity to the narrative, making it more than just a typical fantasy adventure.

While the book is the first in a quartet, it stands strongly on its own, offering a satisfying and self-contained story while leaving tantalizing hints of what's to come. Tuli's writing style is evocative and lyrical, contributing to the book's overall enchanting atmosphere.

In conclusion, "Heart of Night and Fire" is a delightful start to a promising fantasy series. Nisha J. Tuli's storytelling is enchanting, and her world-building is nothing short of masterful. Whether you're a dedicated fantasy enthusiast or simply looking for an engaging and immersive read, this book is a magical journey worth embarking upon. Readers can look forward to more adventures in the Nightfire Quartet with eager anticipation.

I received an ARC of Heart of Night and Fire from Netgalley and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Heart of Night and Fire is a book that I expected I would enjoy more than I did. It's right up my alley of fantasy and magic, but something kept me from completely loving it.

The story starts a little slow but picks up the pace as it continues, particularly in the second half. The world-building is very well done, and though there was a lot, I didn't feel that I was ever overwhelmed with information or lost on where I was in relation to other places. I appreciate that all of these other places were mentioned frequently enough that I didn't forget about them, but not so much that I was confused about where I was. I feel that the author found a perfect balance of information, which can be very difficult to do.

What I didn't love, however, were the characters. Remember how I said that the pace picks up in the second half? Along with that, it felt like nearly every character had an almost brand-new personality. It's one thing for the main character to get to know these new people. It's another thing entirely for her to get to know them and have their personalities completely change. It felt like I got to the second half, and all of a sudden, Zarya knew everything there was to know about everyone, and they were all best friends. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it felt like a massive shift from where they were to where they ended up in the span of only a few pages. On top of that, I didn't feel any actual connection to the characters. They lacked the depth I was looking for, and some of the relationships felt very forced, especially in the beginning.

Though I didn't dislike Heart of Night and Fire, I don't feel it's made a lasting impression. It's unlikely that I will be continuing this series.

I was really excited to read this book!! I was really looking for something that had South Asian (Desi) rep. In all honesty this fell short for me. There were a lot of characters and I felt like I kept forgetting who was supposed to be who. However I did like the plot and the book was enjoyable for the most part! If you liked The Jasad heir you should give this book a go!