Of Fire and Stars: Audrey Coulthurst: 1

I enjoyed this YA lesfic fantasy novel. A few of the reviews had me thinking twice about reading it, but they must have been written by people who don't regularly read fantasy or did not realise the main characters were essentially teenagers (and therefore likely to act a little childish and brattish at times).The world is set up pretty much from page one and the author does a good job of filtering in backstory and world building as we go. I liked the interactions between the two mains, and I felt they had chemistry. By the time I got two thirds of the way through the book I did not want to put it down nor did I want it to end.I liked the elemental magic system, although I would liked to have known a bit more about shadow and spirit. I also wondered whether the use of magic in the climax might have been just a bit of overkill. Denna passed out and had a headache, but considering what she did, that doesn't seem much of a price to pay. There is always a cost to the use of magic and this one didn't quite add up right.Overall, this was a fun and engaging read. I felt things for the characters and I cared about what happened to them. If you like an adventurous read in a fantasy setting with two women who fall in love, this is a good choice.

Princess Dennaleia has been betrothed to the Prince of Mynaria since they were children. Their marriage will seal an alliance between their lands. But she is hiding a secret. She has the ability to control fire. Denna has to keep this forbidden ability a secret in order to keep the alliance strong. Oh and maybe not fall in love with the Prince’s sister. That might help too.I love love LOVED this book!! I have to admit it was a complete cover buy but the story inside is just as gorgeous as the cover. This book had everything. Magic, royalty and love. However, unlike most stories this one had two female protagonists. Although women were still seen as property to be sold into marriage in this world, homosexuality was accepted. Men with men, women with women it was throughout the book and no one batted an eyelid. Which I really liked. It wasn’t some big taboo, it was just love.The Prince’s sister Mare was by far y favourite character. She went against all stereotypes of women in this book. She was fierce, independent and refused to give into her family’s demands. She just wanted to raise horses and choose who she would marry. I couldn’t get enough of her character, especially since she seemed to bring out the best in Denna.A beautifully magical book. One of my favourite reads this year.

"My eyes charted their way across her face. The powder she wore could not fully hide the delicate freckles scattered like stars across her cheekbones. I wanted to trace constellations in them, to memorise each and every pattern I could find on her skin and warm it with my touch."One of my most anticipated releases of 2016 was Of Fire And Stars, and don't get me wrong I did enjoy it BUT I didn't love it. I wanted more from the story and lots more of Mare & Denna. I loved every moment of these two characters together and thought the romance could have happened a little sooner.

Do you like princesses, forbidden romance, sinister plots, magic and lgbtqa+ ?Then you will probably like this; Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst.This is the authors debut novel and it is absolutely wonderful.Starring the Princess Dennaleia of Havemont, a secretly magic wielding, book loving, political genius who is starting her new life in the kingdom of Mynaria as she prepares to marry her intended the Crown Prince Thandilimon a move to strengthen the allegiance between the two kingdoms.There are just one or two problems. The first being an overarching plot that seeks to start a war between another kingdom, using Mynaria’s hatred of magic as its focus, and of course Denna’s own hidden magic is starting to grow in power which threatens to expose her.And then there’s Princess Amaranthine (Mare) who is the Prince’s unladylike, short tempered older sister whom Denna finds she is falling for when she really, really shouldn’t.—-It’s a really good read. The plot twists are somewhat predictable in places but they are still well written. The romance itself doesn’t feel forced, although at times you might be internally screaming at the pair of them for being hopeless about their feelings. The pair bounce really well off each other, going from total strangers to, mostly through sheer persistence on Denna’s part, becoming allies, friends and then much more.The other nice thing about this story is that their romance isn’t a forbidden one because they are both girls but rather because of their political standing. It’s shown throughout the book that there are multiple lgbtqa+ relationships which are accepted.So if you want to read about hopeless lesbian princesses in a fantasy setting with magic and political intrigue then I highly recommend you give this a shot.

I thought this book was stunning. The romance was beautiful and I easily fell for the characters. I was pulled into this world effortlessly and the writing was so lovely. I’ve seen some one star reviews around, but I would say judge for yourselves. The only thing I could agree with is the world building aspect, perhaps it wasn’t explored as much as it could have been and I would love to know more about this universe, but it didn’t put any damper on this story for me. I’m very much looking forwards to the sequel.

Written well, with an interesting plot. The only gripe I have is that the romance wasn’t developed particularly well. It didn’t feel as if they fell in love organically, with small hints throughout the book. It felt sudden that they realised and this caused it to fall slightly flat for me. However, the plot was well thought out and had a good conclusion so I did enjoy reading.