I'm a huge fan of YA Fantasy but, I had a hard time connecting with the characters, they felt so much younger than they should have been but I also loved the romance that was in the book and how the story flowed really well together.

[The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

Unfortunately I had to dnf this book at 12%. I already noticed that Adriana, one of the main characters, was saying a lot of racist things to Rasha. I hoped that her racism would get challenged further into the story, but after reading this review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2738146815?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1) it seems like it only gets worse.

*~~*ARC kindly provided from the publisher/author to me for an honest review *~~*

Full review to come

4 stars

A deliberate, and well though-out addition to a popular genre, The Sun and Moon beneath the Stars offers a uniquely developed plot-line with likeable characters.

I really wanted to like this, because we always need more f/f fantasy, especially aimed at teens. Unfortunately, the plot and worldbuilding were thin, and the writing was uninspiring, to the point that I actually forgot I was reading it - I was distracted by something, and when I came back to my phone, I could not remember what I'd been doing, let alone where I was in the story. As others have mentioned, the thin worldbuilding is particularly a shame since the book tries to tackle issues of racism; what could have been an incisive look at the dynamics of power between the white princess and a dark-skinned ex-slave failed to depict anything other than a vague white guilt from the princess. I didn't care enough about either of the main characters to be invested in their relationship, as they seemed to have one or two character traits each, and the plot is extremely linear, with things being withheld from the reader for the sake of advancing the plot. It's deeply generic cookie-cutter fantasy that says nothing new, which I wouldn't mind if the characters were great, but they aren't, sadly.

A rare misfire for NineStar.

It took me a very, very long time to finish this book. Or at least it felt like it.
I DO like it, it IS a good fantasy story with magic and gods and a band of outsiders on the quest to save the world, which is nice. And it has a nice happy ending.

But still I was also frustrated quite a bit. For one, the story felt really dragged out. Especially the first 70% were too long for me - I would read and read and read and then be only a small part farther in progress. And by the time I reached the last third, the final confrontation, my concentration for the plot was already suffering.

The dynamic between the two main characters was really off in the beginning - and I mean besides the obvious reason. The way they talked to each other and especially the way Adriana is written in the first few chapters didn't feel very natural or likable to me.

And then there's the smal elephant in the room.
Their past is something that I feel wasn't supposed to be a very big subject for the story at hand. While it provided conflict and a basic dynamic they had to overcome, I feel like it's not supposed to be the thing people take away from the story.
But readers will always be concerned about the way concepts of slavery are handled, even in fantasy settings.

The whipping of a young girl because of rascism and slavery is mentioned, but i don't feel like they really work through it. They address that it happened and maybe even that it is wrong, but then they just go on and there is no talk about the whole system they live in being wrong. Adrianna never even blinks about the fact that a young orphan girl was sold to her family to work for them as slave. She doesn't share her views on Rashas people and where that comes from.

Adrianna had already forgotten about the incident. And it seemed like now she only feels bad because she happens to be in the presence of the slave girl in question, not because it is something that happened because of her or that happened in her own home.

I think the way their affection for each other develops slowly is well done, but it still feels weird at times because of the things that 'should' still be standing between them.

I wanted to love this but I couldn't. There was nothing necessarily bad or wrong with it but I personally didn't connect with it.
The concept was amazing and I liked the main characters and the climatic battle was spectacular. But everything else was only just OK for me. I was mostly half-interested and slogging along until the climax.
I'm personally not a fan of stories about travelling to a place (and the trails on the way) and I dislike fate/chosen one stories.

This novel is lovely but not for me. I hope, if you find the summary interesting, that you'll give this a try.

Cw: violence, murder, gore, (off page) torture, depression, suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide

The sun and moon beneath the stars is an intricate fantasy novel that I did enjoy. It was pretty slow to start with but picked up around the middle and I began to really enjoy the story!

It was so good to have such a compelling main character that I didn’t get annoyed with and generally enjoyed reading about and I loved the f/f romance involved as that is something we always need more in literature!

My biggest issue with this book is that I felt it had some racist undertones, the characters of colour were represented as slaves and enemies and that really didn’t sit well with me as it completely felt like a big step back in terms of representation especially in 2019!

So although I did enjoy this fantasy I did have some issues within it! I will say that I really liked the fact the trigger warnings were stated at the start of the book as I feel like every book needs that and I definitely am glad I was warned of the suicide aspects of this book before going in!

Slow start to this but once you get into it a great read with strong female MC that you can empathise with and really relate to. I loved Rasha so much, this is a lovely book, I admit the cover drew me in a lot and the world building is wonderful you really get a sense of the culture she describes. Fantastic

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

An interesting new fantasy with intriguing and necessary lesbian / ff rep, but the book is let down by its racist undertones with characters of colour being represented as slaves and demons and evil - the book is simultaneously a step forward and a step back for diverse fiction.

There's nothing like a good adventure fantasy with LGBT leads and a decent world to go with it. It doesn't bother with all the details of the world, but gave me enough information to understand what's going on and helped form character reactions and such. If anything I'd say that it moves a little slow for a novel that is about a chase, but there's only so much the author can cram into a day of teens running for their lives and trying to save the world.

At the heart of the story, though, is the relationship between Rasha, an exile who's possessed by a moon goddess, and Adriana, a princess on the run from invaders. They play off each other well, even when their biases (Rasha's people are, for reasons we're not told, looked down on Adriana's people) often getting in the way at the beginning.

The Quick Cut: Two girls work together to save their families from kidnapping from a common evil. Chaos ensues as partners are picked up along the way with emotions thrown in the mix.

A Real Review:
Thank you to NineStar Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fantasy reads are well known for being beautiful worlds with epic stories, but rare is there one that takes that genre a step further with a sweeping adventure tale. In this story surrounding Rasha and Adrianna - their lives get swirled together in a very personal way.

To make an understatement, Rasha has had a rough life. Sold to the palace as a slave at a young age, she has spent her livelihood being abused and whipped by the palace officials for not being perfect in her service. To make matters worse, her twin brother has been kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Solaris. Solaris also took the princess Adrianna's parents. So when these two run into one another after an attack, they band together to save their loved ones.

This book is a real breath of fresh air to the fantasy genre. It took that typical fantasy world building, added adventure tale, and really found a way to spice it up with a feisty group of heroes who don't immediately see eye to eye. These people all come from totally different walks of life and have to learn to overcome their built in discriminations to work as a team. Underneath this surprisingly smile worthy story is a highly current story about the importance of seeing people for who they truly are.

The relationship between Rasha and Adrianna worked much better than I expected. Even though they come from opposite sides of the social ladder, it's adorable to see them go from seeing each other's life struggles to falling for one another for who they are.

With a sweet story and an amazing team of heroes that rise above their differences, this story will surprise you in its binge-worthy status.

My rating: 4 out of 5

This was a good YA book that I would recommend be bought by my library. It's not a darker fantasy that has been trending thanks to works by Sara J. Maas, which is fine. There's nothing like a good adventure fantasy with LGBT leads and a decent world to go with it. It doesn't bother with all the details of the world, but gave me enough information to understand what's going on and helped form character reactions and such. If anything I'd say that it moves a little slow for a novel that is about a chase, but there's only so much the author can cram into a day of teens running for their lives and trying to save the world.

At the heart of the story, though, is the relationship between Rasha, an exile who's possessed by a moon goddess, and Adriana, a princess on the run from invaders. They play off each other well, even when their biases (Rasha's people are, for reasons we're not told, looked down on Adriana's people) often getting in the way at the beginning. They're sweet young teen romance gets nods here and there, but there's just not a lot of time for them to explore their new feelings while saving the world from the gods.

Fans of fantasy will enjoy this one, and Young Adult readers will love it, too. It's not terribly heavy on the world building, but the setting is believable. I enjoyed some of the twists involving the magic system, and the set up for one of the big revelations was done really well. It's a light read with some heavier undertones, yet is still smart and hits all the beats that a good fantasy needs to be successful.

3.75 Stars. This was a good YA fantasy novel. As I have mentioned 100 times YA fantasy is one of the few YA books I do like to read. Although, I have to admit this felt like a young YA novel. Many YA novels seem geared to adults, where this was one for most ages. I have to agree with Joc’s review, I think I would have loved this if I was a teenager. Instead being in my 30’s the characters felt a little young for me to completely connect to them. However, this is a book that I hope librarians take note of. It is nice to see a book with LGBTQ characters that would be great for probably age 13 on up.

I thought the writing was well done and I enjoyed the read. The story was easy to get into without a lot of info-dumping or a vast amount of new terms to remember. The plot was pretty straightforward. While there were parts similar to many fantasy books, there were some twists to the powers and magic that a character had that seemed pretty original to me.

There is a little bit of a lesfic romance but it is small. It is very G rated and sweet. The main plot overshadows the romance. I wished there was a little more time for this sweet romance, but it was fine.

I did think the pace slowed a little at times. It is kind of hard not to in fantasy books, so it is not a big complaint. For the most part the action was good and I kept turning the pages.

While I did find this book to feel a little young, it was still a solid fantasy read. It looks like this may be a debut for a full length book by Parr, if so she gets even more credit from me. If you are looking for a YA fantasy book with a lite and sweet lesfic romance, this book would be a good choice. I also recommend it to librarians looking for good books for younger readers.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me an Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved this book.
When I started it I didn’t really know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised.
I loved both Rasha and Adrianna.
I found the characters really interesting and engaging.
The plot was also amazing so complex and unique.
Overall I gave it 4 stars.

I was surprised by this book, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I really loved Rasha and Adriana. I needed some time before I started to like the boys, they popped up rather soon. But I really love how it ended. I recommend this book to people looking for a standalone high fantasy book with a f/f relationship.

First off, can we take a moment to appreciate that beautiful cover? Those colors are stunning!

Rasha knows she is sometimes possessed by the moon goodess, but she doesn’t know why. All she wants to do is to save her brother, who is possessed by the sun god. She’ll have to team up with a princess with whom she has a past, two young thieves, and a man she wronged in the past, also a lizard like creature whose people fight for the other side to beat the deities and rescue her brother.

It took me a bit to get into the story, but once I got the lay of the land, I feel in love with this band of misfits. It’s a classic quest tale with some good queer representation. The romance is sweet and age-appropriate. I also appreciated that it wasn’t the main focus of the story, but rather develops pretty naturally over the course of their journey, an enemies to love interests thing. There’s magic, which is always a good thing, and there’s some pretty cool lore/mythology along the way.

This is probably one of my new favourite books! While it is admittedly slow in parts I didn't mind as I loved the characters and it was their ragtag team that made this book so amazing. The cover had led me to believe it would be a romance with some fantasy elements but it is so much more than that, legend and magic combine to make a gripping read that I would highly recommend.

This is the just kind of book I would have loved as a teen/young adult and hopefully it will end up in school libraries. Rasha became a palace slave when she washed up on shore as a 7-year-old shipwreck survivor. At 15 escapes the palace in order to take her own life. The timing is fortuitous in a way because while she is away the palace comes under attack and one of the few people to survive is Princess Adriana who escapes through some secret tunnels. Rasha’s suicide attempt is thwarted when she is possessed by a cold and dark power. In the process she discovers that her twin brother is alive and possessed by the spirit of the god Solaris, who is also behind the attack on the palace. When Rasha and Adriana meet in the woods it makes sense for them to travel together because they’re both going to the same place but Adriana doesn’t realise that she is the cause of one of Rasha’s most painful experiences.

The story is told from both Rasha’s and Adriana’s points of view in a manner that is nicely simple which is a good thing because the plot is complex and layered. I found the events and the characters’ interactions engaging and quite different from most of the fantasy novels I’ve read. Rasha is a strong character who bears the visible and invisible scars of her past but needs to start seeing her own value. Adriana was raised with blinkers but is unafraid of learning. The motley bunch of characters they meet up with on the way add a great dimension to the story.

The descriptions give a strong sense of location of wherever the characters are at any point and they’re not only visual but you also get an idea of the smells and sounds. There is a really sweet thread of romance between Rasha and Adriana that runs through the story which ebbs and flows with the action. All in all, it’s a very enjoyable read which becomes more and more riveting the closer it gets to the end.

Book received from Netgalley and NineStar Press for an honest review.