First of all thank you NetGalley for providing me with this book.

This book in theory had everything to make me love it but in reality it was a bitter disappointment.

Let’s start with the positives, I actually genuinely like the idea of the world there was so much potential and personally I actually thought it was relatively well executed. The whole aspect of water divinity was quite fun while it stillmfelt poorly executed I can see the potential in future books. Also despite being supposedly the first in a series it ended very nicely and basically works as a stand-alone which I quite appreciated.
Unfortunately for me that’s already where it stopped being good.

I couldn’t connect to any of the characters and actively disliked the main romance in this story. For me the age difference (17 & 24) just made me a little uncomfortable but I can overlook it given that this is a medieval type fantasy setting, still I’d rather our female protagonist were a few years older. Second the fact that they kidnapped her and she somehow very quickly in my opinion forgave them and decided to aide them AND fall in love with her kidnapper did not sit right with me. On top of that the dialogue often felt juvenile and poorly written.

Furthermore the female protagonist, who until she gets kidnapped has only ever herded sheep is somehow a Great War strategist and fighter (with her sling) only from listening to her fathers war stories? That seems a tad unbelievable.

Lastly the book was entirely too predicatable, I don’t mind some predictability actually I find it rather fun but this was just too much and then the way somehow everything just worked itself out so neatly without any real issues just took all the fun out for me.

Overall this was genuinely not my kind of book and it took me way too long to make it through.

Unfortunately, I wasn't interested in the story. The protagonist was naive and the story something basic. I truly wished to like it because the ideas were interesting but the execution was bad.

Took me longer than expected to read- adult life.

However once I started this book I could not put it down. I find it to be a very unique and wonderful YA Fantasy!

I got to about 25% of this book before I had to DNF it. I didn’t like the writing style and also the way the characters acted didn’t make sense to me. If they had just talk things out more they would fight way less and I feel like the only reason the author did that was so this book could be an enemys to lovers. I really wanted to like this book but sadly didn’t.

The Lightness of Water is about a broody protagonist named Rhees who is trying to find a way to help save his people. This is pitched as a Beauty and the Beast meets The Hunger Games.

Rating: 4.5/5
The only thing more dangerous than divining for water is falling in love with the enemy…
Solace is beautiful, strong-willed, and called the water witch by her neighbors. She divines for water in the arid hills of her home—a dangerous pastime across the border, where the king controls access to all the water.
Rhees is brooding, bitter, and hiding a deadly secret. But he’s determined to find a way to help the thirsty people of his land—even if it means kidnapping the last living water diviner.
But divining for water is against the law, punishable by death. Should Solace risk everything—including her heart—in a daring race to find water or flee across the hills at her first chance of escape?

This book was not what I was thinking it was and that was a very pleasant surprise. I loved the enemies to lovers, the action scenes, and the overall character development. There really wasn’t a point in the story that I didn’t like. The Characters developed throughout the book were very consistent and so was the plot, with the little twists that we would get here and there.

Solace is amazing in my book, to have everything that has happened to her and to still have her coming out on top and to still be an amazing strong female lead was great. I loved her special abilities other than the water divining, her ability to use a sling and to be so accurate with it, and I love how she would have to mount her horse.

Rhees is a strong male character, he is a main character but definitely Solace took the role in this book more for me. I really wanted to hate Rhees for the first part of the book but he grew on me, and I ended up loving that guy.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes enemies to lovers, YA books, magic, Character driven plots, then this book is for you.

I received this book from Netgalley and BooksGoSocial to review for my honest opinion.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher, for providing me with an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***

Between the stilted dialogue, the predictable plot, and the undeveloped characters....this wasn't my cup of tea. I can see the potential and why some may enjoy it, but there was just too much pulling me out of the story too often for me to get into the story.

Maybe the next in the series will be better--though I'm not really sure what there is to make an entire book after this one.

The Lightness of Water was a quick and enjoyable read. I found some of the plot to be predictable but the idea of water diviners was unique. I was drawn into the story from the first few pages and didn’t really put the book down after that. The only thing I didn’t really care for was that the MC gets over being kidnapped almost immediately and the relationship seemed a bit “insta-love” to me. Overall, this was a good book and I would recommend this to others.

I knew from the description that I would enjoy this, but I really got drawn into the story. Not a difficult read, lovable characters, standalone book. Highly recommend for anyone that enjoys YA fantasy.

I enjoyed this book. I look forward to the next one in the series. I
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be an interesting tale of kings, magic, and romance. The author described the places in such a way that you could easily picture the landscapes in your mind. It did seem like other books in that we've seen secret marriages and secret heirs to the throne before: as well as the trusted younger brother being an usurper of the crown. At least the idea of a woman with a gift for finding water is new and original. It was a bit of a boring read for me, but wasn't a bad book at all.

I loved the plot and happy ending, however, I believe this book is best as a standalone unless you plan to make this a series of several standalones I don't recommend making it into a series. That being said the plot was great, however, I do have a problem with some of the tropes played especially the oblivious to love trope, it was played wrong and unrealistically. In my opinion, the character needed a reason to be oblivious not just be oblivious. Also, the need to protect her, and just protect her made her seem like a damsel in distress. Overall even though those two tropes were not played well, this was a fun book, and I loved it, all you need to do is fix those tropes.

"I've seen how he looks at you."

The Lightness of Water, you guys. This book has everything. From enemies to lovers to fighting side by side in battle, there isn't a moment in this story I didn't love.
It was in the same vein as the Book of Pellinor or a more YA-centric Chronicles of Prydain, some of my favourite series. It didn't focus heavily on "other species" such as elves in order to make the world feel fantastical and amazing; instead, we meet Solace Blu, a water diviner, and her kidnapper, Rhees, who has some very compelling arguments for what he did.
I loved the character arcs and their complexity; I adored the chemistry between different characters and how all of them teach each other new things; I really enjoyed the plot and the turns of events and plot twists.
Solace felt like a very unique protagonist to the story, and her own small talents and abilities (slinging, her special horse mount) made her feel more real and interesting as a character. Rhees was incredibly lovable (even when you kind of wanted to hate him), and his emotions and reasoning were complex and believable.
I truly loved this work and would definitely recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC. This is my honest review,.

Although the plot was a bit predictable, I found this to be a good read. The MC is endearing and certainly comes into her own by the end. However, there isn't much depth to the supporting characters.

All in all it is a quick, fun read

The Lightness of Water is a decent entry into the very crowded YA Fantasy genre. While the plot has plenty of intrigue and schemes going on behind the scenes, our protagonist, Solace, has her story laid out for her from the beginning.

Solace is kidnapped by a man from another country, Rhees, because she is one of a fairly rare group of "water witches"--women who can walk the land and determine where water flows underground. Rhees' country is desperate for water, as all natural forms of fresh water are owned and selfishly guarded by the greedy king, and although Solace loudly, and quite rightfully, protests her kidnapping, it's clear from the beginning that her inner moral compass of justice will send her down the path the reader expects her to travel.

Toni Cabell builds a fantastic world for the reader, letting us feel the hot, gritty sand under our hands and smell the crisp fresh rain falling from the skies above. While I admire other YA authors building a very specific, very detailed fantasy world in their novels, sometimes the complex thousand-year history of their world and the otherworldly names of factions, countries, and people are so complicated that those details get in the way of the plot itself. Cabell builds a world similar to our own in that the main conflict in the book is debating the right of people to have fresh water--something I think any reader on Earth can identify with. This made it easier to enjoy the character journies of Solace and Rhees, without having to stop every page and try to remember which royal faction hated which guild or so on.

The Lightness of Water is a good, streamlined, straightforward read. If you're into YA Fantasy and are tired of the boarding school setting or fighting ultimate fantastic beasts plot, you may find The Lightness of Water is a satisfying cool, refreshing break.

A page turning fantasy that combines an element of ecological awareness and just the right amount of romance. Anyone who loves fantasy that mixes in a little reality will love this book.

The premise of this novel is that being a person with a special talent for finding water in a world where water is scarce can be a dangerous as well as a valuable skill. The heroine finds herself kidnapped and at risk for her water-divining abilities in this well-imagined world in which water is more precious than oil is today. So the book has a geopolitical and ecological subtext but has plenty of narrow escapes, fights and romance between the heroine and captor.

I was drawn into this story immediately. Solace is a strong female character who is cherished by the men around her and one in particular that wants to make a life with her. But the age old problem of differing interest levels presents itself. She finds herself abducted and must discover a way to freedom. I must admit that I expected a much different story when I first began, but I was not disappointed with the story that I found. This is a clean read with just a touch of romance amidst a tale of adventure and a battle for a kingdom. I am very excited to start reading the second book in the series.

*I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Although the premise of this book sounded interesting, I was not a fan of the writing, and that quickly drove the rating down for me. I don't know how to explain it other than to say that it tried too hard to be epic and didn't succeed, in my opinion. Dialogue felt awkward and unnatural. Normally some predictability doesn't bother me, but every twist can been seen coming far in advance.

I disliked the easy way that the enmity between Solace (17) and Rhees (24) transformed into love. Honestly, he yelled at her far too much, and then they suddenly can't live without each other. I'm all for a good enemies-to-lovers story, but the change has to be believable. I know it's supposed to have a Beauty & the Beast vibe, but I think it made Rhees's character a little too beastly and then just kind of skimmed over any redemption process. And I confess that I would have preferred Solace to be older--19 or 20 even--not only because of the love story but also because of the role she takes on in battle later in the book. It's hard to imagine a girl who barely turned 17 and has spent her life tending sheep suddenly becoming such a great war strategist and lead people on the battlefield simply because she listened to her father's war stories and can sling rocks.

So this was not my favorite book. I've read worse, but I've also read much better. Even though I know this is the first in a series, this book wrapped up quite nicely, and I am grateful for that.

Note: Nothing bad that I can recall.

This was a fun, engrossing YA fantasy..

Solace is a water diviner. Rhees is brooding, and bitter. He kidnaps Solace to help the thirsty people of his land. However, divining for water is against the law, punishable by death. Should Solace risk everything to help?

Based on this description, you know there will be some kind of romance between Solace and Rhees. You also know that of course she will help find water. However, the descriptions of how that all comes about is the story.

I love that the books gives the relationship time to grow and isn't that annoying :insta-love. I love the story, and how they overcome the odds. I thought the concept was really interesting. Let's be honest - if someone today could figure out how to make drilling your own wells legal, so everyone had to pay, they would do it.

Overall, i really enjoyed this book and will give it a solid 4 stars. -this was a "keep the pages turning" book.

Thank you to the author #ToriCabell the publisher and to #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review.

This was a book that I found it quite difficult to connect with at first. Maybe I needed more from the characters to connect with them but things certainly improved as the book went on. After a slow start (on my part) I did read the rest of the book fairly quickly and enjoyed it.