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Book: “Queen of the Night Sky” by Amalie Howard
Publishing Info: Avon, March 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: The Kingdom of Oryndhr has been saved by the will of the Royal Stars. But King Roshan, once Sura’s best friend and chosen love, has changed. She can sense corruption growing in him, and her own magic is being twisted by his command to dangerous ends. As dreams of her strange shadow guardian return in force, she is left unsure of her path—and of her heart.
When an attempt on her life leads to her rescue on the back of an azdaha, the dragon-like creature she once thought a myth, Sura truly finds herself in uncharted territory—in a land far beyond Oryndhyr’s borders. Everlea is full of magic, ruled by the deadly and enigmatic Night King, Darrius. And to Sura’s shock, Darrius is none other than the man in her dreams…and possibly her soul fated mate.
As a prophecy unfolds, the old gods awaken, and a war between kingdoms looms, Sura has no she must fully embrace her destiny as Starkeeper and the entirety of her power before it’s too late. But all power comes at a cost…and darkness has a way of slithering into the smallest spaces.
Previously Reviewed: “The Starlight Heir”
Review:Once more for the people in the back: no more bait-and-switch in romance/romantasy! I honestly am at the point where it’s incredibly hard to review some romantasy books that I read. Mostly because authors/publishers seem to refuse to properly label their books/series initially, which then leads me to epic levels of rage when I run into tropes and themes that I know that I don’t care for and would otherwise simply have avoided rather than read and end up needing to write a negative review. Because, at the end of the day, book reviews and reading experiences are entirely subjective. I can’t speak to the quality of any particular romantasy book outside my own experience of it. Sure, those who enjoy certain tropes may love it! But how could I say when I am not the reader for that book? I don’t like certain tropes, and thus, I don’t usually like those books, which then leads to negative reviews. Simple.
All of this to say, while I read the first book in this series and didn’t strongly connect with it, I was still interested enough to see where the story would go from there. It wasn’t doing anything extraordinary, but the general set-up was fine, and I was happy enough to see how the romance would play out. Well, color me surprised when I opened up this second book and discovered I was suddenly reading a “why choose” romantasy, not at all what had been set up in the first book.
Like I said, there are plenty of readers who enjoy this trope, and I am by no means saying that it is objectively bad. Just not for me. But here I am, now having committed to reviewing the second in a duology based on the set-up from the first book, which was your fairly standard romantasy fare, only to find it swerve straight into a trope that I avoid so as not to be writing negative reviews for books that just aren’t for me. Well, the publisher/author really has no one to blame for this but themselves. Had I known in the first book that this is where it was going, I would have just passed, and this negative review wouldn’t exist. Hate to do it, but… properly label your dang romantasy titles from the very start!
So, I won’t talk any more about the romance. I didn’t like it. I didn’t care for the characters involved, and I particularly didn’t care for the imbalanced level of connection and history between various pairings, thus making the entire “why choose” premise feel poorly weighted in one direction. The emotional stakes were definitely weighted one way, and the character assassination that had to happen to set up the other romantic interest was frustrating to read. Even by “why choose” standards, I don’t think this one was done particularly well.
Probably not a surprise, but this book goes hard on its spicy scenes. Given the balance between spice and plot is weighted heavily toward the former, I will say that these scenes were written well. I wasn’t terribly invested in the characters involved, but the author did a good job avoiding cringe-worthy descriptions or oddness, something that isn’t always a guarantee with romance. Readers who are enjoying the romance of it all will be pleased, I think, with how the love scenes play out.
However, the book also feels way longer than it needs to be. Actually stepping back and looking at what happens in the plot, it’s very little. And the book itself is not short by any means. I think some healthy editing would have tightened this up into a more streamlined affair and a more enjoyable read all around. While the spice scenes were good for what they were, this balance between romance and plot did feel off, and one or two fewer erotic scenes might have helped the plot feel more relevant.
Shocking no one, I didn’t love this one. I hate having to write negative reviews, especially when I’ve been contacted directly to review a book. But I’m committed to honest feedback first and foremost, so here we are. As I’ve harped on ad nauseam at this point, I really do try my best to simply avoid romantasy reads that contain tropes that I’m not going to enjoy. It’s incredibly frustrating that I can list off a handful of books within the last six months alone where I went in being sold one thing and then ran headfirst into the brick wall of these very same “avoid at any cost” tropes. And here, had I known going in that the duology was taking a hard turn into this trope, I would have simply passed when asked to review this. Alas.
Rating 5: Not for me. “Why choose” fans will likely be pleasantly surprised, but if you thought the first book was representative of where the duology was headed, you’d be wrong.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Queen of the Night Sky” can be found on this Goodreads list: March 2026 Most Anticipated Romance Releases.
The Library Ladies 