This was such a heartwarming read. You couldn’t help but hope for happy endings - for those that always sacrifice for others to find happiness and love for themselves.

3.5 🌟 A slow-paced cozy romantasy that's just too cute and cheesy. The pining and yearning and that Orpheus/Eurydice moment towards the end was just the right amount of angst.

thank you to margeret k mcelderry books, simon and schuster children’s publishing, and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

if there’s one thing that i know that f.t lukens’ books will do is make my heart flutter while i kick my feet and giggle like a tween girl in love. their stories, their characters, always just pierce straight through to my soul. and ellery and knox in otherworldly are no exception.

i love love. and i love how ellery and knox love. and i love that i keep getting the opportunity to read these stories early. because my soul honestly couldn’t handle waiting until it publishes… even if it’s only a week out at this point. otherworldly, as with lukens’ other books, are so quick and easy to read. but i loved taking my time with it. savoring these character stories. immersing myself in this frosty world.

el’s story actually starts five years prior to when the book takes place, when his life is thrown into a, as they would probably say, tundra. their family’s farm begins failing with a never-ending winter. and they loses their faith as their parents become more and more difficult to be around. when this book starts ellery and the “weird hot guy” — knox — have a literal run in. together they spark a deal (and a friendship — and maybe more) to end the winter.

ellery, at the beginning of this book is a broken, mainly in their faith. in others. in their religion. but through meeting knox, who ultimately forces them to open up more to charley (their cousin) and zada (said cousin’s girlfriend). they accept their little family unit. they face dangers and scenarios they never thought possible. and through the power of found family and love. they try to defeat it all!

knox, at the beginning of the book is grieving a loss. he’s also just confused and wants to answers for feeling neglected by his queen, who he was always a loyal servant of. through meeting ellery, and charley, and zada, and all the others along the way, he’s given a chance to be a human, even if for temporary. knox, while not a complete himbo, is definitely the golden retriever to ellery’s black cat grump.

knox is just so soft, so caring of ellery. an ellery is honestly, truly the same in return. even if they can’t share everything with each other all the time, they both have the same goals and intentions. they do their best to work together to solve their problems. to fight for one another. and fight is what they do.

this story is just so perfectly me. it’s fun and quirky and is just so damn beautiful. the way they love and grow and experience. their story pulled so perfectly at my heartstrings. and i loved every second of it. and i wish i had another 100 pages just to see them young and in love at the end of the book.