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A Dying of Starlight
The Last Princess of Rosenly is dying.
Born of a wish made upon a star, she's spent her life kissing strangers in a desperate attempt to find her true love and anchor herself to the earth before turning eighteen. What only she knows, however, is that no kiss will save her. The Last Princess of Rosenly realized years ago that she will never fall in love; she wasn't built capable of it.
When an assassination attempt leaves a wound on her throat and a Wish Weaver in her dungeon, The Last Princess of Rosenly allows herself to hope. Maybe the stars have finally decided to send her a soulmate after all, with two months to share and an unwavering animosity between them.
The prisoner is going nowhere. She'll reform her, she'll kiss her, and then, she'll save an entire kingdom.
CW: nonconsensual touch/kissing, swearing, negative self talk, death & dying, subconscious self-harm, blood, imprisonment, panic/anxiety attacks
Born of a wish made upon a star, she's spent her life kissing strangers in a desperate attempt to find her true love and anchor herself to the earth before turning eighteen. What only she knows, however, is that no kiss will save her. The Last Princess of Rosenly realized years ago that she will never fall in love; she wasn't built capable of it.
When an assassination attempt leaves a wound on her throat and a Wish Weaver in her dungeon, The Last Princess of Rosenly allows herself to hope. Maybe the stars have finally decided to send her a soulmate after all, with two months to share and an unwavering animosity between them.
The prisoner is going nowhere. She'll reform her, she'll kiss her, and then, she'll save an entire kingdom.
CW: nonconsensual touch/kissing, swearing, negative self talk, death & dying, subconscious self-harm, blood, imprisonment, panic/anxiety attacks
Unknown Binding
First published February 7, 2025
9 people are currently reading
496 people want to read
About the author
Alex Nonymous
26 books558 followersAlex published 18 books in 18 months in their early 20s as part of a personal writing challenge which is apparently not a great longevity idea but they're slowly trying to get back into writing.
He uses any pronouns so its incredibly easy to talk about Alex behind her back (just please stop adding me to 'women writers' lists oh my god) and they're still trying to figure out how to present themself as a professional a full year into publishing.
If you want to join their email list for updates on book release dates, early reader copies, and to vote on genre polls to control the next book they write, email them at alexnonymouswrites@gmail.com to let her know!
Alex also writes books for queer teenagers and recognizes that a lot of the people who need those kinds of stories the most can't safely be purchasing them, shoot them an email for free discrete ecopies of anything he's written!
He uses any pronouns so its incredibly easy to talk about Alex behind her back (just please stop adding me to 'women writers' lists oh my god) and they're still trying to figure out how to present themself as a professional a full year into publishing.
If you want to join their email list for updates on book release dates, early reader copies, and to vote on genre polls to control the next book they write, email them at alexnonymouswrites@gmail.com to let her know!
Alex also writes books for queer teenagers and recognizes that a lot of the people who need those kinds of stories the most can't safely be purchasing them, shoot them an email for free discrete ecopies of anything he's written!
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 21, 2025
I'm sorry to give this book a low rating because it was a really interesting idea for a twist on the whole fairytale of a princess and a true love's kiss, but I just couldn't get attached to the characters. The Last Princess of Rosenly has never been allowed control over her life because to prevent her death, she has to make herself appealing to find her true love, and Sylvie, the other character, was exiled (I think?) from her family, and she purposefully gets herself thrown in the dungeon because her thing is that she makes bad decisions. They're comparable in a Barbie princess and the pauper way except flipped where the princess is actually the one suffering because she's literally forced to allow herself to be assaulted daily. I wish I could articulate my sympathy for Sylvie's position, but I'm still too lost on weavers' place in the kingdom to understand exactly what she was being threatened by. (Are the weavers considered normal civilians? Do they have power at all with the other citizens? How many people have/still have this ability? What happens to them after they're tortured and sent back?) And I'm still confused about the scene after the king's visit because I assumed the darkness made her lose her humanity or something as well, but I don't think so? I think I would have benefitted from more explicit backstory from both of the girls to explain the state of the kingdom, but Sylvie especially.
I think the repeated internal statements in parenthesis made the characters' backgrounds weak, particularly in the beginning. They appeared whenever the characters thoughts and feelings conflicted with what they've been told, but I believe their beliefs as people would have been much stronger if these had been expanded rather than just copy and pasted in the place of a proper argument. I felt dettached from the princess, but I thought it was intentional because of the traditional way princesses are displayed in fairytales. After the introduction, I enjoyed the princess and Sylvie's interactions and their relationship in the dungeon, but then it started getting slow. I think being confined to the one room worked for a portion, but after it shifted back to outside the dungeon, I wondered why it hadn't earlier. The perspective also bothered me. Each chapter switches between the two characters, but there was no difference that I could notice between the description aside from the parenthethetical statements. There were some sentences that seemed to go into the other girl's head outside of her chapter, and there were a lot of parts where I had a hard time figuring out who was speaking or doing an action. The chapter thing would have made more sense if the book was told in first person, which would have also fixed the same-pronoun issue and closed some of the distance between me and the characters.
I'm giving this book three stars, but I hope when I read it again more things will be clarified and I can change it. There were some really great lines and I think it was nice representation of aromanticism (except for the second girl's initial reaction, I wish that had been rejected more directly) that isn't present in a lot of stories. I'm disappointed that my feelings for what I was shown about the two characters throughout the book took away from my enjoyment of the actual story.
I hope this review isn't too mean because I know the author is capable of writing really strong characters and also really in-depth critique-y book reviews. I will read another eventually and I will probably convince @mehan to read one when I'm at home for break.
I think the repeated internal statements in parenthesis made the characters' backgrounds weak, particularly in the beginning. They appeared whenever the characters thoughts and feelings conflicted with what they've been told, but I believe their beliefs as people would have been much stronger if these had been expanded rather than just copy and pasted in the place of a proper argument. I felt dettached from the princess, but I thought it was intentional because of the traditional way princesses are displayed in fairytales. After the introduction, I enjoyed the princess and Sylvie's interactions and their relationship in the dungeon, but then it started getting slow. I think being confined to the one room worked for a portion, but after it shifted back to outside the dungeon, I wondered why it hadn't earlier. The perspective also bothered me. Each chapter switches between the two characters, but there was no difference that I could notice between the description aside from the parenthethetical statements. There were some sentences that seemed to go into the other girl's head outside of her chapter, and there were a lot of parts where I had a hard time figuring out who was speaking or doing an action. The chapter thing would have made more sense if the book was told in first person, which would have also fixed the same-pronoun issue and closed some of the distance between me and the characters.
I'm giving this book three stars, but I hope when I read it again more things will be clarified and I can change it. There were some really great lines and I think it was nice representation of aromanticism (except for the second girl's initial reaction, I wish that had been rejected more directly) that isn't present in a lot of stories. I'm disappointed that my feelings for what I was shown about the two characters throughout the book took away from my enjoyment of the actual story.
I hope this review isn't too mean because I know the author is capable of writing really strong characters and also really in-depth critique-y book reviews. I will read another eventually and I will probably convince @mehan to read one when I'm at home for break.
November 27, 2025
I loved loved loved that book !
I'm a fucking mess after that ending, it's just SO IMMERSIVE. I could picture every scene in my head and I was like ommmggg, I love these girls.
It's one of those stories I can totally see myself rereading after some time because it's tragic and comforting and makes my queer ass feel understood.
Thank god the author has like 20 other books for me to read !!!
I'm a fucking mess after that ending, it's just SO IMMERSIVE. I could picture every scene in my head and I was like ommmggg, I love these girls.
It's one of those stories I can totally see myself rereading after some time because it's tragic and comforting and makes my queer ass feel understood.
Thank god the author has like 20 other books for me to read !!!
June 11, 2025
Im obsessed with the ending of the book. I really didn’t know how they would fix the problem. How does an aro/ace girl find her true loves kiss to stay alive. It was a very original story, although the middle did feel a little repetitive. I would really recommend this book if you’re looking for a sleeping beauty retelling with aro/ace representation
April 29, 2025
Finished it in one sitting. This book definitely deserves more recognition, it's so good and sooooo underrated. I love love love that they got a happy ending. It's a common misconception (at least in my experience) that aro people just don't experience love period so I was extremely pleased with the ending. "True love's kiss, not IN true love's kiss" – I loved that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2025
This was a super interesting read! I enjoyed the storyline and being able to meet the characters. It did feel a little repetitive and certain areas, but ultimately the characters when we over and I really liked how the story ended! The representation throughout is also really interesting and I love to see how aro ace characters were displayed in this read!
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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January 24, 2026The Last Princess of Rosenly from A Dying of Starlight is aromantic asexual!
https://www.tumblr.com/aspeccharacter...
https://www.tumblr.com/aspeccharacter...
February 7, 2025
Book = OUT!
#20 BABYYYYYYY
#20 BABYYYYYYY
February 9, 2025
It's so good
May 21, 2025
I read it in one day. I loved it.
August 7, 2025
Normalize writing about people pleaser daughters disobeying their parents with the power of friendship!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews