The Apples Hung like Stars

The Unleashed Fae #1

by Ali Williams, Ellie Rose

People have warned me away from the Golden Apple, that it's not a place for nice girls. But something draws me there anyway...to this club run by Dommes with magic at their fingertips.

Because I'm not as nice a girl as I seem. And when Cliodhna promises a night of exquisite pleasure, I'm ready to sign away my very soul in exchange.

Welcome to the Godstouched Universe, where the Gods interfere in the lives of mortals, magic leaks back into our world, and love conquers all. The Apples Hung Like Stars is a sapphic Tam Lin retelling.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Lesbian, Queer, Retellings, LGBT, BDSM

84 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2024

About the author

Ali Williams' inner romance reader is never quite satisfied, which is why she oscillates between writing romance, editing romance, and studying it as part of her PhD.

She can be found at the foot of the South Downs in the UK, either nerding out over local mythologies or drinking cocktails on the beach.

She believes with all of her bifurious heart that writing romance is an act of rebellion and that academia will be so much better when studying diverse HEAs is naturally part of the curriculum.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The editing of this book makes me want to give it 3 stars but for a smutty novella to make me want to take a deep dive into Irish mythology and yearn to learn in under 70 pages, it gets a solid 4 stars! 😍

[lauraღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

That’s okay. I can make a nice girl bad.

This was good, but idk. I thought it was just going to be a simple, smutty time, and I think it would have been better if that was what it was. Janet is a curious mortal who ventures into a BDSM club that she finds out is run by fae. There, she meets Cliodhna, and it's all very sexy and great, but the integration of the plot in the second half was so clumsy and unnecessary to me. Like, Cliodhna's sister and the Morrigan and the three tasks. All potentially interesting stuff, but the fact that it's all squished into the back half of an 80 page novelette? IDK, to do justice to all these ideas, this would have had to have been at least twice as long. Imo it's one of those cases where adding extra content made a book worse for me, because I couldn't help notice how much better it COULD have been if fleshed out and done well. Which is why I say that I probably would have preferred if this was just a plotless bit of smut. Because it was sexy and sweet and I liked the characters. 

Good overall! I'll check this author out again if she writes longer stuff.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this was longer! I loved the characters and the connection they shared, a very fun read.
4.5⭐️

[Carrey *holiday hiatus* · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a retelling/reimagining of the legend of Tam Lin. It includes characters such as our Faerie Queen Clíodhna, Aoibheall (her sister/fellow faerie queen), Janet (our mortal), and the Morrigan (our lovely dark goddess).

Usually I tend to find short stories like this lacking, but this was far from the case with ‘The Apples Hung Like Stars’. Everything was done perfectly there was world building (minimal), character development and a solid story all within the 80 or so pages. This book does not suffer from a lack of anything.

The writing was great I really enjoyed this author’s writing style. And the vocabulary used was magnificent. I also like that the author seems knowledgeable on the mythologies revolving around these characters.

The spice was good also. It wasn’t overbearing and gross, but felt nice within the context of the ‘insta-love’ like trope. And I loved that Janet had ADHD (like me) it made her that much more relatable and likable.

I truly enjoyed this book more than I thought. I recommend it to anyone interested in myths reimagined; especially Irish myths; or if you just like spicy content in general. **This is a F/F neurospicy retelling**

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✖️/5

[KateJoanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was at first so much more than I expected, and for a moment I thought it would be a 5*, unfortunately it just didn’t quite keep that quality up. I think if this was a full length novel it could be amazing, but it was just too complex and too much going on to work in such a short book. I would absolutely eat this up if it were made into a full length series though.

I was expecting a simple smutty story but it was surprisingly well and alluringly written with great personality and humour. The characters are so endearing and I loved the ADHD rep with such accurate and interesting ideas. I’d love to see more of that and just more of all of it.

I did love this despite being a little hectic with a few errors, just wish it were longer and edited.

[Tabitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Such a pretty cover and title for such an underwhelming book. Isn’t Tam Lin supposed to be about a fae lover entrapped by the Queen of faeries and rescued by a mortal lover? In this book, the MCs are never separated, they are barely in love (they slept together once in the context of a sex club and it got cut short by another fae) and of the three trials to prove the mortal’s true love for the fae, one is all about the fae being afraid of snakes, one is about the fae being injured by iron, and one is about the mortal lover having to prove that she can control her ADHD brain. Not very impressive or romantic IMHO. The whole story takes place over the space of like… a couple hours.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hot mythical beings

I cannot pronounce half the names in this story but it doesn't matter because it's a a tale of neurospicy strength intersecting with love, mythology and sex.

Where else could fae, a shape-shifting snake, a wolf Pack and a pair of immortal sister Dommes come together around a St Andrews Cross? Only in the mind of Ali Williams!

I was expecting a longer novel - this seems shorter than the other Godstouched series - but it makes up for that in intensity.

Well worth a read.

[Cecillie · Rating 3 out of 5]

around 2.5 stars

All around a nice little read. I do wish that the first part of the story flowed better into the last half with the trials. Part of me honestly thinks that the story needed to be longer to better establish the different relationships, and it would been more immersive if Janet had been given more time to accept that the fae is real. Or establish that she actually already believed in them, and not just had knowledge of the fae. Lastly, I wish that there had been another round of editing, since there's a handful of distracting typo-like mistakes, especially in the last half of the story.
But I overall enjoyed reading this, just wish there'd been a little more refinement.

[Cori · Rating 2 out of 5]

belatedly, this is one of those two-stars I feel bad giving a two-star because it was Definitely better than the last two-star I read/rated, but it had the same structural problems to me (rushed nothing-burger of a last half which, in a book this short, is a lot of your page count to be a rushed nothing-burger). The characters didn't feel particularly internally coherent either, and boy were there editing issues--like, the specific kind that completely reverse the meaning of the sentence you were trying to write, rather than just a few 'whoops misspelling, dropped punctuation' -type typos I can usually ignore.

Call this a 2.5 rounded down. YMMV.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Banshee Fae Queen/human Sapphic Love…

Super fast read! Maybe not quite a normal
4⭐️ book, but if you like this author(s) then this is nicely done as well. I only wish it was longer! This reads much like most of their books, some instalust/instalove, some kind of trial and finding your true strength. Communication is key both in bdsm and with the gods or fae. I these books, the humans rise up and the fae are humbled in the best ways.

[Kayt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily 4 star read for me. Novella short and sweet if you will but I still have questions about these characters and hope that they will show up in more stories.

I am a sucker for Fae stories, add traditional Gaelic names and a Sapphic love interest and I am here for it. I really enjoyed the take that the author took relating ADHD brains and the craving to just shut them off. Finding the silence in kink is something I don't think most people understand or realize happens.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. This was such a unique and interesting read. I really enjoyed it. I loved the writing and the world building was really cool and makes me want to go back and read the other books in this series. The characters of Jess and Cliodhna were great. I loved them both, especially Cliodhna. Whew. That woman! Their chemistry was hot and intense from the start and while this is insta love I didn't mind at all. I think the author did a damn good job on selling me on it. Great read.

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!! The spice was everything and I was left wanting more, but in the best way, because I didn’t want it to end! So much happened, there was so much action and I really liked the characters, I felt that we got to see so much their personalities and relationships as well as everything else that was happening, which was so amazing!
I can’t wait to start on the rest of this series so I can experience more of this world!

[George Hobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rainbow Book Crate edition - two books in one, and the book flips over so you read the second, Their Fruits Like Honey, from "back cover".
Both stories are very short reads and this book includes a short about a girl meeting a mermaid as well.
Fae cross the veil, open a sex club, and in both books folks come looking to discover themselves at the club.
Not quite on par with the Sleeping Beauty series by Anne Rice, but these small books come close.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great. The BDSM component felt forced and not well researched. The premise was interesting with Fae having been trapped behind The Veil and but they are out they run a BDSM club 🤷‍♀️. There's banshees and others but mostly it was too short to get a feel for the background (I kept thinking of missed a book).

It was a freebie so can't complain to much.

[Karon Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read in the Godstouched Universe. Sci-Fi/Fantasy isn't usually my jam, but I love the author's writing and how she develops her characters, especially since she always gives us a diversity of different characters to love. And the spicy story line is a treat as well.

[Nora Leighman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give 5 stars

This was great. We'll written and easy flowing. It seemed short when I pulled it up, but it told the whole story so there wasn't any feeling of "oh, but what".
Well done.

[Kayla P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the first half of this book. The plot and spice were really beautiful. Then after 50% it got kinda crazy with unexplained lore and too much happening. There were more grammatical errors too. The last half was disappointing honestly. I will not continue the series

[Zureena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my 😉

A 5🌟 for this epic, steamy 🔥re- telling of supernatural fantasy do over. Chilling encounters with love tested by fate, our FMC' s, find strength in each other to conquer their fears. Cant wait to read the other novels. Im hooked 😉

[Cecilia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This would’ve been even an OUNCE better than terrible if it didn’t actually attempt to have a plot. Why was the plot introduced 50/70 pages in? I’m dumbfounded at how bad this was and I’m expecting the next one to be just as bad.

[Michi Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this as part of my Rainbow Crate monthly box and it just didn't work for me. The character development was basically nonexistent and while i love some spice i do want it to have at least some substance and it all felt a little shoehorned for me here

[SunshineReads23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too short but very original. Would've loved a novel that was more in depth, but it was a good read.

[Sara Poehler · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel bamboozled. It was terrible but that's what i get for downloading it on stuff your kindle day.

[Eliza · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh

[claerysa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf - too boring

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out strong and ended up feeling rushed. I was really intrigued by this being a sapphic fae romantasy retelling. I liked the writing and the spice in this, I just felt like the actual story happened in the last 15 minutes of the book.

[Joe Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, full of power, emotion, and heat.
Janet had been trying to pick up the courage to go into The Golden Apple for a while. She's applied online and done everything she needs to do. Now, she needs to step over the threshold. And when she does what a whirlwind it will be.
Clíodhna had been watching Janet, waiting for her to come into the club. She is drawn to her, and she is going to show her everything the club can be.
This tale is full of twists, turns, and trials. The characters are beautifully written with great care and attention to detail.
I love the story arc and look forward to reading more in this world.
I highly recommend this book, series, and author.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

[Valentina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Damn, not even me writing a fanfic of harry styles when i was 12 years old