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By the Light of the Stars
Not yet published
Expected 17 Nov 26A dutiful princess questions everything she was taught to believe and, with the help of a handsome rogue space pilot, sets out to reclaim her power and save her people in this genre-blending, romantic space opera.
The idyllic lunar colony of Boaterra means everything to its perfect, dutiful Princess Lyrii Thana—and she’s prepared to marry the austere Commander of their Sisterworld, Chinov, in order to protect it.
After an assassination attempt goes awry, Lyrii is saved by Kade, a mysterious space pilot. He promises to transport her safely to Chinov so her wedding can proceed as planned—for a price. With no other way to travel across the galaxy, Lyrii is forced to trust him in order to fulfill her duty to her home and her throne.
When an emergency landing on a refugee spaceship that shouldn’t exist forces Lyrii to confront the lies her family's empire is built on, she finds herself torn between loyalty, fear, and her growing feelings for Kade. As her arranged wedding draws closer, Lyrii must decide whether she’ll bow to the hand of destiny forced upon her, or finally put herself first...even if that means going against the very system she helped create.
The idyllic lunar colony of Boaterra means everything to its perfect, dutiful Princess Lyrii Thana—and she’s prepared to marry the austere Commander of their Sisterworld, Chinov, in order to protect it.
After an assassination attempt goes awry, Lyrii is saved by Kade, a mysterious space pilot. He promises to transport her safely to Chinov so her wedding can proceed as planned—for a price. With no other way to travel across the galaxy, Lyrii is forced to trust him in order to fulfill her duty to her home and her throne.
When an emergency landing on a refugee spaceship that shouldn’t exist forces Lyrii to confront the lies her family's empire is built on, she finds herself torn between loyalty, fear, and her growing feelings for Kade. As her arranged wedding draws closer, Lyrii must decide whether she’ll bow to the hand of destiny forced upon her, or finally put herself first...even if that means going against the very system she helped create.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication November 17, 2026
About the author
Emily Gray
78 books21 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Actress Emily Gray grew up in a military family moving to locations around England. She remembers mimicking the regional accents from each locale as a way to blend in with new friends. Stories either invented by her mother or read aloud as a family were always part of her life. Emily could easily relate to Nancy Springer’s ROWAN HOOD, daughter of Robin Hood. Emily’s first audiobook, MASQUERADE by Walter Satterthwait, came about in 2001 when her husband Matthew was a sound engineer at Recorded Books studios in New York. Lately, we’ve heard Emily bring alive the adventures of Becky Bloomwood in Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series and her work in SOMETHING ROTTEN by Jasper Fforde. Emily and her husband started the Classics Acting Company in Dallas where she’s appearing in “The Cherry Orchard."
~From Audiofilemagazine
Actress Emily Gray grew up in a military family moving to locations around England. She remembers mimicking the regional accents from each locale as a way to blend in with new friends. Stories either invented by her mother or read aloud as a family were always part of her life. Emily could easily relate to Nancy Springer’s ROWAN HOOD, daughter of Robin Hood. Emily’s first audiobook, MASQUERADE by Walter Satterthwait, came about in 2001 when her husband Matthew was a sound engineer at Recorded Books studios in New York. Lately, we’ve heard Emily bring alive the adventures of Becky Bloomwood in Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series and her work in SOMETHING ROTTEN by Jasper Fforde. Emily and her husband started the Classics Acting Company in Dallas where she’s appearing in “The Cherry Orchard."
~From Audiofilemagazine
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 18, 2026
4/5 ⭐️
1.75/5 🌶️
I don’t know why I have not read a space romance sooner cause this was so fun! I really liked both our fmc & mmc, the plot movement was great, and I enjoyed the writing.
When Princess Lyrii Thana escapes an attempted threat on her life right before she is to leave to meet her betrothed, she is rescued by a rogue space pilot. Deep in space, she learns that her sheltered upbringing has been just that - and not everything is as it appears. As her wedding looms, Lyrii starts to question what she believes and who she can trust. 👀
I really liked the plot twists and the weaving of space politics. It kept it interesting for sure and some of it I didn’t see coming. I really would love to learn more about the history so hopefully we’ll get more of that in the next one cause I will for sure read book 2!
Thank you so much to Ace/Berkley and Netgalley for the eARC!
What to Expect:
✨Space Opera
✨Plot Twists
✨Political Intrigue
✨Sci-Fi Romance
1.75/5 🌶️
I don’t know why I have not read a space romance sooner cause this was so fun! I really liked both our fmc & mmc, the plot movement was great, and I enjoyed the writing.
When Princess Lyrii Thana escapes an attempted threat on her life right before she is to leave to meet her betrothed, she is rescued by a rogue space pilot. Deep in space, she learns that her sheltered upbringing has been just that - and not everything is as it appears. As her wedding looms, Lyrii starts to question what she believes and who she can trust. 👀
I really liked the plot twists and the weaving of space politics. It kept it interesting for sure and some of it I didn’t see coming. I really would love to learn more about the history so hopefully we’ll get more of that in the next one cause I will for sure read book 2!
Thank you so much to Ace/Berkley and Netgalley for the eARC!
What to Expect:
✨Space Opera
✨Plot Twists
✨Political Intrigue
✨Sci-Fi Romance
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This felt less like the space opera adventure that I anticipated and more like a treatise on how society, governments, and their economies should function.
I will delve into that more shortly, but first I wanted to speak about the characters which will blend into that explanation.
Lyrii, our protagonist, is a princess who comes from a moon colony called Boaterra where they function under a monarchy. She is reclusive, timid character and rightly so as she has recently suffered an assassination attempt leaving her reeling mentally and disfigured physically.
Lyrii does develop into a stronger person as the story progresses but even so, she failed to stir up that irresistible magnetism that a main character should exude.
At first, Kade seemed a promising MMC. He’s a pilot so that implies daring and strength. The first scene in which the reader meets him shows Kade to be decisive and quick thinking.
We quickly see, however, that Kade is impulsive and immature. One way this is exemplified is in the slew of haphazard relationships he has drudged up in the past that were indulged upon and quickly relinquished. Not to mention his half baked plan of kidnapping Lyrii so he can cash in on a ransom to her prospective fiancé. Kade would insist he was helping Lyrii but he definitely was looking out for his own skin.
As if that weren’t enough, he becomes very “holier than thou”. Lyrii and Kade arrive on Kade’s spaceship colony where their society functions very differently than Lyrii’s.
In one scene, Lyrii asks innocently enough how a female engineer and her workers are paid since Kade doesn’t foot any sort of bill for said engineer repairing his ship. Kade flies off the handle to Lyrii with a vitriolic lecture about how no one is paid on the ship and everyone “takes care of their own” unlike in Lyrii’s society thus making it seem as though it’s evil to pay someone for doing an honest day’s work. It became clear that this was an insertion of political views about how terrible capitalism is.
Kade and Lyrii’s conversations continued to circle around economic and governmental structures. Kade crows about how his small, isolated colony is not only comparable but superior somehow to the much larger complicated system that is Boaterra which leads the reader to see how naive Kade is. He proudly states that his colony functions without a leader and is an incorruptible socialistic utopian system. Instead of enlightened, he comes across as rather preachy and insufferable.
Boaterra clearly has its flaws in this story but to say that socialism or communism, which Kade’s community seems to have embraced, is perfect or cannot be abused is ignorant on Kade’s part; a look at history demonstrates quite the opposite but I digress.
By the half way point of the book, not much had happened whatsoever except for some work in Lyrii’s internal progression as a main character. The pace fell stagnant.
A mild spoiler as follows but midway through, Lyrii and Kade are already getting physical and I’m left very confused. Where is the tension between these two? Why are they even attracted to each other? I’m not seeing it.
There were a few cute moments. One scene occurred when Kade and Lyrii played a sort of reverse strip poker where Lyrii had to put on layers of clothes every time she lost the game so that she could warm up on the ship. This was Kade’s idea.
Kade also was at least a gentleman towards Lyrii in moments where he could have easily taken advantage of her and he did comfort her at times when she was vulnerable emotionally.
On a different note, there were a lot of LBTQ characters in this book including Kade’s two mothers, a co pilot character who was gay, while Kade himself is at least bisexual.
For readers that are sensitive, a few curse words cropped up here and there and there were some violent moments as well.
Overall, this book and I were not simpatico and that’s okay.
A special thanks to Berkeley for allowing me to read this copy ahead of release in exchange for this very honest review.
I will delve into that more shortly, but first I wanted to speak about the characters which will blend into that explanation.
Lyrii, our protagonist, is a princess who comes from a moon colony called Boaterra where they function under a monarchy. She is reclusive, timid character and rightly so as she has recently suffered an assassination attempt leaving her reeling mentally and disfigured physically.
Lyrii does develop into a stronger person as the story progresses but even so, she failed to stir up that irresistible magnetism that a main character should exude.
At first, Kade seemed a promising MMC. He’s a pilot so that implies daring and strength. The first scene in which the reader meets him shows Kade to be decisive and quick thinking.
We quickly see, however, that Kade is impulsive and immature. One way this is exemplified is in the slew of haphazard relationships he has drudged up in the past that were indulged upon and quickly relinquished. Not to mention his half baked plan of kidnapping Lyrii so he can cash in on a ransom to her prospective fiancé. Kade would insist he was helping Lyrii but he definitely was looking out for his own skin.
As if that weren’t enough, he becomes very “holier than thou”. Lyrii and Kade arrive on Kade’s spaceship colony where their society functions very differently than Lyrii’s.
In one scene, Lyrii asks innocently enough how a female engineer and her workers are paid since Kade doesn’t foot any sort of bill for said engineer repairing his ship. Kade flies off the handle to Lyrii with a vitriolic lecture about how no one is paid on the ship and everyone “takes care of their own” unlike in Lyrii’s society thus making it seem as though it’s evil to pay someone for doing an honest day’s work. It became clear that this was an insertion of political views about how terrible capitalism is.
Kade and Lyrii’s conversations continued to circle around economic and governmental structures. Kade crows about how his small, isolated colony is not only comparable but superior somehow to the much larger complicated system that is Boaterra which leads the reader to see how naive Kade is. He proudly states that his colony functions without a leader and is an incorruptible socialistic utopian system. Instead of enlightened, he comes across as rather preachy and insufferable.
Boaterra clearly has its flaws in this story but to say that socialism or communism, which Kade’s community seems to have embraced, is perfect or cannot be abused is ignorant on Kade’s part; a look at history demonstrates quite the opposite but I digress.
By the half way point of the book, not much had happened whatsoever except for some work in Lyrii’s internal progression as a main character. The pace fell stagnant.
A mild spoiler as follows but midway through, Lyrii and Kade are already getting physical and I’m left very confused. Where is the tension between these two? Why are they even attracted to each other? I’m not seeing it.
There were a few cute moments. One scene occurred when Kade and Lyrii played a sort of reverse strip poker where Lyrii had to put on layers of clothes every time she lost the game so that she could warm up on the ship. This was Kade’s idea.
Kade also was at least a gentleman towards Lyrii in moments where he could have easily taken advantage of her and he did comfort her at times when she was vulnerable emotionally.
On a different note, there were a lot of LBTQ characters in this book including Kade’s two mothers, a co pilot character who was gay, while Kade himself is at least bisexual.
For readers that are sensitive, a few curse words cropped up here and there and there were some violent moments as well.
Overall, this book and I were not simpatico and that’s okay.
A special thanks to Berkeley for allowing me to read this copy ahead of release in exchange for this very honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
2.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and to ACE/Berkley for the ARC of By the Light of the Stars by Emily Gray.
I saw someone review this who mentioned it reminded them of Jessie Mihalik's Polaris Rising series and so I immediately wanted to read it. Unfortunately, this didn't hit me as the same depth of other authors really excelling in the space opera romance genre -- Jessie Mihalik, Constance Fay, Beth Revis, Jennifer Estep. In comparison to those authors, this one read as more a Young Adult version vs my expectations.
I say Young Adult because the main character, Lyrii, acts like she is 16, not 23. We open with her being very traumatized from an assassination attempt, to, within less than a month, her having an arc that felt Daenarys Targaryan esque without the incest and dragons. That's not to say she's burning the world down at the end, but it felt like she was someone very sheltered and naive who all of a sudden became a very different person without adequate development, especially in terms of her willingness toward violence. I also just didn't understand how she was 23 and a leader of her entire nation but totally unaware of the way the nation or her world or her marriage contract worked. Either she was never trained by any of her royal upbringing to actually represent the royal family well or she was willfully ignorant of everything and neither makes her a very relatable character.
Kade is similarily immature with his "kidnapping" and immediate trust of Lyrii when she poses such a risk to everything he holds dear. He also felt more 16 than 20s. While he had a better understanding of the world, his acknowledgment that he doesn't think through his actions meant all his actions were just sort of random hail marys - it didn't make him feel like a wild card, it just made it feel like his presence was meant to push the plot in variable directions because he is unpredictable.
The overall story and worldbuilding are interesting, but they felt surface level and while there are a lot of political machinations happening, they seemed very black and white without any nuance.
Again, if this were focused toward Young Adults I think it would work much better, but for me, and for the authors I am a huge fan of in this genre, this just didn't work for me, and while it ends on a very large cliffhanger, I don't see myself picking up the next book.
Thank you to NetGalley and to ACE/Berkley for the ARC of By the Light of the Stars by Emily Gray.
I saw someone review this who mentioned it reminded them of Jessie Mihalik's Polaris Rising series and so I immediately wanted to read it. Unfortunately, this didn't hit me as the same depth of other authors really excelling in the space opera romance genre -- Jessie Mihalik, Constance Fay, Beth Revis, Jennifer Estep. In comparison to those authors, this one read as more a Young Adult version vs my expectations.
I say Young Adult because the main character, Lyrii, acts like she is 16, not 23. We open with her being very traumatized from an assassination attempt, to, within less than a month, her having an arc that felt Daenarys Targaryan esque without the incest and dragons. That's not to say she's burning the world down at the end, but it felt like she was someone very sheltered and naive who all of a sudden became a very different person without adequate development, especially in terms of her willingness toward violence. I also just didn't understand how she was 23 and a leader of her entire nation but totally unaware of the way the nation or her world or her marriage contract worked. Either she was never trained by any of her royal upbringing to actually represent the royal family well or she was willfully ignorant of everything and neither makes her a very relatable character.
Kade is similarily immature with his "kidnapping" and immediate trust of Lyrii when she poses such a risk to everything he holds dear. He also felt more 16 than 20s. While he had a better understanding of the world, his acknowledgment that he doesn't think through his actions meant all his actions were just sort of random hail marys - it didn't make him feel like a wild card, it just made it feel like his presence was meant to push the plot in variable directions because he is unpredictable.
The overall story and worldbuilding are interesting, but they felt surface level and while there are a lot of political machinations happening, they seemed very black and white without any nuance.
Again, if this were focused toward Young Adults I think it would work much better, but for me, and for the authors I am a huge fan of in this genre, this just didn't work for me, and while it ends on a very large cliffhanger, I don't see myself picking up the next book.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Ace, and Emily Gray for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! 🪐🌟
The Thana sisters take over rulership of the lunar colony of Boaterra after the death of their mother, the Empress. To keep the peace between Boaterra and their Sisterworld, Chinov, Princess Lyrii Thana, our main character, is promised to marry their commander. Lyrii has managed to survive an assassination attempt and is saved from a second one by space pilot, Kade. Lyrii has never been off her home planet until Kade's rescue. As Kade works to deliver her to Chinov, Lyrii is finding things she was told were true, things she was sheltered from as a princess, are not all they seem to be. Lies, coups, and mysteries unfold in this romantic space opera.
For a romantasy, this book was great! You jump into the action right from the get-go, and the romance follows not long after. The pacing of the story was great. Equal parts romance AND action. I wished for more detail throughout the book. More background story, details about space flight, fueling, oxygen on the spacecrafts. I was looking for more history of the SisterWorlds and hierarchy systems. As long as you keep in mind this book isn't JUST sci-fi, I think you'll enjoy it!
Lyrii has a lot of character growth by the end of the book, which I find a lot of books to be lacking these days. She herself changes and grows stronger as she becomes accustomed to the world she never knew was out there.
This book reminded me a lot of Cress by Marissa Meyers, in the best way possible! Especially the beginning, with just Lyrii and Kade on the spaceship, seeing the things she's never gotten to see before. The plot twists were good, too! This book is a part of a series, and I'll be excited to see how things keep playing out in the next one. Hopefully the second book delves into more details of the world!
The Thana sisters take over rulership of the lunar colony of Boaterra after the death of their mother, the Empress. To keep the peace between Boaterra and their Sisterworld, Chinov, Princess Lyrii Thana, our main character, is promised to marry their commander. Lyrii has managed to survive an assassination attempt and is saved from a second one by space pilot, Kade. Lyrii has never been off her home planet until Kade's rescue. As Kade works to deliver her to Chinov, Lyrii is finding things she was told were true, things she was sheltered from as a princess, are not all they seem to be. Lies, coups, and mysteries unfold in this romantic space opera.
For a romantasy, this book was great! You jump into the action right from the get-go, and the romance follows not long after. The pacing of the story was great. Equal parts romance AND action. I wished for more detail throughout the book. More background story, details about space flight, fueling, oxygen on the spacecrafts. I was looking for more history of the SisterWorlds and hierarchy systems. As long as you keep in mind this book isn't JUST sci-fi, I think you'll enjoy it!
Lyrii has a lot of character growth by the end of the book, which I find a lot of books to be lacking these days. She herself changes and grows stronger as she becomes accustomed to the world she never knew was out there.
This book reminded me a lot of Cress by Marissa Meyers, in the best way possible! Especially the beginning, with just Lyrii and Kade on the spaceship, seeing the things she's never gotten to see before. The plot twists were good, too! This book is a part of a series, and I'll be excited to see how things keep playing out in the next one. Hopefully the second book delves into more details of the world!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to Netgalley and Ace/ Berkley for the eARC!
I love a good sci-fi romance, so when I heard about By the Light of the Stars, I was intrigued. I did read this one fairly quickly and had fun doing so. There was plenty to like in this book: romance, adventure, political intrigue and a heroine coming into her own.
Lyrii is an incredibly sheltered princess who is forced to escape with Kade, a pilot/smuggler, when she is almost killed. She’s wary of him and his motives. But he offers to take her to her betrothed as long as she pays. She agrees and off they go on some adventures while learning more about each other. Also, she starts to realize that what she has always been told might not be the full truth of her world.
I really liked Lyrii and I was rooting for her to grow as a character. I think, given her circumstances, she made smarter choices than a lot of heroines in these types of books. Another thing that really stood out to me was the world-building. It never felt too info-dumpy to me which was nice. I also liked the politics and the way Lyrii had to navigate them even when she wasn’t exactly sure how to do so.
The only part that fell a little flat for me was the romance. They were super into each other pretty early on and there was very little tension or conflict in their romance. I didn’t hate it or anything. I just wasn’t super invested in their whole thing. I prefer a slower burn.
Overall, I liked the story enough to read it in a day and I’m looking forward to the sequel. So, I’d give this a 3.5 out of 5 (rounded up to a 4).
I love a good sci-fi romance, so when I heard about By the Light of the Stars, I was intrigued. I did read this one fairly quickly and had fun doing so. There was plenty to like in this book: romance, adventure, political intrigue and a heroine coming into her own.
Lyrii is an incredibly sheltered princess who is forced to escape with Kade, a pilot/smuggler, when she is almost killed. She’s wary of him and his motives. But he offers to take her to her betrothed as long as she pays. She agrees and off they go on some adventures while learning more about each other. Also, she starts to realize that what she has always been told might not be the full truth of her world.
I really liked Lyrii and I was rooting for her to grow as a character. I think, given her circumstances, she made smarter choices than a lot of heroines in these types of books. Another thing that really stood out to me was the world-building. It never felt too info-dumpy to me which was nice. I also liked the politics and the way Lyrii had to navigate them even when she wasn’t exactly sure how to do so.
The only part that fell a little flat for me was the romance. They were super into each other pretty early on and there was very little tension or conflict in their romance. I didn’t hate it or anything. I just wasn’t super invested in their whole thing. I prefer a slower burn.
Overall, I liked the story enough to read it in a day and I’m looking forward to the sequel. So, I’d give this a 3.5 out of 5 (rounded up to a 4).
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
For those craving Leia & Han Solo vibes romance and wish that sci-fi romance expanded from dystopian or alien kidnapping genre. It was entertaining enough to read about sheltered princess trying to avoid assassinations and navigating politics while a dashing rogue captain shows her a life totally different from what she knew. It's slightly plagued with the typical "new adult" issue where the characters are a bit too clueless and still getting away a bit too easily with everything, but it was a fun ride to go along with. The romance developed a bit too fast, too smoothly. The worldbuilding reads sometimes a tad bit too simplistic, i.e. the evil monarchy vs the good rule of the people. All that is par for the course for the genre though, so if you seek a read where worldbuilding and plot is mostly there not to get in the way of the romance, you'll likely enjoy this book. It reads like romantasy in space, which serves as an interesting setting that isn't yet overdone. Reminds me in tone of the Winter's Orbit (except that it's MF).
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A smuggler and a prince? YES PLEASE! In space? EVEN BETTER! This book was so wonderfully written and had me glued to the pages from start to finish. With a little slow burn romance, political drama, and spaceships, this was everything I could want in a sci-fi fantasy romance. World building is often times difficult to achieve in short books but Emily did such a phenomenal job giving the reader everything they needed to know.If you’re a fan of Star Wars, sci-fi adventures, and high stakes, you’ll love this book. 5⭐️ from me!
The world-building was phenomenal, filled with political intrigue and unique planets with their own cultures and atmospheres. The characters were all incredibly likable and had so much depth and emotion. I enjoyed every moment of this story and can’t wait to read more from this author!
The world-building was phenomenal, filled with political intrigue and unique planets with their own cultures and atmospheres. The characters were all incredibly likable and had so much depth and emotion. I enjoyed every moment of this story and can’t wait to read more from this author!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I found the customs and way of life between the sisterworlds and other planets to be very interesting. The contrast between Boaterra and Chinov were fascinating. I was glad were able to spend some time on each of those planets and how different they are from each other.
My heart hurt for Lyrii and everything that she had gone through in her life. Loved seeing her standing to stand up for herself and start to question everything around her.
Kade was so patient with Lyrii and made me swoon over him. I hope we get some of his POV in the next book.
Fun, space opera.
My heart hurt for Lyrii and everything that she had gone through in her life. Loved seeing her standing to stand up for herself and start to question everything around her.
Kade was so patient with Lyrii and made me swoon over him. I hope we get some of his POV in the next book.
Fun, space opera.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I happen to love Space Opera romance. The writing in this wasn't bad, and the space colony ship was a cool idea, the writing style was easy to read and the plot easy to follow. But in the end I just found this book uninteresting, though I can't put my finger on just why or what would have made it better.
I could definitely relate to some of the main characters anxieties when she would suddenly find herself alone in very unfamiliar territory.
The last 30% or so of the book did pick up and get better.
I could definitely relate to some of the main characters anxieties when she would suddenly find herself alone in very unfamiliar territory.
The last 30% or so of the book did pick up and get better.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Fun read with a really cool atmospheric worldbuilding. The mix of sci-fi, political intrigue, and romance gave the story a cinematic feel BUT... the pacing dragged a bit in the middle, and I really wanted some deeper emotional development from main/side characters. The romance was cute but didn't really do it for me, it just felt a little shallow? But overall fun and I loved the environment!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews