Lex 🖤✨'s Reviews > A Glimpse of Light & Glory

** spoiler alert ** ‘“You always say that you’re fine,” he says, his eyes sad. “But I’m here anyway.”’

Don’t mind me, just here trying to write a review without squealing too much XD. This book. WOW! It gave me so many feelings. The romance was squeal, scream and tear worthy. I rooted for them so bad from the very start and the book was such a rollercoaster. The writing is amazing. There are some really beautiful moments and passages that got me all mushy feely and even made me tear up.

A Glimpse of Light and Fire is a contemporary fantasy romance that features superpowers, rivals to lovers and that is also heavily about Liam as a character—his struggles, his dreams, his fears, his traumas, the way his home life impacts his every day life and how he finds people to belong with outside his abusive household.

That said, this book deals with some heavy topics so definitely read the trigger warnings before diving in.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
(These are taken directly from the book’s trigger warning list itself)
“Emotional abuse (parental), 1st person experience of anxiety and anxiety attacks, A store robbery and someone being shot (first chapter), Mentions of blood, Physical abuse (fights between the MC and others his age), Mentions of gore (very minimal, only a small amount of times), PTSD, and short bursts of self-harm due to an anxiety attack (mentioned, but not a big factor to the story) *Note: Some of these triggers are only mentioned once or twice, but I didn't want to alarm you when you read those parts*”

Now for the rest of the review, here’s a short list of things you can find in the book:
- Friends to rivals to ‘friends but “we’re not friends”’ to lovers
- A Grumpy and prickly main character who cares and feels immensely
- A soft, caring love interest
- Both of them being protective of each other
- Romance
- Hurt/comfort
- Angst
- Mysterious Powers
- Found family
- Sports (Basketball)
- Supportive non yet boyfriend boyfriends (Liam is prickly but he cares SO MUCH even if he won’t admit it to himself, and Finch is just so supportive and has such an obvious crush on Liam even if Liam can’t see it or believe it (probably because of all the trauma he has 🙈)

And for a more detailed review. **Light spoilers ahead**

CHARACTERS:
Liam is the narrator of the story and I absolutely adore him. He is prickly and not easy to open up. He has walls all over the place. He is hurt and that hurt reflects in his actions. He is also extremely caring which is evident in his actions. He is both really smart and observant and an idiot. And I love that. It’s realistic. It’s human. M.J. Woods doesn’t shy away from showing all facets of Liam and I’m here for it!! And the way the book deals with Liam’s anxiety and trauma left me mind blown. He has and continues to go through so much. And his thoughts reflect that in the narrative. Liam has a lot of intrusive thoughts, insecurities and misbeliefs woven into his day to day thoughts. It’s not something that happens once and goes away—the thoughts, the anxiety, it stays with him throughout the book. And it’s painful. I had to take breaks sometimes from how strong his feelings hit me but it’s definitely worth the read.

Then we have Finch, Liam’s rival. He is kind and amazing at a lot of things, most notably apparently at outshining Liam and irritating him (also at making Liam care). He used to be Liam’s friend and it may not be obvious to Liam but it’s obvious to the readers Finch never wanted to stop being friends. And when they talk about all of this I just AHHH!! My heart did a lot of things while reading this book and so did my tear ducts.

There’s many more characters to love like Gray’s family, the nice couple that runs the diner and a pair of siblings with superpowers (you’re gonna have to meet those yourself). There’s also characters you will want to punch and characters you will straight up hate (*cough* Liam’s dad *cough*).


ROMANCE:
The romance is amazing. I love Finch and Liam, both as characters and together. They both go through a lot, one way or another but I found so much beauty and love in the way they constantly support one another. Even when Liam is too angry and hurt to accept that he does in fact care for Finch, it is still evident in his actions, in his persistence. And the support Finch gives Liam when he realizes what’s happening in Liam’s house did things to my heart. Finch is just so patient and kind and ahhhh!! Neither is perfect, they’re human and they’re flawed so sometimes the relationship is messy, sometimes they fight, but I never once stopped rooting for them. And I could go on and spoil the whole book by squealing about the romance but I’m not gonna do that. I will however leave this snippet here because I AM WEAK FOR LIAM AND FINCH OK?

‘“I kissed you because I wanted to, because it’s all I’ve wanted to do,” he whispers, watching me like I’m gonna explode. Am I going to? Something strange settles in my chest like a heavy, but comfortable blanket. He’s tiptoeing right now, trying not to say something I can’t handle, but giving me what I seem to need. I don’t even know what that is anymore.’


THE PLOT AND PACING
I found the plot of the story really interesting. Because it is much more than just it’s plot. Being shot does give Finch special powers and the plot focuses on that but equally important was the development of Liam and Finch’s relationship and Liam’s experiences and the way he finds a place to belong. It’s honestly a beautiful blend and it made the book so interesting to read.


WRITING/VOICE
The writing was truly beautiful. The way M.J. Wood portrays Liam’s voice is just exceptional. There are some typos here and there but nothing that stopped me from loving this story.


OVERALL
I really can’t recommend this book enough. It’s one of those books that makes a home in your heart. I am definitely gonna re read this one at some point and I can’t wait for book 2 in the series!! (Someone please gimme a Time Machine so I can get the book faster!!!)