"The brightest star needs the darkest night."

This audiobook is done in a duet narration which is a huge plus for me when looking for an audiobook. Corvin King narrates all the male parts, and does a great job changing his voice slightly with the different characters. Jacci Prior does a great job as Astraea, and narrates the other female parts.

I liked the concept of the story, and this series has potential. I thought the story was easy to follow, but it definitely dragged on at times. It felt repetitive with Astraea, and some elements were very similar to other stories I have read recently. Nyte was the perfect villain. I enjoyed the side characters Zathian and Cassia. This story has been on my TBR for a long time after I saw a few videos on TikTok. So, when I saw this on Netgalley as an audiobook arc, I jumped at the chance to listen. I am hoping for more from book 2.

“I am the reason your stars are dying.”

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced audiobook for The Stars Are Dying by Chloe C. Peñaranda in exchange for an honest review. This audiobook will be available on October 8, 2024.

3.5 stars. The Stars are Dying took me a little while to get into. Once it got rolling I was more hooked, but with all the fairly obvious clues being dropped for our FMC along the way she sure took her sweet time coming to any correct conclusions. The narration was great, and the voice inflections were easy to follow for secondary characters. I will read/listen to book 2, but I hope she wisens up a bit.

I will keep this review short and how I like my Earl Tea...Grey.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, & Macmillan Audio for the audioARC! All thoughts are my own.

So...unlike the above beverage this book wasn't exactly my cup of tea. It had all the right elements but execution just wasn't quite right. While individually the voice artists were fine, I wasn't a fan of the mingled voices to differentiate male and female characters. As for the book itself, the female character was just too at odds with herself one minute being meek and timid and another acting like the light was switched and she was all of a sudden a bad ass, blade/bow wielding marvel. You can be timid and then to grow, but there were too many instances where explanations for her ability to fight just wasn't believable. This girl couldn't remember who she had been before being taken by Hector and basically imprisoned behind doors he had lock and key on and then say... well, she snuck out and so and so taught her to shoot a bow and throw a blade. Skill like that would have been believable as muscle memory, more than how it was explained in the book. EVERYTHING in the book took too long to get to the point and the reiteration of concepts and statements was cringeworthy. I am not a fan of a character who whines and Astraea does a lot of it. PLUS, how is the world did she not put two and two together? Of course this mysterious Nyte is the same big bad dude everyone else feared NYTE is literally in his name. Come on!!!
There was just too much leading from author and not enough inference. I apologize for being blunt here, but it just wasn't for me. I always recommend to readers that if you read the description and it sound right for you, then READ IT! I was on the fence because I have read quite a few of the same type of novel, so my advice to potential readers is to trust your gut. The spice was like tipping your toe into still water...the ripples don't last long. 2/5 hot peppers.

Maybe a few regrets!!!! 2/5 stars

DNF @ 9%. The lore dump & confusion in the beginning honestly just is too much for me to care. I love the idea of this but the main character leaves a lot to be desired now

I was really hoping I would love this. Instead I spent much of the book very bored. I think it was too long and too slow. When it did pick up it wasn't enough to convince me that I need to continue the series. The narration was fine.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the whimsical way it was written. The female narrator did a fantastic job of portraying emotions and the voices of others compared to the main character. The male narrator, however, did not. All of the voices he did for each of the male characters sounded so similar and with the same emotion behind it that I could not get behind any of the male characters.

Overall the story was great, but I had a hard time listening due to the male narrator.

This was such a fun concept and I loved the romance. The multi pov at the end was great, I loved it, i wish it was sprinkled in along the way though. I can't wait for more!

I enjoyed this! The pacing was a little hard for me. The questions kept mounting which kept me hooked in the beginning but I started getting frustrated when I was left with far more questions than answers to the point of confusion at some points. The character chemistry and stakes did help keep me in the story though and kept me from losing the plot. The narration was excellent, Corvin could read me a nutrition label and I’d be happy!

I have mixed feelings about The Stars Are Dying. On the one hand, it has the makings of an exciting romantasy. All the elements are there. But on the other hand, the book was a little too similar to other romantasies. Not enough was done by the author to make this book stand out.

Did I like it? Yes.
Did I think it was amazing. No.
Will I read the next in the trilogy? Probably. It depends on whether or not I find a better series first.

I was graciously honored enough to receive the e-arc to this book when it was first published, and I was so happy to get the audio as well! I felt that the narrators did a fantastic job at portraying the characters and moving the story along. I had a good time listening to this, it kept me entertained throughout the whole book. I would recommend this to all fantasy romance audiobook lovers!

I had to DNF this book. I am little tired of the Romantasy genre. It is overdone, sloppy, and it relies too heavily on tropes. And that is exactly what this book has done. I mean COME ON. The Male MC drops the “who did this to you” within their FIRST MEETING. This happens within the first 5% of the book. No thank you.

And as an added complain, I hate when audiobooks do that duel narrator thing where the man does EVERY male speaking part, even when the woman is narrating the chapter. Who decided to do that? It’s jarring and kinda annoying. No thanks.

I wouldn’t recommend this book. Don’t let the beautiful cover fool you.

I was really excited to start this book, especially since the audiobook was done in duet narration. Initially, the narration had me hooked, but as more characters were introduced, I found myself struggling—particularly with the male narrator. His voice didn’t have any range, so it was hard to tell the different characters apart. Plus, he read every line in this breathy, husky tone that felt more suited for steamy scenes than regular dialogue, which got old fast.

As for the book itself, I was pretty disappointed. It had a lot of potential, but it just didn’t deliver. The story felt all over the place, with too many plot lines that would suddenly get cut off, leaving me confused and lost. Even the trials, which I normally love in fantasy, couldn’t hold my interest. I found myself bored and forcing my way through just to finish it.

The characters, especially Astraea, were hard to care about. Her motivations were all over the place, and her actions didn’t make much sense. She never questioned anything around her, which made it tough to connect with her.

I get that it’s the first book in a trilogy, so some things need to be left unanswered, but it felt like the dialogue didn’t give us any real information.

Overall, The Stars Are Dying just didn’t do it for me. I wanted to love it, but it ended up being more frustrating than fun. If it wasn’t for the audiobook, I probably wouldn’t have made it to the end.

This book has been sitting on my TBR shelf forever, I loved the dual POV and narration.

I really tried to like this book, it took me a while to get through it. Had I been reading the book instead of listening to it, I most definitely would have DNF’d at the 15% mark. The book is literally ALL over the place, the FMC didn’t sleep but I definitely found myself falling asleep many times listening to the plot holes.

Thank you for the opportunity to review

The duet narration is fantastic. I really feel like this is the way of the audiobook future. I think my enjoyment in this book lies in duet narration. I think if I were reading it I might have had to put it down. I don't think it would have kept my attention. But the duet narration was able to keep my attention. It is a unique story which I very much like and respect. That said the pacing is...I don't want to say slow but it just kind of off. And again if it wasn't for it being an audiobook and narrated so well I don't think it would have kept my attention I did feel myself wondering a bit while listening. And then there were certain parts that sucked me back in but overall I think this book could be a little more cohesive. And I especially think that the beginning needed more to suck a reader in. I listened with my headphones on while doing a project so I was able to give it a really fair chance and get into it as it went on. But I might not have been able to otherwise. That said there are good qualities the narrators did a fantastic job. The story is unique and different and there are parts that suck you in through out that keep you reading/listening. And It's a great concept. Great narration. I would recommend this to people that are looking for duet narration fantasy romance listens

DNF

The story lacked a good introduction and setup; I even had to double-check to make sure I was reading book one. I attempted to continue reading, but I couldn't connect with the writing. Overall, not for me.

***Thank you to NetGalley, C.C. Penaranda, and Macmillan Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

3 1/2 out of 5 stars


I want to say thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for allowing me to listen in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good book but I think that maybe the writing style was just not for me. I did really enjoy the concept of this novel. I mean who doesn't love a vampire story? I guess the pacing was a bit off for me. We don't get many answers until at least the first 250 pages or so. While I did enjoy the Astraea I wish she was a bit of a more proactive heroine.

I did enjoy the fact that this was not another ACOTAR rip off. I have noticed that a lot of romantasy novels just seem to borrow so much from SJM.I plan to continue on with this series. The fantastic voice acting by Corvin King and Jacci Prior really were excellent.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Sadly I had to put this one down and idk if I’ll pick it up anytime soon.

I did not feel any chemistry between the MC and I was bored for most of what I read. I felt like although there was a plot the FMC forgot about everything once she met the MMC. Also I’m not a fan of insta love so that took the enjoyment away from the romance.

First I want to say thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the opportunity to listen to this book for my honest review.
I really wanted to love this book and really thought I was going to but I was pretty disappointed. This book has a lot of potential. The world is interesting and the characters have room to grow and evolve. I almost DNFd a few times but then kept letting my FOMO get to me and continued on but I wish I would have stopped and just realized it wasn’t for me. I often found myself bored during this book. The only character I really enjoyed and connected with was killed pretty early on. I feel like maybe there was just too much going on in this one book and it just felt confusing to me. I will be reading the second book because I already have it preordered so I’m hopeful that maybe the author will have worked out some of the kinks from book 1.

I found this book to be a frustrating read. The dialogue felt very forced. And there are many instances where the plot doesn’t match up with what was previously in the story. This was a DNF for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of The Stars are Dying. This book had a lot of twists and turns, and though the tropes were nothing new and some of the reveals were painfully obvious, I still enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend to others who enjoy romantasy. Looking forward to further installments because I am dying to know who else she is bonded to and if Nyte is going to end up a hero or a villain.