The characters were my favorite parts of this story, FMC aside.... her self deprecating comments were just so damn much. I struggled to empathize with her, because I was constantly rolling my eyes wanting to move on from her every thought.
While the story was interesting and had some good twists, it felt like a composition of Serpents and the Wings of Night and From Blood and Ash/Flesh and Fire. Like each piece of the story ended up being predictable.
I had a good time reading it, and am looking forward to continuing on with the series. I'm SO hopeful that we'll get more time with Rosalind, because she's a top tier character for sure!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
🌶️🌶️

This book had a lot of promise. The premise was very good. I do think the book was executed a little unorganized, but that’s just my opinion.
In this book we get celestials, Fae, vampires, and humans. This also has the amnesia or loss memory trope. One of my favorite tropes that I really don’t read that often is starcrossed lovers and this one is definitely starcrossed pun intended.

There is trials and a contest in this book, so it does give off that dystopian vibe while still being fantasy.

I did listen to the audiobook for this, and I thought the narrators were phenomenal. I really enjoy Corvin King’s voice work in this book. I will be reading the next one just because it does leave off on a cliffhanger. I do think this series does have potential.

I would recommend audiobook.

First off, thank you NetGalley and the Publishers for an advanced audiobook of this story!!

I went into this book with such high hopes and expectations because of all the hypes and special editions I’ve been seeing pop up of it. And I was sort of disappointed. I found the story itself hard to follow, I felt like new characters popped up left and right with hardly an explanation. The plot was all over the place and super confusing. I actually gave up trying to read it about a quarter of the way in. I just couldn’t understand what was happening and was frustrated.

The idea of story itself was super intriguing and sounded so original! I think I may try to pick up a hard copy of this book and see if I have better luck. This is one of those cases when I really want to like a book.

The narrators did an excellent job! This was my first audiobook with two narrators and I loved it. I think it made the story more fun and engaging. They truly did an excellent job.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. I think I enjoyed it while reading it, but it's been a couple of weeks and I honestly cannot remember anything about it anymore.

I feel like I liked Nyte, but also thought Astraea was a bit too naive. Maybe it was the whole "innocent maiden" idea that usually just doesn't sit well with me. Or maybe it was Astraea herself.

If you like romantasy, you might enjoy this, but it just wasn't able to stick with me for very long.

This story was just so interesting. Astrea was such a great character. I just love how the story unfolded. Everything is revealed just so piece by piece. You have a solid villain but also some morally grey characters. I felt like I had different theories about each one as I read. The twists were so neat to the story. I absolutely cannot wait to read the next book. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

The narrators Jacci Prior and Corvin king did a pretty good job with this one. They both work very hard to convey the story in a way that makes sense. The prose in this book does really work that well for me to being heard without visual aid, and even with visual aid it’s not my favorite and does feel over done at points. On top of this the story felt very repetitive and like a lot of nothing until 75-80% of the book. I will probably continue the series but this one was a miss for me.

DNF @ 25%

I have taken so long to write this review because I was SO excited about this book, and I didn't really hate it...I just didn't like it? I didn't find myself connecting to the plot or characters, and I found the writing to be very slow. So many people DID love it and I wanted to give it another chance, but it's been four months and I think I need to admit that I'm never going to finish this book.

I think I was really uncomfortable with the initial noncon, and the FMC's starting point was really confusing and bleak, and that made it hard for me to connect to her. I like my FMC's in particular to be strong, and it seemed like this one had reasons to be the way that she was, but it took too long for me to understand them and I just needed a single moment of joy or levity for me to personally connect with the book.

I would recommend it to fantasy readers who have a lot of patience for the plot to start and want to immerse themselves in a really unique world.

I cannot wait to continue this series! This book was fantastic and I loved how the narrator brought the story to life!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This was a great read! There were a few parts where I got bored and a little distracted. However, it was not hard to get back into it and ultimately finish.

Astraea and Nyte just go together so well and I can't wait to read the next book.

This was an interesting book and one that left me wanting more. From the beginning I was in Astraea’s story and how she would find her way out of the situations she repeatedly found herself in.

Nyte was a mystery throughout much of the book but instantly attractive to both Astraea and this reader. Although, Astraea finds herself questioning his reality and his motives, there were many layers to work through.

The audiobook narrators were excellent!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audio review copy.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Dark potential that doesn’t quite hit the mark. Astraea’s journey had its high points—her growth from a timid, sheltered girl to someone standing more confidently in her own power was great to see. That said, her lack of curiosity about the world and her circumstances left me frustrated at times.

Nyte, on the other hand, was the highlight for me. His charisma, broody energy, and tension with Astraea brought much-needed sparks to the story. Their slow-burn romance and clever banter kept me invested, even when the plot felt sluggish.

Pacing was the biggest hurdle for me. The first half of the book dragged, and I found myself losing interest during Astraea’s journey to the capital. However, once the Libertatem trials began, the story picked up significantly, delivering some thrilling moments.

Final Thought:
The potential is there, and I’m curious to see where the series goes, but the uneven pacing and info-dumping made it hard for me to fully connect. Fans of angsty, trope-heavy fantasy romances will likely enjoy this one.

Truthfully I have struggled to get through this book. I felt like the premise was great but it almost seemed like it was trying to be pretentious. I didn’t really connect with the characters so the story felt inconsequential. Again I think the concept it great but it felt like it fell flat

This book is absolutely STUNNING. From the cover to the art and the chapter headings, it is absolutely a collector's dream. I see what the author was trying to do here, but from the first page the writing style was difficult for me to comprehend. I had to reread multiple sentences just to figure out what the author was trying to say - like the words were out of order. I prefer a much more straightforward writing style, but if you enjoy more flowery and lyrical, it sounds like you would enjoy this from other reviews!

This was a book I had been wanting to get to for a while. I heard great things about this author and their fantasy romances when they were indie published, so I was excited to get to this book once it was traditionally published.

While it wasn’t my favorite, I did enjoy the audiobook narration and would still try more from this author in the future.

I received an audiobook ALC from the publisher. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and the author for the opportunity to review this audiobook. Unfortunately, I have to DNF this one and will not be rating it outside of NetGalley.

I found the setting and elements of the story to be interesting. Astraea lives in highly regulated kingdom due to the threat of fae-like vampires. She's hidden inside a brothel as the child-bride to the pimp who groomed her. Now as a young woman, she is cognizant of his abuse and ready to escape. Her chance comes when the borders between kingdom's are opened for a centennial competition between champions. She nearly fails multiple times but a mysterious voice keeps guiding her past enemies and traps.

Unfortunately, I really struggled with the pacing of this adventure. There's a lot going on but it moves quite slowly, and as an audiobook even more so. I think the narrators have lovely intonations and play the characters well. I would normally enjoy the performance aspect. But I read much faster on my own and due to the pacing, I think that would be a better alternative for me.

I am interested enough by the politics and Astraea's secret heritage to try picking up a printed copy.

Oof. The premise is so interesting but the execution was lacking. It needed more editing. Many scenes jumped around or weren't explained well. If you like spice, this might be your thing but the spicy scenes were cringy to listen to. This was my first journey into romantasy so maybe that's why? I read romance books and normally don't mind the smutty parts. A lot of the lines just seemed too corny and far fetched for me to believe. I will still read the next book in the series. Hoping the editing will be better next time. The narrators were ok.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this ALC!

This book moved very quickly which I think helped me because I was struggling to get through it. It took me a while to write this review because I wasn’t sure how to much into words what I felt about this book. Overall it was just a typical romantasy so if you enjoy those books you’ll like it. The male narrator did the same voice for all the characters which was a strange choice. But overall I still would read a sequel to this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this audiobook. The narration was really well done on this book. Unfortunately I had to DNF this one as I simply could not get myself to care about the character or stories. Just seemed like repetitive tropes with not a lot of substance or world building.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC Copy!

I was so excited about this book and was looking forward to it for a long time but I am sad to say that it really fell flat for me. I can definitely see how it will have its fans and I know they will love it, but it is just not for me.