So as an initial matter, I think this audiobook is well done. I liked the female narrator; she has good enunciation but also manages to put emotion into her voice when appropriate. I also enjoyed the duet style with the male narrator reading dialogue in the female narrator chapters. It added some interest, and the very deep voice of the male narrator really stood out. There were points where the narration suggested that a voice didn’t sound right and the male narrator did read those lines differently, which was a nice touch. The sound was good quality.

Unfortunately, the underlying book was a frustrating read for me. I was disturbed at how little agency the female main character was given throughout, the similarities between Nyte and Hektor in how they manipulated and controlled her, and found the worldbuilding jumbled and overly complicated. The prose was very wordy and convoluted. I could see fans of When the Moon Hatched or the Zodiac Academy enjoying this style of book.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of this book.

In a world ravaged by vampires, Astraea finds safety being kept a prisoner by the man who claims to love her. With no memories from a time before him, she eventually flees, hoping to find out more about her past. Her last leas her to the Libertatum, a series of deadly trials, which aren't what they seem.

I have a feeling this is one of those books that people are either going to love or hate. It definitely pulls inspiration from some popular romantasy books, but the storyline and characters are unique enough that it didn't bother me.

Were there parts of this book I didn't love? Sure. Mostly I wished I didn't get whiplash from Astraea and Nyte's back and forth love-hate relationship. But I loved the vibe of this book and the overall characters and story. I also wish there had been a little more time spent on the trials.

Now onto the most important part (since I listened to the audiobook version of this). The narration of this book is absolute FIRE. The book is narrated as a duet by Nicci Prior and Corvin King, and I honestly think their narration was a huge part of what made this book so enjoyable for me. Both narrators make it easy to identify when they're speaking as different characters and Corvin's voice as Nyte is absolutely swoon-worthy.

Read if you like:
Romantasy
Who did this to you
Shadow daddies
Forbidden romance
Vampires
Deadly trials
Hidden identity

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy. You can pick up The Stars Are Dying on October 8, 2024.

This is a first for me, I'll admit. But I'm afraid I had to DNF this book primarily because of the narrator. The prologue was performed by a male narrator with strange inhalations or breaths every second. Every sentence sounded like a breathless VIctorian debutante, and it just completely took me out of the story. I also think the writing in this book just isn't for me, but the narrator's choices really drove it home.

I loved this! I really enjoyed the dual narration. It made the story feel even more engaging.

For the book itself, I thought i was fantastic. I really like Penaranda's writing style. Her characters are fleshed out and she kept the stakes high. I personally love a trials story arc and I had no idea that this book was going to have that kind of plot line. I thought it was really cool! I also liked that the MMC is all dark and mysterious... I mean who doesn't like those kinds of men in fantasy books...

Overall, I had a great time listening to this book and I look forward to the second one!

There’s a lot going on here so I’m going to keep it short.

In a world of vampires, fae, celestials and humans. The vampires are basically on a blood thirsty, soul stealing rampage and Astrea (sounds like Estrella which means Star in Spanish) who’s “different” from those around her, takes the place of her best friend in a series of deathly trials held by a tyrant king. The prize being a cycle of peace and safety from the vampires for her kingdom.

3.75 stars because I think there’s still a lot of potential for book two.
It’s fantasy so naturally there’s a lot of world building and it takes time to build up but there’s just so much going on once it ramps up and at times I got a little lost specifically with the lore. Astrea doesn’t have memories of her life other than the past like 4-5 years, so her intentions change a few times as she grows and becomes more powerful. Also it feels like her memories and learning who she is takes a back seat when it comes to priorities so this felt disconnected to her storyline. There’s forbidden romance between Astraea and shadow daddy Nyte (who refers to her as Starlight so ya know, that’s a fated pairing) and the tension/spice was what drove my interest tbh. Although there’s a couple plot twists that definitely gave me whiplash, I feel like mystery was a majority of the plot drive because the more I read the more questions I had and I feel like I still have little to no answers at the end. Hopefully book 2 brings everything together for a solid finale.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

2.5 stars

I’m going to be honest. I struggled with this book, and even restarted it three times after making it to about 10-15% of the way through to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. It was really difficult to keep track of what was going on at times. It felt like there were a lot of plot lines that would just stop mid-plot and move on to something else. Astrea was an interesting FMC. I didn’t dislike her, but found a lot of her actions to be unrealistic. She never asked questions about anything that she should have which was strange to me. Nyte was mysterious and mostly spoke in riddles. The chemistry between Nyte and Astrea was palpable and the best part of the book for me. I think some additional character development for Astrea would have been really helpful along with a bit more editing to clarify the plot.

I listened to the audio and enjoyed that it was a dual narration. Both narrators did a good job, but it was more difficult to discern between characters voiced by the male narrator.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC.

Another case of being duped by the hype. Although there are times where I'm totally riding the hype train, it is not the case with this one. As far as the narration goes, they were perfection. But the book itself did not work for me at all.

This book is so hyped and with beautiful sprayed edges for the first printing or something like that but unfortunately I just couldn’t get into this book. It just couldn’t keep me interested.
I was listening. To the audiobook and I did enjoy the narrators .

2.5 stars - sadly this didn’t really work for me. There was never really a good explanation for what was going on. I spent most of my time trying to figure out what was happening. Also the relationships in this story were all very surface level and we are told instead of shown how close some of the characters were. I will likely not continue the series.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The narrators are fantastic. The storyline is engrossing and the world building enjoyable. I found myself quickly drawn in to the story.

SOLID 4🌟
🌶️🌶️🌶️

If you loved From Blood and Ash and The Serpent and the Wings of Night then you will most likely love this book! I, personally, did not care for The Serpent and the Wings of Night, but I absolutely DEVOURED The Stars are Dying and ENJOYED seeing similarities in this book. I feel like it's getting harder to find a Romantasy that is entirely original, borrowed ideas are bound to exist in many forms of art and literature. That is how the subject progresses! Perhaps I haven't read enough Romantasy to be bothered by this or maybe I just have a low threshold for caring. Either way, I loved this read and can't wait to pick up book 2!

The tension and banter written between Astraea and Nyte was gods-perfect! I went back and forth myself on whether or not Nyte could be trusted and loved the pull back from Astraea each time. I also loved that there were multiple male characters in the story, not necessarily romantically linked to the FMC, but then tension they added to Astraea and Nyte's relationship was perfect. I just LIVED for the spicy scenes between Astraea and Nyte and will be thinking of male narrator Corvin King's voice...A LOT. I haven't read too many star-crossed lovers books so this one really intrigued me! I also love that this is more of a celestial fantasy read. It brings together different elements of fae, vampires, humans, and celestial beings. There are meaningful side characters that add to the story and character development. Astraea undergoes a lot of growth from the beginning to the end and Nyte was the perfect embodiment of MORALLY DARK GREY. Did I mention that every time Corvin King spoke my panties wanted to slip off?? I highly recommend listening along to the audiobook 🫠

The reason this isn't a full blown 5/5 for me is because the pacing was a bit slow in the beginning. I felt like it took a while to get to the trials and once there, I was a little confused as to what the trials actually were. They didn't feel too descriptive or important for being a big part of the plot.

All in all this was a riveting read and man, the last 200 pages will absolutely GET YOU.

**Reader Disclaimer**
I was provided a free copy of the audiobook through Net Galley in exchange for an open and honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. Thank you, Net Galley and Macmillian Audio for the honor of reading this book!

“The Stars are Dying,” by Chloe C. Peñaranda

I loved this book so much. This book reminded me of the Vincula series by Jamie Applegate Hunter, which I loved. One of the things I adored was the characters and the tension between them, the FMC really came into herself and developed perfectly from beginning to end. I absolutely loved the narration because I listened to the audiobook version, all the voices fit perfectly, and I felt like I really was there. I also liked the death trial that was the story plot, I’m not great with riddles but it was nice to hear her solve them. I cannot wait to read more of the series! 5 out of 5 stars, perfect.

-Shadow Daddy
-Vampires
-Fae
-Trials

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

My overall thought is… huh.

Many parts had me intrigued, even more had me confused though. The pacing is really really off on this one. I’m undecided if I’ll keep going with the series. The first 45% felt aimless, the next 25% picked up but was confusing, and the last 30% was chaos, interesting, but chaos. I definitely didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. Left me feeling unsteady, like “what just happened?” Audiobook is good, performance was great and love that there’s bonus material included in the audio

I really struggled to get into this book, but at around 20% it really picked up. The FMC can be really frustrating at times, but I loved the MMC and had a lot of fun with the overall plot. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger so I’m excited to read book 2!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this audio book in exchange for my honest review.

Let me start by saying that “Stars are Dying” is a fine romantasy book. The vibes for this book are kind of similar to a misty fever dream, with extremely abrupt transitions. This all felt intentional but made it very difficult to get into, especially through audio which became very hard to follow with this style. I switched at about the 30% point to reading on KU, and think I would have likely DNF’d it had that not been an option.

Many of the high stakes situations in the book felt like a moot point one chapter later (goes back to the misty fever dream feel). That said I did enjoy the characters for the most part, but feel like there was a whole lot of “gotcha” moments in the last few chapters, and I'm honestly not sure I’m interested enough to follow for book 2.


Update: this one is getting bumped from 3 to 4 stars. I’ve been thinking about it a lot and realized I enjoyed it more than I thought I did, and am looking forward to continuing the story in book 2.

I liked this book enough to want to read more but sometimes there was plot holes or too much going on

Okay the tropes are KILLER, I’m a sucker for the villain getting the girl, it just has to be done right and this was! Overall this book was great, there was just a lot of fluff and this made the pacing a little slower than I would have hoped. I am definitely going to read book 2!

Love the narrators. Excellent performance from both, Corvin King and Jacci Prior. Love the style of narration. I just heard it's called duet style narrating. Will be recommending this for all audio books with multiple narrators. It's much better than one narrator reading all the characters in a chapter.

For such a beautiful title, the cover art is too generic. There are dozens of covers with this same look. I wish authors/publishers would be more unique and even bold sometimes when it comes to cover art.

The story starts off intriguing. I didn't know this was part of a larger series, so I'm very happy that I was able to follow the story without reading the previous novels. That's a plus for new readers.

Unfortunately, once the story starts moving toward the main plot with the competition, the writing becomes a little dicey. There are areas where we get details on irrelevant stuff but no details on main concepts such as what is a Star Maiden and their purpose in the realm?


Parts of the story that were surely meant to be emotional pulls were hit and miss. For example, when the BFF, Cassia, shows up unexpectedly and gives away Astraea's plan, I felt the fear and devastation through the pages. However, two major deaths occurred just a chapter later, and they were done so quickly and anti-climatic that I almost didn't care.

Then, there is Astraea's lack of common sense. 😒
If you're talking to a man named Nyte and someone brings up a Prince with Nyte in his name... how do you not know who he is???  This chick has to be as sharp as a bowling ball

And then there is the ending. The last 2 hours were so utterly boring. After the big confrontation with the king, the rest is just a bunch of talking. I would have suggested keeping some form of pending doom, anxiety, or conflict to be resolved. Maybe the vampires or Hectors guild attempts to attack while these conversations are happening. Many authors put more emphasis on their secondary characters so that when the main character is decompressing from a climax, the story can follow another character to keep the emotional attachment to the story. Unfortunately, I couldn't care less for anyone other than Nyte or Astraea. 

Overall, this had a good start but didn't pull out a strong finish.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy.

I was given an advanced audio book copy by netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The audiobook performance itself was great and there are a male and female reader.

I think a lot of people will love this book for the same reason I struggled with it. To me, it feels like someone read every popular romantasy and made a list of all the parts they loved, and frankenstined it into one book. And I think a lot of people will find comfort and joy in that. Unfortunately, it means there isn't a ton of room for character building.

Astera has lived the past few years under an abusive partner with no memories of who she is or anything. Through a series of mishaps, she's forced to compete in a tournament against other people from other sections in the world. Luckily, she has a voice in her head that tells her what to do, and she blindly listens. He might be bad though, but he might be good, but he could be bad, but what if he's good, but... he could be bad?

The author was trying to fit too much into this book and the amount of "BIG REVEALS" is excessive and becomes boring. Toward the end of the book, around 75% it is just like a very long conversation for most of the rest of the book... a lot of info dumps and "surprises"...And Astera makes no difference. All of her actions are guided by men, which she's fine with. Every success is owed to a man. The book felt a bit too chaotic and the back and forth of the goodness vs badness of the love interest was too much.

I am a big fan of Chloe Penaranda, and I first read her from The Heir Comes to Rise and the rest of its series. I was thrilled to see a new book from her and am obsessed not only with the hardcover's gorgeous sprayed edges, but also this audiobook! This romantasy is inspired by Greek mythology and is a fantastic standalone. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.