okay wait i was dubious about this because of the urban fantasy aspect which can be hit or miss for me but im thoroughly intrigued! this was fast paced and from the first chapter i was reeled in. i truly loved lilith and her take on this patriarchal magical world, i need the next book asap rocky!!!

I loved this audiobook! The narrators were amazing and really made the story come alive. I was completely pulled into the world there was so much tension, emotion, and drama. The characters had me feeling all kinds of things, and the pacing kept me hooked the whole time. I didn’t want it to end! I can’t wait for the next one .

I had a difficult time getting through this one. I started out reading the eARC but was so bored I switched to the audiobook after I was approved for the ALC. It’s better than reading it in that it held my attention more than reading it but I still wasn’t too into it. It felt like a bit of a slog to get through with little plot and an FMC who became annoying to the point of being unbearable.
Lilith is constantly complaining about being treated like a child and a spoiled brat while acting like said child and spoiled brat, justifying everyone’s feelings of her. It’s constantly a push and pull between Lilith and Zahariev with zero chemistry between them and him just chasing her like a little child that she acts like.

The plot here also wasn’t interesting enough for me to overlook not liking the FMC and barely tolerating the MMC. It honestly just feels like it’s setting up for the next book with most of the good stuff happening in the last few chapters. The ending still wasn’t good enough to justify the lack of plot and unlikable main characters. I will probably not be continuing this series.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC/audiobook of this book via NetGally in exchange for an honest review!
This new romantasy from Scarlett St. Clair is a Lilith retelling. This is my first book by Scarlett and also the first Lilith retelling I have read and I really enjoyed it!

In this book we have 2 main character/love interests and we follow them by double POV’s (kind of). For the most part we follow the fmc Lilith. But at the end of each chapter we get a little bit from the mmc Zahariev. I really liked this and was always exited to hear from his perspective in the end of each chapter!

So in this we follow Lilith Leviathan, the heir to the Leviathan family. Because of reasons we get to know later in the book, Lilith has left her family home to live in Nineveh - were the mmc Zahariev Zareth is ruler. These to families are rivals, and Lilith and Zahariev are not allowed to be together. So of course we have some forbidden love with a slow burn romance, and some spit scenes. I really enjoyed the dynamic between these to with all their banter and longing for each other.

Lilith is getting by by stealing. One day she steals a strange dagger, and things start to get complicated and people around her are dying. The story behind this dagger unfolds trough the book and I was exited all through the book to find out the story behind it.

I loved the characters, the plot and the romance. There were som sad moments in this book that really hit me because I had started to really care for the characters. The ending was soo good and I can’t wait for the next book!

I will definitely buy a copy and do a reread before the second book comes out!

TW: mention of rape.
There is a lot of focus on religion and Christianity in this book.

Overall good story

Grief, love, magic, demons, death.

As I continued to read this book I felt so familiarized with Liliths mom being “the church above all else. What will the church/people will think?. I did not raised you to be like this” mentality and dang that hit home.

I also recently watched Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and idk if it was Mormon based (I am Catholic and can resonate with a lot of what Scarlett wrote as well) but the fact that I saw a lot of similarities with the way this characters were written to always delegate to the husband even though the women have the power was very much the same as the Hulu Reality Show.

This is without a doubt a Scarlett St Claire book!!!! I always wanna shake the FMCs.
Besides the fact that I wanted to shake the FMC sooooooo much I loves the story; I loved the twist to the original story! I loved the references with the “church” story but Scarlett changed it for the better.

“Religion bred hostility, specifically towards women”
“We were not responsible for lust in men. We existed and they desired”
“Sometimes that desire was mutual. Sometimes it wasn’t, but men had a hard time wrapping their d!ks around the word no, and since our world valued them more, we were the ones that suffered”

The only thing I hated was that the FMC would say the MMCs name for EVERYTHING! When they were the only ones in the room ; instead of saying “I could feel him behind me” she FMC would say “Zahariev is behind me” and i don’t know why it bother me no much

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Let me start by saying I’m not a romantasy girly as I am a thriller/horror girl at my core. The cover drew me in, and I’m a sucker for any story involving Lilith. I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did, but it completely blew me away!

This was my first book by Scarlett St. Clair, and I am so impressed! The writing is immersive, the pacing kept me hooked, and the world building felt dark and fresh without getting me lost. Lilith is such a strong and layered character that you can’t help but root for her & Zahariev was equally compelling in so many ways. Their chemistry was magnetic without overshadowing the plot. Did I mention their chemistry?!

The audiobook made me love this story that much more. Both narrators brought the characters to life exactly in the way you want to happen in an audiobook!

I knew going in this was book one, so I was prepared for the cliffhanger, but that didn’t stop me from yelling when it ended. I’m fully invested and already impatient for the next one! I’ll be picking up the author’s backlist. Perhaps I’m
entering my romantasy era!?

Thank you NetGalley & Tantor Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This....... This is how you do urban fantasy right! It would have been a 5-star read if not for the religious beliefs and the mention of a real religion (Christianity) which I disagree with - I'm not Christian. People who liked "These Violent Delights" by Chloe Gong will absolutely love this!

Also the narration is fantastic either the female or the male narrator they're both so suitable for their roles 💕

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚𝕮𝖑𝖔𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝕯𝖔𝖔𝖗 𝕸𝖔𝖉𝖎𝖋𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

SKIP CHAPTER: 14, 20, 21

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚𝕻𝖗𝖊-𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

My flabbers are gasted! This is the fastest I've been approved!! I mean under a minute! That's crazy! thank you Netgalley and Tantor Audio 🫶🏻🫶🏻

4✨
.ೃ࿐ my thoughts

The vibes were 10/10

Generally, Scarlett St. Clair is a hit-or-miss author for me. While I enjoyed the Adrian x Isolde books, her Hades x Persephone series wasn’t for me. But this was such a good book!

I liked the relationship between Lilith and Zahariev; it felt very realistic and the complicated family ties made a lot of sense throughout the story. I also loved how we got snippets of their relationship from before the story started.

I was a bit confused by the world/magic, and it wasn’t explained very well, which left me feeling confused during parts of the story. Some of the explanation didn’t come until part 2, and at that point, it felt a bit late for worldbuilding. For me, this would have been a 5-star read if the magic/world had been explained better and at an earlier point in the story.

The hype is definitely worth is and I cannot wait for the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

What a book - I think this might be my favourite book from Scarlett St. Clair yet!

I love the angsty, darker vibes of this story. The world-building and writing was amazing.

I adored the slow burn romance Lilith and Zahariev , the chapters from Zahariev POV were my favourite!

I am so excited for more from this world.

The narrators were amazing and this had me absolutely hooked.

I loved this book. Let me start by saying the narration was PERFECT (except for one thing but we’ll get to that). Laura Horowitz absolutely killed it. The voice for Lilith sounded just like Meg from a Hercules and I was living for it.

Lilith is one of my favorite FMCs lately, I loved being inside her head. She’s was just such a fun character to follow. Zahariev was interesting, honestly not the most developed MMC but I was in love with Lilith enough that I did not pay as much attention to him. He’s a large protective man with gray morals and that’s enough for me tbh.

The plot was intriguing and well done. I find that a lot of fantasy/retelling romances tend to have a plot but it’s very much on the back burner. That is not this book. The plot and romance are here in equal measure, probably a tad more on the plot side. But I enjoyed the ratio a lot. The ending was twisty and satisfying, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The spice was spicy and I had a lot of fun with it.

There’s romance, mystery, a touch of horror and a cute kitten side kick??? None of y’all better talk bad about Cherub. I ride for her.

Now there was one thing that I didn’t love. We get very small glimpses in Zahariev’s perspective at the end of each chapter… I could’ve done without this. Most didn’t add much for me. And Tristan Warden’s voice for Zahariev was not my favorite. I enjoyed the other voices by him but something about that one really didn’t work for me.

But all that being said I loved this book and I HIGHLY recommend it. If you do want to pick it up, some intense themes are discussed so please take care of yourself and check trigger warnings.

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5

I had such a great time with this book! Huge thanks to RB Media for the audio ARC - I’ll listen to anything narrated by Laura Horowitz, and she absolutely delivered once again.

This story follows Lilith Leviathan, the estranged daughter of a powerful and infamous family, as she navigates a dark, magical world filled with secrets, power struggles, and prophecy.

Read if you like:
🖤 Found Family
🖤 Fierce FMC
🖤 Mafia + Paranormal Romance vibes
🖤 Thought-provoking religious commentary
🖤 Prophecies and destiny
🖤 A dash of magic
🖤 Slow ‘ish’ burn romance
🖤 Light patriarchal roasting 🫶


The world building was intriguing and it’s easy to follow, I found it incredibly easy to fall into the story. It strikes a great balance between fantasy and mafia romance. I’m more a fantasy/ romantasy reader and it was the perfect blend to suit me. One thing I really enjoyed was the religious commentary that was injected throughout the box. It was in your face but also made me stop and think.

Overall this is the perfect dark romance fantasy book to binge, I’m looking forward to the next book in the series and as I enjoyed the audio so much will definitely check out the audio again

Oh. My. Gooooods. I'm obsessed with this! I went in with no expectations and this exceeded everything. I love Lilith and Zahariev so much. And all the side characters? Amazing as well. I would have like a tiny bit more world building in the fact of how the families worked but I'm hoping it'll build in future books. And the narrators did such a good job. I loved how we only got a bit of Zahariev's POV at the very end of chapter. I seriously cannot wait for the next book.

I should have listened to it first. I received the ebook on here when it came out but wasn’t a huge fan. This was way better. I’m excited to see what happens next.

Underwhelmed.

Aside from a few jaw dropping moments during action scenes, not the spicy ones, I was underwhelmed. Somewhere around 70% I started wondering where is the plot going? It seemed so scattered which in the end did get come together but it was all just okay.

I was excited by the idea that women were the ones blessed with magic but aside from attributing that to women being breeding objects for the men I feel like we didn’t really get to see Lilith exhibit any power. She does try to take a stand for herself but she’s only ever successful with a male counterpart. I admire the effort but she just wasn’t a strong enough FMC for me.

Also, idk, the whole relationship with Zahariev.. I feel like I’ve associated Lilith with being such a strong/sultry/powerful character she threw herself at him basically every interaction and he had to fight himself from giving in (which of course he finally does) but I also think it would have been more fun if he was the one doing the pining.

Reminder to check your trigger warnings before starting!

As an audiobook the voice actor for Lilith was impeccable. Loved listening. However I also think maybe if I had read this it would have given me more of an impact? Not sure.

2.5 Stars for me… rounded up. Extra points because of the goop being inspired by Ferngully.

I feel like I have to preface this by saying that my only other experience with Scarlett St. Clair was her Hades/Persephone retelling, which I thought suffered from a weak plot and an unenjoyable heroine.

So, I went into this with lowered expectations, intrigued by the prospect of a story that wove in wider Christian mythology. I love stories centered around Lucifer, Lilith, Archangels, and all that, and this story obviously plays with that connection, its world fully anchored in those roots.

After finishing this, I’m feeling very meh on this. On the one hand, because I knew what to expect, my lowered expectations helped me enjoy this as a sort of trashy, unserious read. But, still, I didn’t enjoy it enough to rate it higher, because — damn — I really don’t feel like the author did anything with this book’s themes or plot.

It was just thoroughly mid, I’d say.

• World-building
It’s barely there. The author never really painted a picture of what exactly this world is that the characters exist in. There’s some setup — apparently it’s in the desert (mentioned once?) and it’s a seedy, dangerous city? The world is super misogynistic? Somehow Lilith is the daughter of a well-known family, an heir who needs to be married off? And Zahariev is too? But these factors are just thrown in and not really explored.

There’s also this whole weird subplot at the beginning with Zahariev being a club owner and Lilith wanting to dance for him, which is dropped quickly. It’s like the author was doing so much here and somehow nothing at all.

And this ties into the Christian mythology elements too — it all felt really hamfisted. The references to any of it seemed added more for aesthetic and vibes rather than being meaningfully woven into the plot or world-building. The wider mythology clearly took a backseat to the romance drama, and it ended up feeling shallow and underdeveloped.

• Feminist Themes(?)
I’m gonna be honest here… I don’t see where the feminist themes are. The FMC has a traumatic upbringing due to this world’s obvious and deeply embedded misogyny, but the author really does nothing else with it.

She’s constantly saying she fled her home to make her own way, to stand on her own… and yet in this story, it felt like she barely managed anything that didn’t end with her being saved by a male character.

She’s constantly surrounded, saved, helped, and coddled by either Zahariev or Gabriel. What exactly am I supposed to find feminist about this? I wouldn’t even mention it if the feminist angle weren’t explicitly mentioned in the blurb and used for marketing. Clearly, I’m supposed to find something feminist here? And it’s just not there.

• Characters
Lilith, the heroine, is a woman from a wealthy but oppressive family trying to make her own way, and she just… gave nothing. She keeps harping on about wanting to make it on her own, but as I mentioned before, this doesn’t actually happen.

It really felt like the author randomly dropped the reader into the middle of a story — there are all these connections and characters Lilith supposedly has deep backstories with, but it’s just not well communicated to the reader.

The other characters barely made an impact. The female background characters are basically ornaments in the story and don’t play significant, active roles. We’re told there’s a deep bond and friendship between them and Lilith, but most of the time it felt quite shallow and boring.

• Romance
Uninteresting. The FMC doesn’t hide how immediately thirsty she is around the MMC, and after the third or fourth time of her basically begging him to sleep with her, I wanted to stop reading about them.

The MMC was similarly wanting but hid it “for her protection” (ugh). It’s such a tired dynamic. I think I got even more annoyed when she kept denying that he obviously liked her, which every character in the story comments on and is obvious to absolutely everyone.

There was nothing compelling about their dynamic. She was basically a constant damsel in distress and he was the “Alpha nobody-touch-her” guy who kept his distance “for her own good.” They both clearly wanted each other, and there was no real tangible reason they weren’t together.

Since I didn’t care about them, their sex scenes didn’t do anything for me either. I guess they were sorta entertaining, but not much else.

• Dialogue
I have to mention this because I read parts of this and listened to the audiobook for other parts, and thus had to listen to narrators say these lines… Wow, was it cringy at times. Zahariev threw around the tired bad-boy Alpha lines left and right, and it squicked me out so much. And Gabriel calling her baby girl every other sentence grated on me — especially in the audiobook. It annoyed me so much.

• Audiobook / Narration
Totally apart from the story — the female narrator was great! I really have no complaints there. But the male narrator didn’t really match what I thought of the MMC. He seemed a little too grizzled? Too old? The hero was canonically only eight years older than the heroine, so hearing him narrate Zahariev’s POV chapters after the female narrator (who fit so seamlessly) threw me off sometimes. But maybe that’s just personal preference.

• Final Thoughts
I feel like I’m not the target audience for this, but sometimes I like a more fun, no-brainer read to relax. With this, though, I just felt like it didn’t give me anything to really like. The plot felt too shallow, the world-building too thin, and the characters felt flat. And while the mythology and themes had so much potential, it felt slapped on rather than thoughtfully explored.

I didn’t hate it. It was fine as an audiobook, but I’m pretty sure I would have liked it less if I’d only read it. Honestly, the audiobook saved a lot of this for me.



Thank you to RBmedia for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely DEVOURED THIS. Didn’t want to put it down. This was my first Scarlett St Clair book and its absolutely my sign to read more from her.

These characters and this world had me absolutely captivated. Obsessed. This book was such a good read - just what I needed!

I also LOVED the narrators for the audiobook - they were PERFECT castings.

WOW. This audio was absolutely phenomenal. Laura Horowitz’s narration of Lilith was absolutely flawless and Tristan Warden was a great Zahariev. I could not stop listening to this and this was just what a perfect audiobook is.

Thank you so much to Tandor Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of Terror at the Gates. I can’t wait for the next book.

Lilith will rise from the ashes of her former life in order to destroy the ancient power that stole everything she loves. Lilith is estranged from her family and finds refuge on the city of sin. She steals in order to make a living but in this city a woman is supposed to be silent and pious so she draws unwanted attention from some powerful families. After her buyer dies inspecting a stolen blade she must turn to the head of one of these families for help. They must embark on a journey to discover the true power running the world.

I loved this book, I thought it was interesting and engaging. I thought the urban elements were interesting and gave a bit of mafia vibes. I also thought the religious elements as a part of the world building added a lot to the story. The world structure of only women having magic but still be subservient gave an interesting dynamic and added to the rage the main character felt. I am interested to see where the story goes next.

4.5/5⭐️
Format: 🎧Audiobook

This topped all of the other books I have read by Scarlett St. Clair! This story was incredibly emotional at times and thought provoking, but also had it’s own heartfelt moments.

Lilith is my RIDE OR DIE. She is such a badass, but also has her emotional moments. It’s okay though because honestly same. She is not perfect, but I think that is what made me like her more. She is the embodiment of I’m going to do me and “I don’t care what you think” energy. Her evolution over the course of the story though is what truly drew me in and I think Lilith is a reminder that you can live the life you want to live not the one that is set for you.

If you are looking for that morally gray MMC that will kill someone who touches you then look no further than Zahariev! While the dynamic between Lilith and Zahariev starts a little slow, it is beautiful seeing how their relationship grows throughout the story.

Overall, I loved this book! It took me a minute to get into it as it has a slower start, but it eventually hooks you and you’re dying to get to the new chapter. It is an emotional roller coaster that I wish I could ride again and again.

Lastly, the narrators of this story were the cherry on top! They really brought the characters and world to life. Thank you NetGalley and RBmedia for the ALC!!

Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St. Clair

Yes, I am definitely loving this new series!

The plot - I was immediately sucked in
The MMC - is doing all the right protective obsessive things, while being super tall and hot
The FMC - Is a tad crazy and I love her for it

Lilith keeps doing things to put herself in danger and Zahariev is over here shaking his head like here we go again. Heaven help anyone who looks at her wrong because she is his soft spot.

The first 80% the book feels plot forward and then you get thrown spice after spice at the end. Followed by a tad more plot to give you a nice cliffhanger. Check your triggers there’s a specific moment in here that may trigger some emotionally (not a spicy trigger) Can’t wait to continue the series when book 2 comes out. Book 1 arrives July 8th! Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC.

If you loved Crescent City or City of Gods and Monsters then I think this will be your vibes.