4.5/5

As a pastors kid, the religious trama in this book was very relatable. I also really enjoyed how this book mixes the myths and gods from multiple religions. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I was super excited for this book, I had seen Bloom’s tiktok promoting it and honestly the synopsis of it sounds really interesting. So, this book follows Marlow who can see angels and demons which seems like it was something that has been passed down from her mother and her grandmother. Anyways, she’s actually been sharing a bed with the Prince of hell. THAT part intrigued me, I said oh really? Say less! Unfortunately, I’m dumb and this is a paranormal romance. Here I was thinking it was a fantasy romance where the Prince of hell was an actual person.. I mean he is but he isn’t? I hope that makes sense. Honestly, this book seems like it would be an easy read but having just heard the audiobook, I was throughly confused majority of the time. The only thing I really understood was the spice. Which was fine I guess. I’m sure I’m just not the audience for this book. Also, the ending? I’m not sure what happened but okay. Anyways, I would try to give it another try with the audiobook and the physical book or ebook, but this isn’t a book that I’ll probably remember for long.

Unfortunately, I chose to DNF this book at 53%. I did so for a few reasons.

First, I would highly recommend that the trigger and content warnings be outlined on the main Goodreads and NetGalley pages. There are topics in this book that can be extremely triggering to many folks (in particular, the religious trauma aspects, but also the attack in own home, drug use by main character).

Second, at 53% I was still feeling like we were spinning our wheels trying to get to the plot. I suspect the main plot is getting Caliban un-banished, but I can't say that with confidence. At 53%, I should not only have a good handle on the plot but be fully invested in it.

Third, I felt no connection to the two (currently) main characters - Marlow and Fauna. While I think Marlow has the potential to be a character that stands out in this genre, I felt disconnected from her. I appreciated that she had a sex work background, but I felt that the way the sex work was portrayed was disingenuous. She met someone on the street and they immediately invited her into sex work, gave her clothes and client contacts and everything was completely safe and she had the most high-paying contacts and the safest encounters. I can suspend disbelief but this is so far out of left field that I couldn't get on board with it. It started to feel like a device to explain why Marlow has scads of money and alleviate the need to squeeze a day job into the plot somehow. I suspect we will eventually have an explanation from Caliban who made sure she had the richest clients (as she asked him to) but also the safest (minus one).

Despite not having completed the book, I would recommend it to someone looking for a sensual, richly described, slower-paced, slow-burn fantasy romance. I disagree with the Crescent City comparison, beyond the aspects of the fantasy/paranormal worlds coinciding with our own.

The audio narration was excellent. The definition between characters was well done, and I could always tell who was speaking. There was a bit more sensuality in the tone than I prefer, but I did feel like it fit the writing and the characters well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for an advanced listener copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

If you like mythology of any kind, this is a fun book to try.
I listened to the audiobook and I have to say that Luna Rey did a phenomenal performance. The voices sounded true to their character and it really kept me engaged.
The story line of a traumatized girl meets the devil and falls in love is not ground-breaking but the author did a good job weaving in other mythological creatures to freshen it up. I particularly liked Fauna, who was a Nordic deity. There are some other creatures that might haunt me for awhile as well.
I am a vibes reader and this was just what I was wanting. I already knew most of the lure so the story went fast for me with little effort. I do think this could have been worked on a touch more but overall, I enjoyed it!

Marlow has lived her life with beings who she’s always believed her mind has made up so she can cope with what’s going on in her life. She is in love with a man who she believes is purely a figment of imagination. Until he goes missing and she comes to realize that he is actually a demon and the prince of hell. She comes to realize there is a whole world of demons, angels and other mythical beings. Now she has to help save the prince of hell and in doing so creates a war among the demons and angels.

Thank you to NetGalley for the providing me with the audiobook for early review!

I really struggled with this story. The narrator was great, but the pacing was a bit off, the FMC gave too many "I'm not like other girls" vibes, she was kind of a jerk to her friends, and I really struggled to get interested enough where I felt like I wanted to know what happened next.

I did like the mix of folklore and the premise of the story was so interesting to me and I desperately wanted to love it. But the execution wasn't quite there for me and it felt like a chore to push through this story.

My review is based upon the audio format.

I liked a lot of things about this book. I didn't not however, like the main character.

Marlow was really tough for me to rally for. Her internal dialogue was insufferable, but did improve a bit when she got over the "I'm crazy". She spoke a lot about how people talked to her like she was stupid... There was indeed a reason for that. Many times over. A main plot point is directly caused by her stupidity.

What I enjoyed most was that I was never left wondering how a scene was set up or where the characters were. I found it consistently easy to visualize what was occurring from the way everything was described. I visualized everything almost too well at a particularly brutal scene around the 25% mark (I think, I didn't actually check the progress at the time)... That one is probably gonna bother me for a bit.

The take on angels and demons, on prayers and acknowledgment being a boost to power, was refreshing. It wasn't all white feathers and bat wings. But this has huge potential to be a soft subject for some readers in the way religion is handled. It is a very large part of the book and is not always tactful in its delivery.

The ending was surprising to me, mostly in its abruptness. I did not realize how close to the end I was until the credits started playing.

Please also take note that there probably should have a trigger warning list, I did not note there being anything of the sort at the beginning of the audiobook. Not just for religion... There are a handful of other reasons.

In regards to just the audiobook: Luna Rey is a great narrator, her tone was perfect for this novel. She had a good range for the character voices and I really liked the way the side characters sounded. I didn't like the main characters voice quite as much, but Marlow annoyed the stuffing out of me, so it might have just been the way the character was written and no fault of the narrator, as it did suit her.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for access to the audio ARC in return for my honest opinion.

Happy Publication Day!!
Book 1 in the No Other Gods series.

I went in blind not knowing anything about this book, but I absolutely love the cover. The book is centered very heavily around religion and mythology, blending the two together with other paranormal entities.

Marlow, a mostly human, discovers the visions of a man she thought were only in her mind were actually real when she’s faced with other beings popping up to both save and kill her. In a twist of fate, she also realizes she banished her man – who happens to be the Prince of Hell - off somewhere and must find him with the help of an unlikely cast of characters. But who can Marlow, a religiously traumatized mostly human girl, trust in this new world she is now a part of?

Marlow’s personality is a bit off-putting. She is very self-absorbed, whiny, and unassertive. She starts the book with 2 friends because she’s more of a recluse, but she treats those friends terribly. She gives them little to no thought throughout the entire story unless they contact her first. She is very judgmental throughout the entire storyline. She’s also apparently delved deep into mythology lore to write two books, but when she’s thrust into the pantheons herself, it’s like she forgets everything because every move she makes is a misstep. She doesn’t actually DO anything; she just goes along for the ride.
Caliban is our love interest (I think? Marlow is attracted to several different men throughout the story, so who knows.), but he barely gets any page time. Marlow is constantly talking about him or remembering him, but he’s only on page for maybe 15% of the story. So there isn’t much romance. We’re just told they’re in love.
Fauna isn’t much better. She continuously calls Marlow stupid, but the next minute she needs her help with something. She is very irritating. They’re on a time crunch, but she has plenty of time to stop for sweets? And I understand that time was of the essence there at the end, but how she treated Marlow was wholly uncalled for.

The plot was simple enough (find Caliban) with about a million side quests involved. Add to that the enormous amount of info dumping around every turn and the sheer volume of minute details made this book longer than it needed to be. This is definitely a case of tell not show. We are told everything but hardly shown anything.

I’m not entirely sure where the title of this book comes in play within the story. A side character’s name is Fauna, which could allude to the deer. But the dragon part stumps me. I need dragons!

I did like that the author went the less traditional mythology route. Typically books about mythos go for Greek or Roman, but we got Nordic plus numerous others thrown in.

I did enjoy the storyline enough that I’d want to read book 2 to see where it goes. Plus, it ended on a cliffhanger.

Trigger warnings (which the author did not include a list of): Religious trauma, child abuse, attempted assault, attempted murder, drugging, and dubcon.

The narration of the story was fine. I’m not sure if it was the narrator or the author that made parts of the book unfavorable, but it was all the same.

🦌The Deer & The Dragon by Piper CJ🦌

Pages: 448 pages 🎧
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book Goal 2024: 53/100
Narrated by: Luna Rey 🎧


✨Would you rather a book have the main character’s personality be the same as the authors or a completely dull character?✨

First I want to say thank you to @netgalley and @Tantoraudio for the ARC copy of this audio in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately my streak of luck had to come to an end with 4⭐️ & 5⭐️ reads at some point and I guess this is where it happened.

💖I want to be clear that the narration was BEAUTIFUL & I do love this authors work normally. 💖

I have followed this author for a long time and honestly really enjoy her as a person… that being said…

If I wanted to read a memoir I would read a memoir.

❌ This book goes on to describe a main character who has a literature degree with a focus on mythology. (The author has a masters in folklore.)
❌ The main author writes best selling books. (Obviously the author writes books)
❌ The main character is subjected to enormous amounts of religious abuse by her family. (The author also has been very open about this aspect of her life.)

Not only that the main character really comes off as a snob who doesn’t love her fans, cares about luxurious things even though they try to portray she doesn’t, and just doesn’t treat her friends well. I hate that I couldn’t separate the author from her writing due to the characters similarities and so when it came to the negatives of the main character’s personality, it just made me sad. 😢 I know that Piper doesn’t feel this way and I’ve met her, she doesn’t come off this way but it made her character horrible since they were so similar!

Then at one point the character says “are we here for a history lesson?” And this is the only point in the book I laughed because I felt like the entire book was a history lesson I didn’t need so it was relatable.

The best thing about the book was the growling during the hot scenes. That was honestly it. 😂 That was hot.

This book may be great for someone who doesn’t follow the author on TikTok and know a lot about them but I just couldn’t get past it.

#netgalley #deer #dragon #deeranddragon #netgalley #review #reads #reading #booknerd #booksbywomen #books #book #0to100

Loved this book! At first I wasn’t sure what to make of it but it kept me super interested from start to finish.

Thank you Tantor Audio for providing this audio book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. So I'll start off by saying that I finished this audio book in two days! There was something about the story that just sucked me in and wouldn't let me go! I was originally interested in the book because of the comparison to Crescent City. I'll be honest, I don't really see the connection to that book series, but I'm still glad I read/listened to it. I've been trying to think of another series to compare it to but can't because I think that it has an original spin on the clueless "mortal" girl who gets caught up in a world of angels, demons, fae and other mythical creatures that she never believed were real.

Marlow is a successful novelist who goes on boring dates with boring guys to get free, high-priced meals. She also happens to have an "imaginary" friend who visits her at night and gives her the best orgasms of her life. To protect her sanity, she has convinced herself that he is not real and is just a figment of her imagination. When a series of events prove that he's not only real, but has been protecting her and looking after her for her whole life, she realizes that she's banished him and desperately wants him back. She then embarks on a journey that challenges all of the things she was told to believe from childhood about good and evil and who the real monsters are.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The story went a lot of different directions and at times I wished we could hang out in a few places a little bit longer. There was a feeling of only scratching the surface and I really wanted more substance. The book ends on a cliffhanger and I'm really hoping that the next book will fill in some of the details that were missing from this book. It kind of felt like when you're rushing to get to the end of the story and skip over details to get there faster. I'm invested in the characters now and want to know so much more!

Firstly thank you for this opportunity. I did not enjoy this audiobook. The narrator was not the right fit for the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the advanced listening copy!

I thought the premise sounded interesting when I originally ran into the author's videos about this book, and how the Bible phrase of not worshipping other gods in fact acknowledges their existence. This book does a wonderful job of unpacking trauma of growing up in an overly strict Christian home, where religion was used as grounds for punishment instead of love, and how the main character Marlow has to wrap her head around these new revelations about her heritage and the world around her.

Marlow is a successful author, but after her past as a high-class escort collides with her present during a book signing, her whole world changes. The characters were pretty well constructed (while not necessarily all likeable, and especially Marlow feeling quite a lot like a self-insert) and Fauna was interesting to me in how she was so close to being annoying but instead added comedic value and the needed relief from heavier topics to my listening experience. I have to say that I'm not fully sold on Caliban yet... but perhaps that will change in the future books as we get to see him more! I enjoyed the narration done by Luna Rey and how effortless it was to listen to.

If you want to read this book, please check content warnings beforehand as it contains mature themes and heavy topics than may be triggering to some.

I enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook and thought they had a great voice that was enjoyable to listen to! I’m not exactly sure this book was to my taste to be honest. It felt a bit uncomfortable to read in some parts for me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to try it out!

What's in a name? I'll admit while browsing books on netgallery the name of this one and it's cover is what caught my eye. I've also been on a fantasy kick after reading the ACOTAR series so why not.

I received an audio book of this one and the narration is pretty good over all. It always takes me a minute to get used to a new voice to listen to and this one isn't bad.

Overall I did truly enjoy the story the twists and turns of different mythology mixing was fascinating and it gets spicy. I think I have a few main issues with it. One being I don't enjoy questioning if our protagonist is crazy at least not for that long. I know we need to understand her view point but I wanted to get to the plot 😅 and second guessing our protagonists sanity isn't a fun for me unless it's it's a wait are they actually crazy situation.

I didn't enjoy the dumb aspect to the book, our girl giving her name out after repeatedly being told not to and repeated other dumb decisions was irritating sometimes. I know we need mistakes to get a plot but they felt over done. But a name is power in this world and she keeps forgetting it.

But did I enjoy it? Hell yeah! It was interesting and spicy and enjoyable. If you are coming off of ACOTAR I recommend it. I'm 100% going to read the next one to see what happens which is always a good sign. It's not a masterpiece but it's a fun spicy read. But don't share your name with faries.....

Received for free off of netgallery for purposes of reviewing.

The Deer and the Dragon by Piper CJ is the first book in the No Other Gods Series. This is the story of Marlow and Caliban.
 
Marlow at first seems like a successful human who is a bestselling author of my fantasy series. But she also has the gift of seeing angels and demons and there is one demon she sees in particular and whom she calls Caliban. But he goes missing at some point and Marlow makes it her mission to find him again. This added so much mystery and adventure to the story and I loved following alongside Marlow. She is just confident, fierce and a total badass and the audiobook narrator Luna Rey perfectly brings this across.
 
Marlow is accompanied by a fae from the Nordic pantheon strolls into her life and I absolutely love her, and she was the perfect sidekick. I liked how this story was about Marlow opening up and accepting this whole new world and she fitted right in. This book reminded me a bit of an adult and spicier version of Daughter of Smoke and Bone meets Dark Elements, and I was totally here for it.
 
Overall, The Deer and the Dragon is a fantasy romantasy read that I highly recommend. 5 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

I listened to the audiobook and it took me maybe three chapters to get hooked. Then I pretty much listened nonstop.
The plot is fast paced and easy to follow. I laughed a lot, which I hadn’t expected. My favorite character is definitely Fauna and I hope to hear more about her in the next book. I’d say: Read the book if you want a fast paced fantasy read and don’t mind it to be on the spicy side. And don't forget to check the content warnings!

This book was captivating! I listened to the advanced listeners copy of The Dear and The Dragon by Piper CJ. The Narrator was well versed and showed a large range of emotions which really helped bring the story to life. I love how Piper writes her books, they have a wonderful flow, and everything is so beautifully descriptive. The world building is amazing. She sure knows how to paint a picture in your mind. This story was emotional and relatable. The different friendships Marlow makes feels unique. Each character has their own unique personalities and Piper shows how some work together well while others, not so much. This book may be fiction but you can tell a lot of Piper herself went into these characters. She never dissapoints. I can not wait for book 2 of No Other Gods! I highly recommend listening or reading this book as soon as you can. It is a must read and possibly even the best book I have read this year.

2.5 stars rounded up.

There were a number of elements about this story that I genuinely enjoyed, particularly the writing. It was easy to read, descriptive and smooth. The narration by Luna Rey was fantastic! I honestly continued listening to the end because of her narration. Her voices were consistent and well executed. Her narration was smooth and easy to listen too.

Something I struggled with was the pacing. Although the writing was good and the narration great, I found the pace to be quite slow and it didn't hold my attention at times. I lacked the ability to stay focused and interested in the story and even dozed off a couple times.

I found that the FMC, Marlow, lacked maturity. She clearly had a lot of trauma and struggled with her mental health, but even so. I would have loved for some more character development and self awareness. I typically love a quiet, brooding, alpha male, but I wanted more from our MMC. There is a lot of mystery surrounding him in the beginning of the book and I would have liked more time with him to become more invested in his character.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I’m honestly still trying to figure out how I feel about this one. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. The narration was great and as an audiobook itself, I found no issues there. However, the story had a lot going on, and Fauna & Az were the saving graces for me as far as characters go. I found the FMC to be pretty unlikeable. I liked the mythology aspect but it felt like a lot that supposedly all mythology is real. I liked the religious trauma angle with her family. I didn’t like how it ended and feel that the book ended in a really weird, abrupt way.

I’m not sure if I will continue this series or not but I am curious to see where it goes from here.