Absolutely amazing! Came in with no expectations, although the blurb did draw me in. It Surpassed my expectation.

Such an interesting read

Liam. Oh my goodness. Liam was everything I could want in a character. Absolutely loved this book! Hands down a top five for the year.

This book, THIS BOOK it quite simply just took me by storm. Genuinely, this is the blueprint for enemies to lovers, it was done so so well. I literally fell for Liam in the same way Dianna did, and I found it so beautiful to see, I loved seeing him soften not just to Dianna but other things in life like sweet treats, was actually very heartwarming. Love really does soften peoples hearts, it can warm a cold heart, and I thought this book was a beautiful depiction of this. Which for me, was enough of a reason for me to want a physical copy of this book.

I also thought it was great a story line, that ending has left me with sleepless nights and I NEED book two right now. This book was full of suspense, and lots of twists and turns, and stuff you just don't see coming. The plot was very strong too, and the forced proximity helped the enemies to lovers flow. It was all very clearly planned. The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was how the book would transition back and forth between Liam's dreams, but I personally didn't find the transitions smooth, and I think having his dreams in separate chapters would be better to help differentiate from past and present.

Other than that, this was a 5 star for me, and I am on the edge of my bed waiting for book 2. Amber, if you want to post me a copy of book 2, you're more than welcome to.

💀BOOK REVIEW💀

The Book of Azrael - Amber Nicole
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1.5 🌶

“World Ender meets Ender of Worlds...
A thousand years ago, Dianna gave up her life in the deserts of Erioa to save her dying sister. She called upon anyone who would listen, not expecting a monster far worse than any nightmare to answer. Now she does what Kaden asks, even if that means securing an ancient relic from the very creatures that hunt her.

A King thought long dead and long forgotten.
In the old world his name was Samkiel. In the new world it is Liam, but one title remains true throughout time. He is the World Ender, a myth to his enemies, a savior and King to those loyal to him. After the Gods War, he locked himself away, hiding from the world. He denied his crown and responsibilities, leaving the very ones who needed him most to deal with the fallout of the death of their homeworld. Now an attack on those he holds dear sends him back to the one realm he never wished to visit again and into the sights of an enemy he thought imprisoned eons ago.

Now enemies older than time must put aside their differences and work together in hopes of saving both their world and every realm in between.”

Whoa, buddy. This was a wild ride. I really did enjoy this book. It took me a little@while to get into it…there is a lot of information and you really have to be able to give this book your full attention. I’m glad I stuck with it, because it turned out really great! I had to take a few breaks though because she thicccc. She is 841 pages of a whole lot of world building.

I did enjoy Dianna and Liam’s growth together. True enemies to lovers relationship. I wish there had been a little more room for spice, but honestly there was so much content to get through, I can understand not having a ton of it.

Overall, really enjoyable read, ended on a cliffhanger so I’m excited to see where this story goes!

Thank you @netgalley @author_ambernicole and @r0seandstar for allowing me the opportunity to review this book! I can’t wait for the next one!

4.5
WOW. WWOOWWWW. Was this really the authors first book?! This reads so well as a fantastically developed fantasy. It's long but oh so worth it

ARC provided by Netgalley
Amazingly written, the characters were very interesting, and the world building was excellent! can't wait for the next book
(There were some things regarding the characters actions and personalities, but I'll re-read some scenes first before I give my opinion on them 🤣)

An interesting introduction with a great world building. I felt a bit overwhelmed but as someone who doesn't read fantasy often, it was entertaining and I was able to follow the premise of the book. The cliffhanger is painful but left me wanting to read the second installment.

This book follows Liam and Diannna as they try to find the Book of Azrael.

The plot was really interesting although I did find the world building confusing at first as I had lots of unanswered questions about the Gods War but this didn’t stop me being able to continue and they were answered eventually. I found the book hard to get into at first but it definitely picked up in the second half!

I liked that Liams character had more than one level with him trying to work through past trauma and Dianna helping him to do this. The slow burn enemies to lovers romance between them was well written although there was some repetition with them getting annoyed with each other and not talking. I also liked that it was written as dual POV so that we could understand the thoughts of both main characters.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I would definitely read the next in the series.

The Book of Azrael tells us the story of Dianna and Liam. Dianna sacrificed her old life for her sister, so that's why now she does anything Kaden tells her to do. Kaden orders Dianna to find an ancient book that will allow him to control every world. Liam is known as The World Ender, who lives in isolation. One day one of his soldiers dies and after that Liam and Dianna meet. Yeah, enemies-to-lovers trope.

First of all, this cover is gorgeous! I really love it. But, unfortunately, this book was too long for me. And the world-building didn't help. Like, they have cars and phones and there are gods, but at the same time, they don't have some basic things that we have? That was hard for me to get into the story. I really liked the characters tho. Especially Dianna. That's a badass female main character I love to see in fantasy books!

Overall, this book wasn't the one for me, but I get the hype and I understand all of those positive reviews. That's why I'd recommend you try to read at least a few first chapters.

This book had a really interesting premise and for the most part kept me engaged. You can tell that it's the author's debut because the writing is a little clunky and there are quite a few grammatical/spelling errors that I hope are fixed in the published copy. I didn't get a good feel for what the magic system/world building is like because there was a 1,000+ old character who spoke like a college student and there are cars & cell phones but no trains? Again, this was really interesting and I did enjoy the supernatural element but it fell flat a bit.

Great world building. Awesome FMC who is a badass. (She sacrificed herself to save her sister, amazing)
It has action, romance, enemies to lovers (legit enemies) and a bit of spice.

Only downside is the length, but who doesn’t love a big book?

This book isn’t it for me. I just couldn’t get into this. So I’m going to DNF it, hope this book will be IT for someone else!

4.5 - SO well done, highly recommend this book.

Unique world building, classic enemies to lovers trope, and so many twists and turns. I don’t think I have ever read about a world/magic system like what is in this book! It was such an enjoyable read, it was hard to put all 800+ pages of it down. Also give it up for Dianna, who is such a badass heroine. I wish it didn’t end on such a cliffhanger because now I have to wait…

Thanks to NetGalley, Amber Nicole, and Rose and Star Publishing, LLC, for this eARC

If I were writing this review solely based on the first third of the book, it would have been four stars. But when I reached the second third, it started to drag. You can see from my started and finished dates that it took me a WHOLE MONTH to finish this book, which is abnormal. I kept picking books up in between because the writing became slow and repetitive.

I know it was supposed to be a slow-burn romance, but I find it pretty annoying when the same petty grievances, internal monologues, and drama are repeated. Liam would decide to be friendly, freak out about something, then ignore her again. This happened several times (Dianna also had moments of silent treatment), and I had trouble remembering who was not talking to whom and why.

There were also multiple dragging points in the plot, such as waiting two weeks for a meeting during one of the emo periods of their relationship. Some of the places Liam and Dianna went seemed thin as if the author was looking to drag it out longer but didn’t think it through.

By the end of the book, I found myself not loving the main characters either. Dianna was supposed to be this heartless killer who was never bested. While giving her a bit of conscience was okay, she became uncertain, self-conscious, and unfocused. She was constantly ruminating over certain things, and it became annoying. And I get that she was supposed to be crass, foul-mouthed, and making inappropriate jokes. But did Liam, the other celestials, and even Dianna herself have to remind us of that repeatedly? We get it! Plus, her comments during action scenes became too much by the end.

Liam was broody, which was fine. He had a complicated past, and it defined his personality. But his lack of self-awareness was staggering. Hard to believe he’s supposed to be a super-old god.

Overall, the worldbuilding was good, and I enjoyed it. But it would have been better if it were 25-33% shorter.

Such a great book!! The world building and characters are so incredible that I was completely sucked in. There were so many times I was holding my breath, afraid and yet unable to tear myself away of what was to come. An incredible read that I can't wait to read the next one!

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC. This is my honest review.

While the world building was excellent, this book just didn't spark or sustain my interest. The love hate relationship between the characters was drawn out unnecessarily. In fact, the entire book was very long.

"The book of Azrael" by Amber Nicole

*I was kindly given this ARC by the publisher **Rose and Star Publishing** in exchange for an honest review.*

PLEASE PICK UP THIS BOOK IT'S A CLEAR 5 STAR ADULT FANTASY

This book came as such a surprise to me! Especially since it’s a bit over 900 pages long I was a bit sceptical but oh boy, did it pay off. In the end I rated it with 5 stars and would have given 10 if I could. It’s the whole package for me and in my opinion it’s a great recommendation for fans of Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas. Why? Because it has a lot of similarities but is yet different enough to be able to stand on it’s own. The author did an amazing job with (main) characters and relationships, the urban fantasy elements felt very natural and the stakes are high enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.

# Characters
Both MCs are pessimistic, arrogant and snarky - so were not getting the well loved sunshine/grump trope here but more of a grump/grump trope and it worked so well! Dianna is a is a very spirited and dominant FMC. She can explode very easily and is a highly expressive person which makes Liam actually a perfect counterpart, since he’s more of the broody type but still arrogant and powerful enough to create the perfect tension between them. I loved following their interactions and simply couldn’t get enough of them.

That said, the side characters felt flat and underdeveloped which might be because there wasn’t really enough time to get to know them. A book with ~850 pages to its title could have spared a bit of pagetime to make them more real to the reader. A lot of the side character we do get to know only have one defining property (funny guy, deadly guy, traitorous chick,…). The only exception from this is Gabby, Dianna’s sister which could be argued is actually a main character without a POV.

"I didn´t remember how long we talked, but somewhere amidst her laughter and smiles, I decided I would rip the world apart for her." - Liam

#Plot
The plot unraveled at a mostly consistent pace with just one exception in the middle of the book were I felt a slight slack for a few dozen pages before it picked up again. It's a gripping, action packed story with interesting twists and turns that takes us on a treasure hunt with two highly engaging POV characters. I was mesmerized by this book and flew through it despite the massice page count.

#Worldbuilding
The story plays out in an urban setting that is not quite our world but very similar to it in technology, culture, etc.
There are other realms and dimensions mentioned that we only experience in dreams and memories since the borders between worlds were closed off long ago. But the information we get paints a very vibrant picture of fallen and forgotten worlds. I imagined Liam's original world a bit like I imagine ancient greece and I'm so here for it!

#Final Thoughts
There are definitely very graphic sexual and violent scenes so you should be aware of some Trigger Warnings before going into this book:
emotional and sexual abuse, rape, torture, violence, mental illness, death, murder, war (no guarantee for completeness)

Sooo when is the next book coming out?!

While I think the world built is very similar to Earth (would teenage boys hang sport jerseys in all worlds? Possible but I think it unlikely) I still enjoyed the world built here. Liam and Dianna both have flaws and issues but do the best they can which makes them easy to root for. Definitely looking forward to the rest of the series, especially after that ending!

Wow. This book was a chunky beast! It took me a few days to read and I've just finished. It was incredible, there were some moments I felt that dragged but quickly picked up again!

I'm desperate to read book two as this ended on such a shocker than I need to know what happens next!

An incredible book and highly recommend it!

With a bit more TLC this book will shine.
I was a big fan of the world A. Nicole built and the characters she has begun to nurture. It was a book I will revisit when the second comes out. Especially after that ending. 🤯
Things I think could be better was staying in tense (the struggle is real) and flow. Some scenes I believe could be omitted for parts I thought could be elaborated upon. I lost scope of the world I was in and where the characters were in correlation to the story and how this universe is set up.
I was thrilled with the snarky, semi irrational main character and I love a good fractured master of the universe that doesn’t act like he has his sh*t together after completely annihilating his home world. And as a little sister who absolutely adores her older sister who grew up taking care of her… I can relate to the relationship between siblings. Absolutely my favorite aspect of this story.
Please please bring back Gabby!!!! 🥺
Thank you to the publisher and the author for the eARC copy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️