I think this book was so long and intense for the first novel in a series. I did enjoy it I just would have preferred getting 2 books of ~400 pages instead of the 850. I think the concept and characters are fairly well written and the world-building is creative.

Overall a solid Fantasy book.

The Book of Azrael, Amber Nicole’s debut novel is a marvelous, gripping read. Perfectly paced, and filled with so many things that fantasy readers absolutely adore; betrayals, plot twists, a thoroughly unique world and stellar characters! The moment literally blue blood was mentioned, I was snared by the outstanding world building. The author’s prose is astounding for a first novel, painting a vivid picture, while also teasing that there is much more to discover in this world. I particularly enjoyed how the information about the world isn’t spoon-fed/info-dumped. As you learn more about this world, it feels like you’ve earned the information you have gained, making it all the more impactful.

The story is a dual perspective which I immensely enjoyed, both characters provided rich insights. First, there is our female main character, Dianne, who sacrificed her life, and her freedom to save the life of her sister a thousand years ago. She is essentially used by Kaden as a weapon, forced to fight and kill for him because he uses her sister as leverage. Then we have her eventual love interest, Liam, who is a deliciously brooding god who was known as the “World Ender”, he returns to Dianne’s world after a long self-imposed exile and affords her an opportunity to possibly end her servitude.

While I was most impressed with the unique world-building, I fell in love with the characters. I found Dianne’s morally grey, snarky nature to be delightful. She is a survivor, a strong and capable woman. The slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romance between her and Liam was excellent. They were true enemies, warriors on opposing sides of a heinous war, something that is often not the case when this trope is used. It was very refreshing to see actual enemies end up falling for one another. Liam’s struggles with his trauma/PTSD were handled beautifully and enriched his character, it made him more relatable considering he is supposed to be this powerful being. The banter between him and Dianne was also top-tier and made their interactions even better. The fact that they are complete opposites also made for some great interactions and helped make their falling for one another even more interesting.

However, I would be remiss if I did not mention that the side characters in this story are also incredibly well written. I am delighted to say I cared almost as much about characters like Gabby and Logan, as I did the two main characters. All of the relationships between characters in this book were so well written and thought out. There were multiple points that brought me to tears.

The surprising twists and turns this novel took had me thinking about this book for days after I finished reading it. This will definitely be a book I return to, frankly, I wish the second was out because the cliffhanger in this book was incredible, I just cannot wait to see where this series is going. Definitely a 5 star read.

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A big thank you to Netgalley, Amber Nicole, and Rose and Star Publishing, LLC for the ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Yes. Nothing else to say but YES. I mean enemies to lovers, SLOW BURN. Female lead A BADASS CRAZY LADY! A must read for this year!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy for review. All opinions are my own.

So sorry, but this is a DNF. I gave it over 100 pages. But I didn’t like the writing style, and I couldn’t connect to the story or Dianna. It was mostly very eye-rolling with how badass and powerful Dianna is, but it was pretty over the top.

4 stars.
Dianna gave up her life to become a monster to save her sister, she continues to be enslaved for over a thousand years by Kaden. She is currently on the hunt for an ancient relic to open the world and will destroy anyone in her way. Samkiel, a legend of the world, is considered the World Ender. After the Gods War, he locked himself away, denying his responsibilities.

Two unlikely allies team up to stop an Ancient enemy for different reasons, Samkiel to change his fate and Dianna to keep her sister safe. As the hunt for the book closes in, the dangers and secrets are closing in as well. Will Samkiel redeem himself from his past history? Will Dianna finally escape Kaden and keep her sister safe?

The downfalls of this book include the editing, a few tropes, world- building, and pacing. A few examples of the editing include: "shadows separated in waves around Alistair and me as we portaled home to Novas." Extremely wordy, and an editor fixed this. Another example "you know, I'd always wondered if the celestials' convoys were nicer than the public ones used in the cities." This was said twice within a page, it should have only been said once. I am never in love with the use of the trope "I am not like other girls" which was used right away in the beginning with "I wasn't a cute, petite little thing like every movie or book craved." petite and little is redundant which an editor should have caught, as well as it hits way too hard on female bashing from the start. World-building was average, details on the creatures were limited at the beginning and took way too much time to understand. I felt the author left off details in world-building, yet put in unnecessary lines that made the book too long. Example of this "I gratefully used the shaving products. The hair on my legs and vagina had gotten a little out of control." Why was this needed? The pacing was all over the place, the beginning 20% dragged on and then the middle 60% felt extremely off.

The upside of this book includes the plot, writing, and characterization, The plot was unique, and I enjoyed the aspects of multiple worlds and a dangerous book to end all. The romance subplot did not feel overpowering to the main plot which I am thankful for. The writing was enjoyable other than the editing, I believe the author has the skills to continue with writing a genuinely great series. She didn't jump all over the place, her characters were well done and she genuinely seemed to have the story planned out. The characterization of Dianna felt very similar to Aelin from Throne of Glass, which is a compliment. I find many authors want to make a morally grey woman character, and struggle to find a balance. Dianna does not feel like a villain (which she was talked about as on tiktok), but she did feel like a powerful woman who had no boundaries for those she loves. Samkiel felt very similar to another SJM character, which is slightly disappointing but I think he has the ability to grow into his character. The side characters in this were my favorite though, and I am glad to see the build-up. Logan was highly enjoyable, I was rooting for the downfall of Alistair and Tobias.

Overall, I definitely will be continuing the series and I believe it is definitely worth the read.

"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."


Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (it's really more than five)

Spice Meter: 🌶️,5

❗This is a spoiler-free review from NetGalley❗


I would like to express just how thankful I am that NetGalley exists and that it actually works in my country so I can read books as amazing as this one. My mind is reeling. I feel too much too fast and I don't know how to process what just happened.


Words cannot express how pumped I am that I've found this masterpiece on NetGalley. I'm also really glad that I saw the many reviews of this book on Goodreads that prompted me to seek it out. I did not see one negative review of this book and I finally know why. It's absolutely incredible. Even the cover is amazing. Eerie and matching perfectly with the tone of the novel. There's even a map inside which I shamefully forgot all bout because of the magnificence of the story. It was enemies-to-lovers so I don't think I stood any chance at all.

It started with violence right off the bat which I absolutely loved. There was an elaborate fantasy world with gods, demon-like creatures, vampires, werewolves, witches, banshees, shadow-people, and more (there were humans too). I love it when books are like that. Also...WHAT THE HELL WAS UP WITH THAT ENDING?!??!?! WHY ARE AUTHORS SO HELL-BENT ON CRUMBLING OUR SANITY IN THEIR MAGICAL, WORLD-BUILDING HANDS!?!?!? WE HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT LOVE AND SUPPORT YOU, YOU MONSTERS!!!

Dianna was the absolute best!!! She is a one-thousand-year-old badass shapeshifting, magic-wielding creature that started out on the villains' side. She showed loyalty to her sister and her sister only, willing to do anything to keep Gabby safe, even if that meant she got hurt in the process. She is also cunning, funny, passionate and soo damn strong 😍😍😍😍 You can tell how much I love her, right? She wasn't original in any specific way, but I will never get tired of female main characters like her. They are always inspiring to me. Her character was incredibly complex in a realistic way. The situations she found herself in were near-impossible to escape, yet she dealt with them in the best ways she knew. It's a bummer I can't tell you more about her but I don't want to risk spoiling anything.

Liam, the other main character of the story and Dianna's awesome love interest, was an equally likeable and complex character. Despite being a god, Liam also known as Samkiel, suffered from crippling depression and PTSD after his world/realm collapsed thousands of years ago. Even though he showed a lot of arrogance when interacting with others, he was also kind, caring, and protective, even towards his enemies 😉😉He did the best he could for his people, even though it wasn't enough at times. He was fallible, making mistakes and letting his emotions get the best of him even if he knew better. Also, he was completely oblivious to imminent danger because he was too busy being turned on by Dianna's magnificence. I did not blame him in the slightest. I did find it hilarious though 😂😂

I loved the dynamic and chemistry between Dianna and Liam. Similarly to most enemies-to-lovers romances, these two were full of sexual tension, longing, and deep, unrelenting feelings that neither of them wanted to acknowledge. Of course, they checked all my boxes. Spending more than half the book forced to work together, being both turned on and annoyed at each other brought me so much joy. It's my favourite thing about this trope. Even more so if it is mingled with some well-written spice 😉😉 Another relationship that I loved was Dianna and Gabby's. Their sisterly bond reminded me of my favourite sibling ever, the Winchester Brothers (from Supernatural). The oldest sibling, Dianna, is more than willing to sacrifice everything she has for the sake of her younger sister's life and happiness and has been doing so for around one thousand years. Adorable and heart-warming 😍😍

One thing that bothered me a little bit, not enough to affect my rating in any way though, the book was just that good, was the continued mention of feelings that cannot be understood. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I get feeling things and not knowing why, I have experienced that. But, I will never understand how a person can feel something and not know what it is. Am I being crazy here?? Doesn't this make as much sense as not realising you were holding your breath??


Enjoy my crazy rambling and read this book as soon as possible.

I have no words to describe how good this book was. Just WOW. From the unique world building to the amazing main characters, this book just kept serving. Dianna made a deal for the life of her sister and for centuries has been serving a very bad guy. But when her actions wake up the king of the gods, things get heated. I couldn't put it down and the end left me aching for the next book. This is probably as good as books from authors such as Sarah J Maas and Jennifer L Armentrout. If you look for a book where the enemies work together to save the world, this is it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the E-Arc of this book.

This book is awesome!! Firstly, the world building is *chef's kiss* but aside from that it had everything I love - enemies to lovers, Main Character as the villain, forbidden romance plus so much more!! the characters across the board are great and I love the world the author has created.

I really love Dianna as a character - she has so much depth to her and I am so excited for book 2- that cliffhanger!! this will definitely be a series I will be hooked on, do yourself a favour and READ THIS BOOK!

2.5⭐️ DNF

I really wanted to like this, so many people told me it was good but I couldn’t get past the writing.

I thought this would be a high fantasy book, but it’s urban fantasy, and I didn’t like that things were modern but the language was so stiff and clunky in the dialogue E.g. no contractions.

It also felt like this book opened in the middle, and not in the fun and punchy way some books do to engage the reader. Instead there was no build up, no reason to care about the characters or understand the world and this led to trying to pigeon hole info in for the reader wherever possible. There was a lot of clumsy world building within the first few pages where the MC is like ‘oh yeah remember XYZ’ to another character as a way to give the reader backstory and it just felt like such an obvious device. This happened again when the MC goes into a meeting with all types of creatures and instead of letting us know info about them a bit at a time, the leader stands up and greets each group and the MC gives the reader a long background of world building each time. It lacked finesse and reminded me of kids playing dolls with each doll getting a turn.

Also, I thought the MC was supposed to be a morally grey villain, which to me would mean zero remorse and/or even enjoying the violence but instead the MC is lamenting about torturing people and remembering her sister and hesitating when the guy she has to kill says the bog-standard ‘I have a family’. So that element lacked to me.

Overall, I was disappointed and had to DNF because I wasn’t enjoying the book. Sadly, picking this up only made me want to read a Kelley Armstrong or Karen Chance book instead.

Ah. Let me start by saying, I am so grateful to read an ARC of this. But also like so sad because I need a second one right away, but I’m pretty sure it’s far off considering the first just came out. This book was also a beast coming in at almost 800 pages.

I had a hard time in the beginning. I was a bit confused for the first 10% or so, trying to understand the world/realm they lived in. I couldn’t tell how modern it was considering there seemed to be multiple places it referenced.

But Dianna was a bada**. And we love a strong female lead. And then it was followed up with all my favorite things in a book: enemies to lovers, single bed, and dual POVs, a female villain, they were both grumpy, and it was a slow burn.

Liam was endearing and I came to really love him. I loved when he realized he would burn the world for her. And he had to confront his conflicting feelings in it. My heart felt ripped from my chest on the last page, when he talks about his world.

I am dying at this book. It was so good.

It is an entretainng book, a good first part. But at the same time I have the feeling that really nothing happend and that is overly long, as quite a few parts weren't necessary at all and really didn't contribute to the story.
I loved the romance part, a nice slow burn, enemies to lovers. And the characters are great and well developed quite easy to connect with them.
Liam despite being a extremely powerful god, suffer with PTSD, depression and panic attacks, and this are not only addressed in passing but is mostly what the book is about for easily the first 65%
I really liked how this is talked about and how slowly he is getting better.
It ends with a great clifhanger that really makes your stomach knot and nausea arise, that makes sure that I will be reading the next book.
I am very interested in how this story continues and uncover the many mysteries but mainly what is really Dianna? Because I am sure she has to be more than we think, but then, why Gabby isn't??
So many questions...

Loved this book. I didn’t feel like it was 800 pages, I read it over a day. Great world building, slightly predictable in places, but overall a great book.
The only real gripe I have is the sex scene, and Liam suddenly going from other-worldy being with a great vocabulary to suddenly be like “oh yeah baby fuck my hand” threw me off. I’m really excited to see what the author does next. I hope they keep us a bit more on our toes.

Plot: 4.75/5🌟
Spice: 2/5🌶️

✔️Enemies to lovers
✔️Slow burn
✔️FMC as a villian
✔️Epic world building
✔️Only one bed
✔️Forced proximity
✔️Forbidden romance
✔️Action sequences that leave you wanting for more
✔️Cliffhanger

Thank you NetGalley for this book. Firstly, I just have to say that this book was amazing, the world building and the plot was so good. I cannot believe that cliffhanger, I had to go back to make sure I didn't miss anything. Amber how can you leave us hanging like that 😭.

Dianna was such a bad ass FMC. I loved the fact that she was the villain at the start of the book, she was so evil at times. It was nice to see she had vulnerabilities, her sister. I adored their relationship, Dianna would do anything and everything for her. Gabby was the best sister, she made Dianna feel human in so many ways, especially when Kaden put her through so much.

I loved Liam's character, it was so sad to see him suffer through his PTSD, it made him almost human. He had some amazing strengths but even Liam had weaknesses too. The flashbacks with Liam and his father were really amazing, it was good to see the Liam before and after. I really enjoyed Dianna and his banter, they were both so head strong and wanted to be the Alpha in a sense. They were so sweet together near the end and I actually wanted more for them.

I cannot believe that ending though, so many things happened at once. The book had me guessing continuously, this plot was not predicted at all. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5, absolutely loved this book, hope the next one is out soon. I may have a book hangover 😭.

4.5 stars

Everyone around my feed was reading this book, so I needed to read it as well. The cover is captivating, and I've always been a fan of fantasy involving immortals, so I hoped this would deliver since everyone was gushing about it.

The Book of Azrael starts right in the middle of action by presenting us the main fmc, Dianna, as she is doing a mission. It was hard to get into the book because we get thrown straight into action, but then the character (we have first person POVs) starts making us acquainted with the setting and the characters she interacts with. We find out she's an immortal creature, and she's part of a powerful coven of people who think they are better than her just because they are male. Dianna is sassy, capable, strong - but she also is stubborn and does a lot of things out of impulse which she later regrets. I liked how she was crafted because she had character, and she had a lot of funny lines which had me loling haha. She is also very caring towards the people she cares about, although she thinks she is a monster.

We have a lot of chapters from Dianna's POV until we are introduced to the main mc, Liam. Liam is an old god, and he is very grumpy as he doesn't want to be bothered by the happenings of the planet. He has to quickly adjust to his new surroundings and at times he was like a fish out of a bowl in a cute way. He was protective and bossy, but also had a good guy aura around him, I don't know. Since this book is an enemies to lovers, you can assume that Liam hates people like Dianna, and the feeling is mutual.

The Book of Azrael is Amber Nichole's debut novel and I must say, it's very good. I was shocked when I learned that it was over 800 pages, even though I'm used to reading books this long. Despite being this huge, it had a smooth pace, and it rarely stalled, which is great. I also believed this to be standalone, so I was surprised a second time (and also happy) that the story continues, considering this ends with a cliffhanger.

The characters were well-written and had depth. Each of them was recognizable with their own power or tell, and this only shows that the author took time into crafting the characters to make them layered. I liked how the connection between Dianna and Liam was also built up gradually, with them slowly realizing that each other were more than what the world deemed them to be, and they didn't have insta-love. I loved their banter and I also loved that both had issues which were very relatable, thank you.

If there is one flaw I found in the whole book and the reason why I gave it 4.5 instead of a full 5, is the flashbacks. They were too long and showed too much, and I wanted to be left wondering. Sometimes they dragged too long, and I felt they were unnecessary. Not every bit of the past of the characters needs to be showed through flashbacks, and I felt they were overused. Other than this, I believe this is a good debut book and I will definitely read the following book because you can't leave me like that!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an e-arc copy of this book.

DNF @ 25%. The world was confusing, the writing juvenile, and the characters non- compelling. It honestly reads like a first draft of fanfiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and Author for the opportunity to review this book.
This book was SOOOOO good!!! i have been recommending this books for all my friends!
Dianna is such a badass and will not take any shi*t from ANYONE. Liam is like an adorable puppy but man has got steel strength, the chemistry between these two was so fire!
one of my favorite lines from this book was "You already consumer my every waking thought. Must you consume my dreams as well"
I recommend this 10000% and i will be placing an order when the book is published.
Once again thank you for this opportunity through which i found a new favorite author.

I received an eARC from NetGalley/Publisher for an honest review.

This is a strong debut by the author. I really liked the world building, and the well done mix of high fantasy and urban fantasy. I enjoyed the banter between FMC and MMC. The raw and intense portrayal of PTSD was mind blowing. I loved that we see a male POV and I appreciate that! I liked that we didn't get any info dumps. We just figure out the world as we go.

My only qualm with the book is that characters warm up to each other really quickly given the millennia of hatred that's been going on between the species. A whole lot of tropes were mushed into the book for no reason. I would've appreciated more of the world rather than the whirlwind romance we see. Honestly, their romance just came off as cheesy and unnecessary. I would've preferred them to be in the background.

I'm really excited about how the books will proceed at the same time I don't care for the MCs romance. I really wished we'd see less of that in the future books, although I don't think that's going to be case.

The characters! The plot! The banter! I seriously can’t choose which I love more. The world building is incredible. The conversations between the main characters had me literally laughing out loud. That was an unexpected perk to a book I was already so excited it to read. This is a must read!

I think I just found a new fantasy to add to my favorites list😍 I was hooked from page 1! I thought the relationship between Dianna and Liam was developed so realistically. I was rooting for them from the moment they met. I also loved Dianna and Gabby’s relationship. It reminded me of the relationship I have with my sisters and the lengths I would go to protect them. Logan was great, Drake was great, and as much as I hated Kaden.. he was great! And then that ending! I really hope there’s more books coming because I just don’t believe that that’s how it all ends😭

The only reason this didn’t get 5 stars is because I felt like it was a little drug out. I’m not upset that it’s a thick book. I truly believe it needs to be thick to really develop the different characters and worlds. However, I think there are some parts that we could do without.