Book Review 📚
Grave Secrets by Cassandra Aston - 4.5/5 ⭐

OH MY. I'm still speechless over this one. Like, wow. There's definitely not enough words to describe how amazing it was to read this. To read this for the first time is a treat!

Our FMC, Allie, is a "touch me and die" kind of vibe. She does it all herself, literally everything. You even think of helping her and she will destroy you. She's great. I love her. She's the character everyone wants to read about.

There's a little romance in the book which was done perfectly. It wasn't overbearing to the plot and actually fits in amazingly. But there's enough to keep you excited, if you catch my meaning. It was absolutely amazing.

The world building was phenomenal. The writing was phenomenal. The character development was phenomenal. The book was... You guessed it... PHENOMENAL! I'd like to remove it from my brain and read it again please. To experience this for the first time is GOALS.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

First of all, thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing me this wonderful ARC.

Grave Secrets is Book 1 in the Prophecies of Angels and Demons series

Vibes:
Angels demons Humans and "half demons" in an urban setting, a huge manor with many rooms to explore.
A slow burn romance that has a big twist to it and it will surprise.

--------
The characters are well thought through and all get their time to shine.
Allie is our FMC, she died and was recruited by Angels for a period of 6 years to do their dirty work and get rid of the demons that dwell in the dark of shadows. Shortly before the end of her 6 years and living of the bare minimum and sometimes not even that, she discovers her Heritage, which leads her to a huge manor and to Simon.


What I like:
That the characters are well thought through
The FCM doesn't let anyone help her, she does it herself.
The little specs of Romance and the heating up was very well written


What I do not like:
The constant craving for food, I got so hungry reading it so often that I actually had a sweet stash at home to read this book

🌟NETGALLEY REVIEW🌟

💫 Life feels infinite when you're young, but Allie Graves knows all too well that she's living on borrowed time. Six years ago, she made a deal to save her life in exchange for service to the angels. It seemed like a sweet bargain when she made it, but what do seventeen-year-olds know about making life choices? Now her six years of service are up and returning to her mortal life comes with some serious consequences.

💫To top it off, a mystery man has come into her life, but the angels aren't fond of his brand of magic, so they've made it their mission to end him. How's a girl supposed to get a date when the guy might not survive the week?
Allie has less than a month to uncover a family secret, save the hottie, and plan for life after angel duty. It's a tall order.

REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this book and devoured it very quickly. This is a beautiful, dark urban fantasy full of magic, mystery and suspense. That follows the story of the main protagonist Allie. The concept was great, I really enjoy the Angels/Demon tropes and this story offers and excellent take on it. The world building and unexpected twists and turns have you gripping your seat whilst simultaneously trying to read faster to find out what happens next.

I don't want to say too much to avoid spoilers for those who haven't read yet but a certain aspect of this story gave me 'Fallen' by Lauren Kate vibes and I absolutely loved it. I loved the whole concept of this book, the plot the world building, the character and relationship development of Allie and Simon. Cassandra is an engaging and descriptive writer allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the story she is telling you.

Fans of authors such as J Bree would devour this story and I strongly recommend this book to added to your TBR pile or read immediate. I am now on tenterhooks waiting for Book 2.

Review had to be manually added to goodreads via the website as it says ISBN not recognised when I try and do it from here.

Grave Secrets by Cassandra Aston
This is an ARC ebook, provided in exchange for an honest review. Big thank you to Netgalley and author, Cassandra Aston!
Book Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice Rating: .5🌶️/5

Allie Graves is living on borrowed time. Six years ago, she struck an impossible deal: to save her life in exchange for service to the angels. Now her time is up – but returning to mortal life after years of demon hunting is no simple adjustment.

What I Enjoyed:
-I’m a sucker for a good self discovery journey
-I liked the overall plot, and the story revolving around angels and demons was a unique and interesting read.
-Lots of plot twists and turn moments
-The ending

What I Didn’t:
-The different POVs (not my jam)
-The flashbacks felt a little redundant and confusing
-For me there were some MAJOR lulls where I was skimming to get back focused on the plot.

Rate - *****
Spice-2
OMG this book WAS AMAZING! The twists and turns were to die for! I honestly couldn’t get enough. I read this book in 2 sittings, fell in love with the characters and can not wait until the next book in the series comes out.

The story line with the family was completely and utterly unpredictable and kept me on my toes throughout the whole book. And who couldn’t love the final twist at the end of the book OMG!!!! This had me kicking my legs in the air squealing wanting more immediately. Thank you Cassandra for this complete work of ART! Yes i say art because this book was exactly that. Her creativity will never cease to amaze me!

Thank you to Cassandra Aston and NetGalley for giving me an e-copy of this book.

What would you sacrifice for the truth?

Life feels infinite when you're young, but Allie Graves knows all too well that she's living on borrowed time. Six years ago, she made a deal to save her life in exchange for service to the angels. It seemed like a sweet bargain when she made it, but what do seventeen-year-olds know about making life choices? Now her six years of service are up and returning to her mortal life comes with some serious consequences.

To top it off, a mystery man has come into her life, but the angels aren't fond of his brand of magic, so they've made it their mission to end him. How's a girl supposed to get a date when the guy might not survive the week?
Allie has less than a month to uncover a family secret, save the hottie, and plan for life after angel duty. It's a tall order.

I love this book, I can't get to the next one. This was so easy to read & I was hooked from the first chapter. I didn't see the twist. It is a page turner, I can't put it down.

First, I would like to thank NetGalley for allowing me to borrow this book for my honest review.

What would you sacrifice for the truth?
Allie Graves has made a deal to save her life in exchange for service to the angels. After six years of service, her time is up and returning to her mortal life comes with consequences. Allie has less than a month to uncover a family secret, save the hottie, and plan a life after angel duty.

There is nothing like sitting back in my reading chair with a cup of coffee and slowly falling into a new world of magic and mystery. To then realize that you are so deep in love with characters and their love for each other. That is what this story did to me.
Following Allie’s character meet Simon and watching her pull back each layer to unravel all of the family secrets will keep you in suspense. And when you think you cannot handle anymore secrets the revelation it’s like a slow ticking bomb. But just when you think Allie can fix her large hurdle the unthinkable left me in tears!

I loved this story. The ending left me needing more. Grave Prophesies can’t come soon enough. 4.25 stars

Grave Secrets by Cassandra Aston

Oh wow! I have just finished book one in the Prophecies of Angels and Demons series and I am so glad that Book Two has been announced and is due for release on May 24th according to Amazon.co.uk’s preorder listing because I need to know what happens next!

Grave Secrets is amazing. It is fast paced, has a fantastic FMC who is equal parts adorable and kick ass, demon slayer. She’s lovable and funny, and I was quite protective over her, reading this story. I don’t want to say too much because it’s too close to spoiling main plot points but Allie is a great character.

The main male lead is Simon, we are introduced to him very quickly and I liked Simon from the beginning. I have to say, that ending! I have so much grief and hope over that ending!

It is enemies to lovers, there is a good amount of spice. The story is a gothic horror romance, it has so many different aspects that interested me right from the beginning and kept me reading. There is a mystery of Allie’s family that goes back generations as she tries to uncover the truth. I do get the feeling that there are many aspects of the story where it can be delved into in much more detail. There’s plenty unresolved and questions left unanswered at the end, creating the need to read on with further books.

This was so much fun! I was lucky to be given access to an ARC copy which I devoured over two days. I really liked this story, I want to gush about it but it would give too much away. But there are angels, without it being too heavy on religion, demons, magic and a love that defies the odds.

This dark fantasy novel hooks you from the start. The writing is vivid and engaging, crafting a world that's captivating without being overly elaborate. The characters are complex, and the storyline, filled with action and twists, keeps you hooked. Looking forward to the second book is an understatement. The anticipation is real.

Grave Secrets was quite the read!

Personally a 3 star from me because I felt the plot was a bit lengthy.

This was a unique read for me. Historical/witchy/some romance. I found the overall story good and unique.

Allie is a Demon Hunter aligned with archangels. With only a few weeks left before her time is served, she learns that has deep, dark secrets and she doesn’t really know herself. She seeks to find the answers and it’s quite a twisty tale.

I would recommend if someone likes Magic/paranormal reads with LOTS of plot.

So... this started great and the idea of a girl being serving the angels in exchange for saving her life by killing demons is great. Allie went off to discover the house which would be hers in 1 month, once her job for the Angels is finished and they erase her memories.
On her way there, she meets .... a guy,.. with yellow eyes.... which seems to want to help her.
He's no demon, but he's also no human, so... what should she do?

I was into it until... say 70%, and then things went a way i didn't like so much, which... really personal point of view here but made me lose interest! And then the main character started to take really dumb decisions... when cconsidering the story (no spoilers) SHE SHOULD KNOW BETTER!!! And all I could think was "DUMB DUMB DUMB GIRL!"
So yeah... The end was underwhelming for me, which is a bummer.

*Thanks to Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op for access to the ebook against an honest review.*

I can’t read this. The main character is an idiot. I made it to Simon telling his story of how he came to be, which definitely should have been handled in a flashback or a chapter from Simon’s perspective not as a very long, detailed conversation. MC got jealous of some long dead ancestor and then claimed in the 30s she would beat up her abusive husband and get him arrested like that was a real option.

I even picked it back up and tried again, but this is just bad. DNF at 20%

Genuinely couldn't get past the first few pages of this. The description of the main character is over the top and tropey.

11/21/23 You guys love my initial reactions.. well guess what.. I’M CRYING.
.
.
[Ten minutes later] I did not expect this ending, at all. Oh good grief, what happened to my heart? I have to be honest, I barely remembered the synopsis of this from the request page on netgalley (hey, shoutout to netgalley for this one). Therefore, I just decided to dive right into this one with no refresher or real guidance of what I was getting myself into.

Holy plot. This was BEAUTIFUL. I thought at first that this book was smarter than me, and that there was just too many details- but I persisted and then it just all started to make sense? No seriously- this was amazing and I really did not expect all of the twists that came in this. You might think you have it figured out but then there's another crazy layer to this.

We follow the story of Allie, who has an odd job hunting demons for the angles but oddly enough, Allie has a bunch of information that she has to figure out herself but she doesn't know that she has to figure it out herself for it to stick. However, she has a cunning and handsome sidekick... butler? from her family's estate to guide her along and help her out.

I don't want to spoil this one. Seriously, the unravel of family secrets and corruption and the playout from an action packed evil fight is 100% worth it.

TRUST.THE.PROCESS.

Unfortunately this was a DNF at 20% for me.

First off I’d like to say that I was actually enjoying the plot, the angels vs demons thing along with a creepy old family house felt like a recipe for success so I was really disappointed that it just wasn’t for me in the end.

My biggest gripe was the sheer amount of descriptions for everything and every moment. I felt like there was just so much of it that the plot was really getting lost and I kept having to remind myself what was happening.

The FMC Allie was not a character I could get on board with either, I understand she had a rough start in life but at 23 she acted so juvenile I found her difficult to relate to and I ended up finding her a little annoying.

If, unlike me, you like a book with a lot of description with a slow burn plot then this would probably be a good one for you.

I found this book to be a captivating and unique take on the angels/demons trope, infused with elements of magic and vampires. The portrayal of the angels, particularly Gabriel as an obnoxious character, was a refreshing twist that added depth to the story.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the overall plot, there were moments where I felt that some additional editing could have improved the pacing. Additionally, there were instances where Allie's behavior seemed inconsistent and didn't quite align with her established character. It felt as though certain scenes had been condensed, leaving out important dialogue or actions that would have provided clarity.

I also wished for more conflict between Allie and Gabriel. Although I understand why it wasn't heavily emphasized given the progression of the story, I hope to see their dynamic explored further in future installments.

Despite these minor criticisms, I found this book to be an enjoyable read that offered fresh and intriguing concepts. It kept me engaged from start to finish, and I look forward to delving deeper into this world in future books.

Magic and magical - angels and demons - and layers of secrets both past and present. Twists and turns, and strong feelings weave an engrossing urban fantasy sometimes scary, sometimes sad, sometimes a chuckle - and underneath a love story over decades. You won't put it down - a definite winner.

I ended up liking this book sooo much more than I thought I would. I was really invested at the beginning, but must admit I found Allie a bit immature and frustrating. I totally loved Simon! (Although it felt like he bounced around emotionally at first…understandable as I read on). Unfortunately, I was worried it was going to be torture to finish the book once I hit part two because I absolutely did not like Rebecca. She grew as a person and eventually on me though. It’s tough to explain without spoilers but essentially, her growth to the ending made her be more of the person I wanted her to be, and the epilogue made me smile so freaking hard. I love that this was a stand alone because I think the story was told very well and ended on a very positive note.

ARC REVIEW
If you are looking for a quick cute read this is a great choice! This fantasy of Allie Graves and her beloved Simon is one that keeps you guessing. The romance between them is cute and the readers are definitely met with some plot twist. This is something I believe would be a hit with a younger audience. Personally it was not one I was in love with, the spice levels were minimal and I had a hard time getting interested in the FMC story. I always acknowledge that fantasy is not my go to genre so where it may lack for me, it may be the perfect read for another. If this author were to venture into a more romance based book I would love to read it.

This was a spellbinding urban fantasy that took me into a world where the consequences of deals with angels are anything but heavenly. Allie Graves, the protagonist, is a compelling character whose journey is filled with challenges as she tries to navigate the complexities of a life intertwined with both celestial forces and a mysterious stranger.

The narrative is marked by dark magic, family secrets and unexpected twists that kept me intrigued. The author's writing style was engaging, and the pacing was well-balanced. The world-building was immersive and I found myself lost in the realm of angels and magic. The end of the novel did a nice job of tying up loose ends and leaving room for future novels.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.