**NOTE: This full review will be posted to Amazon and Instagram upon release date.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the magical games aspect (reminded me of the games in The Serpent and the Wings of Night). The story of Theodra and Kellyn does not end on a cliffhanger, but I believe the Vicious Gods series will continue with a focus on other characters featured. The main characters remind me of Meg and Hercules, except Theo is the god in this scenario, and Kellyn the human.

My favorite part about the story was the mental health & learning difficulty representation. Kellyn is depicted as a big, strong, gorgeous man but he struggles with self-image due to dyslexia. His internal dialogue was relatable to anyone who has dealt with poor self-esteem, and it was satisfying to read his journey to a positive view of himself. Theo also battles depression, believing she is not worthy of love or happiness.

A specific note on the audiobook: the narrators did a fantastic job! Personally, and this is completely subjective, the voice/accent of Theo is not what I envisioned so if I were to reread the book I would choose an ebook or physical copy.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
🌶️ 🌶️

Key tropes and topics: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, forbidden love, only one bed, magical games, villainous ladies, gods and goddesses, mental health representation, learning difficulty representation, Celtic and Greek mythology

Thank you to Hazel St. Lewis, NetGalley, and Book of Match Media for providing me with advance digital and audio copies of this book! All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend for fans of fantasy, romance, and mythology. The story follows Theodra, the Goddess of War, who breaks the number one rule of never making a deal with Death. In a moment of arrogance, she trades for a soul she will someday love, not realizing the consequences of her actions. Thirteen years later, she is punished and forced to play in a deadly tournament alongside the sinfully handsome Prince Kellyn. As they struggle to work together and survive the tournament, their hatred turns to an undeniable attraction that could ultimately cost them both their lives.
The concept of gods and goddesses interacting with mortals is not a new one, but St. Lewis puts a fresh and captivating spin on it. Theodra is a complex and flawed character, making her relatable despite her deity status. Her journey of self-discovery and redemption is a central theme of the book, and it is executed brilliantly.
The romance between Theodra and Kellyn is a slow burn that keeps the reader on their toes. Their banter and chemistry are entertaining, and their growing feelings for each other feel genuine and well-developed. The tension between them is palpable, and it adds another layer of depth to the story.
Another thing I really enjoyed was the world-building, it is rich and detailed immersing the reader in a world of gods, magic, and danger. The Sacrifice tournament is a thrilling and deadly game that adds an element of suspense to the story. Overall, this was a fantastic read with a fascinating world and compelling characters.

I was really excited to read this based on the premise but unfortunately this one is a DNF for me.

I made it about 20% before giving up. It seemed as though there was zero world building and not a ton going on? I also didn't feel the characters had a lot of depth.

Thank you NetGalley, Hazel St. Lewis, and Victory Editing for the ARC!

Rating is 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

I really enjoyed the actual content of this book. I liked the Hunger Games style of competition mixed with a little Greek mythology basis. I thought the love interests and the sexual tension was described and done well. I liked the mental health representation as well as disability representation, along with LGBTQIA representation as well.

What I did struggle with was the writing itself. It felt a bit jumpy and disconnected at times. In the last 20/25% of the book, the writing definitely did improve. I did have a hard time getting into this book originally, but my interest did pick up eventually. I think with some editing and smoother transitions this could become much better. The content is there, it just needs some refinement.

P.S. I need Kellyn and his grunting to happen a little less.

A Greek mythology inspired romantasy, featuring forbidden love, forced proximity and immortal Gods.

'Because I'm a villain'... 'Loving me is a death sentence'.

Theodra is the Goddess of War with a hatred for mortal men, they're all the same in her eyes. But, what she doesn't expect is to be betrayed and turned into a mortal - to act as a Priestess in the Sacrifice - a deadly tournament where mortal champions compete against the Gods.

Her champion, Kellyn, is a handsome Prince and a loyal follower of the Goddess of War. Initially hating him for being a mortal man, she is determined not to help him. But she starts to see how kind and good he is, maybe all mortal men aren't the same? However, there is one problem - a mortal and a God cannot love each other, for that is a death sentence, and Theodra made a deal with Death years earlier: trading the soul of the person she may love.

'It was too dangerous, deadly even. Nothing good came of falling in love. Not for her'.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
Always love a good fantasy romance, especially one with enemies to lovers, forbidden love and forced proximity - and this delivered for me!

We see the character growth that Theodra has throughout the book - from despising mortal men, to becoming mortal and discovering that she does care for people: seeing the error in some of her ways.

I would like to have seen a little bit more from the ending and how Theodra's sisters and mother reacted, but I was still so happy for them.

A little thing, but I also really enjoyed at the start of each chapter, where we're told whose POV it'll be in, the updates of Theodra, e.g., Theodra - Horrified Goddess of War, Theodra - Anxious Ex-God.

'Theo once thought love was the biggest mistake she'd made in her 10,000 years, but she was wrong. Love was also her salvation'.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for this copy. This review is voluntary.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC for an honest review.

3 Stars.

I read this pretty quickly! It was an easy and fun read that helped me get out of a slump and was just what I needed at the time. I really liked the Greek mythology inspiration in this and loved that our FMC was the goddess of war who was strong willed and brutal. I also really liked that we got to see such vulnerability from our characters and see the inner turmoil and struggles that they have to face.
I did feel that the writing was a bit more YA for an adult fantasy romance but I loved how relatable the characters were and the representation of friendship in this was very beautifully written.
This book is perfect for people who love a touch of spice with interesting characters with easy writing.
I do wish it was a touch darker with a little bit more tension between our FMC and MMC but overall it was extremely fun and I’m interested to see where the rest of the series goes.
This can also be read as a standalone for people who don’t want to commit to a larger series.

Thank you, Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I first read the description for Courting War I was so excited to get my hands on it. Unfortunately, for me, it fell short.
One part I was really interested in was the tournament style Sacrifice game. I was expecting Hunger Games meets Hercules, but instead the games were very underwhelming. I mean one of the challenges is essentially a spelling bee.
The second thing I was most interested in with this book was the romance, which also fell short for me. I had a hard time connecting to Theo and Kellyn. I enjoyed the banter and dialogue of the supporting friends and other Gods more than I cared about Kellyn or Theo.
I genuinely enjoyed Cecile (though I predicted her plot twist from basically the beginning of the story) and Emmet. I would love to read more about what the series has in store for the two of them.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book. I´m leaving this review voluntarily.

DNF at 21%. The blurb was SO GOOD and I was expecting an awesome story about gods and mortals. The further I was reading it, the more I did not understand what was going on. We are given some information however it is not enough to grasp the whole plot at all.

FMC, the Goddess was doing irrational things. She was portrayed as a villain but nothing was explained why somebody thinks she is so bad. The same fact was repeated all over again however no background to it was given.

I truthfully didn´t get the way how MMC was portrayed, being dyslexic doesn´t make him bad per se, but it somehow did.

The structures of writing were strangely interconnected, some sentences were just not fitting with the others and not showing the overall atmosphere of the story. I felt that some parts were written at different times with different moods and then somehow (not good) glued together in a story, which at 20% was not progressing.

This book got me out of my slump, I read it in a single day! I loved everything about it, our FMC, MMC, supporting characters, everything! The world building was phenomenal and I did not struggle to understand who was who because St. Lewis gives us all the info we need (refreshing!).

Things I loved:
-This book was everything. I am obsessed.
-The dedication! And how Bella plays a part in the story!
-The dialogue in this book (especially between the humans) feels realistic to me, much more so than many other books!
-I love the premise and plot of this book. It’s giving similar vibes to Crowns of Nyaxia but it’s also totally different and feels new.
-I CANNOT wait to look at fan art when this book is released! Kellyn and Theo are so hot in my head and I need to see it.

Things I think could be improved:
-The end felt a tad bit rushed to me. That said, the end also made me extremely emotional (tears happened) and was great nonetheless.

I am recommending this book to all my fantasy loving friends. This was such a fantastic read.

This is the first book in the series: Vicious Gods. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books in this series!

Read this book if you like the following:
-enemies to lovers
-forbidden love
-forced proximity (only-one-bed & chained-together)
-challenges/riddles
-villainous ladies
-knife-to-throat

Thank you NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, and Hazel St. Lewis for the ARC!

I will start this off with saying I’m a sucker for Gods/Goddesses romances. I did struggle with the first third of the book. It felt a bit info dumpy. But, once I got over that I was fully immersed in the story. I loved the characters and their development. I will be picking up the next in the series. This was a solid start to a promising new fantasy romance series.

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

DNF 28%

Ahh I'm so disappointed! When I read the blurb for this one, I was really excited, hoping for an adult high romantasy. What it ended up being was a young adult low budget play.

I thought the writing was juvenile that seemed desperate to be adult. The only thing that was remotely adult was the MMC randomly throwing in the fact that he "fucked a bunch of women in the past" every time he had an internal dialogue.

Because of this, I was having trouble connecting to the characters and the story overall. It's really a shame because this had so much potential and I was pretty stoked to get the arc. 😔

“It’s impossible to go through life without hurting the ones you love. Hurt is inevitable. Harming isn’t. true friendship is accepting that we will be hurt and extending grace and forgiveness when it occurs.”

“Courting War” by Hazel St. Lewis is the first book of the Vicious Gods series. Theodora, Goddess of War, seeks to hurt men that she deems bad, if her eyes all men are the same, all men are evil. When she starts a fire on a ship of men that are human traffickers, she finds that she has made a deadly mistake. The boat has girls that were to be sold and one of them dies in the prosses. She is forced to make a deal with her sister, Goddess of Death, to save the girls life. The deal is the soul of the one she loves most. Theodora does not love so she thinks its not a problem but when her mother makes her a mortal and forces her into the Courting War, she learns that not all men are evil.

I really like this book. I loved that the main male character is dyslexic which I thought was unique in a fantasy book. I loved all the characters and their development throughout the book was really well done. I loved how the Courting War, which is death trials to appease the Gods, is not about the participants killing each other but have their own missions and quests to overcome that sometimes overlaps each other and sometimes is doesn’t. I can’t wait to read book 2. 4 out of 5 stars.

-Royalty
-Enemies To Lovers
-Gods
-Abuse and Trauma
-Evil FMC

I don’t think words will ever be able to capture how magnificent this book truly is. Firstly, there is unbelievable descriptions that paint such a vivid picture in your mind. Which made the world building feel effortless as you were transported to this world so seamlessly. The way Hazel writes is magic, and once this book is put to the world, it will get all the hype that it deserves. The forced proximity to slow burn tension was phenomenal. Although not explicit like other books you still got all the glorious lust filled parts that smut lovers want. Not just that this book was so complex with sad meaningful discussion about scars that are more than skin deep. Also the representation of a main character with dyslexia was so amazing and as someone who struggles I felt so seen.
The unique story line follows the God of war who made a foolish deal with death and now has to pay. After being tricked by her mother (the Queen of gods) and forced into a mortal body the now moral god of war must serve as the “helper” to a human prince as he plays the deadly sacrifice game to appease the gods. Grief, lust, loss and love all mingle and cause this story to be one you’ll never forget.

Courting War by Hazel St. Lewis is a wonderful book.

This book is perfect for a tragic love story fan such as I am. This book got a little bit of enemy turn to lover, slow burn, high sexual tension, action packed, suspense, angst, secret, betrayal, heart breaking moments and lots of tears. I was bawling at the end of the book. As the author said, the book got spicy scene but a mild one which is 2.5 chili pepper level.

I loved how refreshing every characters are such as Kellyn have a dyslexia which is my first time encounter which such a character and it is a good awareness. The deadly tournament called Sacrifice make me feel a Hunger Game vibe while reading this book which brings the suspense and thriller. And I loved how this story got a lot of family secret and every plot twist.

I'll definitely be looking forward towards Hazel St. Lewis and waiting for the next book.

Great kickoff of what looks like will be a series of books in this world!

Courting War is primarily the story of Kellyn and Theo, but I loved the extended world that was build around their friends and other relationships! Cecile and Destruction were my favorites, I want more from them in the next book please.

What I loved:

I loved Kellyn as a character. I’m a fan of non-toxic men who aren’t afraid to have friends and care about people in their lives! He also isn’t afraid to ask for help once he gets over his parent’s expectations. His disability was portrayed very well and it was great to see him grow and accept himself!

Friendships between Kellyn, Cecile, and Emmett, I love a good trio, and I appreciate that Cecile wasn’t a romantic interest for Kellyn or Emmett. She’s got her own story to tell here, so I’m glad she didn’t get a romantic subplot in this book.

Destruction. Loved her whole arc!

What I liked:

The relationships between the gods. I loved seeing the gods play off of each other. Especially the sisters. Their motivations are desires are so complicated, I wish we had more time to dive into the ins and outs of why they are behaving the way that they do. I hope this is expanded on in future books!

Medusa’s storyline was a nice touch of growth for Theo, I’m glad that whole arc happened to help humanize her a bit more!

What I hope to see in the next book:

The plot flew by in this book, 300 pages didn’t feel like enough to have the depth I craved so badly in this story! I want more! Tell me more about Kellyn’s family, I want to really hate his parents, give me more time with those emotional moments with Theo and Kellyn! More little moments to flesh the world and story out will really help breathe additional depth into the world. I really hope we get that in the next book!

NetGalley Note: I also would love to see a couple edits to the beginning of the book, I think Gallagher gets introduced twice at the beginning? It adds a bit of confusion to the start but that goes away through the book.


Overall, a strong debut into a world that I’m curious to explore even more.

I love the premise of the book and the characters. It was difficult to get into at first but we did it. There are a few times there is a disconnect wither with characters in a room then suddenly somewhere else with no explanation or conversations happening with ppl in a room who shouldn't be overhearing it and suddenly those ppl are gone.

I wish it would have been longer. For real connections between reader and book. But as a short story it's good.

I will absolutely read more to see how the story continues because I love it and I'm interested in watching this author grow.

I received this book as an ARC and I leave this review of my own honest opinion. First I absolutely love reading books about gods and their powers. This book delivered in spades on that. It was a wonderful read with an exciting world and different take on the trials experience. It has multiple POVs that really allow you to see how the characters truly feel and interact. Enjoyed the story and would recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Hazel St. Lewis for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review. If you are a lover of Mythology, Throne of Glass, and/or The Hunger Games, then look no further Courting War should definitely be your next read. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The pacing was a bit slow at first, mostly as a consequence of world building, but once the story found its footing it was impossible to put down. There were lots of jarring plot twists and turns throughout the book. I found the characters super interesting and I was really invested in their fates. Theo is such a great morally grey female protagonist, who goes through a ton of character development from the beginning of the book to the end. The story had a great balance of adventure and romance, and felt equally character driven and plot driven. I love that this book works as a stand-alone. I think it sets a great foundation for future stories set in the same world and I look forward to seeing what Hazel St. Lewis has in store!

Thank you for providing this ARC through NetGalley. This book was absolutely incredible. I will be recommending this one to my friends when it releases. I really liked how the FMC was the one thousands of years old, I loved Theo’s growth, and the ending left me wanting the next book already. I will definitely be reading Hazel St. Lewis’s next book!