I hadn't looked into this author's controversies or reviews of her other books before picking up The Deer and the Dragon, and I wish I had, because if I did, I never would have given this book a chance. I really wanted to like this book, but I knew almost immediately that the writing style was not going to work for me. I had hoped that the plot could redeem the book, but it just didn't.

The premise of this book is alright. Marlow has been friends/lovers with the prince of hell for years, but thought he was a figment of her imagination. Now, she knows the truth and is drawn into a celestial war. Unfortunately, not much of this book explores any of that lore or the war between different classes of gods and religions. Instead, we follow Marlow, one of the most insufferable protagonists I have ever met, in her day-to-day routine.

Let me introduce you to Marlow. She's incredibly hot, like physically perfect. She's rich, but still unfilled. She's a quippy feminist (but in a Buzzfeed "we paint with our period blood" type of woke millennial way). She's a sex worker, and the process of her becoming a sex worker is incredibly easy. Hey, did you guys know that sex work is really fun, well-paying, easy to get into, and safe? (please sense my sarcasm). The way this book depicts sex work is incredibly harmful, as it practically encourages girls to jump blindly into an incredibly dangerous industry. And most of all, Marlow is dumb as a rock. She gives gods who can bind her to do anything her full name, she breaks into a supposed serial killers house for fun, and oh yah, she is physically touching and having sex with a demon every night for YEARS, but doesn't believe he's real until like the 40% mark of the book. But don't worry. Despite all the faults, multiple men are in love with her. Her demon beau even calls her incredibly gifted and refers to her as smarter than him. You know what she did to wow him? She acted like a snotty rich person all day. The explanation we're given is that you have to be really good at reading people to pretend to be rich, therefore, Marlow is a genius.

So back to the plot. Marlow finds out her Prince of Hell is real (a lot of "w-w-w-what?" moments follow) and decides to save him because she loves him. Here's the thing: we never get to see this couple fall in love. They are declaring their love and having sex on page one. The excuse for this is that Marlow has been reincarnated many times and he has fallen in love with her in other lives. But like, could we not even see them fall in love in one of those lives? Or see some scenes of them doing anything other than having sex in this life? No? Alright, whatever. We just jump straight to the marketable declarations of love and smut, bypassing any romantic or emotional growth.

And as I mentioned early, aside from issues with the plot or characters, I really hated this writing style. It was so shallow, and at times felt very dumb. It felt like the author was trying to be edgy and sexy, but nothing about this book was clever. Every joke annoyed me, and every attempt at depth had me rolling my eyes. And my last point - I just finished this book and yet I have no idea why it's titled The Deer and the Dragon. I hate to be so negative with ARC reviews, but this book truly didn't have any solid features I could latch onto for some positivity.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Didn’t love this one tbh, I received it as an audiobook ARC which can be pretty tricky. I did enjoy the premise, a woman on the verge of going insane and thinking she’s seeing a ghost or imagination but he’s real 🤤. But in the end it was just too much teasing for me and not enough action. I grew a bit bored and I’m not sure if that’s just because of the cadence of the author or not. I would try this again as an ebook though!

Thanks Netgalley and the author for the ARC!

Overall, this book was a miss for me. There was a lot going on here. The plot felt confused and didn't really take any substantial form until 25-30% of the way in. A quarter of a book spent on lead up is way too long for my personal preference.

<b>To start of with the things I did like (which is why I rounded up to 3 stars):</b>

- I enjoyed the main character's backstory of religious trauma. It made her choice to delve into other belief systems in her novels make sense, while still leading to a reluctance to actually believe in these other religious/myths/have a reluctance to dip her toes into any other kind of spirituality.
- The childhood backstory was achingly sad, but did evoke an emotional response, and again led credibility to the current day character's actions & motivations in her choices.
- I appreciated the theology discussions. This book may be set in a fantasy world but it did present some valid critiques on "real-world" religion.

<b>What I liked... less:</b>

- There were a couple of phrases that made me cringe to read and felt so chronically online that it left a bad taste reading them in a book (ie "grippy sock vacation"). I don't have a problem with modern language in urban fantasy as a whole, but this went beyond that and every time one of these phrases was said it really pulled me out of the story.
- Why did every character we meet require paragraphs waxing poetic on their beauty? Maybe this is less painful to read in the physical book, but with the audiobook every time a new character was introduced it would go on for minutes at a time, multiple times throughout the interaction. It got old... really fast. We get it, everyone's hot.
- The plot was really muddy in my opinion. It took too long to get into the meat of the story and when it did there was a lot of unnecessary filler that felt like the author was trying to meet a word count at times.
- I honestly just found most of the characters to be unlikeable. (For example: the main character is knowledgeable about various pantheons, under the assumption that they are myths. When brought into reality, this understandably causes an adjustment period for her, in which every side character treats her like she's stupid.) The main character was frustrating for me because she at times seemed intelligent, then it seemed like a switch would flip and she would become vapid and grating.

Overall, this is not a series I would be continuing. However, I can see the appeal for some readers, it just wasn't my personal taste. I think this book is great for fans of urban fantasy intensely mingled with the modern era, as well as people interested in dipping their toes into a variety of different pantheons, while still having a central focus on romance (and some smutty scenes).

I wanted to like this book when I heard the synopsis, the idea of a book that contained Greek gods, Nordic gods, demons, angels, etc. sounded SO good. The premise of this book was definitely promising. Unfortunately, I really disliked this.

Our female main character, Marlow, is terrible. She’s self-centered, whiny, she takes advantage of her friends, and flaunts her extreme wealth all while feeling terrible for herself. I thought maybe by the end of the book there would be character growth – but sadly there isn’t. Our side characters aren’t the best either. Our male main character isn’t around for over 70% of the story, so I honestly don’t know much about him at all.
There are a TON of trigger warnings that need to be stated before someone reads this book, I’m not one who is usually bothered by this at all – but even I thought this was too much. Also, the spice in this book is *very* cringe worthy. It just made me feel uncomfortable.

As for the plot, I didn’t like how preachy this felt against Christianity. It’s one thing to make angels the bad guys, and another to mention how terrible the religion is every other page. Besides that, the plot was based around finding our main male character who is missing, but there are about 5000 side quests before we even get to that. There is a lot of info dumping that happens here, and it left me confused as to what was even going on half the time.

The narration was fine, it’s hard to give an actual rating for the narration without being influenced by my dislike of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tantor Audio, and Piper CJ for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a bit of a struggle for me. I listened to an advance copy of the audio book so I’m not sure if I truly didn’t care for the book all that much or if it was the narrators reading of the material. Everything with the narrator sounded sultry, so maybe that is just the way she reads, but it really got on my nerves after a while especially when it felt like she was trying to make unsexy scenes sexy.
The plot of the novel was also so slow. We spent so much time with Marlow’s sexual exploits, daydreams, and reminiscences where we could have been moving the plot along (and don’t get me wrong-I love a good spicy smut plot, but some of this just felt forced and misplaced in the story). Fauna joins Marlow on her crazy adventure with gods and angels as her representative from her grandmothers pantheon. I think she’s supposed to be a sassy, spunky sidekick, but she just comes across as a mean sugar addict.
Overall I think there was a lot of potential in this book and the execution (and narration) fell flat. It picked up significantly at the end, so maybe there is still potential for book 2 to redeem this chaotic mess.

I have numerous criticisms about this book. It had so much potential, but unfortunately, it failed to deliver on almost every front. As a generally easy-to-please reader, I was particularly disappointed with how this book began. The opening was lackluster and failed to capture my interest. While the theme of self-discovery is often engaging, I found the protagonist's introspection to be self-absorbed and tedious.

The first 40% of the book left me confused and disengaged. The world-building was poorly executed and lacked the necessary detail to create an immersive experience. It felt underdeveloped and left me with more questions than answers. The setting and background information were sparse, making it difficult to understand the context and stakes of the story.

While the narrator did a passable job, her voice did not align well with the protagonist. There was a noticeable disconnect that made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the narrative. The choice of narrator can make or break an audiobook experience, and in this case, it fell flat.

The plot was a disorganized mess. The storyline lacked coherence and structure, making it a slog to get through. It felt as though I was trudging through wet clay, each page more arduous than the last. Despite my efforts to approach this book with an open mind, I found myself increasingly frustrated and disappointed.

This book needs significant improvement in its world-building, character development, and plot organization. It had the potential to be a compelling read but ultimately failed to deliver a satisfying experience.

I'd been hearing a lot about this book before I requested the ALC and a friend's review plus this gorgeous cover led me to request it. It's my first book by this author and I really enjoyed this audio. It's not at all what I was expecting but not in a bad way. I figured it would be all about the romance but it's more about self-acceptance, friendship, overcoming trauma, and then finding love. Marlow is such an interesting character, she's fighting herself and what she's seeing doesn't match up to what she's been taught her whole life, leading to a lot of suffering on her part and making it difficult to believe in the truth. I love her character growth and of course Caliban -- he's so supportive, caring, loving and truly willing to do whatever is best for Marlow even if it's hurting him. While he's *lost* for a lot of this book and doesn't have as much character development, his descriptors and the scenes his is a part of make him an easy to like character. Also, he's the Prince of Hell so that's... hot (; Fauna and Az are 100% the best supporting characters ever and I want more of them! Silas is also an interesting character that I want to see grow in the next book. The characters are solid and entertaining and Piper left me wanting more of all of them. The mythology is easy to follow and very well done with a lot of worldbuilding. I did find the beginning a little slow but overall I really liked it and look forward to continuing with the series. It's a fun, at times heart wrenching and emotional, journey that definitely sets the series up to get better and better.

Now for the audio narration: Luna Rey is the narrator and does a lovely job! I believe this is the first time I've listened to an audio narrated by her but her voice was smooth, easy to listen to for hours on end, and kept me engaged in the story from start to finish. The pacing was good and I was able to listen at my preferred 2x speed without feeling like I was listening to gibberish! I would certainly listen to more by her and hope she continues narrating the rest of this series. It was nice to listen to this one for some of the pronunciation but also because storytelling is an ancient practice and how stories were told long before people started writing things down and with the mythology aspect of this novel it just felt very fitting.

If you like mythology, strong & protective men, books with books within them (hope that made sense🤣), romantasy, some spice, soulmates, funny side characters, and don't mind some heavier topics, then check this one out!

There are definitely some triggers to consider before reading/listening to this one, including: religious trauma, physical assault, parental abuse, how certain mental health issues are portrayed, etc.

Thank you so much Tantor Audio for the ALC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Marlow is desperately in love with her childhood best friend and confidant, Caliban (I think that's how you spell it, I listened on audiobook), and he is devoted to her in return. The only issue is that Caliban is a figment of Marlow's imagination, or at least she's pretty sure he is. Surprise, he isn't. The premise is very sexy and the mystery surrounding Caliban pulls the reader into the story. Unfortunately, "The Deer and the Dragon" was not a great fit for me.

This book includes:
- dark and mysterious, yet very supportive MMC
- gods and goddesses from every mythology (including Judeo-Christian so Christians beware that your God a villain in this story)
- religious trauma
- a road trip heist
- long internal monologues
- childhood best friends to lovers
- psychosis
- no dragons or deer
- TW

While the book has an exciting premise with a very enticing first couple of chapters, there were a couple of issues that prevented me from enjoying it.
1. Marlow (the FMC) was a clear self-insert character, which doesn't usually bother me too much, however, it was so glaringly obvious in this book that it became very distracting. Especially since Marlow's personality was not very grounded and was full of many contradictions. She was also a bit of an "everyone is in love with me and IDK why" character type, which tends to annoy me.
2. Side characters were extremely one-dimensional. Marlow's sidekick/god guide is the quintessential manic pixie dream girl.
3. The pacing unfortunately lagged enough to make me lose interest in the plot.
4. Marlow spends so much time convinced that Caliban is a figment of her imagination, while readers know that he is real. It comes off almost like a miscommunication trope since it came off like Caliban could be doing more to prove he is real. Marlow also makes many frustrating decisions, which can become difficult to enjoy as a reader.

I think there is an audience out there for this book, but unfortunately, it was not me.

I received this audiobook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Piper CJ, and Tantor Audio for the opportunity to review this book. This review is also available on my GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, & Tantor Audio for the AudioARC! All thoughts are my own.

The jury is still rather perplexed as to the likeability of this story, so I am going to do a pro/con list instead.
PRO:
- has a take-no-sh*t main character that life hasn't been so good to, and through grit and confidence made a thriving life for herself.
- the fact that there is an element of a story within a story here. The main character is an author and her fiction becomes reality.
- dark scrumptious man who will wait an eternity for her to choose him.
- Using mythology and creating multiverses where worlds connect but are separate.
- the fact that the main character is a best selling author of smut...priceless.

CONS:
- The glamorization of sex working. To each their own, but when you so clearly "judge" and vilify an entire religion and then turn around and glorify a career where women use their bodies in exchange for money, it leaves a foul taste in the mouth of your reader...just saying.
- Obsessive and borderline creepy characterization of men (the man-hating vibes were rather over done).
- ALL the bashing of Christianity. You obviously did your homework on all the other 4,200 forms of religion you mention (and over exaggeration to the number of religions mentioned, but there's a lot), but not on the highest sales grossing book in the world which makes me think you understand very little about Christianity as a whole. You have quite literally made a villain out of God and Christianity. Not a fan!
- Kinda wish the spicy factor was higher.

Overall the story was entertaining and interesting.
3 out of 4 Stars & NO REGRETS!!!!

DNF @ 28% - I sadly could not get into this at all. I think it's the writing style - it just did not work for me at all and I found myself really not wanting to pick up the audiobook.

This was the first book I've read by Piper CJ, though I've seen her books and her presence seems to have infiltrated my social media. My awareness was limited to knowing she has written fantasy before and that she has a MA in Folklore, based on reels I have seen. Imagine my surprise then when the main character in this book seems to be an exact replica of the author herself - a degree in mythology and an uber successful author of a fantasy series. I enjoyed the world Piper created for her characters and the side characters were funny and decently well-rounded. Azarames, Fauna, and Caliban are interesting and engaging characters. The problem really lies with our main character/self-inserted author, Marlow. Marlow is stupid - other characters tell her this all the time - but she almost seems to have weaponized her incompetence. She makes bad decisions, often directly against the suggestion of other, wiser characters, and then waits for someone to comfort her and tell her it is okay because she's just a human in a world of angels and demons. She is repeatedly told not to give her real name, to make any sort of agreements, or to even thank others for things, because doing so could create a bond or deal that she cannot fathom. So what does she do? Signs a contract with a fertility goddess and allows her blood to be drawn. I quite literally cannot handle the level of incompetence she demonstrates, while also expecting to be coddled and told that everything is fine.

A few other notes: Marlow spends the vast majority of the book going through the same argument in her head - is she crazy or is her shadow-demon-imaginary-friend-lover real? She's prescribed antipsychotics to make the figment go away, but it doesn't work because he is (in fact) real. And yet she continues to debate this for the majority of the book. Her internal monologuing about religious trauma and her own mental health is incredibly tiresome.

The audiobook did not have any trigger/content warnings. I'm unsure if the written book contains these or not, but there are MANY potential triggers that readers need to be aware of. Religious trauma, parental abuse, mental health denial, misgendering, assault, and I'm sure there are more.

I will probably continue the series solely to follow along with the other characters, but frankly I'm hoping that Marlow dies and is reincarnated as a new version of herself in book 2 - otherwise, she's a waste of the page.

3.5 rounded down because I could not justify going to a full 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tantor Audio, and Piper CJ for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I think I need some time to process this book. There were so so many things that I liked about it and so many that I didn’t.

Things I loved:
The world building was amazing and I really liked Marlow’s back story. It really brought a light to decisions to have certain professions because of history and family upbringing. I feel like the author did a great job of appreciating certain aspects of a job that is often looked down upon.

I LOVED Caliban and I can’t wait to see him in book two but that ending left me so worried! I want so much more of him and to see his and Marlow’s relationship grow.

Things I didn’t like:
I know this is fiction but I didn’t like how religious the book was. I feel like that is the nice thing about fantasy, you can leave that out and just make a world with multiple kingdoms and deities or creatures. I felt like the book centered too much around heaven and hell as we know it which took away from the story a bit.

Either way, I am looking forward to the next book!

Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

Read this if you like:
🦌 Mythology
🦌 “Imaginary” Friends
🦌 Books about books

It’s a dark, urban Romantasy with a strong FMC that I really enjoyed reading. Morally gray characters is a bonus that you can’t help but fall in love with!

When I tell you I am obsessed with this book ... I mean I am OBSESSED with this book.

I absolutely loved everything about it.

Dark romantasy? Check. Mythical beings? Check. Morally grey characters? A billion checks.

I loved it so much that after I listened to the audiobook ... I bought a physical copy.

I really enjoyed that the FMC was an author writing about pantheons that she ends up being a part of. I love all the irony.

Will keep you entranced from start to finish!

You get:
• Ghost Daddy
• Dark Romantasy
• Mythical Beings
• Spicy
• Past Trauma
• Author FMC
• Soul Mates

Pick it up now ... and hold on tight. You are in for a wild ride. Available through audio book, ebook, and paperback!

The Deer and the Dragon brings you into an incredible world of multiple realms. It encompasses gods and deities from many different cultures and blends them into an amazing story. The main character has struggled with mental health and religious trauma for years and doubts what she experiences throughout her life until the veil is finally lifted. Cannot wait until the next book in the series!!!

Marlow has to explore within herself exactly what she wants as she gets sucked into a war she didn’t know was being waged. She has to work through religious trauma and societal expectations in the journey to discover the true definition of love.

The way this book is just leaving me hanging is going to haunt me. “But we’re going to be sunflowers.”

As a self-identified slow reader, when I got my hands on an audio arc of The Deer and The Dragon, I couldn’t put it down. When most books take months for me, this took days. Piper has a magical way of weaving life-like characters into a quest to find MarMar’s love of the ages, Caliban, to leaning on found/chosen family to walk through the fires of her past. This book was healing for me in ways I didn’t know I needed and also had me wanting to move to hell, even if just for the drinks and cookies.

First, thank you to NetGalley and PiperCJ for this ARC audiobook. In exchange for my honest opinion..
I was so excited for this book. I knew nothing about the author before I started. To say The Deer and the Dragon was so epically uneventful is putting it nicely. It was so slow for me. We start off with Marlow who has been seeing her “imaginary friend” ever since she could remember. He lives within the Veil which is is eventually able to see into. Turns out this Imaginary friend is a demon. This has a Supernatural vibe just not as good. Angels and demons aren’t really bad or good, but they are still in a battle.
Anyways, Marlow ends up as a high end escort who ends up getting rich and becomes a famous author whose pen name is Merit. Merit is rich and snooty. She does what she has to do because she HAS to like mingling with her fans. She ends up sending her demon away and he can’t come back because of a promise he made. The book gets a little exciting when a former employer from her escort days comes back for her and tries to kill her. This was the only exciting part for me. I think it was gonna go in the up and up. Nope, it just fell after that. The. gods of all kinds are discussed (they all exist along with the man upstairs). Which is a cool concept but was not executed well. The story seemed all over the place but boring. It turns out she’s a reincarnated princess who has been in love with the Prince of Hel for thousands of years. Maybe there were just too many elements trying to be thrown in here. I know I will not be continuing this series. I hope anyone else who reads it has a better experience than I.

This book deserves all the stars, all the thumbs ups. If you're a fan of paranormal urban fantasy reads with a touch of romance, this is the book for you. I could not put this book down, I was so enthralled. Piper has created such vibrant characters you can't help but fall in love with, and a world you'll wish you could escape to. There's humor, suspense, romance, thrills and a little bit of spice too. It touches on various dieties from different pantheons around the world, so if you are not open minded about religion, this may not be the book for you. As long as that doesn't bother you, then this book is worth reading! The cover art and sprayed teal edges are absolutely gorgeous, making this book as beautiful and engaging outside as it is inside. By far this is my new favorite book, and I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

Deities. Gifts. Curses. Delusions. Hallucinations. Demons. A Haunting. A Stalking.


Marlow is crazy. At least, that is what her deeply religious mother instills in her - the idea that the fox she sees as a little girl isn't real. Like the guardian angel she sees at night, the man who watches over her dearly. Her mother reacts in anger, in hate. "You have the devil in you, girl. You are evil. You are tainted." I despised her disgusting maternal figure, as she didn't care for her little girl at all.

A mother does not make you feel like you are wrong, like you are a mistake because you see the paranormal. Because you are different. Marlow's abilities stem from her mother, the sight - something her mother does not admit to for far too long.

So, our strong female lead accepts she sees angels and demons. Only after trying to keep the feel of him - her guardian "angel" away, so she can attempt at a life with normalcy. Except, her life is suddenly in danger and he cannot help her. She wishes him from existence, from her sight.

A mistake. One little mistake sends her on a quest to find her lover, her friend, her other half. Wanting to make up for all the time she assumed he was simply a figment of her imagination, a fragile part of that popped into existence because she needed love - something she could not get through parents or hard work.

This novel was a great read. Nordic pantheon adventures ensue, and our main girl with a grueling past finds out many truths that have been kept from her - that the man she loves, that she is fighting to get back, just happens to be the Prince of Hell.

The war politics are engaging, the battleground of myths and legends coming together in an exciting world of gods and goddesses and demons and angels. Heaven and hell. Genuinely good start to a series, I cannot wait to read what happens next in Marlow's pantheon world.🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars!