I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I mean, demons and angels and gods, oh my!! This had a little bit of everything, from different pantheons of gods to Marlow literally being in love with the prince of Hell.

To start, let me say that this book had a lot of twists and turns I did not see coming. I was invested in the character because of her attitude towards the world, but she makes some seriously dumb comments at times. With that being said, I was shipping her and Caliban from the very moment we met him.

My issues with the plot were minor in the grand scheme of things, but there were some things that I had to just push through. This book was really a trust in the process kind of thing for me, and in the end, it kind of worked?

But like, Marlow, honey, stop being stupid.

I'll definitely be reading book 2 when it releases.

Lastly, the narrator for the audiobook did a fantastic job bringing this book to life.

This was a good fantasy romance novel. The adventure was so fun and I loved the characters except it took my a while to understand the story and what was going on.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Tantor Audio for the ARC audiobook of The Deer and the Dragon by Piper CJ.

A coworker mentioned CJ to me as we were talking romantasy, and how she is a compelling voice (on a podcast? or TikTok? I can't remember) as she has a master's in folklore so she is able to view the genre from a wider and more focused lens. When I saw the audiobook appear on NetGalley, I immediately hit "request" based solely on this. I truly was interested in an author who could really technically take on the subject matter in a new and interesting way.

From there, I feel a bit conflicted. I was engaged in the story - I LIKE the story, but I was also equally confused. What I can say, is that the description is just the barest hint at what the book is about, and at no point could I predict what would happen next because the story goes in a very variable trajectory while also engaging in a lot of backstory and flashbacks. There is a LOT of varied mythology and religion throughout the book. A LOT. As someone who is not religious but understands the impact of religious trauma, Marlow, our main character, is sympathetic in that respect. That's about as far as my understanding went as it relates to the rest of the book's mythos and religious wars - once the Phoenicians were included I had no clue where any of these things fell in a religious order, in addition to not understanding how multiple realms of gods and hell and angels all interacted with each other. I think the book would benefit from more significant and clearly established world building.

Marlow herself is a confusing character. We begin with her being sex positive, and the first 12% of the book has a lot of sexual moments. We see Marlow as a young woman traumatized by her poor, aggressively religious and abusive upbringing who breaks free of that cycle through working as a high-level sex worker and then as a massively successful author of mythological based books. We see her as someone who is very medicated as she thinks Caliban, her lifelong friend and lover, is a figment of her imagination and that she is mentally unwell. From there, Marlow as a character ebbs and flows on who she is from paragraph to paragraph. She is an author of massively popular and researched mythology novels, but she still doesn't understand the power of a name or of a bargain. She is very pro-sex, but then is embarrassed by two other characters flirting in front of her. She talks about how she can put on the mask of her different aliases, while at the same time being so incredibly unsure of absolutely everything while then also declaring that people she has met within the week after she is able to see her sigil are her best friends and she trusts them implicitly. She is all over the place. She is oversexed, scared of sex, stand offish, super friendly, ultra competent and entirely nonsensical. I wanted to shake her so often. There were some hints around her flashbacks at the end of the novel, as well as some things said about the penultimate final scene, that make me think Marlow is going to skyrocket to the top of the female savior role we see so often in romantasy, but she has no character progression or trajectory toward this. The most similar comparison I can make is to Jennfier Armentrout's books, where Armentrout is just pulling the next most convenient plot with no respect to the current one or the true growth of the characters. Is it entertaining? Yes. Do I know what's happening? Not really.

We see very little of the Prince of Hell - so that was also a direction I did not expect. I wish we got more page time with the two of them instead of all the flashbacks we received instead.

I think if the plot were slimmed down a bit, or maybe the worldbuilding was slimmed down or clarified, that this would read a lot more clearly and more engagingly. The book ends on a cliffhanger - but it is light compared to other books I've read - it feels like something that will be resolved within the first 2 pages of the sequel. I am still curious to know what happens next, and I love urban fantasy and a range of authors who write it, but I would hope things are tightened in the next iteration so I'm not just completely lost in the entire plot, just like Marlow. And again, I generally liked the book - I wished it wasn't the audio version because I probably would have read it in 2 sittings - it's just on reflection I can see some pain points that didn't stop me from reading, but also didn't put this at the top of my list.

The audio narration was fantastic - I feel all characters were given very distinct voices that paired well with their descriptions. CJ also has images of the characters on her website, and I feel like both the audio and visual meshed really well with what I was thinking of the character's individually.

Tropes:
Romantasy
Angels and demons
Mythology/folklore
Religious trauma
Human girl finds out she’s part fae and the guy she’s in love with is the Prince of Hell
Ends in a cliffhanger

Good, interesting storyline but I just couldn’t get into the book or the FMC.

1.5 stars

While I didn’t enjoy Piper CJ’s last series, I wanted to give her other works a fair shot and to see how she’s progressed as an author. I’m glad to report that there’s been some improvement in terms of craft but sadly not enough to meet my standards. If this wasn’t an ARC, I would have DNF’d very early on.

CJ’s writing style suits urban fantasy much better than high fantasy, and she has dialed back the gravitas somewhat for the modern setting. Even so, my evergreen complaint remains: a lot of the prose is needlessly overwrought, melodramatic, and/or confusing. The very first line nearly made me put down the book entirely.

While CJ has many imaginative and promising ideas, I am continually disappointed by the execution. Unfortunately, the premise is the strongest part of this book. In actuality, the plot comes across as meandering, strangely paced (in part due to long flashback chapters), and lacking forward momentum and proper setup for the events that unfold. The logistics of the world make little sense to me (How does every single pantheon exist without having major effects on the human realm? Have the various deities taken specific steps to prevent disrupting the human realm?). By nature of including multiple pantheons, much of the information about mythology feels quite surface level.

Further, the main character Marlow, who should be compelling in theory, lacks agency in her own story and generally reads as unlikeable because of her behavior and what the author has decided to do with her character. It felt like the author tried to cancel out Marlow’s traumatic upbringing, which would likely resonate with many readers, by making her remarkably successful, wealthy, and special while mistreating and looking down on those around her. I wasn’t fond of any of the other characters either. I also felt like I never got to know the love interest character because he doesn’t receive a lot of page time, resulting in a lot of telling instead of showing about his relationship with Marlow.

I will not be continuing with this series.

DNF @ 22% | chapter 10

This is so all over the place. I tried going in with an open mind but can’t keep track and enjoy this. This is so self-insert that it hurts. 🙈

Audiobook narration was great, however, the source material is NOT IT.

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐⭐⭐ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝-𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬). 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐰, 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 “𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲” 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐚𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐰’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧.

𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐂.𝐉. 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬!

𝐻𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒫𝒾𝓅𝑒𝓇 𝒞.𝒥., 𝒯𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑜𝓇 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

I went in being very curious about this book as it is something very different from the author's first series. But she did such a fantastic job. There are elements to this series that were extremely relatable to me that I thought I'd never read (or listen to) in a book and it felt like a giant hug. The narrator was exactly how I imagined the main character to speak and did a fantastic job narrating this book.

This was an interesting and unique world that explorers a very different look at heaven and hell. The story itself is a bit disjointed but it does all start to come together toward the last third of the book. I would be interested in book 2 of this series because there is a cliffhanger at the end of book 1.

The narrator and audiobook made this book worth listening to. If you're trying to decide the format to read this book I would suggest getting the audio version. The narrator brought the characters and stories to life.
This is an interesting new paranormal romance. I think the book is easy to read, fast-paced with interesting multi-dimensional characters. So the plot is about a human girl who has been seeing someone in her room that no one else sees. She kinda starts falling in love with him when she realizes that he’s a demon/ prince of hell. The romance is cute, the stakes are high and there is a lot of religious mythology about demons, angels, and gods along with the religious trauma and questioning the fmc faces. This was a solid first book, the characters and plot were okay and I think it had potential. Thanks to the publisher for this alc for an honest review.

Read if you like:
- Paranormal romance
- Religion mythology
- Demons/angels
- Very modern world
- Queer characters

I couldn’t ever really sink into this story because I could find the identity. I just tried to write a synopsis, but couldn’t even decide what the plot even was. When I try to formulate a description, the best I can do is say that a group of characters, that may or may not be human, travel around together and may be changing planes/stratospheres, but between travels we see flashbacks of the main characters past which include her heavy handed upbringing, sex work, perceived mental illness, and imaginary friends as the group tries to save all of existence.

Sex is talked about a lot in this book and it is clearly meant to be sex-positive, but the spice is what I would call closed door for the readership that prefers strong allusions to spice without details. The world building is difficult to follow, which my brain interpreted as word salad, and is provided by conversational info dumps so not really woven into the story, contributing to the compartmentalization of the plot elements and difficulty in melding it all together.

For the librarians: This book would not ever be an appropriate addition to our library collection. The author has created a mashup of mythology, but has also included representation from Christianity. While I understand many people consider Christianity another flavor of mythology, it is fairly bold to use it as plot fodder in a fluffy fantasy series. I am not opposed to using biblical characters in stories (Sue Monk Kidd’s Book of Longings did it well) nor am I a practitioner or participant of any organized religion, but this was gratuitous and did not add any meaning or integral context to the story. While I am not personally offended, I wouldn’t be able to justify purchasing something intended for broad appeal that would only interest a small fraction of patrons.


Good audio narration.

This fantastical romance was extremely descriptive. The characters were diverse and engaging, but my favorite was Fauna. She was so blunt and honest I had to laugh and shake my head at some of her comments. I wish Marlo had been a stronger more confident personality. She had been a call girl for years and used that to springboard a popular writing career. She should have exuded confidence and strength. Over all a good story with strong character and world building.

I usually try to finish every ARC I receive but this was just so poorly written I couldn't stomach it. Marlow was insufferable

4/5⭐️
2/5🌶️
Narration 4/5⭐️

Thanks so much to Netgalley/Tantor audio for providing me with this audiobook!

This book was so fun to read! It had a super interesting world with great characters and some very intense and sometimes spooky moments!
I really liked how Piper CJ wrote the FMC in general but especially how she experienced her anxiety, it was so realistic it made me a little anxious with her. The handling of everything going on emotionally with the FMC and her religious/regular trauma was really thoughtfully done and I really liked the main character overall. I did feel like there were a few moments that I was frustrated with her going back and forth if she believed what was happening was real or not but I understand why that choice was made despite me getting tired of it.
The plot was super interesting despite being pretty slow to progress but I was not a fan of getting so little time with the main love interests together. I think that killed their chemistry a bit for me just simply because the MMC was not present for what felt like the majority of the book. The ending also felt very abrupt to me and I wish we had cut out some of the slower scenes in the middle to get a bit more time with the main characters together before the end (and also maybe some time put into the storyline with her friends that was never really addressed although I’m sure it will be covered in the next book.)
Overall I really enjoyed this book a lot and I am super excited for the next one!

**ARC provided by NetGalley**

This is my first book by this author. It took me a little bit to get into the story as I wasn't quite sure where the story was going as there were a few elements I liked and others I didn't or was confused by. But it didn't take long for me to be drawn in and invested but not for the main character but as much as the side characters. I especially loved when Fauna was introduced. She cracked me up and I loved her character so much!

There were points where the plot didn't really make sense and it felt like a few different plot lines meshed together until about the halfway point. We had a creepy paranormal romance vibe with weird monsters and serial killers and while they served a purpose to the plot a little bit it almost felt a bit too out there?

I liked the mix of mythology and religion to create a solid worldbuilding of the realms in the book.

I received a free Advanced Reading Copy via NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.

There was nothing wrong with this book, I just realized that romance isn't the genre for me.

This was a fun romp. If you’re a fan of Lara Thalassa’s Bargainer series you’ll really enjoy this. When you fall in love with a prince of Hell how do you deal? I absolutely loved Fauna! I really enjoyed the audio & narrator, which is always a huge plus. AND with that ending I can’t wait for book 2!!!

Piper CJ does it again. She has completely hooked me with this book. I could not put it down. I was lucky enough to get an ARC audiobook from NetGalley. I had been eagerly anticipating Piper's 2nd series. Piper writes beautiful and vivid prose that makes me want to live in every world she creates. She uses wonderfully descriptive language to completely immerse readers into Marlow's world. The characters are complex, flawed, and lovable. The plot is the perfect mix of levity and joy with heart-wrenching and tense moments.
Piper does an amazing job weaving mythology with the story. I can't wait to learn more about the pantheons in future books. I'm also looking forward to spending more time with all the characters and I'm so glad this is a series. Piper is so intentional with her foreshadowing. The Deer and The Dragon is full of delightful breadcrumbs. Piper excellently sets up the series and the ending had me on the edge of my seat.
Luna Rey was also an amazing narrator. She powerfully captures the emotion of each scene. And she makes each character sound distinct.
If you are a lover of romatacy, I highly recommend The Deer and The Dragon. This is the best modern fantasy/mythology book I've read. This is a book that I plan to reread over and over, including as soon as I am finished with this review. See you in hell!

I picked this book for my store's book club in May. I liked the idea of romantasy mixed with mythology.
I liked the overall story, but I have to say I got a little bored. It was a tad slow for me. I needed a little more chemistry, background story, present tension between the love interests, and a little more magic. I think this would have a made a fantastic stand alone! I would love this to have had a happy ending between Marlow and her prince and the second book perhaps to focus on the other couple...
That being said, I am not its target audience. Although I almost exclusively read romance, romantasy is not for me. I do not like long series, cliffhangers, etc. I think the book club will love it. Most members are romantasy fans!

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC for early review.. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

Rated 0.5 stars. The Deer and the Dragon is a major miss on almost all fronts.

A bit of praise before the critique; Luna Rey does a nice job narrating and l enjoyed her character voices and performance. I do think it's funny that Piper CJ managed to get someone with a moon themed name to read her book, though.

Now on to the critique.

The audiobook (which was the only ARC format available on NetGalley) did not contain trigger warnings, content warnings, or in fact any kind of author's note about the sensitive content contained within the book. This is a major miss. Here's a shortlist of content warnings for this title.

•Religious trauma
•Abusive parental figures
•Mental health denial
•Psychological breakdowns (the main character thinks she is crazy for many, many years)
•Assault of a woman in her own home
•Being stalked
•Misgendering
•Being drugged without consent
•Being drugged for the purpose of sex
•Dubcon/noncon

This is the kind of stuff that needs to be included. Here's some explanation on the misgendering bit.

•Marlow misgenders her friend Kirby, who is nonbinary, point blank to their face by calling them a "horse girl." Kirby immediately corrects this to "horse person." This is played as a joke.

•At one point, Fauna (the main character's manic pixie dream girl companion) is introduced to Kirby. She says she likes their name a lot. Marlow proceeds to say "that's not their real name," and roll her eyes. When Fauna chides Marlow for trying to give out information that isn't hers to give, Marlow glares and says nothing.

•Directly after speaking with Kirby, Marlow reveals the entire reason for Kirby's chosen name, without asking permission to share this story, which is intertwined with a trauma dump to Fauna, whom she met for the first time yesterday. She also reveals that she was the one to take Kirby's virginity to Fauna, whom she met yesterday.

•Fauna's only response to this is to coo and comfort Marlow, and state "I love queer culture."

Marlow, the main character, is an incredible thin and see-through attempt for the author to self insert into a story. Marlow has a literature degree with a focus on mythology. Piper CJ has a masters in folklore. Marlow writes bestselling books and makes millions of dollars and is beloved by fans across the globe, including literal deities who want to make deals with her to have their own pantheons featured in the next installment. Piper CJ writes books. Mariow was an abused child who endured significant amounts of religious trauma because of her parents. Piper CJ has never been shy about the fact that she is a victim of religious abuse, which I found out from a few minutes of googling.

It's fine to self insert into your works. It's a viable way to produce content. The issue comes from the fact that Marlow is an insufferable deadbeat who is unlikeable to the nth degree and treats every single person around her like garbage. Here's a rundown of her persona that you get to know in the first third of the book.

•Marlow is laughably rich. Her book series is a current bestseller. People recognize her name in passing. She has the floor beneath the penthouse level at her apartment because she "didn't mind not having the penthouse." She claims to want a simple life and she doesn't want for anything, but drives a BMW, lives in a luxury apartment, and spends money out the wazoo. But the author expects us to see her as a poor little thing who just wants to be normal and go to therapy. This would work if it was written differently but it literally comes off as nothing more than the author's wish fulfillment for her OC (do not steal!).

•Marlow is a retired escort who did sex work to get her start on adult life. This is not a problem in itself, but the way that the author glorifies sex work and presents it as one of the easiest and safest things in the world is neither accurate nor advisable. Marlow didn't have to struggle for her position as a notable escort, she didn't have to work to get reliable clients, and she was handed everything that she needed, including clothes, contacts, references, and appointments, by someone she met on the streets of a foreign country one day.

•Marlow is a bestselling author. She is currently writing book three of her series. She attends conventions and has to force herself to be kind and polite to her fans. She has done so much research to be able to write these mythology filled titles, but when it is recommended that she reach out to a few local witches to try to help her figure out what is going on, she treats them with disdain, rudeness, and disbelief. Which is a great look for a bestselling author, truly. When Fauna, a literally Nordic minor deity, tries to tell her about selkies, Marlow snaps and claims that she's wrong, because she is an expert on these things. She only has three friends at the beginning of the book because she's a shut-in, but she treats all three of them just as badly as the new friends she gains.

•Marlow is the reincarnated princess lover of the prince of Hell and doesn't believe that the white fox/ hot man that has been keeping her company/ having mind-blowing sex with her for over a decade is real. She makes him invisible at one point in time because she doesn't want to see him anymore, and he follows this command to the letter of the law. And she eventually sends him away entirely after a former client stalks her, enters her apartment, an angel shows up to save her by killing said man, as a favor to the demon prince. She is so pissed at the fact that the demon prince does not personally save her after she has treated him like a figment of her imagination for years and put restrictions on his actions that she banishes him entirely. And then she mopes around a lot, because she misses him, and finds out that he's not a figment of her imagination, and wants him back.

Those few bullet points already cover enough word count for an entire review where I could just say "this was quite bad." But let's continue.

I'm only going to mention Fauna as a side character because I only had access to the audiobook and can't spell the name of her boyfriend, but Fauna is just as insufferable as Marlow. She is rude, mean, snotty, bitchy, and the epitome of a manic pixie dream girl. She bullies Marlow, makes fun of her, calls her stupid, physically harasses her when she's in shock while waterboarding her in a shower, all of your typical mean girl checklist items. She's a minor deity from Marlow's side of the veil, the Nordic pantheon. Marlow is one eighth fae. They have to go on a a quest to... um... get the demon prince back? Figure out if Heaven is taking the lead in the war? Unlock the secrets of Marlow's past? Something. Pick one, they all happen. That's because---

The plot is a disorganized mess. It's like if someone took the splendor and depth of Daughter of Smoke & Bone and put it in a broken down soccer mom van for a roadtrip with three people who only want to sing Hazbin Hotel songs and make out with each other. And yes, this book is marketed as Hazbin Hotel meets Crescent City, and it's nothing like either of those, other than the fact that the author clearly loves both of them and wanted to live her self insert fantasy as the princess of hell with a fae for a best friend and a demon assassin as eye candy. I listened to this entire book and I can only tell you the barest details about what was even happening. But I distinctly remember that it was entirely a boring right up until about 40%, when things finally started happening.

Let's end this off by talking about the spice. There's a max of two explicit full length sex scenes in this story. One of them is Marlow having sex with her demon prince boyfriend even though she doesn't think he is real. The other one is a drug-induced lust session where Marlow makes out with multiple people, is unable to control her body or stop herself from taking steps forward, and ends up almost having sex with her demon prince boyfriend because he manages to show up in time. And the only reason this non-consenting drug-induced orgy does not occur is because everyone in the room who isn't a main character dies graphically because it's a trap. This is not cool. This needed to be in the trigger warnings for the book. So, limit the sexy times down to one full length scene max, which still has the issue of one of the participants considering herself clinically insane, because I will not count non-consenting drug induced sexual encounters towards a spice rating when there was no content warning.

To quote my own message from earlier in this review; This was quite bad. I wanted to pick this up to give Piper CJ a shot after all of the issues of her first series (racism, plagiarism, bullying reviewers, occupying reviewer space, etc). Maybe she had a chance to improve and tackle those issues and would put out something really notable. The Deer and the Dragon is just as problematic as the rest of Piper CJ's work. And no, in case you were curious--- there are no dragons.