The Deer and the Dragon by Piper CJ is book 1 in the No Other Gods series. Marlow thinks she is crazy having a relationship with a man that she thinks lives only in her mind. She can see him, talk to him, and have sex with him. Only later Marlow finds out that he is the Prince of Hell and they have been drawn together in their past lives. When Marlow banishes him frone her life she will travel between realm to find him and to bring him home with her where he belongs. This book leaves in a cliff hanger and you just want to find out what will happen between the two lovers. I would like to thank both NetGalley and Tantor Audio for giving me an advanced copy of this audio book.

♡ 𝙰𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 ♡
2.5 rounded to 3 ⭐️
𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚜 :
•paranormal | supernatural romance
•angels | demons
•fantasy
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The audiobook was just ok! The female narrator sounds like she is whispering and not talking. Which annoyed me a little because I felt like i had to increase my volume just to hear her.
DNF @34% . I really wanted to like this story.
Marlee wasn't a likable character to me. She is the type of person who throws stones and hides her hand. I just couldn't vibe with her.
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I will still recommend this book that enjoys paranormal, supernatural romance that involves angels and demons with a fantasy vibe.
♤ 𝚁𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 May.7 ♤
Thank you, Netgalley, and Tantor Audio for the (ALC)-Audiobook for my honest review.

This is my first read by Piper C.J. and oh boy was it a ride. It took me a little while to figure out where the story was going, but once I started getting an idea of the story line, I was hooked. This book could easily be read in one sitting as it’s that bingeable. This is simply put a fun read with twists and turns to keep your attention from start to finish. It also has a fairly fast pace which contributed to the easy of binging it. Marlow is such a great, well developed character, and I really enjoyed her character growth arc. In order to fully understand the war that Marlow finds herself in, it’s necessary to understand Marlow’s past and what a past she has. I don’t know what I was expecting but teaching children English to escort to fantasy writer was not on my bingo card. It all adds to the unhinged, over the top nature of this book that makes it superbly entertaining. For my spice loving friends, C.J. did not disappoint. There is some seriously sizzling chemistry and not just for Marlow – those around her are not deprived of their carnal enjoyments. If you go in blind like I did (I was hooked by the cover and title) it’s worth noting that there aren’t in fact dragons in this book but it’s still worth the read. I had the audiobook, so apologies if I don’t get the character name correct. Fauna was probably the best part of the entire book for me, and I sincerely hope nothing happens to her sweet obsessed self in future books. Speaking of the audiobook, Luna Ray does a great job of bringing Marlow to life. I love the emotion she evoked for Marlow’s character. It was done in a believable but not over the top manner which added to the overall enjoyment. I would definitely recommend picking this up on audiobook.

This aWas actually my very first audiobook and I really enjoyed it. I listened while reading an arc of the physical copy and thought the experience was cool & the narrator did a great job. She really kept me interested and I believed her as the FMC Marlowe. The concept of this story was really intriguing for me- the aspects of angels, demons, Norse and biblical themes all melded together nicely. I was totally immersed in the story and liked all the little quests the characters found themselves on. I’m excited to check out the authors other books!

Thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for the audiobook ARC.

First, I wanted to talk about the narration. Luna Rey is the narrator and I felt she did a fantastic job. She gave the fmc a lot of depth and emotion. She gave each character such clear voices and personality, that it made it so much easier to decipher everyone - which sometimes is not easy for the first in a fantasy series with a lot of world-building going on.

The fmc, Marlowe, was complex, felt very genuine, and had an interesting backstory that was shared via flashback chapters. I'm not familiar with the author, but it sounds like she input a lot of herself into this story that likely helped it feel authentic. The representation of poverty and sex-working was great to see - I think it will set this novel apart from the others in this genre.

The pacing is interesting - while listening to it, I was hooked. It kept me listening and attentive to the story. However, in retrospect, it did seem quite long when considering everything that happened in the novel. Looking back at the first half - I can't remember much actually happening. I'm curious how I would have felt had I read the physical copy instead of listening to it. I think this book likely could have been edited down 50-100 pages to feel more succinct.

Regardless, I'm fascinated by the characters and the world (which we have only touched the surface of). I want to see the characters that were introduced to Marlowe expanded upon. I'm eager to see more of the main relationship develop as well since we only got snippets of it during this first book.

It's not a perfect book, but I think it has a load of potential. I'm definitely intrigued to read more from these characters and this world.

I really liked the premise of the book, hallucinations that turn out to be real, a new and exciting world of fae, a prince of hell? Yes please! But I found it all fell a little short and a bit shallow.
At times I felt like the author was writing about herself, a fantasy author (great) who turns on audiobooks of other authors who write terrible books so she can show them how to do it amazingly (not so good and a bit awkward).
The lead character is also a sex worker (fine) but it is written in such a light, fluffy, ultra glamorised way I found the book hard to take seriously afterwards.
I found it hard to be invested with the main love interest, he shows up some times and she really wants to have sex with him but where’s the deep connection I can get lost in?
I found the narrator a little too breathy and winy but not so much that I wouldn’t continue to listen.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC

I think this is my favorite book that Piper has written so far.

Crescent City meets Hazbin Hotel meets Supernatural meets Percy Jackson vibes. I am obsessed.

I was granted early access to the audiobook (thank you RB Media!!!) and highly recommend readers opt for the audiobook to read this book. The narrator brings this story to life in the most compelling way—between the fabulous performance of the narrator and deeply developed and consistently engaging prose, characters, and scenes in this book, it is absolutely the way to go.

I loved that this book consisted of a few different “side quests” as we moved through the story. It felt very reminiscent of the way that the Percy Jackson book one storyline moves, jumping between a lot of different locations and side characters and tasks that need to be accomplished. It kept the book moving and I was hooked immediately.

I enjoyed the entire book, but I definitely loved the last 1/3 of it the most. There were so many interesting takes on a variety of different mythological and biblical characters and I loved getting to explore what a world would look like if all of these pantheons were real.

While I know that some readers have criticized the reflections of Piper’s own experience in this book, I personally appreciated how much this book reflected some of Piper‘s own story, and found it felt more authentic because it had elements of truth imbued in the writing based on the author’s own history and experience. It takes an excellent writer to write about things that they have experienced in a fictional book and not have it feel overdone or reaching.

This book is exciting, spicy, and every character you meet feels deeply developed and intentional. It takes twists and turns and is jampacked full of interesting and deeply complex characters. And it is absolutely worth a read.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

4.5 ⭐️ Wow! This was actually so good! This book exceeded any expectations I had. Ive read a few mythology books, but none on religion mythology. I wish there were more interactions between the FMC and MMC. Overall, I loved this book and can't wait to read the rest of the series.

“The Deer and the Dragon,” by Piper CJ

Marlow has lived her entire life thinking she suffered from delusions. She now finds our creatures exist; angels, demons, fae, gods and all. She also finds out her imaginary man of her dreams is really a Prince of Hell. The Prince of Hell has now gone missing, and Marlow is determined to find her way back to him.

This book is readable, and I did not hate it, but I have a lot of things I didn’t like about the book. I did like the concept of someone who has maladaptive daydreams struggling with real life and figuring out what is real and not real. What I didn’t like was that FMC is stupid. She told him to go away twice! Even after the first time she regretted it she still decided to do it again, like what?! Also, she writes fantasy, so she has knowledge of supernatural lore but then finds out the supernatural is real, so she acts like she’s never heard of anything non-human ever, it was actually pretty annoying how her personality did not line up a lot of the time. And then last is it was marketed as Hazbin Hotel meets Crescent City, and I’ll be honest… it did not give me enough of those vibes to consider it anything like it. I listened to the audiobook version and the audiobook narration was good and I enjoyed that part of it. 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

Piper CJ did a fantastic job of writing a story that draws in the reader and keeps the pace fast but not to the point of confusion. The characters are wonderful and I truly enjoy reading about them. The side characters as well as the main characters all seem to be well developed, and I have gotten rather attached to several of them. The mythology and folklore were also a big part of what I enjoyed about the book. It was fascinating to see how this mythology could be woven into the world of everyday life.

In the description, it says that The Deer and the Dragon is a mix of Hazbin Hotel meets Cresent City and this was the one issue I had, while the story revolves around Heaven vs. Hell there wasn't much more that reminded me of Hazbin Hotel.

But even with that small disappointment I am so excited that this is the first book in the series, and the next in the series can't come out quickly enough.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Tantor Audio for providing me the ARC audiobook.

DNF @ 40% Through on Audiobook
As I did not finish the entire work, I would prefer not to rate the book in its entirety, but as a star rating is required, what I did read I would give a 1.5/5 starts.

Firstly, thank you to RB Media for allowing me access to the ARC!

Though this book is right up my alley in terms of genre, it was just not my cup of tea. I am SURE this will be a super popular title, especially given the popularity of the genre and the sprayed edges limited release. This book certainly has an audience! But at this point in my life, I did not find the main character appealing, interesting, or relatable. My interpretation of Marlowe was that she felt very bad for herself, would beg for help when she needed it, would lash out at those who gave her help, and blame others whenever she made mistakes. This is not a character I am looking for at this point in time.

Furthermore, the "searching for my lost love" plot is very much a second book plot for me, especially as I REALLY need connection to the characters to care. That was not established enough for me in the beginning. I know that the time jumps/flashbacks were meant to assist with this, but there were so many about such a wide variety of things that it felt disjointed and busy. Unfortunately, this book did not have my attention, so I will revisit it in the future and give it another shot.

With that being said, I didn't have any qualms with the narrator, though for a book that will be as big as this, I would recommend having a duo and having someone else voice Calliban in the future.

I absolutely loved this book. This book had me hooked right away. It had angels and demons and fae and gods. It was so so good. I loved the characters and their personalities. I loved how sexy all of the gods were.
The book depicts the FMC’s battles with knowing if the entity she has been seeing all her life is real or not. She battles with religious guilt due to how she was raised. She has extremely devout parents (especially her mother) and she steers away from that path, towards a demon. Mind you this demon is so amazing. He’s protective, sexy, just all around not a terrible person.
The spice in the book was HOT. It wasn’t open door, going at it scenes the whole time. Rather the spice was the characters talking about what they want to do to the other or what they have done before. The way they are described was perfection.
I can’t not wait for book 2.

Marlow really was so insufferable The plot was interesting enough, but seriously. Hard to say how much I like the MMC because he wasn't even in it that much. The level of obnoxious pick-me from the FMC was truly painful to read. Her inner thoughts are repetitive, making sure the reader knows how much religious trauma she has, and how she was a sex worker. We get it. Not sure if I'll continue this series.

Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley

This will definitely be one of my favorite reads of the year. I loved this book from chapter one.

Marlow is every human woman faced with a new reality. As much as I would like to think I’m super smart, I would probably be asking dumb questions too. I can only hope I would find someone like Fauna and Azrames to guide me. Fauna also steals the show every time she’s on the page.

The narrator was excellent. And the story made me feel so many feelings.

This book is problematic in so many ways. First, the FMC (Marlowe) reads like the author is writing about herself insofar as she is in author of a bestselling series. We are introduced to some of her friends, who are always checking in with her, but Marlowe never returns that favor and sees herself as better than them. The flashbacks surround her life as a sex worker, which apparently she enjoyed, namely because of all the money and power she had over those men. This shows the lack of knowledge the author has about the sex trade, and comes across as extremely callous. The FMC is shown as "seeing things," which she thinks is a mental illness, and I am guessing it turns out to be different. (I did not finish it, but enabling schizophrenia is disturbing.) It becomes super clear that the author (and FMC) is very political and inserts her views throughout. Marlowe (and I'm thinking the author as well) has a ton of religious trauma, which is emphasized throughout the book and gets to be plain annoying. There is seriously nothing about this book that is redeeming or charming.