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.

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.