I thought this was pretty good!!

Some parts of this book did feel a little too much? I think mostly just a little more prose and repitition in the writing style, but it didn't take away too much from an overall pretty interesting plot. I came into this expecting Azkiel to be one way, but he was totally different and not in a bad way! I really loved his character and felt for him.

4/5

✨ ARC Review ✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️

This story is presented as a dual POV between Calista and Azkiel. This book is very very descriptive writing heavy, with a lot of inner monologue in comparison to the dialogue between characters. The writing is well done but at times I would class it as just a bit too much on the descriptive side or parts that weren’t needed when it could have been replaced with more plot heavy or character building elements (slowed down the plot sometimes, not enough to lose your self from the story but could be more immersive)

Calista the FMC has had to stay in the shadows of her family for most of her life and has never been shown the love and care that she deserved, and I loved her coming to terms and accepting and appreciating who she is throughout the plot and her growing in strength and confidence all the way through. I love a villain through and through and I really enjoyed Azkiels character, I don’t want to say much about this as I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone 😘 however if you like pining, angst, love triangles and a morally grey love interest then this is definitely suited for you!

The world itself was great, I loved the idea of each ‘coven’ taking on certain power characteristics from different gods, which added to the high fantasy elements of this story.

The best way I can describe this book is FBAA meets the hunger games but make it high fantasy with no vampires and minus a lot of the spice!

All in all this was a great book and I’m looking forward to continuing this series ☺️ if you like high fantasy with an angsty slow burn romance with a possible threat of death constantly hanging over the FMC, this would be a good pick for you 🫶

First of all, I want to say thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read an arc of this book. When I saw this on netgalley, I immediately snatched it up because God of death? Spice? Brutal trials? Magic? I couldn't sign up fast enough.

This book isn't bad by any means but it is slow. There's a lot of repetitive talking and nothing really happens. I feel like the amount of stuff happened could have easily been fit into way less pages.

Az and Cali's relationship doesn't make any sense, even with the revelation later. Four conversations do not equal their feeling development. Especially when two are about killing Cali and his anger at her. This book could use another round of edits and some more fleshing out.

There's a fantastic story in there somewhere, it's just buried under all the lore.

Night of Death and Flowers is a Dark Fantasy Romance with an very interesting and unique Worldbuilding. I loved the magic system and the mythology of the world, specially how the gods are related to the characters powers.

There were some moments in the begging that I felt that had “too much telling, and not enough showing”, and as I’m a person that easily lost her attention, I felt a bit bored, but after 30% the story really hooked me and I couldn’t put it down!

I became very interested in reading this book after I saw it’s gorgeous cover and illustrations. It also basically has all my favorite tropes!
I’m very happy to say that it doesn’t disappointed me. I loved it and totally recommend it.

The main couple is a classic enemies to lovers with slow burn, that will satisfy every reader that enjoy this trope!! They have a lot of chemistry, and they spend a lot of time being really enemies (trying to kill each other). They also spend a lot of time apart, in separate journeys, but for me this only increased the stakes and made me read faster so I could get in the scenes where they meet again!
There is only one spicy scene, and I think it’s the perfect amount for this book (they are really enemies!! They can’t be together at the beginning)

Thank you netgalley and the author for this arc!!

I really enjoyed the story and can’t wait for the next book. The only thing that I didn’t like about the book was the glossary at the beginning. I hated reading and having to turn back to the glossary to continue with the story. I would rather the book be longer than have a glossary. Outside of that, this was a good read!

I received this ARC for honest feedback. Thank you for this opportunity!

This book was wonderfully written. I enjoyed the POV of both main characters. It was so well done, and you didn't feel lost going back and forth.

Calista is a witch with decay magic. She has the power to turn people and things to ash with a touch. The only other person with this power, is the God of Death, Azkiel.
Every ten years years, the city elders have a Choosing, where 12 witches compete to the death, and the last one standing becomes the newest elder member. The rest are sacrificed to Azkiel, their God.
Things are different this time. AZ is back in his human form, and nothing is going to plan. He's also drawn to Calista, and can't remember why.

This novel is full of twists and turns. A bit of spice at the end, and I was hooked throughout. It took just a few hours to finish this book, as I couldn't put it down!

Night of Death and Flowers is a gothic, dark fantasy romance full of vindictive Gods, morally grey characters, prophecy and witches. Wielding a deadly power that she shouldn’t possess, Calista is determined to put a stop to the Harvest, a Hunger Games-esque tournament where only one will win and become an elder of the village.
Azkiel, the God of Death, returns and an ancient prophecy is disclosed. In his vulnerable human state, he is forced to make an alliance with Calista in hopes of changing his fate.
This book was a delightful slow burn filled with vivid world building and great character depth
I did find it to be a bit focused on the details at the beginning, but by the end I was captivated and completely invested in the story.
I did not see the ending coming, which I always appreciate in a book, and it instantly made me want to read the next book!
Thank you so much for the ARC, I look forward to continuing the story in book two!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️/5

Thoughts:
This book. If I could give it 10 stars, I would. I found a new favorite that is quickly headed to Roman Empire stats. I'm about to devour all of Rebecca’s books in order to scratch the itch she gave me with Calista & Azkiel 🥹

We're thrown into a world of jealous, vengeful gods, monsters, a deadly tournament, witches, prophecy, and so much JUICY world building! One thing I absolutely love is a well developed and thorough world and characters. Night of Death & Flowers delivers that and so much more. There is a whole Glossary filled to the brim with information as well as basic information sprinkled throughout the book.

All of the characters have really good depth. There is so much gray area that I was left just as confused as everyone else on who to trust. You want to trust the Gods, but which one do you trust when each one seems to have a different side of events? By the end of the book, I was absolutely fucking reeling with all the information that was revealed with Azkiel’s memories. Definitely worth the anger throughout the book of him refusing to remember lol.

This is definitely a slow burn with tons of tension, banter, and high stakes action in between. My heart felt so full when they finally caved into their feelings and their magic ✨ mingled ✨ I love them🥺

I cannot wait for the next book😫 There's so much more to this book and I could go on foreeeevveeerrrr about it! So, please, pleeeease, read this when it releases!🫶🏻🫶🏻

Thank you so much @netgalley & @rebeccagarciabooks for the gifted book!

Themes:
•Forbidden Magic
•Gods/Goddesses
•Witches
•Monsters
•Deadly Tournament
•Feminine Rage
•He Falls First
•Villain Gets the Girl
•Star-Crossed Lovers

This one I'm still processing my possibly a 4 🌟

It was dark. Super witchy, which normally I'm good with, but it was dark.
Had good troupes, enemies to lovers, I really love that one!

This is kind of like hunger games, and Serpents had a baby, and this is the book.

This book was a really fun fantasy read that I enjoyed for multiple reasons. It had a complete glossary of places, objects, and characters' names and how to pronounce them, a unique magic system, and a competition element to the plot that added a lot of tension. I really loved the backstory behind the covens and the tension between the FMC and the MMC. I look forward to seeing how their story develops in the second book. The things that gave me some trouble in the book were the pacing and the chapter lengths. I feel like the chapters ran a bit long which made it hard to maintain interest. Also, I understand there had to be some background to the story to understand the characters, but this book almost felt like a prequel novel to book #1 with the limited amount of interactions the two main characters had. About 75% of this book was a lead-up to their journey together, which made their interactions look rushed. There is also the factor that I believe the relationship between the two main characters is supposed to be Enemies-to-Lovers; however, because of their limited interactions, when they finally started working together, it took less than 100 pages for them to feel fully comfortable with each other, which was anti-climatic. However, I am mindful this is only book 1 in an intended duology, so I'm hoping their relationship development will take up more page time in the future. I intend to post this review on GoodReads today as well as to other major retailers on the date of publication.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC! This was a good romantasy, although it was much more fantasy than romance. But I'm not complaining. I thought the story was unique and it had a few surprises and twists which I enjoyed. I will definitely read the next book whenever it comes out.

Darhryst should be a safe haven for witches but for Calista it is a dangerous place. She has the power that should be reserved for only the God of Death and therefor must conceal her abilities from her fellow witches. She puts herself and her best friend's life at risk when she decides to stop the tournament of death known as the Harvest. Azkiel is the God of Death and is forced to forge an alliance with Calista who is also the girl foretold to be his downfall.

This book was written so well, it has great world and character building which allows you to fully immerse yourself in the story and the ending is an entire journey in of itself that I did not see coming. I loved the darkness of the book infused with humor and witty banter. I went through a whirlwind of emotions in this book from giggling, to crying, to feeling suspense.

i was lucky enough to receive an arc of this book. i loved the hunger games meets the greek gods type of vibe it had going on, on top of the romantasy plot. the world building in this story was very complex but just enough for the first book in a series that it was not overwhelming. i thoughtfully enjoyed the characterization and how our main characters interacted with eachother although i wish we got a bit more information on some of the other gods and side characters. overall i really enjoyed all aspects of this story and the mythology involved in this world, i would highly recommend to fans of fantasy, romance, witches, magic and mythology.

Dual POV, first person, TW below / 4,5 stars / more detailed review on Goodreads

You'll love this story if you're into:
< Arrogant gods who demand children to fight to death on an island so they could feast on their "sacrifice"
< God of Death who'll kill anyone who's in his way (but is actually a cinnamon bun)
< Witch with dark magic and love for poisons (who disagrees with point < 1)
< Romantic interests that relentlessly try to murder each other
< Elemental magic
< Secrets, prophecies, mysteries, and (voluntary) amnesia
< Slow burn with forced proximity
< Shadow daddy

- The world-building wasn’t complex and only had what was necessary for the story. I definitely wouldn’t say that the story suffered for it, on the contrary, it isn’t confusing like some high fantasies tend to be
+ the GLOSSARY is very well done because it has information that isn’t mentioned in the story.

- Writing TOURNAMENTS is very challenging because many successful books have done it before. I was pleasantly surprised that this author managed to put their spin on it and I didn’t feel like they just copied other books.

- 10/10 for characters and setting

- WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: I didn’t feel any tension and the story didn’t make me FEEL. But I’m pretty sure that if I connected with the writing more I’d laugh, cry, and kick my feet. But I liked the characters and story-line nonetheless.
Also, I wish there was more action because nothing happened in the last 30%. I just feel like some of the bigger scenes were rushed while the smaller were unnecessarily long.
It felt like the author couldn’t decide if the book should be cute or dark so it landed somewhere in between and I wish it embraced both of the sides more.

- That being said, I LOVED the book and carried my Kindle everywhere in case I found a few minutes to read during the day. I am looking forward to book 2 next year.

Trigger Warnings:
Graphic violence, human sacrifice (on page), multiple character deaths, child death by choking (resurrection, flashback on page), blood and gore, religious oppression, profanity, graphic sexual content, snake bite, physical parental abuse (one slap on page, also in past), emotional parental abuse, choking, drugging, near-drowning, and poisoning

I hope that the book was/will be proofread again before publishing because there were some typos. :(
Pub Date 26 Jun 2024

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had been so excited for this book and was really let down. I found both POVs just annoying and not carrying about both of them warring with themselves and just hating each other. I got about 60% of the way through and even with some changes I just felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again and I just couldn’t power through.

A gothic fantasy romance with a morally grey mmc and fiesty fmc, what's not to love?! Filled with world building, lore, great character interactions and a delicious hit of spice.

I loved the story. The god of death returns to his mortal form to be present for a sacrificial ritual, with no memories of the past 150 years and runs into the one witch who has ever inherited his death powers. This starts of a chain of events which slowly teases out why his memories have been suppressed.

I really appreciated the glossary and pronunciation guide at the start of the book. There is a lot of gods and flowers and rituals to get your head around and being able to look up what everything means helps a lot!

I did find the story a bit hard to get into, but the more I read the more I became hooked!

The ARC I received contains a lot of grammatical errors and repeats a few sentences throughout the book.

Night of Death and Flowers is a captivating tale that explores the perilous path of a young witch, Calista, as she struggles to conceal her forbidden power and confront her destiny. In the haven of Dahryst, Calista carries a dangerous secret: the ability to wield the power of the God of Death. To survive, she must keep her gift hidden, even from her closest friend, Azriel. However, when a sinister tournament threatens the lives of those she loves, Calista risks everything to stop it. As the God of Death, Azkiel, returns after a century-long absence, an ancient prophecy unfolds, foretelling his downfall at Calista's hands. Amidst secrets and revelations, Azkiel and Calista forge an uneasy alliance, intertwining their fates in a dangerous dance with destiny. Garcia's writing is both atmospheric and immersive, creating a vivid world filled with magic, danger, and intrigue. The characters are complex and relatable, with their own motivations and desires that collide in a symphony of suspense. Calista's journey is one of self-discovery and acceptance. She must confront the darkness within herself while striving to protect her loved ones. Azkiel, on the other hand, struggles with his own past and the weight of his responsibilities. One of the strengths of the novel is its exploration of the nature of darkness and its potential for both destruction and redemption. Garcia deftly weaves a tale that questions the boundaries between light and shadow, leaving the reader pondering the consequences of their own choices. I highly recommend this book, it is an unforgettable read that will appeal to fans of dark fantasy, female empowerment, and epic storytelling.

Honestly not much to say other than I loved the description and this one did not disappoint. Very exciting to be back to a fantasy setting, definitely one to get you out of a reading slump.

ARC review thanks to NetGalley
Book: 3.5
Let me start by say this book has SO MUCH potential, and at the beginning i was absolutely hooked. the vibes are immaculate, and i love the way the world works, the covens, the gods, etc.. unfortunately it fell a little flat for me, due to a couple things that can be easily fixed with a few extra rounds of editing. The story line is there, but you never get fully immersed in the world due to the way it's explained, and just when you think you're about to fall into it head first, you get Azkiel's POV and you read the same thing you've already read a few times, all over again.. and after the 50% mark, it felt a little hard to stay interested.
Will i be reading the second book in this duet though??
ABSOLUTELY. Like i said, the story line is there and i can't wait to see where Rebecca takes us next.

I loved this book. The author has an innate ability to conjure up the most vibrant imagery and the plot felt unlike anything I have read in the fantasy genre. The characters were well fleshed out and the dark romance really added to the already high stakes nature of the book. I raced through this in a day and I can't wait to see what the author has lined up next.