When Hunger Games is turn into a book fill with fantasy, dark magic, witches, gods, and enemies to lover, you will be sure that I would be the first one to read it!

We follow Calista, a witch born in the coven of the God of Death. She is the rebellious soul of her family and would do everything to protect her family, most specifically her sister. In few days the harvest is coming, 12 witches and warlock will be sent to their death. This one is even more strange as Death, their god is here this year.

I didn’t know the author before starting this work. I was amazed by her writing. I liked it. It’s very fluid, I didn’t have any issue reading it. I loved the dual point of view. The way we understand more and more the feeling of each of the main characters.

Death is to me someone you can relate same as Calista in fact, each character seems link by fate. They do look like each other. It speak to me when they explain how hard it could be to be accepted the way they are. To feel like you don’t belong anywhere and not feel loved by the ones who should love you. I enjoy the evolution of Calista and how she is one of the perfect representations of the oldest sibling.
Drake and Ari, the two of you… I don’t have many things to say, but in a certain way I can understand why they might have acted the way they did.

This book was great, I loved the universe created, the magic, I was really into the fate trope and how it can be very hard to escape it, or maybe not? I will read the second book without hesitation because I need to know more about the Gods and the two sisters Callista and Ari.

It took me a bit to get into, but once I did, it turned out to be a great and entertaining read!
I‘ll be ordering this title for our store.

“Night of Death and Flowers,” by Rebecca L. Garcia

Dahryst is a haven for witches but for Calista it is dangerous. She has powers that is reserved for God of Death, so she must hide her abilities. During the Harvest she is targeted by the elders, and it puts her friends and family’s life in danger. Azkiel, God of Death, returns after over a century being gone because her powers have called to him.

I loved this book. It started slow but it got so good. The main character is protective and hot headed, and I loved it. I adored the interactions between Calista and Azkiel and the undeniable draw to each other that is hard to resist. The ending was insane! I can’t wait for book 2!!! 5 out of 5 stars, perfect.

-Death God
-Magic
-Witches

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

Love this romanstay book! The authors attention to detail and the sequence of events keep you hooked and reading.

Also such a pretty cover.

4 ⭐️

I like the plot and the draw of the characters. I like that death has to learn as well and that there is a mystery to the whole thing. Memories are gone and I hear is this draw to the FMC that he cannot shake. Not only the draw but when he is able to touch her and not kill her. It was a HUGE moment. He went so long without being able to do that to anyone and to find one person who can withstand death’s touch and live. It’s got to be good. At that moment I was like okay I’m officially here for this. I did find parts that felt slow and others I was like okay here we go. It wasn’t a bad read I just didn’t continuously get that drawn in feeling and the need to finish the book. I enjoyed the read and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I love death in this book because he is so much more than what others portray a character like him as. I loved it.

I wanted to love this more than I actually did, At times, the writing was poetic and beautiful and flowed so freely but at other times it stumbled and dragged on and went in circles .

Hunger Games to satisfy not the government's control over people but the gods control over the witches. The potential is there because who doesn't like morally grey characters?? I also feel this book is unnecessarily long, so much of the content is repeated over and over, yay we get it, the Harvest is horrible and the God of Death's internal monologue is basically the same thing every chapter if the repeats were out I think it would have been a higher review from me because the plot was good.

Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First, thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read overall. The premise is about a witch born with the powers of a god, specifically the god of death. Not only are they dangerous powers, they are forbidden. Naturally, she uses them, is discovered, God of death tries to kill her and finds not only can he not kill her, but he can touch her.

Overall, the book was interesting and I liked the constant shift between the two main characters pov. I think there was a lot that was obvious simply because they had the god of death "forget" a lot of the past which lead me to believe that not only was he responsible for her powers, but that he also actually knew her. Both were correct.

I did enjoy the characters and I am interested in continuing the story

**Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher for the ARC of Night of Death and Flowers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**
▪︎Review is live on Goodreads as of 07/25/2024▪︎

7/25/2024
4⭐️
1.5🌶

I was very excited to read this one, as the cover is so pretty and the plot blurb was very intriguing. The copy I read is not the finalized version, and a recent post on authors IG relays that the finished product is more polished and a bit different, so I will have to read the final version when I have a chance.

Things I liked:
☆enemies-to-lovers
☆prophecy
☆reincarnation
☆the witch covens

I think fans of romantasy will really enjoy this book as it's got all the needed formula to be good fun! I look forward to reading the final version and the sequel!!

I have to stop picking up romantasy books and hoping that it will be the second ACOTAR. Ir sounded fun and I read it pretty quickly, and it will be perfect for die hard romantasy girlies who love Maniscalco's KOTW (I will never forgive Kerri for plunging into romance-focused books) or Elisa Kova's books. If you are looking for a fun read with EtL and tones fun-favourite quotes than this book will be perfect for you.

I’m sad to say that this book wasn’t for me, despite this plot having good potential I didn’t feel like it was well executed.

I don’t feel like throughout the book the characters motives were clear. I understand that it was building up to a plot twist however I don’t think it’s a twist if it’s just completely random and not congruent with the story.

I really wanted to like it, I love the premise of gods and reincarnation but honestly it was a struggle to read.

Star rating: 3.75/5 ✨

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved it! “Night of Death and Flowers” is my first book by Rebecca L. Garcia, but it certainly won’t be my last.

The story is rich with magic, a dark atmosphere, and a “magical Hunger Games” vibe. It weaves together a prophecy, mystery, and a compelling plot. The MMC, a god of death, is both handsome and intriguing. He is the type of MMC that is a villain, willing to let the world burn for you. As the story unfolds, you get to uncover the mystery of his past and witness his flawed, complex nature.

The dual perspectives of the FMC and the MMC reveal their flawed, multifaceted characters, enhancing the narrative depth.

The plot kept me on the edge of my seat, constantly guessing about past secrets and future twists. The slow-burn tension is executed perfectly, making the romantic subplot incredibly satisfying.

The escapism provided by this book is a 10 out of 10. I felt completely immersed in its dark, magical world. The FMC stands out as a bold, badass character whose perspective I thoroughly enjoyed.

I highly recommend “Night of Death and Flowers” and am eagerly awaiting the next book to see where the story goes!Star rating: 4.5/5 ✨

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved it! “Night of Death and Flowers” is my first book by Rebecca L. Garcia, but it certainly won’t be my last.

The story is rich with magic, a dark atmosphere, and a “magical Hunger Games” vibe. It weaves together a prophecy, mystery, and a compelling plot. The MMC, a god of death, is both handsome and intriguing. He is the type of MMC that is a villain, willing to let the world burn for you. As the story unfolds, you get to uncover the mystery of his past and witness his flawed, complex nature.

The dual perspectives of the FMC and the MMC reveal their flawed, multifaceted characters, enhancing the narrative depth.

The plot kept me on the edge of my seat, constantly guessing about past secrets and future twists. The slow-burn tension is executed perfectly, making the romantic subplot incredibly satisfying.

The escapism provided by this book is a 10 out of 10. I felt completely immersed in its dark, magical world. The FMC stands out as a bold, badass character whose perspective I thoroughly enjoyed.

I highly recommend “Night of Death and Flowers” and am eagerly awaiting the next book to see where the story goes!

I think this book had a really neat unique magic system. I liked the whole "hunger games" tournament too. Enjoyed the coven system as well.

The first ~30-40% of the book was captivating and perfect blend of world building and story, but once our main characters made it to the island for the tournament, I feel like the plot lost its way a little. Then the last ~10% of the book was action packed and enthralling.

Tons of secrets and twists get revealed and then it's like the book abruptly ends. I wish the over all main plot of the book had been completed in book 1 and then the consequences of that get played out in book 2.

There were things that were thought or said that were very repetitive, I also would consider this an enemies to lovers, but more of an insta-love.

Overall I enjoyed the story and concept of this book. I am interested to see how Death and Calista fair in book 2!

Night of Death Flowers is a dark fantasy with witches, gods and an interesting magic system. I really liked the premise and feel like it had a lot of potential to be an excellent book, but it fell flat.

We had dual pov between our main characters Calista and Azkeil. I felt the chapters by Calista had more flowery descriptions - enjoyable prose, immersive, dark, but then Azkeil was used for info dumping. It felt quite jarring to have such differences in the writing, but as the story progressed the chapters by Calista also went downhill.

Overall, I think this could have been very exciting but ended up being incredibly repetitive and is in desperate need of further editing with various spelling errors and duplicate words. I think it would still appeal to people just starting out in the darker romantasy genre and I hope the series will improve as it progresses.

Loved the MFC, and not giving a f about society and how they see her! We love a strong woman 👏🏽👏🏽. I enjoyed the character development. Overall this was a cute and fun story to read! Can’t wait for more!

I would say the cover is everything but it is only one piece to this beautiful tale. This tale is a bit slow to start and a little repetitive you can fully enjoy every aspect this has to give. It has many boxes it checked off for me - He falls first, deadly tournament (Similar to Serpents and the wings of night/Hunger Games), Slow burn, Shadow daddy, A strong willed and strong overall female character (She can save herself). My downside to this story is I wish for more emotional depth/connection between the two main characters I felt it was slow burn then rushed to get together. I loved the gothic environment of this, and the description of the environment, characters, items within this book.

I'll start by saying that the cover is gorgeous

The author did a great job creating an immersive, but easy to follow book. But what I really liked was the magic system: every witch is part of a coven and each coven worships one of the gods, thus having powers related to that god. All the information about gods, covens and powers (as well as a pronunciation guide) are found at the beginning, which can be a bit annoying for e-book readers, since there is a ton of information, but I think it's perfect for a printed book.

Regarding the characters, they are quite easy to like and additive to the story, but they are not perfect, instead they are flawed, and I think that makes them more real. The relationship between them also evolves a lot and they start trusting each other more, which makes the team stronger.

Regarding the plot, the contestants are put on an island and the last to remain alive will become the next elder, absorbing everybody's else powers, but that's actually not all. There is also a romance subplot.

Personally, I really enjoyed this book, the only issue is that there is a lot of information and it was not easy to just go back while reading on my phone.

This was the best fantasy I have read in a long time. It was a lot to take in at first with all of the gods but the author did a great job at always mentioning who each god was when they were mentioned. I really enjoyed the fmc and I was glad she spoke up about how she felt against the Elders and the sacrifices. I love how descriptive everything was like I was watching a movie, she even included a lot of smells which I thought was nice. I also loved how up until the very end it was set up to make death and Calista look like the bad guys but they are actually good which I was happy about. I am now obsessed and can’t wait for the next one!

Genre: Dark Romantasy, Dark Fantasy/Romance

An interesting story that merges the world of witches with that of the Gods. Rebecca Garcia has an amazing talent of painting an incredible picture with words. In this story, at times, it was a little too much. I was able to easily visualize the world, the characters, and their actions but sometimes the descriptions became to much my mind would wander in its path to the next moment in the story.

The premise of the story is very unique, witches whose powers mirror the powers of the six Gods they worship. Every witch comes into his or her power in their mid to late teens. Calista and her sister Ari are obligated to submit their names for the Harvest, an event that occurs every ten years. The Harvest is a sacrificial event that determines the next member of society to sit on the council of elders. The twelve witches selected will battle to the death, until only one remains. The winner absorbs the powers of those they have killed. Calista has kept her power a secret, she has the ability to turn people to ash with the touch of her hand. Her sister is her opposite with the ability to bring back life. Even though both have 'volunteered' their names, neither believes they will be selected.

The God Azkiel is the god of death. The Harvest is held in his honor with those who are sacrificed doomed to serve him as protectors of his realm. Azkiel is your stereotypical villain, unappreciated in life, a tortured soul. He is the way he is due to life circumstances. One hundred and fifty years ago, events forced him to place his siblings in a deep sleep but a prophecy stated that during the fifteeth Harvest, one of the witches sacrifice would awaken the other Gods and bring about Azkiel's ruin.

Even though I found the first half of the book to be a bit slow, there was an enormous amount of backstory and world building, the second half pick up energy and read rather quickly. I am a sucker for story in which the heroine and villain strike up a romance but Azkiel just wasn't it for me. Calista is a strong and independent lead character that was easy to get behind and cheer on. The Night of Death and Flowers is a great lazy, feet up, snuggled under a blanket, afternoon read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Posted:
Heather's Book Nook: https://heathersreadingnook.blogspot.com/2024/07/night-of-death-and-flowers-gods-of.html
Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6664727058
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I loved the premise of this book, but having the first four or five pages outline name pronunciation and setting up character back stories realllllyyyyy took me out of it.
Don't get me wrong, I do find this information valuable. But it was overwhelming at the start and kept taking me out of the story to go find the pronunciation guide again, so I was correctly reading the story. What was also frustrating about this is that the author introduced some parts of the story through the narrative (like the harvest) but not others....
I had to DNF really early on.

If you can get past this aspect, I think it'll be a great read for you!