Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars!

This was a very quick read and easy to get into!

I liked the world and the magic system, I thought it was unique and cool!

I loved Calista and Death together! I loved how their power was connected and he didn’t shy away from her darkness. I enjoyed that she did have that darkness in her and she wasn’t a complete damsel in distress. I love morally grey characters, that have goodness in them but aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty!

I expected more villainy from Death though. He did have his moments when he did evil things, but he didn’t seem that heartless for a lot of it. I was expecting to see more. To mortals he seemed evil, but he really wasn’t. He did some cruel things, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t all that bad.

I wish they had more scenes together though. By the end they were together a lot! But I wish we could have seen that build more. Yes he helped her out, and their magic drew them to each other, but we didn’t see them really falling in love again. Just one minute she hated him, the next she lusted over him. Which you can lust over someone and not be in love, but they did have that connection. For most of the book he wasn’t around her, and I would have loved to see them together. At the end I was eating all their interactions up!

I love a trope where magic connects them and lets them have a strong bond that draws them to each other.

I hate the best guy friend trope in books like these, especially when they’ve always had a thing for each other but you know it won’t happen because of the new main love interest. Obviously she was not going to end up with Drake in the end, so why try and put them together? It’s just pointless. I’d rather there be no romantic feelings for the best friend because the best friend is always boring and uninteresting, and just plain annoying. I did get smug when Drake knew they were together and got angry about it, but he still was a waste of space in my opinion. I’d much rather read about Calista and Ari’s sister bond and leave it at that. She didn’t need to protect two people. That was one thing that bothered me. He just seemed like a plot device and not someone to actually care about.

I loved Thorn, even though he wasn’t in it very much and he is a crow. I was so scared something was going to happen to him, that would have been so sad.

I think there was a lot of plot points that didn’t need to be there. I think the Harvest aspect of the book could have been cut out completely. It served a purpose to get the characters where they needed to go, but it took up so much space in the book yet was barely focused on and didn’t have any payoff or importance at the end of it. They only had a couple of fights to make it seem like the “Hunger Games” and everything else was about freeing the gods. I also think the beginning dragged, but that goes back to we didn’t need the set up of the Harvest because I didn’t think it needed to be in there. I would much rather have read a bunch of scenes with Calista and Death in place of all the talk about how Calista’s family was against her and how it was unfair that people were forced into the Harvest. Especially because again, that was of so little importance by the end of the book.

And the ending! I love a good cliffhanger and could see one coming knowing there was a second book, but it ended way too abruptly! It felt like she didn’t know how to end it so she just ended it in the middle of a scene. I didn’t need much more at the end of it, but something to close it off better.

Despite all of that, I really do think it’s worth reading, especially if you like all of the tropes listed! I definitely want to read the second book, especially because I have a feeling that we will see Azkiel and Calista interact way more, as well as, I’m hoping we will see Calista descent to a more evil and destructive path, since I love a good corruption arc.

I will be posting this review on Goodreads on 6/19/2024 and on Amazon on the release date!

I received this as an ARC & I must say it’s so beautifully written.
However before diving into this book I do recommend looking into the triggers that are inside the book as there are quite a few & your mental health is important 🫶

The author gives you a glossary in the beginning of the book describing each and every important detail in the book giving you pronunciation on the names and detailed descriptions on the world that you are put into allowing you to imagine & understand the story more.

This book had me hooked & made me fall in love with the characters! I have yet to finish the book but I have gotten quite a bit into it but I do recommend giving it a read once released

This book held a great deal of potential and I was very excited to read it. The storyline was everything I craved, witches and gods, action and romance. The author skilfully set up the world, giving each coven distinct characteristics and detailed backgrounds.
The main characters provided some complexity and intrigue, without being empty.

However, I really struggled with the writing in the copy I was provided. Unfortunately this has affected my rating heavily, as the issues were present throughout the majority of the book, with sentences that didn’t make sense, pronouns being switched randomly and punctuation that wasn’t appropriate. I really hope that this gets another round of edits before publication, the story has the potential to be great but the writing really let me down.

I really enjoyed this book! A slow burn spicy romance mixed with an exciting world of gods and magic. I enjoyed the author's writing style and she really brought the characters to life. I found myself not wanting to put the book down and I can't wait to read the next one now!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC to read and review.

Tiktok review to be posted on publication.day.

Wow, so good! There were many things I didn’t see coming, which doesn’t happen often for me and I thoroughly appreciated that. One spicy scene. Definitely enemies to lovers trope. You’ll get Hunger Games vibes from this because people are forced to kill each other every 10 years. But it’s also more old school with gods instead of futuristic with high tech. Really good read!

I would like to note that I received this ARC with the mindset that I would provide an honest review.

Betrayal
Gods/Goddess
Villain Gets the Girl
He Falls First
Forbidden Magic
💀 Tournament
Witches and Monsters

Premise:
Calista is a witch that has the God of Death’s powers and has to hide her power because of it. However, she has reached the age of the Harvest and this puts her at risk because others could discover her powers. At the same time, Azkiel (God of Death) wow returns to his human form to prevent a prophecy from occurring.
This books puts you on an adventure and it leaves you wanting more. I am excited to see what happens next in the next book.

Okay, let me start by saying one of the best things about this book was the banter, both with the internal thoughts and the conversations between the characters; the banter leaves you laughing and loving the characters more.

I will say that the story dragged in some areas and there were some grammatical errors but nothing that messed with the readability of this book. The world building was long and drawn out in some areas and some plot points were repeated several times throughout the story.
Overall, this was a good first read and I will be reading this again when it releases later this month.

Release Date: June 26th

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
🌶️ 🌶️

Wow what a first book in a series!!! I love the connection between the gods and the witches, its unique with some archaic traditions and secrecy relating to the history of the connection.

My heart breaks for the end of this book, the betrayals and deceptions though slightly predictable are still crushing. Also I love when death especially as a god is depicted in books, the character is always broody, slightly cruel and seductive - a character you can desire and loathe all at once. Calista is a great character with her noble moral compass and a loyalty to her friends and family that shapes the story in devastating ways.

I really liked this story, whole cocnept is good, idea is great, but.. there are too many gramatical errors, which I hope they will edit correctly, and too many repeatings of things know from the start.
I liked Calista's determination and darkness, but too many times she was overconfident and a bit annoying. Drake is typical good guy who wants to save Calista even when she doesn't need it, resulting in him making a mess. Ari, I don't know, she's portrayed as a soft and weak, but her actions says otherwise.
Azkiel, painted as a villain, while all he wanted was to save his love, man starved of affection.
And while Cali's and Azkiels connection was good, the thing that bothered me during their sexy time, was description of his skilled fingers etc.. How can man who can't touch anyone, who last touched anyone 150 years ago and not for long,can be that skilled? The spice was good, but those details.. cmon..
That been said, I want to know what happens next, after all that at the end..

I was not really sure what to expect from this book, but it was not this.

As soon as I opened the book I could tell it would probably not be for me. The very first pages are a warriors-book-esque glossary of all the gods, covens, and places in the book. I personally believe an adult book should be capable of explaining its concepts well enough to not need a glossary in the beginning.

So I was immediately nervous going into the book, and I think it was for good reason. The plot was indeed very hard for me to follow, especially in the beginning it seemed like it was jumping all over the place. The relationship development was also not paced well, it starts off slow and then is very rushed. There were also a lot of phrasing choices that were not pleasant to read in my personal opinion. The book was very hard to get through for me. I did not enjoy reading the book for various reasons, such as not clicking with the writing style and not personally enjoying the characters or the plot.

I really wanted to love it as the concept sounded very interesting; however, it is definitely not for me

“The souls of the dead call to me, their voices whispering in my ears like a haunting melody.
The lingering pain and anguish of those who died heightens my powers.”

“You haven't seen the last of me, Azkiel. Whether it is in life or death, I will make you pay."

"Good girl,"

Wow. I’m more than a little bit surprised about how much I enjoyed reading this book. Don’t get me wrong, the premise was great. And the intro of it was more than a little bit interesting. But it turned into something so much more than what I was expecting and I really really enjoyed it!! Imagine hunger games but with covens and a young woman with the God of Death’s power only no one wants that kind of power. Also imagine that that same god, comes back to life in a kind of mortal form because he has caged all his siblings for some reason he can’t remember and there’s a prophesy she is the one who can break their cage and he needs to stop her. Sounds interesting? Because it was to me. And when I got to meet Calista and Azkiel … I became obsessed!!! Not only their story and their enemies to lovers dynamic was great, but also the author helped us out with the whole new fantasy world situation with a full glossary at the beginning and a writing that made the action go smoothly and made me feel hooked by the plot. When I found myself into it, I almost didn’t want to go on because I didn’t want for it to be over. This book was the perfect combination of magic, action, spice, love and darkness. And when it eventually did end … I needed book two like the day before !!!!

"Your soul calls to me, and when I am with you, I feel as if I am home."

"Your words were like a drug to my soul," he says throatily, stealing my next breath. "I was completely captivated and devastated with every sentence you threw my way, so yes, you are my poison, and I can think of no better way to die."

Thank you Rebecca L. Garcia for the arc of this book and being trusted to review it honestly. When I first read the synopsis of Night of Death and Flowers I was so intrigued. It had everything I love in a fantasy, magic, gods, romance, and a trial.

This book follows a witch named Calista who has the God of Death’s powers. Calista does not agree with the trial that happens every 10 years and is trying to stop it from happening. What she doesn’t know is that after 150 years of being away the God of Death, Azkiel, returns to Dahryst to try and stop the prophecy that is said to destroy him. This is the beginning of their story… or is it?

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters and getting introduced to our female main character. I did struggle a lot with the authors writing style. I kept having to reread sentences to make sense of the writing and what is being told to me. I was bored for a lot of the time and the pacing was too slow. I felt a lot of it was just them waiting around for something to happen. I also was annoyed that a lot of the chapters end with the female main character either fainting, passing out, or being poison. It was so irritating to have to read basically the same thing over and over again. I wanted to love this, it had all the right ideas for me to love it but it fell short for me.

Final rating:
2.75 stars ✨

Tropes:
Gods
Magic
Trial
Dual P.O.V
Touch her and you die

I absolutely loved the cover and description of this book so I thought it would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it just fell flat. I’m not sure if it was the prose or the tone of the characters inner thoughts, but there was such a disconnect. I think it was the fact that the first 200 pages are mainly info dumping with little dialogue. There was too much telling instead of showing, which led to the main characters having no chemistry or tension. I was cringing at the spice after having little to no build up and being expected to connect with characters that barely talked. I felt like there was more focus on her friend who isn’t even the MMC and had zero importance or impact on the actual story. A few of the things I liked include: the death magic, the MMC having Klaus Mikaelson vibes and being unable to touch anyone but her, and the gods. I’m not sure I’ll remember a single thing that happened in this book after like a month, and although I didn’t absolutely hate reading, I thought it was just ok. I will not be reading the sequel.

Fascinating beautiful world, with just as intriguing characters. There were alot of common or expected notes but came about in a way that wasn't too daunting

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★★★★★
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞:🌶️🌶️

𝐀 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐞 hooked from the first chapter. The world that Rebecca created was perfect because it wasn’t complicating and I didn’t have to think when I was reading it. Her writing is detailed and I was able to paint a pretty vivid picture in my mind how the town was set up and the island and I really appreciated it. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE an epic world building and everything but it’s nice to give my brain a little break so this would be perfect for someone who likes details but it’s easy to read.

𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚 is a strong FMC. She loves fiercely and will protect those she loves with her life if need be. She doesn’t hold back, she’s sassy, and the banter between her and our MMC 𝐀𝐳𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐥 was good. He’s the God of Death and Cali hates him (no spoilers) you find out A LOT by why she hates him and his whole story. I thought Rebecca did a great job with the twists and turns..betrayals….and making me feel all the emotions.

𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 go in blind about 90% of the time when I read Romantasy books usually and I love doing that and I’m glad I didn’t look at reviews or anything before I read this. I saw her book on NetGalley and thought her cover was STUNNING so I requested it. I didn’t read the description or anything and I’m so glad I didn’t. I loved being surprised this way and I had the best time on my reading journey.

𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 this book 100% and the cliffhanger!??? Excuse me!!!??? I need book 2 asap. I need answers!

𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 thank NetGalley and Rebecca for giving me the opportunity to read Night of Death and Flowers as an ARC.

I have to start by saying I absolutely adored this book and will be watching for book 2. I need book 2 right now. I will be ordered a copy of this for my bookshelf. The last 100 pages is so intense, I was so invested I accidentally read until it was morning. This book is the definition of descriptive- everything is beautifully detailed, creating perfect pictures for you to imasagine. All the characters are really well developed, even though there are big things we don’t know about everyone until the end of the book. I did NOT see the plot twists coming.

Before launching into my thoughts on Night of Death and Flowers, I should note that I had trouble with the EPUB file, which downloaded to Adobe Digital Editions fine but then crashed the software whenever I tried to transfer it to my e-reader. This meant I was forced to read on the PC, which I don't like doing as I spend long enough on there as it is. I am noting this as it likely also affected my feelings while reading.

In regards to the book itself, there was a lot of potential here through an interesting story idea featuring many of my favourite fantasy romance tropes. However, there were some issues that prevented me from liking it as much as I'd anticipated. First off, while I acknowledge this was an ARC and that problems could well be fixed by now ahead of release, there were a LOT of typos, becoming more frequent in the second half of the book -- enough that they caused confusion at times and were highly distracting. In addition, the pace was slowed by frequent repetition of thoughts and information we'd already been told and didn't need to be reminded of in every chapter, accompanied by a lot of telling rather than showing. With some tighter editing, there is definitely a worthwhile and enjoyable story here, but in the state in which I read it, I can only give it 3 stars.

5/5 stars! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I did find the beginning a little slow but once I got a few chapters in I couldn’t put this book down. I had to know how it ends. Now I can’t wait for the second book to continue the story. This book is released June 26, 2024. Thank you to Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op, Rebecca L. Garcia and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

So I was really excited starting this and then it started feeling flat. The storyline itself is really good has amazing potential l, but there were some repetitive information that I didn’t think was necessary or that didn’t lead to part of the storyline & the smut happened like 86% of the way in which was really weird considering there wasn’t a massive build up of character development between Cali & The god of death…
I feel like it was rushed, there was information where it didn’t need to be and then lacking information where it should have been.

Like I said the story like was pretty good but some bits were quite confusing…

Think The Hunger Games meets Belladonna meets Bespelled...

The premise of this book as absolutely so interesting and quite complicated (but don't worry, there's a glossary to help you keep track of everything!!)- an island of witches who honor six gods and goddesses is protected by magic from their Elders, keeping the humans away so they may live in peace. The only cost of this magic is that every 10 years, 12 young witches are selected to compete in The Harvest (aka the hunger games) where the winner walks away with the magic of all 11 of their fallen comrades, enough magic to help power the barrier. Calista has the magic of the God of Death, but is in the coven of the Goddess of Light...very complicated and of course it means that everyone in town and in her family just mostly tolerates her, except her best friend Drake and sister Arabella. The three end up fighting for their lives, and Azkiel, the God of Death, just happens to have a hand in it...but that's all I'm saying!!

While the premise and the story were spectacular, and the characters were mostly strong and capable (here's looking at you, incapable annoying Drake), the writing was not always able to best convey the story. This book was definitely about 100 pages longer than it needed to be, with rambling and circuitous inner monologues- and had more than one occasion of the POVs getting mixed up mid-writing- and quite a few typos. I did mostly overlook this, because I was so intrigued by what was happening here!

No spoilers, but the ending really set up an interesting path forward for the second half of this duology- now that all the characters have all the information needed to be able to make informed decisions!! I'm very excited to continue along with this one when book 2 comes out :)

Thank you so much to Rebecca L Garcia and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

The story had great potential, the vibes almost there but unfortunately fell victim to repetitive information and slow to build plot. The smut was unnecessary and poorly done, almost to the detriment of the story. The relationships and conflict within them didn't make much sense and were never resolved nor were the conflicts strengthened in any meaningful way to progress the story. By the time it felt like the story was finally catching it's stride, it ended abruptly. Where this story did shine was it's gruesome details and magic system. If the author had spent more time building the plot and had an intense round of editing, this story could really shine but unfortunately, it fell flat with it's flaws.