I'm a sucker for anything romantasy so before I even started reading this one I knew I was gonna love it! The world building was excellent, I felt so immersed into the story and the world. Nyte and Chloe have so much chemistry together and were excellent main characters. Apart from the romance though, the story in itself was so interesting and I didn't expect the cliffhanger at the end. I'll definitely be picking up book 2!

"Lovely reunion," he panted not slowing as he reached us. "Now f@#king run!"

This book! I have been craving an incredible fantasy read and this definitely met the criteria and then some.

The lore and the world building in this book is incredible, and the main character Astraea was just brilliant. i adored her character and her journey through this book.
The last 25% of the book absolutely blew my mind. It was like everything was turned on its head and I'm hoping there is a sequel because I need more answers. Everything was not as it seems.
The tension between Astraea and Nyte was incredible. Nyte is almost an astral projection for most of the book and I don't want to give away to much but the concept is fabulous. Down to the opposite matching tattoos.

A stand out moment that spoken and not just implied:
"Just remember you're in control. The moment you want me to stop, I will." I nodded still chasing my pleasure against him.
"Words, Starlight."
"Yes."
"You are in control."
"I am in control. I want this."

Its a single POV but in my opinion it needed to be, and is the most view from Astraea because we needed to know more about her.

I wanted to be swept away, and my emotions challenged and this book did exactly that. There were quite a few moments that took my breath away.

"You were born for the sky"

I really enjoyed this. It started out quite strong, I binge read the first half quite quickly. It did slow down a little around the halfway mark but picked up again in the last 20%.

The world building was fairly solid. I also liked that the whole way through I was never quite sure if our MMC Nyte was a good guy or a Villain, and honestly I'm still not even sure, it ended on a cliffhanger.
There are lots of twists, the author does a great job in dangling just enough information to keep us guessing.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the series continues and will be picking up book 2 when it is released.

This took me a while to get into it but once I did I couldn't put it down and can't wait to read more by Chloe C. Penaranda! Her books get good reviews online and I can see why after reading The Stars are Dying.

“People fear the dark because they think it’s where monsters thrive. They're wrong. The dark belongs to the stars who can't shine without it. It's where passion burns brightest. It's peace and it's company. The darkness is you."

Vampires, magic and mystery!

Astraea, having no memories except the most recent 5 years of her life, lives a secluded life. After needing to escape the life she knows, she joins her friend Cassia to Central, where the centennial Libertatem trials are being held. Due to tragic circumstances, Astraea must compete, and the mysterious and ever-present Nyte offers her his help in a bargain. Nothing is as it seems.

I loved the premise of the book. Overall, the novel was fun and entertaining. There is a lot going on with the plot, and after finishing, I am still slightly confused on some plot points, and I have many unanswered questions, but I’m hoping I find some answers come book 2. Despite my confusion over some aspects of the plot and mysteries surrounding the world, I felt invested in uncovering the questions Astraea had, and I never felt bored, the story was captivating.

“He was so breathtakingly, dangerously beautiful that it was an effort to keep my wits around him. His guise could lure me in only to capture me. Yet with the way I fought gravity to be closer to him, to touch him, maybe I wanted to know if his claim on me would be bliss or torture.”

Nyte was a great MMC; mysterious, alluring, with a definite dark side, but also fun, witty and flirtatious. The chemistry between Astraea and Nyte was fabulous. I loved Astraea’s arc and I’m excited to see where she, Nyte, and the other characters go in the rest of the story. The ending came on fast, I need answers! I am looking forward to the next instalment in this series.

“Was it possible to belong not to any place, but with a person? To find home not on land, but in another soul?”

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for my advance copy

Do You like Vampire's , Fae and Magic ?
Slow burn romance where the villian gets the girl ?
THEN THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU
I enjoyed this book so much
I think Nyte is my new book BF .

Chloe's book has provided a refreshing take on fantasy. 
Written in first person POV, some events in the first few chapters leading you with questions, as you're getting only the information Astrea has and can provide. Making things a bit difficult to follow. But trust me when I say to persevere because as Astrea learns more and continues through the story, the puzzle pieces slowly start falling into place, leaving a big "aha" moment. 
There's mystery, adventure, spice and a MMC that makes you think that maybe the red flags are worth running to. 
I defintely recommend giving it a read, just bearing in mind you may need to push through the start to get to the point where the snowball starts rolling and you start getting answer, the pace picking up and making it near impossible to put the rest of the book down. 

There's some great character growth, and im so excited to find out and unravel more of the secrets in book 2

enjoyed this book so much, but their was only one thing which I didn’t enjoy that much which was how easy it was for me to pin point exactly who the FMC and MMC were/ what happened to them. I still loved this story that was just the only thing I didn’t like.
I CANNOT wait until the next book ugh that ending!!!!
Thankyou for this ARC

I have to admit I was looking forward to reading this as I have seen it all over social media, as well as actually owning some of Peñaranda's other books (I enjoyed An Heir Comes to Rise!). Unfortunately this kind of missed the mark for me, as I felt generally lost and confused reading this, especially at the beginning where it felt like I had missed the first 50 pages or something. The plot and pacing felt a bit choppy at times, and felt as though it could have greatly benefitted from another round of editing.

This is honestly probably closer to a 2.75-3 stars for me. A 2 feels too harsh (as in, I didn't dislike the idea, characters, storylines etc... just found it confusing and difficult to get through at times), so it's about a 3 - not the worst, but not the best.

I did enjoy the premise, as well as Nyte and Astraea! It did leave me wanting to know more. I would certainly consider reading the next book in the series if some of the issues are improved upon or there's more clarity/editing.

The stars aren’t the only things that are dying. I am dying over how much I LOVED this book. I was thrown into the storyline right from the beginning, and I remained hooked for the entire time.

With some fantasy books, I feel like you get hit with a heap of world-building initially, then the character development and plot line generally start to build, and then you’re left with a really intense final scene. However, Chloe C. Peñaranda’s way of ebbing and flowing with incorporating all of these features demonstrated such magical writing. Overall, I felt like she nailed the pacing.

The dynamics between Nyte and Astrea had to be one of my favourite parts of this book. I didn’t expect their relationship to unfurl the way that it did. It was mysterious, but at the same time, we got little snippets of moments that had my heart beating and my toes curling.

The only reason it wasn’t a five-star read for me was because I felt like there were parts of the plot line that were super predictable. There were some moments that I didn’t pick out, but the meaty parts I felt hinted at really early! I wish some of this was held back until later. There were also a lot of characters and magical elements to learn, but by the end, it all of it had its purpose. I honestly can’t wait to continue this series once the next book is out!!

🌟🌟🌟🌟

*The Stars are Dying* by Chloe C. Penaranda is a celestial adventure that sweeps you off your feet! The writing style is like poetry in motion—lyrical, vivid, and oh-so-dreamy. The world-building is a cosmic delight, full of intricate details that make you feel like you're floating among the stars. Each page is a new discovery, with twists and turns that keep you glued to the story. It’s a journey through galaxies of emotion and imagination, and I loved every second of it!

I did not finish this unfortunately- I found the ebook version very hard to read due to the formatting.

I have not made a public review of this book - I loved the story for as much as I read, however the format of this e-ARC provided by the publisher made it difficult to read. I read my ARC's on my phone, and was unable to read this one without having to zoom in and line up every page because it had the printing marks on it.

I have rated this as a 3 - because the story was enticing, I genuinelly want to know what happens next, but I couldn't get over the barrier of reading it in the format provided. I will likely buy a paperback copy of this book so that I can still read it.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into The Stars are Dying. I made it about 20% of the way into the book, but the story just wasn't connecting with me and I decided to DNF. I was really excited by the story but I was finding myself a little confused with the portion that I read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for providing me with an eARC of The Stars are Dying by C.C Penaranda in return for my honest opinion.

I was a bit cautious going into this book because I was aware that readers were either loving or hating it. But The Stars are Dying has quickly become one of my best reads this year! I thoroughly enjoyed this dark romantasy! I have seen a few reviewers state that the pacing felt slow in this book, but I did not have an issue with the pacing at all. The world building and the politics in this book are really intriguing and sucked me in from the first chapter! The two main characters, Astraea and Nyte are incredibly easy to fall in love with.

As a reader, it was very easy to pick up the hints as to who both Astraea and Nyte's true identities were, so my only frustration was how long it felt before our girl Astraea figured out what was going on. However, considering she could only remember the last five years of her life, she'd just lost her best friend and was running away from an abusive relationship into a hunger games like challenge, I'll cut her a bit of a break. What I didn't see coming was a couple of the smaller twists, including where Nyte was and who betrayed him!

Despite their love being doomed from the start, you cannot help but root for Nyte and Astraea to get their happily ever after. This book is quite slow burn, there is a bit of spice though towards the end of the book! I cannot wait to see what happens next with these two, I hope they can figure out a way to both stay together! The bonus chapters included in this edition are amazing, I especially enjoyed the glimpse into two of my favourite side characters potential romance!

Thank you to Hachette Australia and New Zealand and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

In 'The Stars are Dying' we follow Astraea, a woman missing her memories of all but the last five years. She is held captive by a local assassin whom she believes protects her, and allowed limited contact with the outside world. However, when she is presented with the opportunity to travel with her only friend Cassida to the capital 'Central'. Cassida has been selected as a participant in the upcoming Libertatem, a once-a-century competition hosted by the king that decides which of the five realms will receive one hundred years of protection from the vampires that hunt their human populations. A series of events unfold that result in Astraea needing to impersonate Cassida, and take her place in the competition. All the while, she is haunted by the mysterious Nyte - a figure who keeps appearing to her in times of need.

As I'm sure it's evident from my star rating, I unfortunately did not enjoy this title. I requested it due to my usual enjoyment of fantasy, vampire stories and stories that involve trials or competitions. I also adore the cover design for this title. The writing style was not for me. I found it confusing and difficult to follow at times. I would frequently need to flick back several paragraphs or pages to see if I missed something, only to realise I didn't. The story was very 'tell' rather than 'show', with critical story elements repeatedly introduced bluntly in conversation. The world building was also lacking, even after completing the book I have limited understanding on the different magical elements of the story such as the star-maiden, celestials and why they cut themselves off from the other kingdoms. I guess this is something that could be expanded upon in future books, as this is announced to be a series. I'm also not familiar with the Greek myth that this book was inspired by, so I don't know if that would answer some of my questions.

The other thing I wasn't the biggest fan of was the overuse of tropes. The MMC goes for a 'who did this to you' within the first chapters of the book, before the main characters have even had a chance to get to know each other. The main romance (this is a fantasy romance) is advertised as 'enemies to lovers' but the MMC spends 90% of the book helping the FMC in her journey. Finally, the ending was very anticlimactic. Even knowing that this is just book one in a series, I usually expect some form of closure. Instead, the book just ended in what felt like the middle of a scene.

Unfortunately I cannot recommend this one, and I will not continue with the series.

I ADORED this book 🥹🤩
🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟

Let me pre-empt by saying my review is fairly spoiler free, it is mostly describing the start/premise of the book and backing up why this is a 5 star read for me 😁


Let me start off with saying.... I almost skipped over this book due to its negative reviews! Thank goodness I chose to read it to judge it for myself based on my own opinions...Never will I (nearly) make that mistake again! 😱💯💥

There are definitely some trigger warnings for this book especially strong themes of abuse so make sure you read those before starting!


🌟This book is written with gorgeous lyrical writing but in a way that still completely makes sense! I personally likened the writing style to that of Stephanie Garber's writing in both her Caraval and Once upon a broken heart series which I adore both, as I also adpre this!

I have a very hard time keeping attention span and reading books that bore me or drag on for longer then intended...THIS book was not at all like that and COMPLETELY CAPTURED MY ATTENTION from start to finish, I loved it so much! ❤️

.....

The story starts off with Astraea who knows nothing of her past and being essentially cooped up away from everyone by a horribly abusive jerk who is essentially keeping her captive, she doesn't entirely realise the meakness of her situation until she meets someone fleeting in the night 🌠, that sparks an immediate connection and she soon realises she needs to free herself from her "cage." This first part of the story is her journey of the realisation that she's in an abusive relationship and slowly coming to terms with that and eventually realising the extent of this...as an outsider looking in you sort of want to metaphorically, "slap some sense into her" but also understand that this is a realistic point of view to some people who have been abused, where they don't fully realise the extent until they're out of that horrible situation-also being fearful for what could happen to their loved ones if they relinquish their abusers control.

**minor spoiler in this next paragraph but it happens within the first 20% of book**

Thankfully Astraea has a close friendship with her bestie that's like family in this this story who supports her and helps her free herself from her "captor" 🥳🙌
Definitely glad she got out of that scenario but also understand how it's important to the FMC's character arc!


Though the first part of this book captured my interest, it was after the 18% mark that the storyline takes off that I absolutely loved 😍
but don't want to spoil any of that so you'll just have to read that for yourself 🤩

Throughout the book Astraea frequently seeks comfort in the night sky and stars, inadvertently seeking comfort in the things she has connections to from her past without realising why (at first).

The story has fae, vampires, celestials and humans. The premise of the story is that there was a war 500 years ago between the fae+vampires against the celestials and the celestials have been locked away behind the veil to their land ever since. Because of this the vampires wreak havoc on the humans while they have "free reign" because the celestials aren't there to fight back.

Every 100years there is a contest in which 1 person from each of the surrounding lands competes in trials to be the "winner" and that winner earns safety for their land and its residents from the vampires for the next 100years until the next contest. Naturally each one of the lands wants their competitor to win and low and behold one of the competitors who is competing this year is our FMC's best friend-Cassia who brings Astraea with her to the capital (where the contest is held) while putting Astraea on the path to freedom and to start the rest of this fantastic (definitely very adult 🌶) fairytale 🥰 all my most favourites parts happen after this point 👌


My most favourite parts:
🌟connection/chemistry/banter of FMC and MMC
🌟friends who are family
🌟the different magical races: fae, vampires, celestials and how they all work..super interesting and different!!
🌟the whole story!

I am soooo looking forward to book 2's release 🥳🤌

Thank you so much to Netagalley and the publisher for accepting my request to read and review this book.

I was super excited for this one as I saw some of the tags on goodreads were 'fantasy', 'romance', 'romantasy', 'fae', 'vampires' and adult and new adult - its rare that I find books with these tags and dont at the very least ENJOY them.

But this one sadly just did not work for me at all. In fact I couldnt even get to the end.

For starters I felt like I couldnt actually connect to the characters on an emotional level. I didn't feel like they were REAL people and I didnt care for their fates. It created a distance that ultimately meant I wasn't invested in where the story went.

Next, I wasn't a fan of the structure of the book and the pacing, it felt plotless at times and left me feeling slightly bored to pick it back up again. it felt like we were just following them but there wasnt much of a 'point'.

There was potential with this book, I felt like the excecution was just not there and it could have used some editing to polish it off.

Your soul is magnetic. There won’t exist a time or place where I won’t be drawn to it.’

Alright alright alright, there’s secrets, there’s puzzles, there’s some Hunger Games inspired selection and trials. A lot of ‘will they won’t they give in’ star crossed lovers and a little enemies to lovers in the side characters. There’s gods and magick and wings to propel you through a detailed plot, which sometimes was maybe a bit too detailed and I tended to forget some things along the way. Some parts action packed and others I admit I skimmed a bit as it didn’t quite hold my attention. Overall I liked the story, it kept me reading, I needed to know every characters story and how they ended up in this whole situation and how they’re going to get out of it 😂

I tell you though, I now imagine all the characters with Gretchen Wieners hair BECAUSE THEY ARE SO FULL OF SECRETS. So if you want to be in on the secrets and reveals, give this story a go!

I was initially intrigued by the blurb for this book, as the story sounded interesting and right up my alley. If you look at the start and finish dates for my reading of this title, you will see it took a long time for me to get through it, but I'd like to add a disclaimer to say that was because I had to read it on my PC, a chapter here and there. I added it to my e-reader but couldn't read it on there because the artwork on the first page of each chapter in the ARC I received, while beautiful, caused such heavy delays of close to 10 minutes to turn the page to start each new chapter that it was driving me insane with frustration. Even on the PC in Adobe Editions it took a good 20 seconds each time, but at least that was better.

So, my reading experience was a bit disjointed, but I did my best to read at a steady pace on days I was at home and on the PC. The story idea was indeed captivating and full of potential, which was one of the plus points for this book. I also found the relationship between Astraea and Nyte reasonably enjoyable despite the heavy reliance on insta-lust and romantasy tropes. However, I struggled with the prose style and the pacing/structure of the narrative. There was a lot going on, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but to make that work, especially in a book of only 400 pages, you need the pacing to be tight and the structure to support the multiple POVs and the world building elements, and I didn't think that was entirely successful as there were several plot holes and other moments when I was left confused about where things were heading. There was definitely a good story in there, but the book needed a structural edit to bring everything into focus and allow those good points to shine through.

I am giving it 3.5 stars. There were several elements I liked, and I thought the story had great potential, but the execution needed to make it sparkle wasn't quite there.