Je l'ai choisie car d'une part la couverture est belle et que le résumé était en français sur mon navigateur internet.

En le recevant je n'ai pas pu lire car ils sont en anglais.

Celestial Academy: Essence (Afterworld #1) by indie author Olivia Pharos

I was given the opportunity to listen to this Urban Fantasy Romance via NetGalley for free in exchange for my honest review.

For fans of Crescent City and Zodiac Academy - Celestial Academy-Essence is a binge-worthy delightful first book in a series of a dystopian world in a setting two decades since the apocalypse. In an afterworld that has Hell and Heaven on Earth, humans are now the lowest beings who are sold as slaves to other races to use them however they wish.

Wen (Gwendolyn) White is human, orphaned between 1-2 years old, and then sold as a slave to a Demon at four years old, or five...she isn't quite sure how old she was when she was dumped at the orphanage as a toddler with no one to tell her about her parents or her birth and her caretakers guessed how old she was since they didn't have any information about her. The only thing she had from her mother was a locket with an iridescent stone, Gwendolyn inscribed inside along with a photo of her mother holding her as an infant but it was lost in a fire. Being human, it didn't matter to the supernatural beings who had taken over as humans were not worthy to give a second thought. Her life has been hard with constant abuse by her Demon owner, who is in danger daily, and her main goal is to save enough money to buy out her and her best friend Sarah from slavery. The only thing that has saved her from being killed is the demon slave mark she was given when she was sold.

Clever and street-smart, Wen endured this harsh world for 20 years and lives in a modest apartment with her best friend Sarah. Surprisingly she's lived that long with her snarky attitude which flies from her lips like a whip before her brain can stop her. When faced with a dangerous foe, it's beyond her control spewing out insults disregarding the inevitable punishment of her brash attitude. One day by pure accident she found that she could take an angel's essence and turn it into a powerful drug she could sell. Being able to see an angel's essence seemed to be something only she could see. Not even the angels could see it. Since she was the only one who could see and harvest it from them and make it into a drug, people are willing to pay a lot of money to experience the euphoric effect it gives the consumer. The cost of buying out their slave indentures is high so she needs to sell more often to try and get out of slavery as soon as possible. While doing this, the angels caught on and Wen was arrested in a sting operation selling to the most powerful Nephilim in history.

Godric, is a breathtakingly handsome but a ruthless soldier for Heaven, and an assassin working for the angels. He drags her to the Celestial Court to stand trial for her crime and find out how she is making the drug since no one else has been able to harvest an angel's essence and transform it into something people could consume. Wen thought she would be sentenced to death. To her and Godric's surprise, her punishment was to be sent to Celestial Academy where Nephilim, Demons, Vampires, and Fae are sorted by their powers. The chosen are tested in the divining to ensure they are angel-blessed and see where they should be placed. They are then put into groups to train for a deadly trial to be worthy of being enlisted in Heaven's army. Not only was Godric her captor, but now she is his charge to train her for the next four years while the angels try to figure out her abilities since she is an anomaly.

Wen loves to get under Godric's skin and try to break down his stern resting bitchface attitude which is his default demeanor towards everyone. Their constant bickering doesn't dampen their electric attraction to each other since it's as thick as their mutual annoyance. His mission is to figure out what exactly she is because she is not just a simple human that she believes to be, but even the angels cannot determine what she is. Being her personal trainer which he has never done before, he prepares her to endure and complete the trial that thousands before her have failed. Failure = Death and to Godric, that is not acceptable. Although he shows constant disdain for her, he has a "touch her and die" attitude to anyone who goes near her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wouldn't be surprised if an adaptation was made into a TV series or movie. It has supernatural beings, mystery, a slow-burn blooming romance, danger, and fun banter. Other than some overuse of derogatory nicknames, this was extremely entertaining.

4.5 stars
This story is a fun and interesting one. Humans (many slaves/indentures to non-humans), demons and angels on earth, along with a host of other fantasy creatures all caught up in the long game of good vs evil. Several storylines, some larger than others, but all integrally linked, involving love, soulmates, relationships between different creatures and the nature of good vs evil. Had me trying to remember what I know of different named angels, demons, etc.
Everything is left wide open, with very clear indications that even more bad things are on the horizon.
Wonderful narration.
My only complaint is the age old "he abuses me because he wants and loves me so much" that is present. Along with pretty much all the females being MEAN GIRLS, save one who is too kind for reality (I'm pretty sure there's a reason for her wonderful nature, though).
Now I sort of regret listening because it is the only one with narration so far... guess I have to get back to reading my kindle! :)

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. I don’t normally listen to audiobooks but I did enjoy popping it on when I was walking. I was hooked once I started the first chapter. It keeps you wanting more. Looking forward to the second one

I grabbed this in audiobook format from NetGalley after seeing much comparison to Zodiac Academy, which is still sitting unread on my bookshelf. . Urban Fantasy is hit and miss for me, so I have been putting it off. I thought I would give this book a chance to stand on it's own without the comparison. In the beginning I was so annoyed the main character that it nearly pulled me out of the book. However, it may be the narrators voice (which was a pretty perfect delivery of Wen's banter) rather than the actual writing, Wen's incessant questioning, inner dialogue, and snarky quips really gave me a chance to get to know her and made me ask "Who hurt you". I adored Pharos' world and character building, and while it was a bit slow and chaotic, I can appreciate all of the possibilities open for exploration in further books.

With that being said..... READ THIS NOW!
- Angels & Demons, check
- Hidden truths, check
- Forced proximity, check
- Enemies to lovers, check
- SLLLLOOOOOOOOOWWWW BURN, double check

That epilogue really sent me. I need more TUH-DAY! While I pine to hear more from dear AngelHole, I have so many questions. I need to know more about the Unitas and this wild connection and Godric's history, and all the things.

Also, Ms. Olivia, I'm living for this romance, but girl give me Lorcan! Take my money I need more Afterworld.

Superb audiobook presentation. Adult fantasy novel, part urban and part what you might call the hardest finishing school ever, death is a possibility. Scratch that, likely. Wen just can’t help herself, thoughts have to be verbally expressed, and we get to enjoy the witty, snarky banter that ensues. But she often suffers for her uncontrolled expressions as much of this is directed primarily at arch-angels, Godric (yeah even his name gets ridiculed by her) in particular. First in a series, many questions to be answered. I want the other books now (small foot stamp in case those with the power hear and react badly) Thank you to Olivia Pharos and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

The premise of this book was very interesting to me! It reminded me a lot of Cresent City meets School for Good and Evil. I wanted to love this book more but this book was just not for me, however, I know plenty of readers who would eat this book up! So the rest of my review is mostly personal preference.

I did not click with any of the characters, and almost every piece of dialogue had me rolling my eyes as the sarcastic banter (which wow... is all I have to say the banter was bantering) was present enough to be featured as a separate character (as well as the mention of the MMC's package). I did not feel that the MMC (Godric) really liked our MFC (Wren), they argued A LOT and were mostly mean to each other, I felt like they just had lust more than love. The narrator nailed the voice and brought the sarcastic and carefree spirit of the MFC out. Otherwise, I thought the plot was interesting and the concept of the school for angels and demons was a unique aspect that I have not seen a lot of. My only downside was that this story was not for me.

Big thank you to the Independent Book Publishers Association and NetGalley for the awesome opportunity to dive into this audiobook! Thanks for letting me join the adventure early!

WOW!! I need everyone to read this book right now!! Urban, dystopian, supernatural, paranormal romantasy 😈 with incredible characters and intriguing plot and mystery!

Dark Academia setting - heaven and hell battling on earth, resulting in an apocalypse that makes life extremely difficult for the humans, makes sense when there are angels, demons, etc ruling the world..

Wen (Walter White): an unsuspecting angelescence drug dealer turned hero(?!) she’s got a crazy, emotional past that keeps on getting crazier throughout the book. This gal is SO FUNNY. I genuinely laughed out loud at her sarcasm and banter. While most of her new academy does NOT love her- I always will!

Godric (Godawful): Grumpy, angel daddy with runes, muscles, and wings 😻 don’t mind if I do. “Come back to me-always”

Sarah: wen’s best friend, loved by all who know her, and has a mysterious, sought after quality I hope to find out more about in the next book!

Jen, Lorcan, Gideon, Cara, basically all the side characters are written extremely well. They’re all uniquely written with differentiating personalities and interactions with the fmc. I didn’t love them all at first, but I ended this book loving them all and hoping to see more of them in the next one!

No spice, but lots of ✨thoughts✨ and tension. I’m expecting some spice in the next book 👀

The narrator of this audio book did a fantastic job! Her sarcasm and attitude were on point and the delivery was everything you could hope for as a listener.

I received this audiobook arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I highly recommend this book!

4 stars! At first, I'll be honest. I was a bit lost. With so many names and various types of beings, it was a bit difficult to keep track of everything. I felt like we were thrown into the deep end of the pool. After a chapter or two, however, I found myself really getting into it and not wanting to put it down! It had some really funny moments while also being more serious overall. I will likely check out the other books in this series to see what happens next.

I did listen to this on audio, and the narrator was great. She pulled off the snarkiness of some of the characters perfectly. There were no issues on the audio front.

🧚🏻A HUGE thank you goes out to NetGalley, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and author Olivia Pharos for providing me with a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

Really enjoyed this audiobook.
The story was good in itself although sometimes I felt like I was missing something and it took me a little while to understand where the story was but that was probably because I found the narrators voice quite soothing and so u would start drifting off to sleep when listening at night.

The narrator was good and I liked listening to her and I'm looking forward to the next book but j think I will read the book instead of listening to it so that I don't keep loosing where I am lol

Yes! This was so great! In the beginig very confusing in a good way, in the end it got confusing again - but defently intersesting, and so sad that I can't find the next one anywhere...
A grown up heaven and hell on Earth story!

Celestial Academy was entertaining but nothing new. This reminds me very much of Fortune Academy, so if you have read and like that series this would be a good series to read next!

While this one wasn't for me, it wasn't bad, so I won't judge it unfairly. Sometimes a story just wasn't made for you, but that doesn't mean others won't enjoy it.

Okay let me start by saying I have a lot to say about this book... yes it is criticism but Oh my Stars!!! this is a 5-star read, addictive, hilarious and so, so compelling.


But...
The first two-thirds of the novel gave Act 1 vibes.

Spoiler Alert!

There is a string and hilarious kick-off, and you immediately know you have a badass chick on your hands. Had a shitty and has almost freed herself and her bestie... cue a disaster, right? But I dig it! We love tropes for a reason. The female characters in this novel are amazing! I find that in so many novels the "character arc" shows itself in an almost total reversal of personality traits. That is not the case in this book at all! and you still have an enemies to lover theme happening.

These girls know themselves and refuse to change to suit anyone! But they still learn and grow.

There is so, so much humour in this book but the majority of it feels like a training montage from a movie and then we get Act 2 action in the last 5 chapters. The found family bond not clicking until it's far too late and then it all rushes to an ending that feels too much like the author was really trying to leave too much to make us want to read book 2! But we want 2 from chapter 15. This book feels unfinished and the ending was a little too rushed for me.

But!!! none to this is going to stop me from reading the rest of the series because WOW!!!!!

Also, the audio book narrator is incredible!

Celestial Academy: Essence by Olivia Pharos
Afterworld Book 1
Narrated by Amanda Leigh Cobb
Rating: 4.5/5
Release Date: 19 July 2024

Honestly, I am not even sure where to begin with this book.

This book stands out as a remarkable blend of multiple genres—urban fantasy, dystopia, paranormal romance, and supernatural academy—all intricately woven into a mesmerising narrative. Its pages unfold like scenes from a movie, offering a rich tapestry of complex characters and unexpected twists that delve into their relationships, ultimately culminating in a deeply engaging romance.

At its heart, the enemies-to-lovers trope is skilfully handled, capturing the believable tension and authentic evolution of interactions between Wen and Godric. Wen emerges as a compelling female protagonist, initially flawed but growing steadily through the guidance and encouragement of her peers. Her journey is marked by moments of sharp wit and profound development, resonating deeply with readers as she navigates challenges and discovers her inner strength.

Even characters like Jinny, initially portrayed as antagonistic, surprise with layers of redeeming qualities that add depth and charm to the story. These nuanced dynamics not only enrich the narrative but also reflect the complexities of human nature and relationships.

Overall, if you're a fan of Zodiac Academy and Crescent City, this series is a perfect fit for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it and encourage you to dive into its captivating world and characters, as I did. The audio narration was exceptionally well-done, and Amanda's performance truly brought the story to life, keeping me thoroughly engaged throughout.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, Olivia Pharos, and the narrator, Amanda Leigh Cobb, for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Celestial Academy: Essence is a dark academia enemies to lovers romance by Olivia Pharos. I absolutely loved the worldbuilding

Wen is a slave who is owned by a demon - and she was an amazing FMC. She is a human in a world where angels and demons abound. Her best friend Sarah is someone whom Wen would do anything for. Godric (aka angelhole) is an archangel who is tasked with ensuring that Wen grows into her power as a fighter.

I laughed out loud with the snarky banter and the burn was sllloooow, but so, so sweet. I will read book two as soon as I can!

Amanda Leigh Cobb did a fabulous job with narration - perfect pitch, diction, and pace.

I’ve been on an audiobook and dystopian fiction binge and this one did not disappoint. A demon owned human was a different twist to the current fae and fairy novels that have been trending. Olivia did a wonderful job drawing the reader or in this case listener in.

Heaven and Hell battle on earth bringing the apocalypse.
This book is witty, action packed and the snarky humor from the main character kept me laughing!
First fantasy book I've listened to and it will not be my last.

Olivia Pharos is remarkable in her first book in this series.

Highly recommend.

The premise of this book was so damn intriguing, and I got myself so excited for nothing. However, the writing style is absolutely not for me. I sincerely dislike every character, and almost every piece of dialogue had me rolling my eyes. This might be a good fit for a more juvenile audience, but this was a swing and a miss for me. I DNF’d at the 25% mark.

Thank you NetgGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
No spice yet (but there clearly will be)
5⭐️ narrator

I had such a fun time reading this book. I LOVE stories where the FMC is from current times in the real world and makes snarky jokes to the magic MMC (The FMC in this book reminded me a lot of Tory from Zodiac Academy and I loved it) having a magical fantasy element going on with the main character being from “our world” brings in so much opportunity for a more relatable type of comedy and snarkiness so I was a big fan of that from the beginning.

I really liked all of the side characters, and I’m excited to see more of them in the rest of the series. I have a feeling that the FMC and Ginny the demon are gonna end up being better friends and I can’t wait to see that. I also really liked that this was an Angels and Demons story as there have been a lot of Fae books lately and it was nice to read something different.

I was a little disappointed that the FMC and the MMC didn’t get together in this book, but I guess it’s more of a slow burn and it’ll be all the better when they do in a later book.

The Audiobook narrator was fantastic. She does a male voice really well and is also great at accents.

Overall I loved the book and will definitely be continuing the series.