Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Firstly, I want to say that I absolutely love the duet style narration that was chosen. I love when the FN voices all the Female characters and the MN voices all the male characters, despite who's POV chapter it belongs to. In this case, it was always our FMC's POV but having a MN come in and lend his voice was such a great decision. It felt super immersive and like I was right there with the characters in the middle of the story!

However, I don't think that the Corvin was the right narrator to be chosen for this book. I am a bit neurodivergent so listening on 1x speed is like torture for me. I generally hover around 1.8x speed or 2x speed and Corvin did not hold up at all to that fast. His growly bass tone comes across as muffled and when sped up, he became downright impossible to understand as it just blurred together. This forced me to slow the book down to be able to hear his dialogue which made me not enjoy the story as much because it felt like it was dragging on. He used the exact same voice, which is his voice, for every male character. It was impossible to know who was speaking when there was more than one Male in the scene. It was just an overall disappointment for me personally from a narration standpoint. I understand that his voice is pleasing to listen to, but please make sure that it's the same when sped up for those of us who die at the thought of 1x speed.

As far as the book itself goes, I love the story and the plot. I love the trials and fighting for a better life, even if it did take up to almost 40% of the book to get there. I feel like the author could have spent less time on getting us to the capital and more time on developing the world lore and history that is established in this book, and getting to the point. I don't feel like the plot should kick into gear that late in the game.

I love the relationship between our FMC, Astraea and MMC, Nyte. Astraea gave me vibes of Auren from the Plated Prisoner series in the way that she was kept prisoner by the one she "loved" and even a bit of Aelin vibes from Throne of Glass. High praise in that case! Nyte was my obsession, his energy gave off very Cheshire Cat vibes and I was here for it. He was sneaky, alluring and wanted what was best for Astraea. I loved every moment they were on the page together!

A good read and I an excited to keep the series going!

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I really enjoyed listening to this one. It gave me major The Serpent and the Wings of Night vibes while completely having its own story to tell. I love a good secret identity trope and absolutely adore a book with trials. It felt like it got a little bit chaotic at the end, and I also feel like maybe it could have been a little shorter, but overall I really enjoyed this audiobook. I am very much looking forward to reading book 2 to see where things go from here!

This is my first duet audiobook and it was an adjustment but I ultimately really liked it.

Now for the book. This was an ok start to a trilogy.
The things I wish it had:
More side character development/relationship to the MC development
More streamlined plot: I understand a certain amount had to be a mystery since the MC didn't know but the way it was presented made the plot confusing at times.
Better awareness for where the character are, sometimes it felt like they went from one place to the next with no explanation and it wouldn't make sense how.
I think better world building and character development would really make this story shine.
I'm curious where the story will go so I do plan continue the trilogy as they come out.

I have been enjoying the story so far, but the narrators sound like they are whispering. I don’t know if it’s to set the mood of the story or what.

Unfortunately I could not finish this book. It’s too similar to many other stereotypical books out there now. Also the story and worldbuilding is super confusing and I couldn’t follow some parts at times. Other times I was just bored. This could be much better with editing and more structure. It’s just not for me. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio, the author, and NetGalley for providing me the ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Re-release of traditionally published version: October 8, 2024

1 STAR
Take my review with a grain of salt because I DNF'ed at 50%.

Usually I never leave an ARC/ALC unfinished before reviewing. But I honestly don't think I would have anything else constructive or positive to say if I continued reading.

I found this reading experience extremely difficult.
1. THE NARRATORS: While the actual sound and production quality of the audiobook was fine, I disliked the delivery and performances of both narrators. The female narrator had a chirpy, constantly upbeat quality that I found grating. The male narrator did not use great articulation--poor diction. He also used the same inflection pattern line for line.
2. THE PLOT: There was nothing new here for a romantasy. I've seen others comment about similarities to JLA's From Blood and Ash and SJM/ACOTAR. Whether or not it's "too" derivative, the book did not grab me with any portion of the plot. Even the death competition felt un-dangerous and did not start until around the 40% mark.
3. THE CHARACTERS. They had no distinct personalities. Part of the problem was the flat, artificial dialogue. Sometimes there are long info dumps and lore drops in conversation.

The only people I would recommend this to are fans of Chloe Penaranda or romantasy readers who devour any/all romantasy.

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

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️
5⭐️ Narrators

This book was exactly what I want out of the first book in a fantasy series. I had constant questions (seriously, my notes app of questions and theories was longer than a CVS receipt) but there was enough little bits of information spread throughout that I was able to figure some things out myself and also come up with theories. By the end of the book you get A LOT of answers, but also so many questions still.

I love books with trials, and these ones were done really well. With the way the trials worked I was constantly wondering if things were real or not, which added some extra fun to reading.

The romance in this book was a little “Eh” for me, but I also feel like this has the potential to be one of my favorites in the next book(s?) So I’m holding out on it getting better since there’s so much potential there.

There are a lot of side characters that I’m super excited to learn more about (I need to know everything about Davina!!) we got a little bit about everyone in this book, and we know there are a lot of secrets, so I can’t wait to learn more of their backstory and see them all come together in the sequel.

The audiobook narrators did a great job. The FMCs voice sounded clear and the MMC was the perfect amount of growly.

Overall I loved the book and will definitely be reading the next in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Chloe C. Penaranda & MacMillan Audio for the audio galley of The Stars Are Dying in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking VERY forward to this book. I loved the cover art, the description, everything. I built it up in my head to be phenomenal before I even read it. Sadly, I think I built it up a bit too much.

This was a 3 Star Read for me. It was just ok, but I didn't fall in love with it & am unsure if I will continue with the series. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

"In a world abandoned by the celestial guardians and left to suffer a tyrant king’s reign, all Astraea knows is safety in seclusion. With fragmented memories of only five years of her life, she’s determined to discover more about her past, even if that means fleeing the cruel arms that hold her safe from the wicked vampires rumored to roam the land.

But when Astraea stumbles upon the mysterious Nyte, she soon realizes determination alone isn’t enough to guard her heart. He lingers like the darkness that expands between the stars, and soon she discovers her captor’s wicked means of control weren’t based on a lie to keep her under locks after all. In her desperation, Astraea accepts Nyte’s help before she can decide if she might have sold her allegiance to one of the bloodthirsty beings the people of her world fear.

Once their bargain is struck, Astraea’s chance to escape comes in the form of accompanying her best friend Cassia to the King’s Central. There on royal territory it’s the centenary of the Libertatem, a succession of trials hosted by the king in which five human lands compete for a cycle of safety from the vampires seeking blood, claiming souls, and savaging after dark. So when tragedy strikes, Astraea must decide if taking the place of a murdered participant for the safety of her kingdom is a ruse is worth dying for, or if protection—and the answers to her past—really are her strongest desires."

I did hang onto a quote from the book that I enjoyed - "The brightest star needs the darkest night." I really liked this line.

I feel like the author was a bit too ambitious with this first book in her series. It was often very confusing because there was so much going on, yet nothing at all, if that makes sense. I think she had lots of good ideas, but never really executed a single one of them. Less would have been more for this story. Or at least hold off for future books to execute all the ideas she had.

I'm not sure what the purpose of pretty much any given character was. The situation with Nyte was very confusing, as well as with Astraea. I don't even know what the end was about.

Like I said, too much going on, yet nothing at all at the same time & too many ideas thrown into the mix for any of it to come together. I hope the author focuses more on fully executing her ideas going forward. This book was entirely too long to fall so short.

The audiobook is fantastic. I loved the intrigue, the duet narration and SWOOOOON. It was so good. I can't wait to read more in this series!

I really, really wanted to read this book. The cover is gorgeous! But unfortunately, I DNF at 30% 😕

Maybe it was just the audiobook, but the main character, Astrea, was overly dramatic and immature.

✨ Vampires 🦇
✨ Deathly trials 🏆
✨ Shadow Daddy 🖤

Astrea dances for Nyte one time and then all of a sudden he's stalking her and can mind speak? Huh?

It was also really hard to tell when he was talking to her telepathically or actually there in person. Maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention, but it was confusing.

I enjoyed the dual narrators but the male narrator's characters all sounded supremely erotic and/or horny, it was hard to tell them apart sometimes.

*Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review*

The audio of the book was good. I liked the narrators and thought they brought the world alive. The story included fae and vampires. There is some spicy scenes and some heavy content so make sure to check the trigger warnings. IT was hard for me to keep track of the all the characters.

3.5/5 rounded up.

The Vibes: vampires, fantasy, amnesia

Heat Index: 6/10

The Basics:

With no memory of who she truly is, Astraea is held captive by a controlling king. In the hope of a permanent escape, she runs away to compete in the Libertatem, a series of trials. The prize is protection from the vampires all fear—and the stakes are extremely high. Cutting a deal with the seductive vampire Nyte should keep her safe... in theory. But as Astraea struggles to survive and seek out the truth, she finds the truth may be more complex than it seems.

The Review:

I liked a lot about this. The plot is my kind of thing—I love that this is essentially a high fantasy romance, while including the paranormal element of vampirism. Nyte is a proper vampire, and indeed the vampires in this book in general are proper vampires. That's nice to see. The trials? Nice to see as well.

I would recommend this to fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout. The problem being that I'm not a super big fan of Armentrout myself. While this book is a fun time, the characters are largely surface level... which I've found is kind of a problem with fantasy romance in general as of late. The stories are very similar to YA fantasy, but with some heat.

I think you can work with a formulaic plot and make it compelling. But that requires compelling characters, and while I didn't like Astraea, and she's just kind of a blank slate compared to what she could have been. I liked where she was coming from, I just didn't connect with her.

This was published originally in Kindle Unlimited, I think. And it could've used more editing, because like many KU books (and many fantasy romances, it must be said) it's way too long. Your world is big. But if you're not going to properly develop it... You're not going to get anywhere.

I will say! This has some very odd narration choices. Love the dual narration, and have no problem with the narrators' voices. But the male narrator was injected into the narration to voice EVERY male character, even randoms. And that's a lot to ask of someone. As a result, the narration sounded the same for every guy. It felt strange.

The Sex:

This is a definite slow burn, but you get some heat which is pretty well done. As is the case with me, however, if you're connecting with the characters, it won't do much for ya.

Good bones which will probably appeal to readers of more "chosen girl" fantasy romances. But not my cup of tea.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This story. Wow! Slow burn romance with lots of twists and turns. This will take over your life until you finish it. There are twists and turns constantly. Definitely not boring. I love the narrators. However, there is a lot of thoughts from the fmc in during conversations so I suggest reading along or expect to rewind to remember what they were discussing. The male narrator I wish had a bit more variety for the various male characters because at random an insert of his voice is dropped into the story. I’ve heard many of his previous performances and know he is capable. The next book according to the author has dual narration and I think it will be epic.

This was the first time I attempted to listen to an audiobook and I was surprised to say that I enjoyed it. The narrator was easy to listen to and follow along and the story was engaging for the most part. I wasn't a fan of the pacing but overall this was a god listen and I would love to try out more audiobooks!

DNF at 72%. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. Which is unfortunate, because I was really jibing with it early on, but as the story progressed, my interest definitely waned.

Firstly, I thought it was just me and my wandering mind (but see it was a common complaint amongst others who didn’t enjoy this one), but the writing made it so it was sometimes hard to keep track of what was happening? There were certain chapters I had to re-listen to because I was so lost on how we got from point A to point B. Unfortunately, the re-listens didn’t help.

The overall plot felt a bit meandering. Just when I thought I’d figured out what was happening, we moved on to something else, and I just never felt like I bought into the story or characters.

As for the audiobook, I also wasn’t a huge fan. Duet narration is all the rage right now, but it didn’t work for me here. The story (at least until 72%) is single POV from the FMC’s perspective, but there’s a male narrator added to narrate the male dialogue. Unfortunately, I felt the male narrator hindered my enjoyment of the audiobook; his voice never changed throughout, no matter which character was speaking, or what was happening in the scene. It was just a miss for me.

In the end, once I hit that 72%, I just felt that I was uninterested in continuing, and decided to stop there.

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ALC. All opinions are my own.

This book was pretty good. It was a little slowed paced and I had a hard time getting into
The book. The romance was really good though.

Thanks for the audiobook version of this book, the narrators did a great job. The pacing was great as was the various characterizations.

The book itself left something to be desired. It falls into the trap of many of the recent romantasy books where it seems to follow a formula. FMC has no memory of her past, MMC is a vampire. it just screams Armentrout to me. I had trouble figuring out what was going on a lot of time and just found myself, like the FMC, not caring. I'm not sure I'll be looking for second book in this series.

"The brightest star needs the darkest night."

This audiobook is done in a duet narration which is a huge plus for me when looking for an audiobook. Corvin King narrates all the male parts, and does a great job changing his voice slightly with the different characters. Jacci Prior does a great job as Astraea, and narrates the other female parts.

I liked the concept of the story, and this series has potential. I thought the story was easy to follow, but it definitely dragged on at times. It felt repetitive with Astraea, and some elements were very similar to other stories I have read recently. Nyte was the perfect villain. I enjoyed the side characters Zathian and Cassia. This story has been on my TBR for a long time after I saw a few videos on TikTok. So, when I saw this on Netgalley as an audiobook arc, I jumped at the chance to listen. I am hoping for more from book 2.

“I am the reason your stars are dying.”

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced audiobook for The Stars Are Dying by Chloe C. Peñaranda in exchange for an honest review. This audiobook will be available on October 8, 2024.

3.5 stars. The Stars are Dying took me a little while to get into. Once it got rolling I was more hooked, but with all the fairly obvious clues being dropped for our FMC along the way she sure took her sweet time coming to any correct conclusions. The narration was great, and the voice inflections were easy to follow for secondary characters. I will read/listen to book 2, but I hope she wisens up a bit.

I will keep this review short and how I like my Earl Tea...Grey.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, & Macmillan Audio for the audioARC! All thoughts are my own.

So...unlike the above beverage this book wasn't exactly my cup of tea. It had all the right elements but execution just wasn't quite right. While individually the voice artists were fine, I wasn't a fan of the mingled voices to differentiate male and female characters. As for the book itself, the female character was just too at odds with herself one minute being meek and timid and another acting like the light was switched and she was all of a sudden a bad ass, blade/bow wielding marvel. You can be timid and then to grow, but there were too many instances where explanations for her ability to fight just wasn't believable. This girl couldn't remember who she had been before being taken by Hector and basically imprisoned behind doors he had lock and key on and then say... well, she snuck out and so and so taught her to shoot a bow and throw a blade. Skill like that would have been believable as muscle memory, more than how it was explained in the book. EVERYTHING in the book took too long to get to the point and the reiteration of concepts and statements was cringeworthy. I am not a fan of a character who whines and Astraea does a lot of it. PLUS, how is the world did she not put two and two together? Of course this mysterious Nyte is the same big bad dude everyone else feared NYTE is literally in his name. Come on!!!
There was just too much leading from author and not enough inference. I apologize for being blunt here, but it just wasn't for me. I always recommend to readers that if you read the description and it sound right for you, then READ IT! I was on the fence because I have read quite a few of the same type of novel, so my advice to potential readers is to trust your gut. The spice was like tipping your toe into still water...the ripples don't last long. 2/5 hot peppers.

Maybe a few regrets!!!! 2/5 stars