I made it to 57% of this audiobook before I decided to DNF. I unfortunately just could not get into this book enough to finish it. That being said, it could be a great book for someone else! It definitely had all of the components to be a great fantasy story but it just wasn't for me personally.

Rating: 4/5
I received an audio ARC for my honest opinion.

What would you do if you couldn’t remember anything about your life, but you would still get glimpses of recognition here and there, but you feel as though you’re missing a part of yourself, or what your mission was. Astraea has spent the last 5 years of her life feeling like this, but with her broken memories, an illness that will not go away, she finds protection with a captor named Hektor. However, all she has wanted is to break free from her cage and have the chance to break through this darkness in her mind and remember. When a friend is chosen to be the competitor in Libertatem she decides to run away with her and start her new adventure. But nothing is as it seems and the answers that she has wanted may not be the ones that she wanted to hear.

I cannot say that I hated this book because I found a lot that I did like, but I cannot say that I loved it. I thought that there was a lot going on and for me the pace of the plot was done well to explain the characters more in dept and to get a clearer picture of what is going on, but at the same time I felt as though the author could have shown more light on the trails and the time being spent at the court. I think it really came down to there was a lot going on and a lot of repetition with the Astraea, to the point that I was like “here we go again”, but I still understood the point, but I think it should have been a little less. I loved that we got to see the competing trials in this book, but I do wish we could have spent a little more time on each task that was given. I found the characters to be well developed. The pace of the book might be a little slow at the start, but it does pick up and a lot does happen.

I liked Astraea, I do think she could have developed more but I think in the second book we will see more from her character. I found her to be smart, even though she was naïve at times. Nyte, I am not sure how I feel about this character, and I love a good morally grey character, but I feel like maybe he might become a really bad guy, and I don’t want my heart to be crushed because I do like them together. I can’t wait to see what the author will do with him in the next book.

I received the audio of this book, and I found the narrators really helped to bring this book to life. I loved that it was a dual POV and that the narrators did so well with getting their characters. I would listen to another book by them.

I want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review this book.

“I can feel your soul. And I can show it to you if you’d like.”

All that surrounded us was my light

Well slap me shadow Daddy and call me Starlight!
I enjoyed this. The world-building in this mystical realm, filled with creatures like fae and vampires, gave such a great backdrop for this slow-burn romantasy. The storyline was good,character development was layered,plot starts slow then builds towards the end.
I found myself invested in Astraea and Nyte.The romantic tension between the two is palpable, especially as Nyte hides in Astraea’s dreams, and his morally ambiguous nature added a captivating (and hot)layer to the narrative.

Astraea's journey from captivity to empowerment, particularly with her amnesia, is compelling. While I wanted to shake her for her constant compliance with Hektor, the eventual discovery of her strengths as she regained her identity was rewarding. I appreciate how the pacing quickened towards the end, leading to a thrilling cliffhanger and readyfor book #2.

The push-and-pull dynamic between Nyte and Astraea kept me on edge. I often questioned his true motives and whether he could be trusted,especially during the sex scene.which was spicy but not overtly so.
My only qualm was this story got lost in their romance,I felt like it became centered on that,which was fine.
This is a series I am looking forward to continuing.

As much as I love the covers and plot summaries, Chloe Penaranda is just not for me. The narration was great, but that had nothing to do with the writing. The plot is all over the place, the writing stilted, and it takes you from the story. I’ve tried enough of her books across genres to know they’re not my cup of tea and not something I’m going to be recommending.

***
“When falls night, the world will drown in Starlight.”


I loved this. It’s a unique story with magic, deadly trials, vampires, fae, world building, friendship, royals, betrayal, and a slow burn romance with a twist. It’s really hard to figure out who to trust in this one. You might think it’s predictable and then find you’re completely wrong. It’s a fun time. It’s left me with so many questions at the end.

Nyte is one of my favorite male leads. He’s a tortured soul with a literal “touch her and die” attitude who’s morally grey and a villain you love to hate.

Astraea is a victim of abuse who is put through so many trials (literally) and sometimes she felt a little naive to me, but I also had to remember she didn’t get out much. By the end I really grew to like her character as she became stronger emotionally and I’m excited to see where she goes from here.

“How do you find me so easily?”

“Because you are the brightest star,” he said, a murmur over my lips. “And the brightest star needs the darkest night.”

THE ROMANCE. The torture and tension in a romance where one remembers their past, but the other doesn’t but is still drawn to them is *chef’s kiss.*

Can’t wait to read book 2!

I have very conflicting feelings about this book. I really liked the writing and the prose of this book. The competition and trials aspect of this was interesting. But the magic system was really confusing, the different types of vampires weren't explained well, and the banter between our main characters was just too little too late. There was a weird power dynamic because of the mentor mentee relationship, and I wanted to see more chemistry between our couple, rather than the author telling me that they were supposed to be together.

On a positive note, I really liked the narrator for this book and will be checking out more of her work! She really added another level of depth to the character and made it so immersive.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

This was a slow burn fantasy romance that tabbed my attention based off the synopsis. It was a fun ride trying to figure out where the characters were going to go throughout. You have all the makings for a great start to a new series: vamps, spice, and a general sense of “wth is coming next?!” Overall a fun start to this series!

My friend told me I needed to read this back when it was indy published and when I saw the audio available I knew I needed to listen. It was incredible and I can't wait to listen to the next book. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it.

Coco Chanel famously advised women to look in the mirror and remove one accessory before leaving the house. If there is an editorial equivalent piece of advice for plot elements, this book needs to hear it.

At the outset, the novel is about a young woman named Astraea who has no memory of her past, but has been under the protection of a not-so-nice man named Hektor for the past five or so years. Astraea has secretly befriended Cassia, the daughter of the local lord, and plans to accompany Cassia to the Central for a once-in-a-century competition. Cassia hopes that she will win be able to win the competition and the accompanying protection from vampires that it will win their realm. Meanwhile, Astraea has been gaining some clues to her true identity and has started to have visitations from a mysterious man (possibly vampire) named Nyte, who can also communicate with her telepathically.

All of this feels cohesive, but it takes a good long time for the plot to get moving since there is so much world-building to establish. I think that the competition doesn't get underway until at least the halfway point of the book. At that point, I felt that things began to unravel quickly. Characters were introduced quickly, but not very well established before they were dispensed with. The intrigue kept getting more and more complex until I felt that I honestly had little to no understanding of what was happening in the story.

I skimmed the final few chapters of the book because I found that I was completely disengaged at the point. It was truly a shame. For the first half of the book, this was a solid four star read for me. But it overstayed its welcome until I just lost all interest because I could not track the happenings of the story.

The narration of the audiobook opted to have a female narrator for the bulk of the first person narration, with a male narrator for the male voices. The male narrator has a beautiful, distinctive voice which was very fitting for the (maybe) vampire Nyte. However, I had a hard time distinguishing his character voice from the other male character voices at times.

Readers who enjoy this genre may feel differently about this book than I did. I enjoyed the initial fantasy adventure parts that reminded me of The Hunger Games and Immortal Longings. But the concluding chapters that were mainly dialogue about who did what and felt what about whose powers just is not compelling reading for me.

I really wanted to like this one. There were moments that were good and peaked my interest. But most this story was confusing as hell. That ending…. i don’t know WTH all this was but I didn’t like it.

Audience: Adult
Plot: 4 out of 5
Characters: 4 out of 5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of 5
Keywords: Fantasy, Romance, Romantasy, Star-crossed lovers, Fated mates, Vampires, Fae
Tea Pairing: Apple Cinnamon Chai from Plum Deluxe – perfect for chilled nights looking at the stars.

I received a copy of this book and audiobook through NetGalley from Tor Publishing Group / Bramble & Macmillan Audio. Thank you! All opinions are my own.

~~“It was only when I stood around more books than I could consume in a lifetime that immortality became desirable.”
~~“Because you are the brightest star…And the brightest star needs the darkest night.”

This novel is the first in the Nytefall series by Peñaranda, and is my first introduction to this particular author. This is a slow-burn romantasy that centers around Astraea, a woman with white hair and silvery tattoos, but who cannot remember her past. She is held captive by the ruthless Hektor, under the guise of “protecting” her. Having had enough, Astraea escapes to visit her best friend Cassia, who has been selected to participate in trials called the Libertatem. Later, tragedy strikes, and Astraea decides to disguise herself and take Cassia’s place.

At the beginning of this book, I was captivated by the whole idea of Nyte – who he is, what he is, and I kept second-guessing myself on whether or not he was real, or a figment of Astraea’s imagination. And when he was finally revealed, he gave me Rhysand-vibes from ACOMAF. And it just made me think – well how powerful is this guy that he can do X, Y, Z? Answer: Pretty powerful. But what about Astraea? She is alluded to having immense powers, which we only get a glimpse of in this book. I’m hoping that more will be revealed in book two.

Another aspect of the novel that I found particularly interesting were the trials of the Libertatem themselves. I really enjoyed how they weren’t the usual “trials” that I have read in previous books – so less fighting, and more solving puzzles and riddles, and overcoming certain virtues and vices. It was such a fresh take – that trials don’t always have to be physical.

Overall, I thought this book was definitely worth the read (even more so with the audiobook – Corvin King and Jacci Prior were absolutely amazing!). Corvin King – Wow! He has one of the most seductive voices that I’ve ever heard. For the audiobook, Corvin and Jacci both had really good chemistry, they read with expression and a lot of emotion. The audiobook narration followed the text really well, and both the ebook and audiobook, which also included two bonus scenes from the author. I really hope King and Prior will narrate the second book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who may have enjoyed The Serpent and the Wings of Night, as well as books with trials and games, and fated mates. I cannot wait to read book two which is scheduled to be released in January.

4.25 ⭐️

I thought this was so fun and I had such a GREAT time reading it. the banter and tension between the fmc and the mmc was delicious 😮‍💨🔥

this was not my first chloe book and it will not be my last

Big thanks to Netgalley and Chloe Penaranda for the audioARC in exchange for a review.


I didn't realize this was book 5 (part 1 of the Nytefall series) so it does well as a stand alone.

It's full of magic and mistrust, a little betrayal and lots of spice.

This fits into the very standard "basic girl becomes excellent and wins all the games" troupe, but that's only one reason to love the book!

4.5 stars.

It wasnt a bad read but it wasnt a fun read. A solid 3 stars does it justice as it stands between bad but good. I felt like this book lacked in banter (it was boring for me), it didnt have any emotional depth, and overall i feel like this book just wasnt for me. If u like a slow paced book with vampires and a man following a girl then this is for u.

This story is very slow going. I enjoyed the premise of the story but ultimately couldn’t finish this audiobook. Hoping I’ll go back later and try again- romantasy is one of my new favorite genres

The audio was confusing. The story was confusing. Very hard to follow and I just didn't seem to connect to the many characters.

DNF 46%

Okay I really struggled with this one because the pace is quite slow. There's a mystery elements that takes a while to unfold and while that was unfolding I was very confused about what was going on. The stakes are technically high but they don’t feel like they're really affecting the characters that much so I wasn't as invested. For people who love a slow burn story I'm sure this will be a hit. Unfortunately for me, it didn't quite land. I loved the performances of the narrators individually but I found the duet narration style only added to my confusion because the male narrator narrated all the male characters. If he had narrated only the love interest it might have caused less confusion for me.

2.5⭐️
🎧
*ARC Review*
I wanted to like this book and I had high hopes for it going into it but it just didn't work for me. On the good side, I liked the narrators' voices and I do think they made this book more enjoyable for me. They did a really good job at giving the characters life and feeling. The spice was also good and the characters had good tension. I liked some of the side characters and certain little details and quotes were interesting and captivating.
However on the other side of things... I didn't love how the plot of this book was simultaneously predictable and a big giant question mark. Like I understood everything that happened even when the author had long info-dumping paragraphs but the overall point of this book felt a little flat. Maybe this book is meant to be like this because it's setting up a bigger story but this just felt short. The whole trials aspect of this book was also boring especially considering in the grand scheme of things I don't think it mattered that much. I wished we had focused more on the veil and the other aspects of this book rather than facing all these games.
The romance promised me longing and sacrifice from the very beginning but as things progressed Aestrea's back and forth was a bit annoying and again it felt short for me. I wished we had gotten to see glimpses of their love story in the past or that the author hadn't insisted on keeping the details so vague of their past lives so because it just left me unsatisfied instead of intrigued.
I might read the second book, maybe in the future and it might make this one make more sense or I might just leave it here.

This is a dark romantasy with vampires! A perfect read for this fall/halloween!

I really enjoyed both of these MCs and the world that Chole C. Penaranda has built for this trilogy.

I was SO lucky to get an early copy of The Night Is Defying, so I will be jumping right into book 2!

When I pick up a book, it's as an escape, to be entertained. I don't think I should have to work unnecessarily hard to understand the story. With this book, I felt like I had wandered up to this chick at a party telling a story, and no matter how intently I listened, I couldn't see to understand a word she was saying. I also found the FMC really annoying. I had such high hopes for this book. It's got such a gorgeous cover, but in the end, it definitely wasn't for me.