The Book of Azrael is book one in the Gods and Monsters series. It is a multiple POV story told through the eyes of Dianna (the monster) and Liam (the God).
This was a very engaging debut novel.

This book starts with action, which is great. You feel drawn to the main character and immediately put into the mission that she is on. I love that aspect because it can be hard to draw someone into a new world with a slow, descriptive world-building beginning. That being said, however, I did feel like the overall history of the world was hard to follow at first. It was clear enough that there was a battle and that there are enemies, but it took me a while to understand exactly who was fighting and who were enemies, and the 'levels' of sentient being in this world.

Overall, the plot was very solid. I was never bored reading what happened, but I did think that the romance part of this book was so slow that it seemed to be a YA.. However, with language and violence, I would assume otherwise. By the time I got to the end, I was ready for more action. Although I understand this is the beginning of a series, I still felt like there was so much buildup to the eventual meeting between the two most powerful beings in this book and that never came. I think this is a solid 3.5 stars (rounding up to four) and I would certainly read the next book of the series. That being said., I am not sure if I will have to run to the bookstore the second that the book comes out.

This was way too long. It was fine. Spice was fine. Overall did enjoy it. I was just over it by the time the book was done.

Will read something else by this author but don’t necessarily would recommend this book to everyone

I wanted to enjoy this book after seeing all of the hype around it. However, I had a very difficult time getting through it and it took me a long period of time to finish. It was okay as far as first books go and I am sure after time and experience, the author will only get better. When a debut book is this long, I am always skeptical.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.
I tried to force myself through this. I really did. I wanted to see what people liked about it so much.
However, it gave My Immortal (the infamous fanfic, not the song) vibes after all the needless description of character's outfits. The writing was bad, the characters felt shallow, the worldbuilding was lackluster
I was really hoping to like this- but I just couldn't

I found the size of this book very intimidating, but I am appreciative of high fantasy and I think it has to be considered high fantasy at 800 pages long. It would be an absolute crime if this book was slow but it was enjoyable and finishing this book in two sittings is good.

A brief summary is that our protagonist has sacrificed her mortality to save her sister and is now under the servitude of Kaden, who requires the Book of Azrael.

I requested this book via NetGalley because I wanted a high fantasy novel that wasn’t Brandon Sanderson or emphasized male characters too much. Of course, I wanted a book of quality with a fresh voice and that’s what I got! This book is not derivative at all and I don’t feel it is trying to copy formulas of big franchises.

This was a comfort read in terms of tropes like a villainous female main character (Dianna) and enemies to lovers yet not unreasonable, poorly written spice at all. This book gave me a lot of things I never knew I wanted from books. I feel that in my limited experience of high fantasy, I haven’t read anything like this and I absolutely loved it.

This book is excellent from the characters to world building. I am excited to see more from these characters.

Finally, yes this book does show a bit of inexperience as a debut and the editing could be improved but it is a very promising start and I am thrilled to have read this e-ARC.

I really enjoyed this book! The characters and plot were fantastic and I couldn't put it down! I can't wait to read more from this author!

I absolutely loved this book! It sucked me in from the description because its not every day the MC is the villain but it was perfect for this book. Amber Nicole did an amazing job creating complex characters that immediately sucked you in and did an amazing job building a world unlike any other. At first it was a bit overwhelming but the more I read into the story the more I saw how connected it all was. Dianna and Liam's enemies to lovers relationship was so well written. The banter and chemistry between them was amazing. Even the side characters were well written and didn't feel like just a side character but instead they were intricately woven into the story and made it so much more. I thought Nicole did an amazing job creating a unique world unlike any other fantasy book I have read but no one warned me about the worst cliff hanger ever. I NEED the next book to come out asap!

Thank you to netgalley and Rose and Star Publishing, LLC for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Rose and Star Publishing for this ARC!

This novel hits so many romance tropes and it is wonderful! It has: Forbidden Romance, Only One Bed, Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, and Forced Proximity, Villian as FMC!

I found all of the characters incredibly likeable and interesting. It was so fast-paced and addicting I read this entire novel in one sitting. I cannot believe this is Amber Nicole's first novel, I cannot wait to read more from her!

I did subtract one star from my review because at this time it could use one more pass by an editor there are a few typos, missing punctuation, etc.

Overall:
Plot 4/5
Spice: 1/5

The Book of Azrael is the first in a new Gods and Monsters series. Dianna gave up her humanity to save her sister and now serves Kaden as a killing machine monster. Liam is the last of the gods who has hid himself away from everyone but now that a monster has been revealed to be alive, when all though extinct, he has returned to kill them all. This book is long but it keeps you reading with all the banter, sass, and action. I also enjoyed the enemies to lovers.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story has great world building, it’s not your normal nice and pretty fantasy novel, some of these creatures are down right scary! It is a very slow burn of enemies to lovers, Dianna would do anything to save her sister Gabby even if that means betraying the very powerful monster who has held control over her for years. When she meets Liam, the World Ender after trying to kill his fellow men, they strike a bargain and everything changes. This was a long book with lots of details but it was well done. The ending leaves you with baited breath waiting for the next one to come out, I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

Dianna sacrificed her life a thousand years ago to save her dying sister. Everything she’s done since then has been to keep her sister alive and to keep her master, Kaden, happy. He’s searching for an ancient book, a relic from the time of gods that will allow him to gain control over all worlds. But as Dianna continues to commit atrocities in his name to find this book, she begins to hear rumors that a god still exists and may even have reawakened to stop Kaden. As they race against time to find this book, Dianna realizes she may have to reevaluate her loyalties if she truly wishes to save her sister.

This work started off strong. I loved the concept, and I enjoyed Dianna as a protagonist for the most part. The story told from her POV was good and made me want more, which led to me enjoying the first third of the book. But Liam’s POV was awful for me – he was bland and difficult to connect to or like, and I felt that he had no real depth. Unfortunately, this made the middle portion of the work much less engaging for me. I did think that the enemies to lovers was done well and felt realistic without being too rushed or forced.

However, Dianna wasn’t really a villain, and I would have liked to see her be a dark, eviler heroine rather than a misunderstood softy. She was also so selfless, with her life only revolving around someone else’s wellbeing the whole time, that it made her feel a little more one dimensional and sometimes like more of a caricature than an actual character. Similarly, there should have been way more to the dynamic between Kaden and Dianna – he is a completely evil being with extreme and unknown power, yet he wasn’t really involved in the story in a meaningful way. There was a lot of potential for their dynamic to add real depth and conflict to the work, but I felt that it was overlooked in a way that detracted from the read for me.

The worldbuilding was fine overall. I enjoyed the inclusion of gods, monsters, and mortals, though it did take a bit of time to get situated within the world as a reader. After getting into the book a bit, the factions and politics are given context that makes sense without going through too many info dumps (though there were a few of these). I did enjoy the exploration of the different races and their interactions with each other, though this played a minimal role in the book.

On a more technical note, I’m not sure that this work was edited at all. There were many errors throughout ranging from missing words, incorrect punctuation, and extra spaces. On top of that, the dialogue was extremely stilted and formal, even between two sisters who are each other’s best friends. There were also random changes in font size as well as some words and phrases that were randomly in bold, which was very distracting. The writing overall left a lot to be desired, which made it difficult to fully immerse in the story. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why the writing wasn’t good other than that it just felt on the low end of mediocre.

This work was close to 800 pages, felt like it was 1200 pages, and should have probably only been 500 pages max. If it underwent some much-needed in-depth editing, I would be more than happy to reread it and alter my rating. Until then, I can see why others liked it, but it just wasn’t for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Rose and Star Publishing for a review copy of this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this one but it was Read Now and the cover pulled me in, so I went for it. I did NOT realize this was first in a series and got more and more nervous as the page count dwindled and the plot kept spooling out. The ending was absolutely explosive and I have no idea how I'll survive the wait to book two.

Paranormal romance is one of my favorite sub genres and this one added in the enemies to lovers aspect that made it hard to resist. The Book of Azrael is a super slow burn romance wise, and much of the majority of the plot is spent on world building and the lives of the characters before and after the war and the search for an ancient book that may or may not exist.

One of my favorite aspects of this story is the relationship between the main character Dianna and her sister Gabby. Dianna would and has done anything to protect her sister and the love between them is palpable. I also really enjoyed the banter between the two MCs but also between Dianna and her friends, who she clearly loves almost as dearly as her sister. All in all, this was a solid paranormal romance and first book in a series. I hope book two delves deeper into the main relationship and that all isn't what it seemed from that ending.

This book was very disappointing to me. I loved the cover and only saw good reviews so I was excited to read it. However, I really did not enjoy it and almost DNF'd. The writing was not very good, very chopping, and would have greatly benefited from an editor. The e-book format also was horrible and the font size changed within the sentences many time per page which was very frustrating. I did not understand the world building (names of places were thrown out all the time and I did not know if they were referring to cities, nations, worlds or what else). The characters and creatures/species were not well developed in my opinion. I could not follow what creatures where what and where they came from. I feel like I was expected to understand everything without the author actually explaining anything.

I absolutely fell in love with the cover, it's amazing. Moreover, this book contains my favourite trope, which is real enemies to lovers and I always prefer dual POV. I loved the world building, but especially Dianna. I loved that she was a badass warior, but also Liam was super nice. The world building was amazing and also the slow burn between the two MCs. The action scences were superb as well.

What a breathtaking ride that was! This book was incredible. I absolutely love the narrative and the main characters.🥰
Worldbuilding✅
Story telling✅
Love connection✅
Tension✅
I also need the sequel NOW because of the ending!🥴

“I didn’t remember how long we talked, but somewhere amidst her laughter and smiles, I decided I would rip the world apart for her.”

I was hooked! This story is told using the POV of Liam and Dianna. Dianna is far from the typical character written today as she remains true to herself at all times and the amount of snark and attitude and self assured ness is refreshing!
I truly enjoyed that the story was as amazing as it was without relying on spice to keep it interesting. The banter and flirty remarks were great and kept anticipation up.

If you love a solid enemies to lovers, complex world building, strong main characters, side characters just as amazing and a unique fantasy element that’s not been done endlessly than this is the book for you☺️

This is a fantasy story with very contemporary elements. They have TVs, phone, and access to most modern day amenities. However it is filled with monsters and gods that come in all shapes and sizes. This is always a fun dynamic to have the two main types of fantasy stories come together.

This book has a lot of truly beloved tropes: Nightmare scene, One bed, and what I consider to be Enemies to friends to lovers. Who doesn’t love the combination of watching characters go through the stages of understanding and acceptance of the other and setting aside differences. This book I feel like is a very good example of the enemies to lovers as compared to what I usually see.

So one think I didn’t love was the use of very contemporary names for characters that were supposed to be hundreds of years old. Liam’s name was great, but I did think it was weird that the bad guys name was Kaden. That probably wasn’t my favorite decision because I just couldn’t imagine him as some big tough scary guy.

I would have loved to see more world building with the shadows, vampires, and witches. They get vaguely brought up but I would have loved to see more of them in the beginning of the story when the crux of the plot was being developed. I felt a little confused right off the get go so it would have been nice to have a few of the gaps filled in so I felt I had a better understanding of the world that was created.

I enjoyed the relationship that sparked between the two main characters. As I stated before this was an excellent execution of the enemies to lovers plot. It was slow, building, and oftentimes very endearing to both of them. I truly enjoyed the character work between them as they bonded and as we learned more about them. That was truly top notch.

Absolutely loved this book. Before I even knew what the book was about the cover grabbed my attention and I knew I needed to read this book. This is the first book I have read from this author and I am looking forward to reading her other books. As well as the next book in the series, I can’t wait to see how it continues after the cliffhanger at the end of this book.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher who provided me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***