2.5 / 5 stars

I devoured “The Stars Are Dying,” so I was extremely excited to read the sequel and immerse myself in this world once again.

Unfortunately, my experience with the sequel did not meet expectations. I felt that the plot lacked a clear development path, the pacing was slow, Nyte and Astraea’s relationship felt repetitive, the love triangle seemed unnecessary, and the flashbacks came off as clunky.

I truly wanted to love this book, but, regrettably, it simply wasn’t for me.

Thank you, Chloe C. Peñaranda and Headline, for providing me with the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a good introduction to a fantasy series. The story is a gripping one with great imagery. A definite recommendation if you like fantasy books

This wasn't for me. I did struggle with Book 1 in the series but persevered.

The pros:
Nyte, he was amazing. I enjoyed his unwavering love for Astraea.

The spice was well written and very spicy at times.

I found the creatures interesting.

The cons:
I found the language convoluted and difficult at times.

Pacing was slow and overall too long.

I didn't like Astraea (which is more a me thing).

Although it wasn't for me, I'd recommend for fans of fated lovers, forgotten memories, obsessive males and found family.

The Night is Defying
Chloe C. Penaranda

I absolutely loved The Stars Are Dying (five stars) so was beyond excited for the next instalment. And The Night is Defying delivered!

There was dual POVs but it was ultimately Astraea’s story.

“I’ll always want you… through every realm. To the collapse of stars in everyone.”

I loved seeing Nyte and Astraea’s romance grow and deepen but did find Nyte very agreeable, little push back on his part.

So keen to see where we go next in book three!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my cooy of this e-arc

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the first one and DNF’d around 20% into the book

my mind continues to race with theories and all of my emotions, after reading the ending, still leaves me reeling over what will happen next. like most fantasy series, there is bound to be a burden of information as it’s crucial to continue expanding the worlds and develop the characters we’re following. this book continues where the first one ended and leads readers towards action-filled scenes where the world hurtles towards its inevitable collapse; a world where the fae and humans are threatened by vampires and corrupt power figures are hiding behind false pretenses as the stars die and the world falls into eternal darkness.

astraea endeavours to further unlock her forgotten memories and as she does, we learn more about nyte and astraea’s tragic history in this book. told in dual perspectives and incorporating numerous flashbacks, the missing knowledge in the stars are dying is revealed through various characters’ recollections. what i love is that the night is defying introduces a few more elements of world-building and clarifies a number of unclear questions that surfaced in the previous installment through these methods, making it an interesting and engaging format. this does raise newer questions that i’m sure will be answered in the next book, the dark is descending.

♡ astraea
for someone who carries the title ‘star-maiden’ and wields a weapon with unimaginable powers, i love that she’s not one hundred percent in control of it and hasn’t mastered the full potential of the star-maiden staff, as it goes for most female lead characters in other fantasy series. i appreciated her slow going process of learning to be the star-maiden that everyone expects her to be, her struggles and how she overcomes them and her mistakes she corrects, but in the end she learns from all of her experiences. she doesn't become a perfect, or all-powerful person but she does grow, learn and change, and towards the end of the book we witness astraea no longer bend to everyone else’s wants and see her strive for her desires instead.

♡ rainyte/nyte
nyte being the villain is oftentimes something that is mentioned in this series—that there’s no chance this man, not of the realm, could ever learn to love or understand what ‘sacrifice’ entails. in this book, we learn more about the villain, how the misunderstood earned his status and reputation as nightsdeath. i loved reading nyte’s chapters, something we didn’t have much of in the last book, as it allowed us to uncover his motivations and understand him better. the way nyte yearned for astraea, both in the past and in the present, made me fall in love with him for the second time. this is someone who’s been mistreated and who doesn’t know what ‘love’ means, yet he was attentive to astraea’s needs and desires without fault and without hesitation; with no ulterior motive or expectation for something in return.

♡ nyte + astraea
i love forbidden romance and when it’s been mixed with star-crossed enemies to lovers, the romance becomes all the more enticing and riveting. we have two characters destined to hate each other become bonded mates, despite what fate has set out for them. the juxtaposition of past and present perspectives enhanced the romance, as we were privy to nyte’s inner thoughts and emotions. this is someone who was mistreated, forced into becoming a villain and he’s never been loved before, but the way nyte fell pathetically in love with astraea filled me with absolute giddiness. i’m a firm believer in “the villain deserves her”, especially when he becomes the villain for her but not towards her and he was, without fault, devoted to astraea.

♡ the side characters
the bonds that were formed and introduced in the first installment are further expanded and strengthened in this book. despite her recent losses, astraea learns to manage her sorrow and begins discovering who her trusted friends and allies actually are as her enemies close in. in this book, we see nyte allow his barriers to come down more as he becomes friendlier with the band of nightmares, rather than relying only on himself. the vibrant side characters in this series have been an excellent addition, providing an engaging richness to the world-building and enriching our leading characters.

this series always seems to reach me at the right moment and so has become a favourite of mine to read!

Iloved this so much, all the twists and turns, the story unravelling slowly , the flashback and seeing characters in the past as they try to fix the future, just fantastic , can’t recommend enough

I wanted to like this book as much as I did the first but I just didn't connect as much with The Night Is Defying. I didn't remember much of want happened in The Stars Are Dying so that probably didn't help much. The book started of slow and even though it did pick up towards the end, it wasn't enough to grab my attention. The plot didn't even move much at times and often made it confusing to follow. Additionally, I didn't feel much towards the characters either, finding it hard to connect with them.

I'm still unsure on whether or not to pick up the next book in the series but I guess time will tell.

Thank you to Netgalley to providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great followup to The Stars are Dying, it jumps straight into the action of book one while building out main characters stories.

The start was quite slow similarly to book 1, but I did enjoyed it very much, but I feel like the ending was a bit anticlimactic (I love big jawdropping ending and this one wasnt THAT jawdropping).

In this installation the reader is introduced to a larger cast of characters of whom I mostly loved! The characters are written well and their introductions didn’t feel overwhelming.

Of course, I still absolutely adore the MCs but I was hoping to learn a bit more about them outside of their relationship - particularly with Nyte. Whilst I LOVE an MMC who would crawl for his woman, I found he lacked some depth outside of this.

At times, it seemed like there wasn’t quite enough material for a full installment, leading to a bit of padding and repetition. I particularly found this with the spicy scenes and they sometimes felt inorganic to what was happening in the story.

The last 10% of the book that really ramped up with some emotionally impactful action that had me hooked - I’m hoping for more of this in book three so will be reading it when it comes out!

I know the second book in a series is notoriously difficult to write, and whilst I loved the first book, this one unfortunately didn’t quite reach the same level for me. It took me over two weeks to finish this which is unheard of for me, but I will say that I think timing played a big role in this as I was reading it after my top read of the year so far.

Overall, if you’re a romantasy fan who loves books with the classic tropes (vampire, dragon, shadow-wielding and bonds) and an MMC who would crawl through glass for his woman, you may enjoy this one!

I liked the premise of this book so much, but unfortunately I just couldn’t properly get into it. I fully read up to 75% and skimmed the rest. It definitely gad its redeeming moments and I mostly liked the relationship between Nyte and Astrea.

Wow! After a slow start to the series this book comes back with a whole load of action. I was gripped especially the last 30%, I was glued to my kindle, flipping the pages relentlessly to find out what happens.

What to expect:
Fae, Vampires and Celestials
Dragons
Political strife
Brewing War
Forbidden Love

The love Nyte and Astraea have for each other is what really captures your heart within this book. Nyte is darkness personified and morally grey, he would literally destroy the world to be with her and to keep her safe. Isn't that what all us fantasy girls want though? Someone to say fuck it, I'm loving you anyway.

There are lots of twists and turns, with history unravelling slowly for us to see what happened before. Each part has a flashback memory chapter and I really liked seeing Astraea in her past as she tries to fix her future. She headstrong and powerful, I love that she comes out of her shell to realise her full potential.

The side characters feature heavily, and I loved getting to know them more. Especially Drystan and some of the other Celestials. I can't go into to much detail as I'm trying to keep this review spoiler free. But all I can say is READ THIS BOOK. If you struggled with the first one, I highly recommend you going it another go, this book will completely change your mind about the series. Nyte definitely on top to be one of my favourite morally grey shadow daddies 👏 ♥️

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book to read!

I'm just not sure this series is for me, I really wish I loved it but this still had a confusing plot and I'm not sure I 100% connect with these characters. It's probably just not the book series for me.

It’s really interesting to follow Astraea’s journey through this series. She’s really come a long way from when we first meet her in The Stars are Dying! I felt the writing in this book was better developed than the first and so made it easier to fall into the story, but The Stars are Dying still hooked me on this intense romance between Nyte and Astraea, the uncertainty of their path, and so many enemies and unknowns surrounding them. It definitely kept me on my toes and this continues into The Night is Defying, as Astraea tries to better understand who she is, where she came from, and how she’s going to save the world (a small feat, I’m sure!)

This book has a really good balance of character and plot development that really drew me in and kept me reading, and I can’t get enough of Nyte being completely obsessed with Astraea! He trusts in her and her strength, and celebrates her successes (even when they’re at his own expense. We really see how much he respects and understands her, but we also get to see more of him and of their past here which I was dying to see!

I got a little confused at the ending, and what I thought was happening was really not what was happening which kept me on my toes, but I think I really missed something so I might have to go and revisit that.

I am obsessed with this series and more so book two this was a perfect read for me. I have fallen in love with Nyte & Astrea and this just secured that more for me I loved that we saw Astrea discovering more of herself and her powers. I cannot wait to see where this story goes and what our conclusion is going to be.

I have conflicted feelings about this novel. I wanted to enjoy it as I did like the first book but the characters just did things that they themselves would think was a bad idea in their heads two minutes prior. Just a lot of it didn’t make much sense. About 75% through I began feeling I wasn’t connecting to the characters as much as I was before which was a shame as I feel this world has so much beautiful worldbuilding. I just didn’t find myself engaged no matter how high the stakes got.

Another fantastic book from Chloe. I enjoyed this book as much and perhaps even more than I did the first one. The flashbacks into Nyte’s memory to divulge secrets from Astraea’s past were a good addition and made the story even more exciting to follow. And dragons, who can resist them.

Definitely upped its game from book 1!

I liked book one, with its premise and characters, but felt it got lost a bit in all the mystery and secrets, especially with Astraea not having her memories and being an unreliable narrator. But this book finally answered all those questions and gave us so many twists and new developments! It was fab!

✨🌙✨🌙
Premise : (Spoilers for book 1)
Follows straight on from book 1. Nyte now is in charge of Vesitire, but struggling to keep control. Astraea is trying to unlock her memories and develop her power. All the while trying to resist the pull to Nyte, the man she now understands to be her enemy.

But the Celestials are keen to bring her back home, and willing to stop at nothing. And Drystan seems to have an army of vampires, hellbent on an uprising. Who will come out on top?
✨🌙✨🌙

The book really came into its own, and especially with the flashbacks that Nyte showed, answered so many questions about their past and their bond. What I loved:

🌙 NYTE!! I dare say he became even better this book! He’s still absolutely deranged; he not just “touch her and die”, he’s “think about touching her and die”. But he’s so supportive of Astraea and her journey. She literally can have him killed repeatedly and he’s just proud of her for finding her strength. We love a supportive man 👏👏👏

✨ Their relationship. We got to not only see the development of present day Astraea x Nyte but also the past versions! And both were so cute. Although present day came with A LOT of spice as well. The hallway scene was a particular *chefs kiss* for me.

🌙 Astraea’s character development. She truly becomes so strong in this book, and I love the ending for her, as I think it’s the direction she needs! Especially her standing up to certain individuals.

✨ Wider characters. Drystan is 100% my favourite! Especially seeing more of their brotherly bond in the flashbacks. I love him and his cunning mind. And Nadia, is just unhinged and I kind of love her. She definitely brought some fun to the book! Plus there’s now a little creature in the group, which has me very excited!!

All in all, it was a fab read! The ending will definitely leave you wanting more, but I’m very excited to see what happens in book three!

Chloe C. Peñaranda weaves an unforgettable story with rich atmosphere, engaging characters, and twists that will leave you speechless. This is a must-read for lovers of dark, poetic fiction.