Audiobook Review: Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas

Author: Jasmine Mas

Narrator: Meg Sylvan, Teddy Hamilton, Aiden Snow, & Tristan Morris
Title: Blood of Hercules

Series: Villains of Lore #1

Genre: Fantasy, Dark Romance, Mythology
Format: Audiobook
Published: August 1, 2024
Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

Step into the Coliseum at the Spartan War Academy where monsters are made, immortality is won, and even a god can die…

Alexis Hert isn’t a hero, and she certainly isn’t a god. All she’s ever been is a survivor.

But the Fates disagree.

When a blood test leads to her admittance at the Spartan War Academy, she’ll have to do more than merely survive.

Alexis will have to claim her birthright: immortality.

But immortality is a privilege, one earned in the crucible of the academy, where the heroes are villains and classrooms battlegrounds. While gladiators Achilles and Patro, her demanding mentors, hone her into a warrior, Augustus and Kharon, her professors and the brooding heirs to the underworld, haunt her steps and her thoughts.

Because where there are gods, there are bound to be monsters, and there is more than one hunting Alexis…

Review:

This was picked for my book club. I feel like I have heard of this one. The cover and title seemed very familiar. 

Alexis is nothing but a poor girl in the human world. Her life is thrown off track when a blood test leads to her being forced into the Spartan War Academy. This will give her a chance to claim her birthright and join the rest of the gods as an immortal. But immortality is a privilege and has to be earned through the crucible of the academy. Not only will she have to face tough lessons, physical tests, mental tests, and demanding mentors....but monsters and professors are haunting her.

I'm struggling to put sentences together today...so we'll divide and conquer this review. 

The Good

- I liked Alexis a lot. She has a lot of issues, but she can still find some humor in situations. She had me chuckling a few times

- The world was cool. I wouldn't want to live in it, but the mix of mythology and futuristic/post-apocalyptic was refreshing. 

- I adored Hades and Persephone. I hope we see more of them in the next book  

- Loved the animals (no spoilers here) companions!!!!

- Def a dark "romance". Some aspects I liked...some I didn't. Reverse harem is fun! 

- The narrators were lovely. I do wish we had more time with our male cast. 

- That was a good ending. I do want to read more just to see what happens to our cast. 

The Bad and the Ugly

- Honestly, I think we could've done some time skipping. We were in the Crucible FOREVER. Sure, I get it was important to see how bad it was, but there could've been some slimming down a bit. Some spots didn't do anything for anyone. It didn't help the plot, and it didn't add to the badness of the place. 

- The dark romance element left me feeling...unsure. Some aspects I liked, some I didn't. I really hated the scene at the dance.

- Why is every guy in love with her? Yes, I like Alexis....but it gets so old that all the men want her. :S Boring. 

- Possible love...square? IDK. It's hard to explain without spoiling. Curious to see what happens next with this.

Conclusion

So I did enjoy this. It was really long and took a while to get through. There should've been some scenes cut a bit to help move the story along better. Also, there are a lot of trigger warnings in this one since it is a dark romantasy. Def keep that in mind before jumping in. 

Overall, I did like this. Some issues, but it was refreshing. I liked the world (don't sign me up to live in it), and the characters were nice. I do want to read book 2 because of how this ended. I need to know. 

I'll stamp this with 3 stars. 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #7

- Library Love #6

- Reading Romance Challenge #5 (2+ Narrators)

Audiobook Review: The Queen of Rot and Pain by Liv Zander

Author: Liv Zander

Narrator: Auri Alden, Gregory Salinas

Title: Queen of Rot and Pain

Series: The Pale Court Duet #2

Genre: Fantasy, Dark Romance, Paranormal

Format: Audiobook 

Published: June 23, 2022

Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

Worse than a god in rage... is a god in love.

I punish lies and deceit,

An eternal damnation of agony and pain.

Yet, when it is my wife whose deception plagues me,

I know what I must do.

Shackle her soul to the lying, cold corpse that she is,

Ensuring that she never escapes me.

My wrath,

My torture,

My pain,

And my pleasure.

I am the King of Flesh and Bone,

Every part of her I possess and own.

She is mine,

Death shall never do us part.

Review:

This is for sure a guilty pleasure book series. I read book 1 and....I had to read book 2. It ended so abruptly and with so many questions. I want them to find their HEA and maybe set the world back into order, but there is so much that needs to be fixed between them. 

But yes, we continue directly after the last book ended. Mini spoiler....he thinks she betrayed him. She didn't. But how can she get him to believe her? How will she be able to move on with the grief and betrayal of what the humans did to not only her but her love with her god?

TRIGGERS galore in this one. This is for sure a DARK romance. Super dark and gory. 

This book made me sad. I had no idea how they were going to fix the fragile love they seemed to have found at the end of the last book. I can see his POV and I can see hers. I wouldn't want to trust her again. But GAH. As the reader you KNOW what happened and what was in her heart. GAH. 

And the whole baby thing? My heart.

I am mad at her for forgiving him so quickly after he finally realizes she wasn't lying. He treated her like TRASH. That was too much for me I think. 

I loved watching them work together to get revenge. That was oddly romantic. Dark. But romantic. 

The ending left me feeling like there should be more. Maybe his brothers finding love. I don't know but it felt incomplete. 

The narrators did a good job. 

But yes, the ending felt incomplete and I was mad at our Queen for forgiving too easily. 

3 stars from me. 

Favorite Character(s): our Queen

Least Favorite Character(s): the dumb humans

 Challenge(s):

- Audiobook #41

- Library Love #26

Audiobook Review: King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander

Author: Liv Zander

Narrator: Auri Alden, Gregory Salinas

Title: King of Flesh and Bone

Series: The Pale Court Duet #1

Genre: Fantasy, Dark Romance, Paranormal

Format: Audiobook

Published:  April 21, 2022

Where I got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

Worse than a ruthless king... is a king obsessed.

Isolation, darkness, and rotting flesh,

Surrounds me, suffocates me,

But I am the vile ruler who controls it all.

I long for warmth,

Yet, all that I touch,

Is cold.

Then, she stumbles in to my domain,

Lost and frightened,

Alone and confused.

And I terrify her even more.

She calls me the devil,

So I show her pleasure,

Like only the devil can.

I am the heat that stirs her flesh,

The longing that trembles her bone.

She begs her body to refuse,

To escape my embrace,

But I am her master,

The puppeteer of passion.

I am the King of Flesh and Bone.

Welcome to my court, little one.

King of Flesh and Bone is a full-length dark fantasy novel, and book one in The Pale Court duet. The two-part story features a ruthless man, the woman who can't escape his love, and a HEA. This world contains dark themes, violence, loss, and elements of horror some may find disturbing. What this book doesn't contain is a hero - because villains do it better.

Review:

A friend of mine recommended this to me. She said it was messed up but something I should read. So why not?

The story follows the Enosh and Ada.  Ada is a mortal. She is nothing special by all accounts. She is a midwife who is now a widow and childless in a terrible world. People think she is cursed since she could never have a baby. Enosh is not just a King, but a god. His life was destroyed by the mortals he swore to protect. His job, as god, is to help the bodies of those who passed rot and become one with the Earth again. After what the mortals did to him, he won't do it anymore. Those dead are now still roaming the Earth as soulless beasts.

This was certainly dark. Lots of triggers for people so for sure be aware before reading this book.

I.....actually didn't mind this book. I'm not one for overly dark romances or Eroticas but.......I ended up liking it and put book 2 on my TBR list. Yes, some scenes bugged me a bit but...I kept on reading.

Enosh is an asshat for sure. Yes, what the mortals did to him and his family was terrible (grrr dumb humans), but man what a terrible punishment. The world is littered with (essentially) zombies. Super, duper dark for sure. 

Poor, sweet Ada. I felt so bad for her especially at the end. Now I HAVE to read book two SIGHS. I need to know how things are going to get fixed. I won't spoil anything but I will say again....................................dumb humans. 

The plot was limited but I feel the world was crazy detailed. I want to understand more about the other gods. We got to meet two others, I hope we learn more about the "balance" and the role of more gods in the next book. 

One big issue I had was the use of modern phrases. A slip up or two doesn't bug me normally, but there were a LOT of modern phrases especially during the smex scenes. Mmm. It annoyed me. This is supposed to be a fantasy medieval world so it just didn't fit with the vibe.

The narrators did fine. I liked the girls voice. I felt like the male voice had little to do. Why even bother having him? I think he read only a few pages overall. I would've liked to hear the male voice do the male voices or something. Maybe a back and forth narration. Or more Enosh internal monologues would've been nice. 

All-in-all, I'm shocked I liked this as much as I did. I couldn't stop reading! LOTS of triggers so be aware of that. Very dark, lots of smex, lots of zombies, lots of dumb humans, lots of trauma. I'll give this 3 stars. 

- Favorite Character(s): Ada?

- Least Favorite Character(s): Too many to list. Humans are dumb.  

 Challenge(s):

- Audiobook #11

- Library love #6

- Romance Reading #9 (Fantasy/SciFi)