The Shadows That Listen by Louisa Carmody

It has been a little while since I read a romantasy novel, and I will admit that I am a little bit picky about them. The Shadows That Listen is Louisa Carmody’s debut novel and it is overall a fun read. The ending had a lot of twists I wasn’t expecting and that really made the book worth reading for me. There were a few things about it that just weren’t for me, but I really think a lot of fans of romantasy will enjoy this one.

Amara is part of the AIA, the Angel Intelligence Agency. An orphan and a former solider, she now lives in a world that is in ruin as angels and daemons fight their own war on human turf. There is a strict curfew in place to protect humans from both sides, but every night people go missing after dark or don’t come home. It is Amara’s job to comb through the footage and give their family member’s piece of mind. When her partner, Jeremy, doesn’t come home before curfew, Amara panics and she makes the decision to go looking for him, even if it means putting her life in danger.

It’s not long until she runs into an angel named Nathaniel- the archangel no less. Nathaniel doesn’t immediately kill Amara because he needs her help tracking down a fallen angel named Cain. Amara and Nathaniel create a light temporary truce so that they can help each other long enough to see their end goals met.

I liked the setting of this story a lot. The world building was interesting and Amara and Nathaniel had a lot of chemistry too. This is definitely a slow burn romantasy, but I really liked that aspect of it because nothing between them felt rushed and the author sets up for book 2 really well. What I didn’t quite like about this one was that there was a lot of repetition, the pacing wasn’t consistent and I felt like some of the scene transitions were at times confusing. That being said though, I enjoyed this enough to read book 2 and I think the author has a really good series on her hands. I’m excited to see what comes next.

The Shadows That Listen releases 8/18!