angel ruin – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Louisa Carmody
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: September 9th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

WHO WILL SURVIVE THE NIGHT?

The Shadows that Listen is an unputdownable dystopian romantasy with a delicious slow burn romance, from debut author Louisa Carmody. Perfect for fans of Crescent City and Silver Elite.

It’s been five years since the world was brought to its knees by an immortal war. Daemons crawled from the depths of hell and the sky bled gold as the angels arrived. Humanity thought it was saved, but the angels did not come to protect us.

Amara is a human warrior working for the Angel Intelligence Agency. She spends her days searching for those who don’t make it home after curfew. But when her boyfriend Jeremy goes missing, she decides to venture into the shadows to bring him back. Even if it means death.

Nathaniel is an archangel tasked with leading the destruction of humanity, for which he cares little. He doesn’t have time to protect little humans running around in the dark, especially those who stab him in the stomach.

But Nathaniel and Amara will soon realise they share a foe, one that lurks in the shadows and stalks them from the skies. She might long to kill him, but Amara knows that having an angel at her side is the only way to find the man she loves.

The shadows lengthen. They listen. Who will survive the night?

Thank you Orbit Books for the gifted copy.

I’LL READ BOOK TWO.

I didn’t know a single thing about this book and I decided that it was a gem! I appreciated that even though it’s an “urban” fantasy I didn’t feel like it was. The setting gave off purely fantasy vibes. Add in the humans + angels + demons combo and I was sat.

There was too much conversation around finding Jeremey because I just didn’t like Jeremy, but that was my biggest complaint. I liked the plot and that things kept moving. There’s good reveals and *AHA* moments that I can’t wait to see play out in book two.

The romance is a slow burn. THANK YOU FOR THE SLOW BURN. I did think it was funny Amara called Nathanial archangel for so much of the book. I couldn’t even remember what his name was most of the time because of it. I’m real down bad for these two so I can’t wait for more in this department too.

Overall audience notes: