Between Blood And Darkness

by Lili Mastronardi

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝚴𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝚮𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐦𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐎𝐟 𝚻𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝ǃ

All Adara Goodman wants is to survive senior year of high school without issues, but when a shadow with her appearance lands a student in the hospital after a fight, graduating and preparing for college are the least of her worries. The darkness that’s followed her since childhood is resurfacing, and once its volatility causes the deaths of her loved ones, she’s forced to seek help from the source of her curse—the Devil himself.

Desperate to restore life to those dearest to her, Adara agrees to a bargain: she must pass The Sixes, a series of trials created to grant Satanials, the soldiers of Hell, an opportunity to win back their souls. To qualify, she needs to be trained as one—not exactly a breeze judging by the rising tensions with her illusive mentor, the Daemon Prince Asmodeus, who seems determined to sabotage her.

Although Adara is fighting to complete her trials, they aren’t her only battle. The longer she’s surrounded by depravity and corruption, the more she struggles not to succumb to her own dark impulses. If she fails to complete The Sixes, not only does she lose her one chance to right her wrongs and defy her emerging monstrosity, but her soul will land in Praeteritus, the endless void separating the Nine Circles of Hell… until which time she’ll return to the Circle of Treachery to serve as the Devil’s Satanial for eternity.

Genres: Fantasy

400 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2026

About the author

Lili Mastronardi is a fiction writer from Montréal, Canada. Although her first language is French, she is fluent in English, knows (decent) Italian, and is trying her hand at Spanish. While obtaining her degree in Analytical Chemistry from Dawson College, she drafted her first full-length novel, BBAD, and finished its sequel BSAS in university after drafting a second book from a new series, nicknamed VWIP. As it stands, she has completed 7 novels centering queer female protagonists in fantastical settings who are morally grey or villainous, thereby showcasing the extent of their rage and power. Whenever she’s not busy drafting yet another book (and ignoring her phone), she’s either drinking unhealthy amounts of iced coffee despite the weather, info-dumping Game of Thrones lore on anyone who cares to listen, or cooking up some pasta dish since her Italian heritage runs red as tomato sauce in her veins.

Reviews

[gracious · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the lovely author for an ARC, in exchange for an honest review <3

3 STARS

“I could see myself in him, not some distorted version he’d created of who and what I should be, but a reflection of every aspect of what made me me—aspects that he understood and acknowledged as intimately as his own. His darkness found familiarity in my shadows in return, both captivated and grateful.”

If you enjoyed Percy Jackson, Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel, and A Court of Thorns and Roses, this would be an excellent next read!

Between Blood and Darkness is a whirlwind of dangerous fun, captivating romances, and above all, heart. You can really feel the author’s passion for her characters, her book, and the literary inspirations—notably Dante’s Inferno—that infused the work. The watertight plot felt easy to follow most of the time, and a number of twists in the middle and the end were satisfyingly clean. BBAD also brims with exquisitely intentional allusions that symbolize, foreshadow, and overall unify the work’s architectonic themes.

For me, the main romantic relationship between Adara and Michael, and Michael’s character were exceptionally well-executed. Their push-pull dynamic, wrought with toxicity, chaos, and brokenness from both sides was complicated but incredibly realistic and cathartic to read. Michael’s characterization I felt was a breath of fresh air among male fantasy leads; every time I thought he would fall into a trite archetype, such as “bad ex-boyfriend” or “dumb jock plot device”, he proved me wrong over and over again. He was truly fleshed out with his own fears and internal conflicts, and all of his flaws and actions felt organic and believable. Each mistake he made I truly sympathized with and understood his rationale; he was in my opinion the most well-written character in the entire book, and the continuity of his relationship with Adara truly showcased all the toxic glory that accompanies two damaged and deeply flawed people. Big kudos to Lili for executing him nigh-flawlessly!

That being said, I feel the stand-out elements of this book were overshadowed by four glaring flaws: the tone, the plot structure, the world, and the protagonist’s characterization. Ultimately, while the high concept has much potential, it was executed in a way that simply did not deliver on the promise of its premise.

First: the tone. One of my main gripes with this book is that through its marketing and synopsis, it promises darkness, psychological heaviness, explorations of hell, horror, grief, trauma, female rage, and overall many deeply mature and uncomfortable themes that should perhaps leave readers darkly enchanted, disturbed yet captivated, or just any type of sombre. It does not deliver. 80% of the attempts at maturity and complexity are drowned in the main character’s perpetual snarky, witty comebacks and absolutely mood-shattering commentary.

The plenitude of quips got to a point where canned laugh tracks played in my head whenever Adara would say something characteristically sarcastic during a serious situation, completely ruining the atmosphere. Moments of gorgeous, lush, and dark description make you expect a certain type of work and tone, and draw you in the way the author promised, but then we cut to the protagonist doing or saying something goofy—it had me thinking about the clashing nature of the work rather than being immersed in it itself. Unfortunately, the glimmers of beauty and genius are too heavily offset by the frankly crude and overwhelming attempts at humor that seemed prima facie like an imitation of Percy Jackson, but once prolonged, is more reminiscent of 2010s Wattpad fanfiction than anything else.

See these examples:

While participating in one of the dangerous, supposedly serious hell trials:
“Fuck this!” I punched and kicked the walls around me. “Fuck! Fuck! FUUUUCKKKK!”

Being told she is different by her love interest:
“The point is: the way you went on a tangent about Hamlet, the way you knew all of these background details not many people were aware of? You were—”
“You better not say ‘different,’” I cautioned. “It makes me feel as if I’m a protagonist in a 2010s Young Adult novel.”
Veering toward the corner, I glared upwards. “You better not make me into Y/N.”
Michael popped in next to me. “Who are you talking to?”
“My author, obviously.” I waved, and faced Michael. “I’m back.”
(This one gave me such pause)

During another supposedly serious trial:
“The rules of this Stage are straightforward.” Lucifer’s voice skated across the surface. “Stay in your seat.”
It sounded simple enough; I’d been nervous for no reason. I relaxed in my chair. “Do I not get any bathroom breaks?”
Levi and Asta laughed.

During a parent reveal that would logically be devastating and traumatic in light of its impact on Adara’s life, her being from a Western, Christianized society where she would even subconsciously be perturbed by this demonized figure even a little bit, as well as due to the nature of his power (I would expect him to radiate some sort of fear-inducing aura at least. Even good angels such as Gabriel or Michael did, and Lucifer is said to be able to rival them to some extent):

Adara: “I wanted to meet you.”
Literal Lucifer: ”How thoughtf—”
Adara: “Again… sarcasm. I didn’t actually come here for a father-daughter reunion. Frankly, I don’t care that you’re my father, even though I probably should, considering you’re the literal Devil.” To an extent, I did care, but I wouldn’t admit that.
Lucifer: “I prefer Emperor of He—”
I waved a dismissive hand. “Yeah, no. I don’t give a shit.”

We are promised female rage, and this is what we get:
“I meant to take another of Michael’s knives, this time to carve Az’s face off and toss it at Lucifer’s feet, but Michael hauled me onto his shoulder and carried me from the training room, kicking, screaming and swearing.”

During another trial:

Adara: “I’m not supposed to be here right now, so if you could take it e—”
Ammar advanced in the blink of an eye, slashing a dagger around as he tried to grab at the symbol on my chest. I managed to dodge his next attack, which had almost sliced open my cheek.
“Dude, what gives?” I shouted, my arms shooting out. “Did you not hear what I just sai—”

Talking with her love interest:
“Close your mouth,” I said, reaching him. “You’re going to catch flies.” (I have encountered this countless times on Wattpad and Fanfiction.net)

I believe the point is clear; too much of this book read like an amalgamation of Marvel and Hazbin Hotel dialogue without any pause, barely any breaks, and felt slightly like a juvenile high school drama novel even while the protagonist went to hell which I felt was quite inappropriate for the tone we were promised. There is a very thin line between a badass/cool/girlboss/smart protagonist and a brat/immature one, and Adara came off overwhelmingly like the latter. Female rage felt largely absent.

Next: structure. This was one of the worst issues for me: two-thirds of the synopsis focuses on Adara’s precarious trials in hell, and it is one of the main selling points used for marketing. In reality, the trials begin around 50% of the way through the book, which is simply unacceptable from a premise delivery standpoint; the first half takes place in Adara’s high school and largely features typical high school drama (e.g. trite mean girl, getting a boyfriend, jealous guy best friend) with hints of Adara’s inner darkness which are unfortunately overwhelmed by the juvenile tone and equally immature plot points. Even if one argues that it is simply a slow start, readers will expect the central conflict to be introduced much earlier; the slow start still needs to centre the story around its core premise. The action can scale up slowly, but with not even a mention of the trials, the entire first half feels narratively directionless and unintentionally cumbersome. It almost feels like there are two starts to the story—an interminable fake-out at the beginning that reads less as authorially clever and more unskilled, and the actual start halfway through.

Plot-wise, the actual trials themselves were underwhelming; out of the six, three lacked potential and seemed trite and boring, one was executed outstandingly well, one was executed relatively well, and another had potential but was not executed well. I do believe that if the trials were more personally tailored to an individual’s own greatest struggles, as two of them were, they would have had far more potential. Either that, or the broad trials being far more challenging than they were. While there were no plot holes and each event made sense architectonically, the plot itself could have been greatly improved.

Third: the world. We are promised hell in all its dark, infernal glory, and yet the protagonist stays in a comfortably furnished apartment when she first descends to hell and lodges at a luxurious guest suite throughout her katabasis. The first place she meaningfully engages with in hell contains a coffee machine, comfortable beds, pillows, and a couch, a flat screen TV, a stocked bookshelf with classics such as Dorian Gray and Wuthering Heights, and of course is inhabited by a gorgeous e-boy-esque demon prince and his equally attractive brother.

She is afforded showers and canopied beds during her trials, which made the environment feel more like some ersatz red dimension that tortured people often rather than the real deal. These glaring negative similarities with ACOTAR were immensely disappointing for my experience; even the demon love interest Asmodeus (which I will elaborate upon further) reminded me heavily of Rhysand. Overall, the world did not evoke any of the expected atmosphere one would like from a book heavily based on Inferno. It essentially took as much inspiration from Dante’s Inferno as Vivienne Medrano’s Hellaverse did, which, while entertaining, is absolutely not known for faithfulness to the source material. Nor does it need to be—it is acceptable because Medrano does not cite Inferno as a main influence or artistic basis in the way BBAD does. I can recommend this book to enjoyers of the proudly kitschy Hellaverse, but not so much to enjoyers of the Inferno or Paradise Lost, which it is supposedly heavily based on.

Furthermore, none of the demons felt remotely threatening. Based on their descriptions of simply being extremely attractive, having some basic special powers (like being prolific at writing, creating gadgets, sensing emotions, etc.), and talking almost like contemporary teenagers, they were practically powerful e-boys or models and not demons at all. Overwhelmingly, they also did not match their domain; Mammon, the demon of greed, is a vans-wearing writer who brings a writing setup with him wherever he goes; Asmodeus, the demon of lust, is a recluse who spends time reading in his apartment and contemplating the inadequate ending of Romeo and Juliet—ironically enough, his brother Leviathan, historically a serpentine embodiment of chaos, secular politics, and envy, embodies lust more adequately as he actually comments frequently on sexual matters and entertains his partners; Belial, traditionally associated with pure wickedness and lies, is only meaningfully mentioned pranking his brother by tattooing Andy Warhol on his lower back; and so forth.

Their power further seems to diminish as none of them really shut down Adara’s antics (when powerful, dominion-obsessed demons would more than likely do so) or do any demonic activities—even basic ones like torturing or inducing fear. The only glimpse of this we are given through the premise is that her demon mentor is trying to sabotage her—this is quickly disproven around halfway through her trials as he admits that he only pretended to sabotage her to secretly help her, which paves the way for their inevitable tryst later on.

We are given the excuse that Adara is Lucifer’s sole daughter, and thus they must treat her like royalty; Lucifer himself seems not to care about her well-being and actively sabotages her, and with the inherently demonic character of, well, demons, one would assume they would try to exact at least petty revenge in secret ways such as at least inconveniencing her or scaring her. Because the book is in first person, we experience the story through Adara, and as she is not threatened, I do not feel threatened either. However campy, Helluva Boss unironically does a better job characterizing its demons; at least their designs are quite representative of the sin that they personify.

Finally: the protagonist’s characterization. Adara is by far the most insufferable character in the entire book—even more so than her mean girl bully—not only because of her tone (as expounded on above) but her behavior, as well as how she is characterized.

For example, when her earthly parents reveal their identities to her—a demon father and a mother knowledgeable about hell and how to summon demons—and summon Asmodeus, a high-ranking and powerful demon, her first reaction to seeing this powerful entity spawn from a magic circle on her floor after being summoned by blood is to punch him in the face. Personally, this did not achieve what I assume was the desired effect of characterizing Adara as a capable, fearless girlboss, but instead made her seem stupid with no self-preservation instincts at all. Similarly, her poor choices to talk back and insult entities far more powerful than her—including Lucifer himself, literal ruler of hell—not only makes her seem immature and careless, but also unintentionally characterizes these demons as far less threatening, powerful, and overall hellish as they should have been. I had to suspend a mountain of disbelief to accept not only that she could win the trials, but that her father would not simply smite her for…whatever reason, because he clearly does not display any love or favoritism towards her. He even openly prays on her downfall and rigs trials—what is stopping him from killing her outright? If he intends her to suffer anyway, why can’t he just directly harm her himself? Is Lucifer, the literal Devil, bound by some laws of fairness or integrity? If so, it is never explained, and would make him seem much weaker than narratively suitable.

Furthermore, she is characterized with a juvenile amount of telling and not showing, reminiscent of middle grade writing that caters to reluctant readers. Here are a few examples:

“Now that, I hadn’t expected. Not his admission and acknowledgement, not the gentle earnestness of his voice, Hell, not even the sincerity bleeding from his expression. This wasn’t a sort of validation I needed; I wasn’t in search of it from him or anyone else, for that matter. His accountability and respect, on the other hand? That meant more to me than I cared to admit.”

“Unfortunately, there were no harnesses here and there certainly weren’t any fun-coloured rocks to grab onto. I didn’t have the skills for this. I had no upper body strength and no love for advanced cardio. I could barely see the damn walls.”

“Did he think so little of himself despite shedding part of his aloofness, taking accountability, and placing himself in a position of vulnerability through his honesty?”

Her commentary is often incredibly on the nose, and her characterization could have improved by miles if readers were given space to infer these (rather obvious) sentiments through better-written actions and subtext in dialogue.

She also too rarely displays true vulnerability, grief, or rage beyond bratty childishness; I highly enjoyed moments where those sides emerged, and felt immersed in the story I had originally been sold, but they were too often drowned in a sea of poor characterization and unnecessary, atmosphere-breaking commentary.

Ultimately, the high concept plot could have been much better had there been serious structural editing, a pass for characterization, style, tone, and world, as well as just rewriting certain plot points. While entertaining and lacking large plot holes, the book simply sins by not delivering what it promises on a premise level. Due to the unserious attitude of the protagonist towards almost everything, I was unable to feel the stakes or the danger, and could not be immersed properly. It read almost like a parody of all the tropes it employs, certainly not as a sophisticated upper-YA dark fantasy. As one character put deftly, Adara is for all intents and purposes “a five-year old” based on her attitude and how she reacts to situations. The book’s first person perspective greatly aggravated the impact of the unseriousness, and left much to be desired—had she been more genuine and treated her matters more seriously, that alone would have greatly elevated this work. Instead, I followed a bratty, immature, and sometimes downright stupid protagonist who seemed like a crude imitation of every Helluva Boss character, through an unrealistically comfortable hell with demons that were not nearly as threatening as they could have been.

This review does not even address some glaring questions regarding backstory and the necessity of certain characters, but I am willing to give grace to the idea that “it will be addressed in the sequel” despite the lackluster execution of planting these seeds (for example, the protagonist does not even question how she was conceived at all as the sole daughter of Lucifer—it’s fine if this is not deeply explored and answered in this book, but the lack of any mention makes her seem more unpleasantly daft, and the story poorly plotted). Unlikeable and unreliable antiheroes can be some of the most interesting and memorable characters to follow; unfortunately, Adara was insufferable in the way that made me not want to follow her at all, and I found myself only continuing to read for the premise and the plot. This book would have been much better served as a romantasy instead of dark fantasy, as the main romance was truly so much stronger than any other element in the book.

That being said, it was not the worst for a debut novel; several gorgeously written passages gave me exactly what I expected, and I wanted to stay immersed so badly. The romance and Michael’s character were also incredibly fun to follow. The author shows much promise! I will absolutely look out for their next release (BBAD is part of a series, so this is quite exciting), and I think you should be too!

[Anysa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review contains spoilers involving the overall plot and various characters.

After months of anticipation, I had the pleasure of receiving an ARC of Between Blood and Darkness by Lili Mastronardi, the author’s debut novel. (Congrats on the first of many bestsellers!)

The story centers around Adara Goodman, a young woman with a shrouded past. After a series of traumatic events result in her having to face a series of trials in order to save her loved ones, we follow our main character on her journey to navigate the darkness that has always lurked within her, waiting for her to grant it the freedom it so desperately desires.

The author established such an interesting setting for this story to unfold, having spun her own rendition of Hell, as well as establishing a unique hierarchy that contributes to the overall development of the narrative as Adara proceeds through her trials. Pulling inspiration from Dante’s Inferno, as well as several other theological/mythological narratives, she was able to portray various individuals in ways that felt relevant to the timeline in which the novel takes place.

While some may question the modernization of some of the characters, namely the daemons/fallen angels Adara is forced to work alongside, I don’t view it as unrealistic as far as fictional depictions of these identities go. Considering how these beings predate time itself, it’s not unrealistic for them to adopt more modern traits and/or amenities, and I would compare the execution to that of Rick Riordan’s in his many works depicting modernized entities, all of which who have been heavily influenced by humanity in an attempt to protect their power through their relevancy.

Despite the various allusions to dark fantasy and mythological elements I find overall fascinating, I did initially find myself feeling disconnected from more mature elements of the story while experiencing it through the first-person perspective of Adara. However, I don’t view it as having been a result of anything remotely akin to bad writing, but rather the author’s unique ability to write a realistic teenage character in a world where it is a common tendency to assign overly mature traits to teenage/young adult women in modern literature.

While I am a fan of various fantasy novels that follow this format, I find it refreshing to encounter an author who is not overtly trying to encapsulate the life experience of what would equivalent to that of a middle-aged woman in the body of a woman who has barely reached adulthood. Her behaviors, communication, and overall critical thinking skills reflect pretty well who she is fundamentally: A teenager weighed down by a burden most would not even have the strength to bear, let alone carry for an entire lifetime as she had.

Adara was raised with loving parents and, after years of struggling, had managed to establish a caring support system after having spent the majority of her life being kept at a distance or isolated from those around her. The bulk of her trauma took place during her childhood, resulting in her not only having to grow up while battling an anxiety disorder, but also forming codependent bonds with loved ones as a form of regulation - which makes the secrecy and deceit of those loved ones that much more impactful. Having once been a teenager struggling with near debilitating anxiety myself, I don’t find Adara’s behavior to be entirely unrealistic.

While some of the witty banter and dialogue did feel slightly excessive in moments where I felt the focus should have been on the narrative development, it generally felt on brand for an eighteen year old who had experienced immense trauma, a loss of her primary form of emotional regulation, and being inserted into the center of a complex hierarchy that until her arrival, she had no true preparation in how to navigate it.

With the aforementioned teenager characterization in mind, I also didn’t find myself all too surprised by the introduction of the love triangle (love square?). Her impulsive and conflicting feelings, again, are pretty on brand with respect to someone who has minimal experience with navigating romantic (and, eventually, sexual) relationships.

The primary issue I had with how it was handled was mostly with respect to the speed in which each of the relationships developed, which resulted in the subsequent transitions in her respective dynamics with each of them feeling more like I was experiencing whiplash as opposed to experiencing a plot twist/growth in relationship dynamics. Prior to her descent into Hell, I felt that there was not a smooth enough transition from Adara having been somewhat standoffish with Michael to eventually being in a close, intimate relationship.

I found Michael’s character to be well-written, specifically favoring the way the pair interacted with one another during her time in Hell. However, there were a few passages I had to reread a couple of times to understand there had been a significant amount of time (in relation to the urgency some of the other plot points, primarily the incident with Lenia/aftermath of the incident) that had passed throughout the time she and Michael had been in an official relationship prior to his descent into Hell. In my opinion, it felt as if there was room to explore using the immediate tension created by Adara’s subsequent social ostracization to serve as a catalyst for an immediate increase in intensity between the two of them, which may have served as an interesting mirror to the sudden shift in dynamic with Asmodeus. This intensity also may have had the opportunity to develop into a more complex dynamic as Michael sought to balance his new roles and responsibilities in Hell with his love for Adara and his concern for her losing a grip on her humanity.

Her relationship with Asmodeus was well-executed, and regardless of their relationship at the end of the novel, I feel that his character served his purpose in providing her with the proper support and motivation for Adara to accept who she was, as well as navigate what that truly meant for her.

Do I wish he would have yearned a little bit longer? Yes.

Do I understand that their encounter and the subsequent reveal were necessary to prepare Adara to transition into a more self-reliant phase of her personality development? Also yes.

I feel that the relationships she has with each of them reflect what what she was craving emotionally at the time she met both of them, and while I’m excited to see how it eventually resolves itself, I’m truly looking forward to Adara being given the opportunity to develop into her own person outside of the influence of (for lack of a better term) the puppeteers that she has been surrounded by since birth - regardless of how well-intentioned they may have been.

Regarding her birth - I’m looking forward to the continuation of the series to have the details of her origin revealed in their entirety. There were a few moments that the anonymity regarding the specifics of her birth made Lucifer’s demeanor towards her more confusing than mysterious, but I trust in the author’s plans to explore their relationship further.

Overall, I feel that the author did a fantastic job telling this chapter of Adara’s story, and I look forward to the continuation of this series, as well as following along with Lili as she continues on her own journey as a (published!!) author.

[Kaitlynn Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put this book down - cannot wait for book 2!!

Loose ends were tied up but new mysteries are holding me captive waiting on the next book!

[Gigi ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝙀-𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙍𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙀𝙒: 𝕭𝖊𝖙𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝕭𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖇𝖞 𝕷𝖎𝖑𝖎 𝕸𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖓𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖎 🖤

𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
𝓢𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓮 𝓛𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓵: 🌶️🌶️

𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒚, 𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆-𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑻𝑩𝑹. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒂𝒘, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅.

𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝕴 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖉?

𝘼𝙩𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙-𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜: 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑪𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒛𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍-𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒓𝒙𝒂𝒍𝒂. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅-𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍—𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒔.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙛 "𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙨": 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍.

𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 & 𝙏𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 "𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎" 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒄 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒛 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒔 𝒂 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆, 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆.

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘:

𝕬𝖉𝖆𝖗𝖆 (𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖆): 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯. 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 "𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳" 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥.

𝕬𝖘𝖒𝖔𝖉𝖊𝖚𝖘 (𝕬𝖟): 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 "𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦." 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘢’𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭.

𝕸𝖎𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖊𝖑: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 "𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘉𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥" 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘳.

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕿𝖗𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖒𝖊𝖘:

𝔈𝔫𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔢𝔰-𝔱𝔬-𝔓𝔬𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔞𝔩-𝔏𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔰: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸-𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘻 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳? 𝘎𝘰𝘥-𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳.

𝔗𝔥𝔢 "ℭ𝔥𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔫 𝔒𝔫𝔢" (𝔇𝔞𝔯𝔨 𝔙𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫): 𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥; 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 "𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵" 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭.

𝔉𝔬𝔯𝔠𝔢𝔡 𝔓𝔯𝔬𝔵𝔦𝔪𝔦𝔱𝔶: 𝘎𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 "𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘯𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥" 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭? 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱.

ℌ𝔦𝔡𝔡𝔢𝔫 ℑ𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔱𝔶: 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨—𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴.

𝔖𝔢𝔩𝔣-𝔄𝔠𝔠𝔢𝔭𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵.

𝕬𝖑𝖘𝖔:

🌑 𝓢𝓱𝓪𝓭𝓸𝔀 𝓟𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓼
👑 𝓓𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓷 𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼
⚔️ 𝓗𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓣𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓵𝓼
𝓪𝓷𝓭 🌈 𝓡𝓮𝓹!

𝕿𝖔𝖚𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕼𝖚𝖔𝖙𝖊𝖘:

"𝓘 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾. 𝓘 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓭. ... 𝓘 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓭."

"𝓓𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓾𝓹𝓲𝓭. 𝓐 𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓲𝓷𝓿𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮, 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂."

"𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓵𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓪 𝓬𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓯 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓹𝓾𝓻𝓹𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓵𝔂 𝓳𝓾𝓶𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓯𝓯... 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓫𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓸𝓾𝓽𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓳𝓾𝓶𝓹... 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓾𝓹 𝓬𝓻𝓾𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓸𝓶."

𝕱𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖑 𝖁𝖊𝖗𝖉𝖎𝖈𝖙:

𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔡𝔢𝔟𝔲𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔳𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔩, 𝔥𝔞𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔡𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔰𝔩𝔶 𝔞𝔡𝔡𝔦𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔳𝔢. 𝔐𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔦 𝔥𝔞𝔰 𝔠𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔞 𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔩𝔡 𝔴𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 "𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔬𝔯𝔞𝔟𝔩𝔢 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰" 𝔞𝔫𝔡 "𝔳𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔶" 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔴𝔬 𝔰𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔦𝔫.

𝑷.𝑺. 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒍 𝑨𝑺𝑨𝑷. 𝑳𝒊𝒍𝒊, 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒚 𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍!

[✨jaebea&#x1f5a4; · Rating 4 out of 5]

🔥Ooh, Lili, this book! The attention to detail and the world building was phenomenal. Adara is one of those FMCs that pack a punch and I loved her so much for that. She is sassy and doesn’t back down.
There is a darkness within Adara that she can’t control and she needs help from the one being she despises, Lucifer. Trying to save the souls of her parents and the man she loves, she agrees to The Sixes, a set of trials she must complete in Hell. Between her growing hatred for Asmodeus and her learning to control the darkness inside, my girl Adara is fighting for her life.
A twist of events hits hard and threatens to ruin and crumble everything she is fighting so hard for. Will she succumb to being a Satanial (Lucifer’s minions), or will she save the souls of the people she loves, and most importantly, her own soul?
This was such a good read. It ends on a cliffy though! Definitely recommending to other readers.
‼️Also, read the triggers! This is a dark book.‼️

[Nics_Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received as an ARC Copy from the Author

All comments are my own.

Welcome to the 9 Circles.

Tropes:
⭕️Anti-Chosen One
⭕️Daemon Princes
⭕️Shadow Abilities
⭕️First Love
⭕️Toxic Love
⭕️Trials
⭕️Slow Burn

Adara thought she was a normal high school senior. Until she was proven incorrect.

Hell literally exists. Can she pass 6 Stages to save the ones she loves? Or will she burn eternally?

A contemporary dark fantasy that has you Googling if your Spanish isn’t great and Dante-esque concepts that have you wanting to study up.

A wonderful and gripping introduction to the Between Angels and Demons series.

[Jenn Krivak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to put down!

Once started it was hard to put down, in fact, I am pretty sure I annoyed people I was supposed to be paying attention to but it was just such a riveting tale. 10/10 Would ignore them again to read more!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to know what happens next

I love it when I can't see a twist coming and this book definitely did that. I was so hooked, I finished this all in 1 day. The vibe of this book made me feel like I was in the TV show sandman. I need for there to be a second book ASAP!

[Ace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you so much to the author for an E-ARC of this oppurtunity to read your work.

I honestly loved the concept of this book, so I was super thrilled to have an E-ARC copy to read this, as a fan of dark romantasy especially those with similar concepts similar to 'Phantasma'. This book didn't disappoint me at all. I genuinely enjoyed it so much that I read the whole E-ARC within a day. Because it's so intriguing to read. And I loved that it definetely gave me 'Helluva Boss' vibes which I'm also a huge fan of. Though the story pacing is fast, it didn't feel like the scenarios were out of place. I enjoyed the witty banters, and the angst in between. Which balances out the overall story in my opinion. I also enjoyed the character interactions and the chemistry is quite good. Especially the plot twist, it was so unexpected that it became the final mark for this book to be a complete five star in my opinion.

I honestly look forward to reading more of Adara's journey.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan. Very slow and not keeping my attention.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Lili for the eArc of Between Blood and Darkness!🫶🏼

How dare you wreck my heart this way, Lili? What have I ever done to you?😭💔

In all seriousness, I loved this story. Lili’s writing is just so witty and beautiful. I am not familiar with Dante’s Inferno, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the story and its characters. It was humorous, heartbreaking and stress-inducing all at once.

Those deamons can GET IT. I do love a villain, and Lili introduces him perfectly and made me fall in love with (unfortunately) 🥲
But what I love even more is a bad bitch who embraces the darkest parts of herself and learns to thrive in it. Give me more of it!!

I think the plot twists were fun and unexpected, especially that ending (Re: HOW DARE YOU)…

If you loved Blood and Betrayals, Kingdom of the Wicked or Ninth House, you’ll really enjoy this!

I can’t wait to read what’s next for Adara!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Give me the second one like now please, I need to know what happens!
Love a feisty FMC. Amazing twists towards the end, and a good old enemies to lovers trope. Such an enjoyable read 😍

[nini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to write this for the longest time but hadn’t had the chance yet, this book was truly an amazing read! The author graciously sent me an advanced copy as we’re friends irl and I’m so glad she did! I found myself fully emerged in Adara’s journey, and her comedic comments dispersed throughout the book were the cherry on top. They kept reminding me of Percy Jackson in a way! Just as the other reviews mentioned, the use of the concepts of Dante’s inferno was tremendously well executed and even though I wasn’t completely familiar with the divine comedy it was easy to follow along. This book will have you wanting more especially with the unexpected ending!!