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The Heart of Nibiru ~ Capturing Niila

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Niila was born into a tribe of Dark Fae on the planet of Nibiru. According to the Fae tradition, a royal prince or princess is to marry on their twenty-first birthday and begin the journey of life. And Niila was prepared to start her journey with Prince Idris from the neighboring kingdom of Ravenwood.

Saavik was born Prince of the Kushite Tribe on Earth. He was one week away from marrying a woman he had been courting since they were teenagers. Before he could commit to Kiera, his mother revealed a secret she had been holding for decades. Saavik was fated to marry Niila.

Disgusted that he was forced into an arranged marriage with a Fae Princess, he hardens his heart and keeps Niila at arm’s length. Saavik sees Niila as a disgrace because she doesn’t have shifting abilities, and her appearance isn’t entirely human.
Niila tries withholding her heart from Saavik because she was taught that humans are savage beasts who kill for sport and reproduce like rabbits. They have no respect for their land and thrive on starting wars. And, whereas the Fae believe in one wife – one husband, she finds out that Saavik is entitled to have as many wives as his heart desires.

Unbeknownst to Niila, Saavik is a Panther Shifter, and his counterpart has been waiting for his true mate to be born. This pits the man against the animal because the human half of Saavik’s heart belongs to Keira, but the beast gave his half to Niila.
As time passes, Niila and Saavik face many challenges. He’s possessive and demanding, and she is rebellious and jealous.

Can Saavik soften his heart to his new wife, knowing that Niila is Dark Fae? Can Niila learn to love someone who is human, a race of beings who enslaved her people centuries ago? Can they meet in the middle and create something beautiful, or will they repeat history and destroy what the gods are trying to rekindle?

Only time will tell.

ebook

Published March 1, 2023

2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read

About the author

Monica L. Smith

16 books125 followers
Monica L. Smith lives a vast contrast in lifestyles. She has been working in the medical field since 1997, first as a Certified Nursing Assistant, then in 2005 as a Medication Aide and, since 2013, as a Licensed Practical Nurse. She was born in Louisville, Kentucky, where she received her diploma. She then moved to Maricopa, Arizona, with her husband and 2 out of 9 children.

When she isn’t working, she enjoys old-school television shows such as “Perry Mason”, “Matlock”, “Forensic Files”, and more currently, “The First 48.” Her creative side began to emerge when she tried her hand at writing. She published A Softer Side of Me, a book of 10 poems focusing on her “normal” but inspirational life, including her husband, children and career. It spent time as #1 in the poetry genre on Amazon.

But much like her character, there’s another side to Monica L. Smith, who has realized that she has a passion for urban erotic fiction. She enjoys writing what she calls “no-no” sensual sex scenes and while she does explore the dark side, she also firmly believes in writing about finding love, and hopes to inspire women to find their balance between sexuality and true love.

She claims she may not actually do what she writes about, but she feels a connection to it and enjoys the thrill that drives her to see her stories through to their exciting climax and conclusion.

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5 stars
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15 (26%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
Profile Image for chelsea.
301 reviews3 followers
January 15, 2023
I am a Beta reader for this book, it is so good! I was sucked into this book from the beginning, such an amazing Dark romance. Definitely recommend reading once it comes out.
Profile Image for Jessi McCulloch.
38 reviews2 followers
January 15, 2023
No spoilers! You’ll have to read it you want to know.(;
This book has a hold on me from the start. It is an enemies to lovers romance. Princess Niila of planet Nibiru she was taught to hate humans and Prince Saavik of the Kushite hated the fae for being different. They are forced to do things neither want to do and are faced with many obstacles!
Make sure you get comfy because you won’t be moving from your spot once you start it’s a 5 star read and will be your favorite read of 2023! Happy reading!
Profile Image for Michaela.
38 reviews1 follower
January 15, 2023
Everyone loves a good enemies to lovers book, right? Well if you are looking for another to add to you never ending TBR, this is one for it! It has fae and shifters! Niilas is such a spunky, don’t take no crap attitude that everyone loves in a FMC! She will have you laughing at her responses to anyone who has said something wrong to her our the one she care about! She is one to not mess with until Saavik came into the picture. Now, if you love morally grey MMC, he is one for the books! He was taught at a young age how women are meant to be and how they should be towards their husbands. He does have a run for his money with Niilas. You go through their journey through everything and you can’t help but to love them! It shows how people can change! It has some great action scenes that will have your heart racing on what will happen to them. It also has some emotional scenes as well! It has it all! It will have you in a choke hold to finish it to see what will happen next. It is an absolutely amazing book that is well worth the read!
Profile Image for Veronica.
118 reviews16 followers
March 3, 2023
This is one of the best enemies to lovers books I have read in a long time. This is a dark paranormal book that ends on a cliffhanger and had me in a chokehold from the beginning. Do yourself the biggest favor and pick this one up. I have loved Monica’s writing since I found her and can not wait to read more from her. She is for sure one of my one click authors after this book!!
Profile Image for Chaos & Courtships~ Lauren.
199 reviews
March 1, 2023
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy of this book, and I’m so happy to have found this author.
This the first of her’s that I’ve read, and I will be checking out the rest of her catalog.
Highly recommend this one if you’re into fantasy, especially series featuring Fae. It was a fresh take on Fae lore, but retained all of the beloved tropes that fantasy readers cherish: morally grey MMC, strong & independent FMC, enemies to lovers, forced marriage, action, adventure, etc. Definitely has some spice. A fun, interesting, fast paced read.
Profile Image for Destynnee  Realta.
266 reviews24 followers
March 12, 2023
Everything about that devious grin begged me to fuck the sinful intentions from her temperament.
-Saavik

The Heart of Nibiru
Capturing Niila
Nubian Love Book 1
By Monica L. Smith

304 pages
Currently on KU in the USA.
Publication date March 1, 2023

This is an ARC review and may have spoilers. Please be careful.

Possible TW, Tropes, and Genres
Dark Romance, Romance, Death of children and adults, anxiety, bullying, depression, emotional abuse, physical abuse, pregnancy, miscarriage, religion, stalking, shifters, extreme and explicit sex, breath play, blood play, threats of cannibalism, somnophilia, violence, and possibly more.

The author put a chart with the pronunciations of names, places, realms, etc! For someone, like myself who has a hard time reading/saying words correctly this is a goddesssend. THANK YOU! I really hope that more authors do this, because it is so helpful.

This is a DARK ROMANCE, please check triggers!! The author has put them in the book, under content warnings. Please, please, please, especially when reading dark romance, check trigger warnings.

I will have to keep this short, or I will spoil the whole thing, and that is the last thing that I want to do for this story. It sucked me in, and even though it's like over 300 pages, I read it in less than a day, and just could not put it down!

It is very dark, and I am here for it. Saavik, is a dark dark character who anytime I think, he can’t get worse.. He does, and I gotta say, I am here for him. Call my dr please, because DAMN! Saavik kidnaps Niila, and if you are like me… Then we are here for this. Saavik already has someone, Kiera, but he gets to have more than one partner. The more the merrier I say!

The characters, the worlds, etc. all felt so fleshed out, and real. Monica does such an amazing job of not only making you care about these characters, but making you want to know what happens next.

Dark romance really is something else, because it often makes you not only check/feel out your triggers, but it also makes you look at why you have them, and why you feel the way that you do. It is one of the many reasons that I love this genre.

Highly recommend it.

5 / 5 stars
-Destynnee
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kacey Doner.
94 reviews
March 3, 2023
That cliffhanger has me dead!
First off, this is a dark and twisted paranormal romance book. If you’re not into that, that’s perfectly fine. Me on the other hand, I am all for that dark and twisted romance. Give me all of it and more.
Chapter one and we already starting with that yumminess. 🥵 I devoured this book. From the very beginning I was addicted. The world building and character development was magnificent. Everything was described so well, you thought you were standing in that world looking at it with your own eyes.
Saavik sure knows how to woo a woman. 😏 He has some serious kinks that he does to Niila (degradation, humiliation, spankings, praise) but dang if it don’t make him sexier. Niila is so fierce and strong. She takes everything he gives with stride. I love a good strong, fierce fmc and an arrogant, my way or the highway attitude mmc. Im loving this couple so much. I need more of their story.
It’s not often an author can throw me for a loop and me not figure out what will happen in the story. Well, this author succeeded very successfully. I was thrown for quite a few loops while reading this book. I truly enjoyed reading this book. I was excited to get back to reading this and found myself thinking about what would happen in the book while at work. This will be a book that will live rent free in my head for sure.
Profile Image for Erin Smith.
141 reviews6 followers
March 2, 2023
Monica has to be one of my favorite authors. Her writing style, storyline and characters are always amazing and this book was no exception.

This book delves into two worlds, where the two MCs are arranged to marry before they are born. That is obviously not what either of them wanted and each MC has existing feelings for other people in their lives. This is the main tension point for a lot of the book, where both have this animosity towards each other for being forced into this situation. It probably doesn’t help that their first meeting is when the MMC kidn@ps the FMC to bring her back to his world to follow through with the marriage and save his mother from dying.

This has a lot of supernatural elements that I love, with the MMC being a shifter and the FMC being fae. There’s also plenty of spice throughout the book, but it doesn’t override or diminish the plot.

I’m not giving out a lot, because you need to read the book! Please check the content warnings before reading.
Profile Image for Jacquelin.
19 reviews1 follower
January 27, 2023
This book is a dark paranormal romance that was written so vividly that it is easy to picture Nibiru and wish that you were transported to that world. The character depiction and story was so good that I felt admiration/respect for Niila, love/hate for Saavik (he still has a lot of groveling to do), and Keira, who I originally thought i was going to hate ended up being such a sweetheart. This book has many tropes that meet any dark readers needs. You have betrayal, forced marriage, enemies to lovers, second chance, and degradation to mention a few. The Heart of Nibiru was such an amazing read that had me feeling so many emotions, for me it is definitely a 5 star/5 chili pepper read, but as always when reading any dark romance make sure you check the authors trigger warnings.This was my first read by the author Monica L Smith, but i will definitely be checking out her other books.
Profile Image for Lilylou426 .
505 reviews36 followers
January 23, 2023
First of all.....watch out for that nasty cliffhanger.....it's a doozy!! This is the first book that I have read by this author and I can tell you she is now one of my one click authors! This story was AMAZING!! Her descriptions of people and landscape were succinct but so well worded that I was able to picture it all so wonderfully. Niila was beyond kick ass! She put up with so much and still came out with dignity and grace. The MMC however, I didn't like. He was well developed but his actions made him unredeemable in my eyes. I understand the reasons for his actions but sometimes there's just one person you can't forgive....and that's absolutely Saavik. Monica, you are so amazingly talented and I am beyond elated to have been able to read this fantastic story!!
Profile Image for Beachside Book Reads (Tracy A O'Donnell).
100 reviews27 followers
January 21, 2023
This is an amazing book from Authoress Monica L. Smith. I was immediately drawn into The Heart of Nibiru and didn’t let go until I was finished with the last page! If you like dark, and supernatural romance, make sure you set a side a few hours as you won’t stop til done! Loved the writing, and the beautiful imagery of the worlds. Now I am going back and reading the backlist so I can have more!!!!!!! Please read trigger warnings to ensure this book is for you, and if it is, be ready for a twisted treat!!

Special thanks to Authoress Monica L. Smith for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Crystal.
1,076 reviews11 followers
February 26, 2023
I’m going to start by saying paranormal romance is not my normal genre. That being said, I think I need to change things up because I always enjoy the PNRs that I read and this book can now be included in that category!! The world building was so well done and the characters were very entertaining, especially Princess Niila. I love a feisty FMC and she really fits the bill. There is so much going on in this book, enemies to lovers, opposites attract, arranged marriage, Fae, shifters, but despite all that, this is so well written that nothing feels rushed or missed. Now we really need the second book ASAP!! You do not want to pass on this book!
Profile Image for BookinBritt.
320 reviews7 followers
March 4, 2023
3.5/5 stars.
There is a lot to unpack lore and history wise and quite a few different fantasy elements at play.
It did take me a bit to get into the story but once I hit a certain point, I got that feeling of I have to keep reading to find out what happens next.
There is fae, shifters, but also some Egyptian lore and more.
I wanted so badly for Niila to stay with her tough as nails mindset and outlook but she gets put through the absolute wringer by Shaavik and it definitely causes her to break a bit early on.
Overall not a bad start to the series and I'm intrigued enough to want to know what happens next.
Profile Image for Miia Salomäki.
167 reviews8 followers
January 31, 2023
This is an honest review in exchange for an ARC.
The Heart of Nibiru is a perfect combination of paranormal romance and fae fuckery. Set on a distant planet Nibiru where faes live in peace, and Egypt where shifters live, this book kept me glued to the screen from the first chapter on. There are a lot of triggers, and the hero is certainly no hero, but there is also a lot of spice and several unexpected plot twists. The language of the book is beautiful; the descriptions of people and places were so vivid and detailed that I could picture it all in my mind.
Profile Image for BookishBarbie (Annette).
285 reviews10 followers
February 26, 2023
Apparently, I didn't know what I was missing by not reading fantasy. I fell in love with this book!! Niila and Savvik are not your typical couple, but the gods had other plans. Savvik was not my favorite person at the beginning, but he sure does grow on you ;) Niila's strength through it all was mind-blowing. I was on an emotional rollercoaster reading this book but in an amazing way. I knew I had to finish it when I started. And the cliffhanger!?! I can not wait until the next book is available.
Profile Image for Kayla.
586 reviews
March 2, 2023
This is an enemies-to-lovers paranormal dark romance that's unlike anything that I've read before. The world is rich and enticing and will make you want to know more about why things are the way they are and how everything works. The characters are well done, though I struggled to like Saavik or find him at all redeemable. I know a lot of readers like their men portrayed like Saavik and will find him redeemable so don't let my opinion make it break reading this one for you! Give it a try and you might find yourself surprised.
Profile Image for Jess.
592 reviews50 followers
May 1, 2023
I was captivated by this story from the beginning chapters until the very last page. This is such a unique take on the Fae world and human shifters. The characters were written in such a complex way, that you hate to love them and yet love to hate them. I admit that I felt embarrassment and fear for the characters, as well as balled my eyes out. This is a fantastic, spicy and dark story that was also heartbreakingly beautiful from start to finish. I can’t wait to see where the series will take me.
Profile Image for ♡Lea♡.
442 reviews3 followers
January 15, 2023
This was so good. I've read a few books by this authoress and I've never been disappointed, and this time all of my expectations were met and then bypassed. The characters in this book are just phenomenal. Saavak will make you have a love/Hate relationship with him. And Nilla man oh man is she strong. Everything she does and goes through makes her more likable. I will recommend this to all of my friends and know they are in good hands when they open up this gem!!!

Happy reading 📚
Profile Image for Andrea.
121 reviews1 follower
January 23, 2023
This book has everything a dark fantasy romance lover could ever desire!!! I was seething while reading, i ran the gambit of emotions over each character and I fell in love with Princess Niila! Each scene was beautifully painted allowing you to visualize the world being created in the page. Let’s not forget the heat that flames in almost immediately upon opening! I I cannot wait for book two! I need to know who is behind that voice!!!!
Profile Image for Kimberly Wisniewski.
383 reviews7 followers
February 1, 2023
What in the world, I’ve read a lot of books with Fae, shifters, and vampires but I’ve never read anything like this. This story has amazing world building as well as character building. The spice doesn’t happen right away but once it does all bets are off and you need to make sure you have ice cold water and a fan nearby. That ending is was killer and I’m super excited for the next book. I also want to add that you should check trigger warnings before reading.
Profile Image for jenny.
96 reviews4 followers
February 4, 2023
I received this book as an ARC in exchange for a honest review.
This is the first book I have read from this author and she did not disappoint me! This book was amazing and I didn't want the book to end, the ending made me want more. If you like a Dark Fantasy, enemies to lovers book then this is a must read but please check the trigger warning! This book had me at the beginning and never let me go, Definitely a must read,definitely a 5+ stars!
Profile Image for JackaayReadsallday .
728 reviews18 followers
February 11, 2023
What in the holy hay kind of cliffhanger was that! I also had that HEA! GAH! I feel like I have a bunch of pent up aggression about that ending! I don’t even know where the story is going next because I don’t wanna put any spoilers out there. I can’t rant as much as I want to about certain things… And places… And people… I am upset that I don’t have access to book 2. So speaking of book 2, when can I get my hands on that?!?!? *** insert grabby hands here***
Profile Image for Emma Stinson.
20 reviews
February 28, 2023
I received a copy of this book as an ARC, and I am not being paid to offer my uninfluenced opinion. To start this off, this book was quite darker than I expected. While that is not my thing, it was a really good, engaging book overall. I found the story to be very interesting and it immediately caught my attention. I could not put it down until I finished it. If a lot of gore and explicit sexual detail with BDSM is your thing, then this is the book for you.
Profile Image for Valarie Shepherd.
86 reviews9 followers
January 15, 2023
This is a Dark romance and the author definitely understood the assignment. You will be drawn into two different worlds that have so much misinformation about each other. And then to watch it play out in this dark romance..... Get your snacks tissues and punching bag 🤣🤣🤣
Definitely a must read for 2023❤️🔥❤️
Profile Image for Amber.
504 reviews13 followers
January 15, 2023
Alpha reader... I read ALOT of dark romance, and this fit the bill for me. I LOVED this soooooo much. The "I don't want to like you but I do" relationship between Saavik and Niila is amazing. Definitely read the triggers before starting this book. But, if like me, you use triggers as a shopping list... definitely read this book.
758 reviews22 followers
January 15, 2023
Another book that I loved by this Author! She never disappoints!!! I’m not going to give any spoilers, because it’s that good!!! I don’t want ruin anything for anyone! What I can say is as soon as I read the first page I was like wow, omg, so hot! I was hooked, that I didn’t stop reading it until it was finished!!!
Profile Image for Sam Fountain.
8 reviews
February 7, 2023
Honestly what isn’t to love- a little (a lot) of fantasy, some enemies to lovers and a bit of morally grey.

As someone who takes forever to get into a book I truly did love this from the beginning. The plot, dialogue and everything in-between. One of my favorite read and can’t wait to recommend it to people I know.
Profile Image for Nichole  Ringler.
167 reviews
March 3, 2023
This book was amazing. The way the author built the world it totally transformed me to exactly where the characters were. I loved the emotion that was written for all the characters. I felt like I was truly there with them. At first I wasn’t so sure that I liked Saavik but he started to redeem himself towards the end of the book. The book definitely brought out mixed emotions through out the story. I read through this book super fast and the spice level was about a 4. You should read this book and I can’t wait till the second one comes out.
Profile Image for natasha fuller.
378 reviews13 followers
March 3, 2023
This book was very detailed and made it easy to really picture the events or plants being described throughout the book! It is definitely on the dark side but so good!! The trials and tribulations that Niila goes through shows just how strong she is !! The cliffhanger killed me for sure I am not waiting for book two!
Profile Image for Brittney.
428 reviews5 followers
March 5, 2023
Enemies to lovers. Dark Fae and Shifters. What more could you ask for. I was immersed from the start. I loved Nilla so much she has such a fierce personality. Saavik was a little hard for me to like but I understand how his personality is supposed to be for the book. This was such a beautiful world and I found myself picturing the land of Nubiru. Great book!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews

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