City of Gods and Monsters (House of Devils, # 1)
By: Kayla Edwards
Publication: January 25, 2022 by Independently Published
762 pages
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romantasy
Source: Amazon Prime Reading
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Goodreads description--Welcome to the city of Angelthene. We hope you survive.Loren Calla has only ever been ordinary. As a human struggling to survive in a city that caters to the needs of vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures, she always assumed her life would remain simple, predictable, and as safe as her world would allow.
Until she barely escapes abduction at the hands of Darkslayers—supernatural bounty hunters that possess the Sight, a magical tracking ability that allows them to see a person’s aura—and one of her friends is taken in her place. The abductors are demanding a ransom: Loren's life in exchange for her friend's safe return. Loren will do whatever it takes to get her friend back—even if it means accepting help from Darien Cassel, the leader of the Seven Devils, the most feared Darkslaying circle in the city.
Darien specializes in tracking down demons and criminals that are better off dead than alive, so when he takes a job to track down Loren and finds out she is human—and couldn't hurt a fly if her life depended on it—he decides to protect her instead of turn her in for a reward. As much as Loren doesn't want to admit it, Darien is her best and only chance at finding her friend alive, if she can somehow manage to get along with him—and not fall head-over-heels in love with him in the process, which is far easier said than done.
When more women start disappearing, and some of them slowly turn up dead, Loren and Darien's search for answers takes them deep into Angelthene's corrupt underbelly, where they discover a dark secret that threatens to unravel their world. And when tragedy strikes, Loren learns that love can make an ordinary person do extraordinary things.
From the author of Dreams of Ice and Iron comes a new fantasy romance perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas, Ilona Andrews, and Cassandra Clare.
Please note: This book contains explicit content, including violence, mature language, drug abuse, and sexual assault. It is not intended for anyone under the age of 18.
Let me be honest. I read City of Gods and Monsters because someone I saw on Instagram said this was their top favorite book boyfriend of all time. That was high praise. I don't even follow this girl to know if we really have the same tastes in books. I finished this book on May 29, 2025, but I didn't write my review until September 17, 2025. So I won't have the most comprehensive review. I knew it would probably be a while before I wrote my full-length review so I wrote what I called a series of "rapid fire" reviews for books that I was behind on reviewing. This is what I wrote:
- FMC is annoying. MMC is a big softie that is supposed to be a big bad. The baddest group around, but the whole lot of them are softies. The twists kind of surprised me and kind of didn't. The will-they-won't-they drove the book but also drove me crazy. I'm not 100% sure why some rate the MMC as their top book boyfriend. Maybe I need to finish the series to find out. But they are so stinking long.
I'll do my best to write a little more in-depth from there.
Loren is friends with two other girls at her magic school. They were out partying one night and ended up walking home after dark. Apparently, in this fantasy world, being out after dark is extremely dangerous. All mythical creatures seem to be open to this fantasy world. But someone has put a target on Loren's back. Instead of kidnapping Loren, some bad guys kidnap her friend instead. Loren feels terrible that her friend has been taken instead of her. Loren is supposed to be a completely normal human in a world of supernatural beings. She can't understand why anyone would want to kidnap her.
Darien gets the target request. He typically hunts down criminals, but he quickly realizes Loren isn't that. He reluctantly decides to protect her and help her find her friend instead. Darien is supposed to be this big scary boss of a big scary gang, as I mentioned above. But I just didn't see it at all. He wasn't scary, and neither was his gang. I don't doubt they could put a hurting on some bad guys, but they're supposed to also be some of the bad guys. This wasn't a situation where the bad guys happen to do something good but are still bad. This was one of those cases where they are good all along but just supposed to look bad. Convenient.
As for the trigger warnings, I don't really remember much of any of them being included in the book. I definitely remember that the scenes weren't as frequent as I expected give the title, the trigger warnings, and the build up of this big bad gang. All of the things mentioned in the trigger warning were included, except I don't remember much about the SA mentioned. They just weren't the pieces I remember. I have a good ability to block that stuff out as I tend to skim it while reading anyway.
I don't remember too much of the twists and turns. I remember being somewhat surprised and somewhat not. I mostly remember that this book was so stinking long. I know fantasy books often need extra pages for world-building. I remember some pieces felt conveniently handled and not the best writing or plotting. I am intrigued about what will happen next, but I'm also not dying to know, especially given that book two is 778 pages. I am in no rush to pick up book 2, and at this point, I can't even say that I ever will. All of that being said City of Gods and Monsters gets 3.5 Stars from me. Maybe my expectations were too high going into it? Have you read City of Gods and Monsters? What did you think? Let me know!
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