A Chill in the Flame

Villains Prequel Duology, Book 1

By: Piper CJ

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

From USA Today bestselling author and TikTok sensation Piper CJ comes the first in a standalone dark romantasy duology. Discover the origins of demons and darkness and uncover the twisted politics behind the sprawling, bloody continent in the Villains books, set in Piper's beloved The Night and Its Moon universe.

Shattered by her sister's murder, Princess Ophir's gift for fire magic spirals in her grief, threatening to incinerate the castle. That is until mysterious siren Dwyn arrives from the sea, pledging both assistance and something more. They work to quench Ophir's flames, all the while Dwyn's longtime rival watches from the shadows. Tyr, who has tracked Dwyn's abilities across the continent now finds himself embroiled in a sinister competition with her for Ophir's heart.

Everything changes when Dwyn's calculated lessons unlock a second power in Ophir, the most rare and dangerous of all magic… manifestation.

Ophir knows three things for certain. One, she burns passionately for both the beautiful siren and the rugged master of secrets. Two, with their powers combined, the trio can seek revenge against her sister's killers. And three, no one can be trusted.

©2024 Piper CJ (P)2024 Podium Audio

Amazing as always

Loved the history of piper’s world
Can’t wait to hear about the next chapter!! Crazy final chapter

Loved it

Such a great story. Powerful and dramatic. The reader is captivating and brings the book to life.

Prequeal for the ages

As someome who has avidly consumed even novel produced by this author, this prequel is chock full of revelations, fan service moments and phrases, and is in a league all its own for a tale to tell. The characters are complex and have intense character arc's and the setting reinforces well established locations that are easily understood if you've already read any of "The Night and its Moon" series. The vivid love, hate, teauma, disgust, adoration, and life is full and incredible and will always leave me wanting just one more chapter from Piper CJ.

Interesting lore to an epic world

First of all, I don’t think I would have read this book if I had known the trigger warnings. I understand that it is the horror that compels the story and the making of villains. Regardless of my interest to this world or the great storytelling, I don’t think anyone with a close sibling could handle this gruesome story. I hung on for the vindication and vengeance but instead I think it’s just more twisted than I could really handle. I love Piper‘s storytelling, but this lost me because I don’t really have a character that I’m rooting for. As a sidenote, excellent performance and I will of course read the rest of the series because I feel like the worst is already behind me and as messed up as the story is, I do love spending time in this fantasy world.

story had a good flow with solid character development

I would have liked more details about the other kingdoms in the story to give me a better idea of what the people where like

We’re absolutely spoiled!

Another amazing book from Piper CJ! I’ve really been craving more on this world and I’m ever so pleased.

Hard to Follow

I love Piper CJ but this book was very hard to follow for me. The story moved too slow or too fast at different times and not enough detail to really picture what was going on.

Another "new to me" author

This was another "new to me" author and the funny thing was that I chose the book because of the cover. Why is that funny? Well, because I hardly EVER pay attention to covers. They just really aren't something that impacts my decisions....usually. So, for some reason, I liked the cover.

I've now decided that there is probably a reason for me to stick to story summaries vs covers going forward. That is not to say that I didn't like this book....I just didn't like it that much,

Apparently, this is a series in which all of the MC's are villains. That actually sounds interesting, and it is always fun to read a story with a villain that you can't help but like. Unfortunately, I had a hard time with most of the MC's - specifically the FMC's.

We have Princess Ophir, the second daughter of the King and Queen and therefore not the Heir. She is the typical "spare" who is NOT the responsible one. She is reckless and carefree without caring too much about consequences. She is then responsible for the events that lead to the death - and an awful and gruesome death - of her older sister - The Crown Princess. That serves as a big wake up call for her - until it really doesn't.

Then there is the other FMC Dwyn, who shows us "mysteriously" and just happens to befriend Ophir. Out of the good of her heart? Nope - remember, this is an ode to villains.

Then we have the 2 MMC's. There is Tyr, another mysterious person who has an extremely antagonistic relationship with Dwyn, but does he really want to help for any good reason?

Last but not least, there is Ophir's bodyguard. This guy has made it through the longest because apparently, Ophir goes through these guards like water - because she is just that pleasant of a person. He is the only one that seems to actually care about Ophir and her future.

So - we are introduced to these 4 characters and follow along as they embark on a crazy journey. Well, Ophir decides to enact vengeance, and the rest are following along because they each have their own reasons behind the things they are doing - but crazy journey it is.

That doesn't even cover the absolutely bonkers events that caused her sister's death and the people behind that. The reasoning behind all of that was just a bit too "out there" to me.

I listened to this on audio and while the narrator - Natalie Naudus - was also new to me, I decided to alternate between reading and listening. While the story itself was a unique premise, it just never really grabbed me and wasn't something that pulled me into the story itself. I really, really didn't like Ophir or Dwyn so I think that was probably the biggest problem.

This was also FFM which felt odd considering that two of the three characters couldn't stand each other. So, I'm going to stop with book one.