Review: The Shadows That Listen by Louisa Carmody

The Shadows That Listen

Louisa Carmody

(Angel Ruin #1)

Publication Date: August 18, 2026

Paperback, 400 pages, Orbit

Genres: Adult, Romantasy/Paranormal/Dystopian

Goodreads

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 realize 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?

My Review

The Shadows that Listen brought me back to a much simpler time when the angel craze was alive and well in the early 2010s. I loved every second of it then, and I loved diving back into the angel vs. demon world today. This book proved the simple fact that I don't think I'll ever tire of those stories.

The plot of this one really reminded me of Angelfall by Susan Ee. There's a girl trying to find a loved one and she allies with an angel to get that person back and help her navigate the apocalyptic chaos of the world around her. Only, in the case of The Shadows that Listen, the female main character is 27 with a missing boyfriend and skills that come with being a trained soldier. Amara Jones, the FMC, is fierce, witty, and has a remarkable ability to not die. I was impressed and a bit shocked that she kept getting out of some of the situations the author put her in.

As for the archangel and Amara's reluctant ally, Nathaniel, he's the broody and mysterious type. He has the vibes of Angelfall's Raffe, along with other popular male characters, angel or otherwise, like Hunt from Crescent City and Xaden from Fourth Wing. He also has a tendency to seemingly begrudgingly save Amara, which is quite entertaining to an enemies-to-lovers reader like myself.

As for the worldbuilding, I very much enjoyed it. The idea of an apocalyptic world overrun by angels and demons isn't entirely new, but it's still very entertaining. I liked that Amara was part of an intelligence agency, that the angels had their own city, and that the demons (or daemons as they're called in the book) are familiar but unique. Like the hellhounds. Those aren't new to paranormal stories, but the author put a spin on them that I found interesting.

 While I did thoroughly enjoy The Shadows that Listen and I devoured it in only a few days, I will say, there was some repetition, mostly revolving around the number of battle scenes and how those tended to play out. There were a lot of them, and I found myself thinking "Again?" once or twice when we went from a fun tension-filled conversation between the main characters straight into another fight. I also found the ending, while super interesting, to be a bit confusing. Not because things weren't foreshadowed or explained properly, but because I didn't understand why the two characters needed to trek around and make the journey for that ending to happen. It seemed like somewhat of a plot hole, but maybe that'll be touched on more in the second book, which I'll 100% be reading.

All in all, I definitely think this story is for the millennial readers who grew up with Angelfall, Unearthly, Angelfire, Fallen, City of Bones, Hush, Hush, and all the other young adult paranormal angel books. And, for newer readers, Crescent City and Silver Elite fans will very much appreciate this one. It's also for the Supernatural fans. If you miss Sam and Dean battling Lucifer and Michael on your TV screen, then you need to pick up The Shadows that Listen. You'll have so much fun!

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Stacking the Shelves: The Free eBooks Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

This week wasn't quite as quiet and lazy as last week. I ended up going to a Simple Plan concert this past weekend. I honestly kept forgetting that I was even going, so it snuck up on me. It was an outdoor concert, so it was terribly hot, but it was a fun time overall. The rest of the week was boring, though, as per usual.

 

As for the books I received this week, I only have one physical copy, which is great considering last week was a giant haul of a stack. My lone paperback is Splintered Kingdom by Gretchen Powell Fox. I preordered this from Barnes & Noble during the 25% off sale two sales back, I think... They all blur together at this point, but I do try to keep my preorders within 1-2 seasons of the release date. That makes it easier for me to remember what books I preordered recently.

 

 

 

Up next, I have a preorder incentive that arrived. I completely forgot about it too. My memory is not what it used to be. It's a signed bookplate and an art card for The City of Souls and Sinners by Kayla Edwards. Now, I was under the impression the artwork would not be that small, so that's a bit disappointing, but oh well. It was free. I still need to read the first book in the series, but I heard this will be a seven-book series and the author has only written through book four, with five on the way, so it'll be a while before I get to it.

 

And lastly, I have six ebooks that I downloaded during one of the free "Stuff Your Kindle" type days. It wasn't just a Kindle event, though. The ebooks were free across platforms. I downloaded three on Nook: Drawn by Dragonblood by Lynn Burke, Grayson's Mate by Tamsin Baker, and Fae Bound by Kayla Brooks. I went on the Kindle list to check their free offerings because sometimes Kindle has more indie authors' books available than Nook. There, I got Forsaken Mate by Vasilisa Drake and A Match Made in Hell by Traci Lovelot. Now, I also managed to get Steal the Wind by Jocelynn Drake, which you've probably seen before as a KU download. I've always wanted to read this book, but I just never did. I've downloaded it so many times but canceled my subscription before I could get to it. Well, that's not an issue now, as I have a free copy! Huzzah!

 

That's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

2026 ApollyCon Recap: Part 2

Here you have it, Part 2 of my ApollyCon recap posts for this year. I'm making my way through these posts one by one. Sigh. Not that I'm not excited to go through the memories of the events, it's just tedious gathering all of the information for it after I've waited for so long. But, that's my own fault. I should've written this up months earlier. Work was just overwhelming, so I delayed it. Anywho, Part 2 is just going to cover the Welcome to the Capital event during night two of ApollyCon. It's the signature JLA panel event where she discusses all things Blood and Ash and/or her writing in general.

  

When we walked in to the Welcome to the Capital event, they were handing out poppy flower crowns. I didn't put mine on because I didn't want to mess up my hair and it didn't match my green outfit. It turns out, that was a mistake. JLA specifically mentioned how cool it was to see all the flower crowns in the audience and wanted a pic of everyone with theirs on. Oops. Oh well. As usual with these events, there are so many things to take pics of. There are cardboard cutouts of the characters, large dragons, fancy decor, it's all very cool. On the walk in, there were even revenenants that we had to follow. I think you can see me in the original video, but I don't know if I want to watch it back. I'm sure I looked swell after waiting over an hour for the event to start.

 

A lot of the decor was from previous events, like the cutouts of the Flesh & Fire characters from 2025. However, they had an awesome spoilery image of Cas as the backdrop behind JLA and the Blue Box Press ladies, Jillian and Liz. There was also a more 3D cardboard version off to the side. It was super cool. JLA even took pics with attendees before the event started, which was great as my Friday signing day photos ended up being blurry and terrible, so at least I got these.

 

 

 

And here is where I start the photo dump of all the cool decor and cutouts. I don't have  much to say about them at the moment. Because I, once again, don't remember much since I let so much time slip by before writing this up. I also didn't take pics of some of the things that were there in previous years. I was trying to make good use of my limited time before the event started. I also had to take some selfies, which was difficult. Normally, my friend (who didn't attend this year) takes pics with me. The friend I did attend with took pics, but, understandably, she had to rest after we waited in line for so long. I must say, even with it being a selfie, the pic with shirtless Reaver is pretty great. Oh, there were also free macarons.

 

The panel itself didn't really consist of any new information. I think the biggest piece of news was that the final Blood & Ash book, The Throne of Bone and Ash, wasn't finished yet and probably wouldn't release in 2026 due to JLA's health and also because of how stressful the world currently is, which is definitely understandable. It was also mentioned that JLA designed the FBAA endpapers/edges and the A Crown of Ruin edition. 

 

As Ascended ticket holders with panel passes, we received a free Lug bag with the ApollyCon exclusive paperback of The War of Two Queens. My friend said the Ascended Lug bag looks like a lunchbox, and I can definitely see it. To me, it looks like a freezer bag or a sci-fi tote bag. I ended up giving mine to the friend I usually attend ApollyCon with. I thought about keeping it, but I have so many totes and there just wasn't any point. The Primal ticketholders received a mug and something else in their fancy silver bag. I was fine with what I got, though. I don't even use the Lug bag they gave out in 2025. I will say that trying to exit this event was a nightmare. People did not listen to the announcement about how/when to exit. It was chaos.

 

Well, that was all for the JLA event. This event is typically my favorite part of ApollyCon, followed by the signings, so I'm always taking more pictures than I probably need to. I felt like I didn't get as many good ones this year, though. My usual friend wasn't there to force me to pose better or make sure the pics weren't blurry. But, oh well, I still got some good ones. Stay tuned for the next recap post. Part 3 should cover Friday panels and a majority of the Saturday signing time.

Stacking the Shelves: The Vampires Four Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

This week was fairly quiet and lazy. I haven't done much. I was saving all my doing for the weekend, but I forgot I have something to attend this weekend, so there'll be very little doing besides that. Honestly, I'm mostly going to be reading when I'm not at the event. It's a concert my sister is dragging me to. Well, not dragging, as I do like the band. I just was excited for the weekend to catch up on things and totally forgot I'd agreed to go. Big surprise there. My brain is not braining lately.

 

As for the books I received this week, I have a lot. I'm not sure what happened. I guess all the preorders just decided to arrive at once. That plus a couple of random purchases really added up. It's a grand total of 13 books, including the lone ebook of the week. Wow. And I'm very much out of shelf room right now. I guess I'll have to do something about that. But anyway, the first book is a paperback copy of Swordheart that I bought from Books-a-Million. I originally ordered it from Barnes & Noble, but for some reason, my order was canceled. I didn't trust them to get it to me on time after that, and I needed to read it ASAP because I accidentally requested the sequel/spinoff on NetGalley. Sigh. I'm reading it now, though, and it's pretty good. I don't know if I would have bought it originally. It feels more like a library read. (Side note: I need to get my library card renewed so I can start requesting books again.)

 

 

 

Up next, I have four books that are all from different sources. Defiant by Brandon Sanderson is a local use bookstore purchase. Or, well, technically it's a trade credit purchase. The Temptation of Magic by Megan Scott was the second book in my Books-a-Million order. I wanted to make the $6.99 shipping charge worth it, so I got a book I'd been meaning to order that wasn't super expensive. My Barnes & Noble preorder of Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson also arrived. I honestly forgot about this one. And then, I have The Winged Game by Sophie Kim, FairyLoot's July Adult book.

 

 

 

The next haul is where the title of this post comes in. I ended up receiving four vampire books in a single day. I laughed when I realized that. Three are B&N preorders: Vow of Eternal Night by Lily Crozier, The Lion & the Deathless Dark by Carissa Broadbent, and A Bargain So Bloody by Vasilisa Drake. I also got Bitten and Bound by Amy Pennza, Moonlight Book Box, edition via Mercari. I think you can tell that I'm very glad vampires made a comeback in the romance/fantasy space.

 

 

 

This is definitely my most expensive set of books for the week. It's probably tied for my most expensive set of the year. I ordered The Locked Library editions of the Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff. The Locked Library doesn't ship to the US, so I went through a Facebook group, even though I knew it'd cost me. I was going to hold off, but the artwork was sooo pretty, so I caved. Do I regret it? A little bit, as the dustjackets are very thin and flat, meaning the artwork doesn't have a lot of texture, but it's still a very beautiful set. 

 

And lastly, I have the lone ebook I bought. It's The Thorns we Inherit by Lindsey A. Hart. I saw that it was on sale for $0, so I decided "Might as well," and I downloaded it. I know absolutely nothing about the book, other than the cover is pretty and it's likely romantasy. I feel like that's all I need to know for a free book, right?

 

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

July Wrap-Up & August TBR

July was a nice month. I miss it already. I was on vacation, my place was nice and clean, and I could read whenever I wanted. Now, we're back to the same ol' grind. Ugh. Being an adult is the worst. There's not a ton going on in August. I think I might get some furniture, but that's about it for excitement. There are also a few cleaning tasks I haven't completed, so I'll get to those sometime too. Maybe. 

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in July

Tempting Venom: 3 stars

Kill the Beast: 3 stars

Mistress of Lies: 3.5 stars 

Fake Shot: 3 stars

The Shadows that Listen: 4 stars (review to come)

Starside: 4 stars

Unrelenting Winds: 3.5 stars

The Aspect of Essence: 4 stars

Stolen by Shadows: 3 stars 

Like I said, I was on vacation in July, so I was able to read a lot. I read eight books and one novella in July, which was great. I got seven books off my physical TBR. Most of them were added in 2026, but still, they're read! The physical books included Kill the Beast by Serra Swift, Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright, Starside by Alex Aster, Unrelenting Winds (the novella) by Melissa K. Roehrich, and The Aspect of Essence by Samantha Amstutz. However, Tempting Venom by Rina Kent is also a book I own a physical copy of. I just downloaded the Kindle Unlimited version so I could read it on release day instead of waiting for my preorder. I also read The Shadows that Listen by Louisa Carmody, which I received as an ARC from Orbit. My review will be posted on release day, August 18. As for the ebooks, I finished Fake Shot by C.E. Ricci and then later in the month read Stolen by Shadows by Elizabeth Helen, both on KU.

Books Bought/Received in July

July was not a low-quantity book month, unfortunately, I piled books high. I did get rid of some, though, so at least I'm making room. In total, I purchased 22 books and received 12 titles for review or from preorders that I'd already paid for in previous months. The dollar amount wasn't as insane as previous months, but it was a lot of books, with 33 physical books added to my shelves and 22 I have to add to my ever-growing TBR.

The 12 books I received mostly consisted of the preordered books that all decided to arrive in July along with a couple of review copies. The Shadows that Listen was the only physical ARC I received, but I did get a NetGalley ARC in July: Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheurer. Orders from previous months that arrived in July included Tempting Venom, The Proposal by Meg Cabot, books 1-2 of the Blood and Ash series Inked Pages editions, The Mortal Trials by Megan Shunmugan Allurial edition, and the FairyLoot editions of Broken Dove, The Tapestry of Fate, and the first two books in The Shards of Magic series. I also got Furysong by Rosaria Munda from my local used bookstore with trade credit.

Now, for what I bought in July. Of the 22 books I bought, 14 arrived in July. Those included a bunch of books from Barnes & Noble: Ravenous by Kresley Cole, Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe, City of Souls and Sinners by Kayla Edwards, The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigette Knightley, and the Spanish edition of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. I also got one book in-store: Hopelessly Necromantic by Shiloh Briar. As for non-B&N orders, I have the Kindle edition of The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan, Swordheart by T. Kingfisher from Books-a-Million, Duskbound Waterstones edition by Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox, What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller UK paperback, and the Silk & Steel books 1-3 from eBay. I also got the FairyLoot Romantasy book, The Lure of Whispers and Wolves.

 As for the remaining eight books, they include preorders that didn't arrive in August or won't arrive until even later in the year. The FairyLoot preorders were for Heir of Twisted Lies, The Sea Spinner, Daggermouth, and the Adult FairyLoot book. Other orders that are coming eventually include Born of Blood and Ash Bookish Box edition, The Temptation of Magic, Warbreaker, and the Lilac Library Brimstone edition.

Currently Obsessed With

It's House of the Dragon season. This is the third season in six years, which is crazy to think about. It feels like the first season happened yesterday. I think there are only two episodes left, which means another two-year wait for the fourth, and possibly last, season. Boo. Other than that, I watched the finale of The Vampire Lestat, the last few episodes of Daredevil: Born Again season two, and I'm continuing to watch The Middle. 

August TBR

My TBR is primarily review copies. I'm so behind right now. I have four review books to read by September 22. Two need read and reviewed by August 25. Yikes. I don't think I'll make it, but I'm going to try to get at least two of the four read and reviewed on time. Three would be great. Those include: A Viper Among Kings by Sydney Olivia, Turncloak by L.K. Steven, Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher, and Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheuerer. I have to read Swordheart before I can read Daggerbound, though, which is my own fault for accidentally requesting a sequel to review when I haven't read book one. I also need to read The Drakon King by Terry J. Benton-Walker for review, but it's due in November, and then To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast is one I'm like four months behind on. I'm also trying to start Kiss of Iron by Clare Sager, finish the fourth book in The Aelfyn Archives by Samantha Amstutz, and finish This Monster of Mine by Shalini Abeysekara.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of July, plus some August sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!

Stacking the Shelves: The Green + Mauve Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

My vacation is over and I'm back at work and life is stressful again. Ugh. I need a job that lets me sit around and read all day. Anyone know any jobs like that? Other than work, there's not much going on this week. It's still hot out, so I'm spending a lot of time in the air conditioning. I've also been reading like five different books at the same time, so that's interesting. I have multiple NetGalley and Kindle Unlimited copies in progress. I don't particularly like that reading method, but, what are you gonna do? That's what happens when you request too many ARCs that all need reviewed in a one-month span.

As for the books I received this week, I have some very pretty ones. I'm not sure exactly what color combo these four books are, but I like to think it's a green and mauve combo. My FairyLoot set of the first two books in Sarah Hawley's The Shards of Magic series arrived and so did my July Romantasy book, The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Conolly. I'd also preordered Duskbound by Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox from Waterstones. It's very pretty. This one is more of a light purple, but with my terrible lighting, it looks mauve in person.

 

 

 

Next up, I have three black covers. Not sure how that worked out, but it did. Two were Barnes & Noble preorders: Ravenous by Kresley Cole and Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe. I'm a little nervous about the Kresley Cole book. I haven't read a new non-Immortals After Dark series by her in years, so I'm hoping it doesn't disappoint. I also received my FairyLoot edition of The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty. It's book two in the Amina al-Sirafi series. 

 

And next, I have the lone ebook I received. I was looking at the half a dozen Kindle books I'm currently in the middle of and saw that The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan was on sale for $1.99 or $0.99. I can't remember which. I decided to just go ahead and buy it. It was one of my most anticipated books a few years ago. I just never got around to it or had the drive to purchase it. Now, I can get to it one day whenever I feel like picking it up.

 

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?