Immortal Rider: Lords of Deliverance #2

Immortal Rider
Larissa Ione
Lords of Deliverance, book two
Mass Market Paperback, 414 pages
Published November 22nd 2011 by Grand Central Publishing
ISBN 9780446574471


The signs are everywhere...disastrous world events. Evil rising up, unleashed upon the innocent. The prophecies were there...but no one listened. Until now. The time has come for those who can either usher in Doomsday...or prevent it. They are here. They ride. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Arik Wagner, a soldier with the U.S. Army's paranormal unit, the R-XR, kissed a girl and liked it. And then he went to hell as punishment. Where he's spent weeks being tortured...and plotting revenge.

Limos, Horsewoman of the Apocalypse, isn't your average girl. She's immortal, dangerous, and her fiancé is Satan himself. In a moment of weakness, she gave in to her desire and kissed Arik, triggering her fiancé's wrath - and his claim on her. In order to save Arik, and the world, Limos must make a dangerous pact with her recently turned evil brother, Pestilence. A deal that might just cost her her soul...and her heart.

So... first impression here (as far as this particular book is concerned anyway) is that Arik has a very dirty mind. And a fetish for coconuts. Well not really, but I just love how Ione tells a story. Even things a reader finds in numerous other books seem to become something altogether original just by the ways she delivers it.

At an engagement party for and hosted by Ares and Cara, Arik breaks from the crowd for some fresh air. Limos, the third Horseman and destined 'Famine', has been driving his libido wild and the throng of demons isn't helping his control. When she challenges him to spar in an attempt to settle the agitation she senses in him, Arik goes in for a kiss. Then hell itself opens up to swallow Arik whole and he goes on to spend a month being tortured at the hands of Satan's minions.

Release from his prison doesn't come easy. Regaining a sense of reality afterwards is an even greater challenge. Especially since Pestilence (aka Reseph) went all vampire on him in an attempt to claim Arik's soul for a bargaining chip.

The side stories are a wonderful compliment to the book which is a nice change since most are either distracting or a downright nuisance. Regan steps further into the spotlight in this installment and the plot to break Thanatos's seal begins. Oh yeah, it's time to get Than laid and make him a daddy!

Meanwhile Reseph has been in Limos's ear and her scales are tipping (literally) toward the dark side with every lie she's forced, and secretly thrilled, to tell. This is a double whammy as lying seems to be the one thing Arik detests above all else thanks to an abusive, alcoholic father. Just another obstacle in the way of he and Limos getting together. That, and a very aggressive chastity belt. And let's not forget Satan.

(spoilers) Harvester and Reaver, the two watchers, evolve drastically in this book as Reaver becomes a victim of Harvester's cruel plans when she captures and mutilates him with the cutting off of his angel wings. The two do still have a chance in the future, if they don't kill each other first.

We meet Lilith, the Horsemen's mother, and witness a glimpse that Reseph is very much still present inside Pestilence. Limos is forced to reveal her sins against her brothers, earning herself some very scary wrath from Ares and Thanatos. And Lucifer, too, for altogether different reasons. She and Arik manage to break her betrothal contract to Satan just before Regan takes advantage of Thanatos and holy hell, that Guardian better keep running. The fourth Horseman is pissed.

4 out of 5 stars.

Previously in the series:

Locked in Silence: Grimm's Circle #5

❝ Do you have dark hungers, Vanya? ❞

Locked in Silence
Shiloh Walker
Grimm’s Circle, book five
Kindle Edition
Published September 20th 2011 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
ASIN B0057WU6T6

Dying is hard enough.
Coming back to life is brutal.

Vanya has been hunting and killing demons ever since one of them scarred her face and killed her sister. Correction—since she was forced to kill the demon possessing her sister. Then some sort of angel offers her a deal she can’t refuse—that if she becomes one of them, she gets to kill even more demons. Tonight, she’s made that choice. The death she smells on the air will be her own—and she welcomes it.

Silence feels a darkness is looming. Change—something he has every reason not to welcome. The deeply hidden memories that robbed him of his past, of his own name, render him unfit to teach anyone the ways of the Grimm. Yet here he is in the dankest sex club in town, waiting to assume his charge—after he stands by and watches her die.

When Vanya awakes, their complicated, dangerous dance begins. And so does something else—a searing need that blisters along their unexpected mental connection. Silence shouldn’t be drawn to his student, but once they touch, he can’t think of a reason to stop. Even though acting out their darkest desires puts them in more danger than they realize.

Warning: This book contains sex-starved demons, lonely angels, demon-angel sandwiches, blood, violence, death and a happy-ever-after.

This cover is far too pink for its dark, and smoking hot!, contents.

I have been loving me some Grimm's Circle books (although, admittedly, I didn't have the room to fit in book four). Book five, despite all, managed to squeeze itself in and helladamn! it's my favorite of the series!

Silence possesses the gift of illusion-control of the shadows-and a fetish for axes. What he lacks, however, is a voice. Cast away by his parents for his 'demonic powers' and eventually betrayed yet again thereafter, he has learned from the world that he is better off alone. He left that life with a promise of a purpose that Will made before he brought him back through the doors of death and remade him into a guardian angel. Even with this new existence, though, he remains mute and ever lonesome.

Vanya has been battling demons for a while now. Even killed her sister to vanquish one. When death finally comes for her, the memory of the deal Will offered her is forefront in her mind. She doesn't fear the transition itself, but being alone through it has her beaten. But Silence is brought to her in time, and sees her though the pain. And her training.

The story of Silence and Vanya, with all its yummy intricacies, is the most beautiful of this series for me. Not to mention it was way, way hotter. Finally, a guardian into voyeurism and rape-fantasy. Vanya's my kind of angel. 4 out of 5 stars

Working Arrangements

Working Arrangements
Ellen Wolf
ebook
Published August 16th 2011

Laura Martin has every reason to be absolutely happy. After four lonely years following the tragic accident that took the life of her fiancé, Joshua, she is finally ready to embark on a new journey, accepting a marriage proposal.The only obstacle in the way of her happiness comes in the person of Luke Manning, her boss and Joshua’s life long best friend. Luke rejects her engagement for more than one reason.

Torn and unable to shake her opinion of her boss as a brilliant yet unreliable womanizer, Laura goes ahead with her engagement party, choosing safety and predictability in her life.

Only the evening goes terribly wrong ...

I must have been in a vulnerable situation of needing to be romanced when I picked this one up because it got to me- good and quick.

This poor book has gotten a number of 1 star ratings from Goodreads. Mostly, of which, for being too similar to In Bed With the Boss by Susan Napier. Well, I've never read that (or anything by Napier) so I didn't give a damn about the comparison. On its own, all by it's lonesome, I loved it!

The whole 'guy on a mission, fed up with the fried role' really worked for Luke. Being a 'Manning' didn't hurt him either. ;) It was all the numbskull things he did that fed into Laura's illusion of him being a player with an ever revolving parade of women that went against him. The man was truly his own worst enemy.

And Laura... well, there's an entire world going on around her that she's oblivious to. Another woman who needs to have it spelled out in block text to understand when a man's got it bad for her. Seven years, damn it!! Everybody else could see the blinking lights but oh no, Laura stayed in her own little cocoon, being cheated on, manipulated, and walked over and through.

Okay, sure... is it an altogether original thought? No. (What contemporary romance is?) Is it predictable? ...Yeah. (What contemporary romance isn't?) But does it deserve one single freaking star? NO.

4 out of 5 stars from me. All on my own, little lonesome me.

Ragnar and Juliet

Ragnar and Juliet
Lucy Woodhull
ebook
Published September 12th 2011 by Liquid Silver Books
ISBN 9781595788689

Bounty hunting is usually so easy. Flash a little cleavage, mix a roofie cocktail, and Juliet has her man right where she wants him: out cold, ready to be swapped for cash. Her passions are freedom, trashy clothes, and pie -- not necessarily in that order.

Hunky alien ship captain Ragnar doesn't deserve torture at the hands of the psychotic king who hired Juliet; he liberated one of William the Nefarious' illegal concubines. Juliet can't ignore such a noble act. She doesn’t trust men, but this one, with the kindest smile she's ever seen, picks away at her resolve to stay aloof and clothed. He's just so...nice! Crazy she can deal with; sincerity is terrifying.

Before she gives in to her irrational urge to get a timeshare with him (and his cute tail), they're caught by the bad guys. Ragnar disappears and abandons her to her disgusting captors -- so much for togetherness. Perhaps he’s not such a saint. Even worse, Nefarious William (who prefers "Bob") has nominated her for Concubine of the Evening. This dubious honor does not thrill her, and only a few hours remain before the king’s mind-altering drugs obliterate her free will.

Sexual slavery might not be fatal, but Juliet would rather die. Of course, the third option (run away to a beach and hump Ragnar silly) is the best, if they can live that long.

If you like your protagonist to be a smartass, sex-crazed female then this just might be the read for you! With humor on the non-stop priority list and each and every character carefully fit into the plot, there wasn't a single moment left to even consider the idea of becoming bored.

So, yes, you will fall into the typical cliche happenings every now and then but those, combined with the one liners we have all heard at least once in our lives, and multiple times after, make the story too laughable to be passed up.

It works. And because it's so damn simple, you gotta have love for it. 4 out of 5 stars.