Review: An emotional ride!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 10, 2014
“He’d never believed in true love—until he’d met Yvonne.”—Justin’s thoughtsJustin spent the last nine hundred years convinced that he didn’t need or want a mate. Ever. And then he met Yvonne. Now, instead of fighting against fate, Justin has to fight for it. Someone wants to take away his mate, and he won’t let that happen. Unfortunately, Yvonne is the one willing to sacrifice everything, including love, to make sure Justin stays alive. Yvonne is the key to a takeover of Hades, and the demons will do anything to get her…“One Mate only. Forever.”—Justin’s thoughtsWhoa! What an emotional ride! Talk about not pulling any punches—this is dark! Still, there’s plenty of hope and love to make the story hard to put down. But still—wow! Our lead have to go through a lot to even have a shot at a happy ending. Again, I have to repeat: it’s dark! There are references to torture and rape (not graphically described), which was utterly heart-breaking for all the characters and the reader (since the author makes us love the characters so much)! The topic is handled well, and the PTSD scenes afterwards were so sad and respectfully done.Yvonne is such a tragic character, and it was so hard reading all the stuff she goes through. Luckily, she’s a fighter and doesn’t give up, still holding onto hope for freedom as her world crumbles around her. Tricked and manipulated into the world of demons, she has not had the best set of cards dealt to her.Except for Justin, a warrior who doesn’t believe in love until he meets her. I hated how he had his biases and prejudice against her at the start, but I loved how he came to his senses and realized how wonderful she is. He goes through some serious trials, too, and it’s such a bummer they had to go through so much to be with each other. But, I guess that’s what made the story so good. They fought so hard for each other even though it would have been much easier to walk away.Aside from demons and immortal gate-keeper warriors, we have a religious aspect with The Great One guiding our heroes and Lucifer being challenged by his way-ward demons. We also have soul-mates who are literally soul-mates—as in you die, then I die, and then that guy over there dies. The romance is around low-med heat level with emphasis on the emotional connections. This is the second book in the series. I’ve read the first one, so I’d say it’s a great follow-up to the previous book, and I was surprised that a minor character in the first book was such a huge one in this book (loved her is all I’m saying)! If you haven’t read the first book, you can still enjoy both if read out of order. This is a 5 out of 5 for me!(Originally posted on my blog; I received a NetGalley copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.)