Review: Love this strong bad a$$ female lead!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2014
4.5 stars. *May contain spoilers*I was a little wary of this one. I'm not a big fan of this new kidnapping/rape "erotica" b.c that's floating around. In fact I think it's outright disgusting and sets women back a few decades, and I can't figure out why women find it "hot". That stuff happens in real life-hello! What.The.F ?!?I decided to give it a chance since a friend asked me to read it. While it touches on the aforementioned topics, this book is paranormal, so I said OK. Luckily it's a very entertaining read told in first person by main character and certified bad ass Blake Noble: half vampire/half demon daughter of the devil.Blake is a cop of sorts, working for the Supernatural Crime Division of the police force (like SVU or the like for supernatural beings). It starts as an investigation into the Covert, the organization that's kidnapping not just runaway or "unwanted" girls, but important high society ones as well and selling them into sexual slavery as well as selling their blood to vampires. As Blake has to act like she's a free agent, she's eventually lost her actual job and the only man (Carter) for whom she used to work and knew as a father figure to deeper and darker secrets. Accepting her new job is one thing, getting to the bottom of things and realizing her former coworkers are behind pretty much everything is another, and all the while dealing with a new mating with new coworker Eli. I do like the dynamic between the two, but I sometimes felt like she should have confronted him more about certain issues. I feel like he got off the hook a bit too easily and, while I enjoyed the romance between them, she should have stayed angry later. For instance, finding out that Eli and Carter's supposed dead wife were previously married by a Demigod. Um, yeah, I'd be pissed about that for far longer than she was. That's like marrying someone and then finding out they were married before. That's so not cool.She's also conflicted of being in a relationship in the first place. She knows how men are-she's not some delicate little naive or weak flower. She isn't going to trust someone and give her heart when there's a good chance he won't be there in a decade. But having created a bond with Eli, there's a constant internal struggle. I know she's not the only woman in the world to go through this, and even though she's a paranormal character, I feel that what she deals with and her character development throughout the book make her more real than some humans I've met. She isn't a "protect me" kind of gal. Oh no. This one will protect herself, her friends, her team that SHE leads, and make her enemies rue the day that were born! I just love kick ass women who don't take any bull-crap!Because of this Blake is so very much my kind of woman, along with best friend/colleague Electa. Blake follows her own rules, Electa doesn't follow rules at all unless they suit her purpose (kind of like a Slytherin from Harry Potter :) )There's not much back-story on Electa or a few of the other characters, but there's a little info on Carter who changed his evil ways long before Blake came along, and on Nick, Blake's new boss who's formerly known as Jack the Ripper. You read that right. Between that, Carter's old life, her old coworker trying to force himself on her and her kicking his ass (Go Blake!), killing an Ancient, her new mate-also an Ancient- becoming the new king, and busting most of the sex/blood trafficking ring all to Hell, she's had a full few weeks. There are a few loose ends and I'm hoping there's another book that ties those up.If it weren't for a couple of grammatical errors I'd have given this a full 5 stars. I read that there was an updated version, so for that I'm giving the benefit of the doubt and going with 4.5 stars instead of just 4. Well worth the read. Glad I gave it a chance :)