First of all, although I enjoyed this book very much, and the previous one as well, I want to grab H.P. Mallory by her shoulders and shake her until she comes to her senses. How on earth do you end a book with a climax?! Haven't you ever heard of denouement? Seriously. If it weren't for the fact that I read both books in tandem I would have been really pissed. In the spirit of not incorporating spoilers I won't explain exactly what I am talking about, but it definitely needs to be said that most good books, series or not, end with some sort of conclusion. I expect her argument would be that it's a cliff-hanger, but in essense it's not. It just doesn't make sense!
Ok now that I got that out of the way, I'll get to thick of it. The main course of this book centers around an epic battle of good (kinda) verses evil (mostly). Certain circumstances lead Jolie to go to the dangerous sexy vampire Sinjin for assistance with training and a little infusion of power, which of course involves her drinking his blood. Sinjin, like most of his vampiric counterparts of this genre, is constantly expousing sexual innuendo. This of course makes Jolie hot and bothered. Hot because of the obvious, bothered because she is only using Sinjin for the help he offers. Don't get me wrong, she finds herself strangely attracted to him, but at the same time she is in love with Rand and is therefore annoyed with his incessant approaches. As a reader all I could think was, FUCK RAND! Literally, because I really wish they would just do it and get it over with and figuratively because he really is a stick in the mud sometimes and Sinjin has none of that uptight crap going on. I also just love the way Sinjin calls Rand Randall which Rand hates. Hehe. I gotta admit I just love the classic my dick is bigger than your dick fight that pops up in Urban Fantasy Romance, i.e. Bill vs Eric in the Sookie Stackhouse novels and Lore vs Kynan in the Demonica series. For more on Sinjin vs Rand see their interview with Joann McLeary. But ofcourse, Jolie does not give in to Sinjin's advances. I honestly don't know how she does it, I sure wouldn't be able to, especially when he is decribed like such:
The highlight of the fire heightened the harsh planes of his face and made his ice blue eyes appear to glow. He looked every inch the quintessential villain in his black slacks and black button down shirt. No one would ever use the word "casual" to describe Sinjin.
But perhaps I am just personally distracted by the blue-eyed evil ones. The past stands to show such at least. And then there is his English accent. Sigh. If there is one thing Jenn and I agree on it is the power of an English accent. Well actually English, Australian, Irish, Viking (haha), etc.. And he is always using it to call her "Love," "Poppet," or "Pet." See my point? Anyway Sinjin does sneak in a kiss, which Jolie promptly dismisses and gets all angry and annoyed about, while I get angry and annoyed with her for being such a prude. It's a viscious circle. But she really isn't a prude, I'm just frustrated because by this time in the series I'm dying for a little action and like always I'm denied. Literary blue balls, as I like to refer to it, and this author is so good at causing it.
Oh! And I forgot to mention there was ANOTHER hot piece of man introduced in the first book, Odran, the Fairy King, who immediately decides he wants Jolie as well (obviously, right? Cause it always seems that the female heroine is like crack to all the supernatural malesin these types of stories. Once again see Sookie Stackhouse, Anita Blake, Betsy Taylor etc. etc. It's as if all the Urban Fantasy writers have low self-esteem and have never actually been wanted by many men themselves so they make their heroines into these irresistible icons of femininity. Which, if I may so say, is some what ridiculous. I mean two men fighting over one woman I can believe, but 3, 4, or more? Get real, ladies.) He even tried to sleep with her the first night he meets her by slipping her wine laced with an intense aphrodisiac. How badly I wish such a thing existed. I would have a stock pile. Anyway, Odran is kind of a slut, which is nice because it allows Mallory to slip in a little more smut. For example he always has two women in his bed. Me like.
So back to Rand and Jolie. It isn't until near the end of this book that the insatiable hunger for some smut is satisfied.
YES! I'm going to spoil it: THEY DO IT!!!
Sorry about that, but I just couldn't control myself. And I just loved the way it was worked into the actual plot. It was perfect. It was worth the wait and all of my complaining, and whining. I can't tell you anymore without completely ruining the book, but I have to point out that the earlier reasoning against them having sex was not circumvented in any way, in fact them having sex is the cause for them not being able to have sex earlier. Makes no sense? Yeah, that's kind of the point. Go read the book!!! It's really a very intriguing and unique plot. And the sex scenes (yes scenes, plural) were enough to make up for the lack-there-of previously. By the end of the book I was totally addicted to the way she wrote the smut that I reread those chapters... twice.
I also have to say that there was one part of the book that I absolutely loved and made me a true follower who is now dying for the next book in the series to be released and that was that at one point in the second book Jolie gives a friend the Black Daggar Brotherhood series for Christmas. Oh and then there is that whole thing about Jolie being the Queen of the Underworld... but that's the next book. Stay tuned for the review of the next book in the Jolie Wilkin's series when it's released this year! Or better yet, join me in reading it!!!
XXX,
Sarah
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