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nikkireadsstuff's review against another edition
3.0
This book’s concept is SO interesting! I absolutely love the MMC being overprotective of the FMC. My only frustration was that this book moved too slow. And I still have so many questions!
majabwds's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars - rounded it up to 3.
This book is exactly what people who don't like fantasy romance and like to dump on it think a fantasy romance is. The female character was annoying and her powers seemed all over the place (also she is pretty much great at everything - other than dealing with her emotions), the male character was a toxic alpha with control issues. Their romance was also toxic. It started as hate to love but the hate seemed a bit too strong.
The addition of the Greek pantheon was so confusing and it kept taking me out of the story. And the constant usage of the term hoi polloi. Was that a thing in historical Greece? Was it used to differentiate it from every other medieval like fantasy romance?
After a while the mystery origin of Cat (the main character) and her awesome powers started grating on my senses because it would be mentioned and teased a lot but nothing really came out of it. I guess I'm supposed to read the next book to figure our that she is the daughter of Zeus and Hera or something. And this mystery is also the main conflict in the romance section of the book.
I will not be continuing on with the series.
This book is exactly what people who don't like fantasy romance and like to dump on it think a fantasy romance is. The female character was annoying and her powers seemed all over the place (also she is pretty much great at everything - other than dealing with her emotions), the male character was a toxic alpha with control issues. Their romance was also toxic. It started as hate to love but the hate seemed a bit too strong.
The addition of the Greek pantheon was so confusing and it kept taking me out of the story. And the constant usage of the term hoi polloi. Was that a thing in historical Greece? Was it used to differentiate it from every other medieval like fantasy romance?
After a while the mystery origin of Cat (the main character) and her awesome powers started grating on my senses because it would be mentioned and teased a lot but nothing really came out of it. I guess I'm supposed to read the next book to figure our that she is the daughter of Zeus and Hera or something. And this mystery is also the main conflict in the romance section of the book.
I will not be continuing on with the series.
allivenger's review against another edition
4.0
“Happiness is a strange, frightening, fragile feeling when you're not used to it.”
I listened to this as an audiobook and when I tell you it grew on me the longer the story went on I am not kidding. I love the concept of this whole story. You have Cat, the kingmaker, who can detect lies, and a powerful weapon for anyone who can control her. And then you have Griffin, a warlord determined to make Cat his. These two people dance around each other THE ENTIRE BOOK and I loved every minute of it. They complimented each other in some ways and fought each other in all the other ways. I loved the banter and the back and forth and Griffin's absolute determination to keep Cat by his side.
If you like enemies to lovers where the man falls first then this is your book. I am deducting a star for the amount of times people almost die in this book. It was unreal and probably would be amusing if I wasn't so annoyed by it at the end. But other than that I will be continuing this series just to get my questions answered and to see where these two end up.
I listened to this as an audiobook and when I tell you it grew on me the longer the story went on I am not kidding. I love the concept of this whole story. You have Cat, the kingmaker, who can detect lies, and a powerful weapon for anyone who can control her. And then you have Griffin, a warlord determined to make Cat his. These two people dance around each other THE ENTIRE BOOK and I loved every minute of it. They complimented each other in some ways and fought each other in all the other ways. I loved the banter and the back and forth and Griffin's absolute determination to keep Cat by his side.
If you like enemies to lovers where the man falls first then this is your book. I am deducting a star for the amount of times people almost die in this book. It was unreal and probably would be amusing if I wasn't so annoyed by it at the end. But other than that I will be continuing this series just to get my questions answered and to see where these two end up.
itendswithsmut's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
yodamom's review against another edition
5.0
Fantasy, Greek Gods, Snark, Magic and Romance, Strong Women, Hot Alpha Men, Complex World Building with Fantastic Characters you can’t help but connect to. What else could you want ? Nothing this book is a complete winner.
I finished it with tingly butterfly feelings of happiness.
Cat is a young woman hiding from her past and the future she dreads. She has abilities that made her a hot property, desired by many. She is my kind of woman, a complete smart aleck, educated, street smart, and she has powers, really great powers. She hides in the circus, blending in, in plain sight until one difficult warlord takes her freedom away.
The difficult warlord, aka Griffin is and arrogant cut throat intelligent who has “Eyes like Poseidon's wrath-stormy, gray, intense- the kind of eyes that hold you there.” Oh yeah, he is one hot alpha man, and he’s got a need that must be met and Cat is the answer. That need is, read the book and find out. I’ll tell you there is more than one need.
The side characters are almost as good as the main ones. Griffin’s men are all uniquely funny, sexy and fully developed. Then there are the gods and goddesses and mythical beasties, Medusa, Hades, Zeus, dragons, Cerberus and more.
I will be sweating out waiting for the next book in the series. There was some serious stuff going down and I need know !
Here are a few lines that I loved, they still make me chuckle.
Cat-“The mace he carries tells me he’d rather bludgeon than slice. I get that. There’s something satisfying about whacking people over the head.”- How could I not love this character ?
Cat-“Never n a billion suns. Not even if Zeus showed up as a swan and tried to peck me in your direction. I wouldn’t go with you even if my other option was Hades dragging me to the Underworld for an eternal threesome with persephone”
2nd read
After my second read- I am upping my 4.5 rating to 4.7. I loved re-reading it blaring through it in less than 2 days. I purchased the audio for my second read- wonderful narration
I love a smart arse and Cat fit that title very well. It was protective shield for her, her past had been harsh and her future bleak. She was unique in her abilities and I immediately liked her tough shell of insecurity and bravado. I liked her even more the second time. She was all fake it till you make it, which I can connect too.
Griffin, was a pompous sexy arse. In the beginning it was hard to like him, but as the story developed his shell cracked too. He developed into a good scared and flawed man. He was so hard, I didn't catch it in the first read. I adore a challange character, one who does not back away, who doesn't promise happiness, he fit that very well.
The tension I felt in the first reading stayed through the re-read. Conflict, sexual tension, and survival feed my reading addicted
heart . The fact that she was his prisoner intensified the tension, but didn't go to the usual place. He was honest, and did not take advantage. I didn't really consider this in my first read. Big kuddos there, many authors go there, it's something that will make me DNF a book.
I am completely in love the humorous Kato, Flynn and Carver. The three amigos of balance for the arse-holeness.
The magic, and mythos still held well and thrilled me. Poseidon, he is my favorite god, so won me there.
ljp817's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
klbarnette's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bookph1le's review against another edition
1.0
Nope. There are things I liked about this book, but the stuff I didn't is spoilerific, so read at your own peril.
Look, I know these are romance tropes, and this is precisely why I don't read romance novels. Fiction is one thing, but when you consider the statistics on relationship violence, it really disturbs me that popular culture portrays violent men as sexy.
Yes, Cat is violent too, and she is sometimes violent toward Griffin. This is okay when she's trying to escape her captor, because in that case her violence is for self-defense, which is the only time violence is okay. It's definitely not okay when she's assaulting a man she supposedly loves.
Griffin also treats Cat like an object, devoid of her own agency. This would be okay as a plot line if he didn't end up becoming her love interest. He wants her for her power, which is understandable within the plot construct. But then he decides he's in love with her, and he expresses that love by ignoring what she wants, ordering her around, and forcing her to bind herself to him magically. No. This is not behavior to sigh over, these are alarming signs of a controlling, manipulative partner. No one should think of them as swoon-inducing.
His jealousy is not cute. Yes, humans do get jealous. Feelings are okay. Acting on feelings is an entirely different animal. When you manhandle your woman and tell her you don't want her spending her time with male friends, that is not okay.
I was intrigued by Cat's backstory and by the world the book establishes. However, it is so painfully obvious who Cat really is that Griffin must be impossibly dim not to have figured it out, especially considering how stalkerish his tendencies are.
Seriously, dude, you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer. It's a good thing you can fight because your lack of brains would otherwise get you killed. You know, like when you ignored Cat's advice and took the freaking ruler of your volatile realm off on a trip with only a few guards? Seriously, who does that?
Cat is problematic too. If I had to read about the wings unfurling in her chest one more time, I was going to scream. Not to mention that she acts like an overgrown toddler half the time. And I get that she has trust issues, but you do NOT agree to marry someone without telling them the truth about who you are.
All of the negatives added up to destroy the positives. I am just done with conventional romance novels. I've tried to give them benefit of the doubt, but they're just too full of harmful elements for me to overlook them. I love watching characters fall in love, but I need a whole lot more feminism in my romances from now on, and I welcome any suggestions.
Spoiler
Griffin is a problem. He uses threats and physical intimidation to get what he wants. He abducts and imprisons Cat and fails to see why that's a bad thing. She tells him no repeatedly, but he keeps insisting he'll wear her down.Look, I know these are romance tropes, and this is precisely why I don't read romance novels. Fiction is one thing, but when you consider the statistics on relationship violence, it really disturbs me that popular culture portrays violent men as sexy.
Yes, Cat is violent too, and she is sometimes violent toward Griffin. This is okay when she's trying to escape her captor, because in that case her violence is for self-defense, which is the only time violence is okay. It's definitely not okay when she's assaulting a man she supposedly loves.
Griffin also treats Cat like an object, devoid of her own agency. This would be okay as a plot line if he didn't end up becoming her love interest. He wants her for her power, which is understandable within the plot construct. But then he decides he's in love with her, and he expresses that love by ignoring what she wants, ordering her around, and forcing her to bind herself to him magically. No. This is not behavior to sigh over, these are alarming signs of a controlling, manipulative partner. No one should think of them as swoon-inducing.
His jealousy is not cute. Yes, humans do get jealous. Feelings are okay. Acting on feelings is an entirely different animal. When you manhandle your woman and tell her you don't want her spending her time with male friends, that is not okay.
I was intrigued by Cat's backstory and by the world the book establishes. However, it is so painfully obvious who Cat really is that Griffin must be impossibly dim not to have figured it out, especially considering how stalkerish his tendencies are.
Seriously, dude, you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer. It's a good thing you can fight because your lack of brains would otherwise get you killed. You know, like when you ignored Cat's advice and took the freaking ruler of your volatile realm off on a trip with only a few guards? Seriously, who does that?
Cat is problematic too. If I had to read about the wings unfurling in her chest one more time, I was going to scream. Not to mention that she acts like an overgrown toddler half the time. And I get that she has trust issues, but you do NOT agree to marry someone without telling them the truth about who you are.
All of the negatives added up to destroy the positives. I am just done with conventional romance novels. I've tried to give them benefit of the doubt, but they're just too full of harmful elements for me to overlook them. I love watching characters fall in love, but I need a whole lot more feminism in my romances from now on, and I welcome any suggestions.
amelia_arlene's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0