Reviews

This books are probably a sign of the times because the misogyny is strong however the story had the best progression. But these women need to stop forgiving these guys so easily. The men need to grow up.
There's definitely a pattern of the men judging their mates.

sydneytheb's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.25

alyshadeshae's review against another edition

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2.0

Well, this was an improvement over the previous books. Not once did she use the phrase "some-some" in regards to sex. I'm so proud! Or not... One thing you can count on Kresley Cole for, though, is a massive male member and a tight girl part no matter how many men she may have been with before.

goolsby's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

4.5

Of all the books so far, this one has gotten better with distance.

You can see Kresley setting up pieces for the full series, and it's starting to feel like that. A series. One you need to read all of in order to get the players and the lore. The romance payoff, too.

I have to say, I love Conrad and Naomi. I think their situation is absolutely nuts--a ghost and the vampire who is the only person who can see her? Sign me up.

Naomi has the most agency of any of the IAD heroes so far. She's made a life out of her death—maybe it's not a great one, but it is one she crafted and has a degree of pride in. When it's insulted, she pulls away. When she tires of it, she finds a way to

become alive.

Conrad is the classic type of romance hero that is incredibly fun and you should absolutely never date. Possessive and domineering and needs someone like Naomi to push back against him. He's single-minded and it is so so satisfying to see her pry her way in and open up his horizons. They really do work together

There is so much going on with this book, but it still could have been 50 pages shorter. Probably more. I know this is a lot of set up for the future, but their love story would have been better suited to a novella. That was where too much of the padding existed, and more than once I found myself thinking "we get it." It was still the best constructed romance so far. They got to me.

waldtochter's review against another edition

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3.0

I love smut, this however was an interesting piece of smut.
The relationships in smut are always expedited, but this one also dealt along the way rather well with topics I found taboo.

The male in this book is a paranormal addict and also could be seen as an abusive lover. The female struggles with her desire to be saved by this man and also to be the savior of this man.

In books, women are still portrayed as wanting the Prince Charming on a white horse deal, and that every Prince Charming must have this egregious flaw that somehow can be fixed, thankfully, with love and a woman's touch.

It seems this book is the re-telling of [b:Beauty and the Beast|41424|Beauty A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|Robin McKinley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169613617s/41424.jpg|2321285], where women are told to hold-on and hold-out and eventually things will get better - somehow. It was frustrating because these are roles we are hopefully moving away from locking ourselves into, but as is common in smut the roles are just more cemented.

Of course, in the climax of the book, the couple must always face, together, some sort of strife. But as is common in Cole's books they also deal, for the most part, realistically with the emotional problems that arise from just being in a relationship.

I like when things don't magically fall in line. I think many will agree that relationships can be hard to maintain and romanticizing a misrepresentation of this just misleads readers, and causes disappointments in real life. This book seems to have the theme of forgiveness throughout it, and while it's not my favorite book in the series it definitely has one of my favorite leading ladies.

So not half bad, but I think I could have waited to borrow it from the library.

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