A review by redhairedashreads
Shots and Barbs by Lily Mayne

3.0

 
3 stars - I liked it

After being introduced to Nuni in Berries and Greed I was a bit apprehensive about his book because I didn’t really like him in that book. Well I struggled a lot with Nuni in the first half of this book but I think by the end he finally gets his head out of his ass and becomes a character who I actually liked. 

Nuni is a very driven, determined, and self absorbed demiurgus who is used to getting his way. I really struggled with him in the beginning of this book because he is a total frat boy who is used to getting what he wants and being the best at what he does. When he doesn’t win there is always an excuse or he makes some kind of fake excuse for why he can’t continue if he is losing. So a lot of their earlier interactions are filled with constant lying because they are trying to one up each other. Anita does this as well, but it came the majority of the time from Nuni.

Nuni does begin to change after he talks with his brother Greed and realizes he was a bully as a child. This was another reason why I was apprehensive about Nuni but I was glad to see him actually talk to Greed about his behavior and to apologize to him for how he acted as a child. It was a very emotional scene and from here on is when I actually started liking Nuni I think.

Anita is a strong willed woman who is great at her job. She initially tries to keep Nuni at a distance because of work policy but realizes that he makes her happy and decides her happiness is more important.  Antia and Nuni’s relationship was steamy and intense from the very beginning. While they may have tried to keep their hands off each other at first, that didn’t really work for long. It was an enjoyable relationship overall, and I really loved the ending that Anita surprised Nuni with.

Overall, while I didn’t really love Nuni for a lot of this book he did redeem himself and I still enjoyed the romance between him and Anita. I am still very interested in reading the next one to learn more about the var Rorik siblings and seeing the next one fall in love. 

TW: Controlled eating (could be considered an eating disorder); alcohol consumption; recreational drug use (fictional drug); childhood bullying mentioned; brief mental breakdown mention; 
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