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A review by raven168
Burning Dawn by Gena Showalter
4.0
I can't even say how happy I was that this book was not like [b:Beauty Awakened|15727731|Beauty Awakened (Angels of the Dark, #2)|Gena Showalter|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350307293s/15727731.jpg|21405631]. If it had been even a fraction as preachy as that one was, I would have probably abandoned this series. Thank you so much for not being so.
Thane has fallen far from who he was as a warrior sent one, but he doesn't remember. He doesn't even know his own name. The only thing he does know is that he exists for nothing but to have sex with Kendra. Thanks to a special poison of a sort that she uses to addict males to her. So he has been bound in the phoenix camp and used at her leisure since he was taken. The problem with not getting into the last book seemed to be the fact that I could not remember for life of me how Thane ended up in Kendra's possession. It wasn't until we got the little summary of it, that it all came back in an 'oh yeah!' moment.
Watching as Thane became a mindless, memoryless, sex slave to Kendra is Elin. When her mother left the clan after falling in love with a human, it was one of the biggest taboos the phoenix have. And about twenty years later, she was found. The phoenix killed not only Elin's father, but also her husband of only three months. Taking her mother to use as a breeder and Elin as a half-breed to torment and use as any saw fit. And after watching her mother die, she truly becomes alone. But she's a dreamer and has big plans for her future. And when she sees an opportunity to escape via Thane, she takes it.
Thanks to Elin, Thane has remembered everything and found his freedom. But he's also consumed with revenge against the phoenix and makes his feelings about them abundantly clear to all. He finds himself inexplicitly drawn to Elin and swears to take care of her. But as much as she is attracted to him as well, he terrifies her. Even more so if he were to find out her half phoenix heritage. But that fear is not the only thing driving her to push him away. She blames herself for her husband's death and refuses to allow herself to have anything that was taken away from him. Including happiness. Thane has no idea what he's doing when he's around her, so his courtship is actually quite sweet. They slowly become closer and he even tries to convince her that her husband would want her to be happy, which she starts to consider. But then her secret comes out and Thane blows up. When he comes to his senses, it's too late and he has to try to win Elin back again. Really, for a guy who is clueless about having a relationship with a woman, I found his actions quite endearing. Yeah, okay, he can be pretty overbearing sometimes too...but that kinda just makes him hotter. Things are starting to look up for them when things come to a head.
The whole time after Thane's escape, he's a busy man. Aside from trying to woo Elin, he's hunting the demons that killed one of the big guys, dealing with the phoenix king after what Thane did to his people, and trying to figure out what the heck is going on with Bjorn. I gotta say, this book was quite a bit more violent than I expected, but it was pretty great. What kind of warrior doesn't hack bad guys apart? The demons thing turned out to be a big deal because as they find out, it was six demon princes responsible for the murder. And the one that has it out for Thane has more power than they expected. And he uses that to change Elin forever in an attempt to bring Thane down.
I obviously liked Thane's character. Mostly so when he changed to be better for Elin. And while I also liked Elin, sometimes her personality or decisions/feelings seemed to change directions with little reason or for odd ones. She easily befriends people though, especially the girls she worked with at Thane's bar. Which reminds me. Why do girls who are centuries old always talk like teenagers?
We got to see Lucien a bunch of times, and even his Anya once in this book. ((Would it be too much to ask to get a little of Ashlyn and Maddox too?)) Lucien helped shed light onto what's been going on with Bjorn, and I almost wonder if his book will be next because he totally needs to figure out a way to divorce the shadow queen that has claimed him...
Thane has fallen far from who he was as a warrior sent one, but he doesn't remember. He doesn't even know his own name. The only thing he does know is that he exists for nothing but to have sex with Kendra. Thanks to a special poison of a sort that she uses to addict males to her. So he has been bound in the phoenix camp and used at her leisure since he was taken. The problem with not getting into the last book seemed to be the fact that I could not remember for life of me how Thane ended up in Kendra's possession. It wasn't until we got the little summary of it, that it all came back in an 'oh yeah!' moment.
Watching as Thane became a mindless, memoryless, sex slave to Kendra is Elin. When her mother left the clan after falling in love with a human, it was one of the biggest taboos the phoenix have. And about twenty years later, she was found. The phoenix killed not only Elin's father, but also her husband of only three months. Taking her mother to use as a breeder and Elin as a half-breed to torment and use as any saw fit. And after watching her mother die, she truly becomes alone. But she's a dreamer and has big plans for her future. And when she sees an opportunity to escape via Thane, she takes it.
Thanks to Elin, Thane has remembered everything and found his freedom. But he's also consumed with revenge against the phoenix and makes his feelings about them abundantly clear to all. He finds himself inexplicitly drawn to Elin and swears to take care of her. But as much as she is attracted to him as well, he terrifies her. Even more so if he were to find out her half phoenix heritage. But that fear is not the only thing driving her to push him away. She blames herself for her husband's death and refuses to allow herself to have anything that was taken away from him. Including happiness. Thane has no idea what he's doing when he's around her, so his courtship is actually quite sweet. They slowly become closer and he even tries to convince her that her husband would want her to be happy, which she starts to consider. But then her secret comes out and Thane blows up. When he comes to his senses, it's too late and he has to try to win Elin back again. Really, for a guy who is clueless about having a relationship with a woman, I found his actions quite endearing. Yeah, okay, he can be pretty overbearing sometimes too...but that kinda just makes him hotter. Things are starting to look up for them when things come to a head.
The whole time after Thane's escape, he's a busy man. Aside from trying to woo Elin, he's hunting the demons that killed one of the big guys, dealing with the phoenix king after what Thane did to his people, and trying to figure out what the heck is going on with Bjorn. I gotta say, this book was quite a bit more violent than I expected, but it was pretty great. What kind of warrior doesn't hack bad guys apart? The demons thing turned out to be a big deal because as they find out, it was six demon princes responsible for the murder. And the one that has it out for Thane has more power than they expected. And he uses that to change Elin forever in an attempt to bring Thane down.
I obviously liked Thane's character. Mostly so when he changed to be better for Elin. And while I also liked Elin, sometimes her personality or decisions/feelings seemed to change directions with little reason or for odd ones. She easily befriends people though, especially the girls she worked with at Thane's bar. Which reminds me. Why do girls who are centuries old always talk like teenagers?
We got to see Lucien a bunch of times, and even his Anya once in this book. ((Would it be too much to ask to get a little of Ashlyn and Maddox too?)) Lucien helped shed light onto what's been going on with Bjorn, and I almost wonder if his book will be next because he totally needs to figure out a way to divorce the shadow queen that has claimed him...