Torn between duty and survival, nothing can be the same.

Everything Ivy Morgan thought she knew has been turned on its head. After being betrayed and then nearly killed by the Prince of the Fae, she’s left bruised and devastated—and with an earth-shattering secret that she must keep at all costs. And if the Order finds out her secret, they’ll kill her.

Then there’s Ren Owens, the sexy, tattooed Elite member of the Order who has been sharing Ivy’s bed and claiming her heart. Their chemistry is smoking hot, but Ivy knows that Ren has always valued his duty to the Order above all else—he could never touch her if he knew the truth. That is, if he let her live at all. Yet how can she live with herself if she lies to him?

But as the Fae Prince begins to close in, intent on permanently opening the gates to the Otherworld, Ivy is running out of options. If she doesn’t figure out who she can trust—and fast—it’s not only her heart that will be torn apart, but civilization itself.

 

 

 

 

I really loved this book and not just because I’m a JLA fan .

 I loved the first book which introduced us to Ivy, Ren and Tink, and their world. Ivy and Ren are members of The Order or Elites both organizations that keep the world free of fae. And Tink being a brownie in hiding in our world.

This book starts shortly where the last book ended and throws us right into the whirlwind of events and emotions happening in this book.

I thought this book was a bit darker than the last one and of not for Tink’s comic relief it would have been a lot darker.

I really loved Ivy in this book, no matter what was thrown at her she never gave up and was hanging on for dear life to stay true to herself. She was tested more than once and really always just came back out stronger. She endured quite a bit in this book, both emotional and physical. 

Ren, was also pretty great, but he did have his moment, but really it just all made sense and anything else would have been hard to believe. I really like how much he is growing and becoming softer yet stronger at the same time. I think we will see some more surprises about him in book three, but I also might be wrong.

Tink, well I wish I had my own Tink …… I really do. I would just not have amazon prime lol. We learn some surprising new facts about him and that makes me like him even that much more. He still is super funny and has plenty of hilarious things to say. But we also see a more tender site of him. His constant back and forth with Ren is till happening.

Drake, well he is one class A jerk, but at the same time I kind of liked him . Just something about him that I can’t not explain….. Of course I know he is the villain but there is something about him that intrigues me about him.

Overall, great book plenty of surprises but also some things were pretty predictable but it was still great, We still had plenty of action , suspense, humor and of course Ren & Ivy scenes.

I really looking forward to the next book and maybe secretly hoping Tink gets his own books somehow.

I rate this book at 4 ½ ★

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Available NOW 

 

 

  

Synopsis:

 

Things are about to get Wicked in New Orleans.

Twenty-two year old Ivy Morgan isn’t your average college student. She, and others like her, know humans aren’t the only thing trolling the French Quarter for fun… and for food. Her duty to the Order is her life. After all, four years ago, she lost everything at the hands of the creatures she’d sworn to hunt, tearing her world and her heart apart.

Ren Owens is the last person Ivy expected to enter her rigidly controlled life. He’s six feet and three inches of temptation and swoon-inducing charm. With forest-green eyes and a smile that’s surely left a stream of broken hearts in its wake, he has an uncanny, almost unnatural ability to make her yearn for everything he has to offer. But letting him in is as dangerous as hunting the cold-blooded killers stalking the streets. Losing the boy she loved once before had nearly destroyed her, but the sparking tension that grows between them becomes impossible for Ivy to deny. Deep down, she wants… she needs more than what her duty demands of her, what her past has shaped for her.

But as Ivy grows closer to Ren, she realizes she’s not the only one carrying secrets that could shatter the frail bond between them. There’s something he’s not telling her, and one thing is for certain. She’s no longer sure what is more dangerous to her—the ancient beings threatening to take over the town or the man demanding to lay claim to her heart and her soul.

 

My thoughts:

 

When I saw JLA has this new series coming out, I knew that I would have to buy it. I just love her books and only had one book of hers that I didn’t like so far. So it was a no-brainer that I would but this book.

And I was not disappointed I loved the book.

 

You can find my full review here.

 

No one is infallible, and to expect otherwise is just unreasonable.

Also, tastes are tastes. What works for a person doesn't work for another...

 

This is the fourth book I read by this author. And for the first time, a Mary Balogh story didn't work for me.

 

There has been something wonderfully constant in the previous books I read by this author: No insta love or lust.

The characters behave as sensible people. They normally find themselves together due to a promise made by the hero to a member of the heroine's life, and love, the big L, only comes pretty much towards the last part of the story.

This works for me, although I have read some reviews in which readers complain of the opposite thing: they feel the romance lacks intensity and emotion.

I believe those readers will love this book.

 

This story practically begins with the heroine throwing herself into the hero's arms....

 

Okay...so we have a woman of 21/22 year old, raised in  a very conservative environment _her father is a pastor _ that suddenly finds herself having to leave her home due to financial circumstances: Her brother basically behaves as he pleases, spending money hither and yon, and the family is practically ruined, forcing her to go and live with her well-off family members...where she will live the life of a servant.

We all know that when it comes to sons and daughters, what is good for the goose, normally isn't good for the gander o_O But, being her father such an austere man, I found it a little too convenient, that the father would support every little whim of the son. Just saying...

 

Were this a contemporary novel, this would suffer from : Am I beautiful ?, syndrome...

The girl has been told her entire life by her preachy of a family, that she is ugly. Due to the historical nature of this story _no friends, no tv, no internet _it is feasible that something like would be ingrained in the girls' mind; and as such, needed the hero _and a villain _ attentions to tell her how beautiful she is.

 

But what really got on my nerves was the way this story begins: Taking all this into consideration, how would a rational young woman risk _when she was already facing a bleak future _ a tryst with someone she had just met by the the side of the road??

She gets involved with a stranger just because she liked the look on his face?

Really? REALLY? In that time and age?

 

What if she got pregnant?

I am sorry but this was just ridiculous, and the explanation on why she was behaving the way she did, also didn't work for me...

She wanted something to remember...but, and although one understands her reasoning, it didn't work for me.

 

After that, everything and everyone else was basically depicted with cardboard depth: It was like I was "seeing " a "Cinderella kind of" retelling:

 The poor girl _who is beautiful_ who is mistreated by the evil _in this case_ aunt and spoiled cousin...who is then persecuted by a crazy villain, who at some point tries to rape her. Luckily there is the _I met you by the side of the road _ prince o_O

 

The rest of this...the romance, didn't manage to ensnare me, because maybe I never found the thing between them believable. The attraction, okay fine. Also I have my doubts that the due to the way they met, a duke's brother would be interested _or would be allowed_ in marrying an  impoverished parson's daughter.

 

The rest of it, ends up falling into the soap opera field with the villain trying to ruin our heroine's life in every way possible

Very predictable and not all that interesting.

 

Author Official Site

 

Slightly Wicked

@Bookdepository.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that every time i pick a book thinking that it is going to be an easy /smooth read, the thing turns out to be an actual disaster?? o_O

The beginning is atrocious!!

C'mon!

This is listed on LibraryThing as Book 4 of Mary Stewart's "Arthurian Saga." The first three books are the story of Merlin as he tells it, and are a beguiling mixture of fantasy and historical fiction, with an emphasis on the historical. The first book, The Crystal Cave was assigned to me in high school. Not the usual kind of assigned reading, but I suspect my teacher was wise enough that above all, the best you can do is spark a love for reading and history, and one does not feed that on Cather in the Rye alone. (Or at all.) The Crystal Cave was the first time I encountered the idea of Arthur as historical figure, and not just of tales of magic. It had more the feel of Mary Renault's tales of ancient Greece, and I was completely enchanted by the novel and read the two sequels. Stewart is a wonderful storyteller and lyrical prose stylist. In this fourth book we leave Merlin behind though: this book is centered on Mordred. I can't say I've read every take on Arthurian legend. (Who has? They're legion.) But I've read Arthurian novels by a lot of authors: Marion Zimmer Bradley, T.H. White, Thomas Malory, Jack Whyte, Gillian Bradshaw, Parke Godwin, Phyllis Ann Karr. And I've never seen a more sympathetic--or more memorable Mordred. I have to rate this a little lower than her Merlin Trilogy--but not by much, and that's a very high bar.