GENRE: PNR; Steampunk
LENGTH: 432 (MMP pgs)
HEAT LEVEL (content): sexy-hot (m/f vanilla; frank but not overly explicit/extended)
PUBLISHER/pub date: Forever (GCP/Hachette); August 2014
SERIES INFO (timeline): Darkest London #5 (@ 1yr after end of #4)
FORMAT (source): MMP (own); Audio (borrow)
BLURB:
Once the night comes...
Will Thorne is living a nightmare, his sanity slowly being drained away by a force he can’t control. His talents have made him the perfect assassin for hire. But as he loses his grip on reality, there is no calming him—until he finds his next target: the mysterious Holly Evernight.
Love must cast aside the shadows...
Holly cannot fathom who would put a contract on her life, yet the moment she touches Will, the connection between them is elemental, undeniable—and she’s the only one who can tame his bouts of madness. But other assassins are coming for Holly. Will must transform from killer to protector and find the man who wants Holly dead...or his only chance for redemption will be lost.
Still captivated by the narrating skills of Moira Quirk, I barely touched my DTB copy & continued with this series via audio. Thus, 4-star rating is influenced by my listening experience. If I were to rate the story on its own, it would be more 3-3.5 stars.
Overall, I did enjoy this installment of the Darkest London series but it fell a bit flat, especially after a 5-star reading (listening) of the previous book, Shadowdance. Unlike in earlier books, I found some diversions from the main storyline to be more disruptive than necessary. And plot-wise, there were more than a few weak and/or unaddressed points (some due to minor instances of deus ex machina). This resulted in a vague feeling of dissatisfaction with the dénouement of both the action/mystery and the romance. And the final (tiny) nail in coffin was a personal pet peeve: even with certain open items, the epilogue dealt with the next book/couple, as opposed to wrapping up things re: Will and Holly. :/
Nonetheless, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book (and entire series) to PNR/steampunk fans. And despite loss of some momentum re: series, I already got & listened to the next book, Soulbound, which was released on 24-Feb-2015.