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.

(spoiler show)

 

 

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.

This book has finally amped it up and included every single romance trope I cannot stand. Nope!

Excited to see where this series goes. It has the seeds of something promising!

Falls into the romance end of the urban fantasy spectrum; this is a pretty typical story of the type. Mira Hoskins is just after divorcing her husband, which has left her with some issues, she finds herself handcuffed to a bed, finding herself with powers beyond her belief, powers that need control and Jack McAllister is the man to help her control them. It has some very cheesy moments but is an good but not a great read. Most of the elements are pretty predictable but I just couldn't put it down when I was reading it.

Horribly written pornography

The "story" was just a carrier (and a badly written one, at that) for porn scenes. No, not sex scenes - this is right up there with the rest of the pornography in the back of the porn store. More violence against women as "sexy" ---- "oh, please tie me up so I can't protect myself and take your wicked ways with me, oh, my!!" Did all of these idiot authors decide that they will write just anything, any desecration against women, just to get the shock value out there? What happens when men (again - let's read a little history, ladies) decide that what we really want is to be tied up and raped, beaten and denigrated, and they take away our protections against it - make it accepted to drag a woman into an alley, tie her up, and beat her until she is unconscious, then rape her to death? I thought we were past all that disgusting nonsense??? Or have women truly lost their ever-loving freaking minds, and really think that being tied up is ok? That domination in bed with whips, chains and ropes is acceptable? Oh, and before any of you go off on the dominance crap being ok "when it is done with love" - it's a illness, ladies. A twisted sickness that makes it ok for one person to hurt and denigrate another. I am all for play - but play twisted around a core of dominance and pain need it's head examined. OK, maybe all of you were sexually assaulted as children, and have gravitated to being demeaned as being the only way you think you can be loved. Believe me, been there, done that, had the t-shirt ripped right off my back and used for cuffs. You DON'T have to put up with it - believe me. Get some help.

This piece of poorly written trash is definately yet another example of the "Shades of Gray" sickness that is overwhelming publishing at this point in time. Horrible writing as a vehicle for shock-jock style porn.

It is about time those of us with some sense of intelligence and a genuine care for the safety and well being of our sisters, daughters, and friends stop putting up with this kind of sick and twisted behavior being counted as acceptable. If you stop reading it, they will stop writing it - the publishers don't publish what doesn't sell. What is really sad is that this got published in the first place. The writing sucks the chrome off a bumper....