{Adult Paranormal Review} Hear No (Hidden Evil Trilogy #1) by Lizzy Ford

{Adult Paranormal Review} Hear No (Hidden Evil Trilogy #1) by Lizzy Ford

 

It's only the end of the world ... Nathan's job for the past three thousand years has been to clean up supernatural messes. Jaded, ruthlessly effective and selfless, he's seen it all and can handle anything - demons, homicidal angels, even bad bosses. His latest challenge: A creature named Shadowman is seeking out the three keys it believes will open portals between earth and hell. Nathan must eliminate the human host guiding Shadowman to the keys. Except Nathan isn't expecting the woman anchoring Shadowman to the human world to be beautiful, witty, innocent and completely unaware of the creature manipulating her. Worse, she makes him feel alive for the first time in his long existence, and he haphazardly discovers she's meant to become the love of his life. Life becomes more complicated when Nathan helps rescue one of the key holders, a deaf girl charged with protecting the secret of who Shadowman really is: the first of four demons headed to the human world, intent on bringing about the Apocalypse. They will succeed, unless Nathan kills the woman he loves, and sends the demon back to Hell. (Blurb via Goodreads)

{Details} 254 pages. Published October 25th 2013 by Guerrilla Wordfare (first published October 16th 2013)

{Source} Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

{Rating} 3/5 - I liked it!

{Review}

"Amira Santiago studied the face of her mentor, guardian and friend in the dim light of the seedy hotel room on the south side of Washington, DC." (page 1, line 1)

I thought the story was interesting - angels, demons, the apocalypse. There's a lot going on, I needed some kind of chart with all the relationships, with who - and what - the characters were. But they were also varied and interesting. Is it wrong that I liked the knife wielding, kind, well mannered, ready to dismember Satanist? Probably. But I did anyway.

I had mixed feelings about the main character, Nathan. Nathan can be an ass - he is an ass more than once, especially towards Kaylee - but he also has good intentions and unorthodox methods. He's also got that alpha male thing going for him.

The story really did make me think, what would you do when the fate of the world is in your hands? What's one life in the face of the apocalypse? What would you sacrifice? What could you sacrifice? And the ending? Where Ford left us? Gah! I must know what happens next.

{Paranormal Romance Review} Xander's Chance (Damian Eternal #1) by Lizzy Ford

{Paranormal Romance Review} Xander's Chance (Damian Eternal #1) by Lizzy Ford

A continuation of the "War of Gods" saga ...

As the single-most powerful vampire on the planet, Xander is the ultimate bored predator with too much time on his hands. He manipulates the minds of immortals for fun and bullies around the Gods, while guarding the secret source of his power, a crystal that can wipe out the planet. But beneath the surface, he’s a shrewd creature who learned the brutal lesson of why there must be a balance between good and evil. An unwilling protector of the playthings known as humans, he knows when and where to use his power – and never to let anyone close enough to betray him. It’s easy to do, since he has the power to read the minds of everyone around him.

Except for one: Jessi, an innocent looking woman with an unusual talent who shows up unexpectedly in his life. Her sudden appearance is too convenient to be coincidence or chance. Xander determines quickly that she was sent by someone, but he can’t read her mind to discover why.

Jessi’s secret – and Xander’s – have the power to forever change the human world. Intrigued by a new sort of challenge, Xander won’t know how much danger he’s in, until he’s placed his fate in the hands of a woman whose betrayal will cost either his heart or his life. (Blurb via Goodreads)

{Details} Kindle Edition, 301 pages. Published March 20th 2013 by Guerrilla Wordfare. Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

{Rating} 3/5 - I liked it!

{Review}

"The boy ran through the crowded marketplace, dodging merchants' carts and weaving through the patrons." (page 1, line 1)

The book starts out with Xander as a child and as a young man, though not the most exciting bit, it is essential. I needed to see what happened to him and how he chose to react to it in order to care at all about him and accept the things he'd done. It's still hard to care about him, he's got a cocky attitude, and his attitude towards women: he doesn't do re-reruns (i.e. never the same woman twice). He also doesn't trust anyone or let anyone get close to him but after what's happened to him, well, it's understandable. And then Jessi comes along, someone new and intriguing. Someone who let me see there's more to Xander.

Jessi. While I liked her sass, her selfless devotion to her family and the way she bantered with Xander, most of the time I thought she was too stupid to live and definitely not someone to have a say in the fate of the world. I didn't buy why she continued to keep her secret after being told by multiple people the consequences of that decision. She put the people she loved at risk, something against her character, for what?

I thought the world was interesting, the concept of the gods, the Naturals, the Guardians, etc. but there wasn't a whole lot of information about them, probably because Xander's Chance is an offshoot of the series War of Gods. There was enough of an explanation that this book is able to stand alone but I do believe I would have gotten much more out of the book if I'd read the series first.