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friends2lovers's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
3.5
There are parts of this that I loved and would not hesitate to give 5-stars. The hero, Malkom, is the kind of heartbreaking, tortured hero I can’t help but fall for. The part where the story is just Malkom and Carrow on the demon plane, struggling to communicate with each other, was amazing! I found that whole conceit for their romance development completely wonderful, entertaining, and hilarious. Even though they keep getting their signals crossed, the intimacy growing between them is unmistakable and believable.
He soon had a blazing fire started, and she leaned forward to luxuriate in the warmth, lids growing heavy. He exhaled, his eyes darkening on her, and a sudden jolt of power hit her like a Mack truck. He was satisfied merely having her here. And just a thread of his happiness had powered her like this?
The remainder of the book is kind of a slog, bogged down by prolonged angst and extraneous subplots and characters–the worst being Ruby. She is the epitome of a ‘plot moppet’. In the past, I’ve listed ‘plot moppet’ as a trope for any books that feature small children in the story. But, the term’s original definition is: a small child who has no purpose or development except to drive the plot forward. I did not find Ruby, herself or her relationship with Carrow, to be compelling at all. She is merely a plot device. While this isn’t the first book in the series, it suffers from first-book-in-a-series-syndrome in that there is a new story arc being introduced and so it’s packed with set-up for future books. I’m guessing the Immortal Internment Camp will be the story driver for at least 1, if not 2, more books.
I’m still very much enjoying Robert Petkoff’s narration for the audiobooks and intend to keep listening to the series. However, I do have a couple of nitpicks about this one. Carrow’s southern accent is inconsistent, and her voice in more dramatic moments (e.g., sex scenes, arguments, life-threatening situations) was over-the-top. Instead of giving her voice an appropriate amount of emotional intensity during those moments, he made her voice sound urgent and frantic, sometimes bordering on shrill.
44% of this book gets 5-stars. The other 56% gets 2.5-stars. Overall, that’s 3.5-stars.
Endnotes: Fantasy/paranormal romance, M/F, book 10 in the Immortals After Dark series, magic portals, demon/vampire MMC, witch FMC, traumatic past, language barrier, culture clash, forced proximity, virgin hero, plot moppet, fish out of water, 3rd-person dual POV, novel (128k words), audio borrowed from Hoopla
Heat Index: 4/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Slavery, and Torture
dubious/non-consent