ransomoney's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The best book in the series so far. I loved it so much and it was great. Great chemistry and dialogue between the leads. Loved how well matched Jo and Rune were. Love learning about Thad and we got to see desh again. It is so exciting that so many books into the series Kressley Cole is able to blow up her whole world and expand it so much. The world of these books is massive but never feels undigestible. Masterful storytelling.
dimme's review
4.25
Great book! I love Josephine, she's super interesting, smart and a unique character overall. Her mate not so much, he has some redeeming qualities but he's an ass.
lindaunconventionalbookworms's review against another edition
5.0
This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Sweet Ruin continues the saga of the immortals who mostly haunt New Orleans, and I have to say that Rune and Josie's story was both touching and sweet, with lots of action, and even more nostalgia.
I'm not sure why I have kept Sweet Ruin hidden on my kindle for so long! But I'm very happy to have read it now - so that I'll be ready to delve into Immortals After Dark #17 in January next year... This is a series with an extremely well done mythology, and I am always in awe when I read a new installment. The stories are also character-driven, with a solid story and an overall plot that spans over several books in the series. What's not to like, right?
From the very beginning of Sweet Ruin, I had so many feels for Jo! She was a little girl, and she was all alone in the world, responsible for her littler brother who was just a toddler. Still, she was strong, and she was very creative when it came to taking care of him - until the day when she wasn't able to do that anymore - when she was shot, and left for dead. Only, because Jo wasn't human, she didn't exactly die, she just came into her powers instead, but she had to leave her brother somewhere safe so he could grow up off the streets.
As an adult, Jo ran into Rune, a half demon half fae, several thousand years old, one who knew he would never find a mate, never be able to love. And to make things more interesting, Nix was definitely messing with both of them. I have a special place in my heart for Nix - she's pretty out there in many ways, but she's also fun, and I think she loves pretending she's not got all her marbles, as it lets her do exactly what she wants, while others will always underestimate her.
Needless to say, Sweet Ruin was an action packed and very hot story. I loved the characters, and I especially loved that Jo wasn't willing to let her needs be second. She stated very clearly what she expected from a relationship, and expected nothing less if Rune agreed to be with her. Gotta love a woman who has a backbone and the self respect to keep to her guns!
Whereas Jo would just as soon sneer at someone, he babbled greetings to everyone, inviting them to play with his toy. If she'd ever owned a toy of her own, she never would've shared it with people who weren't Thaddie.
She sounded reasonable, but here was the thing: Jo was feral. There'd be no living under someone else's roof and following someone else's rules. Rules didn't apply to Jo and never had. There'd be no sharing Thaddie with a woman who desperately wanted to be his mother.
Sweet Ruin continues the saga of the immortals who mostly haunt New Orleans, and I have to say that Rune and Josie's story was both touching and sweet, with lots of action, and even more nostalgia.
I'm not sure why I have kept Sweet Ruin hidden on my kindle for so long! But I'm very happy to have read it now - so that I'll be ready to delve into Immortals After Dark #17 in January next year... This is a series with an extremely well done mythology, and I am always in awe when I read a new installment. The stories are also character-driven, with a solid story and an overall plot that spans over several books in the series. What's not to like, right?
From the very beginning of Sweet Ruin, I had so many feels for Jo! She was a little girl, and she was all alone in the world, responsible for her littler brother who was just a toddler. Still, she was strong, and she was very creative when it came to taking care of him - until the day when she wasn't able to do that anymore - when she was shot, and left for dead. Only, because Jo wasn't human, she didn't exactly die, she just came into her powers instead, but she had to leave her brother somewhere safe so he could grow up off the streets.
As an adult, Jo ran into Rune, a half demon half fae, several thousand years old, one who knew he would never find a mate, never be able to love. And to make things more interesting, Nix was definitely messing with both of them. I have a special place in my heart for Nix - she's pretty out there in many ways, but she's also fun, and I think she loves pretending she's not got all her marbles, as it lets her do exactly what she wants, while others will always underestimate her.
Needless to say, Sweet Ruin was an action packed and very hot story. I loved the characters, and I especially loved that Jo wasn't willing to let her needs be second. She stated very clearly what she expected from a relationship, and expected nothing less if Rune agreed to be with her. Gotta love a woman who has a backbone and the self respect to keep to her guns!
Whereas Jo would just as soon sneer at someone, he babbled greetings to everyone, inviting them to play with his toy. If she'd ever owned a toy of her own, she never would've shared it with people who weren't Thaddie.
She sounded reasonable, but here was the thing: Jo was feral. There'd be no living under someone else's roof and following someone else's rules. Rules didn't apply to Jo and never had. There'd be no sharing Thaddie with a woman who desperately wanted to be his mother.
angie_stl's review against another edition
4.0
4 1/2 Stars
I received a copy of this book from netgalley for an honest review.
I have been following the Immortals After Dark series for a while now, so I was very excited to get this book. With not knowing who the main characters were from the blurb, I expected to be somewhat lost through part of it, at least until some familiar characters started showing up. That wasn't really the case, but to begin with it did seem like it was a stand alone or something outside the normal timeline of IAD. To help with that, I did know that this was planned to be the start of a whole new arc of the series.
The book starts when Josephine, or Jo, was 11 years old, taking care of her 2 1/2 year old brother. She has no memories from before she was 8 and she was found walking around with a newborn baby wrapped in her cloak with her, speaking gibberish. Every time she and her little brother, Thaddeus, were put in foster care, Jo would break them both out and live on the streets.
Rune Darklight also had a terrible childhood, working as a slave even though he was the king's son. Born from the abuse of an underage slave by the king, Rune was put in the fields with his mother. She was taken away when he was quite young, but even at seven thousand years old, he still has memories of her. At 15, his father died and his widow became the ruling monarch of their world. She decided to use Rune as an assassin against her political enemies, since all of his bodily fluids were poisonous. He did that until there was no one left to kill, and she decided to sell him to a brothel, telling him that just one complaint from a customer would end in his death, he was to "pleasure or perish". His stepmother came back into his life centuries later to take him as a prisoner and torture him for even more centuries. That's when The Møriør came into his life, and he joined their ranks. They are also known as The Bringers of Doom. There are 12 total from 12 different worlds, all of them primordials.
Jo knows very little about herself, other than she's 25 and she's wicked strong. She can dematerialize, making items invisible with her. She's a vampire and gets her blood by stealing from a blood bank. And she's very lonely, since leaving Thad with his adoptive parents 14 years before. She hopes this freak she meets out on the streets of New Orleans will have some answers to what she is, and she decides to meet him later that night to learn more. She first encountered him when she spied on him having an orgy with four nymphs, though she didn't know that's what they were at the time. When she and Rune meet later, she ends up biting him and drinking his blood "from the flesh". He expected her to die instantly, since his blood is highly poisonous, but she just keeps on drinking like it's the best thing she's ever tasted. Obviously his poison doesn't hurt her. From there, they start a haphazard partnership based on her desire for his blood and his desire to be bitten. Though quite dicey in spots, their relationship begins from these interactions.
There are tons of mentions of some of our favorite characters, but few make a full appearance, perhaps only Nïx and Lothaire, Enemy of Old. From the PR that was thrown out on Ms Cole's own website, I thought Nïx would have had a bigger role, but she really was only in a few scenes. I'll more than likely read every book published for this series, but I'm really anxious to get to Nïx's book!
I would absolutely recommend this book to any fan of the IAD series. If you're not already a fan, I think the missing pieces might make it too difficult to follow. There are mentions of many things that have happened in the past, and so much about Nïx, that could leave a person confused and wondering why so many people like these books. It's really not a stand alone, at least in my opinion. Start at the beginning, where you meet Nïx in the first or second book, and learn about her and the other creatures of the Lore.
I received a copy of this book from netgalley for an honest review.
I have been following the Immortals After Dark series for a while now, so I was very excited to get this book. With not knowing who the main characters were from the blurb, I expected to be somewhat lost through part of it, at least until some familiar characters started showing up. That wasn't really the case, but to begin with it did seem like it was a stand alone or something outside the normal timeline of IAD. To help with that, I did know that this was planned to be the start of a whole new arc of the series.
The book starts when Josephine, or Jo, was 11 years old, taking care of her 2 1/2 year old brother. She has no memories from before she was 8 and she was found walking around with a newborn baby wrapped in her cloak with her, speaking gibberish. Every time she and her little brother, Thaddeus, were put in foster care, Jo would break them both out and live on the streets.
Rune Darklight also had a terrible childhood, working as a slave even though he was the king's son. Born from the abuse of an underage slave by the king, Rune was put in the fields with his mother. She was taken away when he was quite young, but even at seven thousand years old, he still has memories of her. At 15, his father died and his widow became the ruling monarch of their world. She decided to use Rune as an assassin against her political enemies, since all of his bodily fluids were poisonous. He did that until there was no one left to kill, and she decided to sell him to a brothel, telling him that just one complaint from a customer would end in his death, he was to "pleasure or perish". His stepmother came back into his life centuries later to take him as a prisoner and torture him for even more centuries. That's when The Møriør came into his life, and he joined their ranks. They are also known as The Bringers of Doom. There are 12 total from 12 different worlds, all of them primordials.
Jo knows very little about herself, other than she's 25 and she's wicked strong. She can dematerialize, making items invisible with her. She's a vampire and gets her blood by stealing from a blood bank. And she's very lonely, since leaving Thad with his adoptive parents 14 years before. She hopes this freak she meets out on the streets of New Orleans will have some answers to what she is, and she decides to meet him later that night to learn more. She first encountered him when she spied on him having an orgy with four nymphs, though she didn't know that's what they were at the time. When she and Rune meet later, she ends up biting him and drinking his blood "from the flesh". He expected her to die instantly, since his blood is highly poisonous, but she just keeps on drinking like it's the best thing she's ever tasted. Obviously his poison doesn't hurt her. From there, they start a haphazard partnership based on her desire for his blood and his desire to be bitten. Though quite dicey in spots, their relationship begins from these interactions.
There are tons of mentions of some of our favorite characters, but few make a full appearance, perhaps only Nïx and Lothaire, Enemy of Old. From the PR that was thrown out on Ms Cole's own website, I thought Nïx would have had a bigger role, but she really was only in a few scenes. I'll more than likely read every book published for this series, but I'm really anxious to get to Nïx's book!
I would absolutely recommend this book to any fan of the IAD series. If you're not already a fan, I think the missing pieces might make it too difficult to follow. There are mentions of many things that have happened in the past, and so much about Nïx, that could leave a person confused and wondering why so many people like these books. It's really not a stand alone, at least in my opinion. Start at the beginning, where you meet Nïx in the first or second book, and learn about her and the other creatures of the Lore.
geo_ix's review against another edition
5.0
I loved it! It comes in second after Carrow and Malkolm, mainly because the dirty talk coming form Rune is bloody stellar! I will admit, this may be off putting to some, because he does have sex with other people (here nymphs) during this book and she stumbles upon them (it's how they meet) and I know some readers don't like seeing the hero with someone else, but that doesn't phase me personally. He also nearly has sex with someone AFTER they mate. So keep this in mind if it's not something you like.
I LOVED that the Dacian's are reintroduced FINALLY news of them. There was mention of a female Dacian in New Orleans who has the vampire plague, and the brother of the primordial hell's King guy (the big huge fucker who died second last in the trials for Betina) is shown here as a morior who is now taking his place after his death and going through the change to the hellish creature. If I'm correct he was also the one looking for a fey with two different colour eyes so maybe we will see more of him.
As for the morior I'm not feeling villain vibes. More that they're doing their job hunting nyx because she's speeding up the ascension and its heir job to make sure things run smoothly so that goes against that. But Orion and nyx must know each other if he's not pissed she wasn't dead. This book was definitely to give more clues for future books, like a filler to inform and put people in the right places, but the book was great, I really loved it
I LOVED that the Dacian's are reintroduced FINALLY news of them. There was mention of a female Dacian in New Orleans who has the vampire plague, and the brother of the primordial hell's King guy (the big huge fucker who died second last in the trials for Betina) is shown here as a morior who is now taking his place after his death and going through the change to the hellish creature. If I'm correct he was also the one looking for a fey with two different colour eyes so maybe we will see more of him.
As for the morior I'm not feeling villain vibes. More that they're doing their job hunting nyx because she's speeding up the ascension and its heir job to make sure things run smoothly so that goes against that. But Orion and nyx must know each other if he's not pissed she wasn't dead. This book was definitely to give more clues for future books, like a filler to inform and put people in the right places, but the book was great, I really loved it
tamreel_stitches's review against another edition
2.0
I think this will be the final book I will read for this series.
dhilderbrand's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Is poor communication the only reason couples have trouble per the author?
reginarix's review against another edition
3.0
Questa volta un cambio di punto di vista totale: la cattiva è Nix! Siamo in piena zona Møriør e tantissime tessere del puzzle trovano il loro posto.
Anche stavolta due protagonisti interessanti, anche se premesse svolgimento e finale della storia d'amore sono stati davvero troppo prevedibili e banali. Per fortuna l'autrice ha usato la loro storia solo per presentare dei nuovi personaggi, quindi non è stato un libro noioso.
E c'è anche una battaglia, e devo dire che mi sono emozionata a leggere e immaginare tutti i nostri eroi della Vertas schierati insieme.
Spero che si arrivi ad un finale, prima o poi, perché qui si aggiungono storie su storie da raccontare e ci resterei male se restassero incompiute!
Anche stavolta due protagonisti interessanti, anche se premesse svolgimento e finale della storia d'amore sono stati davvero troppo prevedibili e banali. Per fortuna l'autrice ha usato la loro storia solo per presentare dei nuovi personaggi, quindi non è stato un libro noioso.
E c'è anche una battaglia, e devo dire che mi sono emozionata a leggere e immaginare tutti i nostri eroi della Vertas schierati insieme.
Spero che si arrivi ad un finale, prima o poi, perché qui si aggiungono storie su storie da raccontare e ci resterei male se restassero incompiute!
justaylin's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5