Risa Nichols
Written on May 25, 2018
Analia has spent her entire life in captivity being abused and misused by her captor. She doesn’t remember being shown any kindness in all her life and when the opportunity arises to escape, she jumps at it. Little does she realize, her life is about to change tremendously.
She stows away on a merchant ship with the hopes of escaping her terrible life. Once on board, while she’s hiding pretty much in plain sight, she discovers that the Marada has no intention of stopping–not for several months, at least. Hungry, scared, feeling alone but determined, Analia decides she would rather face certain death than return to her evil captor. Once her decision has been firmly made, she lies in wait–either for freedom or for death. When she finds herself face to face with the captain of the ship she’s taken refuge on, she discovers feelings she’s never had before … but will he prove to be just as bad as the other men she’s come into contact with before?
Sebastian is a demon–and in this book, it’s meant literally. He’s one of just a few survivors of his race and he’s become bitter and jaded from past experience and the treatment he’s received throughout his lifetime. Demons are viewed as volatile, despicable, vile beings who are treated as the monsters others claim they are.
Sebastian also refuses to fall in love. He’s seen exactly what loving and being mated to someone has done to his brother, who is nothing but a shell of who he once was after being betrayed by his own mate. Sebastian has no desire to be hurt in the same way; it was bad enough feeling his own betrayal with someone he wasn’t in love with.
Everything changes when Sebastian first lays eyes on Analia. Though she’s dirty and smelly and can barely keep her eyes open, Sebastian is inexplicably drawn to her. The feeling is mutual and Analia doesn’t know what to do with these newfound emotions and physical stirrings. To say they drive each other crazy is quite the understatement–in more ways than one.
Without giving too much away, their relationship progresses and I greatly enjoyed the way Ms. Fay developed these characters and their emotions. They don’t fall for each other overnight and the tension that’s felt throughout the story is so beautifully written; I could feel the emotions these characters were dealing with as I read every page. I’m normally pretty strict about reading books that are the first person POV, but it honestly didn’t matter for me when reading this book because it was just that good.
This story was full of passion, romance, a determined and goal-oriented heroine, an alpha male, and it even had some humor thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed it and will more than likely be reading the rest of the series as I’m dying to know what happens with the other characters 🙂
I will say, though, if you have any triggers, be aware that there are some slightly graphic details about abuse in this story that could potentially be upsetting.
If this book sounds like your thing, I highly recommend it!
- Alated Bibliophile