Lethal Rider - Review

Lethal Rider (Lords of Deliverance #3) 
by Larissa Ione

Publication date: 22 May 2012 by Grand Central Publishing

ISBN 10/13: 0446574503 | 9780446574501
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Category: Adult Paranormal Romance
Keywords: Paranormal, romance, apocalypse, pregnancy, siblings, horsemen
Format: Mass market paperback, eBook
Source: e-ARC received from Netgalley

Synopsis:

Thanatos, the most deadly Horseman of the Apocalypse, has endured thousands of years of celibacy to prevent the end of days. But just one night with the wickedly sexy Aegis Guardian, ReganCooper, shatters centuries of resolve. Yet their passion comes with a price. And Thanatos must face a truth more terrifying than an apocalypse-he's about to become a father.

Demon-slayer Regan Cooper never imagined herself the maternal type, but with the fate of the world hanging in the balance she had no choice but to seduce Thanatos and bear his child. Now, as the final battle draws closer and his rage at being betrayed is overshadowed by an undeniable passion for the mother of his child, Thanatos has a life-shattering realization: To save the world, he must sacrifice the only thing he's ever wanted-a family.

*This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.*

Review:

Larissa Ione is back with the third book in her Lords of Deliverance series. While I am a huge fan of Larissa’s, I didn’t love Immortal Rider, the previous book in the series. I had my doubts as to whether or not Lethal Rider would get it back on track for me and I am happy to say that it did not disappoint.

Lethal Rider picks up about 8 months after the events of Immortal Rider. Than’s been kept in a state of mental consciousness but physical immobility by his siblings as they await the birth of his son (of which he has not knowledge of). Baby mama Regan is hiding out in Aegis headquarters, waiting to give birth, while trying to deal with her feelings of guilt over her “seduction” of Than and the resulting pregnancy. When Than breaks out and finds Regan, she has some heavy explaining to do. Pestilence is still doing his evil best to bring about the Apocalypse and the body count rises.

The events of the last couple of books really come to a culmination in Lethal Rider. Pestilence, nice guy turned douchebag extraordinaire, soars to new heights of dickdom in this one. It’s clear that Ione isn’t afraid of killing characters and I was surprised by how bloody this one was. There are appearances by the usual Demonica crew as well as Reaver and Harvester. I am not really sure what’s going on between those two but I hear a rumor that Reaver might be getting his own book and I hope it’s true. There is plenty of action to go with the romance in this book and, unlike Immortal Rider, the other plotlines in the book did not overwhelm the romance and I felt like there was a good balance between the two.

Speaking of romance, I loved Regan and Thanatos together! I wasn’t sure how Ione was going to make the relationship work given how things ended in the last book. But she tackles it head on, showing us the guilt that Regan feels about happened and her struggle to come to terms with it. I really felt that she explained and handled it in a way that, while not necessarily making it right, does make it more understandable and makes me believe that Than and Regan could move past this bad beginning into a new future together.

Than just might be my favorite Horseman. Yes, he’s capable of mass destruction but he is kind and protective and extremely loyal. Believing all his life that having sex will break his seal, he’s never been able to have a real relationship and has been pretty isolated except for his family. When Regan comes into his life, he has a chance for a family he’s always wanted and he’s not letting Regan and his son go. His bouts of rage were tempered with really tender moments and I just wanted to give him a big hug.

I ended up liking Regan a lot more than I thought I was going to. After Immortal Rider she wasn’t my favorite person. But she shows a lot of remorse for what she did to Than and she won me over. She’s tough as nails and pretty badass for someone who is almost nine months pregnant. She and Than have crazy chemistry and the sex is super hot! I never thought I would say that about pregnancy sex but Larissa Ione can make almost anything sexy.

Yay for Lethal Rider! This is definitely my favorite book of the series so far. Lots of action, demon bad guys, demon good guys, crazy angels, and super sexy times. Well paced and easy to follow, the storyline nicely wrapped up a lot of loose ends while setting up Reseph’s story. And I have no idea what’s going to happen in Reseph’s book. All I know is that I want to read it NOW. Fans of this series will not be disappointed. If you haven’t read this series yet, what are you waiting for? Get on it!

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

 

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Visit the author online at www.larissaione.com and follow her on Twitter @LarissaIone

NetGalley Knockdown

Even though I have a great fear of commitment, I have decided to join the NetGalley Knockdown hosted by Bekka at Pretty Deadly Reviews. I need to read some of my NetGalley books and assuage the NetGalley Guilt (as my friends and I call it). I have so many awesome books from NG on my reader right now and I think this will help me prioritize them. I am not sure which books I am going to read just yet but I think I will aim for reading 4 NG books in July, which is a very modest and achievable goal.  

If you have The Guilt as well and would like to join up, please visit Bekka's original blog post here. :)

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Uncovered (20): Lies, Knives, And Girls In Red Dresses

Ron Koertge, Illustrated by Andrea Dezsö

This week on Uncovered, I have this really beautiful cover that I got to see in person last weekend at ALA. The cover to Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses is obviously a play off of Red Riding Hood. This book is a collection dark and twisted fairy tales. This is a fantastic cover. The story is striking and recognizable but super original still. I love the use of negative space and how the darkness around the wolf becomes the forest. I love the simple color palette and how stark the black and white is with splashes of bold red. The cover was done by artist/illustrator Andrea Dezso. Check out Andrea's website to see some more awesome artwork.

What do you think of this week's pick? Has anyone read this one yet? If you have, I'd love to know what you thought of it.

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The Final ALA 2012 Recap Post

Originally I was on the fence about going back to ALA on Sunday. But, in the end, I went because there were a bunch of picture book authors that I really wanted to see. My friend also decided to come so I had a carpool buddy. Day started off awesomely with a signing by Jon Klassen. They were selling copies of Extra Yarn (which I already have 2 of) but I brought my copy of I Want My Hat Back. Don't tell but I kind of have a crush on Jon. :)  

Keep scrolling to see how my ALA Sunday was.

jon klassen

omg i wanted this so bad but they only had this one copy.

the goodies at little brown

micah player, author of chloe, instead.

katie mcgarry signing pushing the limits at harlequin

kady cross signing girl with the clockwork collar

kady had on a fantastic betsey johnson cuff bracelet.

marissa meyer signing my arc of scarlet!!

ruta sepetys signing at penguin

a whole stack of me...jane.

i was so excited to get a copy of me...jane signed by patrick mcdonnell.

lindsey leavitt singing at disney hyperion

sheela chari signs vanished (which has a jon klassen cover!)

autographed picture book haul

My last day at ALA was a whirlwind. It was more mellow than Fri and Sat but still very busy and crowded. I had a wonderful time at my first ALA. For the most part, all of the people I met were awesome. It was so cool hanging out with librarians and book lovers all weekend. Publishing reps were great and I talked to so many of them about their upcoming releases. I met awesome people in line and got lots of books signed. It was really a book lover's paradise.

Thanks to all of the publishers and other vendors who were there and were so generous. I know a bunch of ravenous book fiends can be a little scary but everyone kept their cool and things ran very smoothly. All the publishers were great but I had a really good time talking to the reps at Sourcebooks, Harper Collins and Penguin especially. Soho press was also really cool and very friendly

I also hung out with some wonderful blogger friends including:

Alethea - Read Now Sleep Later
Kimberly - The Windy Pages
Crystal - Elegantly Bound Books
Nicole - The Reader's Antidote
Katie - Bookyurt
Aly - Kit Lit Frenzy
Lauren - 365 Days of Reading

I truly would not have had nearly as good a time without my friends to keep me company and keep my place so I could eat and go to the bathroom occasionally. :) I know there's been a bit of drama about bloggers attending (as there usually is after these events) but I truly felt like most people were extremely polite and respectful. I told publishers that I was a blogger and no one gave me attitude or was weird about it and I really did have a good time just chatting with them. It was the people, not the free books (though those are nice) that really made the event. I met so many wonderful, friendly people who are just as obsessed with books as I am.

This definitely isn't the type of event I could do too often so it's probably a good thing that it moves around. I have lots of books to read over the summer now and hope to get started on them soon. Check back on the weekend where I'll discuss the books I am most excited about reading from my ALA pile. Oh, and I have posted all of my pics into a Facebook album. I tend to take a lot of pictures and I hope you enjoy them. Until next time...

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ALA 2012 Recap - Part 2

Welcome back for my Day 2 recap of ALA. I was going to do Sat and Sun in one post but then realized that there were quite a few pics. I don't want to blow up your computer with loading time so I just split it in two.

Saturday was a long haul day, with us getting the the convention center by 9am for a full day of book madness. There were a of big signings that day and I ended up in a lot of lines. But it was worth it to meet some of my favorite authors. Of course, there were lots of ARCs to be had. Tehereh Mafi was signing ARCs of Unravel Me, but they only had 55 copies. Luckily we were able to snag one the next day. I made some line buddies and hung out with some of my fellow blogging friends. It was quite crazy and I was super exhausted by the end of the day. There was a YALSA happy hour as well as a blogger meetup I was interested in but we couldn't must the energy and ended up just going home after the hall closed.

the chronicle booth was super nice. i missed out on a copy of the
ganesha picture book sadly but will pick it up when it's released later this year.

omg the cutest beagle! seamus was at sourcebooks for the signing of
the dog lived (so will i). so cute.

andrew smith signing arcs of passenger

the lovely bloomsbury booth

ahhh! i so wanted girl of nightmares from tor/forge but didn't get one.

more of the tor/forge booth

candlewick press where i got to see a mock up of
jon klassen's this is not my hat.

allen say, brian selznick and maggie stiefvater at scholastic

neal shusterman at his simon & schuster signing. i got unwind autographed!

this is the line for the deborah harkess signing

omg they had finished copies for $5! here are my friends laura
and kimberly with their copies of shadow of night.

deb harkness is a total sweetie. here i am fangirling over her.

champagne party at soho press, who were super cool.

blurry pic of laini taylor and her daughter. see the bright pink hair?

That last picture was taken at the very end of the day on Sat as my phone was dying. I was slumped against the back wall trying to rest while my phone charged up just a bit. Thank goodness I found the secret parking corner really close to the stairs. This enabled us to make car drops. I bought and received quite a few books on Sat and I think my arms might have fallen off had we not dropped books off at the car periodically. 

my saturday ya book haul

adult fiction/romance haul

One more picture heavy ALA post to go. Stay tuned for my Sunday recap!

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ALA 2012 - A Recap In Pictures (Mostly) - Part 1

I've been putting off my recap of ALA for a few days because, well, I needed to recover, and also because I wasn't really sure where to start. ALA was my first really big book event of this kind and I wasn't sure to expect. The crowds didn't worry me too much because I've been to Comic Con and, after that, I am pretty much prepared for anything. But I wasn't sure what to expect from the publishers and authors and the other people I would meet there. Would I get the stink eye because I wasn't a librarian or even a well known blogger? Happily my fears were for naught because most everyone was super friendly and more than happy to talk books with me. I ran into a lot of people I knew as well, which was a lot of fun. And the books. So. Many. Books. The publishers were very generous and there were lots of book/ARC as well as some books for sale. Most people were very polite and there were few instances (at least that I witnessed) of rude behavior. And I tried really hard to get only titles that I actually wanted to read. Even so, I came home with a lot of books. 

I am too tired at the moment to write too much but here are a bunch of pictures from Friday, the first day of ALA. Tune in again to see what happened on Sat and Sun!

waiting for the exhibit floor to open

oooh i spy shannon messenger 

this is the crowd waiting for the doors

jackson pearce signing fathomless!

i love jackson's facial expressions. here she is with kimberly.

the little brown booth. they were super nice.

glorious random house wall of books

giant spire of the fire chronicle by john stephens

penguin adult was swamped on day 1. they had tons of galleys on the floor.

mike mullin made me chop a block.
unfortunately i seem to have lost my signed copy of ashen winter. :(

mike mullin with his black belt

rae carson signing girl of fire and thorns. sadly they ran out of crown of embers arcs
but it was still good to see her.

friday book haul (some of these are purchases)

By the time the floor closed on Friday, we all wanted to pass out. It was so much fun and a little crazy. I'll have more pics and recap-y goodness in my next post. 

 

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Follow Thuy on Twitter @fishgirl182