Apocalypse! Blog Hop (US - ends 7/20)

Hi! Welcome to Apocalypse!, an eight day blog hop hosted by Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings, Maja@ The Nocturnal Library and Christy@ Love of Books. I love a good apocalyptic or dystopian novel and am excited to be a part of this hop. Up for grabs is a SIGNED ARC of Blood Red Road by Moira Young. I don't think this one was every read and it's in great condition. Open to US residents only (sorry international friends). This hop is open from July 13 - 20. Good luck!

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open in the U.S.
2. We are not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged items. 
3. One set of entries per household please. 
4. If you are under 13, please get a parent or guardian's permission to enter, as you will be sharing personal info such as an email address. 
5. Winner will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter widget a day or two after the contest ends. 
6. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to to the email, otherwise we will pick a new winner. 
7. If you have any questions, feel free to email us. You can review our full contest policy here. 
8. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY PERSONAL INFO IN THE COMMENTS. Sorry for the caps but we always get people leaving their email in the comments. Rafflecopter will collect all that without having personal info in the comments for all the world (and spambots) to find. Thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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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

Immortal Rider - Review

Immortal Rider (Lords of Deliverance #2) by Larissa Ione

Publication date: 01 December 2011 by Grand Central Publishing

ISBN 10/13: 0446574473 | 9780446574471
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Category: Adult Paranormal Romance
Keywords: Paranormal, romance, underworld, apocalypse, Four Horsemen
Format: Mass market paperback, eBook (e-ARC received from Netgalley)

Thuy's synopsis:

Immortal Rider is the story of Limos, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Sister to the other three Horsemen, Limos (aka Famine) has a pretty carefree existence living on a tropical Hawaiian island when she’s not trying to stop her evil brother Pestilence from destroying the world and protecting her Seal from breaking and causing the Apocalypse. And oh yeah - she’s also betrothed to Satan himself and he’s tired of waiting.

Arik’s a soldier in the R-XR, a paranormal military unit that works with The Aegis and it helping to prevent the Apocalypse. Unfortunately Arik doesn’t know that Limos is engaged when he kisses her and he’s dragged to Hell for his trouble. While Satan’s minions invent new and painful ways to torture Arik, Limos and her brothers try to find him down before Limos’ Seal breaks. But the trouble doesn’t end once Arik escapes. An evil plot to break the Seals and bring Hell on earth escalates and Arik and Limos find themselves in the middle of it.

Thuy's Review:

This was a hard review to write. I was so excited to get my hot little hands on this. I’ve been waiting for Arik’s story for awhile. He first showed up in Passion Unleashed as Runa’s overprotective and sometimes jerk brother. There was always something about Arik that intrigued me, even though he wasn’t always the most appealing character. I just knew there was more to him than what we were seeing. Unfortunately this book fell somewhat short of my expectations.

The book starts off strong with Arik making a move on Limos and getting pulled into Hell. While there, he is tortured beyond sanity but manages to hold it together and doesn’t betray Limos. I was touched by his show of loyalty in the face of incredible pain for a woman who barely knew. But that’s the type of guy Arik is - extremely loyal and stubborn, often thinking of others before himself. Limos, meanwhile is looking for him. As she does, we learn a lot more about her past and why she is the way she is. As the bride of Satan, she hasn’t had a lot of time for fun in her life and therefore, tries to live life to the fullest. She’s fiercely protective of her family and takes that protectiveness too far sometimes. She’s also a pretty bad ass fighter, which I love. While it doesn’t seem like the serious, solid Arik and the fun loving, party throwing Limos would make a good match, but they are. They both come from troubled backgrounds and have a lot of guilt that they’re trying to get over.

Unfortunately, I felt that it lost steam somewhere in the middle and Limos and Arik’s story became overshadowed by all of the subplots going on - from the Reaver/Harvester story to the Than/Regan storyline (which we’ll get into more in a bit) . Arik and Limos also spend quite a lot of time apart in this book. I don’t blame Arik too much as he was being tortured in hell, but because of the physical distance, I felt that Arik and Limos didn’t get enough time together to develop their relationship. I mean, they don’t even get a real love scene until the very end of the book and the scene that is supposed to be their official “first time” is somewhat heart breaking. Plus, where the heck is Satan? I thought for sure he’d show up at some point to claim Limos or at least try to kill someone, but it never happens.

There’s a lot of emphasis put on the Than/Regan relationship in this one as a setup to the next book. I have mixed feelings about this storyline. On the one hand, I feel that Regan and Than have great chemistry and the sort of love/hate relationship that I love. On the other hand, I find the reason that Regan was sent there to be somewhat distasteful and it’s hard to see how their relationship will work.

I did enjoy all of the cameos by the Sem brothers and the Demonica crew. Cara’s hellhound Hal even makes an appearance. Even though this wasn’t my favorite book, I still enjoyed it. I am definitely invested in the world and characters that Larissa Ione has created and am anxiously awaiting the next installment.

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