Review Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha (#1 Bound to Fire and Steel)

From cult-favorite writing duo Kit Rocha comes a fiery novel set in a lush fantasy world brimming with ancient magic, dangerous secrets, and erotic connections.

For three thousand years, an ancient dragon god has protected the borders of the Sheltered Lands. In return, he makes only one demand: every one hundred years, the mortal ruler must send their heir to serve as his consort…for as long as they can survive.

Sachielle of House Roquebarre is the thirty-first consort to be sacrificed to the monster who guards the mountain passes. She is young, beautiful—and she has three secrets.

First: she’s a disposable orphan trained in seduction.

Second: her handmaid, Zanya, is an assassin and the only person she has ever loved.

Third—and most dangerous: she’s cursed. Sachi and Zanya have five weeks to murder the Dragon in his bed. If they fail, the mortal king’s curse will steal not just Sachi’s life, but her very soul.

The Dragon has only one secret: he is nothing like what they have been told. And he will do whatever it takes to possess them both. 

REVIEW

 

I loved this new book by Kit Rocha and first in the series Bound to Fire and Steel. I’m a huge fan of Kit Rocha’s books and when I read about a new paranormal romance with dragons I was thrilled, but I couldn’t imagine how far they could go with the worldbuilding for this series.

I was stunned at first, it’s a mix between paranormal romance, magic, gods and somehow  a little like the world of Greek mythology. Perhaps everything at first slow down the story, but it’s worth it, I was enthralled with the plot and the characters.

I loved the journey through the lands of the Dragon, Ash, after he exchanged his vows with Princess Sachielle. With Kit Rocha the romance in their story is never easy, or only between two people. It’s more complicated and this time at first is a slow-burn, then an intriguing game full of passion, erotism, secrets and betrayals, that involves Ash, Sachielle and her handmaid Zanya.

Ash is the character I loved the most, because of his immortal life he’s gone through a lot of pain, losses of loved ones, but his heart still has the strength to love and care, to protect the people he loves and his lands.

Zanya is an amazing character as well, her story, her loyalty and love for Sachielle is unconditional, she’s a fighter and I love her darkside.

I can’t say the same for Sachielle, I didn’t connect with her as the others.

There’s so much more to read about this story, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series, after the little cliffhanger at the end of the book.

 

**Thanks to Netgalley, ARC provided in exchange for an honest review**

 

RATING 4 STARS 

Guilty Pleasure by Lora Leigh

Marty Mathews had always known about the secret, forbidden pleasures that the women she had grown up with enjoyed. Women whose husbands or lovers were members of the exclusive “Club,” where they took a selected “third” into their beds.  And there is one man—a dangerous, forbidden man—who is part of this world and who has haunted Marty’s dreams for years.  But she had been the FBI agent assigned to shadow him, making him completely off limits. . .That is until Khalid is cleared and Marty is released from her assignment.  Now, all bets are off. . .

The beautiful, fierce Marty Mathews is the one woman Khalid hungers for like no other and is the one woman he dare not let himself have.  His past dogs his every step and danger lurks around every corner.  If he wants to keep her safe, he must stay away from her.  But the power of their desire is something they cannot deny—and once Marty is his, Khalid will do whatever it takes to keep her in his bed and in his arms.

Guilty pleasure is the eleventh book in Lora Leigh's erotic series  Bound Hearts, in which its male protagonists are members of an exclusive club, attended by influential people, rich, and unsuspected who loves to share their willing women, with another man in a ménage a trois.

After reading the first few pages I thought about a case of homonymy of the author, it was difficult to believe that this story could have been written by one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, however, it is hers, a complete disappointment. Let's say that I consider it an empty step.

Khalid had the potential to be a wonderful male protagonist and the contrast of his dominant personality and "physicality" with Marty was perfect to make her a worthy companion. The attraction they feel for each other is so obvious for years that everyone is aware, even Marty's father and Godfather, which are members of the "famous" club tothese the girl is not to obscure about how it might evolve her relationship with Khalid and his habit of sharing his women. All of this, however, was lost due to the lack of a good plot, which could hold up the history between the two.

The book is full by an endless series of sexually scenes described explicitly and with very colorful language, but this is typical of the way of writing of Ms Leigh. Where is the problem then? It's the missing of a link taking everything put it together.

The scenes between Khalid and Marty are repeated until the boredom, the situations are similar if not the same, and in the first part of the book, the dialogue between the two repeat after a few pages almost the same words, making everything predictable. At this point, what had to be moments filled with eroticism, became for me like reading mechanical performance between two bodies.

I haven't found the ability that I love in this author to involve me in her stories, creating characters who move me with their stories and feelings.

The ingredients were all there: the heartbreaking past of Khalid and his secrets, the hatred that his brothers feel against him, Marty, that besides being a beautiful woman, is also a great FBI agent, and the third man chosen by Khalid for their ménage, Shayne, who is a person for whom Marty anyway feels a strong attraction.

All these things have been used so very shallow in the story, I can't say the author hasn't tried, but the result is a little unfortunate in my opinion and unconvincing.

The level of sensuality as you may have figured it out for me was somewhat undone by the whole context, but given the content of the book, I can say the reading is reccomended to adults.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the book.

Rating: 2 stars