4.5 stars

Oh, how I’ve fallen in love with Amun over the previous couple of books. This story didn’t change my mind. The man (immortal warrior) is incredible. Although all of the Lords so far have thought of Baden as the most empathetic of them all, we haven’t had the pleasure of getting to know him yet. In my mind, so far, Amun has them all beat on thinking of others before himself. He protects his friends no matter what, even to his own detriment. The things he has to hold inside in order to remain in control of himself and his demon would drive most insane. Yet he soldiers on.

I really couldn’t wait to get Haidee’s story after meeting her in The Darkest Lie. It seemed she was going to be the romantic interest to one of the Lords, but how? After what she had done, she had a lot of explaining to do! Of course, seeing things from her perspective and learning some of her secrets (that she didn’t even know herself) along the way, I was all the way team Haidee/Amun by the end. Even well before the end, really. The way she cared for and about Amun, even after discovering he wasn’t who she initially thought, touched my heart.

Haidee and Amun don’t get a lot of opportunity to interact with the other Lords much in this story, but the author still gives us glimpses of what is going on with them. (There’s a bit with Paris that will gut you!) We also see enough of the warrior angel Zacharel for me to wonder if he’ll play a larger role in the lives of the Lords. His interactions with Strider, in particular, had me intrigued. Although it seems Striders story will continue of the arc I had originally thought, there seemed to be something there.

Back to Amun and Haidee. I love the affection they have for one another. The tenderness they show in their day-to-day interactions. Being that they are thrust into some very extreme circumstances, the way they support each other and protect each other without snapping at each other reminds me of a couple that has been together for a long time. And, with this couple, I think that’s the point. They were surely destined to be.

I don’t think it gives too much away for me to say there is eventually a confrontation between Amun and Strider. Being quite the non-competitive person myself, Strider often confuses me. On one hand, having competitive people in my life, I understand where he’s coming from. On the other hand, I don’t like it and he can annoy me. I was so angry with Strider during his confrontation with Amun, but it also pained me to see the two brothers so at odds. It hurt to see Strider disregard Amun’s thoughts, feelings, and beliefs after everything Amun had done for all of the Lords through the years. While there is a conclusion to this conflict, I still haven’t quite forgiven Strider. It’ll be interesting to get more of his perspective in the next story so I can start to see him in a positive light again.

This review can also be found at All In Good Time.

exquisite is one word I could use to described this book in general. amun having been the quiet guy I didn't expect to like his story as much But man was I wrong. this was just amazing.

3.5 stars
I absolutely hated the first 200 pages. I did not like haidee and Amun had no loyalty to his friends when he was around her. He let her stab strider and he hurt strider and defeated him. Like wtf. Once Haidee realizes that the lords aren’t bad it got better but then at the end Amun beats Strider again and he kind of deserved it but Haidee was going to stab him and Amun was ok with that. I am glad that Kaia stormed in and threatened Amun that was great.

this book is better written from the previous books in the series. Unfortunately, that is part of its downfall. After getting used to the patterns and logic of the previous books, this book feels jarring and out of place. It feels like it was written by a different author. While the story's "main character" is supposed to be Amun, the book puts a large focus on Strider, even dedicating the beginning chapter to his point of view. Amun and Haidee are supposed to be mortal enemies that have hated each other for thousands of years but that doesn't matter at all in this book. The second they see each other, they're so overwhelmed with desire it feels forced. And despite the fact that in all the previous books, no matter how overwhelmed with want the previous main characters were for their soul mates, even though their distrust for each other was mostly paranoia, they still held themselves back from acting on those desires because of that mistrust. Amun and Haidee do not do that despite having EVERY reason to hate each other. What is the point of the character dynamic of her being the woman who killed his best friend if that hatred gets completely thrown out the window the second they kiss? This story was too insta-lovey and Amun deserved better than that. Strider is also a really interesting character whose romance is being written differently that all the previous characters got. Despite having already met his fated one, the book so far has dedicated no more that two sentences towards his feelings about Kaia and they weren't all that positive. You've made him stuck in a complicated love triangle (he wants Haidee and Zachreal) and none of the characters he currently has feelings for in the book are even the one he ends up with. Despite Haidee not having any romantic feelings for Strider, Strider's feelings for Haidee honestly feel more real and complicated. This is how I expect a character with the inner conflict of feelings for a mortal enemy to feel, not the forced extreme uncontrollable insta lust that's so powerful they don't have brains anymore. We're also seeing more of the creepy not-romance happening between William and Gilly. "the boys at school don't see me as a child" THAT'S BECAUSE THEY'RE THE SAME AGE AS YOU AND NOT THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD.

Review posted at Book Lovin' Mamas

For an adult romance book, to be different, the authors have to be quite creative when it comes their characters doing the frickity frack with each other - the place, the mood, whether it is hot or sweet and well you get the gist!

But of all the authors I have read (and, trust me I have read a lot!), Ms. Showalter takes the cake for the most ingenious place!

Literally in Hell.. Like Lucifer infested, demon crawling hell.. *teehehehe*

Just for this, Amun and Haidee get 4 brilliant stars :D

Oh Amun! I absolutely devoured this book. Definitely falls in my all time favorites .

Why did so many people rate this GOOD????? I couldn't wait for this book to be over. Gena Showalter is not the greatest writer yet she has so many fans and followers... almost exactly like Charlaine Harris. I wonder why.

I'm rounding this up from 3.5 because I continue to like the series. But the beginning of this one really dragged for me. I thought that it got bogged down with too many POVs and with Amun being out of commission. The second half definitely picked up when it really concentrated on Amun and Haidee's relationship and what they needed to accomplish. It turns into kind of an unusual road romance and I typically enjoy road romances. So that really engaged me more than the beginning.

One thing in this book bugged me a little and I never noticed with previous LOTU books is that there seems to be some BDB-like vocabulary starting with the warriors. Not the made up words with random "H's" but the weird slang making ancient warriors sound like a bunch of pre-teen girls. I have no issue with the modern slang but it should at least sound like guy slang, not girl slang. Anyway, I seem to be in an every other book pattern with this series. I loved books 2, 4 & 6. And the ones in between are OK but not my favorites. So I'm looking forward to Strider's book, since it's #8 and his girl is a harpy and I love those harpies.