Author: Kresley Cole
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: July 2, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romance
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Synopsis from Goodreads:
A Beast In Torment
My Thoughts...Uilleam MacRieve believed he’d laid to rest the ghosts of his boyhood. But when a brutal torture revives those ancient agonies and destroys his Lykae instinct, the proud Scot craves the oblivion of death. Until he finds her—a young human so full of spirit and courage that she pulls him back from the brink.
A Beauty In Chains
Seized for the auction block, Chloe Todd is forced to enter a terrifying new world of monsters and lore as a bound slave. When offered up to creatures of the dark, she fears she won’t last the night. Until she’s claimed by him—a tormented immortal with heartbreaking eyes, whose touch sets her blood on fire.
A Full Moon On The Rise
With enemies circling, MacRieve spirits Chloe away to the isolated Highland keep of his youth. But once he takes her to his bed, his sensual mate becomes something more than human, evoking his savage past and testing his sanity. On the cusp of the full moon, can he conquer his worst nightmare to save Chloe . . . from himself?
This is one series that just gets better with every book! I love that each book in this series focuses on a different character in The Lore and then we have a sprinkling of reoccurring characters. The most notable of which is Nix. All I know is that when she finally gets her own book it's going to be a freaking wild ride from start to finish! I also will say that each time I read a new book in this series the character in that book are my favorite and that stands for this one as well.
We have met the twins in passing in other books and got to know Uilleam (think William but a long U instead of W) maybe a tiny bit in one of the books where so many from the Lore were being held prisoner and studied/tortured by Webb. So this book starts off with a prologue that takes us all the way back to when Uilleam and Munroe are just teenagers, 14 to be exact. Will, as his family calls him, is in love or thinks he is. This woman is not what she appears as he finds out when he spends a couple days away from her and ends up getting sick and his body begins to weaken. His parents find out what he is up to all those times he is sneaking out to the house in the forest and they aren't very happy. They know what the woman in the forest is and they warn him to stay away from her. I don't want to spoil anything so I will just say that bad things happen, Will finds out what the woman is and he vows to never let another woman like this affect his life, he even goes to great lengths to kill them any chance he gets.
Fast forward to the present...Chloe Todd isn't the typical leading lady for Cole. She is more butch and totally more real. She is a pro soccer player who has just been accepted to the US Olympic Soccer team. She is extremely athletic and with her short pixie haircut she is pretty bad ass. She is focused on one thing and one thing only, soccer. She doesn't have time for anything else and that includes men. She lives with her father still, but at this point he is gone and has been for nearly a month, but before he left he gave her a book to read. This book is all about the Lore. At first she thinks it's just crazy, but when she starts experiencing unexplained things she starts to wonder is maybe she could be a creature of the Lore. She is waiting for her father to return and explain things when she is abducted.
Will is not doing good. He has escaped Webb and his torture, but he is still re-living it and he is miserable to the point of suicide. Munroe drags him to an auction, where a clan of witches are auctioning off a girl, Chloe. The minute Will gets there he realizes that his mate, the one he has been waiting for for hundreds of years is there at the auction. Just when he is at his lowest point, he finds the one thing that can make his life worth living again. The problem is, what is she? He knows that she appears to be human, but soon learns that she is in the process of Awakening. When she fully awakens will he be able to live with what she is?
Will and Chloe's story is full of ups and downs and totally frustrating at points, but it's probably my favorite of all the IAD stories so far. I love the Lykae stories they are really the most interesting to read and Ms. Cole writes them so well. This story sets up several future stories, not the least of which is Munroe's. I am assuming that his will be next and it's going to be rife with tension just judging by how it starts out. I feel the need to mention that Munroe and Uilleam are know throughout the Lore as Hot and Hotter!!
I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes a good paranormal book. I love that Ms. Cole has been able to maintain the level of excellent writing with each new installment. A lot of series have a tendency to go downhill the more books that are added. This isn't the case here and I think a big part of it is that while it's the same group of people the focus is shifted to new characters for each installment. That keeps it fresh for sure. This series doesn't lack in the sexy times department either. She does follow a pretty specific formula for the progression of her love scenes and you will pick that up pretty quickly once you read a few of her books. One thing is certain though, they never get tiresome to read and they aren't vulgar like some. This is one of my favorite series to read and I hope she keeps these books coming for a long time!
