Friday, May 20, 2011

Review: Raven's Kiss (Raven Grace) by Toni LoTempio

Synopsis (Goodreads):
Raven Grace was a college senior with ambitions of a career in law enforcement when she met the demon Aega, whose bite turned her from mortal to Shapeshifter. Now a member of the Recovery Organization, Raven keeps the peace between humans and errant Hellhounds, trolls, wizards and the like while trying to track down Aega and bring him to justice.

After a particularly dicey encounter one night with a Hellhound, she goes to the aid of a girl who’s been attacked and near death—and is amazed to find Aega’s bite mark on the girl’s arm. Determined to get to the bottom of this, she revisits the victim’s apartment and there discovers her closet is a portal to a parallel universe, where people she knows lead vastly different lives. She also gets a glimpse of the Recovery Captain there—a six foot, redheaded Scotsman named Finn McPhee, whose sexy accent and even sexier bod sets her senses aflame.

Seeking answers, Finn takes Raven to the magickal underworld, where an ancient fae informs them the demon’s quest is rooted in Scottish mythology and magick. As they delve deeper into legend, the truth comes to light—Aega is only a pawn, subservient to another, darker demon…a being who knows the truth about Raven’s heritage, and who orchestrated her return to this parallel universe for the ultimate showdown. Now, Finn and Raven find their passion for one another must take a backseat to Raven’s battle with a dark force who won’t be satisfied until he’s claimed her soul for his very own…
My Thoughts: Highly entertaining, I was surprised at how steamy the book was despite our main characters going most of the book without tangling up the sheets.  There are a lot of sultry looks and X-Rated fantasies that amp up the heat and, quite frankly, Toni LoTempio does an excellent job at building the tension between the two of them.  That said, while the attraction between Raven and Finn is explored the bulk of this book focuses on the two of them hunting down Aega and unraveling the mystery of why he's doing what he's doing.

One of the things I really enjoyed was the differences in the characters lives between the two worlds.  The tweaks that changed up their personalities and their circumstances made meeting them the second time around fun and interesting.

As for the main characters, Raven is wound up and on edge.  She's battling what she's become and unfortunately she's taking it out on the people around her.  Her obsession with finding Aega and making him pay for what he did drives her to take chances she might not otherwise take.  Which is a good thing since it puts her in the path of Finn and her destiny.

Fun and flirty, it was a good start to the series and was left open-ended enough for our heroes to have plenty more adventures.

More books by Toni LoTempio

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