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Knight. Party monster. Handsome Savage. Doesn’t do monogamy.
Elliot. Obsessive. Intense. Uncompromising.
Newly single, Knight is done with relationships. All he's interested in is bringing down The Count, an Internet personality who is tarnishing his family name. An opportunity to crush him comes when the audacious clown shows up at the Kings of Hell MC clubhouse to film for his YouTube channel. But when Knight meets Elliot, the man behind The Count, he no longer knows what to do with him.
Knight has never seen a more pathetic creature than Elliot. He’s also never met anyone who needed him more. Skinny, messed up, and a bucket of trouble as thick as tar, everything Elliot does seems to be a wordless death wish. No matter how much Knight hates Elliot’s alter ego, under the makeup and theatrics hides a fragile young guy with a passion for history, and Knight can’t help but catch Elliot every time he falls.
Elliot has bad taste in men. Always hopelessly attracted to violent brutes, his favorite is a long dead serial killer. But he gets more than he’s bargained for when he seizes an opportunity to meet the man of his dreams. The ghost is manipulative and dangerous, offering Elliot all he’s always wanted, for a price he can’t possibly pay.
Elliot is faced with an impossible choice between two men.
One alive, one dead.
One carnal and honest, one drizzling sweet, poisoned promises into his ear.
One unwilling to commit, the other promising an eternity together.
And Elliot doesn’t settle for half-measures. He craves a love that is all or nothing, passion that will consume him, and desire to burn him alive.
Elliot is ready to either get that, or die trying.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
Themes: enemies to lovers, protector, cruelty, motorcycle club, alternative lifestyles, demons, tattoos, impossible choices, deception, crime, self-discovery, healing, black magic, gothic, commitment, ghosts, possession
Genre: Dark, paranormal romance
Erotic content: Scorching hot, emotional, explicit scenes
Length: ~145,000 words (Book 2 in the series, can be read as a standalone, but it’s recommended to read book 1 first)
WARNING: This story contains scenes of violence, offensive language, and morally ambiguous characters.
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| Group Average! |
Chelsea - 4 Hearts
Another great installment to this series! And this book in particular brings out what I love about KA Merikan, some seriously fucked up characters!! I think Elliott is the most mentally vulnerable person I've ever read about.
He will surely grate on your nerves (that is the niiicest possible way of saying that), he does a lot of stupid things and doesn't do much to redeem himself. Then Knight comes along being all heroic.
He's always standing up for Elliott and a lot of the time we can't help but think he should just run away! But then (there's always a ’but then’ with the Merikans) you start to really understand that they are kind of perfect for each other. They're both obsessive to the point of crazy and you just want them to point that obsession towards each other.
The paranormal side to this story is just as creepy as the first, if not more so!
This story was fun, edge of your seat tense and sexy as fuck, but I did not like their relationship drama. I didn't understand Knight's motivations or hesitations and it felt too contrived to really believe it. Also I felt this book did not need to be this long. It lagged in certain places that I felt could have been slightly shaved back.
If you enjoy paranormal stories with morally ambiguous characters and obsessive men, then this story will be perfect for you!
Fantasy Living - 3 Hearts
This story started off really strong. I thought Elliot AKA The Count was a hilariously creepy character and it really set the scene for the horror elements in this story.
His internal dialogue was insane, and it was clear that he had slipped into nutjob territory when he lamented at how misunderstood Fane was.
"All of a sudden, he imagined being buried where Fane's victims had been, only with no one to lovingly chew on his flesh and hug his bones to sleep."
If you’ve read book #1 (which you should… this is a series) the reader already knows about Fane and his brand of crazy. Unfortunately Elliot is unaware of the facts, and continues to romanticize the serial killer’s motives. This is what Knight and Elliott fight about constantly in the beginning of this story.
I love that the authors have mixed paranormal with their signature biker style. It creates an entirely new dilemma for these type of lawless characters. Do not mistake this for a continuation for any of the other biker series the authors have going. This is entirely new, with a completely new world building adventure. It is unique and captivating, and I think I’m going to enjoy this series while trying to figure out the paranormal arc.
Some issues I had with this book was that it was long. There were some places where it dragged, and to be honest, I didn’t really think it fit.
Elliot seemed to have a personality transplant by the 50% mark, and I can’t say I enjoyed him as much as I wanted to.
Knight was pretty annoying. His attitude towards monogamy was frustrating, when it was clear he wanted it. Every time he realised he was in a relationship, he turned into an arsehole. I was hoping he’d take the chemistry and the fact that they had so much in common and just role with it. Unfortunately for Elliot, Knight just couldn’t seem to get over himself.
The public sex was hot. As was the scene when they discovered a secret room with bodies in it. I mean, who else but Knight and Elliot, would get so wound up about their discovery. I wanted the storyline to stick to that. It’s the part I was enjoying the most. Them connecting over history and their shared discovery. Instead, it sort of fell apart after the ghostly Fane came into the picture.
For the most part this story kept me on my toes. It was fun to discover how everything was going to connect. The Asylum is certainly turning into more than it appears, and I am enjoying speculating on how this is all going to continue.
This is more paranormal than biker. The biker element hasn’t fully reached fruition yet, so I’m hoping for more development of the characters as the series progresses.
For those who enjoy ghosts and demons in their paranormal stories, this is something fun. It is definitely worth a try, and I love this author pair and their writing style. I’ve said it before though, sometimes I really connect to their stories, and sometimes it falls a bit flat for me. This story lies somewhere in between.
Lorix - 5 Hearts
Enemies-to-lovers.
I repeat, enemies-to-lovers.
I know, right! KA Merikan and enemies-to-lovers. ****GRINS WICKEDLY****
KA Merikan is one of my favourite writing duos. I mean I love them because you never quite know what you're going to read... only that boring is NOT going to be a word used to describe any part of it.
When I knew I was reviewing this book, I got the first in the series and sat down and devoured both. I couldn't read fast enough. Laurent and Beast (the MC's in book one) won my heart but fuck did I love Knight and Elliot just as much when I got to book two.
Elliot. This boy was wrapped in so much hurt and it done-did make him stooopid at some points. Sometimes I wanted to slap the sense right back into him... but I also wanted to hug him and not let go He needed a hug IMO. Actually, he needed a hug from Knight, but frankly Knight was far more able to show his affections by ploughing Elliot's arse than hugging him - and really, therein lay the problem. Because they both needed a hug. Honestly they did.
Of course if it was that simple the book would have been ridiculously short and the hot, kink would not have been there.... and frankly that would have been a shame. More than a shame. A travesty because Merikan kink is hawt.
Knight is now one of my favourite Merikan characters. I mean who doesn't love a knight coming to the rescue, even if it is in his own bad-boy way? White knights are so last century, bad boy knights are the way forward. A bad boy knight whose heart isn't as dark as it seems.
With twist and turns, a heat factor to melt the sturdiest of knickers and a paranormal flavour this book is an absolute winner.Written with a uniqueness that is pure Merikan, this is one of my favourite 2017 reads and I CANNOT wait for the next in the series.
Copies provided for an honest review.
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