Review: When I First Saw Red (Soldiers & Mercenaries #2) by Kasia Bacon

RED:
Lázhien’s human. A common Imperial soldier. And my soulmate.
How could fate get it so wrong?
The demon in me craves this bond with every shred of his being. He pushes me to accept it. This time I won’t yield to his demands.

LÁZHIEN:
Red’s a lust demon, a whore and a stuck-up snob.
The most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. Pain in the arse. And he hates my guts.
I’d be an idiot to pursue him. Yet something about him compels me to make him mine.

When I First Saw Red is a complete and standalone short novel with an HEA ending, featuring a couple of reluctant fated soulmates—a demon and a human—trying and failing to defy destiny.




When I saw this come across the blog there was no question I wanted to read it, and I grabbed it up without paying too much attention to the blurb. All I needed to know was that this was a Kasia Bacon story, and it was set in her wonderful Order Universe.

This time around, the romance focuses on soldier Lazhien, who’s not typically one to frequent brothels, but a lonely free night nudges him towards the local establishment just to get out of the barracks to kick back and have a drink. He really has no set plans to indulge, but when he lays eyes on the most beautiful man he’s ever seen, the attraction bowls him over despite his slight aversion towards paying for sex, and Lazhien surprises himself by offering an exorbitant amount for a night with the Tii-Matashi.

What Lazhien doesn’t realize is that Okkano is equally knocked on his ass, that being a “two-soul”, the demon incubus that inhabits his being has apparently marked Lazhien as his. Okkano certainly doesn’t want to be tied down, he for sure doesn’t want to be further dictated by the demon in him, and he absolutely definitely doesn’t want what looks like a dumb brute of a solider as his soulmate no matter how delicious his big muscles are. To say the least, the dislike at first sight (and on principle) from both sides is palpable but so is the rampant desire and want that is pulling Lazhien and Okkano together like nobody’s business, something that they can barely resist as they try to keep things in check unsuccessfully.

These two fight what feels so right and they have plenty of reasons and assumptions to not finalize such a permanent bond, but Bacon throws in some very good twisty feels and angsty baggage to make Lazhien and Okkano’s pairing all the more rewarding once they come to their stubborn senses.

This is by far the sexiest of the author’s works regarding such a buildup, despite the lack of fully fleshed out explicit details where it counts. Regardless, I loved what I got and greatly enjoyed myself, simply asking for more yumminess in whatever the next book may be. Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?

Essentially, I’m biased, and I don’t think this author can really do any wrong with the fantastical, rich, and complex world she has created. I’ll continue to happily line up for her stories for as long as she churns them out, and I can only hope it will be for many years to come!







Don't miss When I First Saw Red's exclusive HERE

No comments:

Post a Comment