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kathydavie's review
5.0
Seventh in the Guardian paranormal romance series revolving around a group of Guardian "angels" and the vampires and humans who aid them. The couple focus is on Nicholas St. Croix and Ash.
My Take
Khavi and Ash are both so literal! Khavi is...sort of...a crack up. She's so literal in her understanding and in how she responds to that. It's rather cute how very clinical Ash is, how very honest in her bemoaning her inability to come up with a clever plot against Nicholas, not knowing how to be a good demon. It's also one of the craziest romantic developments I've read in a long, long while. And surprisingly believable.
Oh, wow, it is so twisted what happened to Rachel when she died. She sacrificed herself to save Nicholas. She should have become a Guardian...so why didn't she?
Nick is pretty conflicted about Ash. Demons lie. That's a fact. Yet, Ash is just not behaving as a demon. She certainly is pretty clueless about how to use her wings.
The Guardians have a pretty good argument to force Ash to leave Nicholas. Unfortunately, Madelyn has a better one. But Ash is a smart girl and finds ways to indicate the problem. Then Ash continues to draw it out, creating problems by being a very obedient little demon. It just about killed me to have to wait and read my way to the resolve!
I did love it when Khavi crashed Nicholas' therapy session! Leslie is gonna need her own disbelieving therapist! Then again, Khavi can be a real pain in the butt with her damned pronouncements of "no, no, I've seen it...blah, blah, blah…"
Oh man, no, that's just wrong. Betrayal. We can only hope that Khavi truly is on the side of the Guardians.
The Story
Somehow Ash has escaped from Nightingale House and she's blindly following memories she's doesn't remember. A house she knows but has never been inside. A man she's never met, but feels familiar. Unfortunately for Ash, Nicholas St. Croix has no compunctions. He knows she's a demon and deserves to die.
Only it is just possible he may be able to use her to find the demon who destroyed his family. He will endure anything to find it, kill it. Events, however, are happening faster than they can move. From the murder of Rachel's parents to the demon who feels her pain and attacks.
Lucifer has found Michael in the frozen fields and knows how best to torture him. Knowing this spurs the Guardians on even more to find the spell to release him.
The Characters
Ashmodei "Ash" has been an inmate of this expensive asylum for three years. She has no idea who she is and she does as she pleases even if it does terrify those around her. She also looks exactly like Rachel, minus the tattoos.
Nicholas "Stone Cold" St. Croix is a man with a mission. To destroy the demon who murdered his family. He has built his company, Reticle, up enough that he has enough money to pursue his vendetta and has left it in capable hands. Reginald Cooper is the London private investigator he hired to look into Ash's story. Leslie Sinclair is his skeptical therapist whom he's been seeing for twenty years.
Madelyn St. Croix built her husband's accounting business up into a powerhouse; Rachel Boyle was Madelyn St. Croix's personal assistant and in love with Nicholas. Both disappeared when Madelyn and her son argued over business matters. Dr. Ian Cawthorne is a disgrace. Blackmailed to keep Ash a patient.
Taylor is the Doyen, charged by Michael to create new Guardians while he is trapped in the ice fields for his deeds. She was a police detective with the San Francisco PD before she sacrificed herself to save another. Other Guardians include Rosalia, Marc Revoire in the Midwest, Jake with his two Gifts, Alice, Selah, Radha is a master of illusion and pretending to be Rachel in London, and Pim is their healer now. Khavi is grigori with the ability to see the future. Lyta is her hellhound. And Sir Pup is very interested. Lilith and Hugh Castleford are both human now---Lilith when she won a bet from Lucifer and was stripped of her demon powers. Hugh when he Fell for her although he retains his Gift to see lies. Sir Pup is Lilith's hellhound.
Steve Johnson was a willing victim when the "ghost" of Rachel Boyle encouraged him to destroy her parents.
The Cover
The cover is blue, green, and black. The cool fires of hell surround the blonde-haired, tattooed figure who is supposed to represent Ash (the real Ash is tattooed on half her face). This one is wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket open to reveal the cropped, scoop-neck white top she's wearing with that Wonder bra.
The title is all about Ash. She is, after all, Demon Marked.
My Take
Khavi and Ash are both so literal! Khavi is...sort of...a crack up. She's so literal in her understanding and in how she responds to that. It's rather cute how very clinical Ash is, how very honest in her bemoaning her inability to come up with a clever plot against Nicholas, not knowing how to be a good demon. It's also one of the craziest romantic developments I've read in a long, long while. And surprisingly believable.
Oh, wow, it is so twisted what happened to Rachel when she died. She sacrificed herself to save Nicholas. She should have become a Guardian...so why didn't she?
Nick is pretty conflicted about Ash. Demons lie. That's a fact. Yet, Ash is just not behaving as a demon. She certainly is pretty clueless about how to use her wings.
The Guardians have a pretty good argument to force Ash to leave Nicholas. Unfortunately, Madelyn has a better one. But Ash is a smart girl and finds ways to indicate the problem. Then Ash continues to draw it out, creating problems by being a very obedient little demon. It just about killed me to have to wait and read my way to the resolve!
I did love it when Khavi crashed Nicholas' therapy session! Leslie is gonna need her own disbelieving therapist! Then again, Khavi can be a real pain in the butt with her damned pronouncements of "no, no, I've seen it...blah, blah, blah…"
Oh man, no, that's just wrong. Betrayal. We can only hope that Khavi truly is on the side of the Guardians.
The Story
Somehow Ash has escaped from Nightingale House and she's blindly following memories she's doesn't remember. A house she knows but has never been inside. A man she's never met, but feels familiar. Unfortunately for Ash, Nicholas St. Croix has no compunctions. He knows she's a demon and deserves to die.
Only it is just possible he may be able to use her to find the demon who destroyed his family. He will endure anything to find it, kill it. Events, however, are happening faster than they can move. From the murder of Rachel's parents to the demon who feels her pain and attacks.
Lucifer has found Michael in the frozen fields and knows how best to torture him. Knowing this spurs the Guardians on even more to find the spell to release him.
The Characters
Ashmodei "Ash" has been an inmate of this expensive asylum for three years. She has no idea who she is and she does as she pleases even if it does terrify those around her. She also looks exactly like Rachel, minus the tattoos.
Nicholas "Stone Cold" St. Croix is a man with a mission. To destroy the demon who murdered his family. He has built his company, Reticle, up enough that he has enough money to pursue his vendetta and has left it in capable hands. Reginald Cooper is the London private investigator he hired to look into Ash's story. Leslie Sinclair is his skeptical therapist whom he's been seeing for twenty years.
Madelyn St. Croix built her husband's accounting business up into a powerhouse; Rachel Boyle was Madelyn St. Croix's personal assistant and in love with Nicholas. Both disappeared when Madelyn and her son argued over business matters. Dr. Ian Cawthorne is a disgrace. Blackmailed to keep Ash a patient.
Taylor is the Doyen, charged by Michael to create new Guardians while he is trapped in the ice fields for his deeds. She was a police detective with the San Francisco PD before she sacrificed herself to save another. Other Guardians include Rosalia, Marc Revoire in the Midwest, Jake with his two Gifts, Alice, Selah, Radha is a master of illusion and pretending to be Rachel in London, and Pim is their healer now. Khavi is grigori with the ability to see the future. Lyta is her hellhound. And Sir Pup is very interested. Lilith and Hugh Castleford are both human now---Lilith when she won a bet from Lucifer and was stripped of her demon powers. Hugh when he Fell for her although he retains his Gift to see lies. Sir Pup is Lilith's hellhound.
Steve Johnson was a willing victim when the "ghost" of Rachel Boyle encouraged him to destroy her parents.
The Cover
The cover is blue, green, and black. The cool fires of hell surround the blonde-haired, tattooed figure who is supposed to represent Ash (the real Ash is tattooed on half her face). This one is wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket open to reveal the cropped, scoop-neck white top she's wearing with that Wonder bra.
The title is all about Ash. She is, after all, Demon Marked.
birdloveranne's review against another edition
5.0
This book was good from beginning to end. The best of the series, by far, so far.
melindavan's review
4.0
I was first introduced to this author when my book club picked The Iron Duke to read. I loved it so much, I decided to check out this paranormal romance. I’m so happy I did! I had such a good time reading it, and it was fascinating to me to watch the protagonist learn about emotions and how to handle them. See, she’s a demon, but she has no idea how she came to be one. And Nicholas? He might as well be a demon, because he’s learned to bottle his emotions to hide them from the demon who pretended to be his mother. You can see how twisty this gets already, right?
The fun thing about this read was the male lead wasn’t completely Alpha, and the female lead was strong but with a lot of very real, human issues. There’s a few steamy moments but they do come later in the book. If you are looking for lots of sex scenes, this isn’t your book. If you are looking for an interesting story, check this out.
First Line: “Ash hadn’t meant to frighten the girl. She hadn’t even noticed the little blonde until after the subway train pulled away. The disembarking crowd quickly dispersed, leaving the underground platform empty but for Ash and a few other waiting passengers.”
I liked the first line. I immediately wondered who Ash was, and how she’d frightened a little girl. That kept me turning the page until I figured out that what scared the girl was Ash’s eyes, which had started to glow. Glowing eyes…cool! I read on, and was hooked.
This is not the first book in the series. Far from it, it’s the latest. So if you like to read a series from the beginning, start with Demon Angel. I haven’t read it, but it’s on my To Be Read pile as we speak.
The fun thing about this read was the male lead wasn’t completely Alpha, and the female lead was strong but with a lot of very real, human issues. There’s a few steamy moments but they do come later in the book. If you are looking for lots of sex scenes, this isn’t your book. If you are looking for an interesting story, check this out.
First Line: “Ash hadn’t meant to frighten the girl. She hadn’t even noticed the little blonde until after the subway train pulled away. The disembarking crowd quickly dispersed, leaving the underground platform empty but for Ash and a few other waiting passengers.”
I liked the first line. I immediately wondered who Ash was, and how she’d frightened a little girl. That kept me turning the page until I figured out that what scared the girl was Ash’s eyes, which had started to glow. Glowing eyes…cool! I read on, and was hooked.
This is not the first book in the series. Far from it, it’s the latest. So if you like to read a series from the beginning, start with Demon Angel. I haven’t read it, but it’s on my To Be Read pile as we speak.
seeinghowitgoes's review
3.0
St. Croix is one of those characters whom I'm not really quite sure what to make of, despite his appearances in prior novels I hadn't really thought I was intrigued enough to have an entire novel dedicated to his story.
The overarching mythology which at points seemed like an intrusive plotpoint earlier in the series is finally beginning to pay off and starting to feel like part of the novel rather than an afterthought. My top complaint as always, the novels are just so long and the plotlines feel as though they simply resolve themselves by 3/4 of the novel with some mythology thrown into the end.
Last novel please!
The overarching mythology which at points seemed like an intrusive plotpoint earlier in the series is finally beginning to pay off and starting to feel like part of the novel rather than an afterthought. My top complaint as always, the novels are just so long and the plotlines feel as though they simply resolve themselves by 3/4 of the novel with some mythology thrown into the end.
Last novel please!
elusivity's review
2.0
In light of previous novels, 2.5 STARS
Much ado about nothing. Bare-bones plot, two-dimensional characters. The romance possessed little of the zing abundant in previous novels, unfortunate in this addition which was romance-heavy and light on magic. The main villain was primarily written as excuse for the main couple to spend time together--for fugitive, they were amazingly cavalier about hiding their trail--long solitary drives in the night where they dropped sweet dribbles of their inmost thoughts & gorgeous smiles for each other, peeking at unabashedly naked bodies until suddenly, soul-defining LOVE!! Saccharine ending. The demon-like man becomes angelic; the demon-woman proves herself pure and loving. No surprises here.
Well-written as usual, brisk and pleasant, forgettable. Read for the slight increment to the over-arching story line, but generally, fluffy and faintly disappointing..
Much ado about nothing. Bare-bones plot, two-dimensional characters. The romance possessed little of the zing abundant in previous novels, unfortunate in this addition which was romance-heavy and light on magic. The main villain was primarily written as excuse for the main couple to spend time together--for fugitive, they were amazingly cavalier about hiding their trail--long solitary drives in the night where they dropped sweet dribbles of their inmost thoughts & gorgeous smiles for each other, peeking at unabashedly naked bodies until suddenly, soul-defining LOVE!! Saccharine ending. The demon-like man becomes angelic; the demon-woman proves herself pure and loving. No surprises here.
Well-written as usual, brisk and pleasant, forgettable. Read for the slight increment to the over-arching story line, but generally, fluffy and faintly disappointing..
emreadswhatshewants's review
4.0
How is it that I love every heroine Meljean throws our way?it feels impossible to love fictional characters like this. I did think the couple went from hatred/indifference to love rather quickly but it worked
laurla's review
"he'd recognized exactly why he'd wanted revenge so badly: he'd wanted her to feel sorry, dammit. he'd wanted her to notice her son, to acknowledge the pain she'd caused him."
"i want to see whether you lied about your not-monstrous genitals. for all i know, the truth is that you really only have one leg, but you prop yourself up with a dragon sized penis."
"within a few seconds after she'd teleported him, he was on his knees with his eyes closed, covering his ears, certain that he was on the verge of vomiting a rainbow."
"are you taking me to have sex? because if your answer is no, i want you to put me down - so that i can pick you up, and take you to have sex."
"i've hurt you. i cant take that back. and you might have forgiven me, but it's not yours to give. not this one. it has to be me doing my damn best to be the man i think might deserve you."
"it's awkward masturbating to my fantasies of you in a warehouse full of guardians with super hearing."
"i want to see whether you lied about your not-monstrous genitals. for all i know, the truth is that you really only have one leg, but you prop yourself up with a dragon sized penis."
"within a few seconds after she'd teleported him, he was on his knees with his eyes closed, covering his ears, certain that he was on the verge of vomiting a rainbow."
"are you taking me to have sex? because if your answer is no, i want you to put me down - so that i can pick you up, and take you to have sex."
"i've hurt you. i cant take that back. and you might have forgiven me, but it's not yours to give. not this one. it has to be me doing my damn best to be the man i think might deserve you."
"it's awkward masturbating to my fantasies of you in a warehouse full of guardians with super hearing."
mcummings's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this next installment in the Guardians series, but I wish I had gone on Meljean's website and read the primer first, because it's been awhile since I read the series, and I couldn't remember much about Nicholas St. Croix, and his backstory. It wasn't hard to piece together from the way the story was written, but it would still have helped me keep everyone straight!
elusivity's review against another edition
2.0
In light of previous novels, 2.5 STARS
Much ado about nothing. Bare-bones plot, two-dimensional characters. The romance possessed little of the zing abundant in previous novels, unfortunate in this addition which was romance-heavy and light on magic. The main villain was primarily written as excuse for the main couple to spend time together--for fugitive, they were amazingly cavalier about hiding their trail--long solitary drives in the night where they dropped sweet dribbles of their inmost thoughts & gorgeous smiles for each other, peeking at unabashedly naked bodies until suddenly, soul-defining LOVE!! Saccharine ending. The demon-like man becomes angelic; the demon-woman proves herself pure and loving. No surprises here.
Well-written as usual, brisk and pleasant, forgettable. Read for the slight increment to the over-arching story line, but generally, fluffy and faintly disappointing..
Much ado about nothing. Bare-bones plot, two-dimensional characters. The romance possessed little of the zing abundant in previous novels, unfortunate in this addition which was romance-heavy and light on magic. The main villain was primarily written as excuse for the main couple to spend time together--for fugitive, they were amazingly cavalier about hiding their trail--long solitary drives in the night where they dropped sweet dribbles of their inmost thoughts & gorgeous smiles for each other, peeking at unabashedly naked bodies until suddenly, soul-defining LOVE!! Saccharine ending. The demon-like man becomes angelic; the demon-woman proves herself pure and loving. No surprises here.
Well-written as usual, brisk and pleasant, forgettable. Read for the slight increment to the over-arching story line, but generally, fluffy and faintly disappointing..
threadpanda's review against another edition
3.0
This was the first, maybe only, I can't remember, book in Meljean Brook's Demon series that my library had. What I didn't realize was that it's the seventh book in the series. While the main plot stood alone fairly well, the subplot and some of the characters would have had more impact if I'd read the first six books, and this impacted my reading experience a bit.
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