The Romanceaholic

Expected Release Date: Available Now!
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: HQN
Author’s Website: http://www.rhyannonbyrd.com/
My Source for This Book: Netgalley
Part of a Series: Yes. Book 7, Primal Instincts series
Series Best Read In Order: Yes but works well as a standalone
Steam Level: Hot

Official Blurb:

Raine Spenser is on the brink. Held prisoner because of her abilities, Raine—a powerful psychic as well as vampire—desperately needed a savior. But the last one she expected was the green-eyed soldier who’d once hunted her kind. Since her rescue, she’s tried to forget Seth McConnell, unable to cope with the strange, simmering attraction that draws her to the compelling human.

But their goals—find the Kraven who held Raine captive and destroy him—are the same. The ever-growing web of danger surrounding them draws these two unlikely allies closer together, and anger slowly turns into an explosive passion they’re finding harder and harder to deny….

For some reason, Ms. Byrd’s name sounded familiar to me, but since I read so much (which is an understatement I assure you), I couldn’t immediately place it.  It turns out, I’ve actually read a couple books in this series — Edge of Hunger and Primal Instinct (books 1 and 4 in the series, respectively), and gave both high ratings at the time.

It wasn’t until I was a chapter or two in, when I started recognizing things like the Watchmen and the crosses, that I realized that this was a series that I’d enjoyed and had intended to get back into.  I know, it’s sad when you read so much that you actually manage to forget about an author whose work could easily make it to your top ten favorites, but rest assured, I will not be making the mistake of failing to follow this series in the future.

What worked for me:

• If I was only allowed to make a single point about Rhyannon Byrd’s writing, it would be this: the woman is a master at sexual tension and love scenes. Whew! I don’t think I’ve ever read a story, let alone an entire series, that was this hot, and that’s saying something.  Seth may be human, but he’s an alpha male all the way, with his primal desire for Raine so thick that the tension is practically dripping when the two of them are together.
• It’s a tricky thing to write love scenes involving a heroine who was brutally and repeatedly raped in the not-so-distant past. Too many authors make the mistake of using the “magic penis” trick, where the heroine can’t stomach the mere thought of touching a man and yet the hero makes her want to drop her panties with only a slight hesitation.  Ms. Byrd neatly sidestepped this by having allowed Raine to go into a very deep trance during her rapes, which meant she literally didn’t experience what was happening to her body. Don’t get me wrong, she still felt violated, but with the exception of not wanting her hair touched (since one of the few things she remembers about the attacks was her hair being pulled), she’s not stuck reliving her humiliation every time Seth touches her, which was a relief.
• Seth is simply dreamy. Rugged, handsome, tortured (literally and physically), he once hated all vampires due to a brutal attack and savage murder of his family. He spent years hunting down and killing all vampires that he could find, but now that he’s switched sides and even calls some vampires his friend, he still has some hangups about fangs and the possibility of being bitten. As you can imagine, this causes quite a bit of stress when trying to mack it with a half-vampire.  His intensity and protectiveness of Raine is absolutely delicious, and I simply couldn’t get enough of him.

What didn’t work for me:

• Honestly? It’s tough for me to think of anything. If I had to choose something, it would be that by book 7, there is a very large cast of characters, both good and evil, and it can get confusing at times when paired with all the various species, especially for a newcomer to the series.

Even though this is book 7 in the series, I still felt that it worked quite well as a standalone. As I said, I’ve only read books 1 and 4, so I was missing quite a bit of information regarding previous plot developments, but I was able to follow along without any problems.  On the other hand, because of this long time readers may feel there’s a bit of info-dump as some of the plot is revisited from previous novels, though of course I can’t be sure since I’m several novels behind at this point

I will say, however, that this was hands down one of the hottest books that I’ve ever read. The sexual tension between Raine and Seth is so thick that it’s almost hard to breathe, and when they finally come together (pun intended), it’s primal and intense.

Ms. Byrd’s writing grabs ahold of you from the very start and refuses to let go until you’re completely at her mercy. Bottom line — I loved it.  I truly think this book is a must-have for any fan of hot PNR; the blend of passionate romance, action, and suspense makes this a very solid 5/5 Stars.

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