4.5 Stars

Another exciting adventure in the World of Ascension. This story takes place four months after book #1. We met Warrior Marcus and Liaison Officer Havily Morgan in the previous book. Two hundred years ago, Warrior Marcus left his warrior brothers to live on Mortal Earth where he built himself a large business empire. The death of his sister and her sons, his anger towards Kerrick and the ongoing war were too much for him to take. In the previous book he returned to Second Earth for a few days as a favor to Endelle, to fight alongside his friends. That's where he met Havily and felt the mate-bonding for the first time. Once Alison and Kerrick were bonded, he returned to Mortal Earth to escape the bonding. The last thing he wants is any kind of deep commitment. Besides, he knows how Havily really feels about him – she hates him for deserting his brotherhood and Second Society, twice. To add insult to injury, for the past four months they would meet in their dreams and they'd take pleasure from each other, but are those nightly encounters really just a dream or something more? When she begins to show signs of emerging powers and the ability known as darkening, she quickly becomes a target for Commander Greaves. He sends High Ambassador Crace after Havily, but he has an agenda of his own, and he'll stop at nothing to get a hold of her. When Havily is attacked, Marcus returns to protect her, but doing his job without the pull of the breh-hedden getting in the way might be more difficult than he thinks. Havily will have to chose to either go with her heart or her mind.

This was a great followup to [b:Burning Skies|9316050|Burning Skies (The World of Ascension #2)|Caris Roane|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317066367s/9316050.jpg|14199193]. Commander Greaves is still his slimy old self, and High Ambassador Crace went from sniveling idiot to a real bad-a$$ in this one. Endelle just keeps getting funnier and funnier. I love her craziness and her lack of a verbal filter. Once again, the H/h both have a past that make them want to avoid falling in love or taking a spouse ever again. Understandable, but it looks like the mate-bonding has claimed it's second warrior. Their chemistry was just as strong as Alison and Kerrick's, and the sex scenes were .... damn! Havily is one lucky lady!

We're also introduced to Parisa Lovejoy aka "the-mortal-with-wings". Since she's a powerful but unascended female, Marcus and Havily are sent to make contact with her and prevent Greaves from getting to her first. When they bring her back to Medichi's villa, it doesn't take long before the inevitable happens :)

This story didn't have quite the same level of excitement as the first book, but the H/h didn't fight their destiny quite as forcefully as the first couple. It also seemed that the constant mentioning of their individual scents was toned down. At least I didn't feel the urge to do a count search. One thing I do question is why contraception was never mentioned. Thanks to Alison we know these vampires can get pregnant. The book ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, so you'll want to dive right into the next book to find out what happens with Parisa. (At the time that I'm writing this, I'm already well into book #3 and it's turning out to be great!)
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Ever since I read the first book….a week ago?….I fell in love with this series. A bunch of hot guys, well-built, fighters, falling in love with women. It’s the kind of testosterone rush that I find at hockey games…kind of hot! Who am I kidding? It’s really friggin’ hot! Of course, along with all that testosterone and muscle, is a sweet romantic love that makes you sigh in longing.

The only downside of this book is the fact that during this “breh-hedden”, the way that the mates recognise each other, is through a signature scent. While I applaud the author for using another sense to enhance the imagination of her readers, I can’t smell. Never have had a sense of smell, its called Anosmia, and if you really want to know more about it you can find a link here all about it (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/smell.html). So reading that someone smells of fennel, or cardamom, or lavender, does nothing for me. It doesn’t help me visualise it any better, or sink into the story any deeper. BUT, for someone who may have a sense of smell, this could very well enhance the storylines of the series.

Smell or not, I’m still in love with the series. ( )