HOLY SHIT THAT ENDING! I must admit, I was totally hoping for the brothers to make it to the end. I honestly thought Elekta was going to die and Ethan and Brian would make it out. I definitely didn’t see that twist coming. An overall fast-paced and emotional read from H.K. Rowe. Definitely excited to read her next book! ( )

A very solid, engaging indie debut.

Ethan Carpenter has done a lot of horrible things during his short life, but ultimately it was to protect his younger brother, Brian, who was chronically ill as a child, and who ultimately ended up needing a heart transplant to even live. It was in pursuit of this deep-seated drive to shelter his brother that led Ethan down his dark road, getting caught up in Cameron Michaels’s underground world of crime. It has sucked the very soul out of him, but he considers it a fair trade, because his brother is still alive.

Ethan and Brian move in with their distant cousins following their parents’ death, and the two struggle to fit into their new lives as members of this crazy rich, upper crust society family. Brian is as sunny and optimistic as Ethan is dark, which just makes their reactions to meeting their cousin Elekta all the more intriguing. Brian is immediately smitten, and Ethan is wary - he immediately recognizes the girl’s latent power to forever alter not only his brother’s life, but his own - and, given his circumstances, he doesn’t see that as a good thing.

The characters are all teenagers, and thus the story contrasts between their time at school and the underbelly of their city, which has not only ensnared Ethan but his best friend, Howin. It is a stark contrast between their days at their snooty private academy and their nights on the gritty streets, handling “missions” from Michaels and his just-as-evil daughter Staisha. The story oscillates between Ethan’s drudgery and Brian’s burgeoning love for their cousin - who, of course, has totally fallen for Ethan instead.

The love triangle leaves something to be desired, but it does culminate in the turning point of the story, pushing the plot towards its climax and shocking conclusion. Without giving anything way, let me just say that this ending took SERIOUS cajones, and is a major reason why I liked the book as much as I did.

There are two elements to the story: the urban fantasy/crime noir, and the erotica/romance. I thought the first part was very, very well done - some of the scenes had me on the literal edge of my seat, and kept me turning the pages to see what happened. The side characters here were well done - Staisha, Hutt, Howin, the elusive Cameron Michaels - and I felt very engaged with this part of the story. I’d love to have known more about how Ethan got to the point where he was by the time the novel begins - how his spirit was slowly but surely broken, until he became basically a shell of himself, especially considering how the story ends.

The erotica/romance was a bit weaker, IMO. I had a hard time with Elekta. She ventured into TSTL territory a lot, and to me she didn’t feel worth the pain she caused. She’s not a bad character, just underdeveloped. Of the trio of main characters, she is the one I felt I understood the least, and thus it was a bit mystifying why the brothers were fighting over her.

Then there’s the way Ethan’s feelings turn on a dime. He spends the entire book avoiding her (and warning Brian away from her), only to suddenly declare his love for her. Their relationship felt very shallow and based on physical attraction, not anything deeper.

It wasn’t until I actually got to the end of the book that I started to realize that I was reading it wrong - this wasn’t a romance. Sex is a weapon these characters used to punish each other. Even Ethan and Elekta’s declarations of love in the midst of their lovemaking (which is supposed to show how Ethan’s heart has finally been opened after these years of darkness) manage to hurt another character. There is no sex without dire consequence, which I found quite interesting, albeit outside the conventions of even erotic romance.

I liked the characters who had a chance to develop on screen - Ethan and Brian, especially, but also Howin and to some extent Staisha. I think she also had great potential for development, especially given the way she enters the story.

All in all, I found this to be a very engaging story. I read it all in one sitting, without feeling like time was dragging by. I’d read a straight urban fantasy/crime noir by this author in a heartbeat. If all three of the main characters had received equal development, I probably would’ve found the romantic aspect of the story just as engaging as the suspense. It does have an incestuous bent, which is not normally my cup of tea, but which could’ve added a great intriguing/forbidden fruit layer to the works. ( )