She’s back from the dead and looking for vengeance.
Bond of Passion, an enthralling second-chance paranormal romance novella in the Demonica series from New York Times bestselling author Larissa Ione is out now!
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Blurb
He was an assassin. She was his lover.
And his victim.
Now, years later, she’s back from the dead and looking for vengeance.
Thanks to an unexpected and fortuitous disaster, Tavin’s contract with the underworld’s Assassin Guild was broken decades early. But instead of freedom, he’s suffocated by guilt and regret. In many ways, he’s more trapped than he was before. In an attempt to numb his pain, he works at Underworld General Hospital, saving people instead of killing them. But nothing can diminish the memory of assassinating the female he loved…not even the knowledge that he’d done it to spare her an even worse fate.
Deja remembers all of her dozens of former lives, and she knows that she only found love in one of them…until her lover murdered her. As a soul locked inside the nightmarish boundaries of demon hell, she stewed in hatred until a single, fateful event gave her one more shot at life.
And at revenge.
Now another specter from the past is threatening them both. Can two damaged people overcome their history to save not only themselves, but a second chance at love?
Review
5 stars!
God, I love this world! Diving into this book was the most exciting feeling – coming back to a paranormal world that I am quite obsessed with, and catching up with so many characters that I love so much. But more than all of that, this book is a fun, exciting, intriguing and passionate sort-of-second-chance-romance for a side character in the Demonica world that I have been so looking forward to reading more about.
Tavin is a seminus demon, and was a former contracted assassin with the Assassin’s Guild. He was forced to do devastating and horrific things, and none was more devastating than killing the love of his life, even if it was to save her from unimaginable torture. He’s now a free man and is working as paramedic in Underworld General Hospital, saving lives in atonement for all of the ones that he took. But he still lives in guilt and heartache, with no intention of ever falling in love again.
Deja is the reincarnated soul of Tavin’s lost love, but in a slightly different body. She is hell-bent on revenge, and has just graduated as a nurse for the sole purpose of working at Underworld General, getting close to Tavin, seducing and then killing him. Her mission is complicated by recent events in the Demonica world which resulted in the release of thousands of previously deceased demon souls (hers included) and, like her, they are back for vengeance. And Tavin has a whole host of them on his tail.
It’s a fantastic set-up, and the action and excitement is there pretty much from the beginning. There’s explosions, fights, some pretty horrific torture and badassery, and it all moves at a great pace. Deja is right in the thick of it with Tavin, but her goal of getting close to him only to seduce and kill him gets sidetracked along the way as she sees so much about the man she once loved that is still there.
Some unexpected tender moments and a bit of supernatural sexy time only add to her confusion, and in the middle of all of the supernatural awesomeness that I love so much about this series, there’s a beautiful, heartfelt, and seriously sexy love story that captured my heart. I loved both of these characters so much, and I was so happy to see them find their way back to each other.
“It takes more strength to live with intense feelings than it does to hide behind a wall of indifference.”
It’s exciting and romantic, there are some great twists to their story, and several long-held secrets to be revealed. They’ve got a lot to contend with, and I was right there with them as they do exactly that, and I loved watching their story unfold.
Tavin is a much-loved member of the Underworld General crew, and as a fellow seminus demon, the Sem brothers have dragged him into the fold, and he’s very much part of the family, so there’s lots of time spent with characters from the original books, which I loved! There are chapters from some alternate perspectives, which was a great treat, and through it all there’s the expected wit, banter, sarcasm and humour that I love so much about this series!
This novella is a fantastic addition to the Demonica series, and it was well worth the wait to see Tavin finally get his happy ending.
5 stars!
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
For more information about the Demonica series – including series reading order – check out our Demonica / Lords of Deliverance Series page
Excerpt
“Hey.” Lore jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. “You’re being eye-fucked. Check your two o’clock.”
Tavin glanced over at the buffet table, where two of the hospital’s cafeteria workers were volunteering. Evi, a curvy brunette lion shifter in a scarlet bikini, gave him a sultry smile and a flirty wave. Next to her, Churla, a fangy, pointy-eared succubus who looked too much like a Neethul for comfort, flicked her forked tongue at him in a way that made it clear what she wanted to use it for.
He nodded in acknowledgment but didn’t offer any encouragement. He’d hooked up with Evi a couple of times, but he wasn’t in the mood right now. As for Churla? Yeah, no. Her platinum hair and pale, iridescent skin reminded him of someone he didn’t deserve to think about.
Tavin turned back to his friend. “It still freaks me out to see Tier-Five demons working at UG.”
“That’s kind of the assassin calling the executioner a killer, isn’t it?” At Tavin’s reluctant shrug, Lore continued. “Why are you working there, anyway? You used to kill people for a living.”
“So did you,” Tavin pointed out. “But now you’re working in the same hospital I am.”
“Yeah, but I work in the morgue. The people I have to deal with are mostly dead.”
Tavin grinned. “Only mostly dead? Not all the way dead?”
“What?”
“The Princess Bride?” Tavin prompted. “It’s a reference. Your dead people are only mostly dead?” When Lore stared at him as if he’d lost his mind, he shook his head.
“The movie is a classic, man. Watch it sometime.”
“You sound like Wraith,” Lore said flatly. “Always talking about movies. And you didn’t answer the question. After the Horsemen destroyed the slave and assassin bonds, you were free. You could have done anything. Why did you decide to save lives?”
Tavin watched a hellhound block one of the kids from going into the water. When he tried to run around the hound, the big beast picked up the boy by the seat of his swim trunks and plopped him down near a group of adults. Damn. They were great babysitters.
When Tavin looked back at Lore, he saw the guy was waiting for an answer. “I decided to save lives because I have red in my ledger.”
“For real? You keep a ledger?”
“Dude, seriously? The Avengers? Black Widow? Watch a movie someday.”
“I have a kid. I don’t have time for movies that aren’t animated.”
About Larissa Ione
Air Force veteran Larissa Ione traded in a career in meteorology to pursue her passion of writing. She has since published dozens of books, hit several bestseller lists, including the New York Times and USA Today, and has been nominated for a RITA award. She now spends her days in pajamas with her computer, strong coffee, and supernatural worlds. She believes in celebrating everything, and would never be caught without a bottle of Champagne chilling in the fridge…just in case. She currently lives in Wisconsin with her retired U.S. Coast Guard husband, her son, a rescue cat named Vegas, and her very own hellhounds, a King Shepherd named Hexe and a Belgian Malinois named Duvel.
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