Tuesday, July 28, 2015

review || TO MATE AN ASSASSIN { blog tour } by Ceri Grenelle

To Mate an Assassin Cover
Publisher | July 28, 2015 | Paranormal Romance
The Lost Alphars, book 1
★★★★

SOURCE: INDIESAGE

Love is her enemy…until his beast sets her free.

Cymbeline Kendall’s life is quiet, solitary—until a letter appears in her P.O. box. Then she becomes an Incendiary, a human chosen at birth to be trained to strike like lightning to take out the most dangerous of the Werekind, then fade back into the shadows.

She is a weapon only to be used by the leader of North American shifters. But when she learns the Alphar was unseated three years ago, she sets out to find who’s been pulling her trigger.

Kerrick Masterson has borne the burden of leadership for only a short time, yet he already feels the Alphar power tempting his soul toward the insanity that destroyed his predecessor. He has no time for the woman who breaks into his compound claiming to be his Incendiary, but his beast insists he make the time—for his mate.

In one searing, soul-consuming breath, everything Cymbeline was taught to believe is ripped away. Yet the mystery of who’s been sending her orders remains…and finding the answer could lead to all-out war. 

Warning: Contains an assassin who doesn’t tolerate those who hurt the weak, and a shifter leader determined to unlock his new mate’s repressed emotions—even if that puts his balls at risk. Explicit sex, violence, and references to abuse that could be rough on sensitive readers.
amazon | bn | kobo | itunes | google play

{ about ceri grenelle } .

I've always had an active imagination. An imagination that usually took form in the way of zoning out in the middle of conversations. I eventually decided it was time to share my daydreaming with the world and began to put my musings on paper. It started with Harry Potter fanfiction and grew from there. I am currently living it up in Northern California after a big move from New York City. And by living it up I mean staying home with my cats, obsessively watching episodes of my favorite TV shows, all of which are extremely geeky, and simultaneously reading the next book on my reading list. I do all this while trying not to pig out on unhealthy snacks. As you can tell, I lead a busy life.

{ review } .

It took me a minute to figure out how to get into this book. The terminology of the paranormal sectors and whatnot was something that I had to work through in order to fully understand -- and in the end, I still didn't quite grasp it all, but I put what I didn't get aside.

Cimby (Cymbeline) is a rare breed -- she's an Incendiary, aka the 'bogeyman'. However, even in this paranormal world she is seen as a myth. The only people who know of her kinds existence are Alphars and their close staff. Cimby is even rarer in that she's female, and a tiny one at that. She does, though, pack quite the punch -- something Kerrick's guards learn quickly.

When Kerrick took over the duties of Alphar, the previous Alphar didn't tell him of the existence of Incendiaries. Therefore, when Cimby calls again and again, wanting to get answers as to why her assignments have been fairly lackluster, he and his people take her for a crazy person. After all, there's no such thing as the 'bogeyman'.

Kerrick eventually learns that Incendiaries do exist, though, and the question becomes, why wasn't he ever informed? Even when he was the second in command for the previous Alphar, he should have known. But the greater question becomes --

How can he get Cimby to listen to her inner beast, because beyond the fact he and Cimby must work together, their beasts have recognized one another as their mate.

As an Incendiary, though, Cimby has been taught to keep all emotion locked down; love is not in her cards. She needs to learn how to separate the two and allow herself to be happy, but continue doing the job she loves.

The romance aspect of the story and the easily understood aspects of the paranormal story were well written. I loved watching Kerrick trying to battle Cimby's walls, and watching Cimby try to ignore her inner beast -- something her wolf fought against. I enjoyed the emotion -- the love, the fear, the anger. Every part of it. I loved Kerrick and his alpha tendencies, and his need to keep Cimby safe -- regardless of her ability to do just that.

Altogether, I enjoyed the book.

{ giveaway } .

IndieSage PR

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