Name: City of Gods and Monsters
Series: House of Devils #1
Author: Kayla Edwards
Publisher: Self Published
Format: Kindle (through Kindle Unlimited)
Genres: New Adult, Urban Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
Noted Tropes: Touch her and Die, Bodyguard, Found Family, Slow-Burn
Spice Rating: Explicit Open Door 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
Welcome to the city of Angelthene. We hope you survive.
Loren Calla has only ever been ordinary. As a human struggling to survive in a city that caters to the needs of vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures, she always assumed her life would remain simple, predictable, and as safe as her world would allow.
Until she barely escapes abduction at the hands of Darkslayers—supernatural bounty hunters that possess the Sight, a magical tracking ability that allows them to see a person’s aura—and one of her friends is taken in her place. The abductors are demanding a ransom: Loren’s life in exchange for her friend’s safe return. Loren will do whatever it takes to get her friend back—even if it means accepting help from Darien Cassel, the leader of the Seven Devils, the most feared Darkslaying circle in the city.
Darien specializes in tracking down demons and criminals that are better off dead than alive, so when he takes a job to track down Loren and finds out she is human—and couldn’t hurt a fly if her life depended on it—he decides to protect her instead of turn her in for a reward. As much as Loren doesn’t want to admit it, Darien is her best and only chance at finding her friend alive, if she can somehow manage to get along with him—and not fall head-over-heels in love with him in the process, which is far easier said than done.
When more women start disappearing, and some of them slowly turn up dead, Loren and Darien’s search for answers takes them deep into Angelthene’s corrupt underbelly, where they discover a dark secret that threatens to unravel their world. And when tragedy strikes, Loren learns that love can make an ordinary person do extraordinary things.
Review:
Miss Kayla Edwards (or Mrs), I fear I am obsessed with this world and the characters you’ve created. I have been dying to read City of Gods and Monsters for a while, but because of the size of it it kept falling by the wayside. And the second half of May, I was all about reading books that I could love to get me back into reading after being in a slump due to the family situation… and I decided fuck it! Now was the time for City of Gods and Monsters!
I had a great time. I really like both our FMC and MMC, and the found family made me so happy. Loren (Lo-ren, not Lauren!) was just SO human, she had flaws and was exactly what she needed to be. In a world where there are more paranormal creatures than human, she’s totally and unapologetically human. And I loved that. Loren is a softer FMC who is flung into a situation less than ideal when her best friend is taken and she realises that actually they may have been after her. That’s terrifying! More so when again, you’re human with no powers and no real way of protecting yourself.
That’s where our Darkslayer MMC comes in. Darien Cassel is essentially a magical bounty hunter. He’s given a job (find someone, kill someone etc) and he completes the task. However when he finds Loren and realises that others are after her and she’s oddly human, he ends up protecting her and trying to help her figure out what the hell is going on. The banter betweeen these two was on point. I loved their relationship right from the damn start. And the slow-burn between them? The pay off was worth it – it was totally worth it. Not to mention we get some scumptious touch her and die moments that own my heart. Darien Cassel… I just love him. I mean look at this quote and tell me you’re not immediately wanting more?
“Relax, Loren. I’m only teasing you. I promise I won’t bite—unless, of course, you want me to.”
And if there relationship wasn’t enough, there is a found family too! If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for a found family – and to have found one that I think has some damn good potential to be awesome as the series goes on… Ooooo boy, am I excited for this! Ivy, Max and Dallas won me over very quickly. By the end of the book, the found family, I’m convinced, has grown again. But they’ll take a bit more to grow on me the way the other three did!
So we’ve got great characters, with relationships that had me on board from the word go. What about the plot? I’ve heard a lot about this being very similar to another very popular romantasy series, but I haven’t read it so I don’t know. What I will say is I loved it. I liked our main story a lot and by the end I’m still not entirely sure I understand fully what the situation is (I can’t wait for book 2). I also liked the romance – but of course this is a romatasy so you know everything isn’t straight forward – so be prepared to be mad at our main characters 😂
Ultimately, this may be a chunky book, but it never felt like a slog to read it. I’m quite happy to admit that whatever drug is within these pages was aimed at people like me. The pacing is great. The characters are brilliant and their relationships with each other are too. The story itself works for me. And I loved the setting. Personally, I think I’ll end up recommending the crap out of this book because I love our Darien Cassel with his traumatic past and I love our sweet and soft Loren Calla. I’m here for it, and I absolutely think more people should read it.
“You are the kindest thing that has ever happened to me. You are…you are my home. And I think it’s safe to say that my life would be a whole lot darker without you in it. You light up my life, Loren Calla.”
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