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New Release Review: DESCENT by Tara Fuller (Inbetween #3)

Easton’s book! At last!

Descent
by Tara A. Fuller

Blurb:

Easton doesn’t believe in love. He believes in Death. Darkness. Sin. As a reaper for Hell, it’s all he’s known for over four hundred years. When he gets slapped with the job of training the boss’s daughter, an angel who knows nothing but joy, he knows he’s in for a world of trouble.

Though he’s made it clear he wants nothing to do with her outside of work, Gwen would do anything to get closer to the dark and wounded reaper—even taint her angelic image and join the ranks of her father’s team of reapers. But in all her planning, she forgot to factor in one thing—how far the demons Easton doomed to hell would go to get revenge.

When the dangers of the Hell threaten Gwen, Easton will do whatever it takes to save her. But as the darkness closes in on them both, will he be able to save himself?

Review:

It’s felt like ages since I’d read the first two books in the series (Inbetween and Blurred)–really, not quite two years–and as I read the long-awaited third book, I found myself wishing I’d had time to re-read the first two first. Not because I needed their details in my mind to enjoy or understand Descent–it absolutely worked fine as a standalone; Finn and Emma and Cash and Anya are mentioned a few times and make brief appearances toward/at the end–but just because I wanted their stories and them fresher in my mind as I read. I remembered loving Easton in those books, but couldn’t remember the details.

Too many books under the bridge, I guess.

It didn’t keep me from loving him again here, or from enjoying his story–I just wanted to remember more from before for me. Which I guess makes my point become that this works fine on its own, but if you’re going to read the series anyway, do it all at once or at least with less than two years Inbetween titles. (See what I did there?)

Easton’s story literally drags the reader to hell and back–he’s a reaper for hell. He’s jaded. He’s breaking in a new partner, and he’s less than thrilled about it. He’s still missing his best friend (Inbetween‘s Finn) and now he’s feeling a degree of resentment, having to do much of Anya’s (Blurred) job as well.

Not to mention he’s dealing with a tad bit of jealousy.

Not that he acknowledges it, really. Or that he believes he deserves even a sliver of the happiness that his friend(s) and former co-workers have. He’s firmly in the Easton-has-made-his-horrible-bed-and-now-he’s-going-to-lie-in-it-for-another-470 something-years-plus camp.

Until he meets Gwen.

She’s an angel. She’s a do-gooder. She’s the boss’s (Balthazar’s) daughter. She somehow inspires him to make a promise–which he never does–and when his partner accidentally delivers a soul that Gwen’s been working with to the wrong final destination, he becomes saddled with the pain-in-the-butt, too-gorgeous-for-her-own-good and definitely too-good-for-the-likes-of-him angel as a temporary “recruit”.

Really, her father expects Easton to keep Gwen in one piece while giving her a brief taste of hell that will quickly scare her back to her safe existence of (literal) rainbows and (not-so-literal, sadly) sparkly unicorns.

What Balthazar doesn’t expect is Gwen’s determination to save the lost soul. What Easton doesn’t expect is her ability to blackmail him into helping her do it. Or the amazing strength she’ll show as they descend into the pits of hell and back.

Or how much he’ll come to love her in the process.

Because Gwen’s the first person to see the essential core of goodness that the readers suspected Easton had all along…and it draws her to him like a moth to flame. Or an angel to shimmery light, as it were.

Their journey will keep you on the edge of your seat, and what you’ll learn about Easton’s past will make your heart hurt just a bit. He’ll have to confront a (again, literal) demon from his past, and, even worse, his boss after realizing that he’d fallen in love with his only daughter.

That confrontation with Balthazar? So. Good.

Everything wraps up nicely–and rather quickly–in the end, but given the wretchedness of Easton’s first almost-five-hundred years and all the hellish scenes the two had already gone through up to that point, it was a relief to finally have everything settled. A nice and tidy HEA was definitely deserved by both.

And, yay! An HEA for Easton–at last!

Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A-

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

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