Think the cover’s great? The story’s even better! 🙂
Love Me to Death
by Marissa Clarke
(Underveil #1)
Published by: Entangled: Select
Publication date: October 28th 2014
Genres: Adult, Paranormal Romance
Synopsis:
What you want the most just might kill you…
Medical research scientist Elena Arcos has always lived her life under the radar. When she is shot in a convenience store robbery, Elena finds herself rocketed into supernatural insanity courtesy of a sexy immortal law enforcer. He’s convinced she’s some kind of freaky half-vampire thing and that her deceased dad was the real deal: a blood sucking monster. Yeah, right.
Nikolai Itzov never anticipated battling the urge to kiss the offspring of his father’s murderer. As a Slayer, an elite law enforcer descended from Azrael himself, his orders from the Underveil General are clear: Kill her or die.
Nikolai and Elena find themselves in a life and death battle to stop a plot designed to lift the Underveil and enslave humans. With her analytical mind and his centuries of training, they might be able to foil the plot with their lives and maybe their hearts intact. But in order to succeed, he must help her become the very thing he hates the most: an Undead.
“A fascinating new world! Enter with caution. You’ll never want to leave!” –Kerrelyn Sparks, New York Times bestselling author
Review:
Welcome to the Underveil, the freaking gateway to hell.
Such a fun read!
The world Marissa Clarke has created here is compelling–all kinds of supernaturals are (usually) hidden from the human world by being “under the veil”, though of course the things that they do there can have lasting implications on the human world beyond. Elena Arcos had no idea she was potentially anything other than human until she is shot and killed (or is she?) in a convenience store holdup one evening.
Apparently chocolate cravings can pose a health hazard.
Darn it.
Soon Elena is drawn into a world that is unlike anything she’s known before–and her “guide” along the way is an infuriatingly overbearing yet compellingly attractive man who–by the way–wants to kill her. Except he doesn’t. Yes, he does. No, he doesn’t. Yes…well, never mind that for the moment. And it turns out she might be something called a Uniter…whatever the hack that is.
Elena finds out that her father isn’t who–or what–she thought he was, and that her crazy cat lady “aunt” is something else entirely. She has to rethink everything she thought she knew about herself and her world, and if one more person tells her to “make wise choices” or to “stop thinking like a human” she just might scream…
Ms. Clarke has peopled (can we use that term when they’re not human? I mean no offense, beings of the Underveil) her world with a lot of great characters. Elena and Nikolai are of course the heroes in this book, and fantastic characters. Being human, it’s of course easiest to see things Elena’s way at first and view Nik as overbearing and brutish. When she–and we–come to see things his way, though, his behavior makes sense (plus, he starts to see when he’s being an ass, which helps) and you really can’t blame her for falling so hard for him. With help from other well-drawn characters–Stefan, a Time Folder; Alexsandra and Tatiana, Slayers; Aunt Uza; and Vlad, a vampire, among them–they race against time and visions of a possible future to try and save the world from Nik’s evil uncle. It’s very Hamlet-ish, with supernatural creatures and steamy scenes added in and minus all of that annoying navel-gazing along the way. 🙂
With all of the action and drama here, the pages just flew by–this 400-page book seemed to take less time to read then the 110-page novella I read earlier in the week, and it made me laugh (in a good way) far more times. The absolutely perfect-for-each-situation songs Elena hums/sings to hide her thoughts from the creatures that can hear them (like “You’re So Vain” when a gorgeous but autocratic and arrogant vamp hears her think about how hot but annoying he is) were too funny.
And the chemistry between Elena and Nik–once they get over their species bias–is off the charts.
I seriously cannot wait to read more from this series. Stefan definitely has quite a story going on behind the scenes here, and Aleksi said “too bad he’s a vamp” about Vlad a few times too many not to raise suspicions.
Write fast, Ms. Clarke–please! 🙂
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
And another one for the wish list!