Darkness Rising by Katie ReusDarkness Rising Series: Darkness #9
on June 4, 2019
Pages: 251
Format: eBook
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From USA Today bestselling author Katie Reus comes the final story in the sensual, pulse-pounding Darkness series…

When a bringer of death…

Awakened after millennia, dragon warrior Reaper is ready to fulfill his destiny…until he sees Greer. With one glimpse, everything Reaper has ever known throughout his very long life is irrevocably changed. Greer’s his mate, he feels it in his blood, in his soul—but convincing her is another matter. The dragon clan healer finds him obnoxious and annoying, but he knows a woman’s interest when he smells it. And Greer smells like one word: mine.

Meets a giver of life…

Greer has spent hundreds of years using her healing abilities for the good of others, making her the polar opposite of Reaper. The ferocious war general may be an ancient, but his arrogance proves he hasn’t spent any of that time learning about women. Greer is displeased when her Alpha sends her to New Orleans with the insufferable warrior—then she sees him in action against a menace threatening to tear the city apart. Fierce, protective, magnificent…mate-worthy. Except he’s hiding something from her. Something dark and devastating that could destroy their newly forged bond. Maybe opposites do attract, but if they want to live long enough to find out, they’ll first have to save the world teetering on the brink of obliteration.

Length: NOVEL
Author note: This is the final book in the Darkness series and can be read as a stand-alone.

I’ve really enjoyed this series, and I was kind of bummed to see this is the last book in the series…until I read the author’s note at the end. This may be the last book in the Darkness series, but it looks like there will be a spin-off series set in the same world with some familiar faces, but with many new faces too. I’m so freaking excited!

This book begins with Greer enjoying a day in the snow alone and relaxing when out of the blue the earth tremors and a giant dragon emerges from beneath. Luckily Greer is also a dragon so she’s not as freaked out as say, I might be.

She bops him on his nose for his bad manners (which I loved), and he shifts to human form. But when he speaks, his language is so old, that Greer doesn’t understand it.

Greer’s no youngling at 1500 years old or so, but Reaper is ancient. Literally. He’s woken up from his very long Hibernation because his instincts are telling him war is coming. Blood, fire, war. He’s ready. But he’s not ready for Greer.

Reaper is a dragon of war. Not just a warrior, but like, the dragon of war. It’s his name. Greer is a healer, and the last time she dated a warrior, it didn’t work out for her. He tried controlling her, and she’s figured she needs some gentle guy. Reaper has always been with warriors as well, never once looking at a healer as a bed mate, let alone, his one mate. But he’s never met anyone like Greer before.

I think Greer tried to hold out against recognizing Reaper as someone she could be with just because of the chip on her shoulder about arrogant warriors, however, I liked her a lot, and her personality worked for me. Reaper was a big bad alpha male who tried everything he could to figure Greer out. A confused Reaper was a cute Reaper. The two of them worked well together both as mates and as partners. I was really invested in their relationship.

I enjoyed the plot, and the action, which never overshadowed the romance. This author is very good at balancing the action and the romance without sacrificing plot for romance, or romance for plot. I will say I was very surprised at the direction this book took the series, but not in a bad way. I am excited to see what happens in the world Ms. Reus has created, and I can’t wait to discover what she’ll do next.

***ARC courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

five-stars