You know how sometimes when an author decides to continue on with a series, or to make a cross-over and they then force old characters in just to give us a glimpse of them? This wasn’t that. This was a seamless blend and I found it easy to slip back into the Atlantis world Ms. Day has created.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this new series since the past couple novellas and the Cardinal Witches series have been so different from the Warriors of Poseidon. I was really happy to see she recaptured the magic of what I loved about the original series!
The beginning flows and feels organic to the series. I love seeing the familiar faces of Conlan, Alaric, and Denal, and I love how easy it was to slide back into the world, instead of just plopping back in and feeling awkward and unsure.
Flynn is a devil-may-care kind of guy who’s been gone from Atlantis since he left home as a teenager. His father was abusive, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He left his two younger brothers there, though, and even though his dad never laid a hand on them, he still has that guilt, that intense guilt that he left them there. His brothers are Dare and Liam from the past two novellas, Halloween in Atlantis and Christmas in Atlantis.
From the moment he stepped foot on Atlantis, nothing goes right. Before he knows it, he’s in a fight with Denal, one of the King’s Seven. There’s a scene with a woman named Sunny who I want to know more about, but I know I’ll have to wait, since I’m 100% that wasn’t random. And before Flynn can blink, he’s been drafted into Denal’s Dozen, the next group of elite fighters.
But this dozen is only three men so far, and they’ve been tasked with finding a dark magic practicing motorcycle gang whose leader may be an actual demon. This group is taking teen girls, and they need to stop them. For Flynn, this quickly becomes personal.
Eva is hiding from her ex in a small town. She’s tending bar and saving enough money to run again. Her ex was the bad boy her family warned her about, but she didn’t listen. And he quickly turned to dark magic. She’s been running from him for a long time and she’s exhausted. She likes the new town she’s in, and she likes volunteering at the animal shelter. She has a hint of magic, or a small gift that allows her to communicate with animals. But at the bar that night, everything changes. Flynn walks in, and moments later, so does her ex’s right hand flunky.
She and Flynn have an instant connection, and that’s the only reason she’s able to trust her instincts enough to let him help her. He swears to protect her, but she knows her ex is too powerful and Flynn won’t be able to help her, but maybe he can save all the girls who’ve been taken. And I would like to say that it was refreshing to see a heroine who is asked to be bait but doesn’t want to do it. Seriously. How often is the heroine super brave and noble? I’m not saying that it’s bad, but it was nice to see someone who didn’t want to be bait.
The ending feels rushed, not because the book is short, but because the pacing changed. It’s a novella, and I’m a huge fan of insta-lust and fated mates, so that doesn’t bother me. I just felt like the climax hit, and then suddenly the book was over. It was really quick. That being said, I enjoyed the story and I’m really thrilled that the new cross-over series fits right in to the original one.
***ARC courtesy of the author
