To Love a God
Lily of the Valley Book 1
by Evie Kent
An offering.
A sacrifice to a caged god, to the Norse trickster.
Loki.
Trapped in a cave for the sins of his past, he waits for the end of days. Modern worshippers curry favor with gifts and trinkets, spilled blood—and women like me.
Women who resemble his long-dead wife. We all have that look, you see. I’m supposed to be flattered that I remind him of a goddess in an age gone by.
Screw that.
I’m furious.
The ones who came before me were sweet, docile, compliant—just like her. But I’m not sweet. I’m not docile, and I will never be compliant.
I am resilient. I am determined.
I am—not—drawn to him.
I will survive this.
I will survive him.
My name is Nora Olsen, and I will not die here.
To Love a God is a full-length standalone dark paranormal romance novel set in the Lily of the Valley universe. Each book in the series can be read on its own, but characters will occasionally pop up in other stories. No cliffhangers. Always a happy ending—because even villains deserve a happily-ever-after.
Momma Says: 5 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
If you've ever rooted for the villain, To Love a God should be right up your alley. It technically falls under dark romance, but to me, it's more that it has some dark themes. So, most of it is really more dark adjacent in my opinion, but darkness in a story is kind of a personal thing. Each person is different in what they are and are not comfortable with. Either way, this one is masterfully done and hard to put down.
Now, I'll admit that I was a bit leery of this story due to the whole kidnapping thing. All too often, that trope ends up leading to Stockholm syndrome, not love, and it's kind of a pet peeve for me. But I do love everything I've read under this author's various pen names, so I dove in and hoped for the best. And I didn't come up for air until I'd turned the last page! Nora is kidnapped and held against her will, but Evie Kent does it all in a way that it didn't matter. In fact, I absolutely adored the trickster god here, and if Nora hadn't fallen so hard, I'm pretty sure I would've volunteered as tribute. (C'mon, one can dream).
In today's world, it's darn near impossible not to know who Loki is. If you aren't familiar with Norse mythology, then most of us have seen him in an Avenger's movie or two. I have to say that this version of him may very well be my favorite. He's such a tortured soul, but he's got a healthy dose of arrogance to go with that, so your heart breaks for him one minute and you want to smack him the next. Luckily, the author paints a pretty awesome heroine to keep up with Loki even though Nora certainly has her hands full.
The story does have a couple of time jumps, but the transitions are pretty smooth overall, and it was impossible to read this one without rooting for this couple's happy ever after. It's got a fair amount of angst, but that is tempered wonderfully with wit and some terrific banter as Nora goes from the victim to the heroine determined to save her man, or god as the case may be. What it all boils down to is Evie Kent is on the scene and after this wild ride, I expect great nothing but greatness.
No comments:
Post a Comment