ARC Review: Embrace of the Damned by Anya Bast

Embrace of the Damned

by Anya Bast

(Brotherhood of the Damned # 1)

The premise of this series is very interesting.  There are some aspects that I found extremely original and can't wait to see more of this world develop.  As the first book in the series there was a bit of explaining things but it wasn't overwhelming to the point that it interfered with my enjoyment of the book. 

"I want to fuck you, Jessa. I want a night of pure, down and dirty sex with you. I want to make you come over and over." He took a shuddering, shaky breath. "I want to hear you scream my name at the top of your lungs. Now you know what I'm thinking about."

So let me explain why he seems to be coming on a bit too strong.  Broder has been an immortal for a century and he has been part of the Brotherhood for that long.  They are warriors that pretty much belong to Loki, a temperamental God who made them all immortal because they had committed some pretty bad crimes.  Loki cursed Broder to not be able to have sex with anyone until the one woman that was for him came on the 1000 anniversary of his mortal death.  And the day has come and his "chastity belt" has come off.

Jessamine was in theory everything he could ever hope for to get as his mate.  Except that she got on my very last nerve!  Not so much her personality but her hot and cold attitude towards Broder.  She was just a bit TOO MUCH of a "cock-tease" to the point that I just wanted to slap her sometimes.  Either you want him now or you want to wait, but quit doing this to him!!

Broder has a secret in his past and it has to do with Jessamine too.  Now that he found her he will have to protect her.  See she is actually a sort of powerful witch who doesn't know anything about her own powers.  Her true family wants her back, the bad guys want her out of the picture.  And she will have to trust Broder, a complete stranger, to protect her.

My favorite part of this world was the bad guys.  Some sort of blood drinkers that when killed shatter into shards of ice.  Hell is frozen not hot, ice not fire.  I thought that concept was very cool.  And the Brotherhood members are made immortal by having that ice embedded in their heart.  I'm intrigued to see what's to come in the series.

*ARC provided by publisher