Dark Devotion

Fatefully Yours #1

by Gabrielle Evans

[Siren LoveXtreme Forever ManLove: Erotic Alternative Fantasy Ménage Romance, M/M/M/M/M/M/M/M, demons]

Hex and his six demon warriors escaped the depths of Tartarus under Hades's watchful eye to live among the mortals in the Top World. The Oracle has prophesized an epic battle to come—a war between good and evil that will test the warriors as never before.

When Echo arrives on their doorstep, cold, naked, and hungry, they immediately realize he is their mate, and the prophesized “heart” that beats between them. Echo may be the ultimate weapon in the war, but he’s also a spitfire, and he instantly turns their world upside down.

If fighting an angry god weren’t enough, the warriors learn Echo has escaped from a secret lab hidden away in the mountains, and it isn’t long before trouble comes looking for them. Can the demons keep their new mate safe when it seems the entire world—and the Underworld—is against them?

Genres: M M Romance, Paranormal, Menage, Demons, Fantasy, Gay, Romance

145 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 13, 2011

About the author

Gabrielle Evans grew up in a small town in southern Oklahoma. We’re talking one red light that may or may not work depending on the day of the week. She married her high school sweetheart and the rest is pretty much history. They have two very active boys and one high-strung wiener dog that keeps her constantly on the go. For now, Gabrielle parks her car in north-central Texas, but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Come chat with me on my new Yahoo Group!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gabriel...

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

(1)erotic romance author

Reviews

[Serena Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is somewhat of a challenge (I mean - 8 men in a relationship - really???), and will not be for everyone, but I must admit I really liked it. What fascinated me was the concept of having a group of demons escape Hell (and yes, the mythology behind it was somewhat abused to make the story fit), then being threatened with having to go back.

The fact that they even have their own ideas, have developed the beginnings of a conscience, is interesting. It is almost as if free will had suddenly beset the creatures of the underworld - and Satan (or whoever is in charge) doesn't like it. This is an interesting contrast to Heaven, where God (supposedly) instilled free will into humans in the first place. The thought experiment of what happens when this idea takes root in Hell does have my interest.

We don't find out too much about how they will have to defend themselves in this first book. Most of it is taken up with introducing the characters - all 8 of them -, giving us some of the backstory and a taste for what is about to happen. It is clear that Echo will play a key role and I liked watching how he comes into the demons' life and begins to make a difference. The 'bonding' between them felt like it was only a first step, more like a minimum requirement that is purely physical at this point. I am hoping for it to grow into something deeper and more meaningful as we move along.

I definitely look forward to the rest of the series!

[P · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

It didn't bother me as I thought about this book that went through eight persons' relationship.
The seven demons escaped from Tartarus and heard about a prophecy. Then they met a guy who didn't even known his name , so they named the new guy as Echo.
I loved this writing style from her other books, the story didn't confuse me though. From my experience with this kind of story going around the ménage, this one didn't mess up and mostly emphasize at Echo.
Even though,I didn't like some Echo's behaviors. He freaked out, he also had a temper and he ran from the problems. But I did enjoy this book.

[Fadia Pierre · Rating 2 out of 5]

for most people its the seven lovers to one male that's an issue. For me it's echo's temperment. I could admit at first I wass skeptical on how this series would work out. As I read I understood, I quickly liked the demons and all of the other characters which were added. Heck I even like the antagonist. With Echo I find him to be really bitchie, manipulative and demanding and self centered. According to most paranormal books I understand the mate bond and the need to assert yourself in the relationship. I dont see any reason for him to act adverse in thinking someone who is brutally hurt would want to go after his mate. When someone is hurt and you find sanctuary you feel a sense of relief and want a grasp of setting your reality in that sanctuary after being terrorized and brutalized. Not with Echo he goes into these Jealous fits and lashes out when he meets people that are in this situation. I mean this is the same person who himself was in the same situation and needed saving.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have zero problem admitting that the initial appeal for me of this book and series was SEVEN warriors and ONE bratty bottom! I mean, hello!! EIGHT men having sex!! I couldn't even really wrap my brain around that many body parts in a sexual situation together.

But I was sure willing to try!

This introduction book of the series was done really well. It began to explore each of the men and their mate, along with the background stories and what their future held in store for them. It didn't try to answer and explain everything right off the bat, which was good because that might have ruined it for me!

The best part, outside of steamy hot sex of course, was the interaction between these demon warriors and Echo. He had no problem throwing temper tantrums or putting them in their place and I thought he was adorable!

I am definitely looking forward to the next story!

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book out of pure curiosity.

I wanted to know - could this author pull off a book with 8 guys in it.

Or more specifically 7 kind of demons and 1 psychic human.

short answer......Yes !

Long answer..........Hell yes !!

I recently read a m/m where the main characters names were so similar I kept getting them mixed up. I was expecting this to happen because of the amount of guys. But the author somehow cleverly creates each character as a complete individual.

The sex is hot but not unrealistic (not all 8 at once) the sharing between the other men is already set up and the connection between the demons is awesome. I loved reading about them. I never got confused about who was touching who.

I smiled, I grinned, I adored the sex scenes.

However there was a few negatives

I sometimes found Echo mildly cliche with him being just a little bit too perfect and cutesy - I would have preferred a few flaws. ( but this was just a mild annoyance at the back of my mind). I just let it go and enjoyed myself.

There was one major flaw that lost this book its 5th star. The end fight scene was soooooo cliche - you know how you want to scream at the tv when you are watching scream or some horror movie and the damsel in distress hears a noise outside, in the dark, while all alone ---- so she walks out into the dark and says Hello... *forehead slam* - Well the final fight is just soooo stupid and really let the book down

BUT

that is a 8 page mistake that I chose to forgot in favor of 130 enjoyable pages.

So thats my long answer........ I enjoyed this m/m/m/m/m/m/m/m more then some of the m/m and m/m/m i have read lately.

HUGE congratulations to the author...this would not have been an easy book to write

[Pia]

What?? Nothing's been resolved. Not the lab. Not the solstice war warning. Not love/relationship/feelings. The only thing they accomplished was a lot of lust fulfillment.

Okay, okay, the story outside of the menage-plus was interesting between the escape from Hades and the escape from the lab. I will probably keep reading to see what happens with that stuff.

But, damn, I knew it was a series going in, and some plot lines need to continue throughout, but I felt like a longer story was just cut randomly to set the place for the next installment.

Anyway, basic review stuff. The MC was a runt and the demons gigantic. I get it. I felt beat over the head with the physical differences, and those differences made the MC seem like a kid playing with adults at times. Ew. By the end I was rolling my eyes at the goofy kid behavior among the men. Yes, they're happy together, but the silliness didn't do anything for character development or plot progression after the first couple of scenes of it. Also, Echo's personality didn't fit his history. Stuck in a lab all his life, held against his will, he shouldn't be so bold and demanding no matter how safe he felt in that house. It just didn't ring true. If that came out little by little as he grew more comfortable and let go of the past, then I'd be more accepting of it.

Honestly, this is sounding like a lot of griping, but overall, I did get drawn into the story, finding it difficult to put down, and that is the most important factor for me. I couldn't take the characters too seriously, but the lab and the prophecy have me curious to read more of the series.

So win, even if an imperfect one.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two thousand years ago, Hex and his lovers escaped Tartarus; they have no intentions of ever going back. The oracle predicts the gates of Tartarus will open and release evil on the world. Hex and his lovers must stand together and fight the evil. The oracle tells them their gifts must be united and sealed. The “heart” which beats between them will bring their salvation, and bring them together. Hex has no clue who their “heart” is.

Echo, a man with no memory, comes to Hex and his mates bruised and naked in the middle of the night. He escaped the lab where he grew up and Hex realizes that Echo is their “heart”, the mate they have to save from those trying to kill him if they want to save the world from the coming evil.

Dark Devotion by Gabrielle Evans is the first book in the Fatefully Yours series, a very different kind of paranormal romance. This book has demons working for the side of good. They have to be centered with their “heart” before they can fully achieve their powers. Echo is their heart. In this story you get a really good beginning on what is to come. This story provides a lot of the critical ground work we will need in the coming stories. It’s kind of an appetizer, I want to know more, and didn’t feel over whelmed by the amount of men in this book. Which really shocked me, you’d think a book with seven men would be a little too much, but the artful way Ms Evans writes, didn’t make it overwhelming. The story is well thought out and I really appreciated that. I really look forward to reading more of this series and discovering where it takes me. I look forward to seeing where this ride takes me in the future.

[Tina Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable book

I liked this book. It's a little short, but as it's part of a continuing series at least I know there will be more. I like Echo, how he fiery and not the passive mate that often comes with being the mate to a bunch of men. Demons being kind and thoughtful is an interesting twist. There are a lot of characters, the demons, that you are introduced to all at once and it is taking some time for me to really tell the differences in their characteristics. But they become more concrete and individual toward the end. Hex is the most known from the beginning as he is the leader. There is some excitement and threat to Echo, which I like, and a incoming battle that they all have to prepare for. I like the anticipation.

[Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in no hurry to read this, because I was doubtful that eight men could love each other, and frankly, it seemed perverted. However, I read it because Gabrielle Evans is one of my favorite authors. I am so glad I did. Dark Devotion has great characters and even though they're not very developed, they really get better further into the series. The Greek mythology in this series is well researched and very informative, however; if you know nothing about Greek mythology, you may want to make a link to Wikipedia.

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book. I was sure how it would all play out with 8 men (I mean really, talk about a train), but it didn't turn out to be anything like that. I was pleasantly surprised. I look forward to the rest of the series.

[Tj · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good starter read. I wasn't hooked like I had hope but still enjoyed the story. I'm looking forward to learning more about the whole group.

[llv · Rating 5 out of 5]

rating: 5 stars

[Kimchi Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, when reading this book/series the only thing I could think of was how much the writing style reminded me of my teenage self and those awful fanfictions I wrote. It's just the way the characters would speak, interact with each other, their thoughts, their actions, just everything. It all just seemed too, I don't quite know how to describe it, fake? Unrealistic? There was just something off. Many times the author would also state, what should have been portrayed, directly rather than build the readers up to it as if it would not be possible for us to figure it out ourselves. Such as character aspects. There was one scene that really bothered me, I could not tell if she was using it as a chance to tell us about the character or simply state how the character had been acting so far, but she had the main character scold one of the others for being too controlling all the time when up to that very scene there had never been a single instance of that character being too controlling. If she had been trying to directly state that the character was controlling, it would have been a lot more natural to have someone state earlier in the book that he was controlling rather than have someone scolding him for being controlling as it wouldn't make sense, especially in the way she had chosen to write the scene. I have a lot of grievances when it comes to this book and the way it was written. Oddly enough I managed to push past it and enjoyed the little story that was there. Not gonna lie, there is a loooot of sex in this series. Like, a lot. So much so that I actually skip a some of them just to move on with the story. Don't get me wrong, they are enjoyable to read. There are just soooo many of them. I believe this has to do more with my own preference rather than any cons that have to do with the book so I will leave it at that, but those who enjoy sex>storyline will enjoy this series. A lot of the way she phrases or describes things though have me going "That is such a weird image." not because they're weird kinky scenes but she phrases things really awkwardly with odd word choices.

[Shawn Cha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was this proof read?

Honestly the book covers art is beautiful and is what drew me in. Now as I read the book I am a little disappointed. We read through multiple POV but it would be nice to have the name of each person at the beginning of the chapter so we’re not confused at times.
Each characters were a little vague and while I love the whole 7 deadly sins I just felt like there were favorites and some who just floated through the book. But I mean if there is 9 books on this I sorely hope there would be more character depth in the story to truly bring it all together. Cause echo really annoys me.

[Yomi Mi Ri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Algunas cosas son demasiada casualidad, como que es bastante introductorio a la guerra que les han vaticinado. Eso sí, me agrada la relación de todos, cada uno aporta algo distinto en la familia, aunque hay preferencia a Echo, no me molesta tanto porque se ve la relación de los demás.

[Jassy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh gods this is terrible. And I loved it. I mean I obviously loved it because I was grinning like a moron while reading it to the point my face hurt.
I'm not exactly into poly stuff, but these 8 guys really make it work. Or rather, the author made it work, somehow.

[Theresa]

Per reviews, Echo is high maintenance, bitchy, and manipulative.

[May · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little confusing. Hot as fuck. Not a lot of plot and the guys were confusing me because there were so many of them. I liked that each of the guys had a power. Honestly this book was so short that I barely got into it. It maybe should be 2 stars but did I mention hot as fuck???

[Swag · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how to feel about this. The story/world was interesting, but I just can't get my head around 8 guys together!

[Andre]

I love how this story is told. Seriously erotic , the characters have interesting personalities and foibles.

Let's see where this journey takes me.

[Book Gremlin Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

~May have slight spoilers.~

I really enjoyed this first book in the Fatefully Yours series. I won it and the second novel Upon Crimson Waters in a contest from the author at Redz World.

In this novel we meet Hex, and his six lovers and warriors that escaped from Tartarus a thousand years ago. Now the Oracle has prophesized a great war that is coming to them, and if they should fail they will be sent back to Hades, the god from which they escaped.

Then we get the entrance of their "Heart"-- as the blurb says-- Echo, who arrives at their door in poor condition but immediately they all feel an attraction for him. But soon they learn that Echo escaped from a secret lab and the people who were holding him wont give him up that easily.

As I said before I really enjoyed this novel it was a pretty fast read and we get a our information about the warriors and Echo in pretty straight order, which is always nice as some of the first books in series can be quite confusing with all the information that is being given out.

I really loved all of the guys-- I really didn't know how eight men would work a relationship at first so I didn't know what to think going in. Except that it might just be basically sex. But it wasn't the author really surprised me by making it so though there is sex you can really see that they all care for each other and have a relationship that works for them.

The only thing that I didn't really like was that Echo, when the stuff was going down near the end didn't try to help the other guy out. I could see why he would feel betrayed but still, the guy had to survive somehow.

This is only my second book by this author, but so far from her work I believe that Gabrielle Evans is an amazingly good author and I look forward to more works by her.

I would recommend this book to Gabrielle Evans fans as well as anyone looking for a good m/m paranormal romance.

[Corazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read this book, because I was curious about how the author is writing about a ménage à huit… eight men have sex and a relationship with each other…

After the read I think the author did really well. The sex scenes are very appealing and I enjoyed the book. She described the sex graphic, very hot, passionate…

I love the demons and look forward to read more about them in the following books.
Therefore I must say that I would have liked to see more of them in their demon form. There is a little bit of growling, a great possessiveness about their mate and each other, but they appear more human than demon. That is – imo – insufficient. If it’s a book about demons, I wanna read and see demons. I hope, I see in the next one more of their demon side and form.

Gabrielle Evans created very interesting characters. In this book you get just glimpses of the demon’s personalities, but you could say at the end that they are quite unusually and have the potential for an amazing read.

But there is one person I don’t like. Sorry author, but Echo isn’t my favorite person in the "Fatefully Yours" series. At least until now…

About the fighting scenes… I’ve read other books of Gabrielle Evans and I know she could do so much better. Therefore I wait with my opinion about the fighting scenes when I’ve read the next books in the series.

I think "Dark Devotion" is a good start for the series. It has depths, humor and hot sex in it. The plot is interesting and has the potential for a really good series.
4 stars.

[adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

typical gabrielle evans serial romance. nothing fantastic, nothing so bad it can't be finished. what is typical gabrielle evans? imagine a shorter harlequin romance but with no t&a (see, i was going to write no surprise pregnancies, but... yeah.).

out of sheer laziness, i will be using this as my template for all books by :
sunny day
lynn hagen
stormy glenn
scarlett hyacinth
carol lynne
gabrielle evans

unless otherwise noted. i'd apologize, but i'm not sorry. i figure it's about as much time as they put into their books. dammit! well, i made it all the way to the end being rather moderate in my assessment. that's a win.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid 2.5 stars for me.

The polyamorous relationship is well done and the sex scenes were very well done. By that, I mean that they were hot and weren't overly crowded or confusing. The demons were great. They had different personalities and I wanted to see more of them. Really, the whole thing was good except for one thing. I couldn't stand Echo. He went from being loving to manipulative, then he would be nice and then bitchy, then he was sweet and then selfish. His emotions and reactions didn't seem to follow any pattern other than getting him what he wanted.

I wanted Echo to die so the demons could find a better man to be their mate.

[Rachel Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not something I would ever really try...8 men all together?! But I love this author, and have really loved reading as her writing continues to grow and develop, so I was interested at how this would be. I just finished it, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it! I loved all the characters, they were all quirky, funny, and different, and it was all sorts of hot. I think Fiero was my favorite...I feel like there is definitely more of his story to tell, and I also really liked Vapre. Definitely looking forward to the next book in this series!

[Ter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprising good for having 8 men together in it. You think it would be a sex free for all, but really wasn't (so far).
The only problem I really had was towards the end.
I guess Echo is the only one who deserves a second chance,
they should have helped One-seventeen, he was only doing what Echo himself has done to survive, he was beaten and had to walk in the winter naked and Echo didn't want to help. And Echo is suppose to be the "Heart"! yea right he sure had a lot of heart towards a fellow prisoner from the facility.

[Katalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ive put off reading this series for a while because I'm not real eager on the large group of men (which sounds silly when I reread this lol) so hopefully this book will hold my interest

Was actually pretty good. Wasn't expecting echo to have a power of his own. Now I have to read the rest of the series lol

[blub · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really a fan of polyamorous relationships but this was actually a pretty good book. There was a lot less bedroom scenes than I thought there would be but what was there was pretty tame. The characters are all likable which helps in a big way. The story wasn't as exciting as I hoped it to be but seeing as this is a 9 part series, the pacing is fine.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series more than I was expecting to. With so many characters in the relationship, I was fully expecting to be confused at times. I liked how each book was mostly based on Echo and his relationship with one of the men at a time. They are all together, but it made things a little easier to keep straight in my mind.