Love Truly Conquers All
I've listened to other books in this series, and I've got to hand it to the author: she makes each one quite distinct even though the series has an overarching theme about finding love for the sons of Olympus. This particular “son” is perfect for romance: Valentine! His full relationship to the gods and goddesses of Olympus isn't fully revealed until the end of the book. For an immortal with such an illustrious background, he doesn't come across as sweetness and light at all. In fact, he and his band of mythical beings all have a bit of a hard edge, even though they're trying to keep the mortal world safe for love. This crew calls themselves Heart Breakers, and while they used to have soulmates in the past, it's been ingrained in them that while they're trying to protect love for humans, love for them is actually a weakness. It's kind of weird the way this plays out in the story, and I think the author could have done a better job of explaining who exactly the Heart Breakers were, their loveless history, their precise mission, etc.
This story has a kick-butt magical element, though the mortal heroine came into her magical power a bit too quickly and easily to be believable. It's cool what she can do and how she does it, but I read enough fantasy and paranormal books to appreciate that magical mastery takes time, and I wish the author had done so. The book has a great twist at the end. I kind of saw it coming—wishing the heroine would make a better choice when she could—but the author fleshed out the bitter end far better than I imagined it.
I love the end of the story, despite some confusion and some plot pathways that probably could have been trimmed without harming the story. What makes it so much fun for a romantic like me is that, in the end, love truly did conquer all against incredible odds and forces, and in a much broader sweep than we typically see in romance, even paranormal or supernatural romances.
At the book review site I downloaded this from, the author or her people made some strange claims in the book description that didn't quite align with the reality of the book. In case they use the same description on bookseller websites, I'll tell you a bit about the ones that weren't accurate. The blurb states this is an “enemies-to-lovers” romance, but I never got a sense of that at all while listening to the story. The hero and heroine are not enemies at any point. In fact, you could say they had a nearly instant attraction to each other, but for their own reasons, both fought this, and neither was interested in romance. That doesn't make them enemies. Also the book description said this is a vampire romance. That couldn't be further from the truth! The Heart Breakers are actually vampire hunters trying to subdue the vampire population, which has had an exponential rise lately; the Heart Breakers are not vampires! The two romances in this story are between Heart Breakers for one couple and a Heart Breaker and a human for another. No vampire romance here! I know both the enemies-to-lovers trope and vampire romance are popular, but don't insult your story by calling it something it isn't, hoping to gain readers who like popular tropes. If you believe you've written a good story, stand by it, whatever it is! This book is a part of a series, as I stated at the beginning of this review, but this stands completely on its own. You can certainly read or listen to this book having no knowledge of the other ones.
I received a promo code for this audiobook, but that did not affect my review.