Received an ARC for an honest review. Some minor spoilers ahead.
What can I say about Hettie's stand alone novel that tells the story of how Alcaeus finds his mate and loses his brains?
I might say that I'm more than a little convinced Alcaeus is a little slow in this one. I could say that she utterly ripped my heart out, by the way she treats Kai in it. That I alternated between cursing Hettie and Avery at the same time. That I'm seriously reconsidering my FB domestic partnership with her because of it. But I won't say any of that, I'll get into why I gave the rating I did.
So why the five stars? It's brilliant. The whole damn book is one giant set up for the rest of the series to come, Raul and Bethany, Kai and Kai, Remy, Kai, Lessa and Wyatt, and oh did I mention Kai? Seriously, if I wasn't so damn invested in this universe I might have said, fuck it, and paddled away on my canoe, flipping Hettie the bird, while whistling a little tune, but I just can't. I'm a sucker for punishment, and although I don't think Kai needed to be tortured that much, emotionally or physically, yup she does both, her writing is far too brilliant for me to low ball her just because I'm pissed.
Plus any author who can get that kind of rise out of the reader should really be applauded, even if she get rewarded with me bitching and moaning about it the entire time.
Oh, I should probably talk a bit more about the book itself. Alcaeus finally meets his match. A single mom, whose a bad-ass by the way. But what single, hardworking mom isn't, right? She's doing everything in her power to protect her nine year old daughter, the rouge of all rouges, prophesied to destroy the world as we know it, against rogue hunters. Mainly Alcaeus' family. Her daughter is definitely a "Special Needs" case. Prone to lighting her room and people, Kai, on fire. But I digress.
The complexity of emotions and relationships that Hettie writes, as she approaches the character of a single mom trying to date and protect her daughter, is interesting because you don't find this story line very often. I'm not just talking the paranormal genre either. Very few authors touch the single mom character with a nine foot pole, mainly, and this is my own theory, the character is just too complicated for most authors to take on.
While Avery isn't my favorite person, for reasons most of you will figure out, Kai, she struggles with the self doubt that comes from trying to raise a child, a special needs child, and feelings of inadequacy regarding, "doing enough," for said child. I can't deny that the character that is Avery is well formed and multi-dimensional.
Alcaeus is indeed frustrating in, No Light. Mainly because he loses his head after he meets Avery. Seriously, once his dick takes over, his actual brain melts to mush, so in many ways Hettie technically gets this character right as well.
Be prepared for your jaw to drop to the floor at the end. I wasn't and made a dent in mine. I was fist pumping, cheering, and then cursing Hettie for putting me through all these emotions in the span of her book. How's she gonna do me like that?
She more than makes up for this by including an excerpt from her next book at the end, but seriously, as any addicted, I mean avid reader knows, that's never enough. My recommendation: One click this, and when you're finished, if you haven't read the trilogy, one click that bitch of a roller coaster as well. A little something to tide you over while your waiting for the next book to come out.
Until next time.