I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Ariana is 20 and is a survivor. She has survived foster homes and abusive foster parents. Currently she is working as a waitress in a bar. She has no real friends except for Matt, a guy she was once fostered with. They have a friendship but also a sexual history, sex without emotion.
Because of the way Ariana's life has been, she feels she ruins everyone's life. She feels she can't get close to anyone because she loses eveyrthing and everyone.
One night when leaving for work, she walks out her door and trips over a package, hurting her ankle. In the package is a book, an old book that reads "Spells and such" on the front. She just throws it into her house and goes onto work as she will be late.
Work is proving difficult because she has indeed sprained her ankle and it pains her more and more as she walks on it. Her boss is not happy to see this but she has promised him she will be able to finish her shift.
This is the night she meets Hadeon. He and 3 others have some into the bar. As much as she tries to deny it, she finds him very attractive. At one point when she serves his table he tells her she should not be walking on her ankle. She can barely stand the pain now and has to leave. She goes home and props her ankle up.
This is the first time she looks at the book left on her doorstep. Most of the pages are blank but she does see a healing spell and manages to heal her ankle. It takes every bit of energy out of her and she sleeps.
The next day she goes to work. Her boss is angry about her leaving early because of her supposed sprained ankle, one that is now healed. He fires her. She searches for a new job and gets one at a high end club. Hadeon just happens to work there as does one of the friends he was with when she met him.
Hadeon watches her constantly which thrills yet angers her. At one point he gives her a business card with his name and phone number on it, telling he to call him if she needs him.
The next couple of nights is when the evil starts coming for her and will continue until it kills her This is when Hadeon becomes her savior, her guard, everything to her. Regardless of what has happened in the past, she never thought the future would be like this!
I did not think this story would turn the way it did. It was brilliant, it was great!
Ariana has so much thrown at her so fast and she really handles it pretty well, not always with grace though, lol. Plus there is so much more she isn't being told.
I love the feelings between her and Hadeon. It is a love so deep that they know they will never love another. At times, they had me tearing up, the emotion was that intense.
In a way, this book was like a fairy tale, for the outcome is not really what one saw but how they dealt with it and how it effected them and their feelings about themselves.
I would definitely recommend this book!