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Of War #1
The Heart of War
Inside the Heart of every Warrior breathes the Soul of a Hero. Even within The Heart of War.
Ares God of War, is the greatest Warrior the world has ever known. He’s moody, grumpy, dominant, ravenously sexual, and above all, built like a Greek God.
Suspected of killing his Daughter in-Law, Psyche, and long in exile from Olympus, the solitude of Ares’ island is interrupted when Magdalena MacLeod a brash and sometimes manipulative Fey washes up on Ares’ island after believing she’s been shipwrecked.
It’s not mere fate that has brought the unlikely couple together yet it may be what tears them apart.
When the Olympians discover her presence on Ares’ island,Apollo is dispatched to retrieve her for Zeus. Alena strikes a fateful bargain with the God of War–her virginity for his protection.
Ares sees a sweeter deal; her in his bed and himself back in his rightful place on Olympus. After Alena proves herself to Ares in battle and his bed, the God of War must choose between his Divinely Dysfunctional Family, his pride, and Alena.
Get lost in this sweeping dark saga of betrayal, secrets, love, lust, rage, and redemption. Ares God of War and Alena MacLeod share a love that will rock the world from the heights of Olympus to the Celtic moors.
Ares God of War, is the greatest Warrior the world has ever known. He’s moody, grumpy, dominant, ravenously sexual, and above all, built like a Greek God.
Suspected of killing his Daughter in-Law, Psyche, and long in exile from Olympus, the solitude of Ares’ island is interrupted when Magdalena MacLeod a brash and sometimes manipulative Fey washes up on Ares’ island after believing she’s been shipwrecked.
It’s not mere fate that has brought the unlikely couple together yet it may be what tears them apart.
When the Olympians discover her presence on Ares’ island,Apollo is dispatched to retrieve her for Zeus. Alena strikes a fateful bargain with the God of War–her virginity for his protection.
Ares sees a sweeter deal; her in his bed and himself back in his rightful place on Olympus. After Alena proves herself to Ares in battle and his bed, the God of War must choose between his Divinely Dysfunctional Family, his pride, and Alena.
Get lost in this sweeping dark saga of betrayal, secrets, love, lust, rage, and redemption. Ares God of War and Alena MacLeod share a love that will rock the world from the heights of Olympus to the Celtic moors.
516 pages, Paperback
First published November 21, 2010
11 people are currently reading
853 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Beth Darling
42 books440 followers Award winning author, Lisa Beth Darling has a unique perspective on life leaving her unafraid to delve into darker places other may fear to tread. In doing so, she masterfully shines glorious light on the stormy events that shape, test, & define human character.
Ranging from dark & thrilling to heartwarming & inspirational, Lisa’s stories are rich with secrets, lust, betrayal, and sometimes rage. They may keep you awake into the wee hours of the morning cheering, weeping, and trapped in suspense as her heroes and heroines have their love tested by demons who reside within and without.
Lisa Beth Darling is 57 years-old, the mother of two adult daughters, grandmother to two granddaughters and wife to her husband, Roy, for the last 37 years. She lives and writes in her hometown of New London, CT.
Early influences were Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, Harold Robins, Jacqueline
Susan and VC Andrews.
Ranging from dark & thrilling to heartwarming & inspirational, Lisa’s stories are rich with secrets, lust, betrayal, and sometimes rage. They may keep you awake into the wee hours of the morning cheering, weeping, and trapped in suspense as her heroes and heroines have their love tested by demons who reside within and without.
Lisa Beth Darling is 57 years-old, the mother of two adult daughters, grandmother to two granddaughters and wife to her husband, Roy, for the last 37 years. She lives and writes in her hometown of New London, CT.
Early influences were Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, Harold Robins, Jacqueline
Susan and VC Andrews.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
March 30, 2011
Excellent Read!
Mythology lovers will eat this book up. The story woven for Aries the God of War is absolutely fantastic. The romance between Aries and Maggie (Alena) Macleod ½ Fey and ½ Goddess is brilliantly written with lots of emotional trials between them both. The sex scene between them is very HOT as well and will leave you in an awed and unbelieving WTF state.
I love how this book gives you the insight into the world between all the gods and goddesses with their deceit of back stabbing, jealousy rage and hatred, secrets kept to use at a later date to get their way for bargaining, love with lots of passion, and viciousness of power and abuse of power.
Some may find this read a little shocking because there are several scenes of possessiveness and brutal rape with torture, but I can promise that the revenge is kick-ass sweet that will make you want to say out loud “F#@kin A” or “Take that you A-hole” and then smile.
Excellent and Fantastic read. It was 500 pages long but every page only draws you further into the story and captures your emotions and interests immediately. I totally loved it!
I look forward to reading the second installment "Child of War" in this new series.
Mythology lovers will eat this book up. The story woven for Aries the God of War is absolutely fantastic. The romance between Aries and Maggie (Alena) Macleod ½ Fey and ½ Goddess is brilliantly written with lots of emotional trials between them both. The sex scene between them is very HOT as well and will leave you in an awed and unbelieving WTF state.
I love how this book gives you the insight into the world between all the gods and goddesses with their deceit of back stabbing, jealousy rage and hatred, secrets kept to use at a later date to get their way for bargaining, love with lots of passion, and viciousness of power and abuse of power.
Some may find this read a little shocking because there are several scenes of possessiveness and brutal rape with torture, but I can promise that the revenge is kick-ass sweet that will make you want to say out loud “F#@kin A” or “Take that you A-hole” and then smile.
Excellent and Fantastic read. It was 500 pages long but every page only draws you further into the story and captures your emotions and interests immediately. I totally loved it!
I look forward to reading the second installment "Child of War" in this new series.
May 13, 2016
CURRENTLY FREE ( 5/12/16) http://www.lisabethdarling.com/free/
Originally reviewed at http://prufreads.blogspot.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
"Everything in Life has its own rhythm, its own beat, from waging war to making love to dancing. You just have to listen for it and then fall into it."
~Ares, God of War
Wow. Ok, first I feel I should give proper warning to anyone who may decide to read this book. As you can see above, I loved it. I'm not sure I'll even be able to find the words to explain how much I loved this book. That being said, there were elements that I was not even remotely prepared for. On the cover, you'll note 'Dark Erotic Romance'. This is very, very true and more specifically, there are multiple scenes, in graphic detail, involving incest, sexual assult (of both an adult and a child), and extremely violent rape. I am not saying that had I known, I would have passed on this book. That is not the case. I do feel, however, it should come with such warning.
Ares...Son of Zeus, God of War, Olympian, Caveman.
...and if I'm being honest, a bit of a dick. Having been booted from Olympus for a particularly heinous crime, Ares lives in solitude on his own island with 8 male guards to help protect the island and 8 females to serve him in each and every way he sees fit. Standing at 7ft tall, with long raven hair, Ares is sight to behold as well as a force to be reckoned with. With War in his blood, his hatred for his family and lowly view of mortal women, he walks around like, well...a caveman. No, really, he lives in a cave and names aren't important when everyone with ovaries he simply calls 'woman'. He seethes, grunts, glares and is just generally pissed off all the time and finding a half dead woman washed up along his shore with no clue as to how she got there, doesn't exactly soothe the beast. Throughout this story you will hate him, fear him, love him and at times, many, many times, you will 'awww' and when there's music involved...you just might giggle. *wink*
Magdalena, aka Maggie, doesn't remember much as to what happened to her, her memory is cloudy, with sizable time slots just...gone. Ares isn't quite sure what to do with the little Fae, other than deciding Alena is a better fit name wise, when he isn't calling her 'woman' that is. She's petite with silver/grey hair and stormy grey eyes. One thing he does know is that he will find out how she got there and with no evidence of ship wreckage for mile and miles, he knows greater powers are at work here. When he discovers her chastity belt bearing the mark of a Celt God, lets just say things get interesting.
The Heart of War goes beyond paranormal romance. This is an epic fantasy that is so rich in description and word play. Ms. Darling takes what we know about Greek Mythology and adds some twists and turns. I could see this book as a movie, no doubt. Long before Sister Wives, The Kardashians or The Real Housewives of Anywhere, USA....there were the Olympians. The word 'dysfunctional' doesn't even begin to describe this 'family'. They made me laugh and cringe all at the same time. You can trust no one. Not mother nor father, lover, child or sibling. The betrayals and lies that were revealed throughout made for such a fascination exciting read. As the reader, you will love them, hate them and find yourself not being able to get enough of them!
Ares and Maggie's journey is not an easy one, far from it. As I said, this is not a fluffy romance and to be honest, some parts of this book were difficult for me to read, for me to stomach. I laughed, I gasped and trust me, there were tears as well and during the hardest of times, my stomach churned. Maggie has a lot to remember, a lot to learn about herself all the while, trying to save her own life. This little Fae's backstory will rip your heart out. Her inner strength is nothing short of amazing and inspiring. It isn't all anguish and sorrow. Along the way, Maggie touches many lives, two orphaned African children specifically. She is a natural nurturer and the bond that forms, the connection between Ares and Maggie is a heart wrenchingly tragic, yet stunning love story.
Originally reviewed at http://prufreads.blogspot.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
"Everything in Life has its own rhythm, its own beat, from waging war to making love to dancing. You just have to listen for it and then fall into it."
~Ares, God of War
Wow. Ok, first I feel I should give proper warning to anyone who may decide to read this book. As you can see above, I loved it. I'm not sure I'll even be able to find the words to explain how much I loved this book. That being said, there were elements that I was not even remotely prepared for. On the cover, you'll note 'Dark Erotic Romance'. This is very, very true and more specifically, there are multiple scenes, in graphic detail, involving incest, sexual assult (of both an adult and a child), and extremely violent rape. I am not saying that had I known, I would have passed on this book. That is not the case. I do feel, however, it should come with such warning.
Ares...Son of Zeus, God of War, Olympian, Caveman.
...and if I'm being honest, a bit of a dick. Having been booted from Olympus for a particularly heinous crime, Ares lives in solitude on his own island with 8 male guards to help protect the island and 8 females to serve him in each and every way he sees fit. Standing at 7ft tall, with long raven hair, Ares is sight to behold as well as a force to be reckoned with. With War in his blood, his hatred for his family and lowly view of mortal women, he walks around like, well...a caveman. No, really, he lives in a cave and names aren't important when everyone with ovaries he simply calls 'woman'. He seethes, grunts, glares and is just generally pissed off all the time and finding a half dead woman washed up along his shore with no clue as to how she got there, doesn't exactly soothe the beast. Throughout this story you will hate him, fear him, love him and at times, many, many times, you will 'awww' and when there's music involved...you just might giggle. *wink*
Magdalena, aka Maggie, doesn't remember much as to what happened to her, her memory is cloudy, with sizable time slots just...gone. Ares isn't quite sure what to do with the little Fae, other than deciding Alena is a better fit name wise, when he isn't calling her 'woman' that is. She's petite with silver/grey hair and stormy grey eyes. One thing he does know is that he will find out how she got there and with no evidence of ship wreckage for mile and miles, he knows greater powers are at work here. When he discovers her chastity belt bearing the mark of a Celt God, lets just say things get interesting.
The Heart of War goes beyond paranormal romance. This is an epic fantasy that is so rich in description and word play. Ms. Darling takes what we know about Greek Mythology and adds some twists and turns. I could see this book as a movie, no doubt. Long before Sister Wives, The Kardashians or The Real Housewives of Anywhere, USA....there were the Olympians. The word 'dysfunctional' doesn't even begin to describe this 'family'. They made me laugh and cringe all at the same time. You can trust no one. Not mother nor father, lover, child or sibling. The betrayals and lies that were revealed throughout made for such a fascination exciting read. As the reader, you will love them, hate them and find yourself not being able to get enough of them!
Ares and Maggie's journey is not an easy one, far from it. As I said, this is not a fluffy romance and to be honest, some parts of this book were difficult for me to read, for me to stomach. I laughed, I gasped and trust me, there were tears as well and during the hardest of times, my stomach churned. Maggie has a lot to remember, a lot to learn about herself all the while, trying to save her own life. This little Fae's backstory will rip your heart out. Her inner strength is nothing short of amazing and inspiring. It isn't all anguish and sorrow. Along the way, Maggie touches many lives, two orphaned African children specifically. She is a natural nurturer and the bond that forms, the connection between Ares and Maggie is a heart wrenchingly tragic, yet stunning love story.
June 10, 2011
There is an excellent story here, I really enjoyed it. In fact, it caused me to stay up until 3am just so I could finish it. However, there are lots of little grammatical (lots of missing commas, words switched) errors that even I noticed (and I'm horrible at grammar). Due to the grammatical errors, I sometimes (though very rarely) had to reread a few sentences since I somehow lost the meaning due to the sentence structure.
Even with these errors, I loved the story. That should tell you how good it is.
All this book needs is a good editor!
Note- I should mention that the author sent me a copy of the book via email so I may have received a copy that was not fully edited. Still I highly recommend this book!
Even with these errors, I loved the story. That should tell you how good it is.
All this book needs is a good editor!
Note- I should mention that the author sent me a copy of the book via email so I may have received a copy that was not fully edited. Still I highly recommend this book!
June 14, 2011
3.5 Stars!
Summary: Inside the heart of every warrior breathes the soul of a hero--even within The Heart of War.
Meet Ares God of War is the greatest Warrior the world has ever known, he's also moody, grumpy, dominant, ravenously sexual,and above all, built like a Greek God.
Suspected of killing his Daughter in-Law, Psyche, and long in exile from Olympus, the solitude of Ares' island is interrupted when Magdalena MacLeod a brash and sometimes manipulative Fey washes up on Ares' island after believing she's been shipwrecked. There is no wreck and her memory of events is sketchy at best. Branded with a golden chastity belt bearing the mark of Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death, Alena has been on the run from the Great Horned God for 200 years. As Ares and Alena grow closer discord erupts on the island as his head woman, Kat, plots to get rid of Alena and the Olympians plot to use her in their endeavor to discover who killed Artemis. Ares will have to choose between his Divinely Dysfunctional Family, his pride, and Alena before dueling to the death with the God of the Forest.
Come along for an epic adventure of erotica, steamy romance, and drama in this Modern Day Greek Tragedy. Battle Ancient Gods and Fall in Love along side Ares God of War and Alena MacLeod. Theirs is a love that will rock the world from the heights of Olympus to the Celtic moors.
The storyline is unique, especially for a romantica-type book. Although there are somewhat explicit sex scenes I find it hard to call this an Erotica. Ares begins this story true to his nature as a misogynistic bastard that uses his women for sex only. They have few comforts on his island where he is living in exile. Although set in the 21st century, Ares prefers living without electricity. No big deal for a god, after all, he can conjure up whatever he wants.
Sensing something odd on the island, he goes to the shore and finds a woman washed up from the sea. He thinks she is a hag because she has long silver-grey hair and decides he doesn't need her, might as well kill her. That is until he realizes there is no evidence of a ship wreck or any other means which she may have gotten to his island. This is a puzzle interesting enough for him to decide to take her in for a bit. Discovering a golden chastity belt on her intrigues him further.
The relationship between Ares and this woman, Alena, goes from suspicion to love throughout the course of this tale. Alena's time spent in Africa helping children adds to her mystery as Ares discovers she is fey. The gods become involved and all hell breaks loose.
The mythology in the story is very interesting. The story grabs you. I couldn't put it down. The only reason I didn't give it 4 stars was that there were several grammatical errors in the digital edition that distracted me. ( I do not claim to be able to write better.)
I will warn that there is graphic violence and rape scenes. I found them to be shocking but true to the real nature of violence. This isn't a light-hearted romance, it is gritty.
I highly recommend this read to fantasy and romance readers who like a little edginess.
Summary: Inside the heart of every warrior breathes the soul of a hero--even within The Heart of War.
Meet Ares God of War is the greatest Warrior the world has ever known, he's also moody, grumpy, dominant, ravenously sexual,and above all, built like a Greek God.
Suspected of killing his Daughter in-Law, Psyche, and long in exile from Olympus, the solitude of Ares' island is interrupted when Magdalena MacLeod a brash and sometimes manipulative Fey washes up on Ares' island after believing she's been shipwrecked. There is no wreck and her memory of events is sketchy at best. Branded with a golden chastity belt bearing the mark of Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death, Alena has been on the run from the Great Horned God for 200 years. As Ares and Alena grow closer discord erupts on the island as his head woman, Kat, plots to get rid of Alena and the Olympians plot to use her in their endeavor to discover who killed Artemis. Ares will have to choose between his Divinely Dysfunctional Family, his pride, and Alena before dueling to the death with the God of the Forest.
Come along for an epic adventure of erotica, steamy romance, and drama in this Modern Day Greek Tragedy. Battle Ancient Gods and Fall in Love along side Ares God of War and Alena MacLeod. Theirs is a love that will rock the world from the heights of Olympus to the Celtic moors.
The storyline is unique, especially for a romantica-type book. Although there are somewhat explicit sex scenes I find it hard to call this an Erotica. Ares begins this story true to his nature as a misogynistic bastard that uses his women for sex only. They have few comforts on his island where he is living in exile. Although set in the 21st century, Ares prefers living without electricity. No big deal for a god, after all, he can conjure up whatever he wants.
Sensing something odd on the island, he goes to the shore and finds a woman washed up from the sea. He thinks she is a hag because she has long silver-grey hair and decides he doesn't need her, might as well kill her. That is until he realizes there is no evidence of a ship wreck or any other means which she may have gotten to his island. This is a puzzle interesting enough for him to decide to take her in for a bit. Discovering a golden chastity belt on her intrigues him further.
The relationship between Ares and this woman, Alena, goes from suspicion to love throughout the course of this tale. Alena's time spent in Africa helping children adds to her mystery as Ares discovers she is fey. The gods become involved and all hell breaks loose.
The mythology in the story is very interesting. The story grabs you. I couldn't put it down. The only reason I didn't give it 4 stars was that there were several grammatical errors in the digital edition that distracted me. ( I do not claim to be able to write better.)
I will warn that there is graphic violence and rape scenes. I found them to be shocking but true to the real nature of violence. This isn't a light-hearted romance, it is gritty.
I highly recommend this read to fantasy and romance readers who like a little edginess.
April 11, 2011
This one took me on a mental road trip to places I have not seen on the paranormal romance map.
First thing you need to know is that Ms. Darling did an excellent job of weaving Greek mythology and Celtic lore to create a powerfully antagonistic environment for her story. Everybody basically hates everybody else. In this story we meet Ares God of War from Greek mythology. As reputed, he is the greatest Warrior the world has ever known and like all Greek gods, he is well aware of that fact. Ares is in exile after being kicked out of Olympus by Zeus and a few other haters. He lives on an island in the middle of nowhere with a few humans that are either part of his harem or guard unit. One day out of nowhere, a woman washes up on the beach and changes everything. Magdalena MacLeod, a white haired Fey beauty washes up on Ares' island believing she's been shipwrecked. She is also wearing a golden chastity belt bearing the mark of Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death. Ares decides to call her Alena because he doesn’t like Maggie which is what she had been going by. Thus she is referred to by this name for most of the book.
Second thing to know up front – this story is erotica beyond Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark and Black Dagger Brotherhood. If you don’t like heat, stay out of the kitchen. The story is good but it’s loaded with graphic sex. Along with the sex is a level of violence that shocked me at times. The seemingly endless cruelty Alena endured was unimaginable. More than once, I had to take a break to let my stomach settle.
Third thing – although there were some scenes that nearly brought me to tears while putting knots in my stomach, I mostly laughed out loud. Ms. Darling’s style is a balance I have seen many romance writers try to do but can’t quite get it to flow evenly from scene to scent. Ms. Darling does it with ease and mastery. Just when you think, I am having so much fun with these characters; she kicks you in the gut with something horrific. It’s a good kind of craziness.
So why 4-stars? Editing. Editing. Editing. The book is too long. I was not prepared for this but it’s my fault for not checking the page count because I was reading an ebook. The paperback is 490 pages. So don’t go into this thinking you are dealing with a quick trip in and out. You need to plan for this one because you won’t want to put it down. There were other editing problems like missing words, partial words, and sentence fragments. Several times I had to re-read a sentence or scenes more than once to fill in the blanks or make it work in my own mind. It’s distracting but not a deal breaker. Overall, I like what Ms. Darling did with what she had to work with. It could have gone deeper as far as the mythology goes but for those who really are not into the historical elements of mythology, it’s easy to follow. It also makes it clear this is a romance not really high fantasy. This is the first book of a series that I will continue to read. Loved It and can’t wait for next book!
First thing you need to know is that Ms. Darling did an excellent job of weaving Greek mythology and Celtic lore to create a powerfully antagonistic environment for her story. Everybody basically hates everybody else. In this story we meet Ares God of War from Greek mythology. As reputed, he is the greatest Warrior the world has ever known and like all Greek gods, he is well aware of that fact. Ares is in exile after being kicked out of Olympus by Zeus and a few other haters. He lives on an island in the middle of nowhere with a few humans that are either part of his harem or guard unit. One day out of nowhere, a woman washes up on the beach and changes everything. Magdalena MacLeod, a white haired Fey beauty washes up on Ares' island believing she's been shipwrecked. She is also wearing a golden chastity belt bearing the mark of Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death. Ares decides to call her Alena because he doesn’t like Maggie which is what she had been going by. Thus she is referred to by this name for most of the book.
Second thing to know up front – this story is erotica beyond Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark and Black Dagger Brotherhood. If you don’t like heat, stay out of the kitchen. The story is good but it’s loaded with graphic sex. Along with the sex is a level of violence that shocked me at times. The seemingly endless cruelty Alena endured was unimaginable. More than once, I had to take a break to let my stomach settle.
Third thing – although there were some scenes that nearly brought me to tears while putting knots in my stomach, I mostly laughed out loud. Ms. Darling’s style is a balance I have seen many romance writers try to do but can’t quite get it to flow evenly from scene to scent. Ms. Darling does it with ease and mastery. Just when you think, I am having so much fun with these characters; she kicks you in the gut with something horrific. It’s a good kind of craziness.
So why 4-stars? Editing. Editing. Editing. The book is too long. I was not prepared for this but it’s my fault for not checking the page count because I was reading an ebook. The paperback is 490 pages. So don’t go into this thinking you are dealing with a quick trip in and out. You need to plan for this one because you won’t want to put it down. There were other editing problems like missing words, partial words, and sentence fragments. Several times I had to re-read a sentence or scenes more than once to fill in the blanks or make it work in my own mind. It’s distracting but not a deal breaker. Overall, I like what Ms. Darling did with what she had to work with. It could have gone deeper as far as the mythology goes but for those who really are not into the historical elements of mythology, it’s easy to follow. It also makes it clear this is a romance not really high fantasy. This is the first book of a series that I will continue to read. Loved It and can’t wait for next book!
July 4, 2011
I love a good smut book. And I love the paranormal: vampires, werewolves, demons, Gods.. all of them work for me. So I thought this book would be a perfect fit: Greek gods and dirty sex sounds like a winning combination. But it didn't quite work out that way.
The story centers on a Fey woman named Magdelena who washed up on the shores of an island belonging to Ares, the God of War. She is a mystery for him to solve. And as he gets to know her better, he discovers she is betrothed to an ancient Celt God, Cernunnos, who she has been trying to escape for 2oo years. A relationship quickly develops between Ares and "Alena." The book goes on to incorporate the other Greek gods. We learn about their estrangement from Ares. And we discover the depths of Cerunnos' evil acts and terrible plans.
Ares is, for lack of a better word, a complete asshole. It made it impossible for me to root for him as a character. He has a harem of women, who he barely sees as people. He has sex with them all indiscriminately and orders them to not only sleep with him, but with each other and occasionally, his guards. I understand that we're supposed to be watching the evolution of his character as he falls in love with Alena. But he is just so awful for the first half of the book that by the time he begins to soften, I still can't make myself like him. This is made worse by the actions he takes while cursed, later in the book. I know his redemption is the whole point of it all, but I think the author did too good of a job convincing me he was horrible at the beginning.
Alena, on the other hand, is way too understanding and forgiving. She was willing to let Ares keep his harem. And she was willing to forgive and forget instantly after some really unforgivable actions on his part. Yes, he was cursed. But let's get real here... he did terrible things to her and she was still all sunshine and roses with him.
Moving beyond all that, my biggest issue with the book was the brutality of it. Like I said, I'm on board for sex. But I think the instances of rape in this book matched the number of willing sex acts, tit-for-tat. I can stomach a rape in a book, as a single pivotal act that can stunningly alter a character or a storyline. But here, forced anal, oral, and vaginal sex, happened over and over and over. It was too much. It was disturbing and it was overkill. And did I mention the incest? Suffice it to say, there was a lot of that too.
There were also a number of grammatical errors, missing words, and misspellings. I can overlook one or two, but there were probably about 20 instances of this and I almost felt like I was reading an unedited story. A very, very long one. I think this book would have been a lot better if it were 100 pages shorter, 5 rapes lighter, and given one more once-over by an editor's red pen. I applaud the author for her creativity... It was definitely not like anything I've ever read before. It just wasn't for me. 2 1/2 stars.
*Review copy provided by author
The story centers on a Fey woman named Magdelena who washed up on the shores of an island belonging to Ares, the God of War. She is a mystery for him to solve. And as he gets to know her better, he discovers she is betrothed to an ancient Celt God, Cernunnos, who she has been trying to escape for 2oo years. A relationship quickly develops between Ares and "Alena." The book goes on to incorporate the other Greek gods. We learn about their estrangement from Ares. And we discover the depths of Cerunnos' evil acts and terrible plans.
Ares is, for lack of a better word, a complete asshole. It made it impossible for me to root for him as a character. He has a harem of women, who he barely sees as people. He has sex with them all indiscriminately and orders them to not only sleep with him, but with each other and occasionally, his guards. I understand that we're supposed to be watching the evolution of his character as he falls in love with Alena. But he is just so awful for the first half of the book that by the time he begins to soften, I still can't make myself like him. This is made worse by the actions he takes while cursed, later in the book. I know his redemption is the whole point of it all, but I think the author did too good of a job convincing me he was horrible at the beginning.
Alena, on the other hand, is way too understanding and forgiving. She was willing to let Ares keep his harem. And she was willing to forgive and forget instantly after some really unforgivable actions on his part. Yes, he was cursed. But let's get real here... he did terrible things to her and she was still all sunshine and roses with him.
Moving beyond all that, my biggest issue with the book was the brutality of it. Like I said, I'm on board for sex. But I think the instances of rape in this book matched the number of willing sex acts, tit-for-tat. I can stomach a rape in a book, as a single pivotal act that can stunningly alter a character or a storyline. But here, forced anal, oral, and vaginal sex, happened over and over and over. It was too much. It was disturbing and it was overkill. And did I mention the incest? Suffice it to say, there was a lot of that too.
There were also a number of grammatical errors, missing words, and misspellings. I can overlook one or two, but there were probably about 20 instances of this and I almost felt like I was reading an unedited story. A very, very long one. I think this book would have been a lot better if it were 100 pages shorter, 5 rapes lighter, and given one more once-over by an editor's red pen. I applaud the author for her creativity... It was definitely not like anything I've ever read before. It just wasn't for me. 2 1/2 stars.
*Review copy provided by author
April 27, 2011
After being wrongly accused of two deaths in Olympus Ares was decrowned and cast out. The God of war was alone and isolated from the comforts of Olympus. So Ares had long ago gotten use to settling for what humans have to offer him. Being a god meant human women could never fully satisfy him so he surrounded himself with several women sometimes at the same time, but always felt alone.
Till the day a little fey woman washed up on the shore of his island. At first glance he thought her to be an old hag from the gray color of her hair. As much as he wanted to toss her back in the sea something about this fragile woman intrigued him. When he saw she wore a golden chastity belt bearing the mark of Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death, Ares thought maybe she might just be the one thing he could use to barter his way back to Olympus and his rightful spot. This proves to be easier said than done, once he gets Alena in his bed he may not ever be able to let her go, he fears she may have also gotten in his heart.
Magdalena can't remember clearly how she comes to be on Ares Island. Somehow this god can be arrogant mean sweet and sexy all at the same time. Knowing exactly how Ares reputation is with women Alena knows she shouldn't even consider getting closer to Ares but the closer she does comes to him the further she falls for him.
Alena has been running from The Great Horned God Cernunnors for over a hundred years but now he is hot on her trail, and wants to reclaim what he feels is his property, Alena may just have to trust this sexy dangerous God of War.
Greek mythology has always intrigued me, with a name like Athenna I think it is expected. The way that Lisa builds the Olympian world is amazing each ones personality is just how I'd expect them. Seeing the way each of them bicker back stab and betray one another is just how I know the Olympian gods to be.
Ares is a giant ass, he lives up to his reputation of the god of war. But it was amazing to watch him fall in love with Alena and change his whole world for her. The bedroom scenes are very hot and steamy it will leave you wanting more.
Alena is sweet and strong willed at times. But I feel she didn't trust Ares as much as I feel she should have. I wish she didn't have gray hair it bugs me for some reason. She seams so tinny and fragile then she surprises you and stands up in battle and backs up Ares when his own men fail him.
There are a few rape torture and intense battle scenes but it all plays into the story. I don't think it takes away from the book at all, but I t would have also worked with an implied rape rather than witnessing the act but it worked well into this story. I am excited to read the next installments.
**Athenna**
Till the day a little fey woman washed up on the shore of his island. At first glance he thought her to be an old hag from the gray color of her hair. As much as he wanted to toss her back in the sea something about this fragile woman intrigued him. When he saw she wore a golden chastity belt bearing the mark of Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death, Ares thought maybe she might just be the one thing he could use to barter his way back to Olympus and his rightful spot. This proves to be easier said than done, once he gets Alena in his bed he may not ever be able to let her go, he fears she may have also gotten in his heart.
Magdalena can't remember clearly how she comes to be on Ares Island. Somehow this god can be arrogant mean sweet and sexy all at the same time. Knowing exactly how Ares reputation is with women Alena knows she shouldn't even consider getting closer to Ares but the closer she does comes to him the further she falls for him.
Alena has been running from The Great Horned God Cernunnors for over a hundred years but now he is hot on her trail, and wants to reclaim what he feels is his property, Alena may just have to trust this sexy dangerous God of War.
Greek mythology has always intrigued me, with a name like Athenna I think it is expected. The way that Lisa builds the Olympian world is amazing each ones personality is just how I'd expect them. Seeing the way each of them bicker back stab and betray one another is just how I know the Olympian gods to be.
Ares is a giant ass, he lives up to his reputation of the god of war. But it was amazing to watch him fall in love with Alena and change his whole world for her. The bedroom scenes are very hot and steamy it will leave you wanting more.
Alena is sweet and strong willed at times. But I feel she didn't trust Ares as much as I feel she should have. I wish she didn't have gray hair it bugs me for some reason. She seams so tinny and fragile then she surprises you and stands up in battle and backs up Ares when his own men fail him.
There are a few rape torture and intense battle scenes but it all plays into the story. I don't think it takes away from the book at all, but I t would have also worked with an implied rape rather than witnessing the act but it worked well into this story. I am excited to read the next installments.
**Athenna**
Read
May 28, 20134 out of 5 Shiny Stars
...DARK, Violent and Edgy!
The Heart of War is an intense, emotional, action-packed, and remarkably gripping novel! The characterizations are consistent and boldly unapologetic.
Full review in April 2013 issue of InD'tale Magazine.
*Reader 'triggers' noted within review.
...DARK, Violent and Edgy!The Heart of War is an intense, emotional, action-packed, and remarkably gripping novel! The characterizations are consistent and boldly unapologetic.
Full review in April 2013 issue of InD'tale Magazine.
*Reader 'triggers' noted within review.
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January 24, 2020
Why I do this to myself I have absolutely no idea. There really is no accounting for taste.
May 18, 2014
Favorite Lines “What did I tell you? Do not believe everything History teaches you…about anything. Stories become mangled and twisted over time. Humans created and perfected guns, not me," he said strongly. "I prefer an…old school…approach to things such as killing”
“Oh please, at your age playing stupid doesn’t suit you either but coy’s kinda cute." Onya giggled deep in her euphoric haze. "You know you like her, too.”
“For the first time since he could remember the God of War fell into a deep dream-filled sleep.”
“I know you think I’m a brute, an ogre, who can’t stop living in days of old when men owned their women. It’s not true," Ares mumbled. "I don’t own the women here and I do not own you but I am charged with protecting all of you. If I hadn’t said and done the things that I did, Alena, my Family would have been able to keep you on Olympus until the day you died if that’s what they wanted. That is not what I want.”
“I love you Magdalena, I would do anything for you. Fend off mighty beasts. Slay dragons with my bare hands. Climb mountains. Swim across oceans. Even bring the moon down from the sky. Anything to make you smile at me, look up at me with those beautiful eyes and tell me that you love me.”
“You make my whole world a better place, my Love; I would consider it a great honor if you would allow me to be your Husband.”
EPIC! AMAZING! FABULOUS!! EMOTIONAL!! OMG YUMMY!!!!
I am at a loss for how to describe this book and how amazing it was! I'm a huge fab of the Greek Gods but, this book takes it to whole new level!
Ares the god of war is something else! He is so..... So...... Rough, Sexy, Territorial, Viscous, and, can be the biggest Jerk! I love him don't get me wrong but man can he be a jerk and I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF READING ABOUT HIM!!!
Maggie (Because Ares decides that name is to boring he calls her Alena) has had a rough life that has her on the run from a crazy, psychotic, evil god! He has done horrible things to her. Some it had my stomach twisting in disgust!
One day Maggie (Athena) washes up on the shore of Ares cave. Woot! Do things change for the God of War after that! You know I won't tell you but, this author is EPIC in her description, her writing, the world she has made. It's just fantabulous!
Her writing sucks you in where you find your heart pounding with the action, nauseous with the betrayals, and your heart soaring with the love! It's THAT AMAZING!! If you like books about those amazing but crazy gods then this is the book for you!
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review (Carrie "Book Fairy of http://www.faebooks.co.uk/)
FIVE WAR FAIRIES
“Oh please, at your age playing stupid doesn’t suit you either but coy’s kinda cute." Onya giggled deep in her euphoric haze. "You know you like her, too.”
“For the first time since he could remember the God of War fell into a deep dream-filled sleep.”
“I know you think I’m a brute, an ogre, who can’t stop living in days of old when men owned their women. It’s not true," Ares mumbled. "I don’t own the women here and I do not own you but I am charged with protecting all of you. If I hadn’t said and done the things that I did, Alena, my Family would have been able to keep you on Olympus until the day you died if that’s what they wanted. That is not what I want.”
“I love you Magdalena, I would do anything for you. Fend off mighty beasts. Slay dragons with my bare hands. Climb mountains. Swim across oceans. Even bring the moon down from the sky. Anything to make you smile at me, look up at me with those beautiful eyes and tell me that you love me.”
“You make my whole world a better place, my Love; I would consider it a great honor if you would allow me to be your Husband.”
EPIC! AMAZING! FABULOUS!! EMOTIONAL!! OMG YUMMY!!!!
I am at a loss for how to describe this book and how amazing it was! I'm a huge fab of the Greek Gods but, this book takes it to whole new level!
Ares the god of war is something else! He is so..... So...... Rough, Sexy, Territorial, Viscous, and, can be the biggest Jerk! I love him don't get me wrong but man can he be a jerk and I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF READING ABOUT HIM!!!
Maggie (Because Ares decides that name is to boring he calls her Alena) has had a rough life that has her on the run from a crazy, psychotic, evil god! He has done horrible things to her. Some it had my stomach twisting in disgust!
One day Maggie (Athena) washes up on the shore of Ares cave. Woot! Do things change for the God of War after that! You know I won't tell you but, this author is EPIC in her description, her writing, the world she has made. It's just fantabulous!
Her writing sucks you in where you find your heart pounding with the action, nauseous with the betrayals, and your heart soaring with the love! It's THAT AMAZING!! If you like books about those amazing but crazy gods then this is the book for you!
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review (Carrie "Book Fairy of http://www.faebooks.co.uk/)
FIVE WAR FAIRIES
March 25, 2011
*4.5 stars* Wow, there is so much to this book, so much to share. The main characters in this book are a half-human, half-fay woman named Magdalena (also called Maggie or Alena). Alena has been on the run almost her entire life, hiding from her would-be husband Cernunnos, an ancient Celt God who wants to use Magdalena for nefarious purposes. The other main character to this captivating novel is my favorite, Ares, ancient Greek God of War. Ares has been exiled from Olympus to an island somewhere near Greece. One day, Ares finds Magdalena washed up on shore and is instantly curious and captivated by this strange woman. As the story develops, Magdalena’s past is slowly uncovered, and it is violent and dangerous. As Ares learns more about Magdalena, he also becomes softened to her. There is a compelling heat between them, and they find themselves falling for each other. Before Magdalena and Ares can have a relationship, truth must be uncovered, and the psychopathic evil God stopped.
This story is full of mythology, I loved it. The Gods of olympus are engaging, the back stories told are all developed. The eroticism is heavy, and quite intriguing. This book is so much more than a simple love story or erotica or fantasy novel, there are sub-plots and back stories. The story is told from several viewpoints, from Magdalena, Ares, Cernunnos, even Eros has a viewpoint in there. All of this is done is a way that the story is only enhanced. It is so wonderfully developed, when I finished reading, I was quite satisfied. The entire story was told. I will admit, at times I was frustrated with Magdalena, she was constantly questioning and doubting Ares. Ares, despite being the God of War, was quite ironically the underdog for much of the story. He was hated by most everyone, except for his mother and a few of his women.
WARNING: I do have to issue a warning, there is a lot of violence in this book. There is rape, and beating, and what I would call torture. It is all part of the story, but it was a bit tough to read at parts.
With all this said, the book was excellent. Everything was there and very well written. The emotions went from deep lows at times, to great highs. There was intrigue, danger, betrayal, and great romance. On that note, I will end my review with this, my favorite quote from the book:
“And still I am alone except when I’m with you. Then I am whole, no longer restless, and no longer weary."
This story is full of mythology, I loved it. The Gods of olympus are engaging, the back stories told are all developed. The eroticism is heavy, and quite intriguing. This book is so much more than a simple love story or erotica or fantasy novel, there are sub-plots and back stories. The story is told from several viewpoints, from Magdalena, Ares, Cernunnos, even Eros has a viewpoint in there. All of this is done is a way that the story is only enhanced. It is so wonderfully developed, when I finished reading, I was quite satisfied. The entire story was told. I will admit, at times I was frustrated with Magdalena, she was constantly questioning and doubting Ares. Ares, despite being the God of War, was quite ironically the underdog for much of the story. He was hated by most everyone, except for his mother and a few of his women.
WARNING: I do have to issue a warning, there is a lot of violence in this book. There is rape, and beating, and what I would call torture. It is all part of the story, but it was a bit tough to read at parts.
With all this said, the book was excellent. Everything was there and very well written. The emotions went from deep lows at times, to great highs. There was intrigue, danger, betrayal, and great romance. On that note, I will end my review with this, my favorite quote from the book:
“And still I am alone except when I’m with you. Then I am whole, no longer restless, and no longer weary."
July 27, 2011
Ares, God of War was a difficult character to like at the beginning of the book. As a character it took a long time for me to warm up to him. In the end I still can’t say he was a character that I can ever say I liked. He is not a nice man, but being the God of War I guess one cannot consider him a man really. If he were a pleasant, kind, considerate human being he would not have been successful in his warmongering ways. His personality traits really work well with all of the evil that makes up the majority of the content of this book. Magdalena/Maggie/Alena was easily likeable from the beginning of this tale. She is half human, part fey and part something else. She is completely understanding of the misfortune that is her life. She takes all of the blows that life has dealt her with her head held high knowing that she will persevere. She is truly a very strong female. She can take care of herself, she has no problems defending herself, and she is extraordinarily compassionate towards others that are less fortunate than her. I loved Maggie as a character, although I did question some of her decisions.
When Maggie washes up on the shore of the island that Ares has been exiled to she is exhausted from days adrift at sea and most of all she is very confused as to all of the how’s associated to her predicament. Ares being the very paranoid God that he is, he’s convinced that she is there due to the nefarious plans of one of his numerous enemies (or severely deranged family member.) Thus he is concerned about the reasons to her presence on his island. This makes for the beginning of a very interesting romance. As for romantic couples and the growth of their romance I think Ares’s character/personality traits made this one lack some of the tender lovingness that you look for in a romance.
I had quite a few issues with this book. The first one I want to mention is the length. At 50% this book gears up and reads like it is moving swiftly towards its climatic ending. I thought my Kindle had a glitch and was reading wrong. This is not the case. Another major conflict is presented at this point. I think this book had entirely too many conflicts. The conflicts take away from the romance. This book also has entirely too many point of view changes. All the characters seem to get to voice their point of view at some point in this book. At times the POV changes happened too rapidly and were a bit confusing. I notice this sometimes with eBook’s in general. I wonder if it is just the paragraph formatting of the eBook. The book was a bit heavy on typos and grammatical errors. That is another common issue I see, it may just be an eBook trait.
The aspect that made me rate the book as low as I did was the evilness of all of the characters. Maggie is the only good character in this book. The entire Olympian family is horrid. Characters that are jealous over something that another holds dear are in abundance. Females that consider Ares theirs and theirs alone are plentiful as well. Those females willingness to harm another female in the vilest manner possible, the readers get plenty of that too. I knew this was a dark book before I ever started reading it, I just never expected it to be overflowing with so much hate, ruthlessness and so many callous characters. The mythology is why I wanted to read this book so badly. I love to see how an author weaves such into a fictional story. I have seen so many different takes on Greek mythology. This one definitely has a unique spin on these characters that I have never seen before.
Favorite quote. Ares to Alena. "Cute? No. Cute is for puppies and teenage boys. I am devilishly handsome."
When Maggie washes up on the shore of the island that Ares has been exiled to she is exhausted from days adrift at sea and most of all she is very confused as to all of the how’s associated to her predicament. Ares being the very paranoid God that he is, he’s convinced that she is there due to the nefarious plans of one of his numerous enemies (or severely deranged family member.) Thus he is concerned about the reasons to her presence on his island. This makes for the beginning of a very interesting romance. As for romantic couples and the growth of their romance I think Ares’s character/personality traits made this one lack some of the tender lovingness that you look for in a romance.
I had quite a few issues with this book. The first one I want to mention is the length. At 50% this book gears up and reads like it is moving swiftly towards its climatic ending. I thought my Kindle had a glitch and was reading wrong. This is not the case. Another major conflict is presented at this point. I think this book had entirely too many conflicts. The conflicts take away from the romance. This book also has entirely too many point of view changes. All the characters seem to get to voice their point of view at some point in this book. At times the POV changes happened too rapidly and were a bit confusing. I notice this sometimes with eBook’s in general. I wonder if it is just the paragraph formatting of the eBook. The book was a bit heavy on typos and grammatical errors. That is another common issue I see, it may just be an eBook trait.
The aspect that made me rate the book as low as I did was the evilness of all of the characters. Maggie is the only good character in this book. The entire Olympian family is horrid. Characters that are jealous over something that another holds dear are in abundance. Females that consider Ares theirs and theirs alone are plentiful as well. Those females willingness to harm another female in the vilest manner possible, the readers get plenty of that too. I knew this was a dark book before I ever started reading it, I just never expected it to be overflowing with so much hate, ruthlessness and so many callous characters. The mythology is why I wanted to read this book so badly. I love to see how an author weaves such into a fictional story. I have seen so many different takes on Greek mythology. This one definitely has a unique spin on these characters that I have never seen before.
Favorite quote. Ares to Alena. "Cute? No. Cute is for puppies and teenage boys. I am devilishly handsome."
April 15, 2012
I just love stories that involve Greek mythology so I was thrilled to find this one.
Heart of War is the story of Aries the God of War and Magdalena McCleod a half fey. Aries has been exiled from Olympus for hundreds of years for crimes that he did not commit. He lives as a hedonist with several women to serve him on his Greek island. One day, his boring existence is interrupted by the battered body of a woman rolling up on his beach. At first, Aries is suspicious and cruel, but Maggie's warm spirit starts to melt his cold heart. He decides that though she cannot remember how she got there he wants to know all about her.
Aries attention to Maggie does not go unnoticed by his other women. One of them, who considered herself his consort, becomes jealous and hateful toward Maggie. She is horrid and cruel. But Maggie has also come to the attention of the watching Olympians from high on their mountain. While Aries is away searching out Maggie's past, Apollo comes to inform Maggie that Zeus wants to see her. Zeus is convinced that Maggie knows how his daughter Artemis was murdered and he hates Celts and fey so he plans to use her as bait against Cernunnos a god of the Celts.
When Aries learns of Maggie's past and became privy to her vicious brutalization, he avenges her and acknowledges that he has come to care for her. Their tentative relationship is tested strongly because of all those who seek them harm. Cernunnos has chased Maggie claiming her as wife so that he can use her for his nefarious ends, most of the Olympians and hate and are jealous of Aries and they feel the same about Maggie. They fight for their lives several times and their love is tested in the worst way when Aries is hit by a curse from one of Cernunnos' druids. There is also a huge betrayal by those close to them that give Cernunnos an edge. I don't want to offer any spoilers so I will stop there.
The plot grabbed me from the beginning and this book was a page turner. The pace fluctuated between times of intense action or passion to gentle tender moments. The intrigue kept me guessing so many times. And there were so many heartwrenching moments. Aries and Maggie really do have have a tough go of things. This was a fairly long book, but never boring.
The characters were well drawn and this is Ms. Darling's strength IMHO. Aries was one hunky god and Maggie was his opposite in appearance, but they were so right for each other the way they were written. I really appreciated how Lisa Beth wrote her Aries. He was a real god of war with all the brute strength, rough edges, and fiery nature. He is not even likeable in the beginning of the book. Maggie is equally well drawn. She is so spunky and she has a powerful love even though she is a relatively ordinary-looking woman. I love how the Olympians are present as characters and those from other myths mentioned.
A bit of warning there is a great deal of steamy sex and a few non-consensual scenes. Some of the action scene are on the brutal side.
This was a great epic love story and I look forward to reading more from this author.
Heart of War is the story of Aries the God of War and Magdalena McCleod a half fey. Aries has been exiled from Olympus for hundreds of years for crimes that he did not commit. He lives as a hedonist with several women to serve him on his Greek island. One day, his boring existence is interrupted by the battered body of a woman rolling up on his beach. At first, Aries is suspicious and cruel, but Maggie's warm spirit starts to melt his cold heart. He decides that though she cannot remember how she got there he wants to know all about her.
Aries attention to Maggie does not go unnoticed by his other women. One of them, who considered herself his consort, becomes jealous and hateful toward Maggie. She is horrid and cruel. But Maggie has also come to the attention of the watching Olympians from high on their mountain. While Aries is away searching out Maggie's past, Apollo comes to inform Maggie that Zeus wants to see her. Zeus is convinced that Maggie knows how his daughter Artemis was murdered and he hates Celts and fey so he plans to use her as bait against Cernunnos a god of the Celts.
When Aries learns of Maggie's past and became privy to her vicious brutalization, he avenges her and acknowledges that he has come to care for her. Their tentative relationship is tested strongly because of all those who seek them harm. Cernunnos has chased Maggie claiming her as wife so that he can use her for his nefarious ends, most of the Olympians and hate and are jealous of Aries and they feel the same about Maggie. They fight for their lives several times and their love is tested in the worst way when Aries is hit by a curse from one of Cernunnos' druids. There is also a huge betrayal by those close to them that give Cernunnos an edge. I don't want to offer any spoilers so I will stop there.
The plot grabbed me from the beginning and this book was a page turner. The pace fluctuated between times of intense action or passion to gentle tender moments. The intrigue kept me guessing so many times. And there were so many heartwrenching moments. Aries and Maggie really do have have a tough go of things. This was a fairly long book, but never boring.
The characters were well drawn and this is Ms. Darling's strength IMHO. Aries was one hunky god and Maggie was his opposite in appearance, but they were so right for each other the way they were written. I really appreciated how Lisa Beth wrote her Aries. He was a real god of war with all the brute strength, rough edges, and fiery nature. He is not even likeable in the beginning of the book. Maggie is equally well drawn. She is so spunky and she has a powerful love even though she is a relatively ordinary-looking woman. I love how the Olympians are present as characters and those from other myths mentioned.
A bit of warning there is a great deal of steamy sex and a few non-consensual scenes. Some of the action scene are on the brutal side.
This was a great epic love story and I look forward to reading more from this author.
July 29, 2014
Our Review [By LITERAL ADDICTION’s Pack Alpha-Michelle L Olson]:
Ares, God of War, has been exiled from Olympus and lives on his own private island with his harem of women. He’s pretty much what you’d expect from A God of War—a misogynistic jerk with little to no regard for the value of a woman and you can’t help but hate him. When a new women washes up on his private beach, Ares is in for quite the surprise (or SURPRISES as it would seem), and you find yourself softening to him as the story progresses.
Maggie (Magdalena by birth, called Alena by Ares) washes up on a shore with a spotty memory, a gritty past, an attitude, and several secrets. When she meets her new host, her life as she knew it becomes something entirely new. When you first meet Alena it’s hard to like her because you really don’t know much about her. You feel for her as tidbits are revealed, but at first she seems somewhat naïve and vulnerable. That doesn’t last long. She becomes the heroine you want in a paranormal romance and then some.
If you’re a fan of mythology you will absolutely love this book! It explores close to all of the Greek Gods and Goddesses as well as several of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses and lesser magickal beings as well.
As for overall storyline, this book has it all, but as Lisa’s website states, her books are not for the faint of heart! The book was an action packed thrill ride full of twists and turns and surprises you’d never see coming. It had steamy romance, gut churning violence, heart pumping action sequences, witty dialogue, vivid imagery, & head scratching mystery and intrigue.
There were characters you loved, characters you loathed, characters you just couldn’t get a good grasp on because they were so mysterious, and supporting characters that brought everything together nicely.
From a series standpoint, I felt that this first book was a greatly laid foundation for the next installments. Though readers who dislike significant back-story may find pieces of it boring and drawn out, I personally felt that it was necessary to set up the remainder of the series going forward.
I do have put in a caveat for Kindle eBook readers. There are numerous errors in the Kindle copy from Amazon. If you have an internal editor that you just can’t shut off, it might be wise to read the book in a different format. Or just do as I did and tell your inner editor to shut the hell up because the story was too good to put down because of typos, missing words, etc!
All in all, LITERAL ADDICTION Paranormal Book Club gives The Heart of War 4 Skulls, and would definitely recommend it to Fantasy and Romance Readers who like their PNRs edgy, gritty, and not all hearts and flowers.
Ares, God of War, has been exiled from Olympus and lives on his own private island with his harem of women. He’s pretty much what you’d expect from A God of War—a misogynistic jerk with little to no regard for the value of a woman and you can’t help but hate him. When a new women washes up on his private beach, Ares is in for quite the surprise (or SURPRISES as it would seem), and you find yourself softening to him as the story progresses.
Maggie (Magdalena by birth, called Alena by Ares) washes up on a shore with a spotty memory, a gritty past, an attitude, and several secrets. When she meets her new host, her life as she knew it becomes something entirely new. When you first meet Alena it’s hard to like her because you really don’t know much about her. You feel for her as tidbits are revealed, but at first she seems somewhat naïve and vulnerable. That doesn’t last long. She becomes the heroine you want in a paranormal romance and then some.
If you’re a fan of mythology you will absolutely love this book! It explores close to all of the Greek Gods and Goddesses as well as several of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses and lesser magickal beings as well.
As for overall storyline, this book has it all, but as Lisa’s website states, her books are not for the faint of heart! The book was an action packed thrill ride full of twists and turns and surprises you’d never see coming. It had steamy romance, gut churning violence, heart pumping action sequences, witty dialogue, vivid imagery, & head scratching mystery and intrigue.
There were characters you loved, characters you loathed, characters you just couldn’t get a good grasp on because they were so mysterious, and supporting characters that brought everything together nicely.
From a series standpoint, I felt that this first book was a greatly laid foundation for the next installments. Though readers who dislike significant back-story may find pieces of it boring and drawn out, I personally felt that it was necessary to set up the remainder of the series going forward.
I do have put in a caveat for Kindle eBook readers. There are numerous errors in the Kindle copy from Amazon. If you have an internal editor that you just can’t shut off, it might be wise to read the book in a different format. Or just do as I did and tell your inner editor to shut the hell up because the story was too good to put down because of typos, missing words, etc!
All in all, LITERAL ADDICTION Paranormal Book Club gives The Heart of War 4 Skulls, and would definitely recommend it to Fantasy and Romance Readers who like their PNRs edgy, gritty, and not all hearts and flowers.
October 27, 2011
Wow that was one hell of a ride. Or more like a journey to the end of the earth and back;)
First I want to start by saying that I am going to try and write this review without spoilers...so I apologize a head of time for my annoying vagueness;)
Alena has been on the run her whole life desperately trying to outrun her fate to marry Cerunnous. (A Celtic half man/half beast God) For the last 7 years she has lived in a camp in Africa. In some of the worst, most unimaginable Hell's, but to her it is a small price to pay if it means she is not married to him.
Ares, the God of War, has been living for hundreds of years on his island ever since he was exiled by his father Zeus for killing Eros wife Psych. That's right, Ares was convicted of killing his own sons wife! So Ares has lived a life of war and sex with his 8 women slaves on his island in relative peace until a strange women washes up on his shore.
Where did she come from? Who sent her? Who is she?
These are all question he wants answers to after finding Alena's lifeless body on his beach. The last thing Alena remembers is boarding a boat, and now she is covered in sand in the arms of some strange man that is yelling at her. Soon they will both learn their fates weren't at all what they thought them to be, and maybe it's time to stop running from them.
This book was one editing session away from being Kresley Cole IAD good. There were typo's galore on every page! But in the end you will see that I still gave it 4 stars...because the content was great! I also felt this book should have been split into two books. It was extremely long and at times the length was intimidating. Take me-->a girl that reads on average 5 books a week, sometimes more. This book took me 5 days to finish. For me that is insane! But there are plenty of plot twists and climax points that this could have easily been split into two books.
HEY! Get your mind out of the gutter!!!
And speaking of gutter...I was under the impression that this was labeled an "paranormal erotica", but I feel it is more of a "paranormal romance." Here is why...for one thing there is an actual PLOT here. One that by far out ways the hot sexiness. Also there are a LOT of graphic rape and abuse scenes in this book which can in now way, unless you should be locked in a prison, considered a turn on. With that in mind I would also like to say that this is not for the faint at heart.
Overall I can't wait to read the next book and if you think you can handle the violence I say you should give it a go...you won't be disappointed;)
First I want to start by saying that I am going to try and write this review without spoilers...so I apologize a head of time for my annoying vagueness;)
Alena has been on the run her whole life desperately trying to outrun her fate to marry Cerunnous. (A Celtic half man/half beast God) For the last 7 years she has lived in a camp in Africa. In some of the worst, most unimaginable Hell's, but to her it is a small price to pay if it means she is not married to him.
Ares, the God of War, has been living for hundreds of years on his island ever since he was exiled by his father Zeus for killing Eros wife Psych. That's right, Ares was convicted of killing his own sons wife! So Ares has lived a life of war and sex with his 8 women slaves on his island in relative peace until a strange women washes up on his shore.
Where did she come from? Who sent her? Who is she?
These are all question he wants answers to after finding Alena's lifeless body on his beach. The last thing Alena remembers is boarding a boat, and now she is covered in sand in the arms of some strange man that is yelling at her. Soon they will both learn their fates weren't at all what they thought them to be, and maybe it's time to stop running from them.
This book was one editing session away from being Kresley Cole IAD good. There were typo's galore on every page! But in the end you will see that I still gave it 4 stars...because the content was great! I also felt this book should have been split into two books. It was extremely long and at times the length was intimidating. Take me-->a girl that reads on average 5 books a week, sometimes more. This book took me 5 days to finish. For me that is insane! But there are plenty of plot twists and climax points that this could have easily been split into two books.
HEY! Get your mind out of the gutter!!!
And speaking of gutter...I was under the impression that this was labeled an "paranormal erotica", but I feel it is more of a "paranormal romance." Here is why...for one thing there is an actual PLOT here. One that by far out ways the hot sexiness. Also there are a LOT of graphic rape and abuse scenes in this book which can in now way, unless you should be locked in a prison, considered a turn on. With that in mind I would also like to say that this is not for the faint at heart.
Overall I can't wait to read the next book and if you think you can handle the violence I say you should give it a go...you won't be disappointed;)
August 2, 2011
Read my full review on Paromantasy
The Heart of War has it all: Heart-pumping action, blood-boiling romance, spine-tingling danger, head-puzzling mystery, and in the middle of it all rages the biggest war of all time...the war of love and with that, the heart of war.
Ares is the God of War, and has always looked out for numero uno. After being worngly accused of the murder of the goddess Psyche and banished from Olympus, he sets base on an island - roaming the mortal world and taking a number of women to his island to do his bidding, while also taking men to form his own personal army. There he lives a simple life bedding his women and doing as he pleases, that all changes when a mysterious woman washes up on his shores. Intrigued he lets her live, but little does he know that she will alter his life forever... Alena is a fairy who has been on the run after being forced to marry the evil God Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death, and having a chastity belt placed on her at an early age. After witnessing the horrid things Cernunnos is capable of, she runs and lives in constant fear of being discovered, only to find that there are others capable of evil in the world. After an encounter leaves her memory in shambles and her struggling for life in the depths of the seas, she is rescued when she washes up on the shore of an island..Ares' island. She soon finds that Cernunnos is not the only God that she should run from. Ares is everything that she never wanted, but soon finds herself needing. When the pair unite their worlds are flipped upside down, and all that they thought they wanted turns out to be the last thing they need. With love growing between them with every day that passes, they must soon make a decision - stay together or grasp the dream they have been chasing from the beginning. Can Alena give her heart and her freedom to a God when she sees what they are capable? Will Ares pick love over the chance to reclaim his throne on Olympus? More importantly, will Cernunnos destroy all that they love and worked for before it even has a chance to begin?
This book will have you laughing, crying, cheering and screaming as it takes you on an emotional roller coaster with Alena and Ares at the wheel. This is a gripping book that will leave you breathless and wanting more!
The Heart of War has it all: Heart-pumping action, blood-boiling romance, spine-tingling danger, head-puzzling mystery, and in the middle of it all rages the biggest war of all time...the war of love and with that, the heart of war.
Ares is the God of War, and has always looked out for numero uno. After being worngly accused of the murder of the goddess Psyche and banished from Olympus, he sets base on an island - roaming the mortal world and taking a number of women to his island to do his bidding, while also taking men to form his own personal army. There he lives a simple life bedding his women and doing as he pleases, that all changes when a mysterious woman washes up on his shores. Intrigued he lets her live, but little does he know that she will alter his life forever... Alena is a fairy who has been on the run after being forced to marry the evil God Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death, and having a chastity belt placed on her at an early age. After witnessing the horrid things Cernunnos is capable of, she runs and lives in constant fear of being discovered, only to find that there are others capable of evil in the world. After an encounter leaves her memory in shambles and her struggling for life in the depths of the seas, she is rescued when she washes up on the shore of an island..Ares' island. She soon finds that Cernunnos is not the only God that she should run from. Ares is everything that she never wanted, but soon finds herself needing. When the pair unite their worlds are flipped upside down, and all that they thought they wanted turns out to be the last thing they need. With love growing between them with every day that passes, they must soon make a decision - stay together or grasp the dream they have been chasing from the beginning. Can Alena give her heart and her freedom to a God when she sees what they are capable? Will Ares pick love over the chance to reclaim his throne on Olympus? More importantly, will Cernunnos destroy all that they love and worked for before it even has a chance to begin?
This book will have you laughing, crying, cheering and screaming as it takes you on an emotional roller coaster with Alena and Ares at the wheel. This is a gripping book that will leave you breathless and wanting more!
February 26, 2013
Review:
Where to begin with this review, let me just say first of all. If I could have rated this book higher I would have, it was that damned good. As many of you know I am mythology junkie. If it has any type of mythology you better believe I am going to read it, especially Greek. I have been wanting to read this book for so long and I am so glad I have. It truly rocked my world that is how much I loved this book.
Now I was warned of certain situations in this book and while it didn't bother me, because frankly I hate to say it, but it had to happen. So if you are like the author said , it is not for the faint at heart. This book might not be for you. I won't lie and say I didn't wince a few times but that certainly didn't deter me from enjoying this book.
I want to say I love love love Ares. I can't say that too often, because most of the time when I have read about him, I hated him with a passion. And with this one at first I wasn't sure but I kept an open mind and read on and fell deeply for this god. I can't say that for some of the other gods featured in this book.
But that is what makes me love this book so much, is that I felt for these characters, whether it was love or hate I felt!! The story as well grabbed me and wouldn't let go until I finished (and let me say I had many of sleepless nights because I couldn't stop thinking about this book).
I can't forget the hot smexy action, phew I was sweating a few times that's how steamy it is. But like I said above there are situations that might make some of you uncomfortable so forewarn. Those gods weren't always pleasant and sweet. But they are God's after all.
I could honestly go on and on with this review. I just can't get enough of Ares and Alena(Maggie) they have to be listed as one of my favorite couples of all time. I want to say thank you to the author for giving me another series to obsess over.
So if you love Greek Mythology, Strong Adult Themes(Dark in some cases), Hot and I mean Fiery Hot Smexy Action, this book is for you. It's long so be prepared to lose some sleep over this one. I surely did.
Where to begin with this review, let me just say first of all. If I could have rated this book higher I would have, it was that damned good. As many of you know I am mythology junkie. If it has any type of mythology you better believe I am going to read it, especially Greek. I have been wanting to read this book for so long and I am so glad I have. It truly rocked my world that is how much I loved this book.
Now I was warned of certain situations in this book and while it didn't bother me, because frankly I hate to say it, but it had to happen. So if you are like the author said , it is not for the faint at heart. This book might not be for you. I won't lie and say I didn't wince a few times but that certainly didn't deter me from enjoying this book.
I want to say I love love love Ares. I can't say that too often, because most of the time when I have read about him, I hated him with a passion. And with this one at first I wasn't sure but I kept an open mind and read on and fell deeply for this god. I can't say that for some of the other gods featured in this book.
But that is what makes me love this book so much, is that I felt for these characters, whether it was love or hate I felt!! The story as well grabbed me and wouldn't let go until I finished (and let me say I had many of sleepless nights because I couldn't stop thinking about this book).
I can't forget the hot smexy action, phew I was sweating a few times that's how steamy it is. But like I said above there are situations that might make some of you uncomfortable so forewarn. Those gods weren't always pleasant and sweet. But they are God's after all.
I could honestly go on and on with this review. I just can't get enough of Ares and Alena(Maggie) they have to be listed as one of my favorite couples of all time. I want to say thank you to the author for giving me another series to obsess over.
So if you love Greek Mythology, Strong Adult Themes(Dark in some cases), Hot and I mean Fiery Hot Smexy Action, this book is for you. It's long so be prepared to lose some sleep over this one. I surely did.
January 15, 2013
SOLID 3.5 STARS
I've never read this type of take on the "God of War" Mr. Ares before. So the tone of the book and his character took a bit of getting use to. If you like Greek Mythology there is plenty of it here but with a twist. This kept the book entertaining for a bit but after awhile it just starts to get a bit tedious. There are things here that will shock, dismay, and utterly gross you out.
This book has the lighter side of things but is also a very gritty very dark read. It's not for the faint of heart. There is excessive incest, rape, and all other things sexual here. You've been warned, but the plot here keeps you intrigued. Anxious to learn how things will unfold. I had a few gasps & shockers.
Although this story has all the elements that I love in a genre like this, it just didn't grab me the way I hoped. When it came to Ares the Man/God, it felt as though something was lacking. Alena, I liked her but I wasn't really feeling the pairing between her and Ares. They had their sweet, sexy, & down right frightening moments together, but over all they just came off as luke warm at best to me.
There were scenes in this one that were quite funny at times but still felt out of place some how in certain scenes. So this threw me a bit and just came off as too cheesy at times and others left me with the question of "Why?"
Also, this story is way longer than it needs to be. It's quite wordy. There are a few chapters that could have been cut down or left out entirely. If you can get through this and the grittier parts, I'd say it's not a bad read. Just keep an open mind cos it's nothing like anything that you would be expecting.
I've never read this type of take on the "God of War" Mr. Ares before. So the tone of the book and his character took a bit of getting use to. If you like Greek Mythology there is plenty of it here but with a twist. This kept the book entertaining for a bit but after awhile it just starts to get a bit tedious. There are things here that will shock, dismay, and utterly gross you out.
This book has the lighter side of things but is also a very gritty very dark read. It's not for the faint of heart. There is excessive incest, rape, and all other things sexual here. You've been warned, but the plot here keeps you intrigued. Anxious to learn how things will unfold. I had a few gasps & shockers.
Although this story has all the elements that I love in a genre like this, it just didn't grab me the way I hoped. When it came to Ares the Man/God, it felt as though something was lacking. Alena, I liked her but I wasn't really feeling the pairing between her and Ares. They had their sweet, sexy, & down right frightening moments together, but over all they just came off as luke warm at best to me.
There were scenes in this one that were quite funny at times but still felt out of place some how in certain scenes. So this threw me a bit and just came off as too cheesy at times and others left me with the question of "Why?"
Also, this story is way longer than it needs to be. It's quite wordy. There are a few chapters that could have been cut down or left out entirely. If you can get through this and the grittier parts, I'd say it's not a bad read. Just keep an open mind cos it's nothing like anything that you would be expecting.
April 8, 2011
The gods are real, and yes, they’re just as attractive, sensuous, awe-inspiring and sexy as you’ve imagined. They’re living among us, along with other creatures such as the magical earth children the Feys.
Ares, the god of war, is isolated on an island for crimes he did not commit. He spends his time cajoling with his guards and sleeping with his women, but this is not enough. Eventually his peaceful world is consumed with Maggie, a Fey who washes ashore on his island. Her story is a mystery, and the more he finds out about her links to the Celtic god Cernunnos, the more intrigued he becomes.
But Maggie turns out to be the god of war’s ideal woman – she is strong and brave, and also healing and maternal – and he falls in love with her. But her link to the Celtic god Cernunnos plunges Ares into a battle for Maggie, and perhaps for his very life.
Lisa’s writing is intense and descriptive, and her narrative flows smoothly. The main events in the plot are interspersed with amusing events and anecdotes, as well as plenty of erotic scenes to keep lovers of the genre happy. Some readers might find these aspects a bit diverting from the main storyline, but they do help to add a particular sense of reality to the story.
The main characters are rich in emotion and personality, and even humour, lending the novel a particular likeability.
Overall, the novel was a joy to read, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too!
Ares, the god of war, is isolated on an island for crimes he did not commit. He spends his time cajoling with his guards and sleeping with his women, but this is not enough. Eventually his peaceful world is consumed with Maggie, a Fey who washes ashore on his island. Her story is a mystery, and the more he finds out about her links to the Celtic god Cernunnos, the more intrigued he becomes.
But Maggie turns out to be the god of war’s ideal woman – she is strong and brave, and also healing and maternal – and he falls in love with her. But her link to the Celtic god Cernunnos plunges Ares into a battle for Maggie, and perhaps for his very life.
Lisa’s writing is intense and descriptive, and her narrative flows smoothly. The main events in the plot are interspersed with amusing events and anecdotes, as well as plenty of erotic scenes to keep lovers of the genre happy. Some readers might find these aspects a bit diverting from the main storyline, but they do help to add a particular sense of reality to the story.
The main characters are rich in emotion and personality, and even humour, lending the novel a particular likeability.
Overall, the novel was a joy to read, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too!
September 30, 2011
The Heart of War is a brilliantly told story that sucks you in right away and doesn't let go of you. It's an emotional roller-coaster filled with anger, lust, betrayl, heart break, and love that leaves you on the edge of your seat until the book ends. Lisa weaves heart racing battle scenes and sizzling, toe curling sex scenes, that played in my head like a movie, with mythology. Ares is a fascinating character and the fact that he's the story's 'hero' makes the story quite unique. The descriptions are amazing. The world building is phenominal! The book is long, but never once did I feel that it was too long. It was the perfect length!
One of my favorite parts of the story was the dialog and how the different gods and goddesses interact with one another. Love the cover, too! I can see myself reading this book again and again, and am even considering buying a paperback copy to place on my bookshelf!
I can't wait to get my hands on the second book in the series.
I recommend this book to anyone that's looking for a steamy paranormal book, with lots of action, adventure, and something much more entertaining that vampires and werewolfs!!!
Because of the battle and sex scenes (including rape), I would suggest that readers be 18+.
One of my favorite parts of the story was the dialog and how the different gods and goddesses interact with one another. Love the cover, too! I can see myself reading this book again and again, and am even considering buying a paperback copy to place on my bookshelf!
I can't wait to get my hands on the second book in the series.
I recommend this book to anyone that's looking for a steamy paranormal book, with lots of action, adventure, and something much more entertaining that vampires and werewolfs!!!
Because of the battle and sex scenes (including rape), I would suggest that readers be 18+.
August 4, 2011
This book centres around Magdalena, She washed up on island which belongs to Ares the god of war. Ares is cold and doesn't normally take the time to remember peoples names. But when it came to Magdalena something was different, he took the time to get to know her. He finds out she is to marry a Celt god, who she has been trying to run away from and escape. As time goes on Ares finds her intriguing and things start heating up.and he finds out what she's been running from.
In this book I see how people can change from being really bad to softening and being good. and it all being down to the way you feel about someone. Now I will say that this book isn't for the faint hearted, because this book does hold a certain shock factor. It has really intense battle seances and really bad rape seances but if you can get past that I think you will find that its a really good read. I found that Lisa is really good detail and description. I think you should forget about the shock factor (on less you love a book to shock you) and give this book a try, because I did really enjoy it.
In this book I see how people can change from being really bad to softening and being good. and it all being down to the way you feel about someone. Now I will say that this book isn't for the faint hearted, because this book does hold a certain shock factor. It has really intense battle seances and really bad rape seances but if you can get past that I think you will find that its a really good read. I found that Lisa is really good detail and description. I think you should forget about the shock factor (on less you love a book to shock you) and give this book a try, because I did really enjoy it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2014
I received this book in exchange for an honest review (LoP or Lovers of Paranormal)
I thought this novel was quite good. The marriage of Greek Mythology, Celtic Mythology and the modern world was quite interesting. The story takes place when a woman, named Alena, finds herself washed ashore on an island that inhabits Ares, the God of War, who was exiled there. The author's portrayal of Ares, as well as the other Greek Gods and Goddesses, was quite enjoyable, with a sense of humor and also their duplicitous natures. There was a lot in the way of side stories or backstory, which was quite informative, but made the pacing of the book a bit slower. The heroine, Alena, who harbors a secret past of her own, was also an interesting character, strongly written. What I found most interesting was the insight into Celtic Mythology, which was the first time I had ever read a book on the subject, as I was previously aware of Greek Mythology. I look forward to more books in this series. I recommend this book for its humor, sexy chemistry, and unique plot line.
I thought this novel was quite good. The marriage of Greek Mythology, Celtic Mythology and the modern world was quite interesting. The story takes place when a woman, named Alena, finds herself washed ashore on an island that inhabits Ares, the God of War, who was exiled there. The author's portrayal of Ares, as well as the other Greek Gods and Goddesses, was quite enjoyable, with a sense of humor and also their duplicitous natures. There was a lot in the way of side stories or backstory, which was quite informative, but made the pacing of the book a bit slower. The heroine, Alena, who harbors a secret past of her own, was also an interesting character, strongly written. What I found most interesting was the insight into Celtic Mythology, which was the first time I had ever read a book on the subject, as I was previously aware of Greek Mythology. I look forward to more books in this series. I recommend this book for its humor, sexy chemistry, and unique plot line.
October 3, 2011
Cant wait any longer... gotta read it. OMG! I LOVE This Book! Lisa has created a very descriptive world, in so much so, that I felt like I was standing on a set watching a movie. Very hard to put down! The characters are so well introduced and realistic that I felt their emotions as the action-packed scenes played out, this is NOT A YA READ!
Ares is a moody, funny, and OMG HOTT, SEXY GREEK GOD! Demanding and dangerous, yet has a heart underneath that BADASS exterior. I love the Outlaw, and that he is!
Magdelena is a fiesty little Fey, she has warrior blood and will stand her ground and back her man if need be. She does what must be done to stay on the run from Cernunnous.
This storyline is amazing. The sensual parts are well-versed and easily followed. I
definitely want to read the next installment in this series.
I would recommend book to anyone over 18 due to the graphic 'toe-curling' sexual content!
5 out of 5 Hearts
Lovetiggi's Book Reviews
Ares is a moody, funny, and OMG HOTT, SEXY GREEK GOD! Demanding and dangerous, yet has a heart underneath that BADASS exterior. I love the Outlaw, and that he is!
Magdelena is a fiesty little Fey, she has warrior blood and will stand her ground and back her man if need be. She does what must be done to stay on the run from Cernunnous.
This storyline is amazing. The sensual parts are well-versed and easily followed. I
definitely want to read the next installment in this series.
I would recommend book to anyone over 18 due to the graphic 'toe-curling' sexual content!
5 out of 5 Hearts
Lovetiggi's Book Reviews
March 6, 2015
A mythology lovers work of art. This Greek God paranormal thriller entices the reader from the start. The fast paced blending of the modern world and the ancient realm of immortals crosses boundaries in an epic love story.
The Greek god of war, Ares is a compelling protagonist who makes the perfect match for Alena, the fey beauty. Darling’s portrayal of Ares is spot on presenting his strength of nature and disputable personality. Their chemistry is infectious and is communicated to the reader. The characters are extremely engaging throughout the story and even though the characters are immortal they portray the exact characteristics as the humans around them.
I was provided a copy of the book by BTS eMag for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review – all conclusions are my own responsibility.
The Greek god of war, Ares is a compelling protagonist who makes the perfect match for Alena, the fey beauty. Darling’s portrayal of Ares is spot on presenting his strength of nature and disputable personality. Their chemistry is infectious and is communicated to the reader. The characters are extremely engaging throughout the story and even though the characters are immortal they portray the exact characteristics as the humans around them.
I was provided a copy of the book by BTS eMag for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review – all conclusions are my own responsibility.
August 3, 2014
Please note. I did not finish this book! So my review is based on what I have read and why I decided to put it aside.
Ares is an amazing character. Maggie was a bit less awesome. She is far too fickle for my taste. She is however not a bad character. Simply faded next to Ares who was portrayed as a greek god and the author did an amazing job in "fleshing" him out.
It is with the "fleshing" out literally that I had a trouble. The sex scenes at times was sensual then unnecessarily rough. It got to be too much for me.
The other point that made me put the book aside is the fact that the plot moves forward very slowly and most plot highlights that I came across was of a sexual nature. Simply not for me.
Ares, however is a rocking character if only he could keeps his pants on a bit more.
WaAr
Ares is an amazing character. Maggie was a bit less awesome. She is far too fickle for my taste. She is however not a bad character. Simply faded next to Ares who was portrayed as a greek god and the author did an amazing job in "fleshing" him out.
It is with the "fleshing" out literally that I had a trouble. The sex scenes at times was sensual then unnecessarily rough. It got to be too much for me.
The other point that made me put the book aside is the fact that the plot moves forward very slowly and most plot highlights that I came across was of a sexual nature. Simply not for me.
Ares, however is a rocking character if only he could keeps his pants on a bit more.
WaAr
April 22, 2011
It doesn’t take long to realize Ares is an ass. He is definitely the spoiled, self-important brat that the gods of Olympus think he is. Lots of stories like to romanticize the Greek gods, but in reality they were a petty and mean bunch of beings. As a fan of dark paranormal stories, telling a story about the Greek gods as a dark erotic story only makes sense.
There are lots of reviewers out there that loved this book. I was impressed with how Darling took the Greek mythology and made it her own in The Heart of War.
read the rest over at: http://www.loveromancepassion.com/rev...
interview with the author: http://www.loveromancepassion.com/get...
There are lots of reviewers out there that loved this book. I was impressed with how Darling took the Greek mythology and made it her own in The Heart of War.
read the rest over at: http://www.loveromancepassion.com/rev...
interview with the author: http://www.loveromancepassion.com/get...
June 8, 2014
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review, Lovers of Paranormal.
I was drawn to this book at the mention of Greek Gods. All stories about the Gods vay enormously on the characteristics of the Gods. They have a basic premise and then the gloves are off. This one certainly didn't disappoint. I was hooked from the very beginning. Ares was beautifully written and had a captivating personality. The chemistry between Ares and 'Alena' was great.
There were stories within stories in this book. I recently read more on Cernunnos so was intrigued when he appeared too. There were so many aspects to this book you never knew where it would take you. I was thoroughly gripped throughout.
I can't wait to read more in the series.
I was drawn to this book at the mention of Greek Gods. All stories about the Gods vay enormously on the characteristics of the Gods. They have a basic premise and then the gloves are off. This one certainly didn't disappoint. I was hooked from the very beginning. Ares was beautifully written and had a captivating personality. The chemistry between Ares and 'Alena' was great.
There were stories within stories in this book. I recently read more on Cernunnos so was intrigued when he appeared too. There were so many aspects to this book you never knew where it would take you. I was thoroughly gripped throughout.
I can't wait to read more in the series.
May 4, 2011
Addicting! The relationship between Ares and Alena is pure gold, watching the characters evolve and grow was a special treat. The writer's style is amazing, I laughed at parts, cringed and cried at others, and cheered when the bad guys were brought down in very high style. I really enjoyed that the story wasn't two-dimensional--as in only being told from one POV-- and that it's told from several points of view so that the reader is immersed in all that's going on and there is a lot going on. The sex scenes left me breathless as the writer isn't afraid to go where most others wouldn't dare to tread. The ride is long, intense, and worth every penny.
December 16, 2012
Got The Heart of War last night. Took all night but I finished it. OMFG that book was AWESOME!!!! There were so many twists and turns, ups and downs that I was fascinated and appalled in turn. From the synopsis I read i thought it would be a smut fest, violent fest in turns. What I got instead was fairly tasteful and emotional sex between the to main characters, and justified and not an overwhelming amount of violence. This is a DARK book, but it ends happily. There are some hard to read and heart breaking moments but the beautiful ones make up for it. I wish i could find more info on the sequel though. It will be on my must read list when it comes out!
January 27, 2012
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This is a good book with a great main story line, two very likeable main characters you really want to see together and a nice mix of mythologies. The author has a very engaging writing style, keeping the reader on their toes the whole time. She describes violence as well as
sweet romance with equal intensity. This book contains quite a lot of graphic violence, including sexual violence/abuse, and I believe that anyone who wants to read this book should be well aware of this.
This is a good book with a great main story line, two very likeable main characters you really want to see together and a nice mix of mythologies. The author has a very engaging writing style, keeping the reader on their toes the whole time. She describes violence as well as
sweet romance with equal intensity. This book contains quite a lot of graphic violence, including sexual violence/abuse, and I believe that anyone who wants to read this book should be well aware of this.
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