Kaderin the cold-hearted is sent to Russia to kill a mysterious vampire holed up in a decrepit castle. But, when she gets there she hesitates. And from there it gets HOT. Despite the fact that she hates vampires because one killed her twins and she's been cursed with having no feelings. This vampire definitely woke up those feelings! Their first interaction! Wow. Sebastian, the missing brother of Nikolai wants to die and almost gives in until he meets Kaderin, and becomes blooded.. meaning she's his Bride. He spends the entire book trying to convince her and sometimes himself that he's different, not part of the Horde and that they are meant to be together.

Now.. the scenes were SEXY AF. Especially on the plane! Who knew! And I just love how they fell into marriage type scenes a few times so naturally, until Kaderin fights it and runs away.
I loved how he worked to help her win the Hie and the twist ending though! Ugh. If she wasn't so stubborn! But.. she got her sisters back AND gets to be with him! I just love them together.

The Amazing Race with Fae, Valkyrie, Witches, Sirens, Lykae and Vampires……Game On.

In a seething voice, he said, “Bride, you have a bit of shark on your chin.” She wiped it off with the back of her arm, her mien defiant. “You bit them?” “They bit me first! And I didn’t have much of a choice.”

How could you not enjoy this book in the series, there is the mystical equivalent of the Amazing Race, a Hot Hero bound by honor, a heroine on a noble quest to save her sisters and a Goddess that seems to be pulling the strings. There was always something happening in this book and I loved how vindictive everyone in the game behaved toward one another, it is a pit of vipers for sure.

Sebatian is my kind of hero, he is full of honor always trying to protest those he loves. He was ready to die when he meets Kaderine, ashamed of his life as a vampire he is ready to end it all until his heart starts beating for her. Valkyrie are hard to catch though and especially this one since she hasn’t had any feelings for 1000 years.

As Sebastian competes against Kaderine and for her at the same time he finds that she might be small and look timid but that is far from the case and even though all of his instincts say to save and protect her Kaderine is not one to let a man take care of her. The banter and fighting between them is funny and hot. Sebastian knows that she is his Bride but he isn’t going to lie to her either.

“A hint, Sebastian? If you’re courting a woman, you could pause a nanosecond before declaring that you don’t love her. Maybe act as though you’d considered the possibility. Or you could lie. Or you could gloss over it by predicting that you will in the future.”

I LOVE crazy Nix…I want a book just about her. She gets so of the best lines and I love it when she is on the page. I always picture in my mind as this crazy old lady but we all know the Valkyrie stop physically aging at about 25 so that is not the case. Still she is an amazingly fun character. I also really liked Regin in this. She got some really funny lines and drove Kaderine a little crazy too.

“…You think Dostoyevsky is Russian for ‘How ‘s it hanging?’”
She blinked up at Kaderin as she paced by. “Then how do you say it?”
“I-don’t-know.”
“Then how do you know it’s not Dostoyevsky? No. Really.” She blew a bubble with her gum – possibly the first to do so at this location – but it flash-froze, and she had to crunch it back to gum consistency with her molars. “Obi-Wan, I was your only hope.”

Kresley Cole’s sense of humor jumps off the page. I giggled multiple times while the nymphs and the gallery watching the race and making commentary in the back ground as well as at the dialog between the H/h.

An entertaining and light read for when you need a little semi-dirty adult PNR in your life.

I actually really liked this book! I would totally recommend this series (I'm reading it out of order and everything still makes sense so ig it could be read alone.)

I love that he became interested in her before he realized that the MC was his bride! It felt a little more natural that way. Also, this dedication to trying to make it work for the possibility of having a relationship with her was admirable. I also like the development of the romance; you could feel the range of emotions from both POV’s. My favorite arc of the story was when she realized that she actually liked him and he was preparing himself to let her go.

Rating: 4.5/5

Deep characters. Sassy dialogue. Excellent pacing--and all with a steamy love story that will suck you in and not let you go. That's Kresley Cole.

Kaderin and Sebastian, in particular, are among my favorites in this series.

Coming back to this series after a long time away and hoo boy I forgot how spicy Kresley Cole can write those sex scenes.

3.5 - this was fun! I liked the amazing race for magical items plot line. Also sebastian was just sort of adorable.