As one of the twelve Guardians of the Realms, Urian has spent the last several centuries in a constant battle to keep the inhabitants of Earth’s Realms under control. Humanity needed to evolve, hell beasts needed to die, and Immortal races needed mates. Unfortunately, he found that he cared less about duty, and more about when his sexy voyeur would again grace the shadows to watch as he and his brother Guardian shared one of the human females frequenting the club. All Guardians were forbidden contact with the little goddess and her brothers, but his need for her was escalating. He found it more difficult than ever to keep from pinning her face down on the nearest surface, and making her his.
Alexandra and her brothers have avoided exile from the human Realm for centuries, ever since the Creators sent the Gods to sleep for their sins against humanity, and banished the Immortals. She has always known that she was needed on Earth. Only once had she gone against her instincts and the price she paid will forever haunt her. It is for that reason she forces herself to stay away from the only male that has ever truly enticed her. The only one that has ever made her flesh heat, and her stomach quiver with desire.
In desperate need to help her beloved brother, she will have to go to the enthralling Guardian, her dark obsession. He is her best hope to get the help she needs, even though he would surely attempt to exile her. She won’t go easily…
Keep eating me up with those eyes, little goddess, and I’ll be so deep inside that hot little pussy you won’t remember what you came her for.
With a title and cover like that, you have to wonder how well a book will deliver on the erotic element that’s promised. In the case of this book book, no worries are needed. Ecstasy Unbound starts out with a bang, and concludes with one too. I’m sure you get my drift here…
But dirty in the most delicious way, of course.
Being the first book in a series, it’s always a concern for me if the world building and story will suck me in enough to keep me interested to continue with the series. In the case here, the answer would be a resounding HELL YES. Setta Jay takes a new and very interesting spin on the Greek gods lore. You get a little bit of everything, gods, demons, hell hounds, immortals. And while there is quite a bit of world building that takes place, it never got too wordy for me. It did take a while for me to wrap my head around all the different details and gain an understanding, but that’s to be expected with the first book in a series.
If you’re expecting a PNR novel with some steam, that’s not quite what you’ll get here. This is an EROTIC novel, and being that there are some HIGHLY erotic scenes; menage, voyeurism, the works. Which was right up my pervy little alley. I love me my smutty smut.
I do have to warn you that there is a rape scene that some may be uncomfortable with. It was detailed and quite graphic, yet the way it was done left me unsure how I feel about it. I’m not sure how to best describe it, but while it was rape, it wasn’t a violent one.
There was the “mate” element that you get in most PNR books. But what I enjoyed here, is neither Alexandra nor Uri fight their connection. Setta managed to throw in some undeniable sexual tension, steam, and build a believable connection between two characters without settling for a case of insta love or an overly drawn out angsty “she may be my mate but I don’t want her” situation.
There were several characters that were introduced, but it wasn’t overwhelming or too wordy. It was just enough to give the reader a little crumb and leave you wanting to know more about them.
Of course this being a first in a series, it wasn’t without a few kinks. (Pun intended)
But I digress…
So what didn’t I like?
The overuse of words like ‘ liquid heat’ and ‘core’. I don’t mind it a few times, but it does tend to grate on me when authors get too creative with the sex scene lingo. It’s an erotic novel, ‘pussy’ will do 95% of the time.
The very graphic rape scene. It left me feeling confused. I seriously didn’t know how to feel after reading it.
The fact that the 2 men were obviously not big on the rape thing and attempted to make Sam enjoy it…I don’t even know. I’m still trying to figure out how I felt about it. (UPDATE: the new version of the book has a different version of his scene)
Other than that, I did enjoy this. I’m definitely hooked enough to continue with the series, especially with that little teaser in the end for Gregoire.
I’m also hoping to get more of Sam and Alexandra’s brother, Erik in the next book too. Their story really tugged at my heart strings, and I’d love to see them get their HEA.
So if you’re a fan of erotic PNR, with fantastic world building, sexy Guardian warriors, and enough action to keep you reading well into the night…then definitely give this book a try.
I’m already in pervy anticipation for the 2nd book. Fingers crossed it will be Gregoire’s.
***ARC courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review***
If you have any doubt about my ability to fuck the ever-loving sarcasm right out of you, I’ll be more than happy to clear it up.”
As much as I enjoyed Hayden’s character, at times I did get irritated with the way she seemed to hit below the belt with her insults. I understood the why’s of it, but it did still grate with me a bit. I felt that there were times that she should have been going after Bret and smoothing things over, not the other way around.
