Danni
I remember nothing of my abduction two years ago. Sounds and scents trigger horrific flashes, but it’s all a blur except for one man with brilliant green eyes. When the tatted six foot two Adonis shows up at my door, my knowledge of the world is shattered.
Bound to the immortal Scar by an ancient spell, we are on the run. Because Balen is the hunted.And if he dies, so do I.
Balen: Scar
My code of honor was respected without question … until I consumed the blood of a vampire in exchange for a mortal woman’s freedom. The Scars want me imprisoned. The Wraiths want me dead. But the woman I can’t forget needs me. And I’ll risk everything to protect her.Even if it means killing her.Because in order for her to live—first she must die.Full-length novel. Come meet the Scars.
Scars: Immortal warriors with capabilities derived from the senses: Trackers, Sounders, Healers, Tasters, Visionaries, and the rare Reflectors. They each have what is known as an Ink, a tattoo that can be called to life.
There are three full-length prequels to TAKE (scars of the wraiths). This is book One.
All three prequels were previously published and have been re-written entirely and are now in multiple first person POVs.*Stygian was originally titled JUMP.
I’d fight for you, Danni. Right to the fuckin’ end. I’d never stop. No matter what shit was put up against us, I’d keep fighting.
This book was everything I love about PNR. Having read and loved Take, I was super excited to get my hands on more of the Scars. But where Take read more like a standalone and had the romance be the predominant element, Stygian had a lot more PNR elements that I couldn’t get enough of. Having read Take first, I couldn’t help thinking that I was missing a lot of the backbone of the story behind the Scars. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of back story and world building in that book. But it still took me a while to wrap my mind around everything. There was even a glossary of terms in the beginning. I really think that Nashoda should have began this series with this book, because it managed to do what Take couldn’t. It totally and completely sucked you into the world building element of the story. It truly fed you every bit of detail piece by piece where you’ll never feel lost (no glossary required). If anything, I’d recommend starting with this book first before you read Take, for no other reason than this book will absolutely hook you on this series.
Danni spent horrific days in captivity at the hands of a sadistic monster that got off on her pain, but she doesn’t remember it. Bits and pieces will randomly slam into her mind, but she can’t put them together. All she knows is that she was taken, and then she wasn’t. The nightmarish flashbacks torture her even more because she doesn’t know if they’re real or not.
But nothing haunts her more than a pair of captivating green eyes and the ruthlessly handsome face that’s attached to it. So much so, that she’s been obsessively painting the man for the two years after her captivity not knowing if he’s a memory or just a figment of her imagination.
Balen is a Scar that sold his soul to the devil in order to stop Danni’s pain. Having to watch her torture day in and day out while being completely powerless to help her ate away at him until finally he made a decision that would very well cost him his life. If the vampire blood he consumed won’t kill him, the Deaconry and The Wraiths will since it goes against their every rule. But he’d do it again if he had the choice. What he can’t seem to do now, is get the woman out of his mind. Inexplicably drawn to her, he gravitates to her like a magnet even though his presence is dangerous to them both.
I loved getting more history on The Scars here. You truly get a grasp for their world, especially with additional POVs with a few integral secondary characters. Adding additional POVs to a story on top of the MCs can be tricky, since sometimes they may just complicate things. Fortunately, Nashoda Rose pulls this off seamlessly. I really felt like the secondary POVs only added to the story without ever being confusing.
I absolutely LOVED Danni and Balen not only together but as individual characters. Danni has this tough shell, but inside there’s this incredibly endearing vulnerability to her. It was also such a refreshing change to get a hero like Balen. While he manages to have this air of ruthlessness to him, he’s so soft and caring with Danni. You can truly feel the connection between them, and not just on the sexual level. Though let me tell you, that sexual level was hot as hell!
I was completely enraptured with this story. It sucked me in from the very beginning and I couldn’t seem to put it down until the end. Between the romance for Danni and Balen, there was so much else going on.
My only quibble is that I couldn’t help but feel there was supposed to be a book before them, one for Anstice and Keir. There was a lot of reference to what happened between them, as well as what happened between Anstice and Balen. Now while it does get explained in more detail towards the end, I feel like maybe it should have been addressed earlier in the book.
Aside from that, there was really nothing else that I didn’t love. I was practically salivating for any and all additional details between Waleron and Delara. Man oh man does their story sound like it’s bound to be a juicy one. I was already captivated by them in this book and they were just secondary characters.
Stygian was action packed, steamy, and filled with intricate world building. Not many authors can pull of switching between contemporary and PNR, but Nashoda definitely pulls it off and pulls it off well. PNR is my first love, and to say that I’m picky about it would definitely be a gross understatement. While I wasn’t quite sold on the series after Take (I just loved that story as a whole), this one absolutely sealed the deal for me.
Then of course there was the teaser for Kilter’s book. Now if there’s anything that this author does extremely well, that’s write one hell of a sexy asshole. Kilter? Sweet baby jebus, I’m not even sure if my ovaries will survive him. But what a way to go! The set up for his book sounds absolutely amazing!
Nashoda is incapable of writing a book that I don’t completely devour, and this was no exception. If you’re a fan of steamy PNR, then you definitely don’t want to miss this book. I’d suggest starting with Stygian first and then reading Take. You’d enjoy it a heck of a lot more 😉
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