Review - MacRieve - By: Kresley Cole

Title: Macrieve
Author: Kresley Cole
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: July 2nd, 2013
Series: Immortals After Dark #13
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Synopsis via Goodreads

In this pulse-pounding Immortals After Dark tale, #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole delves into the darkest mysteries and deepest passions of Clan MacRieve. . .

A Beast In Torment

Uilleam MacRieve believed he’d laid to rest the ghosts of his boyhood. But when a brutal torture revives those ancient agonies and destroys his Lykae instinct, the proud Scot craves the oblivion of death. Until he finds her—a young human so full of spirit and courage that she pulls him back from the brink.

A Beauty In Chains

Seized for the auction block, Chloe Todd is forced to enter a terrifying new world of monsters and lore as a bound slave. When offered up to creatures of the dark, she fears she won’t last the night. Until she’s claimed by him—a tormented immortal with heartbreaking eyes, whose touch sets her blood on fire.

A Full Moon On The Rise

With enemies circling, MacRieve spirits Chloe away to the isolated Highland keep of his youth. But once he takes her to his bed, his sensual mate becomes something more than human, evoking his savage past and testing his sanity. On the cusp of the full moon, can he conquer his worst nightmare to save Chloe . . . from himself?

My rating:

After sorting through a bunch of "meh" YA and New Adult, the release of Kresley Cole's MacRieve was just the non-narcotic boost I needed. I feel like a random, crazy song & dance is in order. Or maybe just a spontaneous combustion or something.

Yes! I give it 5 freaking stars and this book earned every single one of them.

I don't even know where to begin with Will and his mate, Chloe, so let me just start off by mentioning: yes, Chloe definitely is a species that hadn't really been delved into yet, as per Kresley Cole's tweeting about the novel prior to its release. And yes, within 10 or so pages of reading I'd correctly guessed what she'd be.

And now that that's out of the way, onto the best part: Chloe's personality. Chloe was amazing! She's my favorite heroine in the series, I think. From her first appearance to her last, her character was consistent and entertaining. Initially, she was human, but when she got tossed into the Lore she took it all head-on with her stay-positive attitude. She was badass without being too flashy about it. She was tough and hilarious and NEVER backed down without all of the obnoxiousness that comes from being all of those things. From the start, she never took any of Will's shit (and there was A LOT of it), and when things got rough between them--and not in the good, naughty way--she'd fire right back at him. She had a game plan of what she was going to do even as more problems were flying at her that she never strayed from. Everything about her was real, even as the world she'd known wasn't, and I really enjoyed reading about her.

And then we have Will aka Uilleam aka Ooh-lay-umm as Nix called him. He was a mess. A big, dark mess and he knew it. I mean, it was somewhat understandable considering what happened to him in the past and then what happened during his capture & torture. He was this big, broody, broken Lykae who suddenly found his mate, and just when things were looking up...in true KC fashion, everything came crashing down in a big pile of lust, anger, bitterness, past trauma, and prejudice. The romance between him and Chloe happened so quickly (I think he fell for her in all of 24 hours, but it's okay 'cause Chloe's just that awesome) and so when it went awry, it nearly self-destructed. Will had a lot of things he needed to work on before he could be with Chloe (namely his disgust for her species) but when he finally got over it, it was glorious.

The later half or so took an interesting turn. It kind of reminded me of a fairy tale, something like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. Chloe got sick, and [*this might be a little spoilery, so keep reading at your own risk*] only Will's literal "true love" could save her. If there was no love, then she would have died. Except, this is a KC novel, so instead of true love's kiss saving her, it's true love's third time doing the horizontal tango. After that, it stopped focusing on Will & Chloe's relationship, as they got their HEA a little early.

We get a couple surprises, and if I'm not wrong, I think Munro might be next in line with his HEA looking at how badly things ended for him. Or maybe not, since he'd need a bit of time to wait and see how things go. I know I'm being vague, but I'm trying not to give any spoilers away.

As for cameos from other characters in past books, there weren't many in person. Nix, of course, was there, as was Malkom Slaine. Some were merely mentioned. Others like Regin and Mariketa were only there through overheard cell phone conversations, which was kind of a bummer and a good thing. It left room for Chloe & Will to develop their feelings for one another, but I kinda wanted to know what was going on with everyone else.

As always, KC delivers with this book. Her prose was gripping as she delved deeper with the worldbuilding and introduced new characters and new species of the Lore. It took me about two days to finish this book, since the only time I put it down was when I all but passed out from exhaustion. Chloe & Will fit so well together while still being strong individuals. And while there was more focus on building up the romance and not as much action as we'd usually see in an IAD novel, it's okay because the romance is what I'm here for anyways :)