Author: ⟫ Joel Abernathy
Blurb: ⟫ Most fallen angels fell for Lucifer.I fell to save the boy I was created to protect, trading my freedom—and my soul—for his life.
Sterling, the twisted and immortal alchemist who now owns me, is hell-bent on using me as the power source to resurrect his murdered lover. My blood provides enough energy to fuel his dark arts, but as the years wane, he turns to more intimate means that are entirely foreign to me—and his touch ignites a fire within me I wasn't created to discover.
Now that he's nearly bled me down to the last drop and still hasn't succeeded in his blasphemous mission, I should despise him more than ever. And I do. But even though I know it means nothing to a straight man who still yearns for his wife's embrace, the carnal bond our bodies have forged has drawn something far more unforgivable to the surface.
I'm beginning to fall for him.
Author's Note: This is a complete stand-alone MM Romance between a snarky fallen angel and a morally deficient sorcerer that features omega-verse dynamics (no mpreg), bi awakening, smoking hot demons, and extreme enemies-to-lovers dynamics. See author's website for content notes.
Review: ⟫ This felt very much like a story of two different halves. Initially, Sterling was using Cael for his angel-powers, draining him in order to create the necessary spell to get his wife out of Purgatory. It was torture for Cael – not only had he fallen for a human who ultimately proved to be unworthy, but his feeling for Sterling were complicated.
Over the passage of time, Cael’s feelings for Sterling changed, as did he. He was weakening – dying – and his usefulness to Sterling was coming to an end. This was where I felt the book took a turn into a completely different territory, territory I wasn’t expecting but am very much here for. I think if I had read the blurb more fully, I wouldn’t have been as surprised by the shift but I’m actually glad that I didn’t because it enlivened things just as I was beginning to wonder how there could be so much of the story left.
We met Angels, Nephilim, relatives of Sterling’s – and Cael had given in to many human temptations, even as his feelings and need for Sterling remained a constant source of shame, shackles more solid than any contract. There was a change in Cael that could not have been expected, and a shift into a supernatural aspect that I wasn’t expecting and that felt a little incongruous. But it was handled so masterfully, with exposition given skilfully without going overboard.
The storytelling was engrossing – enough depth to immerse without overpowering – and I was happily along for the ride. So much so that I didn’t sleep all night and felt the need to write my review while it was all fresh in my mind.
Out of the cast of characters, I think my favourite was Jay, although Cael came a close second. There was something so vulnerable, so honest about him that even when he was feeling ashamed of himself, he was still a fighter. And his actions in the second half of the book were brilliant – I actually wanted to applaud him!
The writing was crisp, energetic and so different from anything I’ve read of Joel Abernathy’s before but I really enjoyed it. I know it says that it’s a stand-alone, but I would absolutely love to know Jay’s backstory! Very happy to give this 4.5/5 and round it up – an engrossing, entertaining read!
I received an ARC from GRR.
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