Release Day Review: Reckoning by S.J. Harper

 

Reckoning

(Fallen Siren #2) S.J. Harper
Release: October 7, 2014
Links Amazon Goodreads
Summary: Join Agents Emma Monroe and Zack Armstrong.
She’s sacrificed. He’s suffered. They’ve both been betrayed.
Now it’s time for a reckoning.

Special Agent Emma Monroe has a secret. She’s a Fallen Siren, cursed by the gods and banished to Earth for her failure to prevent the kidnapping of Persephone. As an FBI agent she saves the lives of others believing redemption could be one rescue away.

Her partner Zack is a werewolf and former Black Ops sniper who once carried out a string of questionable assignments. Now he’s determined to atone for his past. Ironically, there’s a portion of his past Zack doesn’t remember—an affair with Emma. Giving into their attraction for one another almost led to their undoing. Now it’s back to business as usual.

While trying to unravel the mystery behind a series of kidnappings in Southern California, Emma and Zack become entangled with political tensions in the vampire and Were worlds. Not to mention the struggles they face in their relationship with one another. With so much uncertainty, they come to realize the only thing they can really count on is one another…or can they?

 

Review: I absolutely loved this book! I could not put it down! I got in bed to read and all of a sudden it was 2 AM and I had finished it!

Zack and Emma are both trying to move on from the events at the end of Cursed, though he doesn't actually remember what happened. She's been seeing the vampire king of the Southwest, Kallistos, who she met in the last book, but she's trying to keep it casual. He wants to make the relationship official, but it seems to be more out of a need for control than for love. I also got the feeling that he may still be in love with Emma's sister, though he hasn't seen her in centuries, and may be using Emma as a substitute. Zack is living with Sarah, the were from his old pack who followed him to San Diego. But neither partner is doing a very good job forgetting their feelings. Their time together is often tense as Zack tries to get Emma to talk about the connection they have and she tries desperately to avoid it.

As if things weren't awkward enough, they have to seek assistance from Kallistos and his team to investigate the disappearances. Emma suffers from some serious testosterone overload when the vampire king and the werewolf end up in the same room. I loved the scenes with the three of them trying to work together. It's also really interesting to see the difference in the way the two men treat Emma, especially at a particular pivotal moment.

To make matters worse, a rival vampire king and the alpha werewolf from Zack's old pack both show up in town. Politics start intruding on their ability to work the case, especially where the vampires are concerned. Emma starts to question her relationship with Kallistos when she sees where his priorities lie. Though honestly I was questioning from the beginning, just not for the same reasons that Zack was. The vampire plotline gets wrapped up nicely, but I felt like the weres were left hanging a little bit.

I've decided the best way to describe this series may be that it's a romance without the HEA. If you remember how Cursed ended, you'll understand. Without being too spoilery, all I can say is I don't know how many more of these endings I can take. It's heart-wrenching. But then I knew something was going to go wrong when Demeter got involved.



Recommended for fans of: hunky werewolves, mythological creatures, sexy UF like Keri Arthur's Riley Jensen series

This review is based on an ARC I won from the author on Facebook.

    1/2

4 1/2  stars