MacRieve by Kresley Cole

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?

REVIEW

I doona believe it. Kresley Cole's only gone and done it again. 

For me, the IAD series stands apart from all other paranormal romance series as one of the most reliable, trustworthy, guaranteed good time reads there is. No matter the couple, no matter the improbability of a love match between them, Cole always manages to deliver the goodies (Mmm, except maybe that one about the French ballerina chick, that one was kinda sucky). The paranormal romance genre can get incredibly formulaic, and it would only be fair to admit that Cole's stories also follow a distinct pattern—fated mates thrown together from opposing factions fall hopelessly in love—yet after 13 books, Cole's still managing to keep things fresh, introduce new ideas and yet more new races in a world already crammed to the rafters with fun supernatural species, as well as maintaining the cleverly intertwined and overlapping background stories that make up the overarching series theme regarding the war with Order, and the Accession, which is of course the catalyst behind all the unexpected mate pairings.

For the most part, MacRieve was no different to the usual formula, although with perhaps a little less action and adventure than other instalments have had. This one was really all about the romance, and it was a romance filled with lots of lovely anger, hatred, bitterness, spite... You know, all those really sweet, romantic feelings that just make your heart sigh. Except not really. And I'm afraid I can't even tell you why it was like that to assuage your concern since the cause is a spoiler. But I will say it was one of those reads that made me wonder more than once just how on earth they would ever reconcile with each other. Naturally, I needn't have worried; Cole does these misconceptions amazingly well. And although the hurtful words and actions may pinch at the time, watching these big, braw males—especially the Scottish Lykae variety. Rawr!—fall to their knees and grovel once they realise what humongous asshats they've been, is soooo very worth it.

Main character MacRieve is of course Ullieam MacRieve, whom we've met before in other books. He has a yummy identical twin called Munro, and the pair are affectionately nicknamed "Hot and Hotter" among the Lore. Much to their chagrin, I might add. MacRieve has had an awful time of it (understatement), and his long life has been affected by a tragedy that took place when he and Munro were but thirteen—nearly nine centuries ago. Then, more recently, he had the privilege of being an unwilling guest at the Order compound—Chez Torturé—that's been a feature of the last several books. There's nothing like a bit of fully concious vivisection to mess with a person's mind. Does that excuse his behaviour towards Chloe in this book? Eh, I suppose it just might. Just.

Chloe was a great character. Perhaps not the most thrilling or exciting the series has ever seen being but a mere mortal, but she was quietly awesome just the same. In fact, she brought nearly all of the lightness and levity to the book, which was a lot to ask of one character. That was largely due to the fact that MacRieve and Chloe were secluded in Scotland for much of the book, or at this new werewolf compound setting (which introduced us to some great new personalities, incidentally), resulting in a distinct lack of Witches and Valkyries apart from a very brief glimpse of Nix right at the beginning who was up to her usual matchmaking shenanigans. The absence of all those crazy and hilarious female characters this series does so well was disappointing, and even though Chloe did her best to provide that attitude and sass all on her own, bless her, I still missed them and am hoping to see them back in the next book in full force!

To sum up, MacRieve is a welcome addition to the IAD line up of hot hotties, and Cole is in fine form. And although the plot was perhaps not quite as exciting as previous books have been, there's definitely still enough going on to keep readers more than satisfied. And after that tantalising epilogue, the next book simply can't arrive soon enough!

4 Stars ★★★★