3.5 Stars!

My first read by MA Grant, and I’m confident it won’t be my last.

This starts out with ex-marine Atlas, who’s been traumatized by a mysterious attack that left him the sole survivor of his combat unit, struggling daily with PTSD. However, his sister owns and operates a successful private security agency, and there just so happens to be a lucrative contract that other employees have not meshed well with. This serendipitously adapts for Atlas’s personal/physical struggles that traditional protection jobs can’t typically accommodate.

What I appreciated was the slow burn between Atlas and his charge Christian. They barely tolerate each other, sometimes they oppose one another but ultimately, they learn that there’s more than meets the eye on both their parts, resulting in grudging respect and inevitably more. Secrets abound, politics and takeover machinations are constantly brewing, lives are in danger, and these two must learn to trust each other before it’s too late.

This had a good foundation to the paranormal world building, more I suspect will be further explored in the next book. This also brings a slight twist to standard lore which I enjoyed and want to know more of. Despite my absolute disbelief that Atlas never had a weapon on him (once he utilized a knife), I also suspect that will change in the sequel. Apparently, I need more dead bodies and gore than previously thought. Lol.

Again, a good start to what I hope will be an even better series. And that ending?? I loved it! ( )

I got to read the NetGalley ARC, this is my honest review.

I can't believe anyone got me to enjoy a vampire book. Not just that, but I will definitely be reading the series, as well.

Choosing to stay with Atlas as POV character while he figures out what he's walked into is brilliant. The tension is terrifically handled as Atlas (former Marine, now bodyguard) confronts inner and outer demons, and while the arc is common when we have to face our wrong assumptions, the way the author shows us his path is entirely satisfying. This one ends in peril without a HFN, but I found it satisfying and would like to have the next book now, please.

Quote:
Alone together, Cristian’s silence reminded Atlas of the stillness that came after removing body armor , when the skin and muscles remember to move differently, when common sense warns to approach the surrounding world with a bit more caution. ( )

Slightly different take on vampires but still recognizable enough to not be too weird or jarring for vampire aficionados. This book relies heavily on the hurt/comfort trope with our main hero, Atlas, being a wounded US Marine now working for his sister's security agency in their hometown.
Stationed in Romania for some reason, he was attacked by what seemed like feral vampires and lost his whole squadron but no one believed him when he returned home. Now he grapples with that on top of PTSD and whole-body wounds but still is able to do casual security work to make a living.
The book starts with him on assignment for some B celebrity at a fairground and it doesn't really fit the tone for the character or the book that we see after. After he leaves a very dissatisfied customer and returns home to face his sister/boss, she puts him on a long term assignment for a very rich local mogul, Decebal, who basically owns the entire town (I think it's in upstate New York?). The catch is that it's very hush hush and only at night.
Then we meet Christian, the mogul's son, who is the typical rich kid playboy and is the ringleader of his friend group which just hangs out at his posh house constantly. Turns out Atlas' assignment is to shadow Christian. Decebal has been doing some shady business in order to secure his hold on the town and now "people" are after him and his assets - including his heir.

There's a lot of different action scenes in this book that keep the plot rolling and it's more of a slow burn romance. There's a bit of an insta-attraction but the author lets it play out more naturally than a lot of other MM romances. The one explicit scene is a bit jarring as I didn't feel it fit/was bad timing or was even necessary, but you can chalk it up to adrenaline I suppose. Atlas makes a lot of suspect decisions, especially in the name of revenge against all vampire-kind, but then eats his foot later when he sees ~the real Christian~ and falls for his charge, a la The Bodyguard.

I enjoy Grant's writing and a decent vampire MM is hard to find so I will def be continuing with the series. ( )

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. I enjoyed this!

I didn't know anything about this going in. I just saw this and requested it because I really liked M.A. Grant's other series and wanted to read this. I was expecting it to be sort of similar to her other series and it was, but with a different sort of paranormal element. There's definitely a bit less world building. There were parts of this where I honestly couldn't tell if vampires were a know entity in this world or not. Hopefully some of that will be fleshed out a bit more in subsequent books but I do think we got a good introduction in this book, especially as the story progressed.

I liked the characters. Christian and Atlas are both interesting. I still feel like I don't know them super well because they both spend a lot of this book being pretty guarded, especially Atlas. This is understandable for their characters but I am hoping that we'll learn more about them as the relationship progresses. There's still so much we don't know about their backgrounds so hopefully that will get fleshed out. There is an instant attraction between them but I do think the attraction developed naturally after that point and I'm excited to see where it goes.

This does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger. This book does have some interesting plot. Some points were frustrating for me as far as communication issues and Atlas trusting some people faster than I think his character would suggest but ultimately, I think this is a really good set up to a series and I'm excited to see where this goes. ( )