What a riot this book was! I felt like rediscovering what the genre of urban fantasy is about all over again. Loved it!

Zara Lane was a snarkalicious, wonderful, cheeky and at the same time ruthless heroine. She is an assassin for hire with only a few friends, so when an order taken from one of them sends her into a trap and all hell breaks loose, Zara is seriously pissed off.

Enter a gorgeous, rogue warlock, his friend Peter, - a bookish demonologist, and a fellow vamp with no morals. Add an inter dimensional, inter species conspiracy intent on ruling the world of supernatural, a whole lot of shooting and fighting, some sexy times and a great love story, and I was bloody hooked.

A winsome heroine, non-stop action, and a heart-breaking ending with constant stream of snark equals to a great read in my book. Very much recommended! ( )

Zara, a high class thief turned hit woman, goes to visit her friend and rogue witch Mishka for her next contract, or assignment. The warlock leader of a rivaling coven to Mishka's parents' coven. Even though the pay is less, a lot less, than she wants she is talked into the job for the spoils Sean O'Connor has in his home AND for the bounty on his son as well. In the process of the job Zara learns some interesting information and goes back to Mishka for answers. Only to find there is more trouble lurking in the shadows, and there are those after the powerful witch covens and vampires too. Death and 'napping is at an all high for both groups. Zara gets pulled into the mix while protecting herself, then to protect others as well.

I really enjoyed the writing style here in this book. The way the picture is drawn with the character and the surroundings used with each other to see. The comparisons used and metaphors to help get the feel across to us. The story kept moving forward, even when I thought the worst has happened the world opens up to a new level of bad for the characters. Always moving forward with the action and happenings, to then bring you to the end that works out... for almost everyone.

Quickly in the first chapter I got pulled into the world and meet Zara, which had me liking her off the bat. The way the story is worded has me on Zara's side with her vamping ways, and agreeing with her on her pick in victims. Zara has a snarky humor and loves her clothes. What girl doesn't, right? But, as Zara can at times come across self-centered, I still got the feel there was more to her as to why she acted this way. And boy did I learn more about her. Even in the end Zara had me worried and scared. But I enjoyed where Skyla took the story.

Zara felt as she really grew for me as I got to know her better through the book. The author, Skyla, is not afraid to pull the punches on her characters, and by doing so has created a fast paced action read with a touch of fun snark that you wont want to stop turning the pages of, just to see what trouble Zara will fall into next.

Then there are the secondary characters, which I really enjoyed. They blended well with Zara, even when they clashed in personality. There was one character I loved who ended up being not so nice, but I still enjoyed his character! Another character ~ Nathan ~ brought more out of Zara and connected with her nicely, even though they are two different people. Mm, mm, mm. Nate! He is the next hottie Warlock around. He is more than what meets the eyes, so keep an eye on him. ;)

I liked the take on Vampirism in this book. It is more a demon parasite and has a system about it. Very nice take on it! For I could follow and believe the vampire development in this world.

At the end of the book there's a short story, Thrall. Which is from Nathan's point of view while Zara and he are... separated... (once you read the book you will understand.) This is a wonderful addition to the story! It gives you a little more insight to the world of magic and vampires as the story is told from Nate's eyes and feelings. And once the story is all done and you read this one, you start to think on what might happen in the future...

I will definitely be looking for more of this series and world. The next two books will have an appearance by Zara but will be from a different characters view on their stories. But don't fret as Zara will be back in book 4 and I'm waiting for her, and her friend... I can't wait for these characters again and to see what they have in store for us. ( )

Review to follow! ( )