“We haven’t met… I’m Kori Daniels. If you don’t get that gun out of my face, I’m gonna take it, then I’m gonna break your jaw so I can unhinge it and shove your pistol down your throat. That way the bullet goes through the long way (page 273.)” It’s been ages since a second book in a series has given me so much pleasure. I loved so many things in this one that not even that slightly clumsy intention revealing internal monologue care of Ian, my favorite character, drew away from my enthusiasm for it because everything else in it was simply awesome.Characters. Ian’s a little like Seth from in Mead’s Succubus series, or at least that’s what he wants others to think. If you couple this front of his with what he actually was… well, witness me stake a claim on my new book crush. Then Kori, first introduced in Blood Bound, friend to Olivia. Here it becomes clear why the two were friends at all even with both doing things uncharacteristic of one called ‘friend.’ Both are tough… except that maybe Kori’s the more vulnerable of the two, the one slightly more damaged. It’s the drama she was contending with that I thought pushed the series from the realm of UF heavy on the love-drama to something more nitty-gritty, something more tough to swallow. Come to think of it, Kori does read a little like Seth’s George, bound but still fighting. Not quite sassy rather more coarse in how in-your-face she could be. It’s complicatedWhat’s better is how the two of them find themselves on opposing sides when in fact they’re so similarly situated. They’re both strong, tough and go out of their way to protect those they consider theirs. So, they’re actually motivated by more or less the same thing, but with neither aware of the same, there I was unsure about whom to cheer for more loudly. It was fun watching them dance around each other all reluctant and wary but still helplessly drawn to the other. And then the more they got to know, the more they feel the pull… and the more complicated their respective sides of the story became.But It’s not complicated… How Ian is now my new favorite male lead with him presenting this non-threatening front but acting counter to it time and again. And while Kori may not be my favorite lead, that I did enjoy her because she added a touch of vulnerability to the kick ass heroine mix. Not that it was all dark and tough, there’s this humor to her, more so with Ian in the picture. They had me laughing at the most unexpected moments: “…I am offended on behalf of pretty people everywhere. I’m not chiseled jaw and eyes you could get lost in. I am worth more than the sum of my defined biceps, sculpted pecs and a six-pack you could scrub laundry on.”I nearly choked on an ice cube. “You have a six pack?”“Okay, maybe a four pack. At least a carton of hard lemonade.”Loved this !Thanks Net Galley!4/5