Immortal Rider by Larissa Ione

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
The signs are everywhere...disastrous world events. Evil rising up, unleashed upon the innocent. The prophecies were there...but no one listened. Until now. The time has come for those who can either usher in Doomsday...or prevent it. They are here. They ride. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Arik Wagner, a soldier with the U.S. Army's paranormal unit, the R-XR, kissed a girl and liked it. And then he went to hell as punishment. Where he's spent weeks being tortured...and plotting revenge.

Limos, Horsewoman of the Apocalypse, isn't your average girl. She's immortal, dangerous, and her fiancé is Satan himself. In a moment of weakness, she gave in to her desire and kissed Arik, triggering her fiancé's wrath - and his claim on her. In order to save Arik, and theworld, Limos must make a dangerous pact with her recently turned evil brother, Pestilence. A deal that might just cost her her soul...and her heart.

My Review
The second book in this series is about Limos, aka Famine, the Horsewoman of the Apocalypse and Arik, a human and brother of Runa, the werewolf from the Demonica series.

Limos is a hard ass warrior - she has to be she one of the four Horsemen and is half demon and half angel, but she's also a spoilt little princess having grown up with her mother Lilith in Sheoul, where she didn't get to experience a "normal" childhood. Arik, on the other hand, is a human whose childhood was pretty horrific and ran away at the age of 18 to join the army followed by joining up with the R-XR (government supernatural agency) later on.

He ends up kissing Limos at a party and she kisses him back, but with dire consequences for him - he is immediately dragged off to Sheoul and tortured like crazy for a month or so, whilst his torturers are trying to make him say Limos' name. Limos feels guilty, but doesn't really do much to help him as she knows she cannot really spend much time in Sheoul because her betrothed, husband-to-be is none other than Satan himself and he will capture her if she does.

Eventually Arik escapes with a little help from a demon and Pestilence (if you can call his actions help) and Limos finds him. He forgives her rather easily in my opinion, although I don't really think she knew what would actually happen if he kissed her. She does know what will happen if he tries to remove her chastity belt though, which only her husband can remove - cue big loophole in her marriage contract!

After Pestilence's many interruptions and world devastating events, Limos and Arik get together, but their wedding day is far from being the happiest of their lives as it should be. Limos has to finally reveal her hidden, most darkest secrets to her brothers.

Oh and Thanatos almost broke his seal, but it didn't break to everyone's surprise and now the race is on to work out what will cause his seal to break. I didn't like Reagan's "Wham-bam-thank-you-man" act though - made it pretty obvious to him she was screwing him over in one way or another.

I really enjoyed this action packed book with a lot of romance and a fair few heated scenes as well. I thought Limos and Arik's relationship was sweet, if not a bit too rushed in my opinion, but I guess that they had to move fast to stop Satan and his cronies! I just wonder what Satan's payback will be now...And will they ever work out what will step or redeem Pestilence back into his Reseph form? I thoroughly enjoy Larissa Ione's writing style, which made me lose a lot of sleep reading this book - I just couldn't put it down!

Can't wait to read the next one in this series!

I received a copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley and would like to thank them for it.

Seducing the Demon Huntress by Victoria Davies

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
Trick or treat, survive until the night's complete.

For most people Halloween is a night of candy, costumes and revelry but for Kerilyn, it’s the most dangerous night of the year. Hailing from a line of demon hunters, Kerilyn’s family has long been hated by the ruling lords of the Netherworld. On All Hallow’s Eve, the deadly brothers are released from their realm, along with their subjects, the spirits and the demons. Like every good hunter, Kerilyn fortifies her home with spells and tricks to keep her safe. But there is one man no spell can protect her heart from.

Arawn, Lord of the Spirits, has appeared at her fence every Halloween for years. While the handsome lord may turn her head with his heated looks and seductive words, Kerilyn knows without a doubt that should she ever invite him in, her life would be forfeit. But when his brother, the Lord of the Demons, kidnaps her niece, Kerilyn must leave her sanctuary. Now she has a choice. Can the man she’s dreamed of for years be trusted, or will the spirit lord help his brother destroy her?

My review
I really enjoyed this short story, but my only gripe with it was that it was just a little too short, so I am hoping there will be a follow up detailing how Kerilyn and Arawn get on in the Spirit world.

Kerilyn is the last of her hunter family. She knows that Hallowe'en is not just a fun night, going out trick or treating and that instead she must stay indoors with all the jack o'lanterns lit to stop the spirits from getting to her.

Arawn is the Lord of Spirits and has visited Kerilyn for the last nine Hallowe'en nights. He is determined to get her to open her gate and invite him in, but she finds him harder and harder to ignore each year.

This year is different though. Her niece has been kidnapped by Arawn's brother, the demon king and there is no-one else who can save her. This means Kerilyn has to leave the safety of her house for the very first time on Hallowen'en night. Will Kerilyn be able to get to Sarah in time? Will Arawn help her or lead her straight to the demon king's trap? Kerilyn doesn't know whether to trust what Arawn says or not, but she knows that she is going to go down fighting either way.

This was a lovely romantic story, with a great action plot alongside it. Although Arawn showed Kerilyn exactly what he felt about her, I can completely understand her reservations about him. Will definitely be on the hunt for the next book if there is one!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and would like to thank the author and publisher for the opportunity to read it!

Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter by Richard Parks

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
In an ancient Japan where the incursions of gods, ghosts, and demons into the living world is an everyday event, an impoverished nobleman named Yamada no Goji makes his living as a demon hunter for hire.

With the occasional assistance of the reprobate exorcist Kenji, whatever the difficulty — ogres, demons, fox-spirits — for a price Yamada will do what needs to be done, even and especially if the solution to the problem isn’t as simple as the edge of a sword.

Yet, no matter how many monsters he has to face, or how powerful and terrible they may be, the demons Yamada fears the most are his own!

My Review
This was my first ever venture in reading anything about Ancient Japan and some of their mythology and I quite enjoyed it! Yamada no Goji is a demon hunter, but not the demons of modern day urban fantasy books, but ancient Japanese demons who can shapeshift into various forms, some of whom are dangerous and some can be quite helpful, for a price! Not knowing anything about this period of history I wasn't sure what to expect, but the author has obviously done his research and everything was explained fully and was well written too.

This book consisted of several short stories all revolving around our hero, who, with frequent help from his priest friend Kenji, aids those in need to solve supernatural mysteries. Yamada is well known for his discretions and his love of sake and whilst not a rich man, certainly knows his demons and ghosts! Each short story follows on from the previous and they all flow very well. I liked Yamada as a character - he was very realistic and likeable. Kenji, his almost side-kick was amusing at times too.

The only problem I had with this book was the female characters. There were no major female characters, which wasn't a problem, but those that did appear were not the strong characters I usually like to read about; they tended to be quite devious instead. I guess that is just a sign of the times in which this book was written in though.

I would like to thank the author and publishers for providing me with a copy of this book through NetGalley.