Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Darkest Heart by Juliette Cross Series: Dominion #1
Published by Entangled Publishing on August 20, 2018
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Pages: 348
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Anya—a stoic, blue-winged angelic warrior— was bitten by a demon prince in battle, and now she has precious little time to find a cure for his deadly venom. But the only archangel with the power to stop the dark poison from corrupting her body and soul is missing. She’ll have to trust her guide, the outcast high demon Dommiel, who is as handsome as he is dangerous if she has any hope.
An outcast of his own kind, high demon Dommiel stays under cover while the war between angels and demons rages on. But when the only person who ever showed him kindness asks for his help, he has no choice but to try to save the angel. Venturing back into the dens he has avoided for so long, Anya makes him want and feel things he never thought possible.
But Dommiel knows there is no way an angel can ever love a demon…
He was once an Angel but fell from grace and is now known as demon. She is an Angel Warrior and the protector of orphans and lost children. Only in the apocalypse could love find a way.
Dommiel might be a demon but he isn’t all bad and it looks like he might be switching sides. He seems to have some friends on both sides of the battle and since the apocalypse began, the lines between good and evil seem to be blurring a little. Temptation is well, tempting, you know.
Anya is the good girl and warrior angel but she has a little problem. Seems she was bitten by a Demon and if she can’t find the Archangel Uriel, she is doomed to have a demon take possession of her. When you’re going to play with Demons, you will need one on your side to help along the way.
Darkest Heart is a spin-off to the Vessel Trilogy by Juliette Cross. I have never read the Vessel Trilogy and while I could tell that many of these characters had been involved with one another in another book series, I didn’t think it really affected my overall enjoyment of this book, it stood alone well.
This is definitely more PNR than UF, in that there isn’t a lot of time before the characters started ‘noticing’ the hotness of the other. I thought it might take a little longer since Anya is an angel and Dommiel is still a demon and a little on the bad boy side of life. Opposites do tend to attract and before you know it, both are having a difficult time denying their attractions to the other.
The search for Uriel is a dangerous one, since he has gotten himself in a heap of trouble and they must go into the pits of hell, so to speak, to get him back.
Darkest Heart has a few things going for it. There is some sizzle happening between Anya and Dommiel, of course. There is also the world with danger around every corner and the struggle between the humans, Angels and Demons. This is not a safe place to be a mere mortal anymore. I liked that because of the ability of both Angels and Demons to shift, we got a pretty good range of locales without any of that pesky travel time.
The only thing I wished I got more info on, was why heaven and hell are fighting on earth. I’m sure that is in the Vessel series and I could get a lot more backstory if/when I read those. I appreciate that Juliette didn’t rehash the events of all the prior books but I was curious to find out more of how this world ended up in the state it did.
I’m very much hoping the next book in the series involves Uriel and a certain demonic Witch. I think that would be a lot of fun.
The upside of the apocalypse? No bills. Downside? Nothing was open. I’d kill for a Big Mac right about now.
Maybe she’d somehow captured what part of my soul remained and kept it in her pocket so that every time she drew near I yearned to get closer, needing to reunite with that part of myself she’d stolen from me.
About Juliette Cross
Juliette lives in lush, moss-laden Louisiana where she lives with her husband, four kids, and black lab, Kona.
Multi-published author of paranormal and urban fantasy romance, she loves reading and writing brooding characters, mysterious settings, persevering heroines, and dark, sexy heroes.
From the moment she read JANE EYRE as a teenager, she fell in love with the Gothic romance. Even then, she not only longed to read more novels set in Gothic worlds, she wanted to create her own.
Friend me at Goodreads.
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It’s been a while since I haven’t read one of her books
I started with her Dragon Hybrid series (Nightwing) since hello hot DRAGONS! But I’ll have to give the original Vessel series a try too.
I haven’t read this author but I see she is popular out there. I just tend to read more magic than shifters or vampires. Although some books contain all of them. And I’m not always hot on demons or angels because of the religious undertones sometimes. Great review!
I totally get the religious undertones thing Anne. That is always my fear too when reading a book like this.
She doesn’t exactly do shifters her Dragon Hybrid series there are being that have wings and Dragon ancestry that gives them different strengths Soulfire is pretty short but will give you some insight if you like her style or storytelling.
I haven’t read an angel/demon PNR in a while. I do love these types so I’ll have to look up the original series and then keep going. Thanks, Robin!
Anytime Sophia. If you have a favorite Angel/Demon PNR let me know. I don’t have a lot of them on my reading list.
I wondered if this was part of a spinoff. The cover is great, but i don’t always enjoy angels and demons. No idea why, as I like the four horsemen and such.
I really like the Four Horsemen too! Angels and Demons…sometimes they work for me and sometimes they don’t. It is hard because I really don’t like a ton of religion in my for fun stories but it seems like they found a balance here.
In the past they have worked better for me as secondary characters. But I think she has found a way to leave a lot of the religious annotations out of this, so the story works for me.
I enjoyed this one and I see you did too. I tried the Vessel Trilogy, but unfortunately I couldn’t finish book one (if you are course as to why, you can see my review on the blog or GR). With this series I enjoyed the leads and the secondary characters. Lots of potential with those secondaries ^_^. Great review!
I started with one of her later works and really enjoyed it. Sometimes that is a worry to go back to a book written before the one you read. You’re never sure if you are going to find quite the same magic there. Still I think I could give it a shot.
I have heard great things about this author but haven’t tried any of her work yet. I am pretty sure that I would like this one. Might need to start with the Vessel trilogy though.
I agree with you Carole. I would need to start with the Vessel trilogy. I’m OCD that way.
I would also be like you and Anne and start with the main series normally too. I think I’ll make it back to it thought.
Still I like the idea of Demons and Angels co-mingling.