Publisher:
Love Spell (2008)
After
700 years of torture and captivity, the Immortal Tain is back. Born
from a goddess and a human, Tain had protected the earth from the Old
Ones, powerful vampires and demons. With the help of Samantha, Tain
escaped the Old One Kekhsut, after endless torture, a torture that
inspired him to try to end the world to relieve the pain. Within him
lives a memory of darkness, so deep within himself, that Tain is not
the man he once was. Samantha may have helped restore his freedom back
then, but can she help him discover love, a love that heals rather than
destroys? On assignment with the paranormal division of the LAPD,
Samantha sits in Merrick's, a demon bar, trying to bait the owner into
offering her Mindglow, a drug used by lesser demons to render their
victims helpless to resist the taking of their life essence. Into the
bar walks Tain with plans of his own, not only interrupting her
undercover operation but setting off a powerful attraction in Samantha.
Tain seeks her help. Four demon prostitutes have gone missing. The
nature of the disappearances makes Tain suspect some kind of anomaly in
the system, a threat more serious than isolated crimes or the girls
disappearing of their own free will. Together Tain and Samantha must
work together on a mission to discover whether these disappearances are
crimes, and if so, the culprit. Together, they must face warring demon
clans, anti-demon hater groups, an encounter with a clan matriarch and
dangerous adventures at ever corner.
Jennifer Ashley's fifth book in the series, IMMORTALS: THE REDEEMING is packed
full of passion, dynamic action, and suspenseful clues as Tain and
Samantha uncover more and more layers of connections beneath the
initial mystery. Samantha is the perfect romance heroine for Tain.
Intelligent, yet patient and accustomed to working within the law
rather than acting on impulse to achieve justice, she alone has the
inner strength to bring Tain back, to heal the healer himself deep from
within. Tain, an Immortal, is none too fond of demons after being
captive to one, but something about Samantha, half demon and half
human, is different. As they work together, Samantha's life opens up in
ways she never expected. Jennifer Ashley writes an emotional moving
romance that brings two opposing forces, a half-demon and an Immortal
together, so that each comes into the richness of their being. Tain and
Samantha's love transforms them on the deepest level and puts choices
before them that call them from within to be what they are meant to be.
Jennifer Ashley presents a detailed emotional vision as fate and free
will play out in her characters' lives.
IMMORTALS: THE REDEEMING
is my kind of book! With its intricate world building, rich characters,
universal moral codes set within a new unfamiliar environment, and an
opposites-attract romance that enlarges the characters as individuals
through love, IMMORTALS: THE
REDEEMING has all the fine ingredients that make me love the
paranormal genre itself. The background history of the demon world and
the look at the changes in the demon world as modernity challenges
traditional, conservative demon beliefs add a richness and depth to
this romance that creates a legendary history. The world building is
intricate and beautifully constructed --- and revealed in just the
right measure throughout the story. Jennifer Ashley creates a beautiful
balance in her portrayal of life and death magic in an intricate
network of beings and their connections to one another. IMMORTALS: THE REDEEMING with its
fine portraits of fanatical villains upped the level of suspense with
each page. The careful plotting of clues kept me guessing (and glued to
the pages!) until the very end with a trail of exciting twists. I never
suspected who was behind everything, and yet, the trail made perfect
sense. THE IMMORTALS are
back, and does this one ever captivate!
Personal Notes
Jennifer Ashley's world builds on a notion of death and life magic,
darkness and light. She paints a beautiful and intricate framework to
explore the notion of balance, an idea that is picked up in the next
book. The strains of fanaticism that motivate some of her characters
chill as the reader sees extremism in a fantasy world. Jennifer Ashley
explores universal moral codes in an unfamiliar world, one that has
meaning but is not narrowly confined to our reality. I love this kind
of framework in a paranormal romance and Jennifer Ashley's presentation
is so rich that I have put this book not only on my keeper shelf, but
on the shelf of books I know I will want to reread.
Reviewed by Merrimon,
Merrimon Book Reviews
