Review: Icarus and the Devil – Layla Reyne

I’m a pretty big fan of Layla Reyne’s romantic suspense books, so when I saw that she was taking a foray into paranormal romance? Well, I was definitely intrigued. Even with vampires, shifters and various other paranormal creatures, though, this still has all of the hallmarks of a romantic suspense novel, just in a slightly different setting.

Icarus may be a vampire, but sadly that still means you need to pay the bills. And Icarus owes money to some scary people. So it’s not a terrible surprise when they hijack one of his cam performances to blackmail him. They need him to seduce and deliver one Adam Devlin – or else. But from the moment Icarus, pretending to be human, meets Adam, there’s a connection between them, something that he decides to explore by playing along. Since the death of his romantic partners, Adam’s used his ex-cop connections to try to bring down the man responsible – the same man blackmailing Icarus. He may be out to get Adam, but he’s also the first person in years that catches his interest. With powerful forces aligned against them, what are the chances that they both make it out of this alive?

“Stay out of it, Icarus.”
“You caught my name, right?”

Adam comes off as grumpy – in truth he’s grieving, blaming himself for the death of his partners and refusing to do focus on anything that doesn’t have to do with vengeance. Icarus smashes that resolution with some heels and sass. And look – let’s just say that “Icarus” fits him to a T. Icarus is the definition of sassy – to the point where I was seriously worried about him at some points. That’s not to say he’s all play and no substance. He loves deeply and wants to protect those he loves. If his sister needed him, he’d drop everything to make sure she was safe.

It took me longer than I’d like to admit before I figured out that the story was set in an alternate San Francisco. The world-building is interesting and for the most part avoids info dumping. Instead new information is revealed bit by bit along with the characters’ backstories. It’s hard to go into much without getting into spoilers but there’s plenty of action, tense anticipation and plot twists along with the romance. It really did feel like a trademark Layla Reyne Whiskeyverse novel – just in a very different setting! As for cons, like many first books in a series, there were a lot of characters introduced quickly, many of whom I struggled to keep straight. Also, the ending wrapped up a bit too neatly and quickly for me. Everything up to that point was perfect – just that final chapter left me unsatisfied.

Overall, an interesting first foray into paranormal romance and one that I very much enjoyed. The couple for the next book has already been revealed and I am definitely planning on reading that one!

Content notes: View Spoiler »Violence (including murder), arson, blackmail, grief, death of a partner (in the past), references to a natural disaster « Hide Spoiler

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