Playing with Monsters (Playing With Monsters #1)
4.5 Fire to my Ice, Sun to my Moon Stars
Magdalena "Lena" Fitzgerald decided to take a break... a 3 year break from her coven after finding her fiance in bed with another woman, burying her older brother, and her father leaving her family when they need him the most. She could no longer figure out who she was or what she wanted. So she decided to leave and make her own life. But when she gets called back home from the elders for the Awakening of witches, she has to show her face to those she left and go back to the past she tried to run from. The only thing she is looking forward to is getting her powers. Between her and her twin sister Kendra, she knows that she'll be the less powerful of the two. Vowing to stay away from men because they "all suck" "Love was the one thing that could tear you down and cut you open." Lena has her focus on the important things though-- her magic. But when a mysterious new face around the coven shows up, Lena tries everything in her power to be persuade to his charms, handsomeness, and power that he emanates. Lucian Blackstone is a force to be reckon with and Lena can feel just how much so he can be. "This man was the type you stayed away from; the predatory gaze promised that he could chew you up, and little would remain when he was finished." Lucian has his own agenda when he comes to Haven Crest. A game has begun and a curse attached to the player is the only thing Lucian is here for. To find the witch Katrina that betrayed him and break the curse once and for all. But when he sees Lena, something starts to awaken that has been dormant inside of him for so long, he is curious to see why and what has awoken feelings he hasn't felt in centuries. "She had a darkness inside of her that I'd only seen a few times before. A darkness that slithered just beneath the surface, and was deadly once it had been released. She was a little broken, and yet there was a light in her eyes that I couldn't ignore." Things start to develop between Lena and Lucian that they both can't understand. With Lena's nightmares that she can't decipher and the events that occur during the week of the Awakening, things become complicated and the mysteries around them are threatening to ruin all of Lucian's work, and reveal things to Lena about the past and the man that is starting to take her heart. "You hate that you can't really hate me; trust me, I know the feeling." Lucian knows that he has found a match within Lena, his only task is finding Katrina and bedding Lena as well. He can't shake her off no matter how hard he tries and he keeps finding himself breaking rules that he put forward to keep him safe. "She was the fire to my ice, the sun to my moon, lace to my leather. Polar fucking opposites shouldn't attract." "This is something not even I can deny. You undo me, make me weak." But through it all I found Lena to have the strength that made her become an amazing heroine, she fell so many times and always came up on top. Everything was crumbling around her, but she kept going. And so many things came into light around the story between the two characters that you couldn't figure out how it would all end. We get glimpses of important information that Lena receives through her dreams that has something to connect with her coven, a curse, and Lucian, but we do not know what exactly. Ms. Hutchins makes the fantasy between witches, demons, and fae's very exciting. Which makes me all giddy every time I see new work from her. This story was nothing short of awesome. ***Now I need book 2! Let's go Amelia Hutchins, I need it now... pretty please!!! *laughs*
