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Forged in Fire by Juliette Cross Series: The Vessel Trilogy #1
Published by Samhain Publishing on January 27, 2015
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 318
Format: eBook
Purchase Links: Amazon*Libro
Goodreads
She didn't know the demon world existed. Now she just wants to survive it.
Genevieve Drake has never been the helpless kind of girl. Never needed a man to come to her rescue. That is, not until her twentieth birthday when some dude nearly chokes her to death in an alley and a hot stranger splits the guy in half, rips a monster from inside, and incinerates it into ash.
The hot guy? Jude Delacroix—Master of Demons. Now her guardian, whether she likes it or not. But she’s seriously beginning to like it.
The dude choking her? One of many demons from the underworld trying to abduct or kill her. As the prime target of the demon prince, Danté, who has all kinds of lascivious and sadistic plans, she has no problem accepting Jude’s protection.
Why Genevieve? She’s a Vessel, one who is born to serve the Light but can be corrupted and used as a weapon for darkness. Until that fateful night, she had no idea this world even existed. Now, she just wants to survive it.
I really love Juliette Cross. She fast became a favorite author to read and reread. I feel in love with her writing when she came out with her Dragons aka Morgan’s (Nightwing & Vale of Stars) and then she came out with her Vampire’s (Vampire Blood) and I feel even more. So, when you pick up a favorite authors work you don’t expect to not like it or end up DNFing.
I ended up stopping at 82%. I know I only had a little more to go, but I wasn’t enjoying. I wanted to know what was going to happen and to continue onto book two, but then again I didn’t. It was not a great feeling.
Forged in Fire is dark fantasy, paranormal romance, and new adult. The story was just to dark, deep, and heavy for my liking. I did like Jude, but our heroine and lead Genevieve wasn’t winning me over.
As for the Vessel aspect I still don’t understand everything that a Vessel is and can do. Most give into either death or let a Demon Lord have them. Their has never been one to stay in the light. Their was also too much cryptic stuff and some running around in the dark. Our cryptic prophecy we and the characters don’t have the full version, so they don’t know all. I was just not getting a good picture or understanding of the world and characters.
The last thing and this one was the one that really bothered me. The author was very specific in pointing out that their are rules that both good and bad must follow. They can’t be broken. So, one such rule is free will. We all have it. Yet, their is this thing with Genevieve’s soul and The Evil Demon Lord, where he can pull it into another world and compel her do anything and everything he wants. She can’t resist. It felt wrong on so many levels. She should be able to fight; wither it’s just her soul or her soul and body together.
Unfortunately, Forged in Fire was not the book for me. If the blurb intrigues you, I urge you to give it a shot. Just because it did not work for me does not mean it won’t for you.
Was this review helpful? If so, please consider liking it on Goodreads (Angela)!
Challenge(s): New To Me (Series) Pick Your Genre (PNR) (2017)
About Juliette Cross
JULIETTE is a multi-published author of paranormal and fantasy romance & the co-host of the podcast, Smart Women Read Romance. As a native of Louisiana, she lives in the heart of Cajun land with her husband, four kids, her labs, Kona and Jeaux, and kitty, Betty. When she isn’t working on her next project, she enjoys binge-watching her favorite shows with her husband and a glass (or two) of red wine.
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You are welcome Mary. Thank you for stopping in.
The author didn’t change any of the story. It was just re-issued with new covers since the publisher that she was with for these books closed it’s doors. So nothing new except the covers.
Thank you for your honest review. I always enjoy reading them.
Sorry it didn’t work for you. I did read the 3 books and liked them but it wasn’t recently and not the same covers lol.
I haven’t read this series yet,but I will still check it out.thank you for your review.What I love about your blog is you don’t tear apart a book you didn’t get into,because what you said is true what you didn’t like doesn’t mean someone else might like.that’s why theirs so many writers, we all find writers for each of us. Shared on my socials!
I agree. You can not like a book and be respectful on how you share that with others. Not everyone is going to like the same thing. We all enjoy different stuff. That’s the best thing about reading is each new book is something different. I wanted to enjoy Forged in Fire, but unfortunately it wasn’t working for me and their was also an indication of a love-triangle coming for the next book. Sigh not a fan of love-triangles. Thank’s for stopping in Kathy and sharing.
Angela I know exactly how you feel. I felt that way about Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series. I was so used to her somewhat dark-ish paranormal/fantasy romance but I was not prepared for Mac and Jericho but I also have to admit that I did come to eventually fall in love with this series. But then I’ve been known to love the “dark” side too.
I haven’t tried Karen Marie Moning “Fever” series yet, but I do have it on my TBR to try. It’s hard sometimes when reading. You get to a point and you kinda want to know what’s going to happen, but their is also so much that you don’t like and are having issues with. Some books you can keep going and others you can’t. This one I had to put down, but others may enjoy it. Thank’s Debbie for stopping in.