Giveaway & Review of Fearless Desires by Stacey Espino

Stacey Espino
Fearless Desires
Siren Publishing, 2010

Series:
Fearless Desires is the first book in the Immortal Love series and follows demon Delius. He's the only brother that isn't content with his heritage. He feels like a parasite to humans. The second book, Fearless Love, focuses on Javen, the most ruthless Highland brother. It will take a special woman to tame him. The third book has yet to come out and will be about Loukas, another one of the Highland demon brothers.

Backblurb:
Delius never asked for his fate, but in a world that placed all its faith in prophecy, he would be a fool to challenge it. He felt like a parasite, forced to live off the fear of humans.

From the first time Delius became trapped in Selina’s mind and seduced by her provocative thoughts, he was drawn to her. She was a mystery that turned into an obsession. Yet for them to have a life together, Delius would have to go against his own race that demanded he fulfill his destiny. One that did not include Selina.

Genre & Keywords:
M/F, Paranormal Romance, Demons, Destiny

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2.5 out of 3 flames
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Why I read it:
I received a review copy from the author

Quote from Stacey Espino:

“I'm a HUGE paranormal romance fan!!! When I started this series, I wanted to create a unique world, so my Fear Demons (Lust and Aggression, too) were born. I wanted fear to have a body, to be more than just an emotion. If a Fear Demon loved you, what else would you have to be afraid of?”

I’m not an experienced paranormal romance reader but as far as I can tell the world building in the Immortal Love series is definitely unique, it’s highly original and deliciously complex and clever without it getting too hard to grasp. There are three types of demons in this world: Fear Demons, Lust Demons and Aggression Demons.

The Highland brothers are (very powerful) Fear Demons. Delius, the hero of this first installment of the series, lives in a big house with his 5 brothers: Aquila, Rune, Javen, Loukas and Gemaro. All have their own characteristics, although I’m sure there’s a lot more to these brothers than we learn about in this first book, which concentrates mainly on Delius and a smaller part on Rune as well.
As Fear Demons they have to ‘feed’ on humans’ fear. And Delius is the only brother who isn’t content with this fate, he hates the parasiting. Most Fear Demons don’t care, but nevertheless they live by the moral not to hurt humans physically. So when it’s rumored that one of the Fear Demons is using humans up to the point of death, all hell breaks loose in their world, with Lust Demons declaring war to Fear Demons. And this is only the beginning of Ms. Espino’s compelling world building!

At the same time there’s this intriguing woman, Selina, who has caught the attention of one of the brothers because she doesn’t seem to have feelings of fear. Delius is sent out to investigate this woman to make sure she isn’t a threat to their world. It turns out she is, but in a completely different way than they thought. And what a delicious threat she is to Delius’ world! When the two of them get together in the same room, the air starts to sizzle.

Ms Espino certainly knows how to convey her protags’ feelings of heat and attraction. The love scenes between Delius and Selina are smokin’ hot! It was more than convincing that they found their mate in the other person. There’s no denying it. Yet, they do just that, of course. ;)
Honestly, the not willing to see their destiny part got a tad annoying. It started to irritate me that they all (brothers included) chose ongoingly to see the wrong ‘solution’ to their ‘riddle’ (I don’t want to give away too much). It felt as if the right ‘solution’ was right in front of them, pointed at with neon lighted arrows and all, and they still refused to see it, but rather stepped around it, lol!

The above especially made me feel disappointed in Selena. While in the beginning of her acquaintance with Delius she seemed to grasp on to the highly unknown demon world very quickly, even using ‘insiders’ words as ‘mate’ without being told about them. So, I expected her to see the right ‘solution’ rather quickly and at least to discover it herself. But stunningly enough it was another character, a Lust Demon, who had to point it out to her (and the others).
All in all, Selena felt a bit off and she’s just not my favorite type of heroine. On first sight she seems a tough, kick-ass chick but the longer I ‘knew’ her the more she became unstable, not as a person, but as a character. For example, near the end of the book, she’s doing one of her kick-ass things after which she can point out the murdering Fear Demon who caused all the trouble to begin with. The problem I have is that I can’t remember that she has ever met that killer before, yet she points him/her out by mentioning his/her name. How could she recognize him/her? Or does my memory fail me? (very well possible, I admit…)

Delius, on the other hand, is coming close to my favorite type of hero. His inner conflict about who he is and the fate he can’t escape is tugging at my heart. His firm resoluteness relating to his feelings for Selina is making my heart beat faster. And his utterly sexy and sinful looks are setting my heart on fire. So yeah, he’s a hero after my own heart. ;)
It’s a big bonus that Delius is part of a family with several other hot brothers who bring engaging dynamics with them. And I’m very much looking forward to each of their stories, to start with Javen’s in the second book, Fearless Love, which I’ll be reviewing next month. The world that Ms Espino built in this first book of the series offers endless possibilities for future installments. And that’s certainly something to look forward to.

Linking:
Stacey Espino’s website | weblog | on Goodreads | on Twitter | on Facebook

Buy Fearless Desires here

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Giveaway:

Stacey Espino has generously offered an ebook copy of Fearless Desires for giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. I much appreciate it when you follow my blog (via Google connect in my sidebar), but I leave that up to you. :)

This giveaway is open to everyone, I will announce the winner on Monday, November 1, so be sure to leave your comment before that and don’t forget to check back then or leave a way for me to contact you in your comment or profile.

Good luck to you all!

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Running and Upcoming Giveaways:

Tuesday: Fearless Desire by Stacey Espino
Wednesday: River of Need by Shayla Kersten
Thursday: Beyond Eden by Kele Moon
Friday: Dudleytown by L.B. Gregg

All giveaways run until next Monday, when I’ll announce the four winners.
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