[Review] A.J. Bennett & Julia Crane : The Sicarii

The Sicarii by A.J. Bennett, Julia Crane

eBook, English, 286 pages
Debut: February 13, 2015
@ Goodreads
Genres: Action, Erotica, Paranormal Romance
Heat Level : | Overall Rating:

Tall, dark, and sexy as hell, Thorne Hollow knows the power he holds over the opposite sex and how to use it. Cast out by the gods thousands of years ago, he roams the earth working as an assassin for The Sicarii, a secret society who protects humans from all of the things that go bump in the night.

One night stands are his way of life... until he meets a mysterious woman whose intriguing power compels him to uncover more about her and the strange magic she wields.

Rogue Chronicles Entry

I was basically head over heels in love with this after I read the summary -- so I was correspondingly disappointed when my expectations weren't met. Yes, this read was sexy as hell, it had lots of action, a hero with an off-the-charts attitude, foul language, dirty talk, the works -- but the recipe needs some serious working on.

I'm not prude by definition, coz I have a lot of guys around me who are not prone to mind their manners, so I'm not easily offended when I read voices like Thornes, I can go over or laugh at a lot of harsh stuff, but he was too much at some points. It kept me from really clicking with him or Kataya, although all charactes were okay, I guess. However, for a story to be truly sexy, it has to click with the characters first -- so while the sex was totally hot with lots of dirty talk, it sadly had nothing much to do with emotion, so I couldn't appreciate it at all -- no excitement there. The action and the drama... were there, but not you didn't really get to feel that, either. In addition to that, the first two parts were basically only blood and lust, and had no connection to the rest of the story which finally came midway in part two somewhere around to show a face -- too little, too late. And to round it all up, there is no epic action-loaded ending, but a very anticlimatical one instead.

Such a great background set-up with LOADS of potential, acceptable characters who could develop nicely over time, but the realization gets a big fat F.

Area Scan: Idea: 5/5 -- Style/Vocab: 3.5/5 -- Plot: 3/5 -- Heroes: 2.5/5 -- Villains: 3/5 -- Hearts: 2.5/5 -- Heat: 4.5/5 -- Thrills: 2/5 -- Laughs: 2.5/5 -- Tears: 3/5

Discovered: 2+ Hoods

Sights: Teaser

Recommender: Yvonne @ Bookish Panda

Thank you for the approval of an ARC goes to:
Xpresso Book Tours