Immortal Rider [Mass Market Paperback]

Being a human in love with an immortal can take a wicked toll on your body. In the case of Arik Wagner one stolen kiss from Satan's potential bride Limos has sent him literally to the torture chamber of hell. But Arik believes that one kiss is worth all the broken bones, starvation, and near death experiences and will keep her name in his heart.

Limos is the sister to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and has been dealing with the contracts and pacts each of them has made to the underworld they fight to control. Never hoping for love or even affection from anyone, especially a human when Arik freed her to have feelings there was no stopping the flood that followed. She fought to free him from his prison, heal him with her touch, and figure out a way to be with him in spite of the huge obstacle preventing that from happening since Satan definitely knew the devil is in the contractual details.

Limos is will get the demons back where they belong, her brothers to stop bugging her about being with a human, and perhaps get Arik to cross the thin line from the human world into hers. When the demons come calling and bring their entire arsenal with them, she may not be 110% ready but Arik is and nothing will stop him from having her in his life and by his side for eternity.

Yikes but this book is an engrossing read with amazing characters and the intricate story details Ms. Ione is noted for. You start it and realize it is the middle of the night and you still cannot put it down and remember sleep is highly overrated.

4.5 Stars. Well, that was one wild ride. The book had me hooked from the very beginning; and Ione's wordbuilding was probably the best it's been in any book she's written so far. At the big party celebrating Ares and Cara's imminent wedding, Arik steals a kiss from Limos; at which point, all hell breaks loose. As the promised bride of Satan, she is not allowed to show affection to another man. Arik is sent to hell, where he is tortured repeatedly.

Through a series of machinations, he manages to escape and hunts down Limos. Limos, as the h, is some piece of work. She's a world-class liar, and has done some very, very, bad things over the centuries. The love and affection from her brothers has changed her for the better; but even they don't know the things she has done to hurt both them and mankind under Satan's orders. She is an h who is very hard to root for, especially at the beginning; as she's the kind of person you have empathy for, but don't always like. I suspect there will be many readers who never come to like her much, even though she evolves and changes through the course of the book. Personally, I loved her, she was a very well drawn and deeply layered, multifaceted character; and the reader could see and feel the changes that Arik's love made in her.

There are more things going on in this book than can ever be explained in a review, and a great deal of the book is spent setting up Thanatos and Regan's story (Lethal Rider, coming out in June). Although there are occasional glimpses of Reseph in this book, Pestilence is still firmly in control. The world is edging closer to apocalypse, and a number of lands (mostly island nations) have already fallen to him and his demons.

Although Limos was not in as much danger of having her seal broken as being sent back to marry Satan, Thanatos is in very real danger of his seal breaking. Regan the Guardian really did a number on him in this book. Can't wait for his book. Liked this story, love this series. It's dark, different and they are excellent and dark stories. Honestly, I like this series better than Demonica. I understand it's supposed to be 5 full length books, and I'm grateful for that. I highly recommend this series.

I really, really hate giving a somewhat negative review for one of my favorite authors, but....

First, I've read Ione's Demonica series which I highly recommend if you haven't as many of the minor characters make reappearances in her Rider Series. It helps to put some perspective on their talents (Shade, Wrath and Idess all make appearances in this story).

Second, I am starting to believe that Ione is not so good at female character building as the main story line (she excells at all the books where the male is the main character but falls flat when the female is the main character IMO). I had a similar issue w/Sin's story in the Demonica Series though not nearly as "messy" as this one. I was starting to get worried that Ione was losing some of her talent while reading Sin's story and just forcing books out asap for the editors though I'd give Sin's book 4 stars. I could just see things unraveling. So I was pleasantly, pleasantly surprised by Eternal Rider. I LOVED Ares story. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. ALL Ione's books I read within 2 days max bc they are just.that.good. Fantastic world building and character development. Then I read Limos. Sigh. Took me 4 days to read and I was really pushing myself through it.

Problem #1- I don't like Limos. She's a PITA, whiney and a lier. I can't identify with her and I certainly don't get the love story. She lies and her lies are a HUGE tie to the story. But that's overlooked a LOT. Which brings us to prob #2. Ione pushes the "protective" thing w/Arik when the REAL character issue and story line should be how Arik doesn't like lying and Limos's downfall is that she lies. I did not connect w/the protective issue. It was lame. The author was telling me how he's protective and not "showing" me w/the writing. That's the diff bw an ok and great writer IMO. #3. Arik decides he loves her even though he's completely against lying, complete moral, upstanding character. So basically, he just loves her for what? We don't know. Her looks was about all I got. Her somewhat good fighting skills? (not even touched in the book). #4.When they finally get down to it and do the deed, it's lame and gets even more lame as she takes off. Eye roll! I almost stopped there, but was super interested in Than and Rever so continued. #5. Are they really in love? Come on now! They start proclaiming their love quite shortly after the bomb is dropped how she's basically the cause of the biggest issue in the Rider series. REALLY? #6. The secondary characters make the story more than the main characters. If you read the other reviews, you'll see they say the same. I am FAR more interested in Than's romance and Reavers' story than Limos and Arik. Which is why I'm 99% sure Ione can't character build with a main female character. Like Sin's story, I was drawn to other issues in the story and character lines. I don't know what it is or why, but she's all over the map. Is Limos strong? Moral? Good? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. We don't know. She tells us that she wears flip flops, lives in Hawaii, and has parties. She SAYS she can fight but did she even really fight? Not so much. So no romance, minimal action and super whiney, annoying main character that "falls in love" *cough* with a great guy that I'm being told is great bc he protected his sister and mom when he was young.

My main feeling on this book is that Ione is being forced to produce faster than she can create. I still love her books though and I'm hopeful for Than's story. I will def buy it asap when it's released. This is the only book that's been a downer for me. I loved all her other ones, esp the first 3 Demonicas and Eternal Rider all being my favs. I'm a HUGE reader of paranormal romance and Ione is always one of my top recommendations. If you like Ione, I always recommend Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. They are very similar.

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