Deal With The Devil by Kit Rocha

A couple of weeks ago, I had the BEST news from NetGalley--approval for an ARC for a book that I was CRAVING.

In 6 B.C-19*, I wrote my first review of a Kit Rocha story.  You can read it here.  It's fair to say I'm a straight-up Kit Rocha Fan Girl.  So you can imagine my response when I found out that I'd been approved for an ARC of the first book of the new Kit Rocha series, Deal With The Devil, in exchange for a review.

It was VERY dignified. *cough* Very.

Deal With The Devil is a Mercenary Librarians novel, and it's set in the same post-apocalyptic timeline that the O'Kane books are set, but the location is different.  So far, there are no character connections, but everyone is dealing with the same "how do we live now that everything is broken" situation.  (There was a nice Easter egg mention of the whisky from Sector Four from their last series, though.)

The Mercenary Librarians are actually quite more benevolent than their name sounds.  They're not hoarding knowledge and texts (remind me to review Rachel Caine's Great Library series soon, would ya?), but they do need to support themselves and help a few neighbors while they're at it.  So when the leader, Nina, gets an offer to go after a rogue Library of Congress bunker, she gathers up her team and heads out with The Silver Devils--a team of elite soldiers formally employed by the local tech giant--despite the possibility that this offer is too good to be true. She wants to save all the knowledge that's been lost and find a way to make is accessible to the people around her.

Garrett, the leader of the Silver Devils, doesn't have quite that altruistic of a goal in mind.  He's actually setting a trap for Nina; he's desperate to trade Nina for another woman who can stop the Silver Devils from dying. Their former tech giant employer has been augmenting its soldiers for years, and once the Silver Devils left the company they were cut off from the upgrades and necessary maintenance to keep their hearts and brains functioning correctly.

So the two teams set off toward the rogue bunker, and have some adventures, and get to know each other better.  And Garrett is in a bind.  He likes Nina, and, oh, man, does he want Nina, but he's about to betray Nina.  So there's interpersonal tension to go along with the post-apocalyptic danger, and there's just a lot of really compelling stuff going on.

Which I liked and will probably love on the re-read.

Why didn't I love it the first time through?

Because I HATE hate hate hate books where the inevitable betrayal is baked into the plot.  While I was all *Kermit arms* about getting the ARC, I also speed read the whole thing like this: 

I mean, I trust Kit Rocha to make everything work out in the end, but Garrett was taking TOO LONG to tell Nina what was going on.  And then there was this TWIST that I did not see coming, and, oh, yeah, Garrett was screwed.  It was also pretty unclear how it was going to all work out in the end.

Because, as I said, there was a lot of really compelling stuff going on.

So, if you want to know how it works out for Nina and Garrett, and you're more comfortable with sturm und drang than I am, you should definitely read Deal With The Devil.  Even if you're wimp like I am, you should read it.  It's good, and finishing it just made me greedy for the next one.

*Six year before COVID-19, or 2014.

What I've Been Reading & Loving

Don't be jealous. This much mess is hard work.

I'm officially in the weeds.  I'm behind in my grading, I need to fire off three letters of recommendations, this post is a day late, and the dean just handed me a new project.

Now only is my desk a mess (and by extension the rest of my office), but so is my house and my HEAD.  I don't even know where to start to get myself organized.  Not even a clue.

I mention all this not to tell you that I haven't been reading, but as an explanation as to why I've only been reading comforting "sure things". I've been reading new books in existing series; all of which I've already reviewed.

So instead of sharing something totally new today, I'm going to remind you of what's been released lately in series in that I adore.

From possibly my favorite on-going series (maybe--I REALLY like the Kate Daniels books by Ilona Andrews), Frost Burned is the next installation of the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs.  I reviewed the series here, and Frost Burned is, like all the rest, and amazing urban fantasy with a kick-a$$ heroine who has a hot & capable mate and really, really good (if unusual) friends.

If you like werewolves and fae and vampires, this series is a must-read. (There are actually two on-going and related series by Briggs, the Mercy Thompson series and the Alpha and Omega series.  I highly recommend them both.  Start at the beginning if you can.)



Another excellent werewolf, fae and magic-filled series is the Lupi World series by Eileen Wilks.  The Mortal Ties, came out in October, so I'm actually a little late getting to this one.  Lily is, as always, capable and strong and so much in love with her crazy-hot fiance.  I reviewed the Lupi world books first here.  Mortal Ties is every bit as good as the rest of the series.  Read them.  I insist.



More recently, Nalini Singh released a collection of novellas, two previously unreleased in her psy-changeling series.  (She has another series involving vampires and angels, but this one is (kinda) shifter/cyborg/human based.  Both are excellent. I reviewed the Guild Hunter series here.)  The collection is entitled Wild Invitation, and it made me very, very happy.  The awesome part of novellas is how easy they are to start and finish whether you're diving in for the first time or re-reading them.  No major time commitment for the perennially late.

I can't seem to find a review of the psy-changeling series (which surprises me), but I think I mentioned them in the Guild Hunter review.  Even without a long explanation from me, this book is a good introduction to the series.


Also, in February, J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) released the umpteenth, but still awesome books in the Eve Dallas series, Calculated in Death.  As always a good mystery and great continual character

development can be found in the pages of the books in this series. (I'm happy to report that the writers of Castle took my advice about long term relationships being the heart of a story after I first reviewed the Eve Dallas series.  If only this weren't a blog you could see my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. :D)


Last June, I told you that the only thing wrong with Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire was tragic waiting period for the second book in the series.  Huzzah! Midnight Blue-Light Special is out and is, perhaps, more awesome than its prequel.  The characters are developing, and I continue to love them.  Also, I'm pretty sure the
author is highly entertained by passages like the one where she talks about gorgon hygiene. (It's gross, but hilarious.)



Finally, Ilona Andrews has been generously posting a new serial online.  It's entitled Clean Sweep and it's part of a new Innkeeper Chronicles series.  You can read the posts here.  I'm totally addicted, and my only complaint is that the posts don't come fast enough or often enough.