RELEASE DAY REVIEW: Passion Rising (Original Sin #4)

Passion Rising (Original Sin #4), by J.A. Huss and Johnathan McClain
Publish Date: May 8, 2018
Publisher: self-published
Format: e-ARC, provided by the authors
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4 STARS

(Synopsis) Old demons are back.

Maddie’s dealing with the fallout of her choices. Safety and happiness are relative, elusive things she’s desperate to have. But they will forever remain out of reach until the demons of her past are laid to rest.

Tyler’s mistakes resurface to haunt him and he’s just beginning to understand that money can’t fix a broken relationship. He must open his heart and search for answers he’d rather not find.

She wants peace in a world made of chaos.

He wants to rid himself of a lifetime of guilt.

They’re soul mates, but that’s no guarantee.

They’ll need to rely on each other to find their happily ever after.

Because the fight never ends—it just gets easier with someone at your side.

Passion Rising punctuated the fact that, as a whole, the Original Sin series is really more of an experience than just a series of books for you to read. These four books are not just a story of a boy getting a second chance with a girl and, after some drama and some bad stuff happening, living happily ever after. It's not nearly as cut-and-dry and "tropey" as all that.

Once again, I have to be super cagey, because so much of what happens in Passion Rising is a culmination of things that have been happening and building throughout the first three books in this series. I CAN say that this final book is about self-reflection on both Tyler and Maddie's parts. After everything that has happened to them, they are both left saying, "Okay, so now what?" Them being a couple isn't in question - of COURSE they are a couple. But, the health of their coupledom depends largely on how they now see themselves.

If you'll recall, in my review for Sin With Me (Original Sin #1), I said, "Truthfully, these two are some of the saddest and most despondent people I've ever read about." And it was true. The circumstances of Maddie's and Tyler's lives up to this point had lead them to their own versions of hell on earth. They were treading water with no forward movement and no hope.

You would think that with all the crazy stuff that happened to them over the three books prior to Passion Rising, that we would now see a woman and a man broken beyond repair. But, instead, we see the opposite. The events leading up to book 4 forced them to work together, to wade through their past hurts, to face their current fears and to lean on each other.

I love the way these two love each other. They would give their lives for each other and are looking forward to what comes next in their lives. Their banter is adorable, their sex is hot and their love is lasting. It's everything you could want in a romance book. Plus, you get angels, devils (figurative, not literal), action, closure and a really good death scene.

I think JA Huss considers her first collaborative writing effort a success. I know I do. And I'm already looking ahead to what's next from my new favorite writing duo.

RELEASE DAY REVIEW: Flesh Into Fire (Original Sin #3)

Flesh Into Fire (Original Sin #3), by J.A. Huss and Johnathan McClain
Publish Date: April 17, 2018
Publisher: self-published
Format: e-ARC, provided by the authors
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4 STARS

(Synopsis) Payback is owed.

And Maddie Clayton is going to collect. This time Carlos and Logan have gone too far. People are dead, lives have been changed, and she’s had enough. Plus, she’s got the Devil on her side, so when an enemy turns into a friend with an idea of how to take Carlos down, she’s in.

Tyler Morgan has been fighting back his whole adult life. He’s ready for anything when it comes to payback. But endangering Maddie can’t be part of the deal. Unfortunately for him, once Maddie gets an idea in her head, there’s no stopping her.

Her debt has been paid in blood and she wants revenge.

His fight is still there, but now he’s got more at stake than himself.

The end is coming.

But even if they win against Carlos, they can still lose each other.

Only these two - only Maddie and Tyler - could find themselves up to their ears in this much crazy. 

Things have come to a head with Mexican drug lord Carlos and his menace of a nephew Logan, and Maddie is finished hiding away from the problem, working herself and her soul to the bone for what she knows is a futile effort. Her happiness is going to be hard fought and hard won, and it's going to happen with Tyler by her side. 

For the first time in the Original Sin series, the main thrust of the story is not Tyler and Maddie figuring out their relationship. They're there. Maddie has given up the fight and recognized what Tyler knew all along - that they were made to be together. And that no matter what, he's never leaving her again. 

Unfortunately, that makes Maddie's desire to go undercover in Carlos' compound not Tyler's favorite plan.

Both Tyler and Maddie are trying desperately to hold on to the slice of happiness that they've found in each other. Both of them were without that kind of happy for so very long. They were both at the bottom of the barrel, and now they've clawed to the top, found a partner, and are ready to take a break from the bad. 

It's weird to be on such equal ground with someone. Someone's... partner, I guess. But it's completely awesome at the same time.

But, their methods of finding that new life together are very different. While Tyler is the brawler who has never backed down from a fight, he is the one who would be perfectly content to fly to a deserted island somewhere and never come home. Maddie, on the other hand, wants to be able to look at herself in the mirror every day. She wants to actively fight for the life she wants, and if that means she might die in the process, well then, at least she went down fighting the good fight. 

Seeing this dynamic shift between them was really interesting, and I thought it showed an enormous amount of growth in their relationship. They haven't even been together for very long (although, they knew each other for years growing up), and while they spent the first few weeks fighting their attraction - at least Maddie did - now that they know in their souls that this is it, it's like everything has changed for them. And I love that. 

Some people search their whole life looking for that one place they belong. For that one person who gets them. Who brings them into their world, lets them fall easily into the pull of their gravity, and lets them just... be. Just exist. Quietly. Naturally. Freely. This is Tyler for me. The center of my universe. The man around whom I now orbit.

I mentioned craziness - there's plenty of that in Flesh on Fire too. Maddie's in a ton of danger nearly from the very beginning of the book as she enters Carlos' compound under false pretenses. There are fights and explosions and near misses and - once again - fires. And, although this book does come to more of a definite close than the first two books in this series, there's some pretty big loose ends left flapping around that I'm sure will lead us into the final book in the series. 

I can't wait to see what insane thing Maddie and Tyler will do to punctuate this fun, sexy and exciting series. 

REVIEW: Angels Fall (Original Sin #2)

Angels Fall (Original Sin #2), by JA Huss and Johnathan McClain
Publish Date: March 27, 2018
Publisher: self-published
Format: e-ARC, provided by the authors
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4.5 STARS

(Synopsis) Sometimes angels fall. 

Maddie doesn’t really owe drug lord, Carlos Castillo, money. So she hadn’t taken his threats seriously. Until now. He wants it, whether she owes it or not. And if she doesn’t have it in six weeks he’s gonna take her as payment instead.

Tyler would save the world if he could. That’s a fight that lasts forever. And if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s fighting. So if Maddie thinks she’s gonna deal with an insane drug lord on her own, she’s crazier than he is.

She’s got a debt she can’t pay. He’s got more money than he needs.She’s not gonna fall for his charm. He’s gonna make sure that happens.

They’re destined to be together. Even if Maddie doesn’t know it yet.

Sometimes your soul mate isn’t who you’d choose, it’s who you need.
Good thing you don’t get to choose.

Two books in to the Original Sin series, I'm totally on board with this brand new writing duo. I've been a big fan of Julie Huss' for years now, but this series is her first foray into co-authoring, so I didn't know how it would go. You know? I think I can safely say at this point that I love the work that she's putting out in partnership with actor and audiobook narrator Johnathan McClain. It feels like a JA Huss book, but yet it has a slightly different flavor and voice, which, I think, really is enhancing this reading experience. 

Since this is the second book in a four-book series, and a lot of the events in book two are a continuation of things that started in book one, I can't go into a lot of detail about what happened. However, here's what I CAN say...

#RelationshipGoals

In the beginning of Angels Fall, Maddie and Tyler had an insurmountable gulf to overcome if they were to have any sort of relationship. They were also in two very different places as to their future goals - Tyler was all in. He was going after Maddie full boar and was not going to take no for an answer. Maddie, however, wanted nothing to do with Tyler and was sure she could never get over her anger and disappointment in him. However, Tyler's persistence and Maddie's acceptance of things that can't be changed made huge strides, and toward the end of this book, we saw them finally moving in the right direction, which made my heart so freaking happy.

Angry Sex (... and Make-up Sex... and Kinky Sex... and Tunnel Sex... and...)
Maddie hating Tyler for a period of time during this book didn't put any damper on their sex. Like, AT ALL. I was cool with that, because it proved that, even though they were not in a good place, there was still all this passion between them, and that's a start. Even the super angry sex signified hope to me, because if Maddie truly didn't want anything to do with Tyler, I have every confidence, she would've put him in his place and moved on. Instead, they took out their frustrations and their sadness and their love and their anger on each other, and it made for some incredibly awesome reading.

Revisiting the Past
The big focal point of Angels Fall is rehashing what happened to Scotty and how it affected Maddie and Tyler, both individually, and now as a couple. We heard Tyler's account of the events in book 1, and in book 2, we get Maddie's perspective. We get to see the healing affect it has on both of them. Even before Maddie talks to Tyler about it all, we see her taking steps to get past the tragedy - steps she should've taken a long time ago. But, it's in these actions that we can see that, even though she's still incredibly mad at Tyler, his influence in her life now is a positive one. The character growth that the authors have injected into Maddie and Tyler is incredibly satisfying and very well done.

Hope in the Face of Tragedy
Despite Maddie and Tyler getting to a hesitantly good place together by the end of Angels Fall, there's no doubt that there's still plenty of bad stuff swirling around them - particularly Maddie. Drug lord Carlos Castillo still wants his money, and his henchman Logan is wanting a little extra punishment on the side. Both Maddie and Tyler have been so despondent in their lives lately, to the point of each of them contemplating suicide. But, the reconnecting that Maddie starts and the healing that Tyler starts gives them the desire to finally start fighting back. There are some events at the end of Angels Fall that dramatically affect them, and now there is a fire lit beneath them that will carry into book 3. Carlos and Logan better watch out...