Instead of the deadly force it once was, magic is now a useless novelty. But not for Shame Flynn and Terric Conley, “breakers” who have the gift for reverting magic back to its full-throttle power. In the magic-dense city of Portland, Oregon, keeping a low profile means keeping their gifts quiet. After three years of dealing with disgruntled magic users, Shame and Terric have had enough of politics, petty magic, and, frankly, each other. It’s time to call it quits.
When the government discovers the breakers’ secret—and its potential as a weapon—Shame and Terric suddenly become wanted men, the only ones who can stop the deadly gift from landing in the wrong hands. If only a pair of those wrong hands didn’t belong to a drop-dead-gorgeous assassin Shame is falling for as if it were the end of the world. And if he gets too close to her, it very well could be….
About the Author:
Devon Monk writes the Allie Beckstrom urban fantasy series, the Age of Steam steampunk series, and the occasional short story. She has one husband, two sons, and a dog named Mojo. She lives in Oregon and is surrounded by colorful and numerous family members who mostly live within dinner-calling distance of each other. She has sold over fifty short stories to magazines and anthologies in five different countries, including a Year’s Best Fantasy collection. When not writing, Devon is either drinking too much coffee or knitting silly things.
Jennifer’s Review of Hell Bent
4.5 Stars: I have been a fan of the Allie Beckstrom series and I was excited to see that one of my favorite characters, Shame, was getting his own book. I loved Shame because he was such a mysterious guy and I just wanted to learn more about him. He has always been such a bad boy and it was a treat to see how his world has changed since magic isn’t so readily available as it was before the apocalypse three years ago.
In Hell Bent, Shame is struggling with his death magic and worrying that someday his need to kill will consume him and there will be nothing left of his humanity afterwards. He is partners with Terric Conley, who is his Soul Complement, the one person that can join forces with Shame to harness magic and use it at its full power. While dealing with his own personal demons, Shame discovers that they have a new threat. Someone is out there killing people from their past with magic and the government is looking to use their magic as a weapon. And a beautiful redheaded assassin named Dessa needs Shame’s help to find her brother’s killer and becomes more than Shame bargained for.
Terric and Shame have a very difficult relationship together. They are stuck together as partners and have a brotherly love/hate relationship and both are bordering on losing control of the magic that almost consumes them. I could see how hard it is for Shame and Terric to have this relationship with one another knowing that you will always be connected to this one person who is the exact opposite of you which causes quite a bit of conflict between Shame and Terric. Shame wants to push everyone away in his life and just let go but finds that the people that care about him pull him back from the brink and convince him to keep going.
Hell Bent is a great start to a new series and I’m still a big Shame fan after all this. The book was a little slow in the beginning but picked up the pace nicely and was a thrill-ride of emotions for me, both good and heart-breaking. It was nice to get updates on Allie and Zay as well as other characters from previous books to see how they were doing three years later. I loved the addition of Dessa because she was just a kick-ass character that just seemed to be perfect for Shame and wasn’t afraid of anything that he could dish out. Kept him on his toes which was fun to watch. Devon Monk has created a well-written paranormal adventure in a world that I love and can’t wait to visit again. Looking forward to the second book, Stone Cold, which is expected to be released sometime next year.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
i’m generally afraid of spin off but since we get update on Allie i could be tempted ( or more than i was already since it was written by devon^^)
thank you for the honest and complete review