Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: King of Thieves

SERIES: Demons of Elysium #2

AUTHOR: Jane Kindred

PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing, Ltd

LENGTH: 298 pages

BLURB: There are worse things to lose than one’s good name.

Demons of Elysium, Book 2

Belphagor can seduce demons with a look and bring angels to their knees with a single motion, but when it comes to being in love, the Prince of Tricks is out of his element.

At every turn, Vasily rebels against the discipline he claims to want, even refusing to use his safe word. But when Belphagor uses a scheme to shut down an underage brothel to test Vasily’s limits, he loses Vasily’s trust along with the boys he intended to set free.

Uncovering a smuggling ring that spans two worlds, Belphagor calls on a team of Nephilim mercenaries to rescue the “Lost Boys” from earthly gangsters. But his relationship seems beyond repair—and a heartbroken Vasily beyond his reach in the arms of a sensual demon named Silk.

Belphagor has more than enough grand schemes up his sleeve to bring down the smuggling ring for good. But when it comes to putting things right with Vasily, his bag of tricks is empty. Except for trust…and a plan to teach his boy a lesson neither will soon forget.

REVIEW:

Wow!! This was one very action and sex packed book!!  These two men are really enough to make you want a drink (A LOT) while reading this book.

Belphagor is the Prince of Tricks and boy does this man live up to his name.  He’s pulled into a con that he doesn’t want to be in and what’s worse is that his boy, Vasily is being dragged into it as well. Belphagor is a man that has so many things going on that even I was confused a lot reading this book. Bel is a man not to be messed with.  You don’t ever blackmail him and then expect nothing in return.  He’s dangerous on his own and especially when he’s got something to lose on the line.  Belphagor is a very dominant man who loves Vasily.  He loves how they are together, but he really just loves this guy more than anything.   He’s at a loss as to what went wrong with Vasily and he’s doing what he can to make it right, yet it seems that he keeps messing up. Bel knows that he’s secretive and that he doesn’t share enough, but to him, it’s not what really matters.

Vasily isn’t what you’d call a submissive by any means.  It’s just that with Belphagor it’s the surrender that is the ultimate for them.  It’s the process of getting there and knowing that he can trust Belphagor with everything in him. To have that used against him in this blackmail scheme and to made to feel that Belphagor doesn’t feel the same about him, tears Vasily apart.  It’s interesting to watch how Vasily thinks regarding what has happened and what happens following the first con. Vasily has not had an easy life and those memories from when he was young still affect him as he’s gotten older. He’s headstrong and yet, there is nothing that he wouldn’t do for those who he cares about. He feels that Belphagor doesn’t feel for him what he feels for Belphagor.

The secondary characters in this book were many.  I will say that not all were good and not all were bad.  There were the good ones who helped Bel and Vasily along their separation.  They told each of them that what they were going about things the wrong way…and they were. There was support behind them.  It was nice to see that they had such devotion and support for them.  That what they gave out came back to them. It was nice to see that even though they were having problems and not always acting correct, that they had demons and the odd angel who supported them and tried to get them back together.

There was lots of sex in this book, however it didn’t feel gratuitous.  It was how they all related to each other.  It was how they showed emotion.  Not only did it convey emotion for them, but it was quite sexy. I enjoyed that their play pushed boundaries and even though it wasn’t monogamist between our MC’s, it was sexy and very hot.  That they could enjoy others without it coming between the emotion that they had for each other.

I will say that really this book is all miscommunication.  That if Belphagor had talked to Vasily and told him what the plan was, they wouldn’t have had the problems that they had.  Vasily was just as stubborn in his dealings with Belphagor.  He had some issues that came up because of the con from his past and the fact that he wasn’t honest with Belphagor, that again, they had issues.

I will say that I really liked that this book went all the way.  That there was no skipping past what Belphagor’s plan was.  That you saw all of the ways that he pulled off this big con.  It was pretty cool and fun to watch all the action happen. I loved watching all of the pieces fall into place and the way that it all came together in the end.  I love watching Belphagor and Vasily work on their issues and were learning to trust each other again.

RATING:

BUY LINK: Samhain Publishing