Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Base Instincts 
SERIES: Demonica #11.7
AUTHOR: Larissa Ione
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 150 pages
BLURB:
As a Seminus demon, Raze’s life literally depends on having sex with females. The problem is that he doesn’t desire females, and it’s physically impossible for him to be with males. Thankfully, he and his best friend, Fayle, have an arrangement that keeps him alive . . . if lonely. He finds some solace in his work as a medic at Thirst, a vampire club known for its rough clientele. But his carefully structured world turns upside down when he meets a mysterious male who makes him want what he can never have.
Slake is an assassin used to getting what he wants, and what he wants is Raze. But he also wants to earn back the soul he sold when he was a much different demon. All he has to do is capture a runaway succubus named Fayle and hand her over to her family. What he doesn’t count on is being caught himself by a web of lies—and his attraction to Raze.
Raze and Slake must navigate a dangerous world to be together. But as Fayle’s jealousy of their relationship turns deadly, they find themselves embroiled in a battle not only for their love, but their lives and souls.
REVIEW:
Lately I’ve seen several “mainstream” authors taking a dip in to the m/m genre and writing books in existing m/f series with m/m characters. JR Ward did it a few years ago and I mostly liked that book, but it wasn’t as good as some of the m/f ones in the series. Joey W. Hill, who has written one m/m book, has one coming out in her vampire series later this year. Last year we had Sydney Croft write an m/m/m book in the ACRO series. I read that book and I’m sad to say I didn’t love it, I didn’t think it was up to the standard set by the other books in the series. So I was a little worried when I saw Larissa Ione was writing an m/m book in the Demonica series.
Back before I discovered and became obsessed by m/m, I read lots of paranormal m/f romance novels. One of my favorite series was the Demonica books. Once I started to read primarily m/m romance, I stopped reading a lot of my favorite m/f books, including Larissa Ione’s books. Not because I didn’t like them, but….. no man on man sex! As I said above, I read the ACRO book and didn’t love it, so I was really concerned with this one since Larissa Ione is half of Sydney Croft. I am so happy to say that I LOVED this book! It was totally up the quality of the rest of the series.
Raze is a Seminus demon, a particular species of sex demon, needing to come in a female multiple times a day or go insane. This will go on until he bonds with a female, or he hits a certain age, and then goes nuts. His problem is, he’s gay. But because he’s a Seminus demon, he can’t come with a male. He’s got an arrangement with a succubus named Fayle, she feeds off his sexual energy, she provides a hole for his come. And yes, it’s as weird and awkward as it sounds. For thirty years, he’s been tied to Fayle, she doesn’t even like to have sex with him, usually staying clothed and having as little physical contact as possible. He’s tried to get away, break their relationship, but he doesn’t want to find other females, since he doesn’t find them attractive, and she doesn’t want to let him go, so this fucked up relationship continues.
Slake is another breed of demon all together. He was in a sticky situation and sold his soul to a paranormal attorney and is about to complete his final task that will free his soul. Or if he fails, doom him to torment. His last task is to find and capture a succubus named Fayle. He tracks her to a club in New York where he spots a very tasty bit of man, or demon, or something. He’s not sure. They interact, they kiss, and his new friend runs away.
Of course Slake can’t take no for an answer and once discovering the pretty man is attached to his succubus, he has to track them down.
This is not a very complex plot, really it isn’t! Boy meets boy, they can’t be together, but find a way to work it out. They are very complex characters however, in a very complex world. It is an existing world, 10 or 11 books plus some novellas, so it’s very established with rules. One of the rules is that Seminus demons have sex with females. I was completely baffled how this could be an m/m book, and not an m/m/f book, but it isn’t. There are NO GIRL BITS! I repeat, no girl bits. Even though Fayles does interact with Slake and Raze in one sexual encounter, she is fully clothed and not really involved. Trust me, it’s weird, but worked. The solution to this whole issue blew me away. I did not see it coming and was totally surprised. And it worked soooooo well. I can’t say without giving a “big thing” away, but damn, so perfect.
I really loved this book. I liked that it wasn’t a huge plot, I did get tired of the later books in this series due to their big involved, good versus evil plots. I liked the first smaller stories, this one is very much like those. It is obviously late in a series, but you would probably be fine reading this as a standalone book. There are characters from other books in here, but not knowing their history wouldn’t detract from this story. Larissa is pretty good about explaining things in this one, so you should be fine. Slake and Raze are great characters, both have some serious issues preventing them from being together and forming any type of lasting relationship. Yet they figure their shit out and make it work. In a very creative way. The sex is off the charts hot, oddly, even the one scene with the succubus. But the two demons on their own? Oh yes. Lovely.
Great writing, hot men, creative plot, yup! I’m sold! I loved it. If you are a fan of paranormal stories I’d give this one a try!
RATING: 
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