Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: When I First Saw Red

SERIES: Soldiers and Mercenaries #2

AUTHOR: Kasia Bacon

PUBLISHER: The Order Universe

LENGTH: 212 pages

RELEASE DATE: June 5, 2020

BLURB:

RED:

Lázhien’s human. A common Imperial soldier. And my soulmate.

How could fate get it so wrong?

The demon in me craves this bond with every shred of his being. He pushes me to accept it. This time I won’t yield to his demands.

LÁZHIEN:

Red’s a lust demon, a whore and a stuck-up snob.

The most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. Pain in the arse. And he hates my guts.

I’d be an idiot to pursue him. Yet something about him compels me to make him mine.

When I First Saw Red is a complete and standalone short novel with an HEA ending, featuring a couple of reluctant fated soulmates—a demon and a human—trying and failing to defy destiny. 

REVIEW:

I loved this book so much because I loved Red. His personality is something else. I know some of it is a defense mechanism, but he just cracked me up so bad at how much he got to Lázhien. It was so funny.

When Lázhien first saw Red, he was in awe and couldn’t take his eyes off the demon. But Red just looked down his nose at the man and turned and walked away. But Lázhien didn’t let that stop him. He was going to get time with Red if it cost him everything. But what Lázhien doesn’t know, is that Red isn’t rejecting him just for fun. He has his reasons. One, being that Lázhien is his mate and he’s not happy about it. Two, the man is a soldier, which brings up bad memories for him. And three, if he tells Lázhien about this mating business, what if he rejects him. Two different times, they get together and both times they try to stay apart. And misery is all that happens. Until someone steps in to stop all this foolish nonsense. But now that she’s done her part, it will be up to Lázhien and Red to do theirs.

I can’t blame Red for not wanting to get close to Lázhien. With his past, I’d be running for the hills myself. It’s done it’s damage to him and it’s left a lasting effect. Plus because of his past, he doesn’t totally know about the whole mating thing. He knows most of it, but not everything and because of that, it’s even scarier. Plus even being an incubus, he wants someone that wants him for him, and not because of the magic they feel that pulls them to him. And that’s a rare thing. But what I love is that Lázhien doesn’t care about the magic part of it. In the end, he knows what he wants. Yes, he may need a kick in the pants to see the whole picture of things, but he knows that he wants Red. Grumpy, pompous Red, who makes his blood sing like no other. He wants the prickly demon to be his whole world. And that’s exactly what Red needs. It’s not easy to let go and trust when you aren’t sure of the outcome. But sometimes you just have to take the plunge and hope that it all works out. If it does, then you have your dreams. If it doesn’t, then it wasn’t the right dream yet. 

This has been a fun series. I’m really enjoying it. I’m wanting to see more from the guys from book 1. Hopefully we can go back to them at some point.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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