Week 50 Review: Dark Illusion

From Goodreads:
A mage and a warrior must see beyond their facades and embrace the bond that links their souls in this powerful Carpathian novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan.

At any other time, Julija Brennan would find solace in the quiet of the Sierra Mountains, but now the mage is in the race of her life. Having broken free from her controlling family, Julija's attempts to warn the Carpathians of the coming threat has failed and put a target on her back—and those who hunt her are close behind... 

After centuries locked away in a monastery in the Carpathian Mountains, Isai Florea can't believe he's finally found his lifemate—the missing half of his soul. The second he sees Julija his world blazes with color. But despite their explosive connection Julija rebels against what she sees as Isai's intent to control her and rejects the bond that would prevent him from becoming a monster. 

As their unfulfilled bond continues to call to them both, Julija and Isai aim to complete the task that brought them together. They are used to facing danger alone, but now the mage and the ancient warrior must learn how to rely on each other in order to stop a plot that threatens all Carpathians...

My Review:
Oh, this book was fantastic! I did have a tough time getting into it, especially compared to the ease of Sentinel, which was hilarious with the sauce pan, but once I got over the whole spanking thing, well, this book moved smoothly and I enjoyed it immensely!

So first off, I did read a review of this book that made some really good points, about how non-consensual spanking is abuse. And that beginning had that twice, and some verbal stuff that Isai repents later, but still, that wasn't cool of him, and it was hard to read.

I really enjoyed meeting Julijia, she's another from the line of Xavier and Rhiannon, her father another son, the firstborn, of Soren. So that's a new branch of the family tree. And given her parentage, well, she's different, as they discover, and I enjoyed that journey!

Another complaint is the ending. We had all this build up and then the one bad isn't dead, but lives on to plot further awfulness. And given that it was set up in this book that he was obsessed with Julija, well, it's hard to see how he'll play a role in future roles as prominently when she isn't the star...Plus this is just another enemy for them to face. I've lost track of how many enemies they have that are out there!

This book was fantastic though it had a flaw or two, and I can't wait for the next book in this amazing (and so very long lived) series!

Author: Christine Feehan
Series: Dark #29
Read: December 13th, 2019
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series so much! And it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2019 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: September 3rd 2019

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars