Release-Day Review: Passion Ignites Part 1 by Donna Grant (Dark Kings #7.1)

Passion Ignites: Part 1 (Dark Kings #7.1)
Donna Grant
Published: Oct. 13, 2015 (St. Martin’s Press)
Purchase: Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Amanda

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Note: Passion Ignites is being released as a four-part serial, with the full book to be released on November 3.

While this review will be spoiler free, it may reference previous books in the series.

The war between the Kings and the Dark Fae is heating up, and Lexi finds herself smack in the middle of the conflict. While on vacation with friends in Edinburgh, her friend Christina is murdered by one of the Dark. Lexi is the only one who saw the murderer—saw his true face—and she’s determined to find him and bring him to justice.

Thorn can’t help but admire the intrepid mortal. She’s savvier than he’d expected, but she’s still in danger. And despite all his promises to himself not to get too involved in the human world again, he ends up watching over her and wanting her.

I was all sorts of intrigued by Thorn in Soul Scorched, so I was ever so pleased to find out his book was next up in the Dark Kings series. And in this opening salvo, he’s proving to be a complex and occasionally frustrating character. I loved his reluctant admiration for Lexi’s smarts. While she can’t quite get herself out of every sticky situation, she does the best she can with the arsenal she has. At one point, Lexi falls ill, forcing Thorn to care for her…which includes stripping her out of her rain-soaked clothes. He registers an attraction to Lexi but refuses to acknowledge it. He does such a good job of ignoring it, Lexi has no idea he’s been doing his best not to sneak peeks at her while changing her clothes.

(That sounds horrible. It’s not. Trust me. Thorn’s a total gentleman through the whole business, which earns him another point or ten in my book.)

There’s a spark between the two when they first meet, but while it catches, it doesn’t blaze out of control. Both Lexi and Thorn are devoted to their seemingly individual causes, and side trips into Romancelandia aren’t something either has time to indulge. There’s furtive looks and wistful thoughts, along with some fierce longing on Thorn’s part that he channels into his fights with the Dark. I gotta hand it to Lexi. Even confronted with a gorgeous man with a killer accent, she never loses sight of her purpose. She just tries to get more information out of him. He’s hot, he’s helped her before, he’ll help her now, right? And if she gets to hang around him a little while longer, well, there’s no harm in looking…

Thorn’s adamant that Lexi return to the States, where it’s safest. Lexi realizes she may have no choice—her flight home is just days away. But as long as she’s in Edinburgh, she’ll continue the hunt for Christina’s killer, even if it means dealing with some not-so-savory characters.

Sexual content: none