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Review: Marked by Hades by Reese Monroe (Bound by Hades #2)

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Marked by Hades by Reese Monroe // VBC ReviewMarked by Hades (Bound by Hades #2)
Reese Monroe
Published: April 14, 2014 (Entangled)
Purchase: Amazon
Review source: copy provide by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Amy

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

For 911 years Justin has been Companion to a Gatekeeper of Hades. All Gatekeepers are destined to be mated, and once the mark appears between mates and they’ve forged the bond, one cannot survive without the other. Companions are not known to receive mates, and that’s just fine by Justin. He enjoys the company of women too much to ever care for just one. When Justin feels the mate mark activate though, instinct tells him to find and protect his new mate.

Yvonne woke up on a park bench unable to remember who she was or how she came to be there. When a friendly stranger tries to give her help, he is killed when he touches her skin. Feeling guilty and horrified at what she’s just done, Yvonne closes herself off and tries to stay as far away from people as possible, which proves difficult when she has nowhere to go and no money. When a strange mark appears on her shoulder, she tries to cover it with make-up, thinking it might be a beacon to whoever wanted to harm her by taking her memories.

When it is discovered that Yvonne is Justin’s intended mate, he has mixed feelings about it. All he knows is he is definitely attracted to her. Regardless of his feelings, Justin is unwilling to let Yvonne out of his sight until they can figure out her past. Her past, as it so happens, is mysteriously linked to an ongoing search for Artifacts that could seriously tip the scales between good and evil, and now Justin must decide if he can trust the woman who’s been chosen as his mate.

Yvonne is a strong character and I appreciated that even when she’s made weaker by not having all her memories she doesn’t let it make her a victim. She will still fight for herself, and fight for rebuilding her life out of nothing. Justin, for his part, has to decide if his feelings can outweigh what he’s been taught as right and wrong. Reese Monroe really did a great job conveying how valid his indecisions were, to show the moment he realizes what truly matters.

In Marked by Hades, Monroe was a master of the tease. The scenes between Justin and Yvonne in the moments of ‘will they ever have sex?’ were hot. I’ve never read such hot non-sex scenes in a book before. The chemistry built between Justin and Yvonne just leaped off the page.

In between these moments there were times the story dragged a little. There was a lot packed in between the beginning and the end. Not wanting to give away any spoilers, I just felt like there was too much that caused our characters to have to move too frequently between the main storyline of the book and the storyline of the overall series.

When you read a lot of urban fantasy and paranormal romance sometimes stories become predictable. Despite the instances where I would have liked the story to move at a quicker pace, I have to give it to Monroe for throwing in some interesting twists and turns in regards to the characters that I quite liked. I wasn’t ever really positive about where the story was going. I rather enjoyed the unpredictability in Marked by Hades and hope it’s a mark of Monroe’s writing as I would like the rest of the series to catch me off-guard.

Sexual content: Sex

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