Book Review: Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe

Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe is the second book in the Royal House of Shadows series, a paranormal romance project involving four highly regarded authors in the field. Lord of Rage takes us back to the land of Elden and a royal house that has fallen under attack. As their parents died, they used their powers to cast two spells, at odds with each other. One spell to send the heirs out of harm’s way and instill a need to survive, and the other to instill a desire for vengeance. Princess Breena was the cherished only daughter, facing a future marriage intended only to strength her father's kingdom and foster peace. Her magic involved dreaming, regularly leading her to dream of her warrior lover. On the day of the attack, Breena was ripped from her Elden castle and thrown into a strange, dangerous realm. Lost and alone, she found herself longing for survival and vengeance. When she stumbles across a cottage in her struggles she found herself more than just a meal and a nap; she also found her warrior, a bear of a man an his two younger brothers. Breena had eaten his food and fallen asleep in his bed when Osborn found her. Now Osborn had a choice; either risk his life fighting after having vowed never to be a mercenary again or deny his princess her fairy-tale ending.

Lord of Rage has a different feel than the first book, Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter, but that is part of the reason behind this project. I really liked the amount of characterization by Monroe. I felt like I had a real knowledge of the primary and secondary characters, without any stereotypical fillers standing in the place of real characters. My only frustration with Lord of Rage is that the first couple of chapters are packed with information and action, then the story seemed to hit a bit of a plateau. There were good bits through out, but the feeling of urgency and intensity that I felt in the beginning seemed to fade away and I was left wanting more at the end. This is not to say that I did not enjoy the book, because I did and will recommend the book to anyone that enjoys the paranormal romance genre and trying something new and a little different. Now, I need to dig into my digital ARC of Lord of the Wolfyn by Jessica Andersen to see what this series holds in sort for readers next.