This book…❤️❤️❤️ Lex Veia’s debut urban fantasy is a fantastic, slow-burn creation that pulls the reader in. It’s got romance with a little heat, action with a bite of suspense. Veia has created a wonderful world of demons and witches and feisty, fun characters. Kit Winter is Shadow, a lone wolf with no filter and a horrible attention span. He never gets caught, until he does, and his whole life changes…again. Zach Riley is Ghost, the leader of the (self-described) unkillable Renegades. He chooses Kit for his team, but he gets way more than he bargained for from the thief. Together, they take on the monsters of Las Oscura, all while fighting the connection building between them.
Originally, I thought the book didn’t focus on the romance/relationship as much as I expected. It is definitely a slow-burn book. But the clever world-building and the team of Renegades more than make up for that. That said, after my second read, I found myself paying more attention to little nuances and interactions between Kit and Ghost. The romance is there. It’s just more subtle as they get to know one another and form a bond.
You would never guess this is a debut book. It flows wonderfully, and it’s written very well. I can’t wait to read the next in the series and find out more about Las Oscura and the devils that lurk there. But more than that, I can’t wait to see more of the relationship between Kit and Zach.
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Kit Winter does not get caught.
As the most infamous thief in America, Kit enjoys a carefree, transient lifestyle—or, he did, until someone slapped a pair of handcuffs around his wrists and offered him an impossible choice: Rot in prison or join the most dangerous division of the Darkmagic Investigation Agency, the Renegades.
Kit’s pretty sure he chose wrong. The Renegades are the most elite fighters in the world—none more so than their legendary dark-witch-killing lieutenant, Zach Riley. Kit is utterly outmatched and unprepared for hunting witches and demons through the dangerous, magic-riddled city of Las Oscura.
But when a routine hellhound hunt turns fatal, Kit’s criminal skillset might be the Renegades’ best shot at tracking a deadly new killer through the shadowy underground—and Kit’s chance to earn his place on the team. However, hunting witches is worlds away from Kit’s old life, and if he wants to survive, he’ll need to learn to trust his team—and balance his burgeoning feelings for a certain lieutenant.
