City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards

TL;DR: Not for me. This was too long, and with too much drooling.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much to the publisher!

Plot: Loren needs help, gets a bounty hunter’s help, makes bad decisions, and lusts after him the whole time.
Characters: If I hear about Darien’s undercut one more time I might scream.
Setting: This was the SAVING grace of this book. I loved the setting. But the rest of it… nope.
Fantasy/Romance: No… no thank you

Summary:

Loren Calla has only ever been ordinary.

As a human struggling to survive in a city that caters to the needs of vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures, she always assumed her life would remain simple, predictable, and as safe as her world would allow.

Until she barely escapes abduction at the hands of Darkslayers?supernatural bounty hunters that possess the Sight, a magical tracking ability that allows them to see a person’s aura?and one of her friends is taken in her place.

The abductors are demanding a ransom: Loren’s life in exchange for her friend’s safe return. Loren will do whatever it takes to get her friend back? Even if it means accepting help from Darien Cassel, the leader of the Seven Devils, the most feared Darkslaying circle in the city.

Darien specializes in tracking down demons and criminals that are better off dead than alive, so when he takes a job to track down Loren and finds out she is human? And couldn’t hurt a fly if her life depended on it? He decides to protect her instead of turn her in for a reward.

As much as Loren doesn’t want to admit it, Darien is her best and only chance at finding her friend alive, if she can somehow manage to get along with him? And not fall head-over-heels in love with him in the process, which is far easier said than done.

When more women start disappearing, and some of them slowly turn up dead, Loren and Darien’s search for answers takes them deep into Angelthene’s corrupt underbelly, where they discover a dark secret that threatens to unravel their world.

And when tragedy strikes, Loren learns that love can make an ordinary person do extraordinary things.

Thoughts:

The beginning of this? I enjoyed! I was interested, I loved the worldbuilding and the setting. It was working! Till it kept looping, over and over. Loren attempting to run away, coming back, thinking about running away, deciding not to. Drooling over Darien and his undercut. Listening to Darien drool over Loren and her short skirts/shorts. Just… over and over and over. I was done at 300 pages, but SURPRISE! 460 more to go.

This could have easily been two books. In fact I feel like it probably should have. I don’t hate the idea of seeing a relationship stretch out over multiple books, in fact some of my favorite urban fantasies do this. The world and lore in here was so good, it would have carried well! But instead I felt like I was trudging through the mud to the predictable ending and I didn’t enjoy myself.

Everyone says stick with it for the second book but come on! I can handle sticking through a 300, maybe 400 page book. But 700+ pages? Be so for real right now. If you have the patience of a saint you could do this. But I’m not that person and this wasn’t for me. If the author does anything shorter in this world I’d snatch it up. But at this length, this boring, and repetitive? No thanks.