By Everly Frost
The Blurb: Is love worth the danger?
When Hunter Cassidy plans to infiltrate the Assassin's Legion, posing as an assassin-in-training, she is prepared to encounter danger every step of the way. What she doesn't expect is the ruggedly handsome and relentlessly fierce trainee, Slade Baines.
It's hard enough that Hunter is the first female to be accepted to train with the Master Assassin himself. Even when she beats the other candidates, the Master ranks her lowest of all. In the male-dominated Legion, the other trainees see her as a weak link to be driven out of their ranks.
When they try to force Hunter out, Slade gets in their way, becoming an unexpected ally. Despite her best intentions, Hunter finds herself lowering her guard around him, which only makes carrying out her secret mission more difficult and puts her in danger of falling for him.
But there's more at stake than Hunter's heart. The Master Assassin possesses the key to locate a weapon that Hunter must ensure remains hidden at all costs. In her quest to stop this deadly power from falling into the wrong hands, she must make a choice between following her heart... or fulfilling her destiny.
I love a good story about a young woman, laced with power, trying to infiltrate a male-dominated profession and this one was worth the read.
Our heroine, Hunter Cassidy, has a secret. Many secrets in fact. And right now, her main goal is to avenge her mother's death and locate an item that could be deadly in the wrong hands.
In order to accomplish this, she must become a member of The Legion. This is a group of fierce and revered Assassins for hire. It's almost impossible for a woman to infiltrate this faction but Hunter is determined to follow in her mother's footsteps and get what she came for. Once admitted, she ends up getting a lot more than she bargained for. Secrets about her mother and herself are revealed and Hunter is forced to make choices and sacrifices she hadn't anticipated.
Luckily for her, she has a very important trick up her sleeve. She isn't entirely human and her heritage will allow her to move up the ranks and gain the respect and authority that she deserves. She is a Valkyrie and because of this, she is a target and some within The Legion are actually out to expose and destroy her and those that she has come to care about; especially Slade.
What's not to love about Slade Baines? He's just the type of hero our heroine needs. He's intelligent, strong, dutiful and brimming with power. I love a man who isn't afraid of a strong woman and Slade is that in spades. Their relationship is a slow burn built on a strong foundation of mutual respect and their deep attraction and affection for each other is palpable and intense. But is it enough?
I really did enjoy this book. There is interesting world building, exciting action, unfurling mysteries and I loved the connection made to mythology. I appreciated the emphasis on "girl-power" and thought Hunter was likable and her actions and decisions matched the intense and dangerous world around her.
Having said that, I think the writing was written in a more straight-forward "tell" rather than "show" manner and, in my opinion, could have been a little more colorful. A lot of the mysteries were bluntly explained rather than creatively revealed which was fine, but a tad disappointing. I also stumbled on a few grammatical errors, but not enough to ruin the flow or the story.
Unlike most of the romances I read, this story has a big and heart-wrenching cliffhanger, which can absolutely drive me crazy. Luckily, I don't have to wait too long for relief. Book 2, Assassin's Magic 2: Assassin's Mask, will be available this March and is firmly placed on my tbr list.
What did you think?
