I was very excited to get my greedy little hands on Guardian Demon by Aurora Ascher (yay for fellow Canadians!). So when I had the opportunity to jump on getting this ARC you bet I was right on it. As someone who loves the morally grey characters in pretty much every book, of course demons were going to be a huge draw, because who’s more likely to have a bit of a dark side than a demon?
This is the fourth book in the Hell Bent series and follows Raum, the next in a group of blood sworn demon brothers (as each book follows one of them). I adored Raum, he’s such a grumpy marshmallow and pretty much my spirit demon being the animal whisperer that he is. My favourite part was his taking a job at an animal shelter and training dogs. Raum is an intriguing character because there’s also the mystery of his missing memory, and what the gap in his memory is, as well as the question of why it disappeared.
On the other hand there’s Sunshine, an Angel who is given the task of retrieving a magical book from a demon. She ends up recruiting Raum against his will by blackmailing him because she needs a demon to help lead her through Hell to help her keep a low profile. Sunshine is a somewhat fallen Angel, having been demoted from her previous high position due to something she did in her past that is only hunted at through much of the book. This task of getting the book is her way back to her prior high place among the angels which is a huge motivator for her to complete the job and pushes her to the extreme method of blackmailing a demon.
The two butt heads while fighting a ton of chemistry, which makes for some great tension. And eventually a whole lot of spice, which is totally worth the wait.
Without getting into spoilers, eventually these characters get some answers on questions they’ve long had, which may or may not involve Raum’s memory loss, and everything comes together eventually one way or another. All I can say is go pick this book up! It’s very much worth the read and I cannot wait for the next one!
