Blood, Pain and Pleasure by Nadine Mutas (Tales of Blood and Magic #1)
Paranormal Romance
Released: May 28, 2015
Self Published

Reviewed by Mandi

Desperate to save her demon-abducted sister, witch Merle MacKenna breaks the law of her Elders. As a last resort to track down the kidnapper, she unleashes another demon, Rhun, from the magical prison of the Shadows. Determined to bind him again after he helps her, Merle vows to keep him tightly controlled. Easier said than done when her own personal demon is hellbent on charming his way into her pants – and her heart.

After twenty years in the Shadows, bound for a crime he didn’t commit, Rhun is past caring about anyone but himself. The plan: Seduce the sexy witch, steal her powers, break the magical leash to her, and then be on his merry way. But when a heinous betrayal in the ranks of the witches forces Merle and Rhun to work even closer together, Rhun’s plan backfires – and the witch he meant to play gets under his skin. With his unbidden feelings for Merle vying with his need for freedom, he struggles with a bitter realization: Being a selfish bastard is a lot harder when love is involved.

A selfish bastard is a good way to describe Rhun at first. Let loose from the shadow world after being imprisoned for 20 years, he is ready for some blood, some pain and some pleasure. Merle didn’t have much choice – after her sister was abducted by the same type of demon that Rhun is, she decides to do something dangerous. Let Rhun out as long as he promises to help track her sister down. She isn’t prepared for how overwhelming he will be though.

This was a pretty fun paranormal romance. Rhun is a very arrogant, self-centered, alpha demon. He is out of the shadow world and he wants to be sated in all areas of his life. As a demon, he can only be satisfied once he has blood, brought pain and brought pleasure. His first target is Merle. He knew Merle when she was a young girl, having been an acquaintance of Merle’s grandmother. Now that Merle is an adult, and a sexy one at that, Rhun is very happy to be in her presence. He drinks her blood, he pleasures her, and he goes out and finds some bad guys to kill before he can reach full power.

Rhun is a misunderstood demon. Yes, he has naughty tendencies being a demon, but he doesn’t kill just for blood lust. He kills bad guys – but otherwise can keep his murderous tendencies under control. He is actually a big softie under his demon clothes, just don’t tell anyone I said that. He keeps his jerky demeanor up long enough for me to really enjoy it. I hate when a character has too quick of a personality change – it’s not the case here.

Merle is desperate to get her sister back, but also fighting her lust for this demon. Those darn sexy demons! Always getting in the way of things.

While this book is a fun read – with a very sexy alpha demon who says things all the time to needle Merle or to get in her pants – here are my frustrations. First, Merle’s sister is missing and pretty much on the verge of getting killed. It frustrated me that Merle spends so much time sexin’ up Rhun, instead of being honestly worried about her sister. At some points, she had to give herself over to Rhun to move things along. But there also came a time when she sits down and really thinks about her sister’s situation, she comes up with somewhat of a solution. Maybe she could have done this earlier in the book.

I also thought this book ran a little long. I enjoyed their story, but got a little tired by the end.

That being said – this is a fun, lust-charged, sexy, paranormal romance. Rhun is a fun demon who believably falls in love with Merle. While he starts out pushy and demon-ish, their romance turns sexy and nice. He is a good guy underneath, but he keeps enough of that demon attitude that makes him…still a demon. I’ll read another by this author.

Grade: C+

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