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Pure Requiem by Aja James

Who he was…

The Creature was not always an “it,” a monster and tool for Medusa’s use. Once upon a time, he was a boy, and then a man. He had a name—Erebu. Twice, he sacrificed himself for love. Twice he died and was revived by his Mistress. In the process, he lost his soul and buried the painful memories where no one could find them, least of all him.

Who he is…

Now one of Medusa’s most brilliant henchmen, captured by the Pure Ones yet treated like a friend rather than a foe, the Creature is reminded of the soul he lost, the memories he’d forgotten, and the dream he used to hope for. But first, he must confront the past.

Who he is meant to be…

The Creature realizes that he matters, he has will, even if he is not completely free; that without darkness there is no light, and that darkness can be beautiful too.

When his newfound friends—his family—are threatened, will the Creature find the strength to fight for love? Will he make the right choice and change the course of Destiny?

Amazon CA * Amazon US
(free to read with Kindle Unlimited)

If I haven't said it yet, I'll say it now... I love Erebu!

How is this possible?

How did the author make this person into a redeemable hero? Or would he be an anti-hero?

I don't know how it was done. And I don't even care. I LOVE HIM!!

And to top it all off, I got not only Ere... but Pure Requiem gave me more of my beloved Tal!

The following are my thoughts, feelings, and questions about this read. If you don't want to be spoiled, stop here!

1. The Creature, who will now be named Ere (because I refuse to ever call him 'it' again) was as sarcastic, adorable, vulnerable, and particularly loquacious as ever.

2. I found it entirely too sweet when Ere impersonated Inanna to spend time with Tal. How cute was it that Tal knew all along that it was him? And how nice was it that he was so honest with his father, even in disguise?

“There’s a certain symmetry as well as randomness in the lines. It’s actually quite…beautiful, despite the ugliness that created them. When I look at you, I see colors, and the world pales to gray. You’re a work of art, papa.”

And then I saw it: a corner of his mouth slowly curved up in that gorgeous, heart-palpitating squirk. Holy gods, how I love this heroic male with all my twisted, black heart!

3. I love Ere's connection to Benji. I live for every moment of their time together, their banter, their love, and their light.

There he goes with his obsession with cuckoos again. I suppose I aided and abetted this unhealthy fixation with the grim fairytales I’ve been telling him. He’s determined to prove to me how cuckoos are actually beautiful and love-worthy, how the ugliest of them all is destined to mate with a magical golden phoenix of all things. One can never account for a boy’s wayward imagination.

Is Benji seeing the future? The phoenix... that would be The Eagle King right? Is he to be Ere's promise of happiness?

4. How sweet was it when Ere finally saw his true self for the first time?

Huh. I guess I’m genetically blessed with a big, fat ass. Despite the beef jerky imitation that describes the rest of me (except the obscenely plump meat hanging between my legs), my backside doesn’t appear to have gone on the same diet.

5. Why do I want Ere to write me some letters? I'm in love with his love for Dalair. I love how his letters were sweet, vulnerable and honest. I am begging for these two 'brothers' to reunite and find their love and friendship again.

6. How hot was that first scene between Tal and Ishtar? Initially he was tense and reluctant and still averse to her touch. Then he became dominant and exchanged the power with his mate. Is this what he needed to finally overcome the hurdle to their passion? Will they be okay now? And when the heck will he get back his sight???

7. Am I the only one who melted into a sticky puddle over Ere's love and admiration for his parents? I'm a gushy mess!

I stand in front of the bathroom mirror admiring the gorgeousness that sprouts from my scalp. I think it’s my best feature. After all, I got it from Ishtar Anshar, Heaven’s Brightest Star. I cock my head a little in consideration. On second thought, maybe I like my eyes best. Because they’re from Tal-Telal, the General of the Pure Ones. Everything else about my body is probably my own, so I don’t like that as much. But the features that are from…them I absolutely adore.

8. I'm still wondering about the futures of Rhys, Ana, and Adam Morgan. Will there be happy endings for them? I always thought Ana and Adam would hook up.

9. Will I ever get the back stories for Tristan and Ayelet? I want to know who they really are and how they ended up mated.

10. The reconciliation of Ere and Liv almost made me teary-eyed. I know this is fiction, but what are the chances that she was the same girl who gave him a broken heart. They were kids together. She knew him before he ever became The Creature. How cool is it... how far he's come to be able to forgive her?!

11. I would love for someone to tell me why Ishtar is still being referred to as a Dark One when we know that her true father was a Pure One. Doesn't that mean she is half and half? Doesn't that make Inanna and Ere 3/4 Pure and 1/4 Dark?

What I know is this... Ere is still a rascal, but he is definitely redeemed. He's becoming the hero he was always meant to be. After an epic battle scene, it seems he's ready to make a huge sacrifice for his family and friends. Now here I am, ready to start Pure Destiny, and all I can think of, besides my love for these characters, is 🎵 Ding Dong the Witch is Dead 🎵 One down... one to go!

Check out the previous books:

“He is so beautiful, my love,” she whispers, the salt from her hot tears blending with the light sprinkle of water from the showerhead as it all trickles down my skin, leaving me raw.

“Benji described him accurately—eyes like yours, hair like mine, tall and much too thin. But you wouldn’t believe how his beauty eclipses the gods of old unless you beheld it for yourself.”

I clench my fist against the small of her back and hug her tighter.

I cannot see my son. I do not know if I ever shall. At least I have the memory of Inanna to sustain me. At least I had my daughter for two decades before we were separated. But I have never seen Erebu. My blind eyes throb with visceral pain at the loss.

“I will tell you all about it,” Ishtar adds softly, as if sensing my torment. “Our son truly cannot be described as anything but beautiful. He is all male, but there is a feline, delicate grace about him. I do not think it’s because of his thinness. It’s his inherent gentleness and playfulness. He might display his prickly, irreverent wit to the world, but he’s terribly sensitive inside. And gravely hurt.”

She sniffs, and I take a deep breath, both of us gathering ourselves out of sorrow, focusing on joy.

And hope. Always hope.

“Often, he makes scornful, self-deprecating comments,” she continues in that soothing, low voice, “partly to fend off harsher words from others that he seems to expect as his due, and partly because he truly believes them himself. He has so much light within him that it shines through whenever he looks upon Benji. Yet, so much darkness as well, focused inward. And because of this, not in spite of it, he is exquisitely, painfully beautiful. Endlessly fascinating, multi-faceted like the kaleidoscopic fragments of light filtered through the most perfect diamond.”

Aja James just completed the Pure/ Dark Ones paranormal-fantasy romance series in 2020. If you want your heart battered, bruised, shattered and skewered, then put back together in the most glorious ways, check out the series below. Every couple gets an HEA, but they fight like hell for it on the way.

Aja is now working on her new series, Dragon Tails, because dragons are her favorite shifters of all!

How is it that summer is already over? My children are days away from school and August was all about reading what I love and back-to-school shopping. With my eldest going into her second year of university, my middle going into her 11th year of high school, and my youngest starting junior high, my hands are full! I am definitely looking forward to whatever September brings and I wish for all of you to be blessed and find some awesome reads :)

So let's get down to what all I did in August...


August was a great reading month for me. So great that it's hard for me to nail down the best book because after starting the Pure/Dark Ones series by Aja James... all of those books deserve the glory! So I'll just share with you all of the amazing reads I got to enjoy this month...

Ever since he laid eyes on Eveline Marceau, Ramses wanted to possess her. Inside and out.
He wanted to own every fiber of her being.

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Dark Possession by Aja James

Alend Ramses is not who he seems…

The first-ever Dark King, the most powerful vampire ruler in the world, was once the lowest of the low. A slave who became a Consort who became a King…he’s lived long enough to learn from his mistakes and never repeat them.

Or has he?

Eveline Marceau knows a lot…

The Pure Ones’ Seer and Scribe is an intellectual female with hidden depths, which no male across time has come close to uncovering. She is certain that Ramses is no different; she knows what she wants, and he is exactly opposite.

But she doesn’t know everything.

Their paths cross unexpectedly…

Pulled into the Dark Ones’ dizzying world of intrigue, violence and mayhem, the meek little “librarian” shows her steely backbone and holds her own. By all appearances, she is one of the Dark King’s possessions, a symbol and portent for a potential future as tensions between the Dark Ones and their enemies run high.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Can Eveline work with Ramses to steer Destiny in the right direction, or will history once again repeat itself toward a bloody, oppressive end?

Amazon CA * Amazon US
(free to read with Kindle Unlimited)

Once again, Aja James gave me an honorable, broken hero to sink my teeth into. Had me feeling like fighting Eveline for the privilege!

Matter of fact, Eveline wasn't doing bad herself. I absolutely adored the way she transformed once she met Ramses. Dark Possession a.k.a. The Evolution of Eveline was a sensually frustrating masterpiece.

Honestly, I found so much to love about this book... like the way Eveline was mesmerized by Ramses and his #phallus elephantas.

She had the almost irresistible urge to rub her face in his inviting crotch.

Could crotches be inviting? Apparently, Ramses’ was.

Unconsciously, Eveline licked her dry lips at the sight.

She was so, so starved.

“Thirsty?” He asked solicitously in that sinful, dark chocolate voice.

She swallowed with an audible gulp.

His chest seemed to shake, and if Eveline was paying attention to anything above his waistline, she would have seen that it was shaking with barely suppressed amusement.

“Hungry?”

He was taunting her. Some self-preserving part of her brain just knew that he was.

Right on cue, his penis bobbed and pulsed again, squeezing out more clear fluid, the fat, juicy head with its winking slit looking directly at her. (If penises could look, that was).

As if to say, come take a good long suck. Eat my cream until you’re full to bursting. I’ll satisfy all of your most wanton and depraved appetites.

Can these two be more delicious together?!

I loved that although this book heavily featured Ramses and Eveline, there was still something about their story that fed into the subplot that has been building throughout this entire series. For example, I need more information about The Eagle King. I was hoping that he and Ramses would finally have the conversation that seemed to be so necessary, but no. I want them to confront Ramses' regret over their first encounter when he turned his back on his own kind. I wanted the Eagle to share their origins and their bond. I want all of these beings to finally unite so that Medusa and Wan'er don't stand a chance.

If I didn't already not care a dang lick about Queen Ashlu before, this book... getting Ramses story... seeing how she used, abused, and manipulated him... I definitely hate her now.

When he was smaller, she used to sift her fingers through his ebony curls while she hugged him to her bosom as a loving mother would. She doted on him and carved time out of every day to spend with him. Playing, dreaming, making him laugh, feeding him food and drink from her own hands.

Was it any wonder that he loved her unconditionally? His beautiful, magical Dark Queen.

He never suspected that it was all pretense.

Good thing she's dead.

I did think that it took far too long for Ramses to wise up to who Queen Ashlu truly was. At times, I thought it made him pathetic. But then I remembered she had him since he was a baby. So it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that he would have a blindspot when it came to her. However, to die at the age of 11 as a Pure One because he gave himself to her when she didn't love him back (thanks Decline), to be reborn as a Dark One and rededicate himself to the same person who didn't love him... He took to long to walk away.

Although Ramses was disgusted and repulsed by having sex in order to expedite negotations between the houses, I'm so glad that Eveline quickly stepped up to sabotage his efforts. That entire scene where she cursed one of the vampire queens was hilarious. Like her, I didn't understand why he put himself through it all. He was a fearless leader. Feared and respected. It just wasn't necessary and it was gross and I'm just thrilled that I didn't have to go through seeing anything yucky.

After all these millennia, Eveline found him.

Though she, too, hadn’t been searching.

They’d found each other.

They’d come home.

I don't know what the mating of Eveline and Ramses means for the two houses. Will the Cove and the Shield finally operate as one unit? It would be smart, no? Will Ramses and The Eagle King have 'the talk'? Will The Eagle King feature in a big way in the story to come? And when the heck will Medusa and Wan'er finally die? They will die, right?!

I'm full of questions and curiosity and the only solution is to keep reading and falling in love with all of these characters, the author's writing, and the beautiful story that is too quickly coming to an end.

Oh, and what does this prophecy mean?

A queen becomes Queen

A slave becomes Mate

A King falls in flames

A winner loses in games

A queen gives way

A Mate displaced

A Champion reborn

A King transformed

A stone heart in fire

A soul dances higher

When True Love reveals

And old wounds heal.

Check out the previous books:

“Which part of me do you want to possess the most?” he rasped into her ear, softly biting the tender lobe.

“Which part of me do you hunger for the most?”

Her busy little hands gave his buttocks a hard, thorough squeeze before curving around his hips to grasp his manhood through his trousers in one fist while the other took a firm hold of his balls.

He shuddered against her and ground into her grip, fucking her hand in short bursts until his pre-cum leaked profusely from the head, wetting her palm even through the confining fabric.

“This?”

He knew without a doubt that she craved his sex, but he still wanted to hear her say it.

“Yes,” she breathed, squeezing him tightly with both hands, making him see stars.

At the same time, he was afraid. Females the world over wanted him. It was the primal maleness of him, the elemental strength and power. Ashlu had wanted him for the same reason, and he’d used her sexual desire to bind her to him.

But with Eveline, he wanted her to want more from him. To want him the way he wanted her.

Loved her.

He bit back a helpless groan at the truth of it. He loved her completely. Utterly.

He loved the way she stood up to him, since the first moment they met. She always held her ground, not giving him an inch. He loved the way she focused on her work, how she truly enjoyed and was inspired by her role amongst the immortals.

He loved the way she became doggedly obsessed when she wanted something, how despite being an imminently logical, intellectual female, she also had a fiery, implacable temper, a possessive, jealous streak as wide as the Nile. He even loved the quirky nicknames she thought up to call him in retaliation for his calling her “little sprite.”

Most of all, he loved her passionate heart, her courage and loyalty, how she didn’t hesitate to go after him, and to try to help a complete stranger in the eagle king, even after he abducted her.

This depth of feeling obliterated everything he thought he knew. The closest he’d felt to this before was merely obsession.

This…

This was irrevocable, permanent possession. His body stilled against her, though tremors of a different kind racked him. Doubt. Vulnerability. Surrender.

And undiluted, all-consuming love.

Aja James just completed the Pure/ Dark Ones paranormal-fantasy romance series in 2020. If you want your heart battered, bruised, shattered and skewered, then put back together in the most glorious ways, check out the series below. Every couple gets an HEA, but they fight like hell for it on the way.

Aja is now working on her new series, Dragon Tails, because dragons are her favorite shifters of all!