ARC provided by the Publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book ended up being a DNF.

Oh my god!!! This book got lost in the world of my kindle and I am so glad I finally found it again. I absolutely LOVED it. I have been struggling to get into the YA and general romance books lately. Apparently I have been needing a good fantasy romance with some spice.

Love the characters and the story line. This is the first book I've read by this author and I look forward to reading more by her. Well written and I enjoyed it immensely.

Unable to download the arc prior to being archived. Therefore I won't be reviewing

Buy this book now. A shocking and stunning new series, Hidden Blade will cut deep. Queen of torment, Ms. DeCosta creates another world where the lead character is totally screwed over. Starting with page one, I am hooked and can't stop until I get to the end. This story moved fast and kept my adrenaline pumping.

I loved Ace Dante. He is the antihero who is really a hero but given a raw deal. What happens when the good guy is the loser and the evil guy is the winner? Enter in Ace Dante who is betrayed by his mother and cursed by an evil god. Specifically, two psychotic dysfunctional incestual Egyptian gods who need to be wiped off the face of this Earth and every realm above and below, continue to mess with Ace. I loathe them.

This story engaged me, infuriated me and made me cry. I rail at Ms. DeCosta for moving me so much I cried at the end of this story. If you need a happily ever after ending, this book is not for you. If you want to feel intense sorrow, grief, fury and helplessness, this is the book for you. If Ms. DeCosta were to ever to delve into BDSM, look out, she would blow a kinky reader's mind.

The world building is fantastic. Ms. DeCosta takes the Egyptian mythos and mixes it into something new and refreshing. Her character building is amazing. She creates individual characters who are unique and pull a reader in. A reader becomes invested in the character and with Ace, it isn't that I feel pity. It is that I feel outraged and I root for him to overcome. He does not. He is beaten down even more in this story. Ms. DeCosta is one of those authors who will kill characters off. I gasped in horror with what she did. I couldn't believe my eyes and had to re-read several passages over again to ensure what happened really did happen.

The tale is vivid with imagery and almost a sensory overload. This type of gritty world with dark themes and antiheroes is hard to write well. Ms. DeCosta does it so well without making it heartless. Instead, she tears the reader's heart out and stomps all over it whilst chortling maniacally. This story is smooth, suspenseful, slightly dirty erotic and powerful. At the end of this story, I hit rock bottom hard and ended up with a major book hang over. I loved reading this book and I'm a bit afraid to re-read it because of the intensity of emotions pulled out of me. This mesmerizing urban fantasy is highly recommended to readers who enjoy a tortured hero used as a proverbial whipping boy.

Review posted on Goodreads says it all. This book and series lacks in depth of story. I have no problem with all the sex, it was hot. But in the end, that's all there was.

ALPHA'S REVENGE by N.J. Walters is the third in her Project Alpha series. The book takes place in a post-apocalyptic future Earth. The world-building is well done, and the heroine's character fully developed, but the insta-love between the main characters was hard to absorb. Though the book is the third in the series, it was easy to understand as a new reader.

We're first introduced to Charity as she's fleeing the perfect society ruled by her sadistic father, the General. After witnessing the torture of a resistance member, she's finally set her sights on freedom. But first she'll inform the rebels that trouble is coming--words she heard on the last breath of a dying rebel.

When she finds Adrian, a genetically enhanced soldier and leader of the Resistance, it's lust at first sight. Charity has been used poorly by her father and the man he chose to be her husband. Adrian is lonely and alone, and in Charity he sees someone he can love.

The chemistry between the pair seemed genuine, but the feelings engendered in Adrian weren't explained well enough for me to understand if it was some instinctual, alpha-mating issue or if he just really had the hots for Charity. His character seemed two-dimensional in comparison to the heroine, and I wonder if the novella length perhaps had something to do with the lack of depth in the hero and their relationship. Charity too just seemed to love him right away, and I kept waiting to see more of an emotional connection between the two. Yet the tight timeline didn't give them the time to embrace the relationship slowly.

The story is fast-paced and exciting, so if you don't mind the somewhat shallow relationship build, ALPHA'S REVENGE is worth the read.

To read the series from the beginning, read:

EMBRACING SILENCE

ASSASSIN'S AWAKENING

ALPHA'S REVENGE
________________________________________
SJ, Romance Junkies
3.5 Hearts

“Real courage is being afraid and doing it anyway.”

I loved some of the quotes in this book, the resonated so well and fit the situations perfectly. That was easily my favorite aspect of this read.

Alpha’s Revenge is book three in the Project Alpha series by N.J. Walters and was previously published as Sweet Charity.

Adrian is the leader of the Resistance in a post-apocalyptic dystopian era who are fighting against the corrupt government controlled by General Caruther and Piedmont Corporations. Created as a weapon and an ultimate soldier Adrian and those like him are known simply as the Alpha’s and they are all warrior and instinctual male.

“He was an Alpha, bred to be stronger, faster and smarter. But he was also a creature of instinct.”

Charity is General Caruther’s daughter who has grown up under her father’s thumb more than perhaps anyone else in this world who are suffer under his rule. When she comes across his latest victim, a member of the resistance, and finds out the general’s plans for those beyond the walls of the city who are fighting against the regime. With her newfound information she receives the courage she needs to take her life into her own hands and leaves the supposed safety of the city to find those fighting for a better life for the entire population and give them the information they need to bring down the corrupt government and her father.

I felt like the book was a little rushed. The principle was great and although I haven’t read the first two books in the series I could tell this was the culmination of the series. The speed with which everything happened though threw me. When the Charity and Adrian get together it’s so quick, literally right after they meet, and it just feels a little over the top fast. They also didn’t seem to have a real connection and the lack of trust showed quite a bit. I understand that for Adrian and how his genes basically make him zero in on the one woman meant for him and all that, but as Charity is just the average human despite being the evil general’s daughter I’m not really certain what her motives for jumping into bed with this unknown man so quickly are.

The ending felt extremely quick too. We don’t really get a good idea of how things fully turn out for the city and all the inhabitants long term. I’m not sure if the lack of that information is because there’s going to be another book, although it certainly didn’t seem set up for that, or if it was simply the author just being ‘done’ with the series too much to fully finish those wrap up thoughts or what, but I was a little miffed at the lack of complete closure.

I’m not sure if it’s in the other books, but I was a bit confused as to what happened to the world to create this crazy dystopian world the general is ruling. I felt like I was missing some key elements because I hadn’t read books one and two, but while I was not quite lost in this world I was definitely feeling a bit unsteady on my feet after having just been dropped into it with very little information.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book though. I think I’ll go back and check out books one and two now as well. The writing was great and I enjoyed the premise.

**I received an ARC of this book for my unbiased feedback and review.**