I wanted to like this way more than I did! Very heavy on the romance (seriously, it feels like the main focus of the plot and there are multiple explicit sex scenes), very light on any even librarian-adjacent anything. Really not what I expected and just not my cup of tea. I'm sure it'd appeal much more to sexy urban fantasy/action readers, but all the "mercenary librarian" promo feels like it's missed the mark.

With this promising start to the series, Kit Rocha has created a great book.
In a post-apocalyptic world, the power of the strongest prevails and some people will do anything to win. In a story between the search for knowledge, loyalty, betrayal and unexpected twists and turns, the romantic elements successfully round off the story.

This book blew me away. Kit Rocha writes one hell of an ensemble cast, and Deal with the Devil just highlights that amazing skill. We have two teams of really deadly misfits in their respective found families. One are super soldiers intent on their freedom. One are librarian types who are pretty damn super, too. Not to mention this romance is prime sunshine one + grumpy one, except the sunshine one can whoop anyone's ass who threatens her people.

If you like dystopian worlds, badass characters with heart, road trips, sex in thunderstorms, found families, and some seriously sexy good times, you'll want to grab this book.

An exciting new series for urban fantasy fans. A recommended purchase for collections where the genre is popular.

I am not sure where to start with this book. The story has some really cray cray science fiction happening in the next 100 yrs and some really great action scenes but for some reason there wasn’t that all consuming I love this book and must finish now aspect. Don’t get me wrong it was a good read but when you call it the Mercenary Librarian series and you don't get any of the librarian part of this book until the very end is part of my issue with the book. However, loved the multiple POV’s which just added so much more depth to the story and characters. I will be reading the next book in this series just to find out more about these characters and that crazy ending.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I decided to DNF this book at the 60% mark. I definitely think this was a case of it's me not the book. There was nothing in particular that I dislike, but I found myself completely detached from the story and never reaching to pick it up. I didn't connect to the character, the world, or the plot. And I felt like the romance portions were really underdeveloped.

Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha
Grade: B

Content Warning: It’s important to note that the speculative history the book is based on is very very plausible, some already happening in our world, things like energy wars, crumbling infrastructure, and inept government officials cutting off essential resources and services so they can continue grabbing at more power. There’s also mentions and descriptions of torture in the book. Take stock of your mental and emotional bandwidth before diving in if any of these subjects would stress you out.

If you love librarians, badasses, competence porn, post-apocalyptic road trips, hot sex, and can suspend some disbelief on some heavier issues (like race and trauma), then you’ll really enjoy Deal with the Devil. This is the first book in the Mercenary Librarians series, and it takes place in a different corner of the same world established in the Beyond series. The world as we know it has been gone for decades, ruined by wars fought over energy, rotting in decaying infrastructure, and finally offed by an unexpected solar flare, known as the Flares. All levels of government in what had been the United States splintered and seem to have dissolved into nothing. At least, that’s true for many cities and towns, including Atlanta.

Atlanta is also where Nina, Maya, and Dani run a community centre/library for their neighbourhood. They’ve been trying to wrangle enough money to purchase much-needed resources so people don’t freeze to death during winter, plus a whole host of other things they need to serve their community effectively as a library, resource hub, and shelter. TechCorps has become the defacto law and law enforcement in Atlanta, but they’re more interested in expanding their power than in upkeep of infrastructure and seeing to the needs of communities.

Knox, Rafe, Conall, and Gray, otherwise known as the Silver Devils, have been TechCorps bully boys for years, and have now cut themselves loose, with one problem. The implants TechCorps gave them to make them supersoldiers will degrade without constant maintenance. Left alone long enough, they will die. The biohacker they rely on to keep them alive has been kidnapped by a mysterious person, whose only demand in exchange for returning the only person they know who can save them is to deliver Nina to them. Complicating matters: Knox saw first hand that Nina is a motherfucking tank and is liable to bust out of any trunk they might try to tuck her in and proceed to beat them with it.

Worried for their biohacker and themselves, the Silver Devils ultimately resolve and succeed in tricking Nina and Co. to go on a wild goose chase with them in search for a fabled cache of books and knowledge preserved from pre-Flare days. Finding this cache means more books for the girls’ community as well as a bucket load of cash to help them achieve their goals. Thus they put the pedal to the metal on their highway to hell.

Readers who are familiar with the Beyond series will recognize that Mercenary Librarians is set in the same speculative future of America, but in another corner where things have developed slightly differently. It’s a lot of fun to see how another place developed after the same axis shifting event, but not necessary at all to have a blast with this book. The places Nina, Knox, and company travel through are ghost towns, or smaller settlements that still use the name of the town or city from before the Flares hit, like Atlanta has. It quickly becomes clear much of the old systemic power structures that led to this post-apocalyptic landscape, most notably capitalism and sexism, persist still.

However, it seems racism and homophobia have been eradicated. There was no explanation of any kind given as to what led to racism and homophobia evaporating where capitalism and sexism didn’t. As much as I appreciated an adventure in a world where race apparently defines nothing and people’s sexual orientation only matters as much as who they’d find attractive, this set-up makes no sense to me. Racism is in an inextricable part of capitalism, and homophobia is firmly entrenched in much of the world’s social fabric, ever since European countries’ gender binary was imposed on everywhere they could colonize.

Throughout history, and even now during the global pandemic, we see how marginalized communities face even more overt discrimination and even violence during times of great strife and unrest. For racism and homophobia to seemingly have collapsed in on themselves during an apocalypse with only wisps of their shadows lurking about in less than a century is the kind of impossible that jars me out of the story. There isn’t enough in the book to explain how the world came to be shaped as it was in this regard, and I hope that this is explored more deeply in the rest of this series.

Other bits of world building also confused me, such as production and manufacturing infrastructure. It sounded like thieving was a huge part of the economy, though people found work where they could. In a haunting scene where Knox found a pair of pretty but impractical sandals for little girls in a warehouse, he thinks about how it’s a relic from a softer time that didn’t have to worry about rusty nails. Yet later in the book, Maya thinks about how she used to have access to the latest fashions as a cosetted pet of TechCorps. Does Atlanta have manufacturing ability at all? If they do, who controls it? How are desires manufactured among the rich? Are there advertisements? If there are, who makes these advertisements, and who do they answer to? As small as these discrepancies are, they made it difficult for me to see and understand how this spot in the world functions.

Details of world building aside, there is so much I love about this book. Its fierce emotional intelligence meant all the characters were messy, fallible people instead of plot paddles. Relationships of all kinds, friendship, family, romantic, are all fleshed out with loving detail that makes clear these connections are all equally valuable. I was able to appreciate the angst of the hard conversations they had to have, because the honesty of the story had earned every drop of heartache it wanted to squeeze from me.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

[blockquote]
“No,” he repeated firmly. “You don’t get to make this call. Not this time, and not like this.”

Genuine hurt tightened Knox’s eyes. “So you don’t trust me to put my squad first anymore?”

The truth was even more damning, and it would hurt far worse. “There is no squad, Knox, and you’re not our captain. Not anymore. We left, remember? The Silver Devils are gone.”

“I have to be your captain,” Knox ground out. “I have to get you out. You’re not out until you can walk away free and clear.”

“Well, I didn’t agree to that. Pretty sure Rafe and Con didn’t, either.” Gray clasped Knox’s shoulder until the other man looked at him. “I’ll still follow you - as your friend. But not if you’re making bad calls. And this is a bad call.”

[/blockquote]

The heavier conversations happen later in the book, largely after the Dark Moment, but even here, the characters struggle, they support one another, and they work through their problems and improve.

The pace of the book was excellent. When Nina counted back the days and realized only eleven had passed, I also felt the rush of realizing so much had happened in so little time. Time is also different for Nina compared to Knox. After their falling out, Nina got more time to focus on decompressing and processing what happened. Knox had more time to grapple with his guilt and priorities, but had to bend the lion’s share of his energy and thoughts to surviving and ensuring the Silver Devil’s also survived.

To me, the two major themes are the question of how much agency is possible when you’re desperately living under an unjust system, and how hope is both an action and spirit to be nurtured. Throughout the book, the merry band of death defying reapers are constantly dealing with people trying to kill them for one reason or the other. As I sat in Nina and Knox’s heads, I saw how they cope with killing people. Knox largely drowns in guilt and frustration when he’s not compartmentalizing or lust-pining after Nina. Nina often declares to herself that, “They made their choice,” when they chose to hurt others or target her and her people.

It’s not clear whether the book was agreeing that once someone crosses a line, they must be killed, or if ambivalence is how Nina and the main cast cope when they kill people. Desperation is the breeding ground of monsters, and it feels simplistic to declare raiders and muggers ‘made their choice’ when Nina is standing right next to the Silver Devils, who used to actively uphold communities’ poverty and exploitation. They knew perfectly well that’s what they were doing when they did it, but did it anyway. Yet I got to know them, their stories, and came to root for them. It brings up the question of justice as punishment vs justice as reparations. It’s a very complex question with a lot to unpack, and I hope the rest of the series fleshes out the complexity of choice, responsibility, accountability, and reparations under the duress of desperation.

How hope was explored in the book simultaneously filled me with glee and made me weep. Nina, blessed with immense capabilities and support, lives her best life as archivist, community organizer, and part time superhero. If there are bad guys that need dealing with, she’s comfortable dealing with them. If there are fishy situations with potential rewards, she’s comfortable taking a risk, because she’s well aware that in most situations, she and her girls are easily the scariest shark in the tank. Nina is able to be hopeful for the future because she has such a wealth of ability, she’s able to make the majority of her wants a reality. Rarely are her values in conflict with her safety and survival. The Dark Moment shakes her faith in people and in hope, because it was one of the few times in her life when her abilities weren’t enough to prevent something bad from happening, and the first time when her trust was betrayed in such a thorough and intimate way.

Nina’s competence combined with her values means that the people around her are often inspired by her, their capacity to hope nurtured. When she’s told this, instead of feeling obliged to be everyone’s manic pixie dream girl, she demands that they nurture her hope, too. She asks them to step up and show her good things are possible by helping her make them happen. This is probably my favourite part of the book. Hope isn’t a blind faith that we ought to spew out relentlessly, but a part of our souls that needs to be nurtured by ourselves and our people. Everyone needs support. Nina recognized when she did and asked for the help she needed to both achieve what she wants and replenish herself. This is such an important thing to internalize, especially for women!!! Our emotional muscles need fuel, and it’s wrong to expect us to carry everyone’s distress and prop up their motivations as a matter of course.

(My second favourite is the very fact that three bad ass women banded together to serve their community by providing a library. Obviously.)

Despite my confusion regarding some of the worldbuilding, the characters and their relationships are developed beautifully, and the entire story thrummed with the sort of vitality that you can only get from a post-apocalyptic road trip with suped-up BAMFs. I can’t rave enough about the emotional literacy this book is built on, which I find incredibly catnippy. Deal with the Devil is a strong start to a series, and I’m very excited to see how the rest of the series unfolds.

Oh, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l482T0yNkeo

What??? You were hearing it in your head too!!!

Sadly this book wasn't for me. I just couldn't connect with it. I love Kit Rocha and read their other books and series but this story wasn't meant for me. Perhaps I'll try it at a later time.

This novel is outside my usual reading zone, but I was hooked from the first time I heard Mercenary Librarians. The actual book completely lived up to the hype. I am all in for this team saving the world.

Wow, this book surprised the hell out of me! I went into it hoping to find it enjoyable, but didn't expect to absolutely love it as much as I did! I was instantly gripped from the first chapter.

The found families in this were fantastic, so if that's your jam then you won't be disappointed. I adored Nina and her gang of kickass women mercenaries, as well as Knox and his band of super soldiers called the Silver Devils. And holy crap, the sexual tension! Watching Nina and Knox dance around each other was captivating, and then when that tension finally exploded.... *fans self* I was also really intrigued by some interactions with the side characters, and found myself craving more and more time with all of them. I wanted to know all their backstories and thoughts and...gosh, I loved this world.

I will say that I can see people being disappointed if they focus on the librarian part of the series title (called Mercenary Librarians), because I honestly wouldn't even think Nina and her friends were librarians if it wasn't part of the series title. This book focused on them being mercenaries, with books being very rarely mentioned. I'm hoping that it might come into play more in book 2, especially with a scene that happened at the end, but just know going in that this is more a sexy and action-packed read about mercenaries in a dystopian world than it is a group of librarians surrounded by books.

While I'm sad that book 2 doesn't come out until August 2021, I am SO excited for who that book focuses on. Their chemistry in this book was only hinted at, but I was constantly hoping they'd interact more, and am thrilled that they're getting their own book! And now I'm off to look up Kit Rocha's backlist, because I've found myself a new must-read author duo!

***A big thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!***

My review was published at All About Romance on July 29, 2020. Here is the link: https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/deal-with-the-devil-by-kit-rocha/

I cross-published the review on my personal Goodreads page as well: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3468319558?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=2

Deal with the Devil is an exciting first installment in the Mercenary Librarians series, set in a post-apocalyptic time on earth where genetic engineering of super soldiers is the norm and daily life is a struggle against oppression. Into this chaos, three strong women - Nina, Maya and Dani -see their jobs as information brokers as indispensable to the community they live in. After all, knowledge is power. Into their domain comes Knox and his team of super soldiers, whose existence is threatened by implants that are slowly degrading. They want to team up with Nina and her crew to uncover a secret records vault, but what they neglect to tell them is that there is someone else pulling the strings.

If you're a fan of Kit Rocha's Beyond series (and I am), you'll recognize some nods to the series but this is a wholly new world, well developed and equally intriguing. Found family is key, with both the women and men having solid friendships within their groups and the willingness to risk all for each other for survival. The men and women are equals here, deadly and dangerous if crossed and it's only a matter of time before Knox's deception is revealed. I loved everything about the story and the romance that develops between Knox and Nina is icing on the cake. Action, danger, suspense, sex, friendship - it's all here in a page turning read. I can't wait to read the next in the series!

Review has been uploaded to Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

It's been a while since I've read a book by this duo and even though I haven't quite finished their Beyond series (I'm actually quite behind) I was extremely excited when I found out that Kit Rocha had a brand new series. Deal with the Devil reminded me why I adore this pair of authors so much. Edgy, intense, real characters who stop at nothing to protect what and who they consider theirs.

Nina, Knox and their makeshift families had all that in common. The other thing that both had in common was the fact that they didn't quite trust each other. That didn't stop the attraction between them that was too strong to ignore. This wasn't exactly an enemy to lovers story, but it was close.

I loved the dynamic between all the characters. How the girls slowly won the guys over... to an extent. Trust was hard for all of them to come by and with good reason. There was no way that Knox was going to give up on getting their lost member back, so where did that leave Nina?

The world building in Deal with the Devil was bleak, but amazing. Even in that bleakness there was always hope and a determination to break through the darkness. That and the sense of family was my favorite part of this book. There was also a lot of character growth that was at times heartbreaking, given the circumstances. There were also a lot of twists and turns and some crazy revelations that I didn't see coming. Along with the action, suspense and heat between Nina and Knox definitely kept the pages turning.

The Devil You Know is next in the Mercenary Librarians series and from the description, it's going to be another suspenseful read. It doesn't release until August of 2021, but I have no doubt it will be well worth the wait.

Great world building - check
Amazing and complex characters - check
Witty repertoire from band-of-warriors - check
Thrilling action scenes - check
Empowered kick-ass women - check
Heart-pounding romance and sexy love scenes - check

If you love post-apocalyptic novels with unique characters, settings, and professions--get this book. It will not disappoint. The story is masterfully told and as soon as you put it down, you'll cry for a little bit because now you have to wait for the next book until you can spend time with your new super-soldier friends. But then you remember that there is no law against reading a book more than once, so you pick up this book and read it again, and again, and again.

I’ve been reading books by this author pair for years now and this latest new venture does not disappoint. Donna and Bree (the Authors behind the Rocha name) are great world builders and weavers of a found family tapestry. It’s been true in every series I’ve read from them, including this one.

This is set in the same dystopian world as the Beyond series, but if you haven’t read those, don’t worry, the story doesn’t really reference those books at all. And has a little bit less of the extra spice those books are known for. Don’t get me wrong, there is some good on-page loving. But it is of the one guy and one girl variety without any BDSM elements. Sexy, but a little more traditional than some of the Rocha pairings/triads/groups/etc.

Anyway, our heroine is Nina, the de facto leader of something like a girl gang which helps out the community. They all have enhancements of some kind, you know, like the ability to kick butt or kill everybody or remember every word they’ve ever heard. It would be easy for them to use their gifts for their own gain, but they do things like help with the food supply and provide books with the money they make.

When Knox, an enhanced soldier, and his group of mercenaries approach the women to help them unearth a long hidden library, Nina and her friends can’t pass up the opportunity. What they don’t know is that the whole thing is a ruse for Knox to bring in a bounty on her head. He’s not a bad guy, but he is being blackmailed with the life of a friend who has been kidnapped. And on top of that, his own team’s enhancements are degrading since he left the military. He doesn’t want to accept the mission, but his people will suffer if he doesn’t. So both groups set out together and it is only a matter of time before Knox and Nina start to fall for each other.

Of course, as readers we know this secret/lie is hanging over their burgeoning relationship. The question is whether they have a chance to make things work once Nina knows the truth.

I thought it was a good book. I thought the set up was intriguing and I was interested in how all of these characters came to be who they were. I especially am intrigued by Gray, the strong silent type which is my catnip. I hope his and Maya's story comes up quickly.

I found the villain reveal to be cool and while I’ve read some reviews who said they saw it coming, I didn’t. I thought the pacing was good and the ending satisfied. And I will definitely read the next book in the series.

Would recommend for fans of dystopian romance, just don’t expect it to be the Beyond books all over again or you might not get what you are looking for.

Thank you to the publisher, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my open and honest review.

Deal With the Devil, the new urban fantasy/romance novel from the writing team of Donna Herren and Bree Bridges under the pseudonym of Kit Rocha is an exciting romp through dystopian Atlanta. We have super soldiers, beautiful, dangerous women who have issues, government overreach, mercenary librarians, and a bit of a quest—all the makings of an exciting urban fantasy novel. And while it did not deliver hardly anything about librarians, this is a fast and fun novel.

From the start, this book had me at Mercenary Librarians. What reader wouldn't want that? I envisioned kick-ass lovers of the written word battling for the safety of knowledge as a whole. This was my first mistake. I had misconceptions about what this novel was about. Deal With the Devil is a romance. There is nothing wrong with romance, but as someone looking forward to the battle for knowledge, I was a bit taken aback that it was more about the love interests of the main characters. However, once I got past that, this is, generally, a well-crafted story.

The story takes place in a dystopian Atlanta Georgia in 2086 following the great energy war, flares, and other cataclysms. The government, shady and powerful, have secret unethical organizations where it churns out super soldiers. In the remains of what is left of the US, knowledge is power. Enter three friends who are close as sisters, Dani, Nina, and Maya. The three friends have created a library of a sort in Atlanta, cataloging and scanning books to preserve the information, and they give it out for free. These three are highly educated, skilled, and genetically modified. They are dangerous and will do just about anything to protect each other.

The other point of view is a group of super-soldiers led by a man named Knox. He is the captain of a team called The Silver Devils. They have gone rogue from the protectorate/government and are looking for a cure for themselves. Their bio-implants are degrading the longer they are away from the corp if they don't get help soon they all will die.

Under false pretenses, Knox convinces Nina's team to help them in exchange for access to the legendary Library of Congress archives. This is something that Nina's team can not pass up. The plot of the story is a colossal road trip between the two groups interspersed with character development and action sequences. It is fun, and I am always a fan of the found family trope because it rings true. The people you find in life that become family are just as important as the family that you are blood to.

As I mentioned earlier, the narrative structure is the dueling points of view between Nina and Knox. Knox is knowingly deceiving Nina and Nina, who is developing feelings for Knox. There is quite a lot of back and forth between the two individuals, which helps lead to the needed tension and passion that develops between them. Rocha did a great job with it. It does not come off as trite or rushed, but how things should work out. The other characters that play a supporting role in the story are fun and but not as fleshed out. There is not enough space in this kind of narrative structure to include some of the other characters' points of view. However, I can see more books in the future that investigate Dani and Maya's relationships and take place in this fictional dystopian Atlanta.

The "Mercenary Librarians" thing was a big disappointment. Aside from me being excited about a story about librarians, the trio of Dani, Nina, and Maya's entire reasoning behind helping Knox and The Silver Devils is based on getting access to the Library of Congress. Yet, the importance of knowledge and their libraries are only given cursory explanations. Given the amount of time it is mentioned, it never seems like it is that important except in a background information type way. It is said a couple of times in the beginning and once at the end.

The pacing of the story was fine. It was a good blend of action and character dialog. There was enough space between the action scenes to rest and not become overly numb to the action. I ran into some issues when the big baddie was revealed. It seemed like the story came to a crashing stop. I can't tell if it was because of who the big baddie was or the abruptness in which they were revealed, but the story fell off quite a bit for me. However, it did pick up near the end and gave me some closure for this story.

Deal With the Devil is a seriously fun book. I liked the characters, the pacing was generally quick and lively, and the tension between them was perfect. I ready to read the next book in the series, and I hope to learn more about the library. Please tell me more about the library!

If you enjoy some romance with your urban fantasy, this is a great fit.

I’ve long heard good things about the Beyond series by the writing duo known as Kit Rocha, but I’d never really dived into it because starting a long running series is like trying to jump on a moving train. Kind of exciting, probably exhausting, and I’m not sure if I wanted to take the chance. Did it stop me from hoarding several Beyond books in my TBR pile? Hell no because like a dragon with gold, if it’s shiny, I want to keep it near and clutch it close to my breast. It worked out well, since I now have some books I am very, very eager to explore while I wait for the next book in the Mercenary Librarians series.

The romance is solid, the action keeps the story moving and the danger keeps you invested in these characters. The female characters are badass, the overarching storyline keeps you on your toes, and while there’s a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, that has more to deal with the overarching storyline, not the romance, so I didn’t mind it at all. If I had a quibble, it’s that the twists are easy to see, especially with that blurb, and the information broker angle is only hinted at, but this is a first book, so I’m hopeful we’ll see more of it in later books.

Bottom line, I really, really, really enjoyed this dystopian romance. Like ALOT. It’s going on my list of top books for 2020 (whenever this hellish year ever ends), and I cannot wait for the next book. I don’t hesitate to recommend it, especially for those who love a good dystopian/apocalyptic angle to their action/adventure romances.

Oh, any new Kit Rocha book makes my dark little heart so happy, and this one is totally my heart's joy right now.

I really like that DWTD is in the same world as the Sectors, but another section of that world. The worldbuilding in Beyond series is already great, but this just adds all kinds of depth to the world, and continues with that same gritty realness that Kit Rocha already established.

Nina is really everything I've ever come to want or expect from a Kit Rocha book. She's tough and vulnerable at the same time. She's also a strong leader, cares about her neighborhood, wants to right the wrongs, and fiercely loyal to her friends and family. She's incredibly strong, and I look forward to seeing how she evolves in the rest of the series, based on what happened in this book.

Knox is a perfectly imperfect man. He isn't a bad man, but he has had to do some really bad things. He has a moral code that he tries to follow, but it doesn't always happen. He thinks that it's gone, but he's had to push it down so far. I think that he is going to have such a great journey through this series, with Nina there pushing him.

I can't wait to get to know more about all the side characters.

We each spend these quarantimes dowsing for happiness, waving our rods hither and yon in the ever-more-vain hope that happiness will appear just beneath the surface. There is a happiness drought, and we are denounced as frauds for believing we can find it. But there is hope! Kit Rocha’s Deal with the Devil is here, and it has all the happiness (and waving rods1) you could desire!

In the aftermath of enormous solar flares and governmental collapse, Nina and her team of mercenary librarians have carved out a home for themselves. They share knowledge and stories with their community and try to make people’s lives better. Meanwhile, Knox and his team of supersoldiers have defected from their handlers because it’s the Right Thing to Do, but bad guys have seized their biochem hacker, the only person capable of keeping their brain implants from degrading and killing them all by inches. The bad guys will give them back the hacker — in exchange for Nina. So Knox and his guys propose a team-up to do a theft, knowing all the while that they plan to give up Nina’s team to the forces of evil. BUT A GRUDGING RESPECT FORMS AND OH NO WHAT WILL THEY DO NOW. Also, Nina and Knox most definitely want to bone.

Kit Rocha have been writing dystopian SF romance for many many years, and they are reliable as fuck when it comes to setting up found families you adore and ratcheting up the stakes of their dystopian world until you can’t see a way that anyone gets out of this alive. But then they get out of there alive! Because it’s a romance novel!

God, can I just say that I love romance novels a lot? I was fraught with suspense throughout Deal with the Devil, and yet! Because I knew it was a romance novel, I knew everything was going to work out for a best. The time arrived when Nina et al. discovers that Knox et al. were playing them all along, and of course it happens at the worst possible time, i.e., when they are at the mercy of the bad guys, and in a regular SFF book I would have gotten nervous and read the end, but because it’s a romance novel, I already knew the end, and the end would inevitably be that Knox and Nina were happily in a relationship. Which is what happened. And I do not have to mark that as a spoiler, because Deal with the Devil is a romance novel and is therefore defined by its genre as a book in which, at the end, Knox and Nina are happily in a relationship.

In the meantime, there’s so? much? friendship??

“I’m not about to arm wrestle someone if I can just shoot them in the head instead.”

“Uh-huh.” Dani propped her chin on one hand. “So what do you do when you can’t?”

Maya made a face at her. “Rest easy in heaven knowing you’re gonna avenge me?”

“Not if you give up without a fucking fight.” Dani snorted. “Haunt me forever, see if I care. I’m not embarking on a dark path of vengeance and death because you skipped cardio.”

FRIENDSHIP. Which honestly is another great thing about romance novels: Very often, they come in a series! Then if you were like “wow I loved how Nina held the team together but Dani does so many murders, I want her to find love but I also want to see more of their close and enduring friendship,” all you have to do is wait for a while and the authors of the romance novel, who are geniuses, will assuredly write a story in which Dani finds love but is still part of a close and enduring friendship with all the characters from the first book. (I don’t know how this post became a commercial for romance novels, but I’m comfortable with it.)

Now for some spoilers about the bad guys. Do not read this paragraph if you don’t want to know these spoilers. I have very politely not put the spoilers in caps, even though caps were the way I truly felt about them. When it gets down to time to find out who the bad guys are, [here is where I would start doing all caps in normal life] the person who hired Knox to lure in Nina is her alive-after-all evil twin. [Here is where I would do all caps in a bigger font.] Evil twin!!!!! But then her evil twin is not evil after all, and when it’s time for the evil twin to find love, there will certainly be a very great deal of complicated sister emotions. If there is one thing I love nearly as much as an actually evil twin, it’s a complicated sister relationship!

All in all, I encourage you all to read this book so that Tor will cause Kit Rocha to write the rest of the series. So many murdergirls!!

Note: I received an e-ARC of Deal with the Devil from the publisher for review consideration.

The blurb for this one had me intrigued enough that I wanted to know more and in no way did this book disappoint! It takes place in a post-apocalyptic America where the only thing that matters is greed and might. Nina is an information broker who is trying to bring hope to the people who need it most. She and her "librarian's" search for information and knowledge and share it with others who need it. Knox is a super-soldier in charge of the Silver Devils-until they go AWOL. They need a biochem hacker to keep their implants stabilized, but theirs is kidnapped and held for ransom. The price? Nina brought to a location unharmed.

Ok let me start of by saying this book is long! And I mean that in a good way! There are so many details about the things going on that if you aren't paying attention? You may miss something and not fully understand some of the things that are talked about. Nina is this kick a** woman who I absolutely loved right from the start! She is smart, sassy, and isn't afraid to fight for the people she cares about. She and her team do what they can to help the people in their area, always knowing that it puts them at risk as well. Knox may be doing something that most people would disagree with but his reasons for it make you understand why. He and his team are more like brothers than just a team and I couldn't help but love them. Throwing these two together put together an epic tale that had me hooked and wanting to know more but not wanting it to end. There were a few things that made me knock it down from giving it 5 stars, and they had to do with interactions with a side character. I don't want to say too much because it is definitely a spoiler and I don't want to do that to anyone. But it annoyed me that all was let go so easily. Other than that? I loved it! I can't wait to read the next one, especially after the tease at the end of this one!! It both made me want to read it now but broke my heart at the same time!!