Zane was a great beginning to what promises to be an interesting series. The Nine, as the description explains, are immortal brothers. Each with special powers and destined to live a life predestined – down to who they should love and mate with. The problem in the first book of the series is that Zane has no interest in mating with his chosen female (Sophia) and she has no interest in mating with him.

Not only was Eric human and totally clueless to Zane’s world, he’d never had a relationship with a man before. Add to that the fact that Zane bonding with him pretty much guaranteed that there would be no heir to bind himself to, their relationship was more than complicated from the start. His bond to Eric was too strong to ignore, so he goes after what he wants instead of what is expected of him.

Through a series of twists and turns, so interesting world building and more than a few surprises, Zane definitely kept the pages turning. Since there are 9 brothers, there’s definitely more to come and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Now that was a wild ride. Was the plot all over the place? Yes. Is it very memorable? Yes. A journey but not a bad one

A Little Bit Rough But An Interesting Story

This one is getting rounded up from 3.5. The story is a bit rough at times but it really is interesting. I am curious to see where things continue on to from here.

This was a very nice and well written M/M romance I loved the chemistry and heat between the two characters and was really rooting for their happily ever after.

Book Review for: "The Nine: Zane" by Elle Arroyo
Source: ARC from NetGalley
Score: 4/5 stars

The book "The Nine: Zane" follows Zane and Eric as they work through their relationship together while each of them tries to protect what's most sacred to them.

This book has a good balance between romance and plot leaving readers invested in what's to come in the rest of the series.

Plot:
Zane, eldest of nine children, must marry and produce an heir so that he may protect his family and the humans of Earth. The challenge is that he is in love with Eric, who identifies as "heterosexual" and is working through his own personal challenges.

Throughout the book, Eric learns more about who Zane actually is and the two of them work through internal doubts of the other's feelings. This book has good world-building and character development for future issues of this series.

The biggest issue the book fights with is trying to balance romance/character development and world-building for the rest of the series. With what it has achieved, I am quite intrigued for what's to come in the next books.

Overall, the book does a pretty decent job of blending romance and plotline.

Writing:
The book was easy to read and the writing did a good job at creating the world/atmosphere of the narrative. The dialogue worked well to move the plot along. And the intimate scenes were descriptive and held those moments well.

Overall, the pacing was good and the writing supported it well.

Characters:
There are a lot of characters, some which are more memorable than others.

Although we don't learn much about all of the Zane's siblings, the ones who are relevant to the story have unique personalities and life to them.

Zane and Eric are quite different and their stories are well-rounded. We learn about their purpose and some of the struggles they live with. It was nice to see Eric's struggle with his sexual identity being challenged.

Overall, the characters were enjoyable to read and it was nice seeing character development in a much larger world.

Finale:
Overall, it was good to see a fantasy m/m romance. The book looks at identity and family.

I received a copy for an honest review.

I enjoyed this story and I'm looking forward to the sequels. With a title like the Nine you can expect more fun reads. This first book revolves around the eldest Anunnaki son Zane and his search to find his Chosen. The person who can share his burden & soul. But he also needs an heir, which is troublesome because he is gay. Eric Diaz is the one and Zane has known it for 5 years when they met at a very low point of Eric's life. Zane must convince his family that he is making the right choice and he must convince Eric that he has always loved him and can protect their family. Eric has to believe that Zane loves him and that he is worthy of that love.

Zane has nine brothers. They are introduced in this book but now fleshed out yet. Eric has 2 sons and looks like they will be either paired with Zanes brothers or ally.