Lots of spice, little plot, lots of random cussing... It is basically porn without a plot, and if you are into that, definitely read this! I like it from time to time, but it didn't hit for me in this book, sadly.

I really don't mind profanity in books, but there is a limit where it becomes overkill.

It's utterly excessive here. The FMC just can't go three sentences without needed to drop an F-bomb or two.

It genuinely is jarring especially since an abundance of that word does not make for a proper character introduction.

There's no weight behind the frustration because we as readers don't know these characters yet! And it just keeps on going!

Words that should be spent with more character specific and meaningful dialogue are wasted on generic uses of profanity.

Beyond that if you're looking for an easy, paint by numbers urban fantasy romance, you'll find it here.

🌶🌶🌶
This is a quick read, under 200 pages, with lots of spice and a little plot sprinkled throughout. Fated mates with demons and angels. Profanity throughout.

Seraph and Calix had undeniable chemistry and I enjoyed their relationship. This is not a book you read for insane world building and character development--or plot...basically if you like smut you will like ethic but don't go in expecting an amazing story you will brag about to your friends.

This is Book 1in the series
Though at times it felt like a book 2.
Only because of some comments about one of the brothers nothing that really hurt this story.
There's nice explanation of what the brother’s are and what Ivy is or is becoming.
It's interesting with monsters and demons and toss in the Angels that are not what you'd think they are.
Now, there us a lot of sex and usually that's a turn off for me but in this case it's almost like it's another character. It's a big part of the story.
I really enjoyed the book and can't wait for Tate and Hazel's story.

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. The book was very short, and I only got about 20% of the way through before hitting a point where I couldn't continue. Things were getting too spicey way too fast for me, and it felt like I was missing out on important plot details in order to read smut.

The writing was actually nice, and the concept of the book, being witches and magic, demons and demon slayers, a fated mates bond and spice, really appealed to me. But it definitely felt like a lot of the world building and character development was replaced by a lustful need to get into each others pants from the second they met. I understand the common concept of bonds in the Fantasy world, but this one focused too much on the sexual desire between the FMC and MMC that it made the relationship feel forced and almost teetering on non consensual. The continuous use of the word "f*ck" also made this difficult to read, as it felt like I was in the mind of a teenager who just learnt what the word meant instead of a fully grown 25 year old woman as the FMC was described.

I feel like my decision to DNF this book is on a personal level, and I encourage people who are looking for a smutty fantasy novella to pick up this book and give it a go! I just prefer my Fantasy's with a bit more of a slow burn and a side of spice, not the other way around.

This was nuts. But it was fun? And so unserious.

This is for the paranormal and fated mates girlies 100%.

Atlas hunts demons. While patrolling a bar for demons, he stumbles upon his mate, Ivy, who was raised as a normal human. She has no knowledge about his kind or demons. Apparently the demons want to kill all the mates to stop Atlas’ kind from existing. Anyway, Atlas and Ivy go on the run. Insta lust ensues because of the mating bond.

It’s a super quick, under 200 page book. It’s dual POV, first person, very chaotic, and lots of swearing. They also love announcing “I’m coming” almost every time. Which is just hilarious.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

I received an e-galley of this book through NetGalley.

I'm really torn between a 2.5 or a 3 star read, and what's so frustrating is that *because* I enjoyed the premise so much and Maci's writing ability is why I'm considering *lowering* the rating.

Because it had so much potential, and the plot was intriguing to me, I wanted more of it. Instead, this was a short smut-induced novella which worked, but I would have preferred it with more world building. I feel like it was just complicated enough that I was frustrated having answers, and found the smut a diversion to the story that I actually wanted to read about.

I'm interesting in reading other stories from Maci, and I'll be grabbing the sequel to this too.

Who doesn’t love a quick PNR read that checks all the boxes? I could gobble up a handful of these and still be ready to read more.

This, assuming it’s the first of the “Curran Hollow Fated Mates” series, introduces us to the brothers Black, a group of Serephs who protect a very specific territory from demons. Because they have the power to hide what they do, they basically just look like bad boy bikers who start fights for no reason. It would probably lead to a very solitary existence except for the promise of finding your fated mate, subsequently getting wings, and oodles of sex. Atlas is the star of this particular installment and heads out to see if any demons are swinging by the local pub when all hell breaks loose.

Ivy is on the bus to try to rescue her kidnapped sister when she runs into Atlas and is immediately bowled over by his magnetism. Demons spoil their awkward introduction and Ivy is force to learn things in the moment, which she does miraculously well. It was neat to see the dynamic, learn the lore, and meet all the characters in rapid succession. The book has great pacing and even though we jump into bed quickly, it somehow didn’t seem weird (or weirder than this world expects). There is a nice HEA with enough loose ends to tie up for future books as everyone finds/re-finds their mates.

I found this book to be enjoyable. It was fast paced and I immediately got sucked into the world the author created. The relationship between the Seraph and Calix is so interesting and I love a story with fated mates. The romance was spicy and full of desire, which I enjoyed. However, I am not the reader who only reads fantasy for smut. So in that regard, the story fell a bit short for me. The book itself was incredibly short, which was good with how fast paced the story was and how quickly the conflicts presented themselves in the story. However, to me it almost read like a fanfiction. Although I didn't find the story to be immature the way I have seen other readers review it as, the book was just too romance based for my tastes. The world was so unique and I feel like there was so much more room for exposition and world building. I wish I had more of that than the focus on the romance between Atlas and Ivy. This all is not to say I am not interested in reading the next book, I am incredibly interested in Ivy coming into her powers and how Atlas and her relationship will progress. I just hope that going forward there is more focus on the magic system, demons etc. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book, I enjoyed falling into the universe and I hope to have the opportunity in the future to fall back in.

Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me.

Personally I felt the writing was juvenile. It’s less than 160 pages and the word “fuck” is used in multiple variations 229 times. I just feel like it’s all I was reading, there wasn’t much depth with the writing and everything was overly simple.

The dialogue felt forced and didn’t flow that well. I didn’t really connect with the main couple, feeling like they were dancing around each other the entire time before randomly connecting. Our MMC wanted the bond to be something real, our FMC only wanted the bond to find her sister and sure it gives a decent tension between them but I didn’t feel that our MMC would have actually just bonded with her to bond. It didn’t line up.

Not to mention he kept telling her that he would be honest, and multiple times we find that he left stuff out conveniently. It felt like he was saying one thing and doing the other.


The overall plot was decent but I wish that it was fleshed out a bit more. This book could have gone at a slower pace, letting us delve into the characters and the world in more than 160 pages and I probably would have liked it more. It felt like 100 pages of world building with 50 pages of smut and 10 pages of resolution.

Unfortunately I won’t be continuing with this series.

I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me of the Fate or Lux series but like not YA. I would recommend if this is your vibe