By Gina L. Maxwell
A drunken, whirlwind night in Vegas… seems pretty typical until you realize that… you’re married. And that’s not all, Caiden, the mega hottie you hooked up, er, got hitched to is the King of the Night Court of Faerie. And there are several reasons why he’s earned the title ‘The Dark King.’ What’s Bryn gonna do? Let’s find out.
Read if you like: Dual POV, urban fantasy, fae, paranormal romance, Vegas craziness, BDSM, spice with a plot, grumpy/sunshine, only nice to her, sassy leading ladies, and deliciously dark yet king heroes.
Caiden Verran and his Night Court of fae have been in Vegas since they were exiled from Faerie. In the many years on earth the family has built up not only the Night Court but also their business holdings in Las Vegas. Now even the humans call him ‘king’ of the city where he controls most of the business. And business is good. There’s nothing that can stand in his way. Until… a woman uncharacteristically snags his attention.
Bryn Meara just lost her PR job, but in a wild stroke of luck won a free trip to Las Vegas. What better way to regroup than a weekend away? Upon her arrival she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the owner of the hotel. The proverbial ‘king’ of Vegas who just happens to be ridiculously hot. Caiden has tracked her down in the casino and he seems to be a gamble she’s willing to take.
This book was a super, fun, spicy, quick urban fantasy read. I love urban fantasy. I love spice. I prefer my spice to not overwhelm the plot and, baby… this was a perfect balance. It’s a solid 4.5 stars for me.
The characters were great and helped with the worldbuilding. In romance, and especially fantasy romance, I often feel like I don’t get as much of the male perspective as I want. This book starts off with two Caiden chapters and provides a great footing in the fantasy aspect of the book. LOVE. I’m just so tired of just following the poor, unsuspecting human girl that gets caught up in a fantasy web and then us readers have to figure out the worldbuilding as our leading lady flounders around ignorant and helpless. Not here friends. It’s like you get a ‘you are here’ sign setting your journey off on solid ground.
Caiden is your typical dark king type and I’m not mad. He’s got that scary authority vibe and very specific bedroom tastes and he’s everything you expect. Including his warm, gooey heart that only Bryn truly unlocks. I like that the Night Court isn’t outright shadowy, evil incarnate and we get a more moon and earth focus… when we get it.
Bryn is also your typical sassy ‘no-one-talks-to-him-like-that’ type of gal. She’s adorably midwestern and her PR skills lend give her the ability to read most people and situations including The Dark King himself. She rolls with all the Vegas and fae craziness thrown her way with kindness that doesn’t impede on her self-preservation. She’s the breath of fresh air that everyone needs around the Night Court.
As far as character development and worldbuilding goes… I just wanted more. It was so good I could have easily read 100 more pages about the fae and the courts and what happened with the exile and that whole shebang. I wanted a longer history for Caiden and his family as well as more info about Bryn the events leading up to her trip to Vegas. But I’m a greedy lore nerd so don’t listen to me if you don’t need this in a dark romance.
The spice… is pretty spicy. I’m going with maybe a 4 on the pepper scale for content; because, the number of scenes isn’t overwhelming. I for one, do not read spice for the sake of spice. I don’t want the plot to play second chair to the ahem, romance. I also don’t really go for ‘dark romance’ most of the time. This is a great blend. The BDSM has a very technical and cognizant feel that I hadn’t found in the few other books where it was utilized. It somehow made it better for me mentally, but was as the same time made me more aware that it’s still not my favorite when it comes to romance. For contrast, Neon Gods was less technical and had a far greater number of scenes, but the treatment of BSDM gave it more of a fantasy feel than truly understanding what is physically happening during a session or scene. The Dark King provided more information as to how and why things work during and after a scene. Basically, my technical brain was activated instead of my fantasy brain. Thanks grad school…
So besides wanting more lore and not being my favorite romance genre, it was a really great read. I was a little tired of the word ‘preternatural’ by the end of the book and I think we need to ban the use of ‘hole’… in all romance scenes. But now I’m just being picky.
I cannot wait for the second book in the series, The Rebel King. I have a feeling that this next installment will be even more fun than the first.
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