Key To The Dark by Alexa Michaels
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A Monster Romance
Key to the Dark
A creature of darkness saved me…and he isn’t letting me go.
I was offered my first solo project. It was a chance too good to be true—that should have been my first clue. Go to an island on the Gulf Coast, dismantle and catalogue a beautiful cathedral, and catch some sunshine on the sandy shore as a bonus. What could go wrong?
Let’s start with an attack from a monstrous beast the first night on the beach. When a dangerous man leaps from the night to defend me, I’m tempted to think fondly of my unexpected champion.
Until I realize the mysterious, brooding figure is the very obstacle to completing this project.
Not only is he hiding things from me, I’m convinced he wants to make my life a living hell.
My terrible savior is just as brutal as the creature he fought off, damaged in ways I’ll never understand. And yet, the more time we’re forced to spend together, the more I catch glimpses of kindness and sparks of passion beneath his brutal exterior.
His touch sparks an unexpected passion, tempting me to throw caution to the wind…
Until I discover the real reason he’s helping me.
Will we be able to work together peacefully, or is my time on Jekyll Island doomed before it even can begin?
A steamy, gothic tale, this stand-alone monster romance raises the question: what truly lurks in the shadows?
If you like tragic, angsty heroes and misunderstandings to begin the relationship, then read the paranormal romance, Key To The Dark today!
Just a normal girl in a paranormal world!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙🖤💚💜
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍🌎
Character development: 😔😃😤😋🥰
The Hero: Vincent (a.k.a. The Specter) – he is an immortal warrior, sworn to celibacy and sworn to protect Jekyll Island with his life. He is a gargoyle sent to find out information from the troop of antiquarians that were sent to catalogue all the items on the premise of the church. He expected supernatural beings but was decidedly apprehensive when only a human woman arrived. He couldn’t get the information he needed out of a human, especially a female. He was supposed to find out who sent the scholars and expose the threat. He was even more perplexed when he found himself attracted to the female.
The heroine: Alida – she comes from a wealthy European family and was sent on her first solo project to Jekyll Island, off the gulf coast of Louisiana. A small tropical island where she was to dismantle and catalogue all the artifacts in an ancient rundown cathedral before it was demolished. It was a place full of secrets that she couldn’t wait to find out. Her job was to salvage the glory from old structures before they were torn down and she was excited to finally be able to do it in her own way without her former mentor, Thomas. Her very career was riding on her performance on this job.
The Story: The priest was away for another few days, so Alida was able to get the key to the cathedral and start her work on her own. She began in the monastery, in a room with 37 cabinets. In the first cabinet alone, she found old vials filled with indeterminate substances and a weapons cache, including ornate daggers, sheaths, and javelin heads. Vince sees her as a thief, there to raid the church where he prayed daily. He was also trying to find an answer to why evil seemed to be coming to the island in droves lately.
“While the church of St. James served the island as a religious source, and had for centuries, the original purpose of this place was for a devote brotherhood of warriors to protect the grotto and fight off the evil that sought to rule it. The original warriors had been faithful Roman Catholics, and so they brought priests to serve their spiritual needs.”
It turns out the island grotto is a hidden source of magic that Vince and the other supernatural warriors protected because if the wrong kind of supernatural creature found that grotto, then there would be big consequences. One thing I really like about gargoyle romance is that each one has a completely different storyline. No two are the same and this one was pretty good. I liked the magic and the variety of supernatural beings on the island. There was also a lot of chemistry between the two main characters from the start.
I also am very fond of the trope where the heroine is a human in a supernatural world. This one was good in that way, and I really liked the big reveal. I won’t give anything away, but to say it was a big surprise to her.
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