ARC Review: Shades of Wicked by Jeaniene Frost

In this thrilling new Night Rebel series set in New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress world, sexy and ruthless vampire Ian finally meets his match!
The Rule Breaker
Master vampire Ian is unrepentant, shameless…and every shade of wicked. He’s made one too many enemies in his two centuries of existence, including Dagon, a demon who now lays claim to his soul. Ian’s only chance to escape Dagon is to join forces with a Law Guardian, but he’s never been able to abide by the rules for long.
The Law Maker
Veritas’ normal role is police, judge and jury to reprobates like Ian. But she has her own ax to grind with Dagon, so if she can use Ian as bait…well, all’s fair in law and war. As they scour supernatural hotspots to perfect their trap, Veritas soon realizes Ian’s devil-may-care, roguish image hides something much more powerful. And Ian discovers that Veritas has shocking secrets of her own. As they’re drawn to each other with a passion as intense as their peril, either love or justice will prevail. But each will have devastating consequences…      ~~From Goodreads

It's finally here, Saucy Readers. We've been waiting to get Ian's story for what seems like eons. But is more like five years, as I mentioned in this post way back in 2013! I just knew back then that the book was coming and I knew that Veritas would be his lady love, but anticipating and the thing actually happening are very different beasts. So, I've been fretting and pacing and desperately hoping for a book worthy of the vamp Ian has developed into in our hearts and minds. 

Did Shades of Wicked live up to our hopes and our filthy dreams? Come with me through the jump and find out. Spoiler free, naturally. 

Is is safe to look?

I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous about this book. I didn't finish Vlad's series, I didn't adore the last two Cat & Bones books like I did the first four, and I've been pining for Ian's story for a good five years now. I love a good anti-hero to the depths of my soul and Ian is a quintessential anti-hero, but JF could have taken him in any number of directions, including mellowing him to the point where he lost that devilish spark that made us all love him so much. All of those concerns combined to make me read through my fingers, like watching a truly scary movie.

It turns out, I needn't have worried. Veritas and Ian's first outing was fantastic. It was a great balance of adventure and character development, with hotness and heartache mixed in for good measure. Ian was every bit as snarky and filthy as we've known him to be, but we also got to see another brilliant, frighteningly powerful side that we didn't see through our other unreliable narrators. And Veritas was an absolute revelation in the Night Huntress world, which was almost to be expected since we knew so little of her going in. 

From an opening scene that could only be set in Ian's world, this book is a rollercoaster of adventure. JF likes to move her characters from exciting locales to tucked away nooks in the Earth to gorgeously crumbling factories and train stations, and in Shades of Wicked we trek over the world with our intrepid heroes, having great adventures in interesting places. Don't you just love seeing the world through books?! Even better when some of the destinations are hidden and tucked away to the average traveler. 

Girl power, bitches.

Years ago JF said that Ian could never be paired with a human or a weak vampire; his mate would need to be stronger than him, lest he chew her up and spit her out. And, friends, that is exactly what she gave him in his heroine. I'm still awed by Veritas's power, one of many reasons she may become my favorite JF heroine yet. She also doesn't expect or want Ian to be anything but exactly what he is and I DIG THAT! She revels in his deviance and might just be the first person in his very long life to accept him for precisely who and what he is. I want to see a lot more of that on page.

Ian is so dreamy!

And Ian. Le sigh, Ian. As I said before Ian is so much more powerful that I realized, but he also has so many more depths than I could possibly have known from our incredibly unreliable, and biased, narrator, Cat. As has been a problem of hers all along, Cat does not see most of her friends clearly, and she did not see Ian for who he truly was. At all. Seeing Ian through Veritas's eyes might be my single favorite thing about this book. His power, yes, but we also see his fierce loyalty, his deep and concealed vulnerability, and his incredible sense of honor. Learning more about who Ian was as a human and a newbie vampire, and who Ian is now, I love him even more than I did. And I did not think that was possible. 

Buy this book today because we neeeeeed more Ian!

Bottom Line? I finished Shades of Wicked with the same magical feeling I had when I read the second Night Huntress book. It is superb paranormal romance with all of the smartassery, badassery, and yucky love stuff that makes me adore this genre. Ian and Veritas are scary powerful individually, so when they work together they are practically unstoppable. And their chemistry is face-melting. With a delicious cliffhanger I cannot wait until the next installment drops, and I hope we get plenty more Ian/Veritas adventures. 

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