Redemption by Erica Hayes – a Review

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Redemption by Erica Hayes is the second book in her Seven Signs series.  Below is a description of the series.

Description:
Japheth the Tainted is on the hunt for a mysterious demon vampire. But meeting her face-to-face might disarm his warrior spirit—and spark an unquenchable passion with apocalyptic consequences.

As a fallen angel, Japheth is determined to make his way back to heaven by staying pure and slaying hellspawn. With a new scourge of vampires unleashed by a blood-drinking demon, the Prince of Thirst, there’s plenty to be done. But Japheth is after one vampire in particular—the one they call the Angel Slayer.

Rose Harley never wanted to be a vampire, but the Prince of Thirst can turn even the kindest soul into a soldier of hell. Feeling abandoned by God, she stalks the West Village taking revenge on his angels—until she meets her match.

When Japheth and Rose encounter each other, the battle is fierce and charged with desire. But when they discover a common enemy—the Prince of Thirst himself—they form a dangerous alliance that could either cost them their eternal lives, or spark a love more powerful than heaven or hell

Review:

Redemption picks up not too long after Revelation ended.  This book belongs to Tainted Angel, Japheth, and our heroine in this story, Rose Harley.   Japheth is desperate to be accepted back into Heaven, as he has no idea why he was marked as tainted by Michael, the Archangel, thousands of years ago.  He fights demons with a vengeance, and has remained pure for all those years, so that he can prove himself. 

But then Japheth meets the Angel Slayer, a female vampire, who despite his hatred of vampires, begins to feel things he hasn’t felt since before he became tainted.  Rose Harley, is the Angel Slayer, sired by the demon Fluvium, who is the Prince of Thirst, and a very vicious villain.  Rose has been slaying Angels, to please Fluvium, and keep herself out of Hell.  When she and Japheth come across each other in battle, both feel the connection, which they both break away.  Japheth  later looks for Rose, and she is determined to bring Japheth to Fluvium, to save herself. 

Both are very angry and disturbed individuals, and they both fight the attraction, which is truly a bad idea, as he is a tainted Angel, and she is forbidden as a vampire. But Japheth temporarily marks her, to help him find Fluvium, who has one of the seven vials, that will be used to destroy humans.  Needless to say, over time the attraction gets stronger between them, and it is this that will make each of them privately try to save the other from sure death. 

There are so many twists at the end, and to avoid spoilers, I will say it was a very exciting and wild ending.  The story of Japheth and Rose was different then the first book, both were very violent, and despite their growing feelings, they treated each other badly for the most part.  Again, it is because of their desperation and dark lives, as they had forgotten how to have love, respect and kindness.  It was a nice but slow moving romance, but very dark.  I liked seeing them together, trying to help each other, but then came the darkness to take that away.  This was a good, and at many times a dark sad story of two lovers fighting the odds of bringing them together. 

As I said before, the ending was wild, exciting, and totally shocking.  Erica Hayes is a great storyteller, in a dark urban fantasy world. She also did a great job intermingling some of the other characters into a big secondary part of the story, that will surely continue in the next book.  I am now totally hooked as to what will happen to Jazia and Shax, as Hayes has created so many twists at the end.  I have to say though, I totally hate Michael in this series. Redemption was more of a dark story, with lots of action, violence, demons, and romance to lighten some of the dark.   I for one can’t to see how this will turn out.   

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author