Devil's Mark by Lark Taylor

Devil’s Mark (The Reckless Damned #1)

You guys, this was SO freaking good!

It’s maybe a little ironic, since this IS a demon romance, but this was one of the all-time best hurt/comfort romances I’ve ever read.

First, my hat needs to come off to Lark Taylor for their depiction of a (past-tense and off-page) abusive relationship and the resulting trauma that type of situation creates. This is a really hard thing to do well, but it was executed beautifully here. Oscar’s struggle to work through his past situation really helped to characterize him and it made his romance with Cal seem far more poignant and needful.

I loved Oscar. That said, Cal totally won my heart. I was rooting for him since the first page.

Is he one of the most powerful demons in existence? Yes. Does he have a history of being totally unhinged and more than a little dark? Yes. Is he ALSO incredibly kind, patient, and loving? Huge yes. Is he incredibly protective without controlling or dominating his partner? Also, yes.

And is so smoking hot that he’s basically sex on a stick?

I mean, okay.

I’m sure you can probably gather where this is heading by now.

No, seriously though. Cal. He’s amazing and I loved pretty much everything about him.

This book is incredibly sweet. It’s well written. It’s beautifully structured. The pacing is on point. It’s well edited. It’s a ton of fun to read. There’s extremely well-done mental health rep. There are bad guys who might just get what they richly deserve. There are places where it’s surprisingly emotional in some really good ways. There’s all of that and more.

But those aren’t the real reasons you should buy this book. You should buy it because Cal is basically this incredibly powerful cinnamon roll of a demon (to his fated mate, at least) who spends 370+ pages convincing the very wounded but still courageous Oscar that his happiness matters and is worth fighting for. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.  

Read this book. You can thank me later.