Publisher: St Martins Paperback
Publish Date: Out now
How I got this book: ARC from the publisher
Even during a truce, Dr. Petra Robichaud has her hands full as the M*A*S*H surgeon to an army of warring gods—especially when Medusa herself turns up pregnant. Petra has no idea what to expect when a gorgon’s expecting, but she won’t let it turn her to stone. As the healer-hero of an ancient prophesy, it’s Petra’s job to keep the peace. But as the lover to a warrior demi-god, she knows how impossible some jobs can be…
Commander Galen is sexy, strong, and sworn to lead his team to hell and back. But when he announces to Petra that he can no longer risk her life for his love, the doctor is on her own…Until a mysterious new entity—in the form of a hot-blooded male—enters the picture. Can he be trusted? Can he be resisted? Meanwhile, an oracle delivers another prophesy that places Petra back on the frontlines with the man she may be bound to for eternity—in love, or in war…
This blurb came from Goodreads.
When I received this book in the mail the blurb looked like it might be interesting. I went on-line to look at the first book, Immortally Yours, and decided that I really should read the first book before attempting the second. I enjoyed the first book so I went ahead and agreed to review Immortally Embraced. While I continued to enjoy the overall complexity of the world that Fox has created, I didn’t like what she did with some of the main characters. There will be some spoilers for this book in this review because they are what caused me to not enjoy this book as much as I hoped.
The events in Immortally Yours resulted in a truce between the Older and Younger Gods. Petra’s M*A*S*H unit has gone back to routine health care, as routine as you can have with immortals, half immortals, mortals and a wide assortment of various other species. Commander Galen was punished for his participation in the events that led up to the truce by losing his immortality. He and Petra are still closely involved and she has hopes that the truce will last and so will their time together. Unfortunately near the beginning of the book Galen is called back to serve and he cannot tell Petra where he is going or what his mission will be. They both think he has received a death sentence so he tells Petra he has to end their relationship now so he does not jeopardize her safety. She has a fight with him and he leaves. A few days later she receives a not on the door asking her to go to a meeting places used for clandestine gatherings. She thinks she is meeting Galen so she hurries there only to discover someone else.
[spoiler]Her former boyfriend Marc, a dragon shifter, who was reported dead and buried 10 years earlier. Marc was drafted by the Older Gods and he had determined that he needs Petra’s special forbidden skill to solve a mystery so he shows up to convince her to take a trip to the enemy camp. The pattern for their meetings is insta-lust, fight, act on insta-lust, say never again and repeat. Marc’s arrival seemed to completely knock any thought or mention of Galen out of Petra’s mind and in fact the book. It appeared as if Galen did his part in book one and needed to vanish before he ruined the arc of the series.[/spoiler]
I think that Fox has created a really interesting world populated with creatures out of legends and nightmares. Her world provides a good flavor of some of the things that make a military deployment different from anything else. The added complexity of the reader never quite knowing if alliances and allegiances are going to remain the same kept things fresh. Petra’s interaction with her co-workers and how the supporting characters interacted together fleshed out the entire camp. I think my favorite scenes have become the ones involving the Oracles and the Paranormal News Network (PNN).
Some interesting developments occurred in the stalemate of sorts between the Older and Younger Gods, along with improvements in healthcare. What I am having an extremely had time resolving is the situation with Petra, Galen, and the “mortal” she meets in this book. I personally do not like what Fox did and that changed my entire viewpoint. I could not buy into Petra’s actions towards anything except straight medical or casual interactions as a result of this. I ended up spending at least half the book flipping pages in disbelief hoping that things were not going as they did.
Sadly I am probably not going to continue reading this series because I no longer trust the author to stay with the story she spent significant word-count developing and drawing me in.
I give Immortally Embraced a C-
I agree with your review. The world building is fun and an interesting take on the wars of the gods. Unfortunately I had a disconnect between the heroine moving on from Galen so quickly, such an abrupt change from book one. Too bad because I love this author’s Accidental Demon Slayer series.
Yes it seemed like everything except the heroine’s status as the one from the prophesy was thrown out for this installment. That was disappointing to read.
Well that sure sucks. I had these books on my wishlist, but now bumping them down. I so hate insta-lust and especially if they forget their love.
@aurian: Yes it was disappointing. I was even more upset when I read the blurb for the third book.
I was also disappointed by how the relationships that were carefully built, were thrown aside without thought. And after reading the blurb from the 3rd book, it feels like she is doing it again.
Yes. If I had read the blurb for the third book this one would have been a DNF for me.