The Rebel Guardian (Outlaw 2) by Lexi Blake-Review Tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 11, 2022
After fighting her way across another plane of existence and facing off against ancient witches, there should be nothing more satisfying than coming home. Unfortunately, Kelsey Atwood had a different experience. The world she returned to has changed. Twelve years have passed, and they’ve been twelve hard years for the friends and family she never meant to leave behind. The little boy she adopted is now a grown man. The husbands she longed to see are scattered and on different sides of a war for control of the supernatural world. Her most trusted friend is now the leather-clad minion of the enemy, Myrddin.
Dealing with the wreckage of her personal life will have to wait, though, because the only chance at a hopeful future is deciphering an obscure prophecy, and she means to solve it. This quest will take her crew to a nest of primal vampires and the fierce world known as The Under. Filled with fantastic creatures and wonders she never imagined she would see, this new discovery leads her to something she is all too familiar with—a murder to solve and a killer to catch.
Trying to reconnect with her husbands and her son is already challenging enough, but as she begins piecing together the story behind the crime, it becomes clear that this mystery may tear down The Under and everyone who calls it home.
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REVIEW: THE REBEL GUARDIAN is the second instalment in Lexi Blake’s adult OUTLAW erotic, paranormal/fantasy series set in the world of the author’s world of the THIEVES. This is guardian/hunter/wolf Kelsey Atwood and her husbands werewolf Trent, and half-demon/ lord of H*ll Grayson Sloane’s story line. THE REBEL GUARDIAN can be read as a stand alone but for back story and cohesion, I recommend reading the series in order, as well as the author’s THIEVES series.
SOME BACKGROUND: Approximately twelve years earlier, along with Queen of all Vampire / and the wife of the high priest of the Seelie and the Unseelie Zoey Donovan-Quinn, and king of the vampires Daniel Donovan, Kelsey Atwood travelled through a portal, a magical painting where they would spend four days in the land of the Faery but upon their return discovered twelve years in real time had past, twelve years in which a war between the supernatural creatures killed many, destroying friendships and families, leaving Kelsey struggling for the years that she lost with her husbands, family and children.
Told from first person perspective (Kelsey) THE REBEL GUARDIAN focuses on Kelsey’s rekindling relationship with both of her husbands in the wake of the fall-out of time spent apart but all is not well in the ‘Under’, the plane where Kelsey and her family have been secreted away, when Kelsey is called in to investigate two murders that may or may not be connected to a prophecy foretold by her demonic husband. Along the way, Kelsey must contend with her best friend turned demon Olivia, a former friend who is determined to return to the H*ll plane with our heroine in tow. The search for a magical book of spells and Kelsey’s blade ‘Gladys’ only adds to the possibility that Myrddin Emrys aka Merlin, intends to close the portal to the Heavens, opening the portal to H*ll using the bloodlines of three powerful families, a portal he is hoping to send through the H*ll demons to Earth.
Lexi Blake has built a world of magical creatures and supernatural powers traversing several planes of history, times, and existence, as well as the intricate character revelations both living and dead, and the recently deceased who have become something else.
Like THE REBEL QUEEN, THE REBEL GUARDIAN is a complex, detailed, multi-levelled, action packed, character-filled and often humorous story line of power and control, betrayal and revenge, magic and mythology, family and love. I highly recommend reading the series in order, as well as the original THIEVES series as the history, background and world building is necessary in order to avoid any unnecessary confusion due to the references to previous encounters, and the complicated and intricate entanglements between characters including family, friends, and enemies.
Click HERE for Sandy’s reviews of book one THE OUTLAW QUEEN
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
That was the moment I knew someone was watching me.
The world went watery because Trent stood near the cabin. His beard had grown out and his hair was longer. He looked far more like the wolf he was than the soldier he’d presented to the world twelve years before.
I stood there, our gazes locked.
Twelve years. He’d taken in Fenrir because we were going to make a family together, and I’d left him alone. He’d had to raise not only Fen, but Lee and Rhys and Evan. He’d gone from single and free one day to raising a pack on the run, protecting and sheltering them.
From what I could tell the only person he’d been able to rely on had been Sasha Federov, a vampire. While Sasha had no doubt been an amazing general for their little army, he would also be dead at least half the day.
Years will pass. Your wolf will howl but he will remain steadfast.
Gray’s prophecy had told me that we would be standing here, Trent and I. We would be standing here with the years between us, my wolf’s steadfast faith still binding us.
I knew that because I could feel him. Even with yards between us, I could feel Trent’s love.
I had never seen my wolf cry, but there were tears rolling down that face I loved.
That was when my walls broke down. Trent was here, and we’d lost so much. We’d lost all that time, and he was still here with me. I recognized somewhere in the background that the old me would have wondered if he’d brought me out here so he could explain that he’d moved on.
But I’d meshed my soul with his, and I trusted and believed in him completely.
He was my mate.
The wall crumbled because he was here.
The world went watery, and I heard someone scream. Me. I let the pain out.
Twelve years. Twelve years. Myrddin had taken twelve fucking years. My son’s childhood. Twelve years of my marriage, of love between us. Gray was gone because I’d been trapped.
Olivia. He’d taken my best friend.
He’d killed people I knew, people who had lives and loves and should have had more of both. All gone because one wizard wanted power.
He’d scattered our families to the winds without a care for any of us.
I started to fall but Trent was there before I could hit the ground. His big arms went around me and through my wracking sobs, I could smell him. That woodsy, wolfy smell that felt safe, that brought me home, hit my soul, and I wrapped myself around him.
“I’m so sorry.” I was sorry I’d gone into that painting, sorry I’d spent the four days I’d been on the outer planes not thinking much about him. That was the worst. I’d practically viewed it as nothing more than a job. I’d felt inconvenienced, while his world had been turned upside down and he’d lost everything.
He squeezed me so tight. “I missed you. I missed you every second of every day for twelve years, Kelsey.”
NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband, three kids, and the laziest rescue dog in the world. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance and urban fantasy that she found the stories of her heart. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome, or foursome may seem.
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