Koivu
Laurie Olerich
Paranormal Romance
Team Lucifer?
This Band of Brothers Will Steal Your Heart!
Introducing the Demons after Dark series! It’s hot paranormal romance featuring unlikely alpha heroes who will make you laugh, cry, and swoon. Known as Trinity demons, this band of brothers was stripped of their powers and violently exiled from Hell. Forced to live as humans, they’re left with no power and no weapons while a secret society quietly plots Lucifer’s demise. For these big, bad demons, adjusting to life as a human is, well, harder than Hell!
Former Hell’s Fury champion, Koivu, is desperate to return to Hell to reclaim his title and stolen life. As an extreme athlete, he had fame, glory, and more pleasure than he probably deserved. He was a freakin’ rock star! Being exiled in a broken human body is his worst nightmare. Stripped of his powers and unable to fight, he’s consumed by frustration, counting the seconds until he can go home. His future looks bleak until he meets a sexy, soft-hearted physical therapist who heals much more than his shoulder.
Physical therapist Micki Glass knows something about damaged people. She’s been struggling to get over her ex for three long years when this crazy man crashes into her life. He’s crude and intense but irresistibly charming. With his feral eyes and sexy smile, Koivu takes her on a sensual joyride that makes her feel like a woman again. As their affair heats up, she craves him like oxygen until she discovers what he really is. With more than her heart on the line, can she accept his past and love him for who he is now?
The day of reckoning is looming closer and the sacrifices have begun. Can Koivu stop the murders, find the rest of the Trinity, and convince the woman he loves to give him another chance before it’s too late?
Warning: This story contains intensely hot sex, an irresistibly-damaged hero, and a damsel with a steel backbone. Have a box of tissues handy. The author takes no responsibility for missed work or grouchiness from lack of sleep.
Note: This title can be read as a stand-alone story, but for the full backstory, start with “Vanek.”
Excerpt
Sunday night dinners were a Glass family tradition. Micki’s mother had four kids and expected each of them to show her the respect she’d earned by coming for dinner after mass. Her parents were good, faithful Catholics. They absolutely did not miss mass—ever. Death and childbirth were the only legitimate excuses available. Micki was raised in the church, but to her mother’s shame fell short of being faithful. Her brothers—Danny, Marcus, and Brody—were just as lax, but got much less grief about it. Apparently women needed communion more than men. Ha! On Sundays, since she rarely went to mass and was the only female child, Micki was expected to show up early to help her mother in the kitchen. Sexist? Maybe. In her family, male and female roles were crystal clear and written in stone. Her father, and later her three brothers, did the manly work; they mowed the tiny lawn, repaired the ancient Toyota, and unplugged anything that was stopped up. Her father could fix anything that had the balls to break down in this house. He passed that love of problem solving on to his sons. Back in school, when other girls snickered about her parents old-fashioned values, Micki only smiled. She wouldn’t trade her parents for the world. She was comfortable with old-fashioned. Her mother always said that men should be men. Micki tended to agree. She wasn’t interested in academic, polished, or glamorous men. She liked strong, arrogant men who were a little rough around the edges. Most of the time, anyway.
“Hi, Mom!” Danny exploded into the gorgeous new kitchen and caught Micki around the neck in a strangely affectionate chokehold. “Hey, baby sister.”
She dropped the mixing spoon and elbowed him in the gut. “Get off me, you moron! Can’t you see I’m working here? This potato salad’s not going to make itself.”
“Daniel.” Their mother tsked him from her side of the cluttered marble island and chided firmly, “That’s no way to greet your sister. You have no manners?”
Danny gave Micki a little shove and laughed, “She’s my sister, not the queen of England.” He talked a cocky game, but politely handed her spoon back and patted her on the head. “How’d your date go? I see you’re alive.”
Their mom perked up at the word date. “You had a date? Oh, baby, I’m so happy for you! Tell me all about him! Is he Irish? Is he Catholic? What parish is he from?”
All the important questions! Micki smacked Danny with the mayonnaise-covered spoon, hissing, “Thanks, jerk!”
“Yeah, Micki, tell us about your date,” her youngest brother, Marcus, chimed in from the dining room doorway. “Joey says you left the bar with—”
Her sharp gasp cut off his words. Was he a complete idiot? They had an unspoken agreement as siblings; no one shared their social adventures with their mother. Her disapproval was nearly a physical blow. None of them wanted to be on the receiving end. Marcus flushed a brilliant scarlet that clashed horribly with his carrot-colored hair. He cringed at the fiery glare in Micki’s eyes.
Mom set down her carving knife, the brisket forgotten. Her eagle eyes darted between her three children, assessing guilt, assigning blame, probably counting off the expected Hail Mary’s in her mind. “What bar?”
“Yeah, what bar?” This question came from the other side of the screen door. “Who’d you leave with, Micki?”
Micki groaned inwardly and turned around with her heart in her stomach. “What are you doing here, Jake?”
Her brothers turned into a couple of guard dogs, heading straight to the backdoor with hands clenched into fists. “You have some nerve!” Danny snarled on his way through the door. “I’ll beat your f**king ass!”
“Daniel!” Mom scolded.
“It’s fine, Mom. Danny, back off!” Micki pushed past Danny to tow Jake to the other end of the plant-covered porch. “Are you nuts? My brothers are just waiting for an excuse to beat the hell out of you. Why would you come here?”
His dark eyes glinted with a meanness that he usually reserved for opponents in the cage. His hands were clenched into fists at his side. He was clearly pissed off. Despite being in full view of the Callahan’s after church cookout crowd, he grabbed her by both arms and hauled her up against the side of the house. “You won’t see me, but you’re out f**king around with someone else?”
“Yo, Micki! You okay?” Danny’s buddy, Jamie, hollered from his lawn chair next door. Three Callahan cousins turned to stare. One by one, they set their beers on the picnic table and got to their feet.
Oh, great. Just what she needed. A Sunday afternoon brawl in her parents’ flower beds. God only knew the Callahans were always up for a good fight. Today wasn’t the day though. She wasn’t in the mood to disappoint her mother, so she affixed a plastic smile on her face and shouted back, “I’m fine, Jamie. No worries, ‘kay?”
Jake managed a stiff smile and a nod in their direction. Jamie and his cousins watched them for another minute then went back to their grilling and beer drinking.
“Have you lost your mind? Why are you being such a dick?” She’d never seen him like this. He was beyond simply mad. He was edgy, desperate, strung out like a caged lion. “You’re hurting me. Let go.”
Instead of letting go, he crowded her closer to the wall, his breath hitting her in the face. The reek of stale cigarettes and beer made her eyes water. She wrinkled her face and tried to turn away. His fingers dug into her skin. “Who is he? Who are you f**king?”
“None of your business! You’ve got everything you wanted back in Vegas. You made your choice three years ago. Get out of my life and go home. I don’t answer to you!”
He bounced her head off of the wall, snarling dangerously, “Is it that guy who was at your house yesterday? I’ll f**king kill him!”
Her vision was spotty; her ears ringing. She opened her mouth to shout for help when he smashed his mouth over hers, crushing her lips, drawing blood while she struggled to get free. Her knee connected with his balls; he punched her in the face. Twice. She must’ve screamed because suddenly all hell broke loose. Danny and Marcus barreled out of the kitchen. The Callahans sprinted into the yard. And the spots in her vision turned into one big sunburst that swallowed her up. The last thing she saw clearly was Koivu’s furious expression and a flash of black and white.
Uncaged Review
To start with, I did read this as a standalone, I had not read the first 2 books in the series, and I didn’t feel lost at all. I think reading the first books will only enhance each other, as the characters are recurring in this series. This book was about Koivu and Micki – and it will grab and use every single emotion you have within its pages. Anger, grief, humor, love and some very hot sex scenes will have you laughing one minute, mad the next, and standing in front of a fan the next.
This group of “brothers” are Trinity Demons, one of each of Lucifer’s origin families, exiled from Hell and trying to get back – even though it’s an impossible task. Finding all their brothers is priority as someone is torturing and killing them one by one. They’ll have to use all their skills to stop the murders in their human bodies.
I loved all the characters. I even enjoyed the exchanges with Lucifer and his demons, and with Raphael – an archangel – his brother. Uniting the whole story is two broken people, Koivu – an ex champion fighter from Hell, now exiled to a human body, and Micki – who’s had her heart ripped out and stomped on in the past.
I had a very hard time putting this down, and yes, I did miss some sleep from this book, but book hangovers are well worth it with some books, and this one is one of those. Reviewed by Cyrene
5 Stars
