Guest Review: (ARC) Rogue Rider by Larissa Ione - 5 Wine Glasses!

Rogue Rider 
(Lords of Deliverance #4)
by Larissa Ione 
Paperback
Expected publication: December 6th 2012 by Piatkus (first published November 20th 2012)
ISBN 0749955570
ARC Courtesy of NetGalley

The prophecies were there but no one listened. Until now. They are the Lords of Deliverance and they have the power to ward off Doomsday . . . or let it ride. 
Jillian Cardiff came to this remote mountain town to forget the demon attack that almost killed her. Instead, she rescues - and falls for - a gorgeous stranger who has no memory of anything other than his name. Handsome, charming and protective, Reseph seems like the kind of man that Jillian can trust. But with hints of a troubling history of his own, he's also the kind of man that can be very dangerous . . . 
Reseph may not know his background, or why he mysteriously appeared in Jillian's life, but he knows he wants to stay. Yet when Jillian's neighbours are killed and demon hunters arrive on the scene, Reseph fears that he's putting Jillian in danger. And once it's revealed that Reseph is also Pestilence, the Horseman responsible for ravaging the world with death and destruction, he and Jillian must face the greatest challenge of all: can they forget the horrors of a chilling past to save the future they both desire?

Goodreads
Pre-order at Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble and The Book Depository 

Crystal L's Thoughts: 
Woo-wee! Talk about one of the best books that I've ever read, where you didn't know whether you wanted to slap the hero for the atrocious things he'd done his past, or give him a hug cause he was suffering so badly now. As Pestilence, the demonic Horsemen in the first three books of this series, I can say with absolute surety that every reader wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp. Book four, Rogue Rider, however, brings us back to Reseph. Even better, we start the book with a naked Reseph lying unconscious in the snow, where he is saved by Jillian.


Our heroine Jillian manages to get the naked stranger back to her cabin where she nurses him back to health. Reseph is back to his usually charming self, except that he can't actually remember that he was charming before. He's got no memory. As he spends time with Jillian, things start to trickle slowly in for him in the memory department, but not enough to be useful or make any sense. In the mean time, Jillian and Reseph spend a lot of quality time together, and Jillian starts to fall for Reseph as she knows him now. The big question is, how will Jillian react if Reseph gets his memory back and tells her what he's done as Pestilence? See, it's not just that Pestilence wasn't bad enough for all of the atrocious things he'd done across the world, but he'd also caused the kind of mayhem that led Jillian to being attacked by soulshredder demons as she left her job at an airport. She may have survived the attack, but over a year later she carries both emotional and physical scars that just won't go away.

In the background you have a lot of movement that really helps make this book phenomenal. You've got the Horsemen's watcher angel Reaver going after the angel Gethel for her involvement in trying to kill Thanatos' son Logan. You've Harvester, the Horsemen's demonic watcher, moving around doing stuff, but you aren't quite sure if she's up to bad or good. You've still got Gethel trying to wreck her revenge against the Horsemen and those that they love while she's working with Lucifer, Satan's right hand man. And more importantly, you've got every evil being in Sheoul and on Earth working to find Reseph, and restore him to Pestilence. Which has a good possibility of happening because Pestilence is still buried there inside Reseph, and he has to be strong enough to keep him locked away inside.

This is once again an amazing book by Larissa Ione. It did move a little more slowly than her other books do, but once I finished reading it I feel that the slow pace was actually needed to truly convey the magnitude of what was going on with Reseph. Bravo Ione, for another excellent read! Let me just add that I CAN NOT WAIT for the next book, that should be out by fall of 2013, because it's Reaver's book. When you read this book you'll know why I'm so anxious because I didn't spoil this for you peeps, I swear! There's so much exciting stuff that gets revealed that you just have to read it! Five wine glass toast, and enjoy!

Rating: 5 Wine Glasses