Review: The Night House – J.C. McKenzie

The Night House Book Cover The Night House
J.C. McKenzie
Sci-Fi Romance
March 22, 2019
231

What would you pay for your freedom?

Caught by a powerful lord from the alternate realm of Arkavia, Taya’s offered the chance to avenge the dead, save her home world, and win her freedom.

Her days of stealing supplies and surviving among the remnants of Earth are over, but can she afford the price of Lord Thane’s deal?

Reviewed by: Linda Tonis

Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team

Taya and her friends were having a camping trip filled with food, drink and fun until a blue wave appeared and her friends turned into dust. Taya was the only one who was in the water and that was the only explanation she could come up with for why she did not end up like her friends. All she wanted to do was get home and check on her mother, father and brother but the cars wouldn’t start, the phones were dead and it appeared that nothing electronic would work.

The only thing she could think of was that this was the apocalypse so many were afraid would some day come but she would learn that this was a reaping from people of an alternate world who would drain Earth of everything it had and take those that were fortunate enough to have survived like her back as slaves. Heading to a town with the hope of getting supplies she discovered a man who also survived and he informed her of what he had overheard. The soldiers were Arkavians and they were lead by a Lord who was referred to as a Tarka. The Tarka had magic and they laid waste to the town and took whatever humans they found.

For weeks John and Taya managed to scrounge up food and added to their number. As their group got larger the need for more supplies made it necessary to attack Arkavian wagons filled with supplies and one such attack led to her capture. Her captor was Lord Thane who insisted he was not taking her as a slave but had a proposition for her. If she would serve him for one year as his assassin he would then release her giving her the opportunity to either return home which after a year would be a dry empty husk or remain with him.

She accepted his offer and he magically bound her so escape was impossible but while he was doing that they were both able to see the other ones memories and his were not pretty. A father who insisted he was illegitimate and a brother who did nothing to help him. He is from the House of Jericho ruled by his cruel father but Thane manages to stay away from him and his brother.

As an assassin Taya knew she would be in a position to protect Thane and kill Arkavians and killing them was all she wanted. In time the feelings she had for Thane went way past that of his bodyguard and assassin but she belonged to him for a year and there was no chance of anything ever happening between them. Her hope was after the year to return and search for her family.

From the very first page till the very end I was hooked on this book and read it in less than one day. Taya in spite of her circumstances never backed down and proved to be a very talented fighter. She never once cowered to Thane and he was all over him verbally and physically if she felt threatened. Thane was a wonderful man and the exact opposite of his father and brother. He was determined to find the ones responsible for not only the leaching of Earth but brutally killing any humans they found.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough because it had everything you could want from a story romance, secrets, lies, suspense, surprises and more.

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