ORDER A COPY:Marked (Eternal Guardians (Love Spell))
Publisher: Love Spell
Publishing Date: May 27, 2010
Paperback: 322 pages
Rating: 4 Stars
THERON—Dark haired, duty bound and deceptively deadly. He’s the leader of the Argonauts, an elite group of guardians that defends the immortal realm from threats of the Underworld.
From the moment he walked into the club, Casey knew this guy was different. Men like that just didn’t exist in real life—silky shoulder-length hair, chest impossibly broad, and a predatory manner that just screamed dark and dangerous. He was looking for something. Her.
She was the one. She had the mark. Casey had to die so his kind could live, and it was Theron’s duty to bring her in. But even as a 200-year-old descendent of Hercules, he wasn’t strong enough to resist the pull in her fathomless eyes, to tear himself away from the heat of her body.
As war with the Underworld nears, someone will have to make the ultimate sacrifice.
This series is about the seven guardians. They are the descendants of the original seven Argonauts who journeyed with Jason to find the golden fleece. The Argonauts were favored by the Greek Gods and granted a home called Argolea. They protect their kingdom and the world of the humans from daimons, who are lead by Atalanta. She was an Argonaut not favored by the Gods (because she was female) so she made a deal with Hades for immortality.
The series involves the Argonauts (the Eternal Guardians), the Argoleans, the misos (who are mix of half argolean/half human), humans and the daimons, and don’t forget those rascally Greek Gods who are always causing trouble.
Marked is the first story of the series and features, Theron, the leader of the Argonauts who is the descendant of Heracles a/k/a Hercules, and Acacia (Casey) Simopolous, a small town girl, by day, trying to keep her grandmother’s bookstore afloat, and by night, waitressing at a local strip joint. She comes upon Theron who is being attacked by several daimons and takes him home with her so he can heal and recover. We learn that Argonauts have no emotions and Theron starts our story a bit of a jerk, but the time he spends with Casey helps him tap into his human side and we see his character grow.
The Argonauts are also cursed by Hera (since most of the original heros were fathered by her husband Zeus). She curses them and their descendants to have only one soul mate and that woman will be the one person they would never choose for themselves. I found this aspect of the story to be a little off putting. Casey is human and although Theron will protect them, he feels interacting with humans is unfathomable.
I wasn’t really involved with these main characters right away, but they did grow on me a bit. Also getting into all the what’s and why’s of this series took some time. I found some of the subcharacters even more interesting than the main characters, like Nick, the leader of the misos, and Demetrius, one the Argonauts which a serious attitude problem. The third story in the serves, Tempted, will focus on Demetrius, and will hopefully unravel the mystery of his PMS attitude.
I was interested enough in the series to give the next few books a try.
Favorite Scene:
“You’re doing it again,” she said from ahead.
He lifted his head. “Doing what?”
“That muttering thing in another language. Didn’t anyone ever teach you that’s rude?”
He glanced at the soft sway of her hips as she moved and the way she filled out the backside of her jeans. “Would you prefer I spoke my thoughts in English?”
The husky timbre of his voice must have registered, because she stopped abruptly and turned on him. Her cheeks were pink from the cool morning air, but there was a heat in her that had nothing to do with the temperature.
Her eyes snapped to his just before she swiveled on her heels and resumed walking. “I don’t like you.”
One side of his mouth curved in amusement as he followed. She was a terrible liar, something he discovered early on. The knowledge thrilled him. “Yes, you do. You like me a lot.”
“I may have. Once.” She lifted a branch so she could move under it, then released it with perfect timing so that it smacked him in the face.
