I was torn between a 3 and a four star rating for this one (a half star would come in real handy right about now Goodreads!) but ultimately went with four stars b/c the pros far outweighed the cons in this one.I was leery of reading The Devil's Ride because I'd read Road of No Return and well...it was not for me. At all. Not even a little bit (but that's a review for another day) but b/c I generally give a book series two books before I write them off (I've been known to be meh about the first book in a series yet love the sequels) I hesitantly dived into this one.I'm so glad I did. I love Luci! Lucifer reminds me of a John Mayer lyric (God I know, okay I KNOW) He's like a maze where all of the walls continually change. He's simultaneously the most fragile and stubbornly unbreakable boy and incredibly selfless but with a razor sharp sense of self preservation. He's tenderhearted but capable of understanding and even encouraging violence and vengeance when properly motivated. He's battered and bruised but still bright and shiny and I love him. *happy sigh*Tooth is all sharp angles, rough edges and jagged pieces but once you get past all that (and he doesn't make it easy mind you, he's who and what he is for a reason) the man he is at the core of his being is insightful and kind and caring and while he's not exactly good (he's called Tooth for a reason *shudder*) he's not all bad. He's a lighter shade of grey. His moral compass isn't entirely broken but it is more than a little off center. He has his own code of ethics and sense of honor and he lives by it with every breath he takes.Luci and Tooth had chemistry for days. There's a slow burn that doesn't really feel like a slow burn b/c every interaction between furthers their connection. I found that I wasn't frustrated waiting for them to get to the romance already b/c the foundation they built- the trust, the friendship, was so satisfying. The slower pace also gave Luci a chance to get on a somewhat even keel (he was, with good reason mind you, the hottest of hot messes when they met) and let him get to a place where he had a little self worth and self esteem and had tentatively made a place for himself so he wasn't reliant on Tooth for every scrap of his sense of self. I appreciated that. The heat that happens when they finally do come together *fans self* I needed a cigarette when they were done!Tooth and Luci both have tragedy in their pasts and when they tell each other their truths it's hearbreaking and heart warming at the same time b/c it shows how far they've come. Two men who learned the only way to keep themselves safe was to keep everything close finding a safe place in one another...I melted. And while the way Tooth deals with Luci's trauma isn't exactly good...it is understandable (especially coming from someone like Tooth). The secondary characters are well crafted and add to the story rather than pull focus and detract. Although I spent a good majority of the book wanting Priest (Luci's dad) to hold still so I could kick him in the balls a few dozen times and wanting his witch of a wife to straddle her broomstick and be gone, MOST of the secondary characters I enjoyed (Bell especially).The mystery that takes place in the book is a bit ghoulish and gory but not overly so (and this is from someone who refuses to watch The Walking Dead b/c of reasons) and while it's not transparent from the get go, it is fairly easy to follow the breadcrumbs to reach the right conclusions about who did what and why (either that or all my years of watching CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds and Law & Order have finally paid off). All in all I liked this book. I'm not sure about the next one in the series though b/c of reasons but I really enjoyed this one and totally recommend it if you're someone who digs darker themes and gray characters and can handle a little violence and a fair amount of angst. DNF. I had my ‘meh’ face on for most of this that I read. There are some solid elements to this story and it had great potential, but the first half of the book it feels like very little happens. People do stuff, but the book lacks a sense of progression. At 65% the main characters’ arc gets good (finally), but I did skip around until we got to the first sex scene, which was awesome, and now that the two characters have done the deed I find myself very uninterested in following along for the external plot. I’m marking this as a DNF but I may return to it later.
Do You like book The Devil's Ride (2014)?
Better than the first one! Loved it!
—JHutchGIRL101
