Read Our Lips! Book Review Blog: 5 Kiss SPOILER FULL Review: Reaver (Lords of Deliverance #5) by Larissa Ione

WARRIOR OF HEAVEN
Reaver is an angel with a past, a record, and a less-than-heavenly attitude. Powerful enough to fight alongside the fiercest battle angels-and crazy enough to risk his wings on a one-way mission to hell-he's agreed to go where no angel has ever gone before...to steal the most seductive and dangerous prize of Satan himself.

ANGEL OF HELL
Harvester is one of the Fallen, a once-heroic angel who sacrificed her wings to work as an undercover agent in hell. But now her cover has been blown, and she's been doomed to an eternity of agonizing torture. Even if Reaver can snatch her away from Satan's lair, even if they can fight their way out of the underworld's darkest depths, there is one thing Harvester can never escape-her newfound thirst for an angel's blood...

My SPOILER FULL Review:

Reaver's and Harvester's story was just amazing! The whole series (poorly named IMHO as Lords of Deliverance since there is no such thing as Lords of Deliverance in the entire story lines) has been leading up to this story!

All of the plots, subplots, hidden plots, obscure mentions - you name it, it's found it's way here. Every single action is explained as events which began thousands of years ago when two angels: Yenrieth and Verinne fell in love.

But before we go into that, we take a few steps back. Reaver was first introduced in the Demonica Series as a fallen angel who was working as an EMT. He had no memories of his previous life and all he wanted was to be an angel again. He ends up saving the world in the Demonica series and getting his wings back.

Now as the star in this new series - and yes he is the star, because ultimately this series isn't about the Horsemen, it's what happened as a result of Reaver's actions, we finally learn all the whys and whats that have been kept secret for centuries.

Yenrieth was a powerful angel in Heaven, so powerful it was rumored he was a Radiant - an angel able to channel power from Heaven and Hell, whose power was only matched by God, Satan, and Metatron (an Archangel). But Yenrieth was impulsive, brash, hardheaded, and didn't like to follow orders, so Metatron bound his powers until he could mature and control himself.

But Yenrieth has no time for this and falls in love with Verinne, Satan's actual daughter he sired before he fell from grace. After they have a lover's spat, Yenrieth rushes into Lilith's arms and impregnates her with four offspring which would later become the Horsemen.

Verienne finds out and is devastated Yenrieth could have betrayed her like he did. But she can't think about revenge just yet, as she finds out Lilith is pregnant, but Yenrieth has no knowledge of this. Since Yenrieth is out moping and upset he's bedded a succubus - a direct hit to his angel pride - Verienne knows he can't handle the news he's going to be a father, so she vows to take care of his children.

Thirty years pass and Verienne lives up to her promises, and then Yenrieth finally learns the truth. When he confronts Verienne he's shocked to learn she's known all along and in his immaturity, he seeks to get revenge on her by seducing her and leaving her. Just as he's reeling from what he's done, Yenrieth gets a nasty surprise and learns he has a paternal twin and his origins are revealed. He goes on a rampage that earns him his fall from grace and a total memory loss of his past. He's given a new name: Reaver.

No one remembers details of Yenrieth, and his existence is a mere rumor, except to Verienne who has memories of him, but not his face.

With Yenrieth no longer in the picture and the curse of the Horsemen in place, Veienne gets an idea to fall so she can become the guardian of the Horsemen but on the Hell side. She agrees to be a spy for Heaven and thwart any plot brought on by Hell to avoid the Horsemen breaking their seals, and in that way she'll safeguard Yenrieth's sons.

Verienne falls and she's now known as Harvester. She keeps Yenrieth's memory alive and watches over his children the best she can. She walks a fine line doing Satan's bidding, but yet finds subtle ways to help Heaven as well.

So it's a daily battle when Harvester and Reaver both get Guardian duty over the Horsemen, though they both don't know who Reaver really is. The residual sentiments they both feel for each other linger over them and it's awesome watching the fireworks in their chemistry go off!

Under Heaven's orders, Harvester takes Reaver and imprisons and tortures him, something Reaver vows he's going to kill her for. But when Reaver learns Harvester was a spy for Heaven, he changes his mind and realizes he must save her when Hell finds out she's been double crossing them all along.

No angel steps in to save Harvester, stating that she knew what she had signed up for, but Reaver kicks it into high gear and decides to stage a rescue attempt himself. With the help of 3 assassins: a Warg named Matt, a demon named Caldor who can sense Harrowgates, and Tav a healing demon, they set to rescue Harvester from torture in Hell.

The rescue takes forever in the book and only Tav makes it out alive. Once they make it out, they have to deal with Gethel who's pregnant with Lucifer and with a Heavenly plot led by Raphael to change Limo's baby with Gethel's so they could kill Lucifer. The plot fails, but Limos' baby isn't returned and the clock is ticking for her child to be returned.

Reaver is a non-stop thrill ride that delivers everything you want from a book!

I'm not sure where the story takes off from here - the only loophole they left undone was to reveal what's to become of Reaver's brother. And the only thing in this book that left a bad taste in my mouth was the two guys who helped Reaver in hell: Matt and Caldor died in hell and not so much as mention was made of them.

I thought when demons died in Hell, their souls got trapped there and they would endure torture. Matt at least was taken prisoner in battle and tortured and killed by Satan, but Caldor was unnecessarily killed after Harvester fed from Reaver and she was in a maddened state. She blew off his head after Caldor walks in to tell them he'd found the way out. Just senseless.

I kept wanting to read they at least went back for their souls after they'd helped Reaver rescue Harvester. So disappointing that didn't make the cut. Other than that, I enjoyed the book.

Reaver features: