Conquest (The Four Horsemen #1) by Sienna Moreau

I was sucked into this read immediately. The storyline felt fresh and interesting and the characters were compelling. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve read about angels and demons. And just maybe that could also explain my instant infatuation.

So. Conquest, the bad boy in this romance, is one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And he is bad for real. As in, killing people, blood, gore and intestines bad. But, this is the weird part, I still rooted for him from the start. Raziel is an angel. Super sweet and kind. But he’s broken, with no power and no wings. Until he’s given a special mission on earth, he has been stuck in heaven doing nothing. Anyway, his mission is to spy on Conquest, which – predictably – goes sideways immediately when Conquest takes Raziel prisoner.

And then the fun begins. The bad guys are (kind of sometimes) good. The supposed good guys act like pure evil at their worst and as scheming backstabbers at their best. Nothing is black and white, everything is just shades of grey. Which is absolutely awesome!

Conquest is determined to use and break Raziel in his fight against the archangels. But with time, as he gets to know Raziel, his intentions shift. Raziel in turn is terrified at first, but soon starts to see the good in Conquest.

Apart from being Raziel and Conquest’s story, there’s an overreaching story arc that starts with this installment and the mystery of who summoned the horsemen. The four horsemen have been called to start mayhem and balance the scale, but neither Heaven nor Hell admits to have anything to do with that summons.

Meanwhile, an old arch nemesis of Conquest’s return, and the Devil himself is set on taking Raziel for his own. And, oh the twist! Great entertainment is what it is.

The only reason I won’t give it 5 stars is that the ending felt a bit rushed. And Raziel and Conquest’s happiness was of the happy-for-now variety, where the adversity they faced weren’t really solved only put on hold for a while – but as far as I understand it, they won’t get a second book.

But either way. A great read and 4 very well deserved stars.

* A free copy of this book was kindly provided by Gay Romance Reviews *