Review: Atlantis Unmasked

Atlantis Unmasked
Alyssa Day
Paranormal Romance
Warriors of Poseidon/Book 4 (plus 2 novellas)
Berkley/July 2009
Purchased

From the back cover ~

A warrior scarred…

Alexios survived two years of unspeakable torture at the hands of a vampire goddess. Now he’s been ordered to team up with a beautiful warrior and take on the most dangerous mission of his life: to retrieve the Vampire’s Bane. Without it, Atlantis can’t ascend to the surface and take its rightful place in the world. But when evil threatens, will Alexios be led by duty—or his heart?

A descendant of Diana…

Grace is part of the rebellion against the vampires and shape-shifters trying to take over her world. She is deadly with her bow, because when she takes aim, she never misses her target. But suddenly she’s focused on a damaged Atlantean warrior who sees her as a weapon, not as a woman. When thousands of lives are on the line, will passion overrule, or will her aim still be true?

When two worlds collide…Atlantis is unmasked.

Oh, boy did this book have a promising start. Too bad it didn't continue with the good start. I really liked Alexios, the hero, from what I knew of him in the previous books in the series. And I liked him here too until the love bug bit him and he turned into a jerk. The heroine Grace Havilland and her wicked bow and arrow ability was cool. But I didn't get why she kept putting up with Alexios' crap.

Alexios is an Atlantean warrior, one of seven of the elite guard of Prince Conlan. He, along with Prince Conlan, were prisoners of the vampire goddess Anubisa for two years. Alexios bares the scares from his torture. The left side of his face is horribly disfigured. The right side is still beautiful. The two sides of his face represent his life before and after his imprisonment. Alexios is usually the voice of reason. He's the one that can be counted on in a crisis to keep a cool head. He's also someone the younger warriors look up to. He's still coming to grips with the torture he endured and has taken a vow of celibacy as a way to cleanse his soul. That vow becomes difficult to uphold when he begins to have strong feelings for Grace.

One thing I liked about Grace and Alexios' relationship is that they had known each other for some months before giving into their feelings for each other. Alexios didn't get that instance "mine" moment when he first met Grace. He liked her and respected her fighting ability but he wasn't romantically interested. Some of that had to do with his celibacy vow and his need to keep his distance from others. He's very aware of his disfigurement and doesn't let anyone get too close.

Grace is heroine out for revenge. When the vampires came out to the public ten years ago Grace's life was changed forever when she lost her brother to a vampire attack. She then decided to join the rebels and do whatever she could to stop the vampires and shape shifters from gaining power. Grace was a decent enough heroine. She does have an amazing ability when using the bow. This comes from her being a descendant of the goddess Diana. I wasn't crazy about Grace's story with regards to her relationship to Diana etc. It ventured off into an area that didn't really fit with the rest of the story. I would have preferred sticking with the vamps, weres and fae instead of adding a Roman goddess to the mix.

One thing this book had way too much of were alpha males. They seem to be everywhere and always trying to out do each other in their alpha-ness. The sparring and pissing contests got to be annoying. I'm not sure if it was suppose to be funny but for me it felt more stupid and immature than humorous. Some of these guys are centuries old and yet they acted like the stereo-type frat boys with their name calling and childish behavior.

Alexios became another irritant that I could have done without. He made this vow of celibacy when he was saved from the torturous existence he endured. The vow wasn't something he had to do in order to recover, it was something he chose to do for himself to help in his recovery. Then he becomes attracted to Grace and gets all hot and bothered with her. But wait, back off because of the celibacy vow. Then they get all kissing and hugging and touching and feeling and oops! That darn vow again. He seriously drove me nuts and I wondered why Grace put up with it since she was getting all hot and bothered with his mixed signals. Just make up your mind Alexios and quit being a tease!

At this point I was just irritated with the romance but I did find the action scenes interesting. Grace and Alexios are working together to train new recruits to fight the vamps and weres. The fight scenes are good and even the fae get into the action. I do hope we see more of them in future books. I also hope we get more information on Atlantis. The warriors and their mates live in the under-the-sea city and we get descriptions of how beautiful it is. I would like to know more about the social structure and the "ordinary" folks of Atlantis. What the history of the city is and basically what they've been doing all these centuries.

So, probably my least favorite of the series. Just couldn't get into the romance and the eventual HEA of Alexios and Grace.

Rating: C+