*This was my 2nd time reading this book. I hated it even more this time. 
 I only reread this book because I want to continue with the series after I dropped it a few years back. But this was a struggle. 
 What pisses me off is that this book could have been great--really great. The female character having cancer was a unique plot device for paranormal, and it was a nice contrast to the male character's supernatural curse. I like the idea of Rhage battling with his inner beast for claim over Mary and his own body. That could have made for some very fun scenes. Instead, the book is mostly brooding. Then, when they finally hook up it's awful and unrealistic. What sort of self respecting woman sleeps with her boyfriend after he just screwed another woman, and then apologizes to HIM afterwards? WTF?! I've never been more disgusted by an author and her characters before. The whole situation could have been handled a thousand times better and in ways that were far more interesting than sloppy seconds with a cheating boyfriend. Nasty. 
 After that, I'd lost all interest in the book and its characters. Their gushy romance scenes read as false to me from that point on. There's actually very little plot in the book for its size. If you skip the POVs from the villians (which I always do, cuz... yawn) and cut out the excess POV scenes from like six other characters, there's really not much left. If the rest of the series continues on like this, I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it. The first book may have just been a fluke. 
 Oh, also, this is the first time that I've ever flipped ahead to see how much was left to a book and actually exclaimed, "Oh good, it's almost over!" 
 Watch my spoiler-free video review here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d9dk4... 
 Not Recommended 
 Yes/No Checklist 
 Sex: Yes 
 Gore: Yes 
 Rape: No 
 Magic: Yes *Vampire powers and soulless people 
 Drugs: Yes *alcohol and some kind of relaxing cigarette. 
 Star Categories 
 Romance: 2 Stars 
 Action: 2 Stars *there isn't much 
 Pacing: 2 Stars 
 Writing: 2 Stars 
 Plot: 2 Stars 
 Overall: 2 Stars *I actually feel like I'm being generous here. 
 Protagonist Meter 
 Damsel*----------Badass 
 Mary is a damsel 100%, but action scenes aren't really the point to this book anyway.