This RITA® Reader Challenge 2013 review was written by Sassy Outwater. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Paranormal Romance category.

The summary:     

The prophecies were there but no one listened. Until now. They are the Lords of Deliverance and they have the power to ward off Doomsday . . . or let it ride.

Jillian Cardiff came to this remote mountain town to forget the demon attack that almost killed her. Instead, she rescues – and falls for – a gorgeous stranger who has no memory of anything other than his name. Handsome, charming and protective, Reseph seems like the kind of man that Jillian can trust. But with hints of a troubling history of his own, he's also the kind of man that can be very dangerous . . .

Reseph may not know his background, or why he mysteriously appeared in Jillian's life, but he knows he wants to stay. Yet when Jillian's neighbours are killed and demon hunters arrive on the scene, Reseph fears that he's putting Jillian in danger.

And once it's revealed that Reseph is also Pestilence, the Horseman responsible for ravaging the world with death and destruction, he and Jillian must face the greatest challenge of all: can they forget the horrors of a chilling past to save the future they both desire?

And here is Sassy's review:

Pop quiz!

Circle one of the following:

You’re a lone woman out gathering wood for your secluded mountain cabin and you come across a naked man lying, well, naked in the snow. You:

A. Know that the phone and power are out, so you bring him home, stick him in your bed, ignore your friends’ advice about dangerous fugitive murderer types, ignore his amnesia and eventually stick yourself in the bed with him.

B. Make him chili, love him for his chivalrous usurping of your couch with the accompanying “Neener, neener, neener.” And don’t even flinch when his chivalry extends to roaring, running off after weasels, killing things because they killed your things first, and going into local department stores in pajamas. All in the name of chivalry helped by amnesia. Supposedly.

C. Make him chili because that’s what we do with strange men we bring in from the snow–it says so in the Strange-Men-Dragged-In-From-Blizzard handbook—then wait until he starts killing stuff and roaring and acting all psychotic, then boink him, and repeatedly pine for said boinking at inopportune moments until said boinking turns into happily ever after instalust gone eternal.

D. All of the above.

E. None of the above, provide medical care, (safely), seek help, transport stranger with amnesia to nearest hospital once blizzard lets up, or better yet, call cop friends and let them worry about getting through the snow to get him.

Answer: If you picked E… What’s wrong with you?! The answer is D, of course! It’s a romance novel, which means, break every common sense rule you’ve ever been taught at least three times in the name of your must-be-filled vagina, then do it again for good measure. There’s another exercise to add to our workout regimes SB Sarah has been devising. Like Pilates for down there… Forget Kegels!

Anyway, moving on… if taking a handsome naked amnesia-afflicted man home with you and making him chili, then getting swept up in the wars you were originally hiding in a mountain cabin to escape sounds appealing to you, then yes, please do read this book. If it doesn’t appeal to you, read this book anyway, for one outstanding reason. It’s that good.

This is the ninth book in Larissa Ione’s Demonica world, and it’s the 4th book in the Riders of the Apocalypse series, the second series within the Demonica series. Got that? I’ve read every book in the series(s). Some I have loved more than others, but even when the couple in question drives me up a wall (see first book in the Riders series) I still keep reading to find out what happens in the overall world. Because while there is lots of hot hot erotic sex going on all over these pages. There’s also tons and tons of really good plot, political intrigue demon-style, angels trying to stay angels or succumbing to temptation, happy family love mush, mysteries, prophecies, side-plots woven through multiple books that keep you guessing, and megatons of interesting usually funny tongue-and cheek world exposition and world-building. And info-dump is minimal. It really is a series you need to read from the start, because she’s not going to back up to catch you up if you’re late to class. This is a do-your-homework series, but indexes and glossaries are there to guide you should you step in a puddle of I-don’t-know.

While these books stand strong on their own merits, there is an undercurrent of humor (maybe way more than a gentle current, more like an undertow) of humor about the tropes in these books. Larissa picks tropes like the amnesia, the more than slightly creepy snowy cabin scene with the possibly psychotic murderer and she looks at these tropes like she’s a teacher in front of a class of rowdy boys and says: “Listen here, tropes, I’ma show you how to work for your supper! When I’m finished with you, you’re gonna be so far from a trope you won’t even know what hit you! Now stand up, pull down those pants and let the trope-whipping begin!” Except with none of the teacher-student beating and nudity connotation. In her writing, the tropes line up, trot out one by one and explode into scenes of laugh-out-loud mayhem or nail-biting suspense.

Her books are as hilarious as they are hot, as memorable as they are easy to read. And Rogue Rider is no exception. If you like books that don’t take themselves seriously, and yet weave a captivating story through a mind-blowingly realistic new world, then you need this. Lots of it. It’s my crack, and this book did not disappoint. I got my high and then some. I loved Reseph and Gillian as a couple, thought she was tough enough to keep him in line, and loved his adorably badass personality. I’m so burned out on the broody troubled hero, it was refreshing to get one with a great sense of humor. I see so many heroines carry the humor line and the heroes fall utterly short. That Neener neener neener line just won my heart. So simple a fight over who gets to sleep on the couch and who gets the bed, and yet, that’s a fight I could totally envision any couple having. Besides, for me, a guy who doesn’t take himself that seriously and can laugh at life sometimes is far more attractive than a moody male I have to “fix.” I have enough in my life that needs fixing, I don’t need to “fix” the guy part of the equation too, even in my books. Especially in my books! Reseph, while in both his forms, first as amnesia stranger, then as badass rider Reseph, held my attention. He’s this horrible demon who kills people inside of this innocent, funny guy… and yes, it just works. These are demons who want to be on the good side — they just need their women to get there.

I could go on and on about why this book works, and you get an idea why it might not work for everyone I hope. But if you like your sex hot and well-described, your demon heros funny family men not afraid of marching onto the battlefield and killing things, and you like your plots twisted, complicated and engaging, then read this. It’s an A.

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