ARC Review: Take by Nashoda Rose

Title: Take
Author: Nashoda Rose
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance
Type: Standalone Book 1 of Scars of the Wraiths series
POV: First Person – Dual
Expected Publication: Feb 23, 2015

MAX

Feelings are a luxury I can’t afford. Hidden behind a shield of quiet placidity, I keep my secret safe from those who’d use it against me. Until him—the tatted up, self-centered Scar assassin hired to protect me.

He takes pleasure in tormenting me, chipping away at my defenses as if I’m a toy to be played with. I hate that he continuously reminds me that I’m nothing more than a job. I hate that my body responds to his touch. I hate him.

JASPER

I’m not a good guy and I don’t pretend to be. Condemn me if you want, I don’t give a fuck. You’re nothing to me. No one is … except her—Max. She’s my target. And I was hired to do a hell of a lot more than protect her … I was hired to kill her.
It should’ve been simple, but it was complicated as hell.

Paranormal romance with erotic elements. Full-length novel. Come meet the Scars.

Scars: Immortal warriors with capabilities derived from the senses:Trackers, Sounders, Healers, Tasters, Visionaries, and the rareReflectors. They each have what is known as an Ink, a tattoo that can be called life.

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ARC provided by the author, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Max was a hardened survivor. At the tender age of 10, her life was ripped apart and from that point on, she learned to close off to protect herself from further pain. When her life was suddenly in danger, she was assigned a protector.

Jasper Kyelin was a brusque, rude, but sexy as hell Scar assassin for hire. He cared for nothing else but the payment at the end of a job. But his latest job proved to be more complicated than he initially anticipated.

First of all, let me just say, I love that cover! It’s so clean and simple but there’s just something about the darkness and the fragility within the quiet strength pose (after reading the book I know) that fit the character perfectly.

Now about the genre, this is only my second venture into books with non-human characters. Paranormal/supernatural is not my preferred genre, in fact I usually avoid it like a plague. But I love the author’s previous works and because it included erotic element, I’m sold. And I have to say, I enjoyed the story.

The main characters in Take were Scars who were immortal warriors with special abilities that derived from senses – Trackers, Sounders, Healers, Tasters, Visionaries and Reflectors. Throughout the story, we got to meet with characters with those abilities and saw how they used them for their advantage.

The story was basically about the protector and his charge trying to get a step ahead of their enemy and surviving a potentially disastrous situation. It was filled with a good quantity and quality of actions and sexy times.

This was the Scar assassin. The man who had every right to be cocky as hell. A beast. Threatening and virile. A predator.

I love Jasper. He was infuriatingly hot. He had a scarred past that made him the way he was. And he spoke with swoon worthy Scottish/Irish accent.

I like Max with her inner strength. She had to live not only with a tortured past, but with a big secret that could change their world.

I like him watching me as if…as if I was more than a job. More than a woman he wanted to fuck.

Jasper and Max together was explosive. I love their chemistry and the sexual tension between them. Even scenes of him just taunting her were hot!

One of my favorite characters in this book was definitely Xamien. I felt there’s a lot more to him and his story with Max felt unfinished. I really hope he will get his own book.

The Scars of the Wraith series is based on the author’s previous series, Senses which is no longer in publication. I’m not sure if that could be the reason why I think this book needed more explanations of the world it took place.

As a first time reader, I had hard time understanding the dynamics between the three races/species in the book. As far as I noticed, there were no explanations of their roles/motivations and what they were to each other. The glossary provided was helpful but I’d like to see it expended/explained more in the story as it progress especially that this is the first book where readers are first introduced to the world.

I would say Take is more of an erotic romance with paranormal element (than a paranormal romance with erotic element) because the story focused more on the main characters relationship than the significance of their world – which is not a bad thing to me other than the readers could use a little more info on how their world works.

Final Verdict:

This review is also available on Goodreads.

Nashoda Rose is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who lives in Toronto with her assortment of pets. She writes contemporary romance with a splash of darkness, or maybe it’s a tidal wave.

When she isn’t writing, she can be found sitting in a field reading with her dogs at her side while her horses graze nearby. She loves interacting with her readers on Facebook and chatting about her addiction—books.