Deal with the Devil A Mercenary Librarians Novel

Loved it. Post apocalyptic adventures and romance, what more do you need?

"It got quiet. Are you guys dead or making out?" This was a fun, easy, guilty pleasure (ha) read. Romance isn't normally my jam, but I really liked the mercenary librarian aspect. Being a kickass information broker in a dystopian sci-fi America setting is super appealing, I'm not gonna lie. The setting was compelling, and the dialogue was snappy and fitting. The book does a good job being what it is. The romance aspect isn't very organic, but when is it ever in romance books? The author goes to great lengths describing how hot all the main characters are, and then they hook up because, well, they're hot and that's just what hot people do, right? The relationships feel stilted and forced, but that's probably a personal opinion from someone outside the target genre lovers. I won a free copy of this ARC through Goodreads Giveaways.

Rating: 4.5 Blossoms Review Soon To Come. Overall View: I enjoyed it here, a bit different and had some aspects of social justice/politics influences in the writing that kept its from a full five star but enjoyed it quite a bit.

I’ve been reading Kit Rocha’s books for a long time, and there’s certain things I expect from them: amazing found families, strong and fierce heroines, and a nail-bitingly good plot. So it’s no surprise that their first traditionally published book has all that, plus the sunshine/grumpy trope, a post-apocalyptic road trip, and multiple discussions of whether various characters are psycho serial killers. “You nervous?” “Fuck, no. We’re gonna do absolutely impossible, totally illegal, questionably sane science? I’m pumped.” In post-flare Atlanta, there are basically two parts to the city – those controlled by TechCorps and patrolled by the Protectorate, or the poor neighborhoods who are mostly left to fend for themselves, unless the Protectorate needs to remind them who’s in charge – or unless they have people like Nina. Nina is a perfect Kit Rocha heroine. She’s had a rough life, to say the least, but has surrounded herself with her found family, Maya and Dani. Together they’re committed to making their part of the city better. They’ve set up a book printing press, food dehydrators and a seed bank, and are planning to build a shelter, once they have the money for it. Enter Knox, who claims to know the location of a secret Library of Congress cache. Selling the knowledge there would give them enough money to fund their dreams, but something isn’t quite right about Knox and his team. They’re ex-Protectorate soldiers who deserted after being forced to “advance corporate interests” too many times. Knox is stuck between two bad decisions – give up Nina and her team to rescue a kidnapped friend, or betray the women who obviously don’t deserve it. Knox views Nina’s “aggressive optimism,” as he calls it, as naivety. Her assertion that she has to be able to look at herself in the mirror feels like a jab against him and his team, and if there’s one thing he’s protective of, it’s his men. Though they’re no longer in the Protectorate, Knox still acts like he’s the captain of the squad and responsible for making the decisions for all of them until they’re finally “free” – though what exactly that means is still a mystery to him. “You’re not even going to look?” “I may be a thief, but I don’t deal with liars. “What, exactly, do you think I’m lying about?” “I didn’t say you were lying. I said you’re a liar.” She blew on a spoonful of soup to cool it. “I see where the distinction might be confusing.” Nina and Knox clash from their first meeting. Their chemistry is electric (there’s sex during a thunderstorm, even, so yeah), their banter is on point, and it’s easy to see why they’re so immediately attracted to each other. The whole premise is an interesting flip, in that it’s the genetically enhanced super-soldiers who need help from the, well, also genetically engineered women, but the difference here lies in how they’ve chosen to use their abilities. And by distilling it down to that, though, it’s easy to see how similar they really are. While Knox may not have had the same impact as Nina, he’s done his best to limit his targets and find creative solutions to the Protectorate’s “kill kill kill” orders while keeping his team safe. They’re both basically the parental figures for their found families, so watching the two groups learn to interact and work together (which, of course they do to hilarious and scarily efficient effect) is like a post-apocalyptic murdery Brady Bunch. “Is everyone clear on the mission?” Maya shot Nina a thumbs-up. “Kill, kill, save, party.” “Overly simplistic, but accurate.” The secondary characters on both sides are well done and fully realized, partially because they all get at least one POV chapter. Because of that it’s obvious how the rest of the couples will shake out, which is both a great thing and a bad thing because I would like those books right now, please. The pacing is fast-paced and punchy, and there’s enough plot twists and road blocks (sometimes literally) to keep you hooked until the last page, which is a doozy. There’s a good balance and synchronicity between the bam-shoot-blow-stuff-up action and the emotional tension, as both ramp up as the story goes on. Part of that is from getting to know the secondary characters and their backstories, and part of that is the romantic tension and Knox’s angst over his eventual betrayal of Nina. “Remember what you’re fighting for, Captain.” Betrayal plots can be a hard sell for me, as I really need to buy into the rebuilding of trust before I can believe in an HEA. In this case, it was very clear from the beginning that Knox had reservations even before he met Nina, and he was already planning on coming clean to her before the reveal was forced. The effects of that reveal aren’t glossed over, and Nina is given plenty of time to come to terms with the predicament Knox was in and his regret for his actions. I appreciated the focus on Nina as most often it feels like that the majority of the post-dark moment is given to absolving the betrayer’s actions rather than the effects on the victim. So even though it was already well established that pre-betrayal Nina was the sort of person who’d be capable of forgiving him, I found her struggle with it one of my favorite parts of the book. Overall, this is exactly the sort of delightful murderous fun I wanted and needed, and I cannot wait for the next book! I received an advance review copy of this book from Bookish First. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A rip roaring good time with all the hints of the Kit Rocha I fell in love with while reading the Beyond Series. Tension for days, amazing world building, a cast of characters you'll be rooting for until the end. Seeing a jaded and hardened soldier like Knox fall for the badass Nina and struggling to identify what that suspicious thumping in his chest was all about was delicious. An amazing start to a new series, I enjoyed the chapters told from the secondary characters' POVs because I know we'll get to see more of them in the future. While this story is set in a dystopia, Rocha brings enough hope and heart to make it entirely readable even during these bleak times. I don't want to say much more about the plot because this is best entered into knowing the bare minimum so you can gasp along with the twist and turns but there is definitely gun violence and medical gore/wounds in this story, along with drinking. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC!

The Mercenary Librarians and the Silver Devils are all part of experimental programs with implants, genetics, and cloning. Their reality is a time in the future after several wars, causing much of the United States to be a wasteland. Rising from the ashes of those wars are power-hungry companies who are using technology to improve their version of the human species. Knox and the Silver Devils have left the control of one such company called TechCorps and are in a race that might cost them their lives if they can't stabilize their implants before the kill switch inside kills them all. Nina mourned the loss of her sisters but has moved on by helping the community where she lives to survive by providing security. When Knox comes to Nina with a proposal to help each other, Nina doesn't know that she is being offered up in exchange for the one person who might be able to help Knox and his team. The Mercenary Librarians refers to Nina and her team who protect and disperse the knowledge of one of the few remaining libraries to others for a price. The book is written in chapters that are mostly numbered and told from 3rd person omniscient point of view, but every once in a while, there are chapters labeled with the names of characters who narrate what is happening from their own perspectives. Among the unique features of this book are the internal memos at the beginning of each chapter from the corporations that originally programmed Knox's and Nina's teams, giving some background into what happened to create all of these damaged individuals. Overall, this was a well-written futuristic story with some romance elements that works on all levels.

I’ve been wanting to read Kit Rocha’s fantasy/post-apocalyptic/dystopian romances for years. I own a bunch of their Beyond books in audio but for some reason haven’t gotten to them yet. But when I saw they were writing a new dystopian romance series, about mercenary librarians of all things, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Deal with the Devil is the first in this epic new series and I enjoyed it! It’s action-packed and there is plenty of romance to go around. It’s a solid first installment, with great world-building, and I already can’t wait to read more from this series. Reading Deal with the Devil reminded me of how much I enjoy dystopian books and that I don’t read enough of them regularly! I liked the way the authors set up this futuristic, survivalist world where it’s every man and woman for themselves. The characters are intriguing (again, MERCENARY. LIBRARIANS. Who don’t hesitate to kill to protect those they care about!) and I was honestly surprised, in the best way, by how much fun they were. While there are serious moments, there is still a ton of great banter between our Librarians and Silver Devil soldiers. Nina and her librarian squad are kickass (she literally kills multiple men in the very first scene). Knox and his band of supersoldiers were fascinating to read about, and the ticking time bomb on their lives had me on the edge of my seat. I’m so glad I finally got the chance to read one of Kit Rocha’s books. They balanced out the suspense, action, and romance perfectly well in this and I cannot wait for more romances between the Librarians and Devils. I do wish we’d gotten more of the librarian aspect of the series title in the book, but hopefully we’ll get more in future releases.