Dark Dealings by Kim Knox (arc)

Kindle Edition, November 26 2012, 
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There are monsters in the city. And one of them is her….  Ava Kalle's empty soul devours magic. And her hunger is deadly. She's sharp, quick and can live in shadow, making her work as a spy for the Mages a natural choice. She lives on the fringes of society and likes it that way. When the man she loves takes another woman for his mate, the darkness in her heart unravels and she'll do anything to get him back. She makes a dangerous deal with a fire elemental, Heyerdar, who has a vested interest in agreeing: together they'll use forbidden magic, harnessing their sexual energy to drive the couple apart. But soon their pact pushes them both into a dark sexual obsession. One that Ava may not be able to control….

Judging by the cover I expected this book to just be all about steamy, steaminess. But let me tell you it was, yes it was steamy but there was also an interesting story as well. Which I have to say made it ten times better. This book has a lot more to offer than its cover.

First off let's start with Ava. She's what's known as a thief, what they do is usually suck the magic out of people by eating them, yepp eating them. But Ava learns, after years of denying her hunger, that thief's don't have to be murderous monsters. Anyways Ava is a bit of a dweeb at first, she's in love with this guy (its always a guy isn't it?) and just does whatever he says without questioning it, she just goes on thinking the sun shines out his backside. Throughout the book Ava does come into herself more and soon she's playing with the big boys in the attitude department. I didn't really gel with this character, there was nothing wrong with her, I just didn't feel like I really cared what happened to her.

Heyerdar though, boy did I care what happened to him. He's officially my new book crush! He's like full on alpha male, do as I say or I'll make you beg for mercy. Initially there didn't feel like anything was special about him, even though he's this all powerful elemental that does naked sunrise stretches (yumm), tbh he was a tad too arrogant for my liking. But throughout the course of the book I found myself just wanting to throw myself at his feet and letting him have his way with me. He was H.O.T!!

As for the story as a whole it was good. There was a lot going on, which made it hard to follow sometimes but it definitely kept me interested. I kept trying to guess who the bad guy was, and yeah I was wrong, probably along with the rest of the world.