A Stella Review: Of Gods and Monsters: Hades (Of Gods and Monsters #2) by Wulf Francu Godgluck

RATING 5 out of 5 stars          ★★★★★

******WARNING*******
This is not a story about a hero, or some bad boy-badass-antihero.
This is a love story between two monstrous villains and one valiant kid, held together by their entwined heartstrings.
It won’t be pretty.
It won’t be pleasant.
There’s no fluffy good feelings about it.
It will rip out your heart and never give it back.

Breno Hades el Oscuro took no bullshit from anyone. He ruled the crime world of the United States. When the King fell, what was left in the ashes was not the small boy that grew up without his father, not the same kid that chose a life of crime at seventeen, nor was it the King who had killed and clawed through a river of blood to stand at the top.

The King was dragged from his throne of bones into a deep dark pit, leaving only the raw flesh of a savage monster to crawl out of Hell.
One that knew love, but didn’t want it again.

Kemono Orochi was destined to inherit the legacy of his father, known as The Dragon’s Tongue. It was an inheritance he never wanted it, never desiring the power that came with the title of Dragon. Kemono ended it all by tearing off the Dragon’s head, watching the serpent’s remains be consumed in hellfire. Now tormented by the scars of his past inflicted by his father, he is struggling to come to terms with the Akuma he has become.

One that wants to devour everyone in his path to protect the only one that matters to him.

The only person that had ever made his icy heart beat.

His heart. His love. His beautiful pride.

Rex Hunter dreams of becoming a principal ballerino…all fierce, like a Phoenix. But this Phoenix has lost his wings and fallen prey, straight into the clutched claws and callus hands of two vicious beasts. Each bore the blackest of hearts, each desiring to keep him safe, cherished and loved unconditionally. Or was Rex just destined to be the goo that would stick two shattered souls together and prevent them from forever falling to pieces?

There will be blood, gore and nasty shit.

There will be watersports, crude, angry, sometimes sensual and other times just downright dirty and dysfunctional sex.

BUT…

There will always be LOVE…

Because even villains understand the tortured scars love leaves in its wake.

Let’s start this review saying I loved the book a lot and when I finished reading it, I hated the author a lot. As an after thought I should have seen it coming but in my defence I was so enrolled in the story, I was blind to little details I should have been more careful with. Nonetheless in the following days when I was finally able to let the anger go, I realized that maybe it was the right choice and it is one of my favorite books I’ve read lately.

I’m honestly not sure what to write in this review because I don’t want to spoil the story. If you’re a fan of Wulf’s work, you know he is very good at surprising us with unexpected characters and developments, so just two words, be ready. I wasn’t.

Of Gods and Monsters: Hades is a story about betrayal, about second chances at love, enemies to lovers, about a monster with a cold heart that can maybe still beat for someone. It’s about a beautiful young man and the need to be human again. It’s the story of three lives, interwoven in times and fate.

The story of Hades takes place four years after Menoetius. In these four years, Hades has found and let go of who could have been the love of his life, he was betrayed by a brother and forced to live in a prison fighting ring.

Four years has passed from the day Rex has left Japan and the place that was his home and life for twelve years, where he kissed Kemono, the young man he watched become a cold hearted killer. The day he was escorted to the airport and put on a plane to the States. With his cat, Bacon, he’s now living under the Dragon’s Tongue “care”, a powerful criminal organization.

And four years ago, Kemono has killed the one who kept him away from Rex and turned him into a monster, the new dragon.

After four year spent in hell, Hades comes back to his apartment and find it occupied by a little ginger, Rex. And of course he needs to scare the young man to death. First impressions matter.

There is a lot going on this book, there are quite some second characters to keep track of, but it’s never chaotic because every new event, every new person is welcomed and fully explained.

The characters in this story are not easy, all of them have really heavy baggages on their shoulders (no one excluded), all of them are fucked up in different ways. I love knowing there are more books planned and that I’m going to meet them again and follow them in their journey to the love land. Cause they are all getting their HEA.

The story is a continuous story of messy, hard scenes. Not for everyone. It’s on the line of Menoetius but different and in my opinion so much better.

There are some things I’m very strict about in my MM books and they are often have been a deal breaker to me, this second installment has a couple of them, but I didn’t care. As I already said, the story took me completely, I couldn’t put it down for a moment. My opinion on the author is the same, he’s amazingly talented.

I can’t wait for the next one. I want to know more about Richard (and James I hope), but it seems that Monroe, a NYPD chief, has just fallen in love with someone.

Cover Art by Wulf Francú Godgluck. It’s well done and fitting, I can totally see Hades in it. And I like the black and the red together.

Sales Links:   All Romance (ARe) | Amazon

Book Details:

Published January 22nd 2016 by Wulf Francu Godgluck
Kindle Edition, 319 pages
ASIN B018WUWI18
Edition Language English

Of Gods and Monsters series

• Menoetious #1
• Hades #2