RATING: ★★★★☆
TITLE: The Initiation (The 4 Horsemen, #1)
AUTHOR: Elena Monroe
RELEASE DATE: August 4, 2020
SETTING: LA, California
PUBLISHER: Independently Published
GENRE(S): Adult Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, Mythology
Thank you to Elena Monroe for my gifted DRC in exchange for my honest review.
BLURB:
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘰𝘥’𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴.
𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐋
LA wasn’t home… just home for now.
Transplanted here to model I learned Hollywood isn’t where dreams survive the harsh reality of millions all sharing that same dream.
Executive assistant is who I am now.
Slave.
Hollywood’s darling took a liking to me. One not easily ignored when they give you a taste of the high life.
I was supposed to give up hope and give in to LA’s bad reputation but I had rules.
Well, just one: read the rules before you break them.
Unwilling to abandon all my morals, the filter came off my life to see the world I was one foot in was invitation only…
𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐌
I’m not sure I was ever really Jason.
Whoever he was, was a distant memory now.
Grimm is who I am now.
Death.
I abandoned my birth name, companionship, happiness that wasn’t shaped like Xanax all because I was expected to be the kind of elite that pulls the strings.
Pull the strings but follow the rules.
No distractions.
No serious relationships.
Keep what we do secret.
Born into a rite I didn’t ask for, a society of puppeteers.
An invitation I marked not attending…
Another great dark romance from Elena Monroe.
First of all, I truly love that every Elena Monroe book I have ever read have some sort of tie-in to mythology. That is utterly satisfying, especially with the routes she takes. This series clearly also is in the same universe of the Celestial Bodies series, as we have the small appearance of two of my favorite characters from those books in this one. I LOVE that so freaking much!
So, let’s take Grimm and Abigail… Grimm is a product of his raising. He is the son of two very powerful people. He belongs to this secret society called The Clave, where he is one of the elite 4 horsemen, all born of families in the same society. He is the killer of the group, who has always pulled the trigger without needing any explanation. It has always just been the way things go. And, while he hates his life, he has never really tried to go against the grain. He is twisted. He is a monster. Until he meets Abigail.
Abigail is a beautiful, sweet woman who moved from Chicago to LA to escape her parents. When she was young, she had to answer for her father’s sins. Answering to a priest who abused her. In her own way, she is her own monster. When she meets Grimm, she is immediately drawn to his monster, barely batting an eye at his murderous ways.
I loved the relationship between these two. In a world that is sick and twisted all around them, they find a safe haven in one another, while still maintaining their same monstrous tendencies. I like that this book doesn’t necessarily take the path of the two of them making each other “better”, but instead goes the way of them just accepting one another for who they are.
But, Abigail isn’t part of The Clave… So her relationship with Grimm is a problem for others, and deadly for Abigail herself. One thing I didn’t like about this book was the fact that other horsemen (perhaps one in particular) is so set in his ways in this secret society that he blindly follows without really seeming to have his own opinions or thoughts on the matter. He felt like a Clave drone that couldn’t think for himself. I am really becoming attuned to Monroe’s writing, so I have a feeling that he will be redeemable in his own way, hopefully in his own book.
I cannot wait to see what happens next in this dark and twisted series. This was truly a fun read!
feather bound books 