Title: Heart of the Incubus
Author: Rosalie Lario
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Release Date: January 3rd, 2012
Biochemist Cresso Taylor lives the sort of lifestyle most men would envy—he has wealth, natural incubus charm, and more women than he can handle. But it’s not enough anymore. Not after meeting Genevieve Russell, the sexy scientist who works with him at Elcorp Laboratory. And she wants absolutely nothing to do with him.
After her fiancé broke her heart, Genevieve has had enough of womanizers. She’s determined to steer clear of sexy-as-sin Dr. Taylor, despite the fact that his incubus allure makes her want to rip his clothes off. But when a secret admirer’s affection turns to the macabre with threatening notes and grisly gifts, Cresso appoints himself her protector. As she and Cresso hunt her stalker, she discovers there’s a lot more to the sensual incubus than she ever imagined.
Summary from Goodreads.com
My Review: This is a novella set in the world of the Demons of the Infernum series, but instead of focusing on the brothers, it focuses on their friend Cresso. I have personally been in love with this incubus since we met him in one of the earlier books so I was crazy excited to get my hands on this novella!
Cresso has stood out for me for quite a while; he is kind, funny as hell and helps out anyone who needs it. He has a big heart and his skills came in handy during the last book, Touch of the Angel (review here) when Ronin and Amara were in search of a way to be together without her killing him. If you have not read Touch of the Angel (which really you should because it is awesome) Amara is a succubus and if she sleeps with anyone besides an incubus she will kill him, which became a major problem in Ronin and Amara’s case. Cresso has been working on a cure for this problem ever since we are first introduced to him, but his motivations as to why are never really divulged until Heart of the Incubus. When his past is revealed it just made me love him even more.
As for Genevieve, I had to give her some time to grow on me. She had been burned pretty badly in the past, so I can understand some of her negative attitude towards Cresso. To an outsider he looks like a playboy, especially since he needs sex to survive, but really he longs for something more than just a one night stand. There came a point where she was just being downright mean to him after all the time he spent helping her I just wanted her to cut the poor guy a little slack. She did finally win me over and I was cheering for her from that point on.
The overall romance in this novella was really sweet. They both had issues to overcome, Genevieve more so, but it was intriguing to watch it all unfold in front of us. Although this is a novella we still get some steamy scenes between these two and they are well worth the buildup leading to them. Rosalie always does a fantastic job of building up the sexual tension, so when the couples finally get together it is explosive. Heart of the Incubus is no exception to this, plus it is Cresso, would you expect any less?
As for the plot, Genevieve has a sick psycho stalking her. Whoever they are, they are sending her sick presents and inappropriate love letters. She turns to Cresso for help and the suspects keep piling up. Rosalie did a great job of keeping me guessing as to how the stalker really was and when I finally pieced it together it all made sense. There are clues left for you all throughout and once the identity is revealed it is easy to look back and find them. And again, even though this is a novella, I still think the overall story arc was developed well and kept me intrigued.
Overall, I am still in love with this series! Rosalie’s boys are not to be missed. We even get to get a quick recap of how all of them are doing in this book and I appreciated that. This series is a fantastic edition to the paranormal world and this novella is a must read. I highly suggest reading all of them and reading them in order. This one should be read after the first three since it will have spoilers if you have not read them yet, but you cannot leave this one out. Even though it is short, it is still jammed packed with a hot romance and an enticing mystery that will keep you flipping the pages until you have read the last word. I cannot wait for the next book, Heart of the Siren!
FTC: Thank you to Rosalie for sending me this novella for review!
