Review: Radiant Desire (Handmaid's Seduction #1) by Inara Scott

The object of every man’s fantasy just lost her wings…
Kaia Verde is one of the four Faerie Handmaids of Zafira, Queen of the Fey. To redress an ancient wrong done to Zafira by a human king, the Handmaids make sport of mortal men, seducing and humiliating them. When Kaia sets out to seduce Garrett Jameson, but ends up being the one surrendering to pleasure, Zafira is furious. Kaia’s punishment is simple: make Garrett fall in love with her by the summer solstice, then break his heart, or face eternity without her wings—or her soul. To make the task harder, Zafira tells Kaia she cannot use her faerie magic or charm to lure Garrett into her bed.
…and now she’s losing her heart…

Kaia thinks her task will be relatively easy—as a faerie, she understands lust, and can love be much different? But once she is living among the humans, Kaia discovers the race she once disparaged is far more complex and beautiful than she imagined. She learns before she can break Garrett’s heart, she must find a way to heal it. And eventually, discovers that losing her wings may be a far easier price to pay than losing her heart. (PNR)

Review:
I've become rather jaded reading paranormal romances as of late. They have been repetitive and downright depressing with all the "I'm not worthy" and torture….. I had pretty much given up on the genre that brought me hours of fun escapist reading. Then I saw on Twitter that author Jeri Smith-Ready recommended this book (she also wrote a cover blurb). I figured, why not? Let's give the genre one more try.

I loved Radiant Desire right from the start! Kaia is a faerie, one of the Faerie Queen's Handmaiden's that has been sent down to earth to seduce men then leave them burning with desire, unfulfilled. The queen has a very specific man for Kaia to seduce this time.

You know the drill. She meets Garrett and finds herself caught up in passion. What I loved about Radiant Desire was, sure there is off the charts passion but Kaia showed a vulnerability right from the start. She knew that Garrett was seeing a heightened version of herself meant to seduce. Garrett for his part knew Kaia was too good to be true and actually thought with his brain rather than his you know what. Kaia is not allowed to fall for her mortal victim or give into passion so when she breaks that rule she is given one more chance and a new assignment from the Queen. Not only must she seduce Garrett again but she has to make him fall in love, then break his heart before the summer solstice. The twist? She has to do it as a human - no faerie powers of seduction. If she fails she will lose her faerie wings. She's sent to earth with a driver's license and a few dollars.

There was a nice slow build to their relationship. Garrett has reasons to be mistrustful of women and love, so he's cautious even while he's drawn to Kaia. Kaia is a wonderfully developed heroine. She's a confident woman but always knew that her allure was based on magic so as a human she needs to find new ways to get the things she needs. She could have become one of those needy heroines that wants Garrett to bail her out. While she still needs to get close to him for her plan, she becomes quite self sufficient in her own right.

Another thing I loved about Radiant Desire were the side characters. A few times there were shifts in POV's to minor characters like Garrett's cruel grandmother, or his best friend Ted's fiance, Rachel, but instead of jerking me out of Garrett and Kaia's story, it only made it richer, explaining behavior that otherwise would have left me puzzled.

The fish out of water aspect is reason enough to read the book. Kaia is hysterical when she finds out just how difficult it is to be human. Armpit hair! *gasp* Add in quirky fae creatures and an Imp sidekick and you have yourself an old school FUN paranormal read.

The ending was a bit too tidy but I really can't complain much about a book that kept me up until the wee hours to finish and left me in a great mood.

This is book one in the Handmaid's Seduction series. I assume the next books will be about Kaia's sister's and fellow Handmaid's. If Inara Scott sticks to this formula then I think I found myself a new PNR series to read.

Rating: 3.5 out of 4 Fun story with character's and a world you don't want to leave.

Find the author: website, Twitter, Goodreads
Buy the book! Radiant Desire (Handmaid's Seduction #1)
Publisher: Entangled Publishing October 4th