Red Fire Book

After the movie "300" it was really only a matter of time till the Spartans would appear in a paranormal romance book.... lol!
Ajax and seven of his fellow warriors (including King Leonidas) originate from Sparta, an ancient Greek town and were fighting on the Thermopylae to defend their homeland against the Persians. After they were all killed Ares the god of war made them an offer either to go to Elysium or go back to the world as immortal warriors to protect mankind from every form of evil. They would be given greater strength and the ability to take the form of hawks. Of course they took Ares´ offer..
After two thousand years of loneliness Ajax is still waiting for the woman destined to be his mate for eternity. When he´s sent to Savannah to resue Shay Angel a young woman from his old opponent the evil Djinn Eblas he is attracted to her at once... could she really be the woman he was waiting for his whole life?
The book had a promising premise and I liked reading it but I couldn´t connect with Shay Angel I admit. I really have no patience with heroines who have a debate on principles with their knights in shining armors when the hordes of hell are hot on their heels or if the hero/heroine can only think about sex in a dangerous life threatening situation. For me that´s just ridiculous and wide off the mark..
Well, unfortunately Shay had many TSTL-moments in this novel and I really couldn´t warm towards her although later on in the book I thought her more mature and she showed some character growth. But it didn´t help in the end - she´s just not one of my all-time favorite heroines.
And Ajax our hero? I could have lived with his wings and the talons but all the feathers and downs even on a certain male body part was just a huge turn off - at least for me!
The story and subplots were quite interesting, with Ares playing his own little game with his spartans, the beginning love story between the Oracle (the spartans counselor and connection to the gods) and King Leonidas, the battles between Ajax and Eblas, the story and secrets of Shay´s family and I still think the book is entertaining to read but not really outstanding in the paranormal romance genre.
I´m interested enough to give the second book in the series "Red Kiss" a try which will tell River´s story - hopefully with a heroine more to my taste..

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