Enraptured (Eternal Guardians Book 4)

This book and the whole series for that matter is completely mind blowing. I love this series, with the twists and turns at ever corner. It's entertaining, heart wrenching, sexy, exciting, and undeniably mind-shaddernly a series I can't put and I am completely hooked. I can't wait for the next book and hopefully many after!!

Loved this book and this series. Every book in this series has it's own story within a story that keeps you captivated. I don't think I've been this captivated since Sherrilyn Kenyon's League series, and I still love re-reading those. I am definitely looking forward to the next book as a well as other books by this author.

Orpheus was my favorite of the characters so far & I had been looking forward to his book, but I feel like the author took him away from me.

He went from being the unpredictable bad boy who you know who will come through when the chips are down (because that's just what happens in romance novels-that's why we like them...) to your average generic good guy hero by the end of the book. Not nearly as interesting.

The little bit of unpredictability (not to mentiontion the glowing green eyes) is what made him Orpheus. Now those are gone.

It would have been much more interesting to watch how the others deal with the daemon in thier midst over time as well & now they don't have to. They found out, then problem solved before most of them really had to come to grips with it.

I'm all for wrapping things up nice and tidy, and for happily ever afters; I don't read this stuff to get bummed out or to live in the real world after all, but lets not have it be too easy or generic please. We got something pretty good with the first three, I hope we aren't going to go downhill and have the rest be just rote generic romance novel-I can get than anywhere. I would like to continue to look forward to the rest of them as much as looked forward to the next 3 after I found "Marked."

This book picks up three months after the last. So that's three months that Gryphon has been in the underworld being tortured to death each day only to die each night and start again the next morning for another round. The pain and suffering is too much for him to bare and despite a voice telling him 'NO' he makes a deal with Atalanta to end his suffering. He had already been losing himself little by little, but once Atalanta takes him as her slave, he loses it all. Though what is forced upon him now tares away any pride and leaves nothing but shame in him, he takes it because it is still better than the hell he had been in.

For those three months, Orpheus has been tracking Maelea. Maelea is the offspring of Persephone and Zeus and hated by Hades. Banished to a lonely, empty life in the human realm she really has nothing going for her. But she can sense the orb and Orpheus is determined to get her to find the sorcerer who stole it and his brother's body. He comes so close to getting her at a concert one night but loses her when demon hybrids show up. During that fight is when he witnesses what Skyla can do. But he's hurt and instead of drawing unneeded attention, he agrees to let Skyla take him to her motel room to patch him up. Skyla is siren, trained by Athena herself to do Zeus's bidding and destroy demons and such. Her mission should be simple. Prevent Orpheus from getting the orb and take it back to Zeus. But their attraction is undeniable and that's when she finds out who Orpheus really is. She freaks out and runs away back to Olympus for answers. Answers she only gets part truths of. But she strengthens her resolve and catches up with Orpheus again when he has finally found Maelea's house. Before any information is gotten, hellhounds appear. Hade's is determined to get the earth element that Isadora had lent Orpheus and he repeatedly tries various attacks to get it as well as get rid of Maelea. That is until he finally realizes that Apophes has the orb. Time for a new plan. Orpheus takes the girls to Nick's colony for safety only to find out that Isadora is already there after receiving a visit from some sirens back home. After Isadora spills the beans about why he's actually after the orb, Maelea tells him where to find it. With the help of Demetrius and Skyla they get what they set off to do and now it's off to hell to save Gryphon. It takes long days to finally find him and when they do it nearly destroys Orpheus to see what has become of his once proud and strong brother. Their escape from the underworld and Hades seemed a little to easy, but it works. Even though he succeeded, Orpheus still has the Argonaut markings and still hates it. But he thinks he has found something he never thought he would with Skyla. Love. Until all his memories come rushing back and secrets she had been keeping along with them. Feeling betrayed he storms out and just about makes a bad decision when Lachesis shows up. Turns out she had been meddling with his fate for a very long time. But her appearance grants enough time for Skyla to show up. And other sirens. And the other Argonauts. But as they say "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and that's what happens when Hades shows up again. This time with worse creatures than just the hellhounds. Victory against him is short lived with the loss of one of their own though. Orpheus now tries to live up to what he's been told he can be while trying to be there for Gryphon who is but a shell of himself. And while he's accepted his lot in life now for what it is (for the most part) he is granted a surprise that makes his life more whole than he ever thought he deserved.

I really liked Orpheus and Skyla as a couple. Both being warriors and with both of their personalities, they simply worked. Finding out about Orpheus's past life was also quite interesting and I'm curious as to if it really matters in this one. Just because his soul is descended directly from them, does it affect him now that his body is from others?

And ah Lachesis, how you amuse me.

I was quite surprised how much I ended up enjoying this book. Especially considering I didn't get into much right away. But it leaves me hopeful for the rest to come.

This is the fourth book in the Eternal Guardians series. I loved it!

My sister recommended this series to me as she had read them all (that have been released so far) and thought I would enjoy it, and she was right! I downloaded this as an audiobook, as I had previously enjoyed listening to the first three books in the series in audiobook too. Enraptured is again narrated by Elizabeth Wiley. She does another fantastic job in telling the story. Her narration is crystal clear and her interpretation of the characters brought them to life, she has given each character their own tone and inflection of voice, which I liked.

Orpheus is one of my favourite characters of this series. I absolutely love him! He is a wise cracking, devil-take-the-hindmost rogue. However, he also has a darker, more serious side; he's part daemon, but not many of the Guardians know this. I loved getting to know this character better as he seeks a way to rescue his brother, Gryphon, from the Underworld. However, he doesn't figure on the appearance of a Siren turning his world upside down. Nor finding out he's not exactly who he thought he was.

Skyla is a wonderful character. I loved her feisty, kick ass attitude. She is a Siren, sent by Zeus to ultimately kill Orpheus. However, things are not as they seem and she finds herself conflicted by her duty and her desire.

This series seems to be getting better and better as it goes along; I am completely hooked! The story continues from the end of the third book and sees Orpheus looking for Maelea, the daughter of Zeus and Persephone, who is exiled to the realm of Earth. What follows is a fast paced, action packed story that had me sitting on the edge of my seat! The story is told through various points of view, which I really liked. Not only do we meet all of the Guardians as well as Callia and Acacia (Casey) and Isadora again, we get to see more of Nick and the Misos colony. We are also slightly introduced to Hades's son, Zagreus, and Orpheus's brother Gryphon. Maelea's presence gave the story an intriguing edge and I became curious about this woman. She appears timid and almost teen-like (angst-y) although she is 3,000 years old, but I have a feeling there is more to this woman than first meets the eye and I look forward to getting to know her better.
Meanwhile, Atalanta is her usual evil, scheming self and is still exiled in the fields of Asphodel, where her son, Demetrius and Orpheus sent her, but she is not an easy foe to defeat and intends to set her escape plan in motion.

There is plenty of action, danger and intrigue in this story. I loved the chemistry between Orpheus and Skyla. It crackled palpably through the story and scorched the pages! The story arc is opening up and the race for the rest of the elements for the Orb of Kronos is hotting up; I am getting excited to see where it leads! This story took me on another roller coaster ride of emotions and I found myself shedding more than a few tears as it unfolded. My heart broke for Gryphon, as his soul didn't deserve to be sent to Hell by Apophis. One thing I will say about this story (and series as a whole) is the world building is excellent. The characters are well developed and extremely lifelike. The story ends on another cliffhanger, which has me looking forward to continuing with this series and I will (hopefully) get to read/listen to Enslaved as soon as I can.

Elisabeth Naughton has written an exciting paranormal romance series. I love her fast paced writing style and the flow is wonderful. She has definitely found a fan in me!

Due to scenes of a sexual nature that are on the explicit side, I do not recommend this book for younger readers. However, I highly recommend this book if you love erotic paranormal romances with sexy heroes and strong female characters. - Lynn Worton

For full review including excerpt and dialogue highlight, please vist Reader's Edyn at:
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Review:

Let me first say that I have been reading about The Eternal Guardian Series, and reading about it, and reading about it, and finally ... I have read one. While I did not start at the beginning, which is generally something I am a stickler for, I was given the opportunity to read ENRAPTURED, the fourth book in the series, so I jumped on it. That said, I could tell that there was information that I could have taken with me by reading in order, but it was absolutely not necessary that I read the books in order. ENRAPTURED is just fine as a stand alone read, despite being part of a series.

Orpheus is an anomaly. Part daemon, part *****, Not only do people around him struggle with his background (the ones who know the truth), Orpheus himself struggles with who he is. But the kicker is that he is now living his second life. He has no memory of his first life until he meets Skyla and odd visions assail him intermittently. But the visions are strong, leading him to believe that he has an unknown connection with Skyla - almost as if the visions were in fact memories. And Skyla? It doesn't take her long to realize exactly who Orpheus is.

Skyla is a Siren, a member of Zeus' personal protection group; a security detail if you will. After recovering from a vicious attack, she is back in the saddle (as it were) and ready to complete he latest assignment - to stop Orpheus' quest for power and end him once he obtains a very powerful orb - at least that is what she is led to believe.

As the mysteries unravel and both Orpheus and Skyla realize the truth of the situation, their connection blossoms and deepens into something more. But the truth could very well destroy the thin thread that connects them as neither is ready to trust and certainly not ready to open their heart to something potentially devastating: love. The journey of Orpheus and Skyla begins with opposite goals in mind, but eventually segs into a common purpose. And along the way, just maybe, a possibility of happiness could occur ... but fate has a way of intervening in many things.

I really enjoyed Ms. Naughton's world she built around the myths and legends that we all grew up learning about. Zeus and his gods and goddesses sure do like to stir up trouble. What was nice was that I started out with a slight understanding of the story with my knowledge of the Greek gods. But Ms. Naughton then took that information and spun it all into a world of her own. An exciting, interesting, captivating world full of twists and turns, and a whole lot of smexy!

Orpheus is a tortured man and reluctant hero, which makes the reader fall in love with him that much harder. I appreciated that he stayed reluctant toward, well ... pretty much everything until the very end as it made his character seem more viable. And don't we all love those tortured male characters who are basically forced into heroism. Those heroes that were possibly heroes all along but refused to admit it? Yup. You know what I am talking about. *nods*

And Skyla has an even harder time than Orpheus - at least I think so - because she remembers who Orpheus was and what he was to her, remembers what he did, what she didn't do, and is now forced to relive that scenario all over again. The problem is that Orpheus is throwing her curve ball after curve ball because he is breaking Skyla down. She is at war within against the man he was and the man he is now while constantly struggling with her sense of duty as a Siren. She ultimately has to make a decision as to what path she will take. And, trust me, she has to choose paths more than once throughout the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with Ms. Naughton and her Eternal Guardians and look forward to reading more about these men; heroes that walk the earth with special gifts and a strong sense of duty and the women that conquer them. For those of you who enjoy romance mixed together with a bit of the paranormal, a touch of fantasy, legends given life through creativity, and compelling stories of honor, Ms. Naughton is an author you will not want to miss. I, for sure, will definitely be returning to this world.

(ARC eBook galley provided by NetGalley; Sourcebooks Casablanca)