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What Members Thought
4.4 stars. What a wonderful, enjoyable story! In a departure from the style or topics of her previous books LA Witt takes on historical Pompeii, gladiator style. Although there is romance, this book is much better classified as general (gay?) fiction.
Saevius is a veteran gladiator who has known nothing but slavery. A few fights from obtaining freedom, he is sold to a politician in another city as a bodyguard. Unfortunately, when he gets there, he finds that his true purpose is not to serve as a ...more
Saevius is a veteran gladiator who has known nothing but slavery. A few fights from obtaining freedom, he is sold to a politician in another city as a bodyguard. Unfortunately, when he gets there, he finds that his true purpose is not to serve as a ...more
Mar 30, 2013
G.B. Gordon
added it
Whoa. Brilliant.
Read a few reviews and am floored by how many reviewers don't consider this a 'true' romance. It's a quiet book, for sure, and it takes a while to build up steam (though the second half has very good pace and tension IMO), but if this isn't romance, then the romance genre has strayed from the original sense of the word beyond any recognition. For me this is a romance in the most classical sense of the word. ...more
Read a few reviews and am floored by how many reviewers don't consider this a 'true' romance. It's a quiet book, for sure, and it takes a while to build up steam (though the second half has very good pace and tension IMO), but if this isn't romance, then the romance genre has strayed from the original sense of the word beyond any recognition. For me this is a romance in the most classical sense of the word. ...more
Very slow build up with a surprise at the end - which I did see coming because there are clues scattered throughout the story. I won't spoil you by saying which. No smut in this at all, which is fine by me, as the plot was well crafted enough to not want any actually. It would have done something bad to the book I think. There is a lot of violence instead (hey, it's about GLADIATORS. Those weren't pussies.).
At first I didn't really like the main character Saevius much - but he started to grow on ...more
At first I didn't really like the main character Saevius much - but he started to grow on ...more
* ARC courtesy of Riptide Publishing via Netgalley *
I couldn't decide between three or four stars, but there was something about this story that just didn't work for me. I wish I knew what it was. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters. Drusus and Saevius were wonderful. I would actually like to see more of them.
...more
Bloody brilliant! Loved every single moment of it. *happy sigh*
Aug 10, 2012
Lisa Henry
marked it as to-read
Aug 11, 2012
Midia
marked it as to-buy
Sep 23, 2012
Emily
marked it as to-read
Nov 05, 2012
Sarah
marked it as to-read
Nov 07, 2012
Kelly_Instalove
added it
Nov 20, 2012
justanya
marked it as to-read
Jan 11, 2013
Lyri
marked it as to-read
Mar 13, 2014
Mtsnow13
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2017
Len Evans Jr
marked it as to-read
Oct 05, 2017
Fantus
marked it as to-read
Jun 06, 2018
Melissa
marked it as to-read
