Blood Flows Deep in the Empire

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Lust by N. Isabelle Blanco delivered a steamy and dark paranormal romance designed to titillate the senses. It had a mix of sci-fi, mythology, paranormal and featured a dark fated mate romance.SUMMARYDyletri, the god of lust, lost the love of his life 14000 years ago. To bring her back to life, he entered a pact with the Fates, which involved sacrificing an innocent human female. The human female would be born 14000 years later. Her name is Ismini. Aware of her fate, she willingly embraced her fate. However, she never counted on falling in love with the person destined to take her life and whose heart belonged to someone else. To be honest, I picked up Lust by N. Isabelle Blanco for two reasons:1. The Cover2. The need to see how the author would handle the paranormal genre.However, Lust was nothing like I expected.I liked the premise and was curious to see how what outcome awaited Dyletri and Ismini. The story moved at a reasonable pace with well executed fight scenes. As this is the first book in the Ryze series, readers are introduced to an intriguing world.  The world the author created was unique and quite interesting.I didn’t have strong feelings for Dyletri and Ismini. I actually preferred the secondary characters, some of whom had me laughing out loud a few times. Throughout the progression of the story, the reader learns that Dyletri and Ismini are fated mates who would fall in love with each other. However, I had a hard time accepting they were actually in love with each other. Lust formed the foundation of their relationship and continued to be the source, which fueled it. No true emotions existed between these two. Also, there were a lot of hot and cold moments on Dyletri’s part.Another thing I had an issue with was the pronunciation of the names. I appreciate when authors use unique names in their stories, but I would love pronounce them. All the characters had unpronounceable names. If that wasn’t difficult enough, the gods each have two names. Dyletri was also called Salicyar.The story surrounding Dyletri and Ismini tied up nicely, however, the main story arc remains incomplete, leaving readers with lots of questions.Overall, Lust was an average read. It didn’t take me long to get through it, but it didn’t deliver as I hoped. Readers who enjoy this genre and don’t have issues with the cons mentioned then Lust will make a great addition to their reading list This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading