The Return by Jennifer L. Armentrout Series: Titan #1
Published by Spencer Hill Press on February 17th, 2015
Genres: Fiction, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 344
Format: ARC
Source: BEA
Buy on Amazon | Buy on Barnes and Noble
Goodreads
The Fates are cackling their bony asses off...It's been a year since Seth made the deal with the gods that pledged his life to them. And so far, the jobs they've given him have been violent and bloody--which is kind of all right with him. But now Apollo has something else in mind for Seth. He's got to play protector while keeping his hands and fingers off, and for someone who really has a problem with restraint, this new assignment might be the most challenging yet. Josie has no idea what this crazy hot guy's deal might be, but it's a good bet that his arrival means the new life she started after leaving home is about to be thrown into an Olympian-sized blender turned up to puree. Either Josie is going insane or a nightmare straight out of ancient myth is gunning for her.But it might be the unlikely attraction simmering between her and the golden-eyed, secret-keeping Seth that may prove to be the most dangerous thing of all.Because history has once again been flipped to repeat.
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.
My Thoughts:
Way back when I read the Sentinel with Betty from Book Rock Betty and Chelsea from Starbucks and Books Obsession, Betty nicknamed Seth “cuddle bunny”. She was in love with both him and Aiden in the Covenant series. I have to say, I was 100%, completely, all the way, Aiden’s girl. I told Betty she could have her cuddle bunny all to herself. Well. It is time to take back those words. 😉
Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I first heard that JLA was going to come out with a spin off series in the Covenant world, with Titans and with Seth! It was basically the only thing I wanted when I braved Book Con that fateful Saturday. And it was worth it! I absolutely loved immersing myself back into the Covenant world with Sentinels, halfs and pures, gods, demigods and Titans, and let’s not forget, one Apollyon — Seth.
The Return starts off with Seth being assigned to protect a girl, Josie, on the command of Apollo. He is supposed to escort her to the safety of one of the Covenants. Of course, shenanigans ensue — and I mean that in the sense of, shades appear, and there’s a really pissed off Titan coming after them. Now, I’ve always been a fan of Greek mythology. I don’t know, the stories always fascinated me. Anyway, I love that aspect here. Lots of gods and Titan business happening and while sometimes I had to pause to get them straight, it was all embedded pretty seamlessly. Firstly, all the gods have a distinct personality and I love that. I’ve always loved Apollo, with his ill timing and interesting sense of humor, so I’m super happy to see him back.
Firstly, I have to say, as not the biggest fan of Seth from the Covenant series, I quickly grew to love him. Is it the snark? The I-don’t-care attitude? The I-know-I’m-so-awesome arrogance combined with kickass skills? His incredibly hot self? It’s all that plus one more thing — you finally get a glimpse inside his head. You get to peel back his layers and see who he is beyond the title of Apollyon. You see his humanity. And gods, all of that is just amazing.
Josie is an interesting lead — having no knowledge of the gods or anything paranormal, she has the grit and emotional strength to hold it together when her world as she knows it ends. I love that she calls Seth Sethie and love that she can lob retorts back at Seth so well. JLA always writes really strong female leads and Josie is no exception.
We do see some appearances of beloved characters from the Covenant series – like Deacon. (JLA has announced this before so I don’t think this is a spoiler.) Deacon St. Delphi is quite possibly one of my favorite characters from her. He has that open friendly personality and bright optimism that just makes you want to hug him. Plus he’s hilarious. His lines are always amazing. Finishing the Covenant series with Sentinel was an emotional read. (Review here.) Those characters became like family and that’s why seeing some of them again in The Return just made my heart swell with happiness. It was like coming home!
Anyway, the only reason I docked it a star is because there was a lot of recapping of events that occurred in the end of the Covenant series. I mean, totally necessary, I get it. Since it’s meant to be a standalone series, the explanations need to happen, but I felt like a lot of it was the recap and not as much actually happened plot-wise. There was quite a bit of character development (especially Seth!) though, so I loved that. However, now that the set up is done and won’t be needed in the second book, I’m excited to see what will happen next! I can already sense it to be amazing, on a scale equal to my love of the Covenant series. If you haven’t read the Covenant series, doooo it! Or just start with The Return, that works too. But I love the Covenant series so much I feel like I NEED to push you to read that too. Civic duty. 🙂
Definitely civic duty. People NEED to read the Covenant series because it’s so amazing!!! Also, you can’t have Seth. He’s mine. Aiden is all yours though. 🙂
Remember when we were in line for HoF and that lady from Spencer Hill had a copy of this and we were all “can we just pet it?” hahaha that was hilarious.
SO I’m really excited for this one! LOL. Even though I need to go ahead and binge Covenant soon! I can understand the need to recap for wanting this to be a standalone, but I’m glad to know ahead of time there’s going to be some overlap. I am excited to meet Seth and Josie!
BOOK CON. LOL. Omg, that was scary. But worth it for The Return! I had so much fun reading this book. Loved Seth and Josie together. One of these days I’ll have to read Covenant….