Blood of Zeus

Blood of Zeus, Book 1

By: Meredith Wild, Angel Payne

Narrated by: Jennifer Mack, Jacob Morgan

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Blood of Zeus is a dynamic and uniquely alluring paranormal romance! This author duo knows how to scorch the pages and tug at our imaginations. I can’t wait for more!" (New York Times best-selling author Carrie Ann Ryan)

An ancient grudge. A forbidden love.

The only thing worse than being a demon is being a Valari. As an undergraduate at Los Angeles’s Alameda University, Kara Valari can sometimes succeed at forgetting she’s both. Lost between the pages of the classics and tucked into the shadows of lecture halls, she can dodge the paparazzi’s lenses as well as her family’s publicized dramas - not to mention their private expectations. She has one more year to feed her true passions. Then she’ll be expected to fulfill a much darker destiny.

Cursed with inexplicable strength and godlike stature, literature professor Maximus Kane knows all about darkness. Every day he’s reminded of the missteps of his childhood and the devastating consequences they’ve had on those dearest to him. To atone, Maximus spends his nights alone and his days submerged in the quiet life of academia. His existence has become a study in control, and he’s become a master at it - until Kara Valari walks into his toughest course.

Viscerally, Kara’s everything he craves. Logically, she’s everything he rejects. She’s a starlet of privilege. She’s also a student. And after one touch, he can’t deny that she’s awakened something in him that may never go dormant. Nothing about her makes sense, but everything about her feels right. Especially in the deepest strands of his DNA, which are still shadows of mystery to him - a mystery Kara seems determined to uncover.

She’s Hollywood royalty. She’s forbidden fruit. And he’s pretty sure she could be the answer to everything. 

©2020 Waterhouse Press, LLC. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

too much mystery...little paranormal..

Lets start with the easy part. I have no problem with Jacob Morgan. He is pure sugar, spice and all things nice when he narrates. Jennifer Mack isn't bad... she just didn't fit right with this book imo. Still the narration didn't take away from the story line.

So I have read a few books by these authors. Some I like, some I don't. I already knew this was a 50/50 shot for me. I really wanted to like this one but for 90% of the book I felt that something didn't feel right with this listen. The authors spent the whole book building up the mystery of Maximus' identity.. yet his profession is closely interweaved with his identity but he still couldn't put the clue together. As for the Valeri family, we know they are demons and there is this whole mystery over what kind and how did that happen and what does it really mean to be a Valeri. Almost every single person has dire warnings about defying destiny.. heck even I would rebel.. to expect a family tradition to be upheld without any question is unreasonable especially for a story set in today's society. Add in that kids raised to be fierce and defiant; that to me equals a recipe for disaster.

Overall I would say book 1 was mostly mystery and character building and not alot of paranormal. Maybe book 2 will have more? unfortunately I am not motivated enough to care about book 2... my journey with this series stops here.

Book is great... audible is?

The book is great, but the audible is horrible. They have a male and female voice, but when it’s the females chapter she also voices the male, and vice versa. Sounds horrible bc it’s like you’re listening to two different books. Keep one voice it would have worked better.

A fresh take on a PNR teacher/student romance.

I can't tell you how refreshing it is to have a new take on the PNR genre the likes I haven't seen since Sherrilyn Kenyon (now McQueen). I am a die-hard PNR junkie and there are few authors that really bring a fresh idea to the scene. A lot have tried, and a lot have failed but not with these two authors. They've taken the teacher/student trope and gave it a Greek/Roman mythos twist. Demons and Demigods have mingled with us mere humans, making pacts and sowing seeds but still being the absent parents, they always have been throughout history (so toss in your parental issues as well).
Our hero Maximus has always had super strength that has come with serious consequences. It's more a curse than a blessing but like anyone, you learn to deal. He's gone on to become a professor at University and has a pretty decent, normal life until this famous socialite wiggles her way into his class and his life, bringing all her drama and upending all his carefully cultivated protections.
If you love PNR, if you love teacher/student romance, if you love famous people/regular guy romance or just want something different with a slow build that will span many books, give this one a shot.
My only critique is for the audiobook version. For me, the cover and descriptions do not match the voices. I was expecting completely different voices than I got and to be honest, it was a bit jarring. From the cover with Brock O'Hurn I was expecting a deeper voice, more mature voice and from the description of the heroine I expected a more sultry voice but what I got from both the female and male Narrators were younger, more new adult college aged voices which to me is in complete contrast to the characters but that's my opinion.

Jacob Morgan is awesome but.... spoilers!!!

So, Jacob Morgan is awesome. He has the sexiest voice and I believe everything he narrates. that's important. The female narrator was fine. But this is half a book. I hate being swindled. I saw a blurb on Facebook and decided to give it a try. paranormal sounded good. The writing actually flowed well but it was a little slow. A little repetitive. That happens a lot and it wasn't overdone so I didn't mind too much.

Anyway, so Kara is a demon and obviously from the title and all descriptions of Maximus in the story, he's the son of Zeus but he doesn't know this. He is her professor and when they brush hands, sparks fly. She can't bang anyone bc she's promised to an incubus who is being sent to knock her up for her family's sins. Then Zeus shows up. Offers help. Maximus vows to protect her. The end. Cliffhanger. Pretty lame. I spent 8 dollars on the kindle edition and I just don't care enough to spend another 8 dollars to get another partial book. No thanks. Not worth it. I'd have read to the end if it were a full novel but I'm not going to keep dishing out money for partials. I'd rather pay 20 dollars for a full novel or whatever than be swindled into buying more bc I have to know what happened. Well, I don't. I honestly was fine where it left off.

Blood of Zeus

Oh my word, this book was incredible! Great vocal cast! Meredith Wild & Angel Payne have penned a lovely & tense story surrounding Kara & Maximus. Maximus Kane is a literature professor who teaches a course on Dante. Kara Valari gets his assistant to let her sign up for the much talked about class. From that first class there is something between the two of them that they just can't figure out. what will become of them?

Entertaining

Paranormal romance is not a genre I usually read, however since it is co written by one of my favourite authors, Angel Payne, I thought I would give it a try and I am so glad that I did. Although it is PNR, it was intriguing and Blood of Zeus was a book that I had a hard time putting down; in fact I was so invested in the story line that I forgot that there were paranormal elements to the story.
The chemistry that sizzles between the mysterious and tortured Maximus Kane and Kara Valari was so scorchingly hot that at times I felt as though I was going to burst into flames. Maximus is swoon worthy and there is something about him that ticked the boxes for me whilst Kara is a strong determined woman.
The secondary characters were just as engaging and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. I am also going to purchase the audio as soon as it is available.
The narration by Jennifer Mack and Jacob Morgan was spot on and they really brought the story to life for me.

loved it

it was awesome. The story line was great, not too predictable as it can be with ones involving gods. the performance of both was awesome. I normally read books only. I agave this one a shot on sale as a recommendation from a group im in and now I'm going to buy the next one.

Skip It

If you are looking for a fun, modern, erotic interpretation of Hades/Persephone myth, I’d highly recommend Katee Robert’s Neon Gods (and Electric Idol). This book has a whiff of Kardashian-esque intrigue, but somehow the plot lost its tension. It was just boring. Gave up at about 75%.

Confused AF!

So, I’m trying to figure out WHAT the book is about. I’m confused because I still don’t understand the 2 main characters like what are they? Who are they? Curse ? Etc, we know they are attracted to each other immediately, but I don’t get it, I backed it up 3x already and still confused. Beautiful book cover but sucky story. I want my damn credit back audible!

Passionate

Well written, very well performed. I was engrossed throughout the book. Hard to stop when I had other duties. My one pet peeve is that this is not a standalone book. I didn’t know that - maybe I didn’t read everything. But I HATE cliffhangers.

Intrigue, secrets and a burning connection

I loved this book from start to finish, even though it wasn't completely as I expected from the blurb. The focus wasn't so much on the paranormal elements, but more on setting the scene for Maximus and Kara's relationship and the secrets around them both. However, I feel sure that will come to the forefront in the next book after the reveals and revelations at the end of this one!

Blood of Zeus was a slow burn forbidden romance with fiery chemistry and a deep seated connection neither could ignore, between two very likeable characters in Maximus and Kara. Their sexual tension was literally out of this world hot! There were secrets, lies, mystery and intrigue and a lot of inner turmoil for both as Kara battled against her families influence, penance and her predetermined, ominous destiny. Maximus was all about control, with his guilt over the past and his need to find out about his heritage and unknown father, until Kara turned his world upside-down. I wish I'd had a literature professor as alluring as him!

I listened to the audio version and both narrators were good, but Jacob Morgan had a little something extra that bought Maximus to life. His Kara voice was very good too!

This book was beautifully written with depth, feeling and detail.  There were some equally interesting secondary characters in Jesse, Kell and Kara's grandfather in particular and a very sinister seeming art dealer! I cant wait to see how their forbidden but undeniable connection develops, if it is allowed to, but I suspect it might take a darker turn!

I am curious to see where this is going

So I loved the story premises and the plot points.
I picked the book because forbidden teacher/student romance is a trope I am curious about and paranormal is my go to. So this story has everything I am asking for. I liked the story overall yet I find it lacking on some aspects. Now that is my personal tastes we are talking about and I know better than to stop at the first book in a series so I already have book 2 on queue! Let’s hope things get better for Maximus and Kara.

great book

I have been hooked on this story, the problem is waiting for the next one