Assasin's Honor or I finally got an ARC!!!

From Amazon.com:

A sexy new adventure-packed romance with a paranormal twist-from the award-winning author. Archeologist Emma Zale sees the past when she touches relics. It's how she uncovered evidence of an ancient order of assassins-the Sicari. When a sinfully dark stranger shows up on her Chicago doorstep demanding an artifact she doesn't have, he drags her into a world where telekinesis and empaths-someone who can sense the emotions of others- are the norm. Now someone wants her dead, and her only hope of survival is an assassin who's every bit as dangerous to her body as he is to her heart.

(Note: Review material provided through Arc Tours and Amanda at Dark Faerie Tales, thanks Amanda!)

It's a Friday, I've just arrived home from a long day at work. You know the kind...just want to go home and put on anything else, get a cold bev, and sit in my gorgeously landscaped (if I do say so myself!) backyard. Then, my husband gets the mail.

And it all changes.

Silly, I know, but this is my first ARC and I REALLY wanted to read this one. Not knowing I had actually picked it up and had it in my hot little hands the night before, but had judiciously put down as to not leave the TBR piled neglected with yet another friend/competitor of my attention.

As you may or may not know, I love a good cover. And I usually start a series in the middle or pretty close to the end. So, to get an ARC with a bland ol' yellow cover...that starts at the BEGINNING?

Priceless...

I do in fact, get myself somewhat afore mentioned situation...but, I add Assassin's Honor and I begin...

Gleefully.

As I began, two things stand out. Immediately, the reader is immersed into Emma's world...the textures, the sand, the discovery...and then, the murder. Her colleague/family friend is murdered in the same horrific manner as her parents. All on their search for the mysterious Sicari, and order of assassins from the days of ancient Rome. An obsession Emma's tried to avoid as much as she can...

But, there's one...man...who'll change that. In so many ways...

Inner dialogue can go either way for me. At times, I feel I can be disconnected from the character, like she's shutting me out. Not the case here...it was as if I were inside experiencing Emma's thoughts and feelings (I even had a little whiskey with her...kinda...). Emma has a talent, if you will, for artifacts and even more mundane everyday objects. When she touches them, she experiences things that have either happened around the object or to its owner. She becomes immersed in the moments. So did I. It worked for me.

Oh, Ares...the head of the Sicari guild in Chicago, he finds and protects Emma from a fate similar to her parents. And himself. (Warning, steamy sexy powers here...just saying.)

The Sicari aren't what they seem. In more ways than one. (Tiny note, but one I really enjoyed...the use of swords versus guns...love this. It added elegance and grace....and just a spot or two *evil grin* of sexiness. Loved it.) A secret society full of mysterious people with so many talents and a rich history of ceremony. I found myself feeling as if I was there, experiencing every moment. It didn't feel contrived or "made up" which sometimes can happen when detail is overwhelming and out of control.

I'm definitely one of those readers who doesn't believe in spoilers, so you definitely won't get any here...but, suffice it to say, steaminess does ensue. All while on the hunt for the Tyset of Isis, a mysterious object (actually, there is so little known about it, no one really knows what it is) that the Sicari must find before their enemies do...

Do you think my first ARC experience was a success??? I do. This will definitely be in my library...and I can't wait for more....