Sea of Demons (Blood and Sand Book #5) by Heidi Stark – Review by Angela Hayes

Sea of Demons: A Dark Enemies to Lovers Mafia Romance by Heidi Stark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars

Sea of Demons is the fifth book in the Blood and Sand series by Heidi Stark. This is the first book that I have read by Ms. Stark- so I really didn’t know what to expect from one of her stories. But as dark romance is one of my guilty pleasures, and the darker the better, I couldn’t wait to discover all the suspenseful details.

This promised a dark romantic suspense with mafia, danger, dramatic developments, tension, raw and gritty details, violence, murder, action, chemistry, sizzle, emotion, and intensity. Which I guess it did. But, I just wished I had read the previous four books before diving into this one.
In this series, as far as I can tell, each instalment follows on from the previous book- and as these characters star in previous books- I can’t help but conclude that there are important aspects to the series that I am missing. The blurb isn’t clear on this, only ‘suggesting’ reading the other books if you prefer, giving the impression that this could be read as a standalone…. “Sea of Demons is a full-length mafia/gang dark romantic suspense containing potential triggers. Reader discretion is advised. This is the 5th book in the Blood and Sand series. Books 2-4 can also be found combined as Sinners, Rage, and The Brixton Trilogy, if you prefer to read the Brixton story to this point in its entirety.” But knowing what happened in those four books seems to be more important than that part of the blurb implies….. So, again, I wish I had known that going into this book, because I did feel like I wasn’t privy to important details/developments- and knowing/thinking that made me frustrated and anxious as I kept wondering what I had ‘missed’ in the previous books.
There were more than a few moments where I nearly gave up in order to go and hunt down the previous books to read them before continuing on with this one- but I persevered hoping that it would all ‘fall into place’ at some point. But I never did find ‘my groove’. Lesson learned. So, unfortunately my rating reflects that. But in saying all that, the story and characters have piqued my interest, and I am hoping that by reading their story in its entirety it will help me connect and invest in them all the better. So I have decided to go back and read the previous books, to see if they change my impression- so stay tuned- as they may impact on my review/rating for the better.
Take my advice, read the previous books first before starting on this one. Save yourself the anxiety and frustration that I experienced.
Happy Reading…

Thank you, Heidi Stark!

Reviewed by @angelahayes

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