Ecstasy Unbound by Setta Jay (The Guardians of the Realm, #1)

*** I kindly received this ARC copy in exchange for a honest review ***

Ecstasy Unbound is a paranormal erotic romance novel by author Setta Jay.  Number one in the "Guardians of the Realm" series, Ecstasy Unbound centers around goddess Alexandra, and Guardian Urian or "Uri" as he is known.

Now, I love all things paranormal.  Always have, probably always will.  Ghost stories, horror movies, vampires, werewolves, UFO's, you name it, I'm intrigued by it.  So you would think that a book such as "Ecstasy Unbound" would be right up my alley.  Well, to be honest, I'm a bit torn about it.

I appreciate that the author put so much thought into the plot and development of the series, which very blatantly is being set up for a series, but in my humble opinion, there was WAY too much setting up for the series in this opener of the series, and not enough actual story.  I would say that 70% of the book felt like backstory, explanations of powers, details about sub-characters, history of gods and goddesses, etc, etc, etc.  It was way too much.  It was to the point that I felt overwhelmed with information and to be honest, bored.  I think it could be the way in which the author tried to slip all of the tons and tons of information into the book, but the overall effect of it really ended up taking a lot away from the story of Alex and Uri.  

At the end, I felt as though I barely read an actual story... I felt more so that I had just read "gods and goddess's for dummies" or "paranormal beings 101".  That is NOT what I signed up for at all.  You never want your readers to walk away from your book feeling disappointed, and that is exactly how I felt.  To be honest, this book made me never want to pick up another book by the author.  It took a lot for me to keep picking up the book and start reading it again, I just really was over it and didn't care, but I received this book as an ARC, and therefore, I owe it to the author and/or publisher to finish it and review it.  I also owe it to my fellow readers to give an honest review, and that is what I am doing.  I also made the mistake of requesting others in this series (based on the good reviews) prior to reading the book so I will have to read those and review them as well... unfortunately.

On the flip side, if you enjoy very sexual hot reads, you may like this book.  Setta Jay definitely knows how to write a steamy scene, I'll give her that much.  I definitely felt the chemistry and attraction between the protagonists.  I think she did a great job portraying Alex and Uri's connection, although there wasn't that much more to the actual story than that... some fight scenes, hot sex scenes, and... well, that's about it aside from the afore mentioned overly excessive spewing of back information about the series.

WARNING:  It should be noted (because I didn't see a warning anywhere), that there IS a rape scene in this book.  I know and understand that many readers avoid books with rape scenes, so if you are offended by rape scenes, you will want to avoid this book.

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Rating (based on a 5 star rating system):

* * 

Would I recommend this book to others?:

No.  Sorry Setta Jay.

Would I read others in the series?:

Yes, but only because I have already committed to reading them prior to reading this first novel.

***Note*** This novel is part of a series, but is standalone.