Playing with Passion by Gayle Parness (Book 1 of The Theta Series)

Playing with Passion (Theta Series 1)

Synopsis:

A slave to the archdemon known as The Director, Ingrid has spent her life in a troupe, forced to project hedonistic and violent fantasies for alpha werewolves and master vampires, sometimes becoming a victim of those fantasies herself. But she’s determined to break free. All that’s required is a little cooperation and magical help from her powerful and very sexy production manager, Mack.

Mack protects his troupe and powers the theta performances with his axis energy, that’s his job. He makes sure every show goes smoothly for the actors and the audience, he keeps the quality up so that ticket sales are good and the Director’s happy, and most important, he makes sure none of his actors does anything that might get them retired—another word for executed. But this new Ingrid is causing trouble, using too much power, running experiments with her magic, endangering them all. 

When Mack attempts to put a stop to Ingrid’s reckless behavior,  Ingrid and Mack find they’re connected in a way neither one of them could have imagined, forcing Mack to finally listen to Ingrid’s plans for a life free from the Director’s tyranny.

The Pedantic Punctuator’s Review:

This was my first experience of Gayle Parness’s writing, and it most certainly will not be my last.  Gayle is quite a prolific author, and has two other series available – seven books in The Rogue Shifter Series, and Breaking Out was released in December 2014, the first book in The Triad Series.

Let me say, that as an editor, I give myself plenty of time to thoroughly work through each manuscript I receive.  In the case of ‘Playing with Passion’ – I’ve actually completed the edit a couple of days early and that’s purely because of how enjoyable the story was.

Gayle has created an amazing world, filled with characters you will both love to hate, and some you will grow desperately attached to. Throughout the book, the growth of the characters was realistic and entertaining, and I found myself utterly engrossed in their adventures.  I desperately wanted to see the theta troupe escape their enslavement and the relationship between the various members of the troupe was enjoyable and fun to read.  As an editor, I was impressed with Gayle’s writing – as a reader, I was engrossed and can’t wait to read the second book in the series.

Playing with Passion is being released on 15th April 2015.

The Pedantic Punctuator’s Rating: