ARC Review of Assasin's Honor by Monica Burns - He does it with a sword!

Title: Assassin's Honor (The Order of the Sicari, #1)
Author: Monica Burns
Pages: 352 Pages, Paperback
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Standalone/Series: Series
Release:  June 1st 2010
Publisher: Penguin/Berkley
Received as part of Book it Foward ARC tour
Author info: http://www.monicaburns.com/index.htm
Spoiler Alert: You're in the clear
GoodReads Blurb: Archeologist Emma Zale sees the past when she touches ancient 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 ancient artifact she doesn’t have, he drags her into a world where telekinesis and empaths 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.

Ares De Luca comes from an ancient Roman bloodline of telekinetic assassins. A Sicari, he’s honor bound to kill only in the name of justice. But when the woman he loved was murdered, Ares broke the Sicari code and used his sword for revenge. Love cost him dearly once before, and he’s not willing to pay the price again. At least not until hot, sweet, delectable Emma walked into his life. Not only does she hold the key to a valuable Sicari relic, she might just hold the key to his heart. 

 Emma Zale is an archeologiest with a secret gift - she can tell the history of relics just by touching them. Though Emma tries to avoid using her gift at all costs since she wants her success as an archeologist to be based on her knowledge and not the unwanted ability that has plagued her and left her open to being used by people trying to further their own careers all her life. Her parents were both prominent archeologists who were murdered while hunting for relics of an ancient society of assassins known as the Sicari. The book opens five years later while on a dig in Egypt - Emma's dig leader and good friend Charlie meets the same fate as her parents. Now blamed for both her parents and Charlie's murder, Emma is barely able to escape an Egyptian jail cell. Emma returns to dark and rainy Chicago and despair envelops her while she deals with the aftermath of Charlie's murder and her continuing pain about her parents death. Little does Emma know that factions in an ancient battle are drawing closer to her as they try to use her to get at what her parents were searching for before they died - the Tyet of Isis. Thankfully, one of the people she attracts the interest of is Ares DeLuca, a warrior who is part of an ancient order and an enemy of those that most likely murdered Emma's parents.

When Ares and Emma meet it is like two storm fronts colliding - violent, exciting, and sexy as hell. Emma is afraid of Ares at first - who wouldn't be afraid of a stranger who breaks into your house and demands information from you that you don't have. Though she is at least smart enough to acknowledge how beautifully built the man is and isn't opposed to his seductive methods to try and get information from her. For Ares, all his tight emotional control is broken when he meets Emma. As one of the leaders of his order he should just take the information he needs and leave but he finds himself more than a little attracted to her. And Ares isn't just a normal mortal - he is bestowed with the gift of telekinesis that comes in quite handy in fights as well as in seduction. The ability to use his mind to touch Emma's body was a hot one and he definitely put it to good use.

Emma and Ares are thrown together as someone tries to kill Emma and they constantly dance around their developing feeling for each other. Neither one of them want to admit what they are feeling - they are both stubborn and have trust issues. The pigheadedness of both of them keep them from realizing they are falling for each other until almost everything between them is destroyed. The relationship between Emma and Ares was both rewarding and frustrating. I did love the mix of Italian, Latin, and English that Ares spoke and I am always a sucker for pet names spoken in a different language.

As for the world the Ms. Burns created - I loved the honorable assassins order of the Sicari and I am looking forward to learning more about the order in future books. Strong and sexy warriors who wear black leather and fight with swords - how can you go wrong? There are also female order members - including Ares godmother who I adored as well as Phae, Ares sister - so not just men do it with swords in this book.

Overall this is a 4 out of 5 for me, Sexy sword-totting warriors who speak Italian words of love and like to fight in leather.

The next book in the series that features Phae and Lysander from this book (I loved Lysander and am so looking forward to his book!) is coming out in September of this year!