I'm not one to read dystopian action SF generally, so three stars is really where I max out on this kind of book. The promise of a romance intrigued me, as did the idea of a roadtrip book about mercenary librarians, so I went in hopeful.

Mercenary librarians, emphasis on the mercenary! I really liked the idea of what post apocalyptic librarians would be like, but there was just. so. much. fighting, and guns. I know, I know, did this to myself, but I don't want to read about guns! If only there was the attention on books that there was on guns. What glimpses I got of the library I liked so much. When there were references to Gothic novels, I was all in. Why was there a chapter about a cage fight when we could have had chapters about the actual library work?

I think people who want a high octane book, people who find grimy roadhouses alluring, are going to enjoy this a lot. No shame in that game. For me, character development, world building, and ideas were sacrificed for action. The book also has a lot of sarcastic banter kind of humor, which isn't to my taste because it often makes characters lack individual voices when there's just uniform snark.

I realized when I wasn't connecting to this book in the way I hoped I would that maybe I'm just never going to with this kind of thing. Then I remembered the Murderbot books exist, which have augmented humans, tech dystopia, and big action sequences, and those are my favorite books going. I know the typical writing advice is not to write from the beginning of the story, but I feel this one started too late.

***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.***

'm gonna tell you straight off that I really liked this book.  I'm not really very keen on post-apocolyptic stories.  I watch the news so I can see where we are going.  But...this one kept my interest.

The way the story is put together is that there are two mercenary groups featured.  One crew takes care of people in their neighborhood and the other just exist to stay alive.  In this time snap shot, the USA is plunged into a hightened state of fear.  The largest tech company of the time has been implanted into people to make stronger super soldiers.  These super soldiers are supposed to keep everyone in line because the tech company rules all.  There is also a genetic sciences group that grow bio engineered clones.  All the powers that be want power and money.  To get that they will take out anyone that gets in their way.  If the soldiers grow a conscience, they are...decommissioned.  If anyone shows any inkling of not toeing the line, they are tortured and if they don't withstand that, then they really weren't worthy to start with.

The two crews that are featured in this book are such people.  Nina and her crew help keep their neighborhood going.  Captain Knox and his crew are just trying to stay alive.  They are the elitest of the elite and the tech company is really miffed that Knox went AWOL.  Just to make things interesting, the tech companies have a "kill" switch on their soldiers.  They each require maintenance at periodic times to keep their body's tech from degrading.  If the tech goes too long without maintenance, it will kill them.  Slowly.  Painfully.  Really nice company, huh?

Anyway, the premise of the story has deception integrated within the relationship between the two crews.  It's all a very simple situation when you cut it down to bare bones, but there are twists and turns that are unexpected.  It's a really good story.  There is sex, violence, swearing and death.  I give it a 5.

Sexy, action-packed beginning to a new series. The world is interesting, the characters are great, and you finish the book wanting more. I enjoyed the romance between Nina and Knox, loved the other members of their teams, and look forward to seeing what happens to them in the future and what else we learn about the world the big bads behind the scenes.

I'm not a huge dystopian reader so it didn't know what to expect from this book. The fact that it read more as a urban fantasy made me enjoy the story a bit more. I'm curious to continue this trilogy as i want to learn more about the mercenary librarians !

I don't think I've read Kit Rocha's books before, but I'm definitely checking out their backlist after this book! I ADORED DEAL WITH THE DEVIL. It's a post-apocalyptic adventure with a smoking romance, betrayal, and badass characters that you can't help but root for throughout the entire story. It's action-packed and full of chemistry. DEAL WITH THE DEVIL gripped me from beginning to end, and I absolutely can't wait for the next book!

The story takes place around the 2080's - natural disasters and corporation takeovers derailed the earth into an apocalyptic wasteland. Technology is advanced, but usually accessible to the people who can afford it. The world-building is full and comprehensive. It was so easy for me to get sucked into the world, especially from the lenses of Nina and Knox. There's really great exploration into technology (such as the racial biases of facial recognition programs) and a clear explanation of how the world came to be how it is (including human engineering/experimentation that created our characters). At the heart of it all is a squad of unique people with full hearts and rare skills. Their leaders, Nina and Knox, get entangled in a plot that could cost both their plots.

"She was like the fantasy of a simpler world come to life, a world of honest work and country dances and lazy nights under the stars, with no evil corporations waiting to destroy everything you'd ever loved."

I LOVED both Nina and Knox. They're both the leaders of their respective groups. For Nina, it's her girl gang that brings resources to their community in Atlanta (including lending out books!). For Knox, it's his Silver Devils, who escaped an evil corporation and are currently trying to keep each other alive. Knox gets a job from someone keeping a biochemist that could keep the Silver Devils alive hostage. Basically: they can retrieve the hostage if they lead Nina to the unknown kidnappers. Knox does this by persuading Nina to take a job where they exchange information that would be useful for her, all the while traveling towards the destination of the kidnapper. Along the way, each party discovers more about the other and sparking chemistry ensues between the leaders.

"'And Captain? If your plan is to burn me, don't. My team and I can make you wish you had just let the Protectorate execute you when you had the chance.'
With that, she left him standing there, his hand denagling in the air, his body a riot of thwarted violence and simmering need - and a thrilling edge of fear."

I absolutely loved the dialogue and relationships between pretty much all the characters, From Nina's side, we have the powerful and ruthless Dani and smart and ferocious Maya. From Knox's side, we have the flirtatious and outgoing Rafe, logical and knowledgeable Conall, and cold and calculating Gray. All the characters and hints of their past really jumped out, making them incredibly unique and refreshing. To be honest, I loved them all, haha. I think the authors did a fabulous job in balancing the action elements with the characterizations, including Nina's tragic past and Knox's experience as a soldier. Although both characters came from different pasts, they both became diligent leaders and organizers. And oh my goodness - the banter! Absolutely hilarious. There was this part where Knox found out Nina faked Maya's death to save her, and he goes like, "I'm simultaneously scared of and attracted to her." Which, is pretty much goals?

The plot already sets up a delicious tension since Knox is set to betray Nina from the very beginning, without her knowing. The progression to their romance was filled with hints of attraction and lust, but also a mutual understanding of their responsibilities as leaders and mysterious pasts. Like I said before, it was the perfect balance with the non-stop action of escaping predators and fighting for their lives.

While the cover first caught my eye, this story was absolutely gripping and the perfect beginning of a sci-fi romance. I would recommend it for readers who like the Endeavor series by Amanda Bouchet and the Consortium Rebellion series by Jessie Mihalik. While they're all quite different, their sci-fi settings and political/action-packed plots are the perfect addition to side romances with strong leads. Knox and Nina are powerful and intimidating on their own, but absolutely fearsome as a united front. Kit Rocha's writing really impressed me in this book, and I'll be checking out their past books to experience some more kickass characters that topple evil corporations and find love along the way!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of friend/grief, psychological damange and trauma, eugenics/human genetic engineering, heavy violence and gore

Thank you Tor and Netgalley for the review copy!

I tried to get into this story but the foul language is off-putting to me and I just couldn't get past it .

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in a near future world where most of society has broken down after war and natural disaster, people can be more than meets the eye. The authors set up an interesting world where people are being modified left and right creating super soldiers to human audio recorders to super geniuses. But those extra strengths always come with some sort of price. The cast of characters was incredibly endearing. I liked every single one and wanted to root for them all against their enemies. The authors created some really great characters here that I want to keep reading about, they could literally write the books on the backstory of each one, and I’d be in. The story drew me in, and I could easily envision the near-future world they created. I had to stay up late to finish this one, because at a certain point there was no way I was going to stop. Kidnapping, life and death stakes, firebombs, all-powerful evil corporations, there’s definitely a lot of action in this book that will keep you reading to the end.

Post apocalyptic adventure with a solid romance twist. The series name of "Mercenary Librarians" alone makes this book worth reading. The whole librarian thing is mostly a sideline to the characters in this book, but the epilogue promises to make it a bit more central in the next book. Still, I pushed the book up to four stars just for the librarian references.

I requested and received a galley of Deal with the Devil because I loved the idea of a book about mercenary librarians. How fun! This novel was not what I was expecting, and I'd still love to read the book of my imagination some day, but I did enjoy this one too.

The "librarian" part of the book is very peripheral. The female trio in the book fill the role of librarians in their dystopian society, providing literature, community, resources, etc. to their city. The authors clearly have good knowledge of what modern urban librarianship is really like. It's a fascinating (to me, anyway) setup that I'd love to see explored more fully, but in this particular book it plays so little a role as to be completely forgotten.

What this book is, is a romance novel about superheroes. Yeah, it's also science fiction, and it's dystopian, and it's a quest/road trip/fight scene book. But really, it's a romance novel. The two main characters smolder at each other for quite a while before giving in. There's the inevitable crisis, the split, the HEA. All the things we look for in a romance, plus cage fights, roadside ambushes, clones, cyborg implants....

For me, the pacing of the book was a bit odd, and I considered DNFing midway. I'm glad I stuck with it! It turned out to be a fun read, and I'm holding out hope that future installments in the series will spend a little more time on the "librarian" part of things instead of just the "mercenary". But maybe that's just me :)

Honestly you had me at 'mercenary librarians' and it just got better from there. Deal with the Devil is smart, sassy and action packed, a dystopian Atlanta I was loathe to leave. This book was just so much fun. Highly recommend.

Librarians set in a post-apocalyptic Atlanta...cool!
I like the action, I liked the characters and I liked the story.
It was good brain candy to take me away and entertain me.
My only issue was the sex scenes. I like a steamy romance as much as the next person, but they seemed out of place in the book.
Overall, it was a good book that will provide you with a great escape.

An absolutely thrilling dystopian read about the strength found in community! Cinematic action, romance perfection, and above all: hope.

This book is a really great summer read. There's a lot of action and steamy romance, and enough surface level angst to fill a CW TV show. I liked the world the authors created, which is a dystopic future that doesn't seem so far fetched with everything going on today. I liked the technology and genetic modifications the authors imbued into this world. I liked the sinister corporation looming over everything. It feels very Joss Whedon Dollhouse.

While I mostly liked the characters, they all felt a little cliched and two dimensional. There's the plucky idealist (I think the "villain" even uses the word plucky) who chooses to see the beauty in everything. The tortured male lead, who's all gruff and brooding. Then their comrades with assorted personality types. They all talk in cliches as well, the bravado and sarcasm turned up to eleven. I didn't hate it, but don't expect any deep soul searching/development for these characters.

I was not very fond of the twist (I guess I should say both twists). It was very abrupt, and after everything shakes out, it was a little toothless. Kind of like a soap opera. I am still interested to see which way this story goes, however, and will be picking up the sequel.

Mercenary Librarians… Need I say more? Kit Rocha introduces an action-packed dystopic series featuring a team of kick-ass heroines preserving knowledge and an AWOL squad of desperate super soldiers. Knox, the Captain of the Silver Devils needs Nina—but not for the reasons he’s told her. Will their cautious partnership end in betrayal or is there more going on than either of them knows? Great humor, fun and smart action, and just the right level (high!) of romantic tension. I can’t wait for the next book!

"Survival's simple. The complicated part is deciding what you're willing to do to survive."

This book is Gold! By far my favorite read of the year. Kit Rocha stunningly captured a dystopian Atlanta after the flares. This series is peripheral of the Beyond series and Gideon's riders. You do not have to read these to fall in love with this world. There are a few Easter eggs for the sector fans though. Sprinkled throughout the book are candidate files from the characters time under genetic experimentation that just illustrates the masterful world creation.

The story centers on Nina and Knox's respective struggle living in a dystopian world controlled by mega conglomerations that are "extra strength evil". Nina and her kick ass band of genetically enhanced mercenary librarians are trying to inject a little light into the darkness. Knox and his crew of altered former Protectorate super soldiers are fighting a ticking clock against Techcorp's agenda of greed and power all while being blackmailed by a specter that holds all the cards Their separate agendas could bring them together or reduce them to ash.

This had all the suspense and action with steamy heat peppered in. While not on the same level as the beyond series it had the right balance for this book. Just the right amount of levity and camaraderie to balance all the heavy themes. The friendships and bonds of these found families are so well done. They captured the emotion of the struggle of making those morally grey decisions and the journey of the characters absolutely enthralled me. I like my heroines badass and my heros to own their decisions so this couple was a win for me. Sunshine and Grumpy for the win. The diverse secondary characters all have great character development and aren't just filler. I am eagerly anticipating book 2.

This is Apocalyptic fiction. Set about 50 years in the future, a coronal mass ejections has brought America to its knees about 10 years previous to the time in the book. In that time, a faceless technology corporation controls Atlanta. A group of three women who are enhanced in different ways join up with a group of soldiers who escaped from the above corporation, and are attempting to find a missing woman and hidden remnants from a library.

The book was interesting and I enjoyed it, but I have to admit that it dragged as it went on. The names of the main women characters were so similar that I found myself caught up in trying to remember which one was which instead of getting lost in the book. I would read a second book in the series.

Mercenary librarians surviving in a post-apocalyptic world? Sign me up! Deal with the Devil is the first in a new series, the Mercenary Librarians, by creative team Kit Rocha. So if you're looking for a novel full of violence librarians, look no further.

The world has fallen apart. More accurately, the economy and governments have crumbled. Leaving only greedy corporations and desperate people. That is the world that Nina lives in – yet she's determined to make it better.

You see, she's a mercenary librarian, and surely one of the last librarians around. She and her allies spend all day every day trying to make the world better by making books, food, and technology available to all.

Enter Knox. He's been broken by the corporations and corruption that run rampant in his life. Now he and his men are on the run, and they have a mission that cannot be turned down. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, that means Knox and Nina are about to cross paths.

“'Imminent vigilantism.' Maye rose and kicked the pillow back toward the bed. 'I mean, is it really murder if he has it coming?'”

I've been obsessed with getting my hands on Deal with the Devil from the moment I heard 'mercenary librarians.' So having finished the book, I have to ask myself; was it worth the mad hunt to read this book?

Yes, it certainly was. Though the librarian elements were slightly different than I expected, but not in a bad way. Picture all of the additional things that librarians do (that they frequently don't get credit for), and you'll have a solid understanding of what Nina does for her community in this book.

It was actually beautiful to see, in so many ways. Here is the lone character in a desolate world who simply refuses to give up hope. Even when things are at their worst (and it certainly hits that point over the course of this novel), she just keeps on believing in others.

Deal with the Devil is told through multiple perspectives, but mainly Nina and Knox's. You can probably guess how that goes, simply from the description alone. I'll confess that the 'insta-love' was a little much for me, but it also wasn't nearly enough to put me off from the book. It just left me wishing that they had more time to get to know each other.

I enjoyed Nina's character, but I found myself adoring the women she surrounded herself with. They were quirky and unique and really made the world come to life. Here's hoping the next couple of novels focus on them a bit more!

All things considered, I went into Deal with the Devil expecting one type of reading experience, and I ended up getting something slightly different. I'm actually totally okay with that, as I love what Kit Rocha was trying to tell us here.

One thing is certain, I'm going to be looking forward to any news on the sequel (The Devil You Know), as I sincerely have no idea what sort of path we should expect the series to go down next.

ARC provided by Netgalley.

Deal with the Devil is a new near -future scifi set to come out in late July. I’ve read Kit Rocha’s Beyond series of dystopian erotica before, though I haven’t reviewed it for the blog at this time. Interestingly, this new series shares the same universe – but never fear, the links are minor. You definitely don’t have to read any of the Beyond books to enjoy Deal with the Devil.


I really love the concept / series title here. Mercenary Librarians. Nina and her allies curate knowledge and equipment to benefit their neighborhood in Atlanta, freeze drying food and printing books on demand. It’s a lovely ideal, though it gets only limited screen time. After all, there’s a lot of establishing ground to cover in this sub-350 page novel.

As for the cast, we have Nina and Knox, each the leader of a small team of superhuman bad asses. I love the side characters the most, sadly Nina and Knox are kind of the least interesting of the bunch. (Sequels when?) They are all separated from the mega corporations that created or altered them – though the men less cleanly than the women. That fact drives most of the plot as the Silver Devils try to find a way to survive without the maintenance their high-tech implants need.

The first half of the book has a strong road trip feel and I particularly love the environments. Flooded back bays at a warehouse, a dilapidated movie theater, all these extraordinary people just struggling to get enough fans working in the heat – it feels authentic in its sense of place.

My one complaint is that some of the early action sequences don’t seem to serve the story very well, mainly demonstrating that these characters can waltz through dangerous situations. Otherwise, I vastly enjoyed Deal with the Devil. It’s a fun read that doesn’t waste a whole lot of space anywhere else.

I especially want more of Maya and Gray, though I don’t know if they’ll be getting their own book. Smart, super competent heroine and a steady, supportive hero? That’s kind of my catnip, honestly. Mercenary Librarians calls itself scifi with romantic elements, not romance – so, you know. The usual sequel bait rules may not apply.

I’d love to spend more time with the Mercenary Librarians while they’re doing their own thing, helping their neighborhood survive and thrive. Let’s hope the rest of the series finds some time for that, too.

Technically this is a road romance set in a post-apocalyptic world filled with humans altered to have superpowers and bad guys who created them. I enjoyed the ride.

❤️❤️❤️❤️ out of 5
I love post apocalyptic romances and just like fantasy romance there is a lot of YA out there (which I’m not a fan of) but not enough adult romance so I normally jump at the chance to read something new in this genre. This series is set 60 years in the future with a recent-Ish apocalypse which was a great setting.

The heroine and her 2 best friends are not only genetically modified but all round badasses taking jobs that include killing to earn money to sustain their community in secret from those with power. They get approached by a group of mercenaries to team up to retrieve a cache of information. This takes them on an adventure across this post apocalyptic land and for the heroine means also falling for the leader of the mercs as well as kicking ass.

Don’t get me wrong I really liked this book and the world building for a first book was fantastic and it didn’t overwhelm or detract from the story however I wanted just a little more from the MCs and I feel like if anything it lost traction towards the end rather than picked up. Through the first 3/4 of the book the characters were strong and the pacing was great and although I was disappointed with the pace of the climax I enjoyed the ending and set up for the next books and I’m looking forward to diving into this series again.